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Advent 3, 2023
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
December 17, 2023
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24, John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                         bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:    bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            Our Gospel reading today is some selections from the beginning of the Gospel of John, but lifted out of its context I think it loses some of its meaning.  Just before our reading we hear, John 1:1–5 (ESV)  1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

            Jesus is the Word.  Jesus is the life.  Jesus is the light.  5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

            There is a cosmic battle of darkness against light that has been going on for thousands of year.  The darkness does all it can to snuff out the light, but the darkness cannot win against the light.  Light drives away darkness, but so many do not understand the light so God has a plan to prepare the world for the arrival of the light.

            John 1:6–8 (ESV)  6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 

            John the Baptist is sent by God to be a witness to the light.  You have heard this passage before, it sounds familiar, nothing really new here, but there is something a little off about this being a witness to the light.  Why would you need to tell people about light? If it is dark and you light a candle, everyone can see the light of the candle.  You do not have to tell anyone about light…unless…unless they are blind.  A blind person would not know that you lit a candle in the darkness because they are always in the darkness.  For a blind person you would have to tell them about the light.

            The people of Jesus’ time are spiritually blind. They need someone to tell them about who Jesus is.  Jesus is the light of the world, but Jesus does not glow in the dark or send forth beams like a searchlight.  He is the light, but He looks like an ordinary man.  John 1:10-11 (ESV)  10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

John is sent to prepare the way for Jesus.  He is sent by God to be the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”  John is letting them know about the light, which is Christ, and is fulfilling Isaiah 9:2 (ESV) 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

John is the witness and confirms that Jesus is the Son of God.  John 1:29–34 (ESV)  29 The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”  John is sent to prepare spiritually blind people for Jesus’ arrival.

            You are not spiritually blind, you are a follower of the light.  Now, you were born spiritually blind, dead and an enemy of God but now you are a baptized child of God.  At your baptism you were given a lighted candle to show that you have received Christ…who is the light of the world.  Live always by the light of Christ. 

You know Jesus is the light.  You know He is God in flesh who died for your sins and rose from the dead to conquer death. Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV) 14 “You are the light of the world. … let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” You are the light of the world, you know Christ is the light, but you still have blind spots. 

            Some of the younger folks may not know this, but when driving there are blind spots on the sides of your car. A vehicle passing from behind goes into the blind spot when it disappears from your mirrors but is not yet visible beside you. 

I learned to drive in 1982 which does not seem so long ago, but the kids assure me that it is.  Back then, in the 1900s, cars had amazing electronic technology like an AM/FM radio, maybe a cassette player if you were lucky.  When I learned to drive, our family had a 1973 Ford Ranch Wagon and a 1980 Chevy Citation 4 speed.  Somehow, neither of these cars made the cut to be classics. 

When I learned to drive these cars, I was taught to always check the blind spots when changing lanes by turning my head and looking out the window.  So far this technique has served me well.

Jeannette’s new truck has special blind spot mirrors that allow you to see cars on both sides in the blind spot, and it has blind spot warning lights on the mirrors if a car is in the blind spot, and an alarm sounds if there is a car in the blind spot and you put your blinker on to change lanes.  I still turn my head and look out the window to make sure.

Spiritually, we all have blind spots.  You know Jesus is the light of the world, but there is great temptation to let some areas of your life remain in the darkness.  Like when you let anger fester and grow and you do not forgive the way that you have been forgiven.  You hide your anger and lack of forgiveness in the darkness of your blind spot, but it does not go away.  It is there, waiting to wreck you. 

Or your blind spot of what you do online when you sink into the dark side of the web to indulge your lusts.  Or your overindulgence in alcohol.  Or your lack of generosity as your resources increase but your gifts do not.  Or your prideful boasting that causes you to insist that you are right.  Or your disobeying of your parents.  Or your cheating at school.

            Today we hear about John the Baptist being witness to the light.  You know Christ is the light of the world, but you still need to check the blind spots of your life and repent of those stubborn, hidden sins. 

There is the blind spot this time of year of the expectation of finding fulfillment and joy in the decorations and presents and visits with family and having shattered expectations crowd out the true joy of the season found in the newborn Lord in Bethlehem. 

            There is the blind spot of looking at your fairly together life and comparing yourself to others who look like they are falling apart and thinking that you are a better person because of who you are and what you have done.

            What is lurking in your blind spot?

            Today we hear about John the Baptist being witness to the light.  You know Christ is the light of the world, but you still need to check the blind spots of your life and repent of those stubborn, hidden sins. 

            You need the light of Christ.  John 8:12 (ESV) 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  And, Psalm 119:105 (ESV) 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” 

            To know which way to go you stay in the Word of God and you stay active at church so you can keep checking the blind spot and making sure there is nothing lurking there trying to wreck you on your journey along the straight and narrow path to eternity.  Keep checking your blind spot and repent and believe the Good News that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world…who takes away your sin. 

            For a long time in America it seems that we talked a lot about having a personal relationship with Jesus.  This may have been well-intentioned to get people to turn away from the idea that they are saved because they show up at church a minimum number of times, or their names are on the church roster and they have put their hope for salvation in membership rather than in Jesus.  While you do not want to put your trust in membership, the problem with talking about a personal relationship with Jesus is that it can sound like it is a good idea to be a lone ranger Christian, a do-it-yourself Christian setting up your own system of belief that fits you.  It can lead you to creating a Jesus on your own terms; your own personal Jesus.  A Jesus that says, “Have it your way.”

            You never want to rely on church membership for your salvation but you do need to be a part of the church so you receive ongoing witness to the light of the world.  You receive ongoing teaching as to the vital questions of, “who is Jesus?” and “what did He do?”  You are admonished to check your blind spots and not let hidden sins fester and grow.  Together, you encourage each other to beware of the traps of the devil, the world and your own sinful flesh. 

            Together, you follow Jesus.  You do not walk in the darkness, you have the light of Christ. Keep going on the straight and narrow and keep checking your blind spots so nothing wrecks you on your way.  John 1:5 (ESV) 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  You walk in the light of Christ… you are the light of the world.    Amen

 

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Advent 1 2023
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
December 3, 2023
Isaiah 64:1-9, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9, Mark 13:24-37

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            In 1968 there were dire predictions of a population bomb that would cause 100 – 200 million people to starve to death each year over the next 10 years. 

            In 1970 there was a prediction that pollution particle clouds would block out the sun and make the air unbreathable by the mid-1980s. 

            Also in 1970 it was predicted that 75% of all the earth’s species would die off by 1995. 

In 1975 there were predictions of a global, catastrophic Ice Age coming by the year 2,000. 

            In the 1980s there were predictions of nuclear holocaust.

