Can You See the Love? - Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday

Quinquagesima
The Sunday 50 Days before the Resurrection
February 11^th, Year of Our + Lord 2024
Can You See the Love?  
1^st Samuel 16:1-13, 1^st Corinthians 13:1-13, Luke 18:31-43
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD

Audio of this sermon is available HERE.

   Can you see the love today?  I know, that sounds a lot like a certain Disney movie anthem, but I am not talking about “The Lion King.”  Rather, I have in mind the Lion of Judah.  And my question is not “Can you feel the love?,” but rather “Can you see the love?”  This vision question flows from the readings set before our eyes this Quinquagesima Sunday.  Which is a little strange, since “Faith Alone” is the traditional theme of this Sunday before Ash Wednesday, this 50^th day before Easter.  Faith, which grows from the Word implanted in our ear (James 1), enables us to live “not by sight” (2^nd Corinthians 5).  And yet faith is also a matter of sight, for I was blind, but now I see.   

   Godly vision, or better, God-given vision, is an important idea in our readings this morning.  Faith is, truly, all about “seeing the love,” truly perceiving what love is and from whence it flows.  Which is ironic, since in Hebrews chapter 11 faith is also defined as the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen.  And so we see that the Holy Spirit and His human co-authors never tie themselves down too tightly to any particular metaphor.   As when Paul, who famously declared that faith comes by hearing (Romans 10), also offers this prayer for his beloved Ephesians: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling.  (Ephesians 1)

   The 1980s singer Bonnie Tyler crooned about a “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” a rock-ballad which mourns being battered by the vagaries of human love.  It’s pretty deep for a pop song.  But, St. Paul’s “enlightened eyes of the heart” rises to an entirely different level.  It is not about fallen “eros,” the romantic love we are so inclined toward.  Rather “enlightened eyes of the heart” is about “seeing” divine love, agape love, the love of God which is unconditional.  Agape means God loves you in spite of you, and He won’t stop loving you.  Can you see it?  This is Paul’s prayer.  Indeed, with “enlightened eyes of the heart,” Paul coins a poetic and original description of faith. 

   Now, if you are suspicious of the idea of “seeing the love,” you are not a fool.  God warns us in His Word, again and again, not to confuse seeing with believing.  Like when Samuel was sent by the LORD to Bethlehem to anoint a new king from among the sons of Jesse. 

   As soon as he laid eyes on Jesse’s eldest son, tall, handsome, impressive Eliab, Samuel assumed this was the one the LORD had chosen.  Even his name was terrific, and faithful: Eliab.  Eliab  means “God is my father.”  It was plain to see that Eliab was God’s choice for the new king. 

   But no.  The Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  Samuel examines all seven sons that Jesse brought before him, but none of them looked good to God.  Then little David, Jesse’s after-thought, youngest son, was finally called in from watching over the sheep in the field, and the Lord saw His chosen, His anointed.  The new king for God’s people Israel.  Now David, as is often the case with that name, David was a good-looking kid.  But the LORD didn’t and doesn’t care for outward beauty.  Rather, He looked into David’s heart and saw a faithful Israelite, a true believer in YHWH, the LORD God of Israel.  The Lord even described David as “a man after my own heart.”  (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22)  High praise, indeed. 

    Speaking of hearts, and eyes, we heard that David had beautiful eyes.  I wonder if the Holy Spirit is speaking of David’s literal eyes, his organs of physical sight?  Or, looking forward to the turn of phrase He would give St. Paul a millennium later, might the Spirit already have been thinking of the beautiful eyes of David’s heart?  Yet another question for us to ask when we arrive in glory.    

   As far as we know, the Twelve Disciples had 24 fully functional eyes.  But their vision was dim.  As they are making their final journey to Jerusalem with Jesus, He tells them, for the 3^rd time, what was about to happen: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.  

    ³² For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. ³³ And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 

   Jesus speaks clear words about Good Friday, about His suffering and death, and about His Resurrection on the third day.  But the Twelve cannot grasp it.  The words are hidden from them; they just can’t see it. 

   The idea of Jesus being tortured and killed by the Gentiles, that is, by the Roman overlords of the Jews, well, this is too horrible even to imagine in their mind’s eye.  They certainly couldn’t see the mystery, that Jesus was actually describing love, God’s agape, His unconditional, overwhelming love, revealed in the death of the Son of Man.  The Twelve can only hear of horror, and avert their eyes. 

