Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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Reminiscing about the good old days is sometimes fun to do. The good old days were always better than they are now. Or maybe not. Even I can remember filling by father’s VW Beetle with gas for 25 cents a gallon. Those were the good old days. Things were better back then.

In the good old days, there were no such thing as ‘bath salts,’ or ‘suicide bombers,’and we all said the Pledge of Allegiance’ everyday in school. Things were better back then.

I hadn’t lived in Maine for very long before I began to hear the stories of the way winters in Maine used to be. ‘We used to get so much snow that we could step out the second floor window and slide down the snow bank.’ Things were worse back then.

I think that our Old Testament reading for this morning catches the prophet Isaiah doing a little reminiscing. Back in the good old days, God used to rescue His people from their enemies in dramatic ways. In the good old days, God would divide the sea right so that His people would walk right through it on dry ground and then when their enemy pursued them, He’d close the sea up again and drown the all. Those were the good old days.

It used to be, that God would sponsor incredible contests with the other gods. They could never get their fire started but He sent fire down fire from the sky and set the whole pile of wet wood ablaze. Those were the good old days. Things were better back then when God demonstrated His power in dramatic ways.

Isaiah felt that the time was ripe for God to do His thing again. ‘Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence, as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil, to make your name known among your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.’ Continue reading →

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‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.’

We have just confessed what the Scriptures say. ‘I believe that He [Jesus] will come again with GLORY.’ There’s a word that we use a lot around here. I wonder if we know what we’re saying. The word in the Hebrew is ‘kavod.’ ‘Kavod’ literally means ‘weight,’ or ‘weightiness.’

In the book of Exodus, the Lord tells Moses to lead the people of Israel through the Red Sea. He says, ‘I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will GET GLORY over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ex.14:4). Pharaoh thinks he’s the heavyweight and all the Egyptians and even the Israelites think that Pharaoh is the heavyweight. But the Lord will show them all that Pharaoh is the lightweight, in fact, he is nothing. Pharaoh and the Egyptians and especially the Israelites will know that it is the Lord, their God, who is the heavyweight.

He is the ‘heavy’ one against whom, all the rulers of this world put together are like a feather in the wind, and all of the so-called gods are nothing but a breath. But the Lord fills heaven and earth. He is all in all. That’s heavy. That’s substantial. That’s glory.

‘I believe that He will come again with weight.’ It’s certainly not that the Lord needed to put on some weight or that He had to become heavy. He is who He is and He is the weighty One. But when He appeared to us the first time, we didn’t see His glory. We saw a little baby, a mere man, a weakling, ‘he was despised, and we esteemed him not.’ (Isaiah 53:3) When He comes again, we will see just how heavy He is. ‘He will come again with glory.’

So what is unbelief? What is ‘idolatry?’ It is to ascribe to something more weight than it actually has and to ascribe to God less weight that He actually has. Adam and Eve were guilty of idolatry. They gave more weight to the word of the serpent than the word of God, and glorified Satan over God. What about you? Is the Word of the Lord the heaviest thing in your life or is there another word that bears more weight in the decisions you make, and the direction you’re heading, and the actions you’re taking?

But just as God got glory over Pharaoh, He will get glory over Satan. And the whole creation, every man, woman and child, will ‘ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name.’ Continue reading →

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‘For IT will be like a man going on a journey.’
What will? What is ‘it’?

On Wednesday of Holy Week, as Jesus left the Temple, His disciples marveled at the beauty of the Temple and it’s impressive architecture. Jesus answered them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.’ (Mat.24:1-2) After that, they went to the Mount of Olives, privately. And they asked Him, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and the close of the age’? And Jesus answered them…’ (Mat.24:3-4).

As to the question of ‘WHEN these things will be,’ Jesus says, ‘concerning the day or the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven or the Son, but the Father only.’ As to the question of ‘what SIGNS to look for,’ Jesus says, politically, ‘You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.’ Religiously, ‘many false christs and false prophets will appear and many will be led astray. And those who are not led astray, will be subject to great tribulation and hatred and even death.’ And these ‘signs’ signal just the ‘beginning of birth pangs.’ (Mat.24:4-8)

When you see these signs, then you will know that the ‘close of the age’ is coming, and the ‘new age’ will begin when I come again to judge between those who will be a part of the new age and those who will not.

We cannot properly understand the meaning of the parable before us this morning, unless we understand in the proper context. Jesus speaks this parable to His disciples on the Mount of Olives in answer to their question. Having answered the ‘when’ and the ‘what,’ He now answers the even more important, ‘how.’ How should the disciple of Jesus live in these last days at the close of the age, when these signs are clearly taking place all around?