            There have been numerous religious leaders over the years predicting the end of the world on a certain date.  Jehovah’s Witnesses predicted the end in 1878, 1881, 1914, 1918, 1925, and 1975.  December 21, 2012 according to a Mayan calendar. Sept. 6, 1994 according to Bible teacher Harold Camping and then May 21, 2011 and then October 21, 2011.  The end came for Camping December 15, 2013.

            Today we hear dire predictions of climate emergencies, financial meltdowns, all sorts of existential threats within the next 10 years and then the next 10 years, then the next. 

            After a while all the end times alarmism starts to lose its urgency and just gets lost in all the background noise of life; oh, it is just another nut job trying to scare the world. 

            And here we find ourselves this morning at the beginning of the advent season with another warning about the end times.  Mark 13:32–37 (ESV)  32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” 

It is easy for this warning about the last day to also get lost in all of the warnings about coming apocalyptic disasters.  Is there anything that makes this warning different? 

            As end times warnings go, this one is actually pretty frustrating because one thing that this warning explicitly states is that no one knows when the time will come. This warning is different because it is not trying to predict when the end will come, only that the end is coming and you need to be ready.  The other thing about this warning is that the source of the warning is reliable.  Prior predictions made by this person have happened just as He said, so we can trust that this prediction is also reliable.

            Three times Jesus said, Mark 8:31 (ESV)  31 … that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” And it happened just as He said. Now He warns you… Mark 13:33 (ESV) 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”  Jesus said it and you need to listen. 

            It is the last days for Jesus before His arrest and crucifixion and resurrection.  He has been teaching in the temple and as He leaves the temple area with His disciples Jesus teaches about the coming destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.  And indeed, the temple is destroyed by the Romans 40 years later in 70 AD. 

After leaving the temple area they sit on the Mount of Olives overlooking the temple and Jesus teaches also about His return on the last day.  The temple will be destroyed and the world will be destroyed.  Stay ready. Our Gospel reading for today is Jesus’ warning about the last day.  Be on guard, keep awake.

            What does this mean?  How do you stay on guard?  How do you keep awake?  How do you stay ready for Jesus to return?  What do you need?

            Our Epistle lesson today shows us the way.  St. Paul writes to the church in Corinth.  1 Corinthians 1:4–9 (ESV) 4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

            The church in Corinth is not lacking in any gift and what do they have?  They have the grace of God given to them in Christ Jesus.  You have the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus.  You are not lacking in any gift as you await the return of Christ on the Last Day. You, Christ’s Church on earth, have the grace of God and that is what you cling to in order to remain ready for Jesus’ return.  In Christ, you are ready for Jesus’ return.  Stay ready. 

            So, if you were the devil, what strategy would you use to separate a follower of Jesus from Jesus?  How would you get someone to give up on the grace of God in Christ Jesus?

            Perhaps you could sow division in the Church.  Get the fellow believers in Jesus to fight amongst themselves and let it grow into hatred — and the more mundane the issue the better.  Get them to be angry about the color of paint or carpet.  Stir up trouble so that when the congregation gathers for worship there is a sense of hostility so everyone is thinking about that and not thinking about the grace of God. 

            Or, you could try to lead believers away from Jesus by appealing to their desire to be seen as wise in the eyes of the world.  Get them to admire and listen to those who believe the Bible is nothing but an old book written by men trying to oppress others. “How can anyone be so stupid as to believe in the Bible and God and in heaven and hell and a judgement day?  Everyone knows that when you die that is it. Besides, how can someone as smart as you actually believe that God would sacrifice His own Son on a cross in excruciating agony?  That is divine child abuse.  It is so bloody and awful.  How can you believe in a God like that?  That is utter foolishness.  How can you believe in a God that does things that you don’t understand?”

            There is the devil’s tried and true method of pulling sheep away from their shepherd.  Just get them to indulge in sexual immorality.  It is too easy to let sexual immorality become your lifestyle and when the choice is the immorality or Jesus… so many will choose immorality and give up on Jesus. 

            You might try the devil’s strategy of getting individuals and churches to move Jesus out of top priority and make Him more of an afterthought.  Get something else, anything else, to become more important than Jesus.  In churches this is very effective especially when the new focus is something where you are serving others such as feeding the poor, providing low income housing, or medical care.  It is good to serve others but not if it becomes more important than Jesus. 

            The devil has a lot of strategies to separate people from Jesus, but in this case of waiting for Jesus’ return I think the most insidious and perhaps most effective way to get people to give up on Jesus over the long term is by showing them how boring it is to be a Christian.  Church is boring.  The Bible is boring.  Waiting for Jesus to return is boring; just the same thing over and over. 

            It is a common excuse as to why people don’t attend worship.  Church is boring and to be boring might be the worst sin you can commit in our age of constant entertainment and social media scrolling.  Church is boring.  There is some truth to this.  Staying on guard is boring.  As followers of Jesus you are instructed to stay ready and it is your duty to gather together to receive the gifts of forgiveness and return thanks each week. We do this over and over and over. It is what we do as Christians.  And really, most of life is doing the same repetitive things over and over at home, at work, at school.  Doing what you have been given to do as a parent, child, worker, employer, student, citizen is all pretty boring.  Just so, being a follower of Jesus is not the promise of endless entertainment.

            Perhaps, if we were not such boring people continually needing forgiveness of our sins, we could move on to something else, but as long as we are a gathering of poor, miserable sinners we need to keep doing what we have been given to do. 

            Congregations have tried to answer the objection that church is boring by trying to make worship more entertaining by trying to figure out what the people want.  But what people want is a constantly changing target.  It is a fool’s errand to try to determine what people think is entertaining this week.  Worship is not supposed to be entertaining.  It seals you as a child of God in the waters of Holy Baptism as we got to witness this morning with little David.  Worship returns you to your baptism each week in confession and absolution. Worship delivers to you Jesus’ forgiveness in His words and in His Body and Blood.  It brings to you the Word of God in readings and liturgy and hymns. It is Christ-centered and cross-focused to give you the grace of God through Christ Jesus.  When the grace of God is delivered to you, worship is faithful and effective and meaningful but not entertaining.

            Perhaps, if we were not such boring people continually needing forgiveness of our sins, we could move on to something else, but as long as we are a gathering of poor, miserable sinners we need to keep doing what we have been given to do. 

In our Gospel reading today Jesus is on the Mount of Olives teaching His disciples about the destruction of the temple and His return on the Last Day.  Six weeks later Jesus ascends into heaven from that same area.  He promises to return one day in power and glory.  He will return.  Stay ready.