   But, the blind beggar can see it.  Bartimaeus can see the love.  We know from Mark’s Gospel that Bartimaeus is the blind man’s name.  When Bartimaeus hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, he recognizes his opportunity and seizes it.  Even though he was blind, the eyes of his heart are open to see, to know, to trust that this Jesus is the Son of Man, and the Son of David.  He is the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ of God, sent to reclaim the throne of King David and reign over God’s chosen people, forever and ever. 

   Somehow, the blind beggar could see what the disciples and crowds could not:  Jesus has come, in mercy, for him, to rescue Bartimaeus, and every other poor, broken, downtrodden soul.  Jesus has come, to pour out the love of God for all people.  Seeing this, Bartimaeus does not protest against the Way that Jesus will save.  He simply knows he can cry out to Him for rescue, for mercy, no matter his problem.  No struggle, no disability, no sin is too big, or too small, to present before the Son of David.  So Bartimaeus cries out, he shouts his prayer:  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And he won’t stop. 

   The crowd following Jesus tries to shut him up.  Don’t bother the Master.  He doesn’t have time to see you.  He has more important things to do, like fulfilling our vision of what God’s Savior will do for us.  Most people who saw Jesus’ mighty works and heard His teaching were blind to His mysterious vision quest.  For the Son of Man had come to save sinners, by becoming “The Sinner.”  The crowd was blind, just like the Twelve.  I mean, how could one so wise, so powerful, able to heal the sick, raise the dead, and feed thousands from just a few loaves of bread, how could He suffer?  How could He lose in a struggle with the Romans?  How could He die? 

   Surely, they thought, Jesus will lead us from victory to victory, until we once again rule our own land, and are mighty and great, like Israel was under King David, and King Solomon.  Their lying eyes had blinded them to the facts.  The kingdom was indeed great under these men.  But David was beloved by God for His faithful heart, not his military victories.  Solomon’s wisdom was not his great wealth and power, but rather it was to fear the Lord, and trust in Him only.              

   We all want love.  And that’s good and right.  Our problem is that our eyes think they see true love in all the wrong places.

   The love of money will leave you spiritually bankrupt, because money and things cannot love you back.  Rather, if you love your wealth too much, it will consume you. 

   We often think we can gain the love and admiration of our peers, our family and friends, by impressing them, or by buying their affection. But purchased love is not true brotherly love.  When you fail to impress, or run out of money, such purchased love is revealed to be bitter and traitorous. 

   The quest for eros, romantic love, by the young, or the young at heart, is a God-given desire, part of His plan for us to multiply and fill the earth.  But if we receive our husband or wife, or someone other than our husband or wife, if we receive a partner as a means to the end of selfish pleasure, we are likely to see the bitter pain of break-up, of divorce.  But when, by God’s grace, we see our spouse as a gift from God, first, last and always, a gift given us to love and cherish, come what may, well, then things are looking up.  Then we have the promise of seeing long and good days.  Such Godly marital love will draw us closer together by drawing us closer to Christ.    

   Jesus sees you and me like this.  His eyes are always on His Beloved, His Bride, which is collectively the whole Church.  Blind to our many faults and betrayals, Jesus has poured out His love unconditionally, no holding back, in order to love and cherish us, today, and forever and ever.  Can you see the love, the agape love of Jesus, willingly sacrificing Himself, for you? 

   And so faith, hope and love, these three, abide.  They endure forever.  And the greatest of these is love.  Not just any love, but rather the agape, divine, unconditional, freely-given love of God, revealed in the Cross of Jesus.  Agape love is the greatest, because God, who is greater than all, is love.  (1 John 4)

   Biblical faith, true, saving faith, is to see that the very thing that was unthinkable for the Twelve, is actually the highest love.  This is love: that the Son of Man has suffered at the hands of sinful men.  Even more, He died under His Father’s wrath against human sin, taking it all upon Himself, in order to set us free from our sin, and have us as His very own, forgiven, declared righteous, beautiful in His eyes, today, and forever and ever, Amen.  See His love, for you.

