Pray, and Do Not Lose Heart

Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity, October 20^th, Year of Our + Lord 2013

St. John and Trinity Lutheran Churches, Fairview and Sidney, Montana

Pray, and Do Not Lose Heart – John 4:46-54

     I preached on this morning’s Gospel from John chapter 4 at the recent Pastors’ Conference in Missoula.  I was responsible for organizing the worship, and I self-assigned this text, to allow myself to prepare one sermon for two different occasions.  Pretty sneaky, huh? 

     The day before I preached on this text, I heard Pastor Nelson of Columbia Falls preach on a different text, on the parable of the Persistent Widow, from Luke 18.  You know that parable, the one where Jesus wanted to show His disciples that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart.  There was this widow with a grievance, and she just kept bringing it to the local judge.  He was a nasty fellow, fearing neither God nor respecting man.  He did not care to answer this woman’s complaint.  But, because she just kept pestering him, he decided that he would answer her prayer, he would give her the justice she demanded, just so her requests wouldn’t wear him out.  Jesus goes on to explain that, if this unrighteous judge gave justice to the widow who prayed without ceasing, how much more will God our righteous Father answer the prayers of His people.  So keep praying,  Jesus teaches, and don’t lose heart, no matter how much it seems God is not listening.  God will answer.  He will deliver you, and all His children.  

     Well, as I heard Pastor Nelson preach on the Persistent Widow, it occurred to me there were strong connections between that account from Luke 18 and my Gospel text, from John 4.  You know, all these connections between different books of the Bible are weird, almost as if the whole Bible has the same Author... but that’s another sermon.  So anyway, the theme of Luke 18 is amplified and exemplified in the reading before us this morning:  Pray, and do not lose heart. 

     As I did at the Pastors’ conference, this morning, I’m going to build on this theme a bit:  Keep praying, and don’t lose heart.  First, let’s dig a bit into the things that make us lose heart, or at least, things that make me lose heart.   

      The topic of our Pastors’ Conference was proclaiming the truth of God’s love for human life, from womb to tomb.  So I’ll start there.  It makes me lose heart that I am complicit in the murder of the unborn.  It gnaws at me that my tax dollars go to support the cause of those who actively seek to kill babies.  My tax dollars go to support the breaking of hearts, the hearts of women, mothers, who are lied to, told that the life inside them is just a clump of cells, and that ending a pregnancy is no big deal.  My tax dollars support death, through subsidies to Planned Parenthood and to embryonic stem cell research, and soon, under ‘health care’ reform, direct payments to doctors to cover the costs of abortions.  Like Herod the Great, who tried to kill Jesus by having all the baby boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem slain, our official government policy is to kill unwanted babies who may threaten our lifestyle.  And so my heart is brought low, because I live a very comfortable lifestyle, but have not done much to stop the state sponsorship of abortion.

     I lose heart, because people in my congregations, my members, souls God has put under my spiritual care, sometimes worship false gods, that threaten their eternities.  I know this is true, and yet I am afraid to name and condemn these idols.  Perhaps you’ll recognize some of these idols, common idols of our day, like the idol of casual sex and living together before marriage, a very popular idol, despite what God’s Word so clearly says.  Or there’s the idol of discrimination, which teaches us to despise and discriminate against other human beings because of their race, or their poverty.  

     Then there’s is the idol who teaches that Christians don’t really need to go to Church, that you can be a Christian just fine without gathering around God’s Word and Sacrament, even though the Scripture teaches us that it is in only from the Word and Sacrament that we can find the mercy we need.  And of course there is the idol of comfort and wealth and standing in the community, an idol which teaches us it’s fine to go to Church on Sunday, but don’t actually try to live as Christians Monday through Saturday, because our friends might think that’s weird.  There are so many idols that tempt us all, so many idols that I grow tired of confronting, or only want to confront indirectly, or better yet, pretend I’m too busy to notice.  It makes me lose heart.     

     I lose heart, because there are people I have opportunity to tell the Truth, about sin, about how God hates sin, and even more, the truth about God’s great work to overcome sin for us, so that we don’t have to be separated from Him, now, or in eternity.  God gives me many opportunities to speak of Christ and His Gospel, but too often I do not seize them.  I lose heart, and say nothing. 