It is very difficult to wait not knowing how long you will need to wait, but that is what you have been given to do by the Lord Jesus Himself.  Mark 13:33 (ESV) 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”  It is difficult, but you have everything that you need during your time of waiting.  You have the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  Stay ready.  Amen. 

Sheep and Goats

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The Sheep and the Goats
Vicar Matthew Kinne
11/26/2023
Texts for the week: Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Ezekiel 34:11-16; 20-24

For the past couple of weeks, we have been hearing our Lord teach His disciples by parables about the final day of judgment. The day and time of this event is unknown to us, even to Jesus Himself as He teaches in an earlier chapter of Matthew, “But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, not the Son of man, but the Father only…. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”[1] But even though Jesus is unable to tell us when this apocalypse is going to occur, He can tell us what it will be like. We have learned, thus far, from the parable of the ten virgins that when the Bridegroom, who is our Lord, returns, there will be no time for those who are unprepared and living in sin to trim their lamps of faith, and be filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit to follow Him into the wedding feast. Likewise, we’ve also learned that a servant who hates the Master, again who is our Lord, will by all means, perish. 

These parables sound terrible at first to the sinful ear. But for the Christian who is identified as the virgins who were prepared then brought into the wedding feast, and the servants that loved their master and were brought into the His eternal joy, these parables are not messages of sorrow and dread. Instead, they are Gospel messages because there is a separation from everything that causes man’s death from man’s eternal life. Jesus gives us these parables so that we can make the distinction of what it means to be on His right hand and His left, as He explains in our gospel reading today.

 [Jesus says,] “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  [2]

Notice here, from our reading today, as well as the previous parables, that when Jesus teaches, He mentions those who are rewarded generously first. The first five virgins were prepared, the first two servants loved their master, and here the sheep are shown their reward first because they did the will of their Shepherd. These are the groups from our readings who are promised that they will inherit the earth (Mt.5:5), eternal life (Mt.19:29), and also the kingdom (Mt. 25:34).[3] This is by no mistake. The Gospel, which is an enriching and joyful message to us Christians, ends up being a terrifying message on the last day for those who were not prepared, who did not know love. They are the goats, who for the longest time, ignored their Shepherd. For them, the message of salvation is their message of torment and agony on the last day. They will be longing that they were not a goat, but a sheep in the joy of their Shepherd. 

Think of this teaching from the Great Shepherd separating His flock as a scene from a courtroom.[4] When He declares the sheep as innocent and are rewarded the kingdom, the goats must be astonished. After all, didn’t Jesus come to save the whole world? Didn’t these so called “sheep” also engage in sinfulness during their lifetime? This would seem unfair to them. But just as our reading says, this kingdom was prepared for all of us “from the foundations of the world.”[5] God set up a plan for our salvation, even before He created the world and put us in it. He foresaw that mankind would despise the Father’s will. So, after the fall of our sinful parents, God established a way for mankind to be saved from the wretched sin he carries, from the evil world he lives in, and from death which is the final strife of the sinner. God sent His only Son into the world to be the perfect sacrifice we could never provide. God sent messengers, prophets, priests, and now pastors, to point all the sheep and the goats to the action of Perfect Lamb that sits on His throne of glory—the cross. Whoever looks to Him will be saved. But whoever does not, loses their life. 

Unfortunately, the goats do not see Jesus as that perfect sacrifice and by that deny themselves salvation. They only see destruction and believe the unjust ways of the world are better than Christ’s kingdom. They are children of their father, Satan. In the end, justice is only sweet to the person who is declared not guilty.  For these goats, who are on the Judge’s left hand, they will not see sweetness in their verdict. They will see everything that was not the will of the Father. They will be eternally hungry and thirsty; they will not be welcomed into any type of joy. They will be naked in their shame, alone in prison, eternally longing that they listened and followed the Gospel, but it will be too late for them to repent and be brought into the Lord’s right hand, the family of the Church. 

This Gospel is simply put—Since Christ died and rose for you, your sins are forgiven, and you will also be resurrected from the dead. Since you are forgiven and part of the living, you are already part of His kingdom. You are living your eternal life right now. Since you are part of His kingdom and not living in death now, you have the ability to willingly feed the hungry, to give water to those who thirst, to clothe the naked, to welcome the stranger, to visit those who are in prison, and to tend to the sick, the dying, and the oppressed. For when people see God doing a good work in you and thus also through you, the message of salvation is spread out to all nations and encourages faith and baptism. 

When the sheep in our reading asks, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visited you?”[6]they are greatly confused. Why is that? It is because, unlike the goats who boast about their good deeds and keep track of everything “good” they have done, as if saving up points to pay for their way into heaven, the work the sheep, is not their own. The sheep are merely vessels. Christ is the one who puts His Holy Spirit into you, and you become a vessel of Christ. 

This way you can see that everyone is in need of saving. Everyone is in need of the Baptismal waters. Everyone is in need of that participation of the Church. The Church is where Christ says at the end of Matthew, that He will always be with us. That is where we commune together in common creed that we deserve what the goats will receive, but because of Christ, we are made into the sheep of His flock, and thus saved. 

On that glorious day, Jesus will search for you among all the nations. He will seek you out and will bring you into His own land.  

            After Jesus teaches these things to His disciples, the next chapter in the Gospel of Matthew is the beginning of the Passion account of our Lord. It is here, in our Lord’s passion, before being led as the lamb to the slaughter on the cross, that He establishes the institution of His Holy Supper. This Supper, that began with His perfect body, continues to be present among His church today, and will continue into the eternal feast which has no end. It is at this supper He feeds His hungry and thirsty sheep that long for His second coming. It is a meal where you are no longer a stranger but are given the best seat at the table, His right hand. It is where He continues to clothe you with His righteousness. It is the meal by which the sick in faith can find a doctor and live. It is with His body and blood that He pays for your bail, breaking your shackles of death. His life was laid down for the sheep, and everyone will know Him on the last day because of His love for His sheep, His church. Amen. 

---

[1] Matthew 24: 36 & 42 ESV

[2] Matthew 25:31-34

[3] Gibbs, Jeffrey. 2018. Matthew 21: 1-28:20 – Concordia Commentary. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House. Pg 1340.

[4] Scaer, David P. 2004. Discourses in Matthew: Jesus Teaches the Church. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House. Pg 239.

[5] Matthew 25:34b

[6] Mathew 25:37:b-39

Posted on November 26, 2023 8:34 AM by Kevin Jud

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Pentecost 25 2023 Proper 28
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
November 19, 2023
Zechariah 1:7-16, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Matthew 25:14-30

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            In Pre-kindergarten chapel a couple of weeks ago we were talking about listening to and obeying our parents, and one of the little girls declared, “I listen to my parents so I don’t get into trouble.”  That is a good reason to listen to your parents and it is a very natural way to think about obedience.  But there is a better way.  To see that better way we will look at our Gospel reading today.