   Today, for a time yet, we must see with our ears, praying that the eyes of our hearts be ever focused on the sure and certain Hope that is Jesus, risen from the dead and ascended on high, for you.  And one day soon, we will see the Son of David face to face.  Seeing Him at the Father’s right hand, faith will turn into eternal knowledge, hope will be fulfilled in the glory of God, and we will fully enjoy the love of God, moment by moment, and forever and ever.  

   For now, we cry out:  Jesus, Son of David, give us eyes of faith to see your love, tongues to sing your praises, and feet to follow you, come what may.   Amen.   

 

Relief from a Self-Inflicted Famine - Sermon for Sexagesima Sunday, February 4, A+D 2024

Sexagesima Sunday, February 4^th, Year of Our + Lord 2024
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
Relief from a Self-Inflicted Famine
Isaiah 55, Hebrews 4, Luke 8

Audio of sermon available HERE.

   Hear the Word of the Lord from the prophet Amos, chapter 8:“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.  ¹² They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.  (Amos 8:11-12)

    The Word of the Lord appointed for us today is all about the Word of the Lord.  Today is Sexagesima Sunday, the 2^nd Sunday before Ash Wednesday, and “Sola Scriptura,” Scripture Alone, is our theme.  The salvation of God flows from His grace alone, as we discussed last week, only because He is kindly disposed toward us, not because of any merit or worthiness in us.  And this “by Grace Alone” salvation gift is defined and revealed and delivered to us by Scripture, God’s Word, Alone. 

   God chooses to work His rescue through His Word.  The Holy Scripture, the Holy Writing that we most commonly call the Bible, is the sole norm and source of Christian teaching.  When we gather and hear the Word of the Bible, Jesus promises that we hear Him.  And His Word is effective, always achieving the purpose for which the Lord sends it into our world.  God gives us His Word as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, a solid rock to which we can always return, for correction, restoration, comfort and instruction.  By the Word of God the universe was called into existence.  The things that are seen were not made from prior visible things, but from nothing, ex nihilo, by the strong Word of the Lord.  By His living and active Word, the Holy Spirit enlivens and strengthens and guides His Church.  God does this collectively, for congregations and synods, and also for each individual believer, through His Word.   

   We depend on God’s Word.  Which makes the words of the prophet Amos shocking.  Amos proclaimed a warning from the Lord God, that He would send a famine on the land, not a lack of bread or water, but a famine of the Word.  For ancient Israel, whose whole existence had been founded upon and flowed from the Word of the Lord spoken to them through Moses and the Prophets, Amos’ words must have been terrifying.  And they should frighten us, too. 

   As Christians, you have heard and have begun to understand God’s Word.  You’ve begun to grasp how He is working through His Word to uphold the world, sustain His Church with forgiveness, and call sinners to repentance for sin and faith in Jesus.  Isn’t it kind of hard to imagine losing the Word of God today?  It’s freely and widely available.  The printing press, recording technologies, radio and T.V., and of course the internet, these technological spaces are all new since the Bible was first written.  Through them, the Bible is everywhere.  There could not be a famine of the Word in our day. 

   Except that there is.  Despite the ubiquity of good translations of the Bible, still today  most people are starved of God’s Word.  The culture is at best apathetic, and at worst openly hostile to the message our gracious Lord has recorded and protected through the centuries in the Good Book. 

    Biblical literacy used to be commonplace in our land.  George Washington peppered his writings and speeches with allusions and quotes from Scripture.  In 1783 he exhorted all citizens to do justice, love mercy, and humbly imitate "the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion."   He didn’t need to give any references, because almost everyone knew without explanation he was paraphrasing the Bible, Micah chapter 6, to be precise.     

   Lincoln’s “four-score and seven years ago” that opens the Gettysburg Address is a riff off Psalm 90:10, where the span of a man’s life was said to be “threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore years.”  In the same speech Lincoln made many Biblical allusions, and several other straight quotes.  "Judge not that we be not judged" comes from Matthew, and "Woe unto the world because of offenses!" was taken from Luke.  Early in his political career Lincoln famously declared that “a house divided cannot stand,” which comes from Matthew 12. 

   Quoting and referring to Scripture was routine for American presidents, because this was how Americans talked.  I don’t pretend to know the personal faith of any of these men.  But this does demonstrate how central to American conversation God’s Word used to be.  And that seems, in retrospect, like a good thing.  We poor sinners will in this life always fall short of Biblical truth, standards and ideals.  But upholding ideals as good is a necessary first step to fulfilling them, even partially.  Having the sharp sword of God’s Word coming to our ears even from our civic leaders is a good thing.      