     What threatens to make you lose heart?  Perhaps you lose heart because you pray, but don’t see results.  Perhaps you lose heart because your Church, the members of your Church, still reveal the same petty, sinful habits, hypocrisy, gossip, apathy and everything else, the same old sins that you’ve seen in them for thirty years or more.  Even more, perhaps you lose heart because just as soon as you notice those recurring sins in others, Satan reminds you of the sins that still plague you, including many of the ‘same old sins’ that you notice in others.      

     Jesus knew about all these failures, all these problems and sins that make me, that make us, lose heart.  Jesus knew about all these signs of unbelief that weigh on our hearts.  But for today Jesus sends us an even sharper problem to consider, an even stronger reason to lose heart – for their was an official, a  royal official, actually, probably a court official of King Herod.  And this royal official had a son, a son who was sick, very ill, at the very point of death.  

     All of  the things that make us lose heart are signs of the sin that permeates our world, and us.  And, because our sinful nature still loves sin, we are capable of pretending we don’t notice them, or simply pretending there is nothing we can do about them.  But, almost always, the threat of death in one of our children changes all that.  Having children is called procreation, that is, creating along with God.  There is nothing quite like being a mother or father.  Having children is the most visible, concrete God-like thing any of us are normally involved in.  As God loves humanity, so also we are hard-wired to love our children.  So, while other sins and problems may not cause us to do much, the threat of death to our child normally makes us desperate.  Death threatening a child will even make an atheist desperate enough to pray, the beginnings of faith, perhaps.  I myself am capable of doing nothing when I see the impact of sin in the lives of friends and members.  But if my son were suddenly at the point of death, you would see me act.   

     And so this royal official travels to find a wandering Jewish rabbi and begs Him for help.   For his trouble, Jesus insults the official:  Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.  But desperation can cause us to ignore insults and offenses.  The official, not losing heart, cries out again:  “Sir,” (well, actually ‘Lord’ is what he calls Jesus), “Lord, come down, before my child dies.”  “Don’t you get it, Lord!  My son is dying!”  A desperate prayer from the heart.

     His son was dying.  Whenever I hear of the death of a son, it always makes me think of one thing.  From Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah, to the death of the first born in Egypt, from David praying against the death his sin inflicted on his first son with Bathsheba, to the Widow at Zarepheth, cursing Elijah for the death of her son, dying sons always make me think of one thing.  The son of the royal official was dying, just as the Son of the King of the Universe would soon be dying, on a cross, for the sake of faith and the salvation of households. 

     I’m pretty sure that trying to psycho-analyze God is a mistake, but the anguish, the persistent, desperate, don’t-take-no-for-an-answer prayer of the royal official does make me wonder.  The official’s fatherly anguish makes me wonder a bit about the anguish of God the Father, as His only begotten Son died on the tree, under His own wrath against human sin.  God the Father punishing God the Son, the desperation of it is beyond comprehension.  It is something Jesus never tries to explain to us. 

     But what Jesus does want us to understand is that the son of the Royal Official was at the point of death, a death that Jesus could and did prevent.  However, in a few years, the Son, the Son of David, the Son of Man, the very Son of God, would die, by the predetermined will of His Father. 

     The Son did die.  And yet, miracle of miracles, the Father did not lose heart.  God did not lose heart, even when Jesus, God’s Son made man, died for the sins of the world.  God did not lose heart: in fact, the death of the Son reveals the Father’s heart.  For God is love, and love is this:  the Father sending the Son to die, in order to take away the sins of the world.  This love of God, revealed and delivered in the dying and rising of Jesus, washes away all sin.  The sin of abortion is forgiven by the blood of Jesus.  Whether you have had an abortion, or pressured your wife or girlfriend, even if you have made your living off the abortion industry, or simply sat idly by, ignoring the issue as millions die, all of our sins regarding abortion have been taken by Jesus to His Cross, and buried there.  So also our sins of idolatry, of gossip, of apathy, every sin that plagues you and plagues me, all forgiven, paid for, taken away, by Jesus.   

