The Second Sunday after
Epiphany
January 14th, A+D 2024
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer
Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Seeking the Glory of God,
Rightly
Amos 9:11-15 and John 1:43 - 2:11
Episode Audio available HERE.
Wine can be glorious. Or, it can be a problem. Wine can be a problem, but that sure isn’t
how the Holy Spirit tends to speak about wine in the Bible. Much to the dismay of some of my Baptist
friends, a close reading of Scripture will reveal that for every passage which
warns against abusing wine, there are three others in which God speaks about
joy and paradise and eternal salvation through the language of enjoying good
wine.
As in our reading from Amos this morning: “Behold, the days are coming,”
declares the Lord, “when the
plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows the
seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with
it.” That sounds like a lot of vino! Or consider our Gospel, in which Jesus
manifested His glory, revealing just how great life with Him would be, by
producing gallons and gallons of the best wine.
Wine can be a problem, because we do not always handle it well. The nature of a sinner is that we are capable
and sadly prone to abusing the good gifts which God gives us. But our frailty and perverseness do not
change the goodness of God’s gifts. The
Lord’s desire is to have us with Him forever, “rejoicing with exceedingly great
joy.” A celebration, a super party, if I
dare use the term. Rich food, even a
feast of fats, and wonderful wine, these are among the good gifts mentioned
again and again when the Bible describes God’s eternal celebration. God the Father is the host of the heavenly
wedding feast, and
He is the cheerful Giver of every good gift in this world, despite our tendency
to misuse them. Our sin cannot change
the essential goodness of God, nor of His gifts. And so, the believer’s desire to enjoy God’s
gifts, even to enjoy His glory, isn’t essentially wrong, no matter how prone we
are to mess it all up.
Moses gave us one famous example of the right way to seek the highest, most glorious gifts
of God, without sinning. In Exodus
chapter 33, Moses expresses his desire to see God’s glory, to see His unveiled
face. Moses spoke with God face to face,
but there was always something that shrouded God’s presence: a pillar of fire,
a pillar of cloud, etc. Moses wanted to
see God’s full
glory, to see His face directly. Which
is the right goal to have, because it is God’s goal that we bask in His glory,
in heaven, before His throne, forever and ever.
All in God’s good timing. But, Moses didn’t want to wait. However, and this is crucial, Moses made his
request with humility, and in obedience: “Please show me your glory.” The LORD went on to explain this could not
be, no sinful man could see God’s face and live. But God would tuck Moses into a cleft in the
rock, and then let him see all His goodness pass by. Finally, He would let Him see His back. Which is all pretty glorious, by earthly
standards, even though not the full glory of the LORD God Almighty. Moses, in faith and submission, sought a
wonderful thing. He did not receive his
precise request, because he couldn’t, not yet.
But God was happy to give Moses a very great gift.
The examples of God’s people pursuing God’s
good gifts in wrong ways are too numerous to count. The men of Babel ignored God’s instruction to
fill the earth, and instead tried to gather everyone into one mega-city, where
they would make a name for themselves by building a tower into heaven. Getting into heaven and having a good name
are both worthy goals, but neither can be a do-it-yourself project for
sinners.
Any name we make for ourself, however
impressive it may seem to our friends and neighbors, is stained by our sinful
thoughts, words and deeds. If we try to
force our way into God’s glorious presence, that will not end well. So, to protect mankind from mankind’s
misguided desires, God came down and confused their languages, forcing them to
abandon their tower and scatter around to fill the earth, as the LORD had
instructed.
Abraham and Sarah desired the fulfillment of
God’s promise that they would have a child, despite their old age. But they doubted that God could really make this happen, since Sarah had been unable
to have children her whole life, and now she was old. So, Sarah gave Abraham her maid Hagar as a
concubine, and Abraham agreed. They
thought Hagar could have a child who would somehow truly be Sarah’s. Their surrogate mommy plan didn’t work out so
well. Sarah became intensely jealous and
spiteful to Hagar and her baby. Their
plan brought strife and pain into the family, not promise. And yet, despite their faithlessness and sin,
God did not abandon His promise. By
God’s grace, Sarah did
conceive and bear a child, the old-fashioned way, with Abraham. In joyful laughter, they received the
promised son, Isaac, through whom the People of God and the Savior of the world
would come.