That’s what ‘it’ is. ‘It’ is the life of the believer during these last days. ‘It will be like a man going on a journey. He called His servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.’ Continue reading →

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St. Matthew writes, ‘And great crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. SEEING THE CROWDS, he went up on the mountain, and He sat down.’ When a Rabbi sits down, that means its time for class to begin. ‘His disciples came to him. And he opened His mouth and taught them, saying”

Jesus ‘SAW the crowds.’ He didn’t ‘work the crowds’ or ‘play the crowds’ or entertain the crowds.’ He ‘SAW the crowds.’ And what did Jesus see when He ‘saw the crowds’? He sees people who are ‘poor in spirit,’ ‘those who mourn,’ ‘those who are meek,’ ‘those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,’ ‘those who are merciful,’ ‘those who are pure in heart,’ ‘those who are peacemakers,’ ‘those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.’ How many of us can’t find ourselves somewhere in that crowd?

This is what Jesus sees when He ‘saw the crowds.’ The world doesn’t see these things when it sees the crowds. When the world sees the crowds, it sees ‘consumer,’ ‘tax payer,’ ‘constituent,’ ‘worker,’ ‘liability,’ ‘dependant,’ ‘statistic.’

Jesus wants to teach His disciples to see what He sees in the crowds. And He wants them to see that they are ‘blessed.’ Why are they blessed? Not because they follow Him. They could follow Jesus to the end of the earth and never be blessed. It’s not the fact that they are ‘poor in spirit,’ or that they ‘mourn,’ or that they ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness,’ that they are blessed. They are blessed because HE SEES THEM. Continue reading →

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When I was young, our annual summer vacation was to the Jersey Shore, usually Wildwood. We went to Wildwood, because at the time it was a nice family place to go, and because it was close to Cape May, where my uncle managed the Cape May Airport. Uncle Caddy flew those banners up and down the beach that advertized things like ‘Laura’s Fudge ‘ Best on the Boardwalk,’ and ‘Pier One Salt Water Taffy,’ and ‘Tony Bennett ‘ Tonight at the Red Garter.’ Every time one of those little Piper Cubs flew overhead, towing one of those banners, my sister and I would wave and shout at the top of our lungs, ‘hi uncle Caddy.’

St. John describes what he sees. ‘An angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.’ That’s quite a banner that this angel is towing.

The banner proclaims ‘The eternal Gospel.’ ‘The Gospel’ is the good news that the holy, holy, holy God has restored His fallen creation through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. ‘The Gospel’ is that divine fact that mankind’s sin, has been completely atoned for, not with our gold or silver, or our good works or our penance or indulgences, or other any such thing, but solely by the precious blood of Christ. ‘The Gospel’ is the victory that that Jesus Christ has won over the power of the devil that sets every man and woman ever born into slavery under sin, free. Not because we are worthy, but because Jesus loves you. Continue reading →

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‘You shall be holy as the I the Lord your God am holy.’ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Wow! What incredible demands God makes on us. That’s not just setting the bar high, that’s setting the bar as high as heaven. God has high standards, in fact, the highest standards. We would gladly settle for something less than holiness and love. But not God.

In the beginning, when God was making the world, every once in awhile He stopped along the way and see what He had made and, ‘it was good.’ (Gen.1:10). When God says, ‘it is good,’ that means that it meets His standards. It was just they way He wanted it to be. It was exactly what He had in mind and nothing less.

And then God said, ‘let us make man in our image, in our likeness.’ ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him.’ (Gen.1:26-27). So, what does that mean that man was created in ‘image of God’? How does the Bible describe the ‘image of God’? Well, God is holy. Continue reading →

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‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not’?

Let me just begin by saying this is not about whether we should or shouldn’t pay taxes to the government. Jesus does make it very clear that we should and must pay the taxes we owe to the government. But that’s not what this about.

Matthew makes it very clear that the Pharisees are not interested in Jesus opinion on the ethical dilemma between Jewish spiritual law and Roman tax law. ‘The Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his talk.’ And this is what they came up with.

Frankly, they really didn’t care if He was for or against tax reform. It didn’t matter to them if He answered their question ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ They had already made the decision to destroy Jesus. Now, it was a matter of creating some evidence to get the job done. They’re only purpose was to ‘entangle Him in his talk.’

In reading through the gospels, you do get the definite impression that the religious leaders of Israel made their mind up about Jesus according to a different criterion than the laity did. They both heard the same sermons and saw the same miracles. But the laity is convinced that He is ‘from God.’ They don’t necessary connect Him to the Messiah like John the Baptist, Peter and the disciples do. But they are convinced that He is at least a prophet. God is speaking to them through this man. They see Jesus as an advocate acting on their behalf and for their good. They want what He has to give.

But the religious leadership of Israel comes to the very opposite conclusion about Jesus. They believe that He is from the devil and that it is by ‘Beelzabul that He does these things.’ In their mind, Jesus is a terrible threat, not only to their personal security and peace but also to the security and peace of the nation of Israel. ‘If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” (John 11:48)

How come some receive Jesus as friend and others resist Him as enemy? Why do some welcome Him and others want Him to get lost? Why is He Savior to some and a just another religious nut to others? I’m not sure how to answer that really, other than to say that the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart, when and where He pleases. But we shouldn’t think that these religious leaders were ‘bad people.’ They were the Mormons of their day. Everyone said that they were ‘such good people.’ They were very religious.

