Eleventh Sunday after Trinity – Luke 18:9-14

As we walk the Jesus way every day, it is easy to take the path often traveled. What seems to be a smooth and level way is actually a way full of danger. The path often traveled is called moralism. It is the way of the Pharisee in our Savior’s parable in Luke chapter 18.

The Pharisee is better than you. You don’t have to ask him because he will tell you he is better than you. He prays God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. You might call the Pharisee’s behavior “virtue signaling”. The Cambridge Dictionary says virtue signaling is “an attempt to show other people that you are a good person, for example by expressing opinions that will be acceptable to them, especially on social media”. You don’t have to be on social media to see virtue signaling. Take a trip to the isthmus in Madison and see for yourself what some call virtue signaling. Count the signs in people’s yards telling you who or what they support or don’t support. Note how some refuse to mow their yard in order to spare pollinating insects. See the many flags they fly from their porch. Look at what car they drive, or don’t drive as the case may be.

Politically and socially astute Madison residents aren’t the only virtue signalers. When you put a bumper sticker or a decal on your vehicle, you’re declaring something about your goodness. Even if you allow a sign promoting a particular politician in your yard, it’s a virtue signal. From the brand of clothing you wear to the products you put in your hair, you are trying to show how good you are to others. You cannot escape virtue signaling.

Some virtue signaling is more benign than others. You can’t help the fact that a particular name brand has a logo that appears on your clothing. You can, however, help your behavior around other people. Another neologism of recent times is “humblebrag” You’re bragging on yourself, but you’re doing it in such a way that doesn’t call attention to the fact that you’re bragging on yourself. You’ve seen that behavior from people before. You’ve probably caught yourself doing it, too. You cannot escape the humblebrag.

The Old Adam loves a self back-pat. He loves to tell others how good he is, and how bad you are. The Pharisee’s prayer is an egregious example of humblebragging and virtue signaling. If I tell you I am better than you, then you’ll change your ways and be more like me. By the time you start acting more like me, I will have moved the goalposts and become more virtuous than you again. So you’ll have to do as I do, but I will have progressed again to a higher level of virtue than you. It’s a vicious cycle. The only end is absolute perfection, something that cannot be achieved this side of Paradise. But don’t tell the humblebragger that lest he or she find another way to signal their virtue and sweep you under the rug.

The Pharisee’s prayer shows he believes in another god who isn’t the one true God. That false god’s name is I. Five times he mentions the first person singular pronoun I. Like the best actor, he wants others to look at him. Do as he says and as he does and you, too, will shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. They will deserve it because you are better than they are. You are more pious. You don’t extort. You don’t rob. You aren’t unjust. You don’t commit adultery, at least out in the open, and you certainly aren’t a tax collector.

You are all these things the Pharisee says he isn’t and more. You, like him, bow the knee to the god of self and hope that others will see how much better you are than them. You have to protect them from themselves in the name of being caring and fair. You don’t need a Savior. You don’t need salvation. You don’t need any sin offering applied to you.

Yet you do. You need all these things because you, like the Pharisee, are not righteous. All the piety, pomp, and pride you put on display means nothing before the living God. The prophet Hosea proclaims I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. What you desire is what the tax collector prays for: mercy.

The thrust of the word mercy in the tax collector’s prayer is for God to apply His sin offering to you. That is why Jesus says about the tax collector, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Humility is receptiveness to the sin offering God makes for your sake.

The tax collector is one of the most despised people among the Jews. Tax collectors in the Roman Empire tended to overcharge people in order to take a cut for themselves. Even today we don’t think much of the IRS. Imagine if every IRS agent was in business for themselves, gathering not only what the government wants but quite a bit more that ended up in the agent’s pocket that Uncle Sam doesn’t need to know about. The thief, the cheater, the liar, the tax collector, beats his breast and prays God, be merciful to me, a sinner!

The humblebragger is brought low and the one despised the most by society is raised up. But that’s the way it is as we walk the Jesus way, isn’t it? Again, humility is receptiveness to the sin offering God makes for your sake. Being here in the Lord’s house to rest in His presence in Word and Sacrament is a counter-cultural act of humility. You don’t have to hang signs, quit mowing your lawn, or pontificate on social media to express your morality. You sit in a pew, stand up for a time, and even kneel down at the rail to receive what you desire the most: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in hearing the Word, eating the Word, and drinking the Word. All these actions say Heavenly Father, apply Your sin offering, Jesus Christ, to me.

As you leave His house fortified with forgiveness of sins, you go down to your house justified, declared righteous before the Father’s face. As you walk the Jesus way every day, that declaration of righteousness colors everything you think, do, and say. That’s not moralism for the sake of moralism. That’s being who are are where God puts you. No more humblebragging. No more virtue signaling. No more moralism. Only living in Jesus and loving others as Jesus first loved you. That’s humility. That’s the way of the tax collector, the Jesus way. God, be merciful to me, apply Your sin offering, Jesus Christ, to me, a sinner!