     There was a certain hour which came for the royal official, the seventh hour when the he heard Jesus make a promise, the same hour when death was turned away from his son.  So also, there was a certain hour for God the Father.  The hour came, the early morning hour when the Son of God rose, at just the right time, on the third day, the long foreshadowed third day, the day whose proclamation creates new hearts, hearts washed clean from all the heartbreaking failures that seek to drive us down into unbelief.  The Holy Spirit by the proclamation of the Cross and Empty Tomb creates new hearts in us, by the forgiveness of all our sins.  In the proclamation of the raising of the Son who died, we are given bold new hearts, which are by their new nature lifted to where Jesus is, hearts that rejoice and overflow with the new life we have by faith in Christ.    

     And so, for another day, we do not lose heart, but rather we pray, including prayers of thanksgiving and praise, prayers of supplication and intercession.  We pray, with new hearts, for the Son has died, and risen, for you, and for me.  Amen. 

Wedding Garments

Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, October 13^th, Year of Our + Lord 2013

Trinity and St. John Lutheran Churches, Sidney and Fairview, Montana

Wedding Garments – Matthew 22:1-14, Isaiah 55:1-9

     Nothing seizes one’s attention as fiercely as the proximity of death.  I had a plan for today’s sermon, an outline and a sure direction, and was in fact just sitting down to write it when my brother Bill called to tell me our brother Karl had died.   The very unexpected death of my oldest brother Karl seized my thoughts.  Amidst the shock and sadness another thought forced its way upon me.  While making phone calls and shedding tears, I realized, as God would have it, there was a different sermon I needed to write, the sermon that flows from the interaction of my brother’s death, and today’s parable. 

     For death is also in close proximity for Jesus, as He tells this parable, just a few days before He would go to the Cross.  And it seems, at least in my reading, that our Lord’s attention is very tightly focused.  It is Monday of Holy Week.  Just the previous day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, hailed as the new King David by the crowds.  Jesus rounds off His Palm Sunday with a little Temple cleansing, and some very pointed parables, told against the chief priests and Pharisees.  Now it is Monday, and these Jewish leaders are plotting how to arrest and kill Him without causing a riot.  At various times in His ministry Jesus taught about many different aspects of life, about family, and reconciliation in the Church, about charity and good works, and humility.  But at this moment, His death bearing down, Jesus focuses.  In His telling of the parable of the wedding banquet, Jesus focuses on the most fundamental question – who will  spend eternity feasting in the grace and glory of God’s eternal wedding banquet, and who will be cast out, into the outer darkness, that place of weeping, and gnashing of teeth?’

     There are many players in this drama, but the focus, as is normal in the kingdom of heaven parables, is on the actions, directions and words of God.  The King, the Father of the Son, prepares the banquet, slaughtering His oxen and fattened calves, or, if you prefer, sacrificing them, another meaning for the Greek word thuo.  Everything is ready: the servants have already delivered the invitations to the guests, the sacrifices are complete, the King even goes so far as to re-send the servants, to seemingly beg the invited guests to come to the best party in town.  But they are rebuffed.  For the invited guests are busy, distracted by work, by business, too busy to be bothered with the feast. 

     Jesus in these kingdom of heaven parables compresses all of salvation history into a few words, so we should not be surprised to see ourselves in them.  The immediate referent of Jesus’ description of the invited guests who refuse the King’s hospitality is certainly the people of Israel, who again and again spurned the Lord, His ways, and His prophets.  But we too, Christians living two millennia later, all too often behave the same way.  Can any of us truly say we have never ignored the invitations of our Lord to sit and dine and celebrate with Him, ignoring Him because we have “more important” things to do?  When Christians make a habit of declining the feasts of the Lord that He provides in this life, then the coming of death is much more troubling.  We may know he is baptized, and how he used to confess and exercise his faith, but we haven’t seen him in Church lately.  Such drifting away is a troubling thing to consider, when death comes.  Christians care about one another, and so when a brother or sister in Christ drifts away, we hurt too. 