            Now, the word translated as servant in our reading is really more accurately translated as slave.  Slavery has been around since almost the beginning and was common during Jesus’ time. Some slaves were born into slavery, some were captured in warfare, some were sold into slavery to pay a debt, and some sold themselves into slavery because they could have a better standard of living as a slave rather than trying to make it on their own.  At least, as a slave, the master would provide food and lodging and clothing. 

            Your quality of life as a slave 2,000 years ago would largely depend on your master.  Is your master a good man who cares for you and treats you fairly?  Is he someone you can fear, love and trust, or is he a petty, bitter, angry man who will punish you for any and every reason and make you fear and hate him?  Interestingly, depending on attitudes and perspectives, two slaves could have the same master and one slave fears, loves and trusts the master and the other slave fears and hates the master.

            The parable in today’s Gospel reading comes directly after the warnings of the parable of the ten virgins which ends, Matthew 25:13 (ESV) 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”  Jesus then continues to describe what the kingdom of heaven will be like.  What is the reign — the rule — of heaven like with Jesus as Lord and Master and you living under Him in His Kingdom?  What is it like for you to be Jesus’ slave? 

            Matthew 25:14–15 (ESV)  14 “For [the Kingdom of Heaven] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.”

            What kind of master are we learning about in this parable?  This master is generous and trusting.  He gives his slaves 5, 2, and 1 talent.  Now, a gold talent is a 75 pound unit of measure and is worth 20 years wages for a laborer.  If a laborer makes $50,000 a year in today’s money a talent today would be worth $1 Million. At today’s gold prices it would be over $2 million.  So what kind of crazy master is this?  This is a master that entrusts his slaves with $5 million, $2 million and $1 million. The first two slaves fear, love and trust their master and use the master’s money to do business and they each double the money entrusted to them.  These two servants trust in their master’s mercy so they are willing to take risks with the money.

            The third slave does not care if he helps the master and just wants to avoid trouble.  The third slave fears the master but does not love the master.  His actions show that he hates the master.  When entrusted with $1 million of the master’s money he gets passive aggressive and does nothing.  “I’ll show him.  He probably thinks I will mess up and lose it all and that I cannot be trusted with money. I’ll show him.  I’ll keep it nice and safe.”  He is so afraid of the master that he is unwilling to take any risk with the money to get it to grow.  Instead, he just buries it in the ground for safekeeping.  He fears and hates the master. 

            Two slaves fear, love and trust the master.  The third fears and hates the master. 

            You are a slave of your Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Do you obey Jesus out of fear, love and trust, or do you obey out of fear and hatred to just stay out of trouble. The Good News from Jesus today is that you have no need to be afraid of God because you are a slave of a generous and merciful God. 

            Now, it is true that you are a real, honest-to-goodness, sinner.  You got on your knees at the beginning of the service and declared yourself to be, by nature, sinful and unclean.  You pled guilty to sinning against God and your neighbor in thought, word and deed by what you have done and by what you have left undone.  Why did you say this?  You said it because it is true.  You really are a sinner but there is a great temptation to minimize your sin so it does not seem so bad — but it is not true.  You are a poor, miserable sinner. You need a savior.

            Martin Luther’s friend, Phillip Melanchthon, was struggling with sin, so Luther wrote him a letter.  In it Luther wrote, “If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners.  Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (or “Sin boldly”), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.”

            Rejoice!  You are a real sinner who has been really forgiven and you live in the joy of the reign of Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven.  As Jesus teaches, Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV) 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

            You live in joyful slavery to Jesus.  What could be better than to be a slave of the most high God? You have a generous and trusting master who has given you your body and soul, eyes, ears, and all your members, your reason and all your senses, and still takes care of them.

He also gives you clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all you have. He richly and daily provides you with all that you need to support this body and life.  The master trusts you with so much. 

Your generous Lord and Master has given you everything that you have, and much more than that, He has taken away all your sins and paid the price for them.  He has given you eternal life.  He washes you clean in the waters of baptism and feeds you with His Body and Blood in Holy Communion.  He forgives you over and over and over in abundance.  Out of great love, the master humbled Himself to serve you, His slave. Your master is the most wonderful, generous master of all and you belong to him.  Yours is a joyful slavery.  You have great joy because Jesus is your Lord and Master and King.  We pray for this, “Thy Kingdom come.”  We sing about this at Christmas. 

It is easy to be confused that we obey in order to avoid punishment, but as a baptized child of God you don’t follow the law in order to avoid punishment.  You follow the law out of love for your generous and merciful savior.  You live in joyful slavery taking God’s gifts to you and investing them in love for those around you.  

            Joy to the World, the Lord is come, let earth receive her king.  Joy to the world, the savior reigns.  He rules the world with truth and grace.

            In Psalm 51 David is repenting of his sin and begs God to 

            Psalm 51:12 (ESV)     12          Restore to me the joy of your salvation, 

            Live your life as a joyful slave of Jesus knowing that the law’s curse against you has been cancelled.  We learn in Galatians 3:13 (ESV) 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

            It is easy to be confused that we obey in order to avoid punishment, but as a baptized child of God you don’t follow the law in order to avoid punishment.  You follow the law out of love for your generous and merciful savior.  You live in joyful slavery taking God’s gifts to you and investing them in love for those around you.  As a joyful slave you do what has been given to you to do.  You care for your family and those in your care. You love your neighbor, multiplying the love of God.  You live in joyful slavery absorbing evil from the world and returning love for evil. 

            Now, there are a lot of people and churches that are afraid of too much Gospel; too much Good News.  They are afraid that if you live in the joy of knowing the curse of the law has been cancelled that you will use that as an excuse to sin more.  Paul answers this… Romans 6:1–2 (ESV) What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Living a joyful life in the forgiveness and love of Jesus is messy.  It is much cleaner and more efficient to control people with the hammer of God’s law. Do this or you are going to get it! Don’t do that or God will punish you! Motivating people through fear is very effective in the short term, but it teaches you to fear and hate God.  It teaches you to fear God so much you take His good gifts and bury them in the ground.  It teaches you about a different god instead of the true generous and merciful God of the Bible.

            Know that you are indeed a real sinner and know that your sins have really been forgiven.  Obey God’s commands, not out of fear of punishment but out of love for your savior.  And when you give in to temptation, when you get caught up in sin, repent and say with King David Psalm 51:10–12 (ESV) 

 10    Create in me a clean heart, O God, 

and renew a right spirit within me. 

