Tenth Sunday after Trinity
August 4th, Year of
Our + Lord 2024
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Visitation – Luke 19:41 - 48
Sermon Audio available here.
O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem! If
only you had known the things that make for peace! But “you did not
know the time of your visitation."
Visitation.
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘visitation?’ Does the
thought of being visited fill you
with joy, or apprehension? Depends on
the visitor, I suppose. Well, this
morning I need to tell you that visitation is central to the life of Christ’s
Church. In an important sense, it is the life of the Church. So, we should talk about it.
Visitation is not always popular among
Christians, members and pastors alike.
This is probably because visitation is misunderstood, taken to be an
examination or an interrogation, instead of being received as a blessing. Or, perhaps visitation is not overwhelmingly
popular in the Church because it is
understood, all too well.
As is so often the case, seeking
understanding means going back to Genesis.
The first recorded Godly visitation comes in chapter 3. Unless you count God forming the dust and
breathing life into the man, then taking his rib and making for him the perfect
helpmeet. If we don’t count the actual
creation of the man and the woman, then the first recorded Godly visitation
comes in Genesis 3:8-9. [The man and
the woman] heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But
the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Sad to say, ever since that dark day, this
moment, immediately after the Fall, has mostly formed our attitude toward
visitation. Whether we speak of
visitation as any authority figure coming to see you, like the tax assessor, or
a pastor meeting with the members of his congregation, or the LORD God Himself visiting
His people, we often don’t like visitation because we feel like we have
something to hide.
Which
of course is true. True for me, as much
as for you. I have been blessed with
good District Presidents and Mission Region Directors during my almost 20 years
of ministry. And yet, when one of them
shows up in the pew on a Sunday, whether announced or unannounced, I tend to
worry about what warts he might see. In
theory, I want to receive honest, faithful feedback on how we conduct the
service, and about my preaching and teaching, for the good of the Gospel. In theory, I’m pro-visitation. In reality, I’m not always so enthused.
Visits by pastors sometimes create the same
feelings in members, or so I’ve heard. Which
is troubling for every pastor I have ever known. Supposedly there are pastors out there who
sneak around trying to find out the deep, dark secrets of their members. They are said to make visits, but only to
point out their people’s sin and error, and condemn them. I have yet to meet this mythical clerical
beast. Visiting to condemn is what the
serpent did in the garden; it is not what Christians are to do.
Not to say that sin never gets revealed and
confronted. Regardless of the reason for
a visit or a meeting, if in the course of conversation between Christians
something plainly unfaithful or untrue comes to light, it should be
confronted. Whether the sin is revealed
in the member or the pastor, Christian love says that, with gentleness and
respect, we call a thing what it is, and seek to let Christ’s truth correct and
forgive.
I’d like to make more visits. Concerning the visits that we have benn able
to do, I
don’t think they’ve gone too badly.
But of course, your mileage may vary.
But it is certainly challenging to visit, even just logistically. Some of the difficulty of pastoral visitation
comes from the way we live today, scattered all over the place, and from the
fullness of our schedules.
Visitation does not easily occur in the
rhythm and geography of life in the 21st century. More and more our days are overly busy, and
we treat our homes as fortresses of solitude, instead of places of
hospitality. We Americans less and less
welcome visitors of any type into our homes, certainly not as much as
generations past. Maybe, if I were a
McGas deliveryman on the side, and so I just showed up at your homes on a
regular basis with your propane, maybe then pastoral visitation would be easier
to achieve.
In days gone by, without T.V., internet, and
especially if we go way back, before radio and newspapers, back then, a visit
by anyone, even the preacher, was likely to be welcomed. It would even easier if we lived in a
medieval village, if I were the only pastor at the only church, and we mostly
only spent time in town, or nearby, since walking was our only mode of
transport. But this is not our reality,
and I don’t think it’s coming back.
More importantly, all these challenges of
pastoral visitation in a Christian congregation are downstream of the real
problem. Too often we don’t want God’s visitation, and so we also don’t
want visits by anyone whom we associate
with God, whether another believer, or a minister. Sometimes we don’t want God’s visitation,
because, like Adam and Eve, we know our guilt and don’t want to be confronted. Or perhaps we pretend not
to know our guilt, but we still resent God visiting. Perhaps we think, mistakenly, that the things
God would like to see in our lives aren’t as good or as enjoyable as the things
we prefer.
This was certainly the problem in Jerusalem
in the Year of Our Lord 33. Jesus had
been busily visiting His people for three years. Those in need of healing or looking for
better teaching than what was on offer from the scribes and Pharisees welcomed
Jesus, at least for a while. But those
who had convinced themselves of their own holiness didn’t want anything to do
with this new teacher from Nazareth.
They rejected Christ’s visitation, precisely because, using the ancient
teaching of God contained in their Hebrew Bible, Jesus again and again poked
holes in their carefully cultivated self-righteousness.
This was the problem in 33 A+D, and it is
still a big problem today. While Shelee
and I were in Spain, we found that many, maybe most Spaniards wanted to run
away from the Roman Church, and given their history, it was somewhat
understandable. But instead of rejecting
errors in the dominant church body, and then looking for another more faithful
church to belong to, most Spaniards were all too happy to paint all Christian
churches with the same brush, and reject them all. Similar trends are obvious in the U.S.
today. Every congregation and church
body has its particular weaknesses and sins.
Such failures are widely used as an excuse to reject God and His Church
and His Word, altogether.