   The two current leading candidates for president in the fall elections do not rise to such heights.  One is nominally a member in good standing of a Christian Church that is a strong voice for the sanctity of human life.  But that message hasn’t penetrated.  Instead, protecting the right to kill an unborn child throughout nine months of pregnancy is a fundamental plank of his campaign.  During the 2016 election, the other leading candidate famously professed to be a Christian.   But when in an interview he was asked about repentance and seeking forgiveness, he said he’s not into that.  Repentance, forgiveness, and love for human life are the most basic features of Biblical Christianity.  I do not pretend to know the heart of either man, that’s not my point.  My greater concern is that neither candidate has paid a significant political price for these anti-Biblical positions.  No one seems to care, because the Bible and a Biblical perspective on life no longer holds an important place in the lives of most of our fellow citizens.    

    In such a culture, what was not so long ago unthinkable is now more than thinkable, actually commonplace.  Biblical marriage and family have been the bedrock of our civilization since Christianity took over the Roman world.  We sinners have never done marriage and family perfectly, but there was a faithful and fruitful Biblical ideal that kept nudging us back toward better things.  On top of marriage and family grew civilization, and the population, and the economy.  We Americans started out calling our first president the Father of his Country, un-ironically.  George Washington was seen as a paragon of virtue, and no one could think of a better honorific title to confer on him than ‘father.’ 

   Fatherhood is not so highly esteemed today.  Vanishingly rare is the media portrayal of a dad as anything but a buffoon or a beast.  Motherhood, the vocation through which our Savior chose to be delivered into our world, is still often held up as noble.  If that’s your choice, of course.  If you prefer to dispose of your baby, well, that’s great too, according to the world. 

    Whatever you do, don’t expect anyone to support the idea that a mother and her child might need and deserve to have a husband and father around to help.  Surely Mary could have fled to Egypt on her own, without Joseph’s assistance, right? 

   Men and women need each other, and do better in mutually supportive, monogamous and committed relationships.  But affirming this, affirming Biblical marriage is, according to our cultural elites, to hate women. 

   It’s perverse.  Our culture marginalizes men as backward and unnecessary, and tells women they can do anything, on their own, without a man.  Such messaging makes both men and women worse.  Many hopeful young couples today, who dare to try to form a family, sadly have such thoughts in the back of their minds.  These lies make them prone to treating each other badly, and all too ready to give up.  Many bail on the marriage at the first difficulty, often before it really gets started.  And so children suffer, if they even come into the world in the first place. 

   Speaking of lies, the Bible teaches us not to bear false witness against our neighbors.  Twisting the truth to get ahead, or avoid accountability, or to hurt someone you are upset with, all such lying used to be widely frowned on in our culture.  Why?  Well, because Jesus said so, in His Word.  Not so today.  Huge swaths of our economy are built on promoting lies, and nobody seems to care.  Public officials lie in real time, then change their stories in a few days, and we collectively shrug.  Students lie to their teachers, and teachers and administrators lie to students, and parents and unions defend the lies of their favored side. 

   So-called medical professionals nod and agree that men can become women and women can become men.  Rioting and stealing get labeled as mostly peaceful or understandable, given the norms of this or that so-called community.  Which of course never does anything wrong.  Rather, they’ve been marginalized, so we can’t expect different. 

    I’ll stop.  It’s exhausting to think about.  Worst of all, today’s most popular proclaimers, the “internet influencers,” and the talking heads, routinely proclaim these depravities are good.  They are presented as imperatives, as human rights.  It’s abundantly clear that the Biblically informed perspective, which for centuries held vast influence in our culture, is lost.  Bibles are super-abundant, freely available.  But very few are listening.  And so we reap the harvest of a self-inflicted famine of the Word. 

   Brothers and sisters, what can we do?  What can we, hearers and believers of God’s Word, do to fight back and resist this self-inflicted famine of the Word?  Well, we might start with repenting.  None of us can claim to not be influenced by the lies and degrading entertainments of our modern world.  Garbage in will produce garbage out; we can all repent, and choose to see and hear less of the preaching of the world.    