     I struggled with something like this yesterday.  Not that I know my brother Karl wasn’t attending a Christian Church, but rather I simply don’t know if he was or wasn’t.  Karl was a bit of a hermit, rarely communicating with his brothers and sister.  I’m not much better.  If I weren’t married to Shelee, I’d be pretty hermit-like, too.  Karl and I got along fine, we just didn’t communicate much. 

     Karl was baptized, confirmed, and through the years, actively wrestled with faith.  But I don’t know what had been happening lately, an uncertainty which made yesterday even harder.  Don’t be a hermit.  Paul tells us we should, as much as it lies with us, be at peace with everyone.  I think for brothers to be at peace implies more communication than Karl and I could muster, so that knowledge and familiarity can drive out uncertainty, which is the enemy of peace.  I’m left with uncertainty because of our lack of communication, but that of course does not shorten God’s arm.  My knowledge of Karl’s faith is not the deciding thing, thanks be to God. 

     But, as with the invited guests in Jesus’ parable, sometimes people do leave the Church, and there’s no uncertainty.  That is an eternally frightening thing.  The Jews who killed the Lord’s prophets, and the priests and Pharisees who plotted Jesus death both come to mind.  They were called, invited guests to the Lord’s feasts, but they wanted their own glory, they preferred their own banquets.  Big mistake.  For there is only one everlasting feast, only one way to live happily ever after, and that is by taking a seat at the heavenly feast of God. 

     And, as Jesus goes on to tell us, everyone is invited.  The feast is prepared, the sacrifices have been made, and the King sends out His servants to bring in everyone, bad or good, no matter, go get ‘em, fill my table.  What, you don’t think your worthy to attend such a fine celebration?  You’re low class, lacking the proper clothes?  Well, that’s exactly right.  But come anyway.  Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  This King is so determined to have a full table at the wedding feast of His Son that He sends messengers to bring in anyone and everyone they can find.  The King even provides them with the necessary wedding clothes.   

     God has to do this of course, if He truly wants to have the wedding feast of His Son filled with guests.  God has to provide the wedding clothes, because no son of Adam has proper clothes for heaven.  All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.  Our sinful nakedness is plain to see before the judgment seat of heaven.  Not one of us deserves a seat at God’s eternal feast.  But God has prepared His sacrifice, the death that takes away our unworthiness.  God has given His very Son to take away our sins, paying the price in suffering we deserve, on His Cross.  The feast is truly prepared, by the death and resurrection of Jesus.  So, come, join the feast, marvel at the wedding clothes God has prepared for you, and, wearing them, rejoice that you have a seat at God’s eternal table. 

     How do you wear these wedding garments?  What are these wedding garments?  Good questions, especially since the King will be making an inspection of His guests.  ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’  We do not want to hear those words.  Anyone found trying to wear his own clothes will be cast out.  The wedding garments are the righteousness of Christ, which He gives to you by faith.  Your sins make you dirty, unfit for the Kingdom of heaven.  But Christ’s perfect righteousness, both His sinless life of service, and His sacrificial death, are His gift to you, given to you first in your Baptism, a gift renewed and restored whenever you hear the Word of forgiveness. 

     To try and enter the feast in your own clothes is to trust in your own righteousness, to trust in your own goodness, that you have somehow overcome your own sins and earned your seat at God’s table.  This is impossible.  This is not tolerated by God, the King.  Only clothed in the righteousness of Christ, only by wearing the garments of baptismal faith, can you take the seat God offers you. 

     This is the invitation that God sends His servants out to deliver on the main roads, out in the world.  Sadly, as with the original invited guests, so also today:  the invitation is often not well received.  No one wants to be told their own goodness is worthless, that all their righteous deeds are as filthy rags.  But it is true, and only when we despair of earning God’s favor are we ready to receive the death and resurrection of Jesus as Good News.  Until we sinners know our need, the Cross is an insult and an embarrassment.  But once we know the outer darkness our sinfulness has earned, then we are eager to wear the wedding garments, the free gift of forgiveness. 

     So, to go out and seek more people for God’s wedding feast must include thankless work of pointing out human sin.  Not just to unbelievers, but also to believers, for unbelief clings to us all in this life.  Unbelief clings, but God’s wedding garments cover all sin.  So rejoice, and come to the wedding feast. 