 11    Cast me not away from your presence, 

and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 

 12    Restore to me the joy of your salvation, 

and uphold me with a willing spirit.” 

            Live each day in the joy of service to your merciful and generous master using all He has given you for His glory and on the last day you will hear these words as you are welcomed into the heavenly city.  Matthew 25:23 (ESV) 23 … ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.  Amen

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All Saints’ Day 2023
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
November 5, 2023
Rev. 7:2-17, 1 John 3:1-3, Matthew 5:1-12

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            While in college I signed up for Naval Aviation Officer’s Candidate School in order to try to become a Naval Aviator and fly jet fighters off of a carrier. However, after I signed up, I met Jeannette and after the first summer of OCS I decided it was not going to work to be married to Jeannette and fly in the Navy.  God bless military spouses.  One of the toughest jobs in the world. 

            I did learn a lot at OCS the summer of 1987 in Pensacola.  OCS is a lot like summer camp, well, except for Staff Sergeant Norbeck, United States Marine Corps, who never tired of yelling at us and getting us to do all sorts of fun things like clean our rifles, then bury them in the sand, then dig them up and clean them again.  It is all done with the purpose of learning to obey orders without hesitating and to deal with adversity, and that is good, but not particularly pleasant.  One of the activities we had the joy of participating in was boxing.  I don’t know about you, but I do not like getting punched and especially I do not like getting punched in the face – and…well…that was the point.  When I get punched in the face my natural tendency is to lose my cool and attack wildly in anger. The Navy was trying to teach me to keep my head despite the blows.  To keep calm and carry on.  To fight the good fight with careful, calculated punches thrown to gain advantage always keeping my head in the game.  This was one exercise in how to keep your cool under pressure because there is a lot of pressure flying a supersonic jet fighter in combat and then landing on a rolling carrier deck.

            Keeping your cool in the fight is important for sailors and soldiers and airmen and marines…and Christians.  Interestingly St. Paul writes to Pastor Timothy in his first letter that Timothy should… 1 Timothy 6:12 (ESV)  12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”  Fight the good fight of faith.

            And to the Ephesians… Ephesians 6:10–12 (ESV)  10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” 

            You, Christian, are in the fight.  You are part of the Church Militant, the army of God, battling the forces of evil.  You are daily wrestling with the devil, the world and your own sinful nature.  You are in battle against evil along with the rest of the Holy Christian Church.  You are a soldier in the ranks of the 144,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel; an image of the complete army of God — the Church Militant — the Church in the fight.  The first vision in our reading from Revelation is the church lined up shoulder to shoulder, row after row, sealed for the battle.  The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine.  All newborn soldiers of the crucified, bear on their brows the seal of Him who died.  Lift High the Cross all you who are sealed with baptism, the Word of God and Holy Communion, ready to march into the valley of the shadow of death to fight the good fight of faith.  Be strong in the Lord.  Take your stand against the schemes of the devil. 

            A clear example of this in Church history is Martin Luther at the Imperial Diet of Worms in 1521.  Luther was charged with heresy and he is in real danger because heretics are burned at the stake as was done to Jan Hus 100 years earlier at the council of Constance.  Standing before the emperor, surrounded by imperial guards, and facing execution, Luther is asked to recant his writings.  Despite the threats and danger Luther refuses to recant.  He answers the emperor, Charles V, “Since your most serene majesty and your lordships require of me a simple, clear and direct answer, I will give one, and it is this: Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures and by clear reason (for I do not trust in the pope or councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”  Luther stood his ground against the pressure of the Pope and the Emperor and thankfully he had a prince wise enough and powerful enough to protect him and allow him to continue to preach and teach for another 25 years. 

The fight is fierce, the warfare long.  It is dark and desperate on the battlefield as you receive blow after blow from the evil one and His minions.  The blows can come fast and furious and the devil wants you to lose your cool and lash out wildly in anger.  Repent of your anger and do not lose your head.  Keep Calm and Carry On.  This is originally a message of the Ministry of Information to British citizens before World War II.  This is also good wartime advice for you in dark, desperate times in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  Blows come in from all sides.  Taunting, attacking, ostracizing. In our nation you are considered, by many, to be a dangerous, radical, extremist for believing that the Bible is true; that marriage is the lifelong union of a man and a woman; and that life begins at conception and is precious in God’s sight.  In your day to day life you can be called a bigot; and be labeled hateful and unsafe.  Members of your family will turn on you because you believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  And there can be literal physical blows.  Christians are under great persecution in so many places around the world.  Beatings, whippings, imprisonment, arson and death. Since 2009 in Nigeria alone, 18,000 churches have been burned, 2,200 Christian schools set ablaze, and over 52,000 Christians murdered by Islamist Militants.  It is dangerous to be a Christian in the world.  Sealed by Christ, the Church is united around the world in fighting the good fight of faith with our only offensive weapon being the sword of the Spirit — the Word of God.  Keep calm and carry on.  You are a soldier in the army of the Lord and you are sealed, ready for battle.  Matthew 10:28 (ESV) 28 … do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” 

            You are in the fight.  Fight the good fight.  Don’t lose your head because no matter how dark it seems, you are blessed with a blessing for eternity.   

            Matthew 5:11–12 (ESV)  11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

            And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song.  While the battle rages in this life you get a glimpse of what is to come.

Life as a Christian in this world is hard.  You are in the fight.  You are fighting the good fight of faith.  You are taking blows from the evil one.  Protected by the Lord, you take your blows, and keep your head, and you keep calm and carry on doing what you have been given to do.

            The second vision in our reading from Revelation comes after the battle.  Revelation 7:9–10 (ESV) 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  This is the Church — Triumphant. 

Instead of soldiers lined up shoulder to shoulder in precise order ready for battle, this group is a great, unnumbered multitude not dressed for battle, but dressed for the wedding banquet in the white robe of Jesus’ righteousness waving palm branches of victory and praising God with a loud voice. This is not an army going off to war; these are people at peace with the Lord.  Who are these people?  These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation, their ragged, tattered, battle-scarred robes made white by being washed in the blood of the Lamb.  This is the victory celebration.  This is what awaits you on the last day; the victory celebration of the Lamb of God.  The Lamb shepherds you, and you will be in peace.  Revelation 7:16–17 (ESV) 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  The Lord is your Shepherd, you shall not want.  

            Life as a Christian in this world is hard.  You are in the fight.  You are fighting the good fight of faith.  You are taking blows from the evil one.  Protected by the Lord, you take your blows, and keep your head, and you keep calm and carry on doing what you have been given to do.