Tamar’s desire to have a baby was also good. She was the daughter-in-law of Judah, Abraham’s
great-grandson. She was also twice a
widow, of Judah’s two oldest sons, both of whom were evil, worthless men, and the
LORD put them to death. Tamar was
frustrated that Judah didn’t follow through on his obligation and promise to
give her his third son as a husband, and so she was left childless. Tamar had been wronged.
But her method of achieving the noble and wonderful goal of motherhood
left quite a bit to be desired. She took
advantage of Judah’s sinful nature, disguised herself as a prostitute, and
became pregnant by Judah. Both Judah and
Tamar failed to live out their sexuality as God intended. It’s all a terrible mess. But here’s the crazy thing. God did not approve of their sin. Nevertheless, He overcame their sin and gave
Tamar not just one child, but twins.
From one of them, Perez, the human lineage of the Messiah would
flow. Tamar too, along with Judah, is an
ancestor of Jesus our Savior.
The first human king of Israel, King Saul,
sought the blessing of the LORD before entering into battle. But Saul was impatient, and did not follow
God’s instruction to wait for Samuel the Prophet to come and make the offering
to the LORD. Saul sought a good thing,
the blessing of the LORD upon the armies of Israel. But he did not do things the way the LORD had
instructed. Even though Samuel had told
him to wait, Saul made the sacrifice himself, taking upon himself an office and
a task the LORD had not bestowed. Saul
showed his lack of faith, and the LORD withdrew His favor from him. He instead chose David, a man after God’s own
heart, to replace him on the throne of Israel.
Sadly, there seem to be far more examples of
God’s people pursuing good things in an ungodly way than there are of the
faithful pursuit of God’s blessings.
This is true in the Bible, and if you look around, in our lives as
well. And even still, despite what we
have earned again and again by our “do it my own way” approach to Christian
living, God does not and will not abandon His promises. Nor will God discard a good thing, just
because we sinners abuse it. God grant
that we trust His promises, and also grant that we arrange our daily lives in
keeping with His good plan and provision.
In our daily lives, we are free to pursue
good gifts, but always with the greater gifts first in our minds. Pursuing God’s good gifts, be they children
or a good living to support your family, or a fine bottle of wine to enjoy with
a special meal, such pursuit is good and right for Christians. But, we are called to pursue these good gifts
only in ways that are in keeping with God’s Way, His Order, His Plan.
A few examples: We rejoice to come to God’s house and be
treated kindly and graciously by our Good Shepherd. Violence and coercion are fruit of the Fall
into Sin. God is love, and, while He has
battled fiercely to defeat the power of Satan, He does not coerce us, or
mistreat us, despite what our sins deserve.
Then we are sent out to make our way in the world. If we who gather to receive the mercy of God
turn around during the week and speak harshly, deal cruelly, and make our way
by brutality and force of will, our witness is not Christian. Jesus said: They will know you are Christians
by your love. If instead to get by we seek
to dominate, and give scorn and insult, then who are we, really?
To pursue a good income, a good salary, but
to do so by working and dealing in a less than honest way, is an insult to God,
who placed His good name upon you in your Baptism.
To support your family by working hard, or
to seek some recreation together out in God’s creation, both of these are fine
and good. But not if work or play end up
keeping you or your loved ones away from the services of God’s house. For it is here, among God’s gathered people, that
God has promised to come and distribute His greatest gifts: forgiveness and new
life in Christ. Here is where God
invites you to approach His glory. A
rich earthly inheritance or a thousand vacation photos will mean nothing to you
or your loved ones, if in getting them you cut yourselves off from the
inheritance Christ has for you in God’s eternal glory.
And don’t get me started about Christians
who say they can just read their Bible at home, that they don’t need to be part
of a Christian congregation. Jesus makes
us members of His Body when He saves us, and the Body of Christ is the
Church. Obstacles may sometimes prevent
some Christians from regular Church attendance, others end up entirely unable
to attend. But other people stay away
because they find gathering with God’s people, (a bunch of sinners), to be distasteful
or tedious. They prefer to go it
alone. When I get the chance, I always
ask such people where in the Bible they heard God commending this idea of
“lone-wolf” Christianity. Spoiler alert,
it’s not in there.