   We can repent, and then sow the seed like that crazy farmer Jesus.  In today’s parable, the Sower of the Seed casts it all over, willy-nilly, even though much of it will get eaten by birds, or die on the rocks, or be choked off by weeds.  Repenting of believing the world’s lies is how the soil is prepared for receiving the good seed.  But most human soil is hard.  And yet, Jesus casts His seed far and wide, despite the shameful way it gets rejected.  If Christ cast the seed like this, we Christians can do likewise.   

   We can cast the seed of the Word into our society as if we believed Isaiah.  The Lord promised through the prophet that His Word will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish the purposes for which He sends it out.  This promise frees us to send out the Word with confidence.  We may not see the harvest, but God in His Word has promised it will be bountiful.  So cast the seed boldly.

   We can cast the seed into our own ears, so we will have strong enough faith to try to cast it somewhere else.  The Bible calls you to serve yourself with God’s Word, to tend to your own garden.  You should devote time and effort to feeding your own faith, for your own good.  But feeding your own faith is never just for your own good.  The Holy Spirit is saving you by planting His Word in your soul, and through that He is also preparing you to be His mouthpiece, His instrument, to cast His Word farther still.  To ‘let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly’ is both self-serving wisdom, and evangelistic preparation.   

   We can cast the seed, and rejoice.  Despite the sad state of our culture and our world, the message of the seed, the central teaching of the Bible, is that Jesus has come and brings pleasure eternal.  His strong Word comes to break the darkness, and shine with the light of forgiveness and new life.  The Suffering Servant, who bore our sins, by whose stripes we are healed, He is the heart and center of the Word.  Christ crucified and resurrected is the kernel of the seed, which fell into the ground, and sprang up on the third day, bearing a harvest of forgiveness for sins, all sins, and the promise of eternal joy with God and all His holy ones. 

   My failures and your failures to hear and heed and cherish the Word of God, our shameful indifference, even these are forgiven, washed away, by this same Word.  We might, with a renewed zeal for hearing and reading and sharing God’s Word, we might see a change in our world.  This is our prayer.  Still, come what may, in Christ’s Word, your salvation is assured, the Father’s pleasure with you is revealed, and the Spirit tells you your future is glorious, in the Name of Jesus, the Sower of the Seed, Amen. 

Wisdom for Living in Grace, from a Talking Donkey - Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday

Septuagesima – The Third Sunday before Lent, January 28^th, A+D 2024
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Wisdom for Living in Grace, from a Talking Donkey
Numbers 22:22-35 and Matthew 20:1-16

Audio of this sermon is available HERE.

   I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.  Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Palm 32:8-9  

   Don’t be like a mule.  Instead, be like a donkey! 

   Today is Septuagesima Sunday, the 3^rd Sunday before Lent, and our readings lead us to
consider the wondrous truth that salvation is by God’s grace alone, simply a consequence of His generous, loving heart.  Which is wonderful.   But ‘Grace Alone’ also comes with an edge, because, astoundingly, we human beings do not always receive God’s grace well.  We see this in Jesus’ parable about the workers hired into the Master’s Vineyard at various hours of the day.  The Good News is the owner’s remarkable grace, how generous he is with his money.  He freely chooses to pay a full day’s wage to anyone who will come to work, no matter how late in the day.  The Bad News is the entitled greed of the workers hired early in the morning, who hate seeing others being blessed, want more for themselves, and feel they have a right to tell the Master what to do with his own money.  They are so convinced their long hours of work have earned them a special status with the Owner.  Their pride leads them to demand special recognition, and even to despise the Master.  Yikes!   

   It’s helpful to remember that Jesus is using the example of a vineyard to talk about the Kingdom of Heaven.  Paying a full day’s wage to workers who only work one hour at the end of the shift would be a strange way to run a literal vineyard, here on earth.  But Jesus is not teaching Mogen David how to run their business.  Rather, He speaks of how His Father’s Kingdom works, and the Kingdom of Heaven runs on grace.  God’s generosity, His desire to bring people into His Kingdom, freely, by grace, this is the point. 

   Just to break it down, the vineyard represents God’s Kingdom.  The Master or Owner is the Lord God.  Hiring workers to come into His vineyard equates to salvation, to sinners being taken out of the kingdom of Satan, and brought under God’s righteous rule and reign.  Which is a gift, freely given.  That’s grace.

