John 12:20-33; Palm Sunday; April 10, 2020;

John 12:20-33; Palm Sunday; April 10, 2020;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:20-33, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
You know, the whole world is looking for something spiritual. I have heard that the fastest growing religion in the world right now is Islam. It’s growing in Africa, South American, Canada, and yes even in the United States. It is a part of the human psyche to want spiritual things to be a part of life.
People especially look for God, as a higher power, in times of trouble. There have been surges of people going to church in times of trouble. Think about times of trouble in our country. Times when we see people crying out to God for help and understanding. People want God to be a part of their lives. They want God around when stuff isn’t going well. But the question could well be asked “What God?”
The term god that is used in the public square is very generic and it is meant to be that way. Sometimes you might even hear it said like this; “Let us each pray to god, using whatever name we know him by.” The truth is there is no generic god. There is only one true God. He is the one we should seek. He is the one we should pray to. He is the God who comes to us in Jesus Christ.
Our Gospel today finds some “Greeks” looking for Jesus. These guys were, presumably, people who believed in the God of the Jews. They were in Jerusalem for the Passover; they saw that Jesus was there and wanted to know more about him. “We want to see Jesus.” They asked Philip. Of course, they didn’t just want to look his direction, they didn’t just want to stand beside the road and watch him walk by. They wanted to look him over and see what made him so different. They wanted to talk to him. They wanted to get a chance to get to know him. They wanted to see what everyone else saw when they saw Jesus. Here was a man who brought a crowed with him as he marched into the city in a parade of palms looking to everyone like the next King of the Jews. Here was a man who had the guts to go into the temple and clear out the moneychangers and their overpriced sacrifices. He was a man who had raised a three-day-dead-man to life again. He was a man who drew crowds with him everywhere he went. He was a focus of public attention and they wanted to know what every one else saw when they looked at him. They wanted to see what they would see when they looked at Jesus. These curious men came to Andrew and Philip to take them to see Jesus.
Philip and Andrew were not new to bringing people to Jesus. Andrew brought his brother Peter. And Philip brought Nathaniel. “Come and see, we have found the Christ!” they said to their brothers. “Come and look at what we have found. Come see him for yourself.” And now they brought these Greeks to Jesus, “These Greeks, these gentiles, want to see you Jesus. Is it ok?” They asked.
What do you think those Greeks saw when they looked at Jesus? It would probably be easy to describe Jesus, that is what he looked like. How many pictures have you seen? How many pictures do we have all around here? Unkempt hair, smiling face, beard… Halo around his head? Eyes that burn into your soul? Smiling, crying, frowning, and laughing? When these men came to Jesus, did they see what they though they’d see? Was Jesus what they expected?
Maybe I should ask the question of you, I think it’s a legitimate question to ask Christian people: What do you see when you look at Jesus?
Think about today, Palm Sunday. The Jews that followed Jesus to Jerusalem shouting “Hosanna!” saw a powerful king. They must have been overjoyed when he flushed the corruption out of the temple. It was a very powerful and king like thing to do. That’s exactly what they wanted; someone who would get them out from under the thumb of the Romans; someone powerful to take their biggest problems to and let him take care of them. When they looked at Jesus, they saw someone who was going to make everything better. He did, just not in the way the expected.
Do you see Jesus that way? Is that the first thing you think of when you see Jesus? My God is an awesome God! I think we all do at times. “If I just have faith in Jesus everything will be alright.”
Susan stood beside here father’s bed. He had been wracked with pain for 3 months. “It’ll be ok dad. We just must have faith and Jesus will heal you.” She is all smiles and confidant. When Susan sees Jesus, she sees healing for her failing father. That’s the awesomeness of God in her life. Her faith is about Jesus making her father right again.
Ray was successful. Business was great and despite the failing economy he was still doing well. He was often asked about the secret to his success. It wasn’t a secret as far as he was concerned. He just followed the principals found in the Bible. If he did that, Jesus would make sure he was successful.
“Lord,” cried Amy. “Give us the victory over these evil people who only want to cause us pain and suffering. Show your glory in their defeat! You promise that we will be victorious over sin. Make it so now.” As she prayed the crowd around her murmured their approval. They were sure Jesus would show his power and defeat their enemies.
I wonder if that’s what the Greeks who came to Jesus saw? Jesus powerful. King Jesus. Jesus making a glorious stand against everything that was wrong in the world. I think Jesus wants them to see something different.
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
Jesus isn’t talking about throwing out the Roman Legions. He’s not talking about healing every disease, he’s not talking about establishing a glorious earthly kingdom based in Jerusalem. He is talking about death and suffering. He’s talking about having a troubled heart. He says following him isn’t about being healed and successful. It’s about hating one’s life and being a servant. None of that sounds very glorious to me. It’s not what I want to see in Jesus. I don’t think its what the Greeks expected to hear or see.
The truth is faith in Jesus isn’t about being successful in life. It’s not about being healed from every disease. It isn’t about triumphing over our enemies. Faith in Jesus is about seeing Jesus lifted up on a cross, bleeding and dying, suffering and crying out in pain. Faith in Jesus is about that Seed dying and being buried. The Passion of our Lord is all about. It is a day to think about Jesus Christ crucified, and what it means. Our faith is in Jesus Christ who was crucified, lifted up. It’s what he did there on the cross that is so important to everyone. It is there that he “