     Three final thoughts.  First, that last line of the parable might be troubling you:  “For many are called, but few are chosen.”  Sounds scary.  Sounds like uncertainty may be inescapable.  But only if we ignore the rest of the parable.  The King, that is God, invites all to the wedding feast, that is, to come into His heavenly kingdom.  The “unchosen” one, the one who is cast out, is the one who tried to take his seat, without wearing the gifted wedding garments.  You are baptized into Christ.  Cling to, believe in, celebrate this mysterious, wonderful gift of righteousness given to you through the washing of water and the Word, and then relax.  You are not nor will you be secretly “unchosen,” for God has baptized you publicly.  He won’t go back on His Word, you can trust it – in your Baptism you were clothed in Christ.  He is your wedding garment. 

     Second, you may be worried because you are still a sinner, and all too regularly stain your baptismal garment.  You should be worried.  It is the great shame of Christians that we are still such sinners.  Repent.  Amend your ways.  But even more, come, come and wash your robes in the blood of the Lamb, make them white as snow again, and again.  Your faith makes you want to stop sinning, and you should strive to live without sin.  But your remaining sinful nature means you will not conquer sin in this life.  However, by confessing your sins, receiving the absolution, and kneeling to eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ, given and shed to forgive you, Christ make your robes white again, and again, until that day when Jesus will separate you from sin forever. 

     Third, you may be doubting that simple water, bread and wine can do such great things.  Sadly, there are many Christians who deny and argue endlessly that anything real happens in Baptism and the Supper.  Well, water, bread and wine do not do great deeds.  But God, by combining them with His Word, can and does do whatever He promises.  Remember what He said through Isaiah:  My thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways.  God is not bound by what makes sense to us, but He has bound Himself to His Word.  And His Word most  certainly promises that Baptism is your death and resurrection with Jesus, that in Baptism you received forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit, and that Baptism now saves you.  The Lord has also promised that His Supper is a communion, a participation in His Body and Blood, given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.   The Lord’s Supper is like the rehearsal dinner for the heavenly wedding banquet, but one at which the Host never tires of cleaning up your stained wedding garments, once again.  To keep you in forgiveness is God’s great joy in this world.  You too can rejoice, and rest, in this Good News, until the day you die, and then live again, in Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Forgiveness - Afterthought, or the Heart of the Matter?

Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 6^th, Year of Our + Lord 2013

St. John and Trinity Lutheran Churches, Fairview and Sidney, Montana

Genesis 28:10-17, Ephesians 4:17-32, Matthew 9:1-8

   

     What place, exactly, does forgiveness hold, in the Church, in the life of the Christian?  What is the role of forgiveness in the ongoing mission of God?  This may seem an obvious question to you.  Or perhaps, as you live your life, and think about being a Christian, and hear Christians talk about the faith, the place of forgiveness may not be so clear.  Our readings today invite us to consider forgiveness closely, so let’s do that. 

     As we drove out and back to Chicago last week, we listened to a bit of Christian radio, but we didn’t hear much about forgiveness.  One speaker explained in great detail the teaching of purgatory, how God uses purgatory to perfect Christians who, while they did not reject God in this life, in the end fell short of the perfect love that God requires of everyone.  It was a perfectly reasonable explanation of a completely false teaching, the only thing missing being any Biblical evidence to support the teaching.  Forgiveness, in the false purgatorial scheme, is ultimately unimportant, as you will have to work off your imperfections in purgatory, regardless of what the Bible says about the blood of Jesus cleansing you from all sin. 

     Several other programs were all about you learning how to properly handle your money, how to be a good steward, avoid debt, and  have lots of money for your family and for your church.  I didn’t hear anyone claim that proper money management would earn you heaven, but given the frequency of these programs on Christian radio, being a good money manager must be the center of  the lives of many Christians.  Pay off your debts, live economically, give to your church, be a good financial steward, noble goals all, but where does forgiveness fit in? 