   If you’ve ever been out of work, not sure how you were going to feed yourself and your family, and then suddenly someone offers you a good job, then you have an inkling of the relief and joy being hired can give.  Yes, you have work to do.  But you’re IN.  You have a future; you’re not going to lose your car or your home, your kids are not going to go hungry, or be forced to beg. 

   Even more, when God in His grace reaches out and converts a sinner into a believer by the forgiveness of sins, the only reasonable response is to thank and praise, serve and obey our gracious Master.  And yet how perverse and unthinkable is our human foolishness.   Sadly, we are all capable of receiving God’s gifts, and yet grumbling. 

   Like Israel did, during the Exodus.  God’s newly-rescued-from-slavery people were traveling in the wilderness.  God through mighty signs and miracles had just snatched them from under Pharaoh’s dominion in Egypt.  This same Lord was leading them across a wilderness, a barren desert, leading them to a land flowing with milk and honey, which He promised to make theirs.  Just because.  That’s grace. 

   But how did the Israelites respond?  Again and again they grumbled.  They’re in a desert, and they get thirsty.  But instead of a faithful prayer for relief, they complain and grumble.  “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die of thirst?”  First pang of hunger, same complaint about starving.  In response, God gave them water from the rock, and bread from heaven, daily manna, to simply pick up and eat.  But, in time, the Israelites loathed the manna and complained about it, too.  Did the Israelites really think that being liberated from the most powerful nation on earth and transported across a desert to a Promised Land would be totally smooth and hassle free?  Apparently so.  Or, maybe they just never stopped to think about it. 

   Likewise for us: we are on our pilgrimage, our journey, an Exodus of undetermined length, from this world full of trouble and strife, headed to our eternal Promised Land.   But the Master is with us, and has already guaranteed our final victory, as a free gift.  That’s grace.  But should we think this journey will be all rainbows and unicorns?  We dying sinners have been given new life in Christ, and we have been ‘hired’ by Him to serve in the tasks of His kingdom, until we reach our home.  Now, of course, we would never let the work we do in the Kingdom make us begrudge other dying sinners.  We would never look down on other Christians, just because they were rescued and brought into the kingdom later than us.  Or would we? 

   Jesus told His parable for a reason, and the reason is that yes, we do grumble and complain on the Way.  We saved-by-grace sinners do seek status and special privilege, and demand recognition for our work.  We see other sinners, like us, but latecomers to the Vineyard, and we are tempted to demand they know their place and give deference to us, the earlier workers.  We want credit for our work in the kingdom, earthly prestige.  We forget that love of the world and its glory leads to hatred of God.  How foolish to despise the One who made and sustains our world, and who is the only source of true and lasting glory.  Jesus tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard to warn us against swelling pride and any sense of Christian entitlement.  We have what we have by God’s grace alone.  If we get full of ourselves, and are not corrected, such sinful selfishness could even extinguish our faith, and lead us to abandon our place in God’s Kingdom.  Lord have mercy! 

   And so we run to Christ, confessing our sinful pride and foolish self-centeredness, every day, or more often, as necessary.  And, in His super-abundant grace, the Savior washes us clean again, and restores our faith.  Alleluia. 

   And yet it’s not pleasant, to be brought to repentance, to realize, (by God’s grace), that we have been headed off on our own path, again, turning our back on God and putting our eternal life in jeopardy.  We all do it.  And so our gracious God has given us Absolution, the Word of Forgiveness.  And He’s given us the Holy Supper, as rock-solid fountains of grace which we can always return to, until He brings us all the way home.  But it would be nice to once in a while avoid the whip-saw of falling into terrible sin, and needing rescue.  We will not entirely escape sin in this life, but a steadier walk with Jesus would be good.  We need an example to follow.  Where might we find a helpful guide? 

   Well, to be sure, Jesus is an example for us.  “What would Jesus do?” is a a legitimate question for Christians.  The problem is, He is so much better and greater, and many things He would do are one time things He has already done, and we cannot duplicate them.  What would Jesus do to solve this or that problem with human sin?  Well, He would live a sinless life and then submit to crucifixion, die, and on the third day rise again, for the salvation of the world.  Good News, the very best news.  But this is not something that we can do. 

   Might we find some other, less lofty example for Christian living? 