I suspect that the line that separates believer from unbeliever is a lot thinner than we might think, and that we cross over that line far more often than we think, and that it is far more important to take everything that hear and see Jesus do, positively, as ‘for us.’ Even, no, especially when it doesn’t seem that way, when He threatens to disturb our peace and security. When we take a skeptical view of Jesus as the Pharisees and religious leaders did, the wall of separation gets deeper and higher. Continue reading →

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I. The Messianic Banquet
A. Isaiah’s description
The prophet Isaiah describes a banquet that takes place on a mountaintop. It’s a banquet that everyone from every nation on earth is invited to attend. It’s a banquet where Lord God Himself is the chef and the host. ‘On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine.’ (Is.25:6).

As fantastic as the food itself is, it’s the health benefits that are derived from eating this food that make this banquet the incredible, divine meal that it is. You eat the food, and ‘he will swallow upon the covering [of sin] that is cast over you. You eat this food, and ‘He will swallow the veil [of unrighteousness] that is spread over you. You eat this food and ‘he will swallow up your death forever.’ You eat this food, and ‘He will wipe away the tears from your face.’ You eat this food, ‘and He will take away the reproach our your guilt.’

And the confidence with which you may believe this is based, not on your feelings or reason or even your faith. It is based solely on the Word of God ‘ ‘For the Lord has spoken.’

This is the great ‘messianic banquet’ that Isaiah is describing. On the last day, the call will go out that the banquet is ready and the dinner bell will sound. Actually, it’ll be trumpets. But you’ll know it when you hear it. Continue reading →

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It was just two Sunday’s ago that we listened to Jesus tell a story about a man who owned a vineyard. He hired workers throughout the course of the day and at the end of the day, He paid everyone a full days wages, even those who had only worked one hour. Those hired first complained saying that it was unfair. But the owner replied saying, ‘Am I not allowed to do what I choose WITH WHAT BELONGS TO ME.’

Now today, we hear Jesus tell another story about a man who owns a vineyard. It’s another story but not another man or another vineyard. This is the same man and the same vineyard. In fact, it’s the same man and the same vineyard as the one that we heard the prophet Isaiah speak about in our Old Testament reading this morning.

But in this story, the focus is on the payment that the owner expects from His vineyard. Unlike the previous story where the owner took a pretty hands-on approach to management, here, the owner leases the operation to tenants for them to manage while He leaves the country.

The terms are spelled out pretty clearly in the story. He LEASED it to the tenants. He didn’t SELL it to them. If He had SOLD it His involvement with the vineyard and its operation would be over. But He LEASES the vineyard to TENANTS. We’d probably call them ‘sharecroppers.’ They live in the vineyard and they live off the vineyard. The only obligation that they have to the owner is to make the annual lease payment. And the lease payment is paid in ‘FRUIT.’ The lease payments are made, not in dollars or denari, but in the fruit of the vine, in cases of wine. After all, that why the owner planted a vineyard. That’s what vineyards are supposed to produce.

So far so good. So far, it’s all business as usual. The tension in this story happens when the owner wants to collect the payment due. He sends His servants to get the fruit and bring it back to Him. He sent one, but the tenants beat him up. He sent another but the tenants killed him, we’re not told how. He sent another but the tenants killed this one by stoning him.

This is terrible. It’s completely outrageous. How can they do such a thing? Have they no sense of appreciation or gratitude for the blessings of life in the vineyard? Have they forgotten that the gracious owner has ‘given them every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit [and said] ‘You shall have them for food’? Have they forgotten that it was He ‘who put them in the [vineyard] to work it and take care of it.’ (Gen.1:29; 2:15).

Or could it be that they have forgotten that this vineyard is not really theirs, that it doesn’t belong to them? Or have they become so attached to their standard of living that they cannot bear to turn any of it over to the owner and they resent the owners attempts to collect His due?

Who are these scoundrels anyway?
Continue reading →

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‘When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority”?

This took place on Tuesday of Holy Week. Two days earlier Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey to the exuberant cheers of the crowds to celebrate the ‘Feast of Unleavened Bread’, which culminated in the celebration of the Passover.

Hundreds of thousands of pious Jews from all over the world would come to Jerusalem on this holy week. They would bring their foreign currency that would need to be changed. And they would need to purchase animals for the Temple offerings and a lamb for the Passover meal. There were lots of moneychangers and merchants throughout Jerusalem for these pilgrims to deal with.

But the chief priests who were in charge of administering the affairs of the Temple, had found a way to capture some of the revenue generated during the busy holiday season for the Temple. They turned one whole section of the Temple into a market for merchants and moneychangers who gave a cut of their proceeds to the Temple. It was the Court of the Gentiles, which as you can imagine, made it very difficult for any Gentiles who came to worship the God of Israel to do so.

On Monday of Holy Week, Jesus went to the Temple and drove out the merchants and overturned the tables of the moneychangers, while preaching on Isaiah 56, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” (Mat.21:13) It was like shutting down the Mall the week before Christmas. Continue reading →