     Another common Christian radio theme is Israel.  Not the New Israel, the New Testament Church of Christ.  Nor Old Israel, that is, not the Old Testament people of God.  No, the Israel most often discussed on Christian radio is the 60 some year old modern state of Israel, the support of which is critically important in the minds of many American Christians.  Now, I support supporting Israel, because they are a modern, law-abiding, democratic nation sitting in the middle of the Middle East, where radical Islam menaces.  Radical Islam is a real danger to America, and the world, and especially to Christians.  Good is served whenever constitutional law and true democracy flourish, so I think we should maintain strong ties to modern Israel.  But modern Israel has nothing to do with Christian faith.  Paul did not write an Epistle to the United Nations.  The Scriptural basis given for the claims that the End will not come unless modern Christians support modern Israel is flimsy, wrongheaded, and certainly does not focus our attention on the question of forgiveness. 

     It would seem, from what plays on Christian radio, and also, I’m pretty certain, on Christian T.V., that forgiveness is not a particularly central idea in Christianity.  Indeed, even when forgiveness is discussed, the forgiveness of God for sinners is often brushed by quickly, often replaced on center stage with learning to forgive yourself, whatever that means.  I can never seem to find the Bible verse that teaches us to forgive ourselves.  No matter, after a break, we’ll get right back to helping you straighten out your finances, so you can send more money to support modern Israel, or perhaps buy your Aunt Bessie out of purgatory, because you know she must have received a lengthy sentence.

     The forgiveness of God delivered to sinners today is a very infrequent subject of conversation amongst many Christian teachers.  But there is another subject even less frequently brought up – the real presence of God, on earth, both throughout time, and also today.   That God is present is often acknowledged, but in an airy, “spiritual” sense, a “spiritual” sense that gives off a strong whiff of unreality, of a feeling that can’t be tied down or relied upon in any concrete manner.  “Let the Spirit speak to you, and feel His indwelling;” such is the common exhortation of preachers.  But how exactly, should the indwelling of the Spirit feel?  And how do I “let” Him do anything, since the Holy Spirit is Almighty God, and I am, well, just me? 

     Jacob got a glimpse, an understanding of the real presence of God, through the vision God gave him while he slept.  After seeing the ladder stretching into heaven, upon which angels descended and ascended, after hearing the Word of the Lord, spoken to him by the Lord, standing next to him, on the earth, after hearing the lavish promises of a Seed to come who would be a blessing to all of Jacob’s vast family, and also a blessing to every family on earth, Jacob wakes and exclaims:  "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."  And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."  Jacob suddenly understood that, at least in that place, God was truly present, even though he could not normally perceive it.  Jacob believed in the real presence of God, and he was afraid. 

     Why?  Why did the real presence of God frighten Jacob?  After all, the Lord made wonderful promises to him; why was Jacob not simply overcome with joy?  Could it be that the real presence of the Holy, Holy, Holy God is always a frightful thing, if you realize that you are a sinner?  Of course it is.  Adam and Eve knew, right away after they sinned, that they needed to hide from God.  God wanted them in His presence, but their sin made that dangerous, from their perspective, impossible, for they were now sinners, and God is by His very nature the destruction of sin. 

     We are all sinners.  And God is truly present, even more for us than for Jacob.  God appeared in a dream to Jacob, but He has promised to be in your midst, every time two or three of you gather in His Name.  God the Holy Spirit has poured Himself into you in your Baptism, and speaks through me, and you, whenever we speak His Holy Word.  God the Son has joined Himself to you, and you to Him.  In your Baptism, you were clothed with Christ.  The Temple of God is the Church of Christ, a house of living stones, in which God makes His dwelling.  Whether you realize it or not, God is truly present. 

     And so, paradoxically, we face a great temptation to ignore the forgiveness of sins, even though it is quite clearly the heart of the matter in everything Christian.  Why?  Why are Christians tempted to talk about anything but forgiveness?  Why are we tempted to make good works, or music, or financial planning, or potlucks, or anything at all the center of our Christian conversation, rather than talk too much about forgiveness?  Because to get to forgiveness, first we must confess our sin.  And if God is truly present, or even if we think He might be present, we in our brokenness fear saying out loud the truth about our sins, about our sinfulness.  Much easier to assume that everyone knows about all that sin and grace stuff, and move on to talk about the Christian life, or to talk about made up teachings concerning the end times, or the time after death, anything at all, rather than honestly speak of the reality of our sin. 