Thinking our faith can survive just fine,
while we despise gathering with our local congregation, or while we live in an
un-Christian manner, these are dangerous ideas.
Such thinking and living can easily morph into an idol, a self-made
religion that twists God’s Truth, eventually twisting it into a lie that cuts
one off from Christ.
Oof.
Heavy stuff. Between all the bad
examples in Scripture and the frailty of us Christians today, it’s a good thing
we have the examples of Nathanael and Mary to bookend with Moses’ good example
that we started with. Because Nathanael
and Mary both help us understand how we are to seek God’s good and glorious gifts,
and also give us a window into the unrelenting will and drive of God to deliver
on His Promises.
I always wonder what Nathanael might have
been thinking about while he sat under that fig tree. His conversion is amazing. One moment he doubts anything good could come
from Nazareth, and the next he declares Jesus to be the Messiah and the Son of
God. And his conversion seems to be
triggered by a fairly minor miracle, that Jesus “saw” him under the fig
tree. Was there something about
Nathanael’s thoughts under that fig tree, some message from the Holy Spirit, which
prepared him for a sudden conversion to faith at Jesus’ words?
St. John doesn’t tell us. But Jesus does promise Nathanael much greater
visions of God’s glory, and takes him along to the wedding at Cana, where He
began to manifest, to reveal His glory, through the miracle of water made
wine. And Nathanael demonstrates how a
true Israelite, a true believer, lives: he follows Jesus. He accepts the simple invitation to “come and
see,” and then he follows Jesus. (BTW,
that’s not a bad outreach plan. We could
simply invite skeptical people to “come and see” Jesus, coming into our midst through
His Word and Sacrament, and then we can pray and encourage and trust that Jesus,
through His word, will make them His followers, new disciples.)
Finally, there’s Mary. Because she knows the great things the Lord
had done for her, she trusted in His goodness and power to help anyone with
anything. Her heart goes out to the
newlyweds at Cana, who will suffer public embarrassment if more wine is not quickly
found for their wedding banquet. She
does not tell her Son what to do, but simply presents the problem to Him, and
waits. Jesus, for some reason that would
require a whole other sermon, tells her the request is badly timed. But God loves to give, to help, and Mary
knows this. So she tells the servants,
literally the deacons, to do whatever Jesus tells them.
And what do we learn? First, God is love, and as His disciples, we
are free to ask Him for big things and small things, trusting that whatever
form His answer takes, it will be the best.
Jesus’ answer will be glorious, a little window into the future glory
that Jesus is preparing for all true Israelites, all His true believers, all His
Christians.
Second, in the day to day, we are wise to
listen to Mary and do what Jesus tells us to do, even if it seems foolish or
impossible. Fill six big jars to the
brim with water? Why? Stick with my husband or my wife, despite all
the challenges? Can there really be lasting
joy in marriage? Gather to hear some
feeble preacher speak God’s Word, and then kneel to eat and drink a bit of
stale bread and a sip of sweet wine? How
can that do anything? Dare to simply
invite people to “come and see Jesus?”
How could that ever make a difference?
These seemingly foolish things make all the difference. They are joyful and glorious, because through
them, Jesus chooses to manifest His glory.
Through them, Jesus draws our eyes up and away from our worries and foolish
pursuits, and fixes our eyes on the culmination of Jesus’ glorious ministry. Which, to our great surprise, was revealed on
a Roman Cross. High and lifted up, the
despised and dying Jesus was in truth finishing the way for us to access God’s
glory. And so, it is finished. In Christ crucified, eyes of faith can
finally see the face of God, loving sinners, unto forgiveness, resurrection,
and eternal life. In, with and under the
Bread and Wine, eyes of faith know that at this Table, Christ feeds us with the
Good News of His glorious forgiveness and salvation.
Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, is
the glory of Israel, the Promised descendent of Abraham, Sarah, Tamar, Judah
and King David. Look to Him, trust in
Him, follow His Word, day by day. And
the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting, Amen.
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