But, no matter how many “COEXIST” bumper
stickers we put on our cars, no matter how fervently we try to “just get along,
without God,” rejecting the Prince of Peace is not what makes for peace, not
today, and certainly not in eternity.
Of all the visitors ever, God is the most
misunderstood and the most commonly rejected.
It’s true that right and wrong, and the guilt that being wrong brings, all
these flow from the reality of God’s justice.
So, it is easy to imagine that God is nothing but a killjoy at best, or
a vengeful tyrant at worst. But, despite
the fact that He hates sin, God does not seek to visit us in order to punish
and restrict us. So, what is visitation
really about? Visitation is about God
coming to us, to bless us, care for us, and enjoy being with us. We can understand the fear of Adam and Eve,
trying to hide their sin with fig leaves.
But did the LORD destroy them?
No. He confronted their sin, in
order to save them from themselves, and show them the way to reconciliation and
restoration.
We can see this merciful heart of God in
Jesus crying out to Jerusalem and her citizens, “Would that you, even you,
had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden
from your eyes.” The very promise of
the Seed of the Woman, from Genesis 3:15, the Promised Savior who would crush
the head of the serpent, this One was visibly walking on the earth. Sadly, even God’s chosen people were mostly too
proud or too afraid to welcome Him.
Still, Jesus did not abandon them to their
fate. Jesus did not condemn them to
hell. Jesus did not come as an Inspector
General, eager to reveal and punish every error. No, the Son of Man came not to condemn, but
to save. He came not to be feared, nor
even to be served, but rather to take away our fear, by His service, which was the
ultimate goal of His Visitation. He came
to serve, by giving His life as a ransom for many.
Certainly, Jesus revealed sin and unbelief
in His ministry. And then He took all
that evil into His own body, and carried it to the Cross, to destroy it,
forever. Which He has done. Mission accomplished. It is finished. This Good News is why we should all be able
to visit one another without nervousness or fear: our eternal victory is
guaranteed. Our debt, all the debt of all
sin is paid, 100%. The struggle between
God and Satan for the souls of mankind is over, and Christ has conquered, for
us.
Now, we are all
still sinners. So, might a visit from
the District President, or by a brother or sister in Christ, or from pastor,
might visitation amongst Christians force us to admit our shortcomings, to
confess and seek to amend the sin in our lives?
Yes, of course. And God be
praised. We can deal with this, because
of the Good News of free forgiveness for repentant sinners: in Christ Jesus,
all our sins are washed away. The only
thing we have to fear is denying or hiding or hanging on to our sins. Godly visitation helps set us free from such
self-defeating habits.
Thankfully, visitation is not only, not even
mostly about confronting and correcting sin.
Visitation is about the fullness of joy, about life together. It is about training for heaven, when all the
faithful will live in close quarters, enjoying perfect joy and harmony. Visitation does deal in repentance and
forgiveness, but always for the goal of peace and rejoicing. Visitation is also about bearing one
another’s burdens, and celebrating each other’s joys. Visitation is about daring to open our hearts
and our lives to each other, because Jesus has opened His heart, and has shared
His perfect, glorious and forgiving life with us.
Visiting each other in our daily lives is a
great thing, a great fruit of our life together as a congregation. And yet, the center and hub of Christian
visitation is always what we are doing, right here, right now. We are more than 2 or 3, gathered in the Name
of Jesus, and so capital “V” visitation is happening. We are more than 2 or 3, hearing and
receiving and praising Jesus. And so, as
He promised, Christ is here. Capital “V”
visitation can happen anywhere, but it most assuredly and predictably happens
when God’s people gather to hear, recite, pray and sing God’s Word.
In the proclaimed Word, the Holy Spirit is
always present. And here at this altar,
God visits us, in a mystery of love.
Christ is both host and meal, giving Himself for our good, and for the
life of the world. His crucified and
resurrected flesh and blood, in, with, and under the bread and the wine, this
is the highest Visitation. And, like all
Godly visitation, this Visitation Supper is for the forgiveness of all your
sins, to give you peace and joy by connecting you more closely to your Savior, and
to strengthen you in Christian love.
With pulpit and altar as the hub, God continues to visit the world, including
through you, through His Church, sent back into the world as image-bearers of
God, prepared to tell forth His excellencies, after we’ve received this good
visit from Him.
Jesus was heartbroken, because His own
people were ignorant of His visitation.
He knew the calamity that was coming upon them, in particular the coming
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, that would happen in 70 A.+ D. We all know a bit of this pain. We have all watched someone we love pursue a
path that we know will end in heartache, or worse. We know a better way, and have prayed and
tried to encourage wayward souls to follow Christ, to walk on the trail He has
blazed for us. This is one of the
greatest crosses to be borne by the Christian, as loved ones reject the One who
truly makes for peace.
Jesus was heartbroken over Jerusalem, but
He did not give up hope. He did not
abandon His task. He continued on,
winning peace with God for all people, through His Cross. So also, since Jesus is risen from the dead, we
do not give up hope. Our task is
infinitely easier. Peace and forgiveness
and eternal blessing have already been won.
Our task is simply to show forth our hope. So we gather to be cleansed, fed and
renewed. So also, we hear God’s Word
through the week. We seek to grow in our
understanding, for ourselves, and so we will be prepared to tell another the reason
for our hope.
As Zechariah sang, God has visited His
people and redeemed them. Rest and revel
in this marvelous Good News, and God will use you in His ongoing Visitation, as
He carries His peace to the ends of the earth, in Jesus Name, Amen.
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