     When we succumb to this temptation, Satan has us in his tentacles.  There is nothing more frightful or dangerous for a believer than to pretend sin isn’t an issue for me, as I enter into the presence of God.  Go ahead, whispers the Serpent, go to Church, go to your prayers, and say nice things about God and yourself.  Talk about how much good we can do, how much good we are doing.  No one has to know what a sinner you really are. 

     But God already knows.  The Holy, Holy, Holy, Almighty God, who hates sin, is coming to reveal His true presence in your midst, and He already knows all about your sin.  We are experts at hiding our sin from one another, but woe is me if I really think I can hide my sin from God.  God is present, and I’m a sinner.  Yes, I’m afraid.  Better to be afraid than a hypocrite, so I confess, yes, many times I’m so afraid, I can’t even drag myself to meet God.  Sometimes it has to wait till I’m paralyzed by sin and its consequences, unable to get to God, so pitiful that my hopeful friends drag me to Him. 

     Such was the plight of the paralytic in our reading from Matthew, a man brought to Jesus by his friends, literally carried into the presence God, whether he realized it or not.  And what did the Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, the Son of God made man, have to say to this pitiful sinner?  Did He say, Here, let me give you some exercises to strengthen your legs?  Here, let me teach you to balance your budget?  Here, let me work out for you how much and how long you must work to earn forgiveness in purgatory?  Here, let me show you how to really be a Christian?  No, Jesus is no radio preacher, He doesn’t say any such thing to the paralytic.  Jesus cuts right to the heart of the matter:  Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. 

     Wait a minute.  Who among us has not, at some point, cried out: wait a minute God, it can’t be that easy.  You are holy, and you have all these laws, and that guy, maybe not this guy, but certainly that guy is clearly a sinner.  What flesh and blood man can speak for God and forgive sins, just like that, real sins, like the real sins that I’m hiding in my conscience, afraid to speak out loud?  Jesus is blaspheming. 

     No, says Jesus, I’m not blaspheming, and neither are those who go forth, declaring the forgiveness of sins in my Name.  You see, says Jesus, I AM the Lord, the Almighty God, the hater of sin, coming into your midst.  Oh sinners, I am coming into your presence, but fear not.  Yes, I hate sin, but I love you more.  So does my Father.  So great and eternal and perfect is the love of God for mankind that I am come into your midst, to take your sin from you.  I will make this paralytic walk today, to prove a point, says Jesus, but the real business I have come to complete is much greater.  I am come into your midst, to destroy your sin, in my own flesh and blood.  This is the heart of the matter, my sons and daughters.  So take heart, your sins are forgiven by my Father, for the sake of my suffering and death.  And now, risen from the dead, death has no power over me, nothing has any power over me.  I am free, declares Jesus, free to forgive and restore every sinner. 

     God is in this place.  He has promised, and so it is true.  God is present, not because we are so worthy, but precisely because we are not worthy.  God is in this place, to confront sinners, and forgive them.  The Lord has given this authority to His Church, to the Body of Believers.  When someone comes to you, confessing they have sinned against you, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  Forgive each other, in the Name of Jesus.  The Lord has given this authority to His Church, and given the Church the office of the ministry to publicly deliver this same forgiveness.  The forgiveness I declare, the Absolution I speak, is not my Word.  It’s not based in my authority or virtue, but solely on the Authority, Virtue, and Word of Christ. 

     Flowing from forgiveness, the Christian Church and the Christian’s life are full of many things, like fleeing from sin and living as Christians.  Put off your old self, … corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds.  Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.   Christian living is full also of helpful, practical things, like good works done for the neighbor, maybe even the good work of giving practical advice for living, certainly good works like consoling the sad and sick, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. 

     But apart from forgiveness, the Church is an empty shell, no matter how pretty or powerful or useful she may appear.  In the Church, everything is to be focused on the delivery, day by day, of the forgiveness Christ has won for all, forgiveness delivered to you, through His Word and Sacrament. 

     And so, sons and daughters of God, take heart, God is truly present in this place, and your sins are forgiven, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.