            Today we remember all those of our fellowship who have died this past year.  We remember those who have been transferred from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant.  All those who can say with St. Paul… 2 Timothy 4:7–8 (ESV) 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”  Those who have died in Christ are at peace with the Lord until the Last Day when they will be raised up in perfection to celebrate the victory of the Lamb forever in the Heavenly City of New Jerusalem. 

            You are in the Church Militant, the army of the Lord, doing daily battle against evil and darkness in your life and in the world until the day you are transferred to the Church Triumphant.  It is a hard fight but you are ready.  You are sealed for the fight, you are not alone, and you know the final victory has already been won.  You know on the Last Day you will be there in the Heavenly City — one of the uncountable multitude wearing the white robe of Jesus’ righteousness waving palm branches and praising the Lamb forever.  Fight the good fight of faith.  Finish the race.  You are sealed by the Lamb.  Amen. 

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Reformation Day 2023 (Observed)
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
October 29, 2023
Rev. 14:6-7, Rom. 3:19-28, John 8:31-36

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

             You are walking alone down the sidewalk when a man shouts from behind you.  “Police!  Stop in the name of the law!  Put your hands up and turn around slowly!”  What should you do?  You have done nothing wrong that you know of, but, at least for me, I think I would put my hands up and turn around slowly.  A police office has the authority to make me stop.  He has the authority of the law.  If he is abusing that authority that is something that can get figured out later in court.  A police officer has the authority of the law given to him by his jurisdiction.

            God has given us God’s law.  God has authority of the law because He is creator of the universe.  God’s law is given in the 10 commandments and in other parts of the Bible and is even written on your heart.  God’s law is strict and demanding.  God is, by nature, holy and pure.  You are, by nature, sinful and unclean.  When faced with the solid wall of God’s holy law you want to look for loopholes to excuse your behavior.  You want to justify yourself.  You want to explain why you sin.  

When you open your mouth to make an excuse for your sin God says, “Stop, in the name of God’s law!”  Close your mouth.  You have no excuse.  You cannot justify yourself. 

            But, but, but…I can’t help it… but everyone is doing it…. But I feel like it is okay… But God’s law is so old fashioned…I know God says it is a sin, but…fill in the blank with your favorite excuse.  But, but, but.  Stop! In the name of God’s law.  Stop.  The law shows that you are a sinner.  End of discussion.  When you want to say “But!”  Shhhhh. 

Romans 3:19 (ESV)  19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.”  Every mouth stopped.  The whole world held accountable to God.  Stop in the name of God’s law. 

            God’s law is harsh and unbending, but it is equitable to the utmost.  We are all equal under God’s law.  Under God’s law the whole world is held accountable. No human being is justified by the law.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  God’s law serves to curb evil behavior, it serves as a guide for how to live, and it serves as mirror to show you your status before the holy glory of God.  The mirror of the law’s message to you and to everyone is this:  You are not good enough.  You are a sinner.  You cannot save yourself.  You cannot earn salvation.  You cannot buy salvation.  You are not saved by the law.  This news is devastating to your proud self that wants to be a part of your salvation. 

God’s law declares you are helpless to save yourself.  You cannot do it.  You need to be saved.  Romans 3:22–23 (ESV) 22 … For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”  You need a savior.

            The amazing Good News is that your Savior has come.  Forgiveness is a gift to you from the Son of God who comes as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.  Righteousness with God is not found in the law, but in the blood of Jesus. The law shows your sin.  Righteousness comes from God apart from the law. 

            Romans 3:21 (ESV) 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 

            You…Romans 3:24–25 (ESV) 24 …are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. …

            Propitiation is a good vocab word.  It means to appease, to conciliate; it is to offer a sacrifice that appeases God’s just judgment and righteous anger against us and our sin. Jesus is not just the propitiator, He is the propitiation.  Jesus appeases God’s anger at your sin and gives you his righteousness, to be received by faith.  Faith is also not something that you do.  Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  Faith receives God’s gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. 

We got to witness a miracle this morning.  Little Samuel Christopher Kehr was baptized this morning.  Samuel is two weeks old.  He does not do much besides eat, sleep, pee and poop and throw up occasionally.  God redeemed Samuel this morning in the waters of baptism and transferred him from the domain of darkness to the light of Christ. As the Church, together, for our brother Samuel, we renounced the devil and all his works and all his ways.  Together we confessed belief in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Samuel was born on the afternoon of October 14.  Samuel was born again this morning with water and the Spirit.  Samuel received the Holy Spirit.  He was given the gift of saving faith in Jesus even though we cannot understand the faith of a two week old.  We cannot really understand faith at all.  The righteousness of God was given to Samuel, not because of anything Samuel has done, but because of what Jesus has done for Samuel. 

There is nothing to boast about from yourself because there is nothing that you have done.  Poor in spirit you come to God with empty hands and He fills you to overflowing.  You do not have anything to do with your salvation.  Thanks be to God!  You can trust that it is finished. 

            It hurts your sinful pride, but your salvation is accomplished 100 percent by Jesus so you can trust completely that it was done fully and correctly.  You will still struggle with sinful temptations, but you struggle as one redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  The battle against evil continues, but the war is already won. 

            If you are ever tempted to brag about your faith or your holy living or your pious practices….shhhh.  Romans 3:27 (ESV) 27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.” 

There is nothing to boast about from yourself because there is nothing that you have done.  Poor in spirit you come to God with empty hands and He fills you to overflowing.  You do not have anything to do with your salvation.  Thanks be to God!  You can trust that it is finished. 

            And when Satan accuses you of your sin and tries to convince you that there is no way that God could love and forgive a sinner like you, declare to him, “Stop! In the name of the Gospel!  You are right devil, I am a sinner, but Jesus has forgiven me all my sins and I belong to Him forever.  You lying devil, Stop! In the name of the Gospel!”

            Your salvation is secure because it is accomplished 100% by Jesus.  It is not about you.  It is about Jesus for you.  Amen. 

WORSHIP VIDEO LINK (linked after 10:45 AM Service)

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Pentecost 21, 2023 Proper 24
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud 
October 22, 2023
Isiah 45:1-7, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22:15-22

Sermons online: 
Text and Audio:         immanuelhamiltonchurch.com   click “sermons”
Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                        bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio:   bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship

            Questions.  Are they good, or bad?  When discussing issues of faith with family and friends, questions can be a great tool to help clarify and understand someone else’s beliefs and practices.  You are talking about church and your aunt says, “I used to go to church, but now I am spiritual but not religious.”  A simple question like, “What do you mean by that?” can help clarify if this is something thoughtful or just something she says to have an excuse not to go to church.  If someone says, “I know that this thing I am saying is true”, ask, “How do you know?” 