Tenth Sunday after Trinity – Luke 19:41-48

Jesus cries when He beholds Jerusalem from afar. He says would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! You can take this verse two ways. Either Jerusalem cannot know what makes for her peace, or Jerusalem will not know what makes for her peace. The first way is a gracious way. Her citizens cannot put the pieces of the Messianic puzzle together. All the miracles and preaching did not plant in their hearts. They want to believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, but can’t make the connection.

Many still seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness today, but cannot put the pieces of the Messianic puzzle together. They read the Bible. They listen to preachers either in churches or in media. They want to believe. Yet all they receive is information about a God and about a Savior. The time of visitation is right before their eyes, but there is no faith to believe it because to them it is information. Something stands in their way from darkness to light.

Consider King Agrippa in Acts chapter 26. Saint Paul knows he has heard the preaching of the Gospel. Paul knows Agrippa has not forbidden him to speak the Word of Christ. Paul says, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.” Agrippa is close to believing Christ and Him crucified. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not in the Christian faith. Many almost want to believe, but peer pressure, status, or fear separates them from the kingdom of heaven.

You can also take our Lord’s Words to Jerusalem in a way of judgment. It’s as if Jesus looks at Jerusalem and says something like “you never listened to Me in the first place, you won’t listen to Me now, and you’ll never listen to Me.” The temple ceremonies continued even after our Lord rose from the dead. It was business as usual even though God cleansed Jewish ceremonies both in the temple and at home. What God now calls common the Jews must not call unclean. Even though over 500 witnesses saw the resurrected Christ, there are practitioners of the Jewish religion who will not believe even if Jesus came to their house and showed them His hands and side.

God save us from such unbelief! Yet we often say and think similar things. Perhaps you’ve heard a pastor teach something in Bible class you didn’t care to hear. When you look it up in the Bible and see that what he taught was true, maybe you’ve said to yourself, “I see it, but I wish it wasn’t there.” You might know someone who once practiced the Christian faith, but now has given it up for petty reasons. Consider the man who once was president of a Lutheran congregation. He became angry in a meeting over who may have church keys. The argument angered him so much that he resigned as president, stormed out of the meeting, and never returned to church. His family continued to go to church, but he would never again step foot in a church building.

Christ’s time of visitation came and went. The people of Jerusalem heard the Gospel straight from the source and would not believe it. They gave Him over to Pontius Pilate to have Him crucified. They continued in their wicked ways. The prophets and the apostles couldn’t turn their obdurate hearts. Therefore, He left them to their own devices. He used the Roman soldiers as pawns in a cruel game of chess. The beautiful city set on a hill, the city of peace, was destroyed. Over a million Jews died.

The destruction of Jerusalem didn’t have to be. There was time to repent and believe in Jesus. That time came and went. There is still time today for repentance and faith. Praise God that He has tarried a bit longer so we have the opportunity to repent of sin and believe the Good News of forgiveness and life. There is time to hear God’s Word proclaimed in His house. There is time for the Holy Spirit to work faith when and where He wills upon Whom He will. There is time for children young and old to receive Holy Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and the regeneration of life. There is time to forgive others their sins as they forgive our sins. There is time to confess those sins that particularly trouble you to your pastor in order to receive Holy Absolution. There is time to kneel before the altar and receive the Medicine of Immortality in the Holy Supper. Christ’s True Body and True Blood strengthens your faith and feeds you with food for the journey to temporal death and on to life eternal.

There is time to rejoice in the Gifts Christ freely gives His Church. Though this house is His holy habitation, the place where His glory dwells, He is a visitor. That’s the thrust of the word episkope in Greek, visitation in English. Jesus is our episkope, our visitor. Saint Peter writes in his first epistle: You were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Visitor of your souls. You have returned to the Visitor of your soul because He alone gives grace. He Who is stricken, smitten, and afflicted gives the undeserved love of the heavenly Father to you. Jesus alone brings joy hidden in grief, honor hidden in shame, and peace cloaked in violence.

The destruction of Jerusalem serves for us today as a stern reminder not to trust in earthly things as our hope. Her destruction also serves as a reminder to note our Lord’s visitation among us now and in the future. God’s grace is not found in pomp and circumstance. His grace is found where losers are. Blessed are you who have lost the world in order to gain eternal life. Blessed are you, for the time of visitation is now. You call to God, and He hears your voice; He redeems your soul in safety.

Eighth Sunday after Trinity – Matthew 7:15-23

A slight revision from 2016.

When Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness, he misquotes Bible verses to Jesus. His misuse of Scripture judges and chastises him. This is nothing new. Satan used Scripture that way in the Garden against Adam and Eve. Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”? For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

Satan has not given up this use of the Word. Satan uses false prophets to preach false teaching to Christians using Scripture. False teaching is an extremely dangerous subtlety of the devil. We know how subtle it is because we hear it come from our lips, although we may not realize it. For example:

• “Pastor, why are you so critical? The TV preacher at least mentioned God when he said that everyone is going to heaven whether or not they believe in Jesus!”
• “It’s so nice to see all those clergy persons from all the different religions pray together. See, Pastor, we all believe the same thing!”
• “It doesn’t matter what anyone believes as long as you’re helping someone.”
• “That pastor is such a fuddy-duddy. He won’t let us sing that popular country song about people dying and becoming angels. Everyone likes that song. Why does he have to be so stubborn?”
• “Mister Chairman, I make a motion that we no longer talk about sin or death or hell in this church. The preacher is scaring prospective members away with all that negative talk.”
• “All Christians believe the same thing and I don’t care if I’m wrong because, in my heart, I feel that’s right.”

The pure spiritual milk of the Word brings eternal life. Poisoning the spiritual milk brings the death of the soul in both time and eternity. Wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing poison spiritual milk. They cloak themselves this way to look like honest, upright sheep that care about your soul. They quote Bible passages better than any doctor of theology. They pray more fervently than anyone. They will remind you of their good intentions. They will lead a more than upright life, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power as Saint Paul tells Saint Timothy.

False prophets are like thorns and thistles. When you pick raspberries or roses, you have to deal with getting pricked. When you want good pasture for cows, you have to take care of thistles. If you let thorns and thistles grow up alongside good fruit, it’s only a matter of time before the straggly weeds get the upper hand and make everything unusable.

The same can be said about false teaching. Letting the lie stand next to the truth and letting everyone figure out what is right and wrong only causes damage and accelerates the destruction of good pasture. Consider the fact that churches who have already given up caring about preaching Christ crucified continue to grow, while congregations that stick to preaching Christ crucified continue to shrink.

Presbyterian theologian Darryl Hart wrote a book almost twenty years ago called The Lost Soul of American Protestantism. He mentions confessional Lutheran church bodies like our Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Synod, not to mention his own church body, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as “lost souls” among Protestants. They are church bodies who stand for something. Usually their congregations are small and struggling, unlike many large congregations whose doctrinal position is perhaps reduced to the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. These struggling congregations remain faithful to Holy Scripture and the documents that confess what they believe Scripture says, whether the Book of Concord among Lutherans or the Westminster Confession among Presbyterians. Though we disagree with Presbyterians about many things, we acknowledge that these confessing Calvinist bodies take great pains to keep their trees and their fruit good.

A rotten tree is destructive. The land on which is stands becomes bad. The tree infects other things with its rottenness. Its fruit is not good to eat. Jesus uses this image to show how the truth and the lie cannot stand to be together. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. False teaching displaces and destroys the truth. It damages the soul that enjoys it, even if the soul thinks it good for them.

“But pastor, at least the false teacher says ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’.” Our Lord answers in kind. Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?”And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

So how will you know what is truth and what is a lie, especially when there are so many truth tellers and liars standing side-by-side in the Christian faith? Martin Luther had a simple dictum: Was Christum treibet? “What promotes Christ?” True doctrine drawn from Sacred Scripture preaches Christ, the whole Christ, the living Christ, the loving Christ, the forgiving Christ, and to some the offensive Christ, especially if Scriptural truth offends you.

Notice that before Jesus warns about false prophets He preaches perhaps the greatest sermon ever heard. The heart and soul of the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus Christ comes among us in the flesh, in the fullness of time, to fulfill the Law and the prophets. Both the Law and the prophets proclaim our sinfulness, our inability to be good and worthy enough for God. We have no personal power to change this relationship. Only Jesus saves by God’s unmerited grace, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Saint Paul warns the Galatian Christians, and we in turn, if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Test every word that comes from this pulpit against Holy Scripture. If a preacher consistently flatters your inner goodness and worthiness, sets human deeds in place of faith in Jesus Christ, or lays emphasis on human institutions instead of Jesus Christ, you’re hearing a false teacher.

None of us will be rid of wolves in sheep’s clothing until Christ’s return. Like Vito Corleone in The Godfather, we keep our friends close and our enemies closer. Yet we don’t get so close that the siren calls of false teaching sway us to fall asleep in paying attention to what is taught from the pulpit. The prophet Jeremiah says, Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. Eat the words that declare you free from sin, a new creation, and blessed by God in Jesus Christ, and you have joy, for your heart’s delight dwells among you.