    Well, what about the donkey?  Balaam’s donkey, that is.  We could do a lot worse than to emulate the example of that little beast.    

   Our Old Testament reading is set during Israel’s wandering in the wilderness.  Balaam was a sorcerer, a holy-man of a sort, a freelance prophet for hire.  An enemy of Israel wanted to hire Balaam to curse God’s people.  But the LORD God intervened, instructing Balaam in this transaction, so as to show His almighty power.  But Balaam’s heart was not in the right place.  His eyes were not fully open to the LORD’s plan.  So, as Balaam saddled his donkey and went on his way to consult with Israel’s enemy, the Angel of the Lord came to confront him. 

   As part of this confrontation, God gave the donkey some marvelous gifts.  Wisdom and human speech might be the first ones that come to mind.  Who ever heard of a talking donkey?  Outside of the Shrek movies, of course.  The donkey spoke truth and wisdom to his master, Balaam, who was stubbornly following a path against the Lord’s will.  The donkey is God’s mouthpiece to prepare Balaam for repentance and conversion, and so Balaam would do the work which the LORD prepared for him.  Against the enemy’s will, Balaam was to bless Israel, and not curse them.  Which of course would not please Balaam’s employer. 

   God might use you and me in similar ways in our lives.  Often, when Christians refuse to do things the world demands because they are evil, suffering comes into our lives.  Today, many medical professionals, nurses and doctors, suffer economically, or are even leaving their field, rather than take part in giving hormone therapy or body-mutilating surgery to children who think they need to “change” their sex.  And similar examples are multiplying across our culture.  And yet, it is right there, in the midst of suffering for refusing evil things, that Christians are given opportunity to speak God’s truth, as part of His saving plan. 

   A wisdom-speaking donkey is great.  But there was also a prior, and more fundamental gift that God gave the donkey, the gift which we should seek, first, last, and always.  The donkey was brave to refuse Balaam’s foolish commands, and was wise to speak the saving truth, because first his eyes had been opened to see the Angel of the Lord standing in the path, drawn sword in His hand, blocking the way to evil.  This should be our first prayer, that the Lord would open our eyes, open the eyes of our hearts, to see and trust that Christ and His angels are with us every day, on the Way, warning us away from evil destinations, and pointing us to the straight and narrow way that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. 

   The donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, and knew to obey Him, rather than his earthly master. And, through the donkey’s actions and words, Balaam was rescued.  Balaam was saved from disobedience, and also given eyes to see the Angel, and hear His instruction. 

   What our grace-filled God did for Balaam that day long ago in the wilderness, He does every day for you and me.  We might prefer more spectacular revelations of God’s truth and presence.  Who doesn’t want to see a talking donkey?  But, as St. Peter taught us last week, we have something even more sure.  Even more sure than seeing the glory of heaven shining from Jesus’ body at the Transfiguration, we have His prophetic Word, written down and preserved for us in the Bible.  Page after page points us to see and trust in the super-abundant grace of God, fully revealed and delivered in Christ Jesus, crucified and resurrected. 

   We do not have bread from heaven every morning around our houses to simply pick up and eat, nor water springing from some rock in the desert.  We have better.  We have the solid meat of God’s inspired Word, the full story of God’s salvation miracle, given to strengthen our faith and shape our lives.  We have the flesh of Christ, and His very blood, in, with and under the bread and wine, the Gospel we eat and drink for forgiveness, and to gain strength for the journey, and for doing our tasks.  We have the one time bath of Baptism, the heavenly washing which endures forever, the hiring contract of the Spirit, which makes us members and workers in God’s Kingdom.  These are God’s means of Grace, by which He blesses us, today and forever, and through which He prepares us for service in His Vineyard. 

And so, let us pray:  O LORD, you opened the eyes of Balaam’s donkey to see your Angel and obey Your will.  Through this gift and the suffering it caused the donkey, you revealed your power and your will to save, as you spoke truth and wisdom through the mouth of the animal, convicting and preparing Balaam for conversion to faith in You.  By your amazing grace, grant us, Your servants, eyes to see Your ongoing presence and protection in our daily lives, so that we might ever flee to the means of grace You use to sustain our faith, and so be prepared to serve in Your Vineyard, according to Your holy will, through Christ Jesus, our Lord, Amen.