            Questions can be very useful.  When you are starting a new job and you don’t know how to do something properly it is good to ask for help, “Can you please show me again how to do this ?” 

            Questions can be very helpful, and questions can be used as weapons.  Too often questions are not looking for information, but rather are just being used to trap someone.  In politics, questions at a debate, at press conference or shouted at a candidate can be gotcha questions trying to force a candidate to choose between two possible answers knowing that either answer will damage their campaign or credibility.  No matter who is the president is, it seems that the White House press secretary has to be an expert in not answering questions if the answer would harm the president.  A reporter asks a gotcha question and the press secretary responds that the president is doing great things — better than anyone ever before.  Gotcha questions are pretty common today, but this isn’t anything new.

            Two thousand years ago in Jerusalem, the Pharisees are plotting against Jesus. On Sunday, Jesus rides triumphantly into Jerusalem and promptly cleanses the temple of those selling animals and exchanging money.  The religious leaders see Jesus as a troublemaker who needs to be eliminated. They try a series of gotcha questions.

            The chief priests and the elders challenge Jesus’ authority and Jesus asks them where did the baptism of John the Baptist came from; from heaven or from man? Jesus responds to their gotcha question with a gotcha question of his own which the religious leaders refuse to answer.  Jesus then tells them the parable of the two sons and the parable of the vineyard and the tenants.  These parables are harsh accusations against the religious leaders, and they know it. They want to get rid of Jesus, but they fear the crowds.

            Jesus then tells the parable of the wedding feast as a warning that those who reject Jesus will be cast out where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  The religious leaders plot to trap Jesus with another gotcha question, Matthew 22:17 (ESV) 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”  Now, nobody likes paying taxes but it is a fact of life.  The Pharisees don’t actually care what Jesus thinks, the question is a trap. If Jesus says it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar they will accuse Him of being in league with the Romans against the Jews and the Jews will reject Jesus and treat Him like a tax collector.  If Jesus says it is not lawful then they can accuse Him of leading a rebellion against Caesar and Jesus will be in trouble with the Romans.  The goal of the question is not to gain information, but to hurt Jesus no matter how He answers. 

            Now as good as press secretaries and politicians are at not answering questions, Jesus is the best.  They cannot trick Jesus because, being the Son of God, Jesus is pretty smart.  Jesus easily avoids their traps.  His time has not yet come, but it is coming soon.  On Thursday, Jesus will surrender to arrest, torture and crucifixion.  This is why He has come to Jerusalem.  But He will go on His own terms and not be trapped by the Pharisees’ clever question and He lets them know that He is in charge of this conversation. 

            Matthew 22:18–19 (ESV) 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.”

            A denarius at this time bears an image of the emperor’s head along with an offensive inscription.  It reads on one side, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine Augustus”, and “pontifex maximus” meaning more or less “high priest” on the other side. 

            Matthew 22:20 (ESV) 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”  They answer, “Caesar’s.” 

            Jesus brilliantly tells them, Matthew 22:21 (ESV) 21 … “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s…”

            Caesar made the coin.  He has his picture on it and calls himself the Son of God.  If He wants it back, give it back to Him.  But that is not all that Jesus says.  The next few words are the heart of the matter…but I am afraid these often get lost because we think Jesus is teaching here about taxes and our relationship to the government. 

            The heart of Jesus’ teaching is…”[render] to God the things that are God’s.”

            What does this mean?  In the context of this tumultuous and troubled week in Jerusalem, what does it mean to pay God the things that are God’s?  It means to do the Father’s will.  It means to repent and believe what John the Baptist preached about Jesus.  It means to know who owns the vineyard of this world and to whom does the fruit belong. It means to have a place at the wedding feast of the Lamb — now and forever.  To have a place at the feast is to honor the master of the feast by accepting His invitation and worshipping His Son.  To pay to God what is God’s is to know who Jesus is and to know what Jesus has done.

   To render to God what is God’s is to repent of your sins and follow His Son as a trusting and obedient disciple.  

            The Pharisees and the Herodians are asking Jesus the wrong question because they reject Him as the Messiah and the Savior of the world.  To them Jesus is just a problematic prophet causing trouble; a crazy rabbi from Galilee. 

You are not like the Pharisees.  You know who Jesus is.  You know Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  You know Jesus has come to offer Himself on the altar of the cross as the sacrifice for the sin of the world.  You know Jesus gives to you the robe of His righteousness to clothe you for the wedding feast and give you a place here at His table for a foretaste of the feast to come.  You know that on the Last Day you will have a place at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom. 

            To render to God what is God’s is to repent of your sins and follow His Son as a trusting and obedient disciple.  To render unto God what is God’s is to daily struggle against the temptations of the devil, the world and your own sinful flesh that all want you to cast off the robe of Jesus’ righteousness, reject the Lamb of God, be too busy for the wedding feast, and deny that you are a Christian by living like a godless pagan in order to fit into a world of godless pagans. 

            To render to God what is God’s is to surrender lordship of your life to the Lord of Life.  Hour by hour, day by day, week by week, year by year, live out the prayer, “Thy will be done.”  Thy will be done in all that you are given to do.  Thy will be done in all your life.  Thy will be done even in those parts of your life that you like to keep tucked away from others — even hidden, if that were possible, from God — your life on the internet, your financial life, your sexual life.  Surrender your false lordship of these areas.  Pray, “Thy will be done.” 

            You are a child of God who carries the name of God watered onto you at your baptism.  You are welcomed to your place at the table to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.  You belong to the creator and you are made holy through the blood of His Son, Jesus. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  You wear the robe of Jesus’ righteousness.  You belong to God.  As St. Paul writes to the church in Rome, Romans 12:1 (ESV) 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 

            You are a beloved follower of Jesus.  Give to God what is God’s because you belong to Him. Amen.

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BULLETIN

SERMON TEXT BELOW

Wedding Crashers
Vicar Matthew Kinne
Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost: Matthew 22:1-14; Isaiah 25:6-9; Philippians 4:4-13
10/15/23
Word Count: 1,794

Anyone who has witnessed a wedding knows that the day is meant to be filled with joy and laughter. It is meant to be a celebration of Christ uniting a man and woman together in a life-long marriage. It is an incredible institution that God Himself established in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and He continues to work through this institution to this day. Everything that God established in the garden was intended for good. But again, because of the disruption of our pride, sin caused things in our lives not to be filled with the joy and laughter as God intended us to have. Instead, we experience something not as inviting… wedding crashers. 

I’m not as familiar with the wedding stories you all have, though I have heard a few in my short time at Immanuel. But in every wedding celebration, there is always a hiccup of some kind: rainstorms, snowstorms, tornadoes, the flowers were not delivered until after the ceremony, someone forgot the cake, the pastor got sick, the bride or groom were injured, someone’s friend partied too hard and had to be sent to the hospital, a bridesmaid forgot her dress, the mother-in-law decided to where white for some reason, the marriage certificate wasn’t ordered in time… the list is never ending. 

But even after the wedding is done, there are many other marriage crashers that Satan loves to send in order to break what God intended for His good. Lying, cheating, laziness, financial struggle or even financial greed, heart ache, depression, pride, death of a child, and ultimately if your marriage survives all of that… Satan still wins by the death of a spouse. He is the ultimate wedding crasher.

In our Gospel reading today, we learn about a Bridegroom that would not allow His marriage to fail. He protected His wedding day so that there would be no disruption and no wedding crashers. 

First, the Bridegroom, who in this parable is Jesus, invites guests to His wedding, His everlasting feast in His kingdom. These guests, Jesus implies in the parable, are the Jews. He sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel of Repentance while He worked miracles in all of Israel, and taught with the authority to forgive sins, showing that He is God the promised Messiah. And even though He did all of these signs and invited the Pharisees, Chief Priests, and Elders to follow along with Him and join his wedding march, they choose to be party poopers. They were envious that Jesus, who they thought was a mere man born in Bethlehem and raised by His earthly carpenter father, Joseph, was gaining all the attraction to Himself. They thought that Jesus was the one crashing their party, rather than the other way around. But even though they were always ignoring the invitation to follow Him, Jesus still taught, still worked miracles, and sent out His disciples to others with the invitation to follow Him.

The second thing that the bridegroom did, which may seem a little over the top at first, is that in His anger He sent troops to go out and destroy those who denied His invitation and those who murdered His messengers. That sounds like a rather scary bridegroom. It seems odd at first that Jesus, who teaches earlier in Matthew “Blessed are the peace makers” is teaching here that the Bridegroom is storming through the town in rampage destroying those who ignored His invitation. It seems as though killing would be counterintuitive because that would scare away guests or cause there to be less people able to come to the wedding. But who are the people that the Bridegroom sends the troops after? They are the people who are crashing His wedding by ignoring His invitation and being soaked into their own life. They are the ones who think they are too busy to come, maybe even for a “realistically good” reason. One bought knew livestock and the other started a new business. They were busy! They had no time to go to church… I mean the wedding. 

So, why did God destroy these ignorant guests? It is not because he took pleasure in killing. It is because as the Bridegroom, He was protecting the people, His bride, His church, who are the people in His third act of this parable. He sent out His messengers among the rest of the world to invite the good and the bad people, aka Gentiles; you and me. We are the people Jesus intended to invite through His disciples at the end of Matthew, where we hear, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you [my disciples] and low, I will be with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) It is through that Baptism and teaching from Christ’s authority that we are no longer just a guest invited from the street, but are now the bride, His church included in the feast.

Yes, we are the bride He chooses to protect. Even though we are ignorant all the time, and though we sin constantly, Jesus loves His bride. He would do literally anything to make sure His bride meets at His altar, including laying His life down for her’s, which He did do on the cross.

He is jealous for her. He cannot allow room for any other “god” into His marriage, because He is the one and only that provides all needs for her. He not only gives her clothes, her shoes, her food, but he also gives her a family, a home, a place of peace, refuge from others who want to destroy their marriage. He gives His wedding garment of righteousness away to His bride so that she can be seen as clean and righteous as He is.

And if you are not part of the bride, if you ignore His promises and maybe go as far as divorcing yourself from the church, striping away the wedding garment He put on you, it would be as if you were saying your life is as valuable as the wedding crashers. These are people who sneak other guests out of the party to have their own frivolity; one full of bitter food, muddy water, sour wine, and death. Your life would be as good as dead, because the Bridegroom will always protect His bride. And if you do not sit within His church, there is no way for Him to show you mercy as He would not even recognize you. 

We do await the day for when our Lord will come back to take us into the heavenly wedding feast. But until then, we as the church need to remain faithful to our marriage vows.

But as we prayed earlier in the service these words, “Almighty God, You invite us to trust in You for our salvation. Deal with us not in the severity of Your judgement but by the greatness of Your mercy,” whenever we find ourselves outside of the wedding feast, soaked in the teachings of false teachers and find ourselves as the poor miserable sinner, Jesus wants us to ask for His forgiveness, and He promises that He will always give it. He never divorces us away from him, only we can do that on our own. Thanks be to God that He does this incredible thing, because I do not want to be on the side of seeing God’s righteous anger, and I would hope and pray none of you do either. It would be terrible! Rather, the church hopes in the promises and surety of Christ’s words saying He has gone to prepare a room for us. And we gladly await His second coming! Judgement day, for the bride will not be a day of sorrow and tears. He takes those all away. It will be a joyful day for us, though I can’t say the same thing for those who do not wear the wedding garments, as Jesus points out in the end of our parable today. He says that these wedding crashers will be sent out into the utter darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It does not sound pleasing.

We do await the day for when our Lord will come back to take us into the heavenly wedding feast. But until then, we as the church need to remain faithful to our marriage vows. We can only do that, however, not by our own strength. Christ sent us His Holy Spirit so that we can engage in creedal faith together. We are to be united as the church through the Word and Sacrament. If the Christian religion were a man-made thing, it would have faded years ago. But God keeps sending His Holy Spirit to revive the church, to strengthen marriages with children and more hands to tend to the needy, the lonely, and the oppressed. He calls men into the ministry so that others in the streets can hear the Gospel that they no longer need to live under the anger of the Bridegroom but live in His good graces of mercy. 

In our liturgical practices you can see places where we preach that we wear the permanent righteousness of Christ. For example: Many baptisms include the participant to wear white or receive a white garment to show that they have been clothed in the garments of Christ the Crucified. The catechumens, on confirmation day, wear a white robe showing that they are still living in their baptismal garment confessing before all people that they are in unity with the church. A Pastor wears a white robe showing that his words are not from his own authority, but from the authority received from Bridegroom Himself. And it is only in that Word can the church find unity and salvation. At a funeral, the body is covered with a white cloth, a pall, that shows that this person, now deceased, is a baptized member of the church and is now waiting for the resurrection. And some of you may have thought I forgotten one, and that is the bride who wears white to her wedding. Many traditions revolve around this example. But for the sake of today, it is important to understand one thing—The bride does not dress herself in her own white dress. It is Christ who suffered and died for His wife who gives her the unstained perfect life He possess, and clothes her in it. 

We are the recipients of God’s great mercy. We are the bride that needs forgiveness every day, that is, everyday until we are with Him face-to-face in the wedding feast that has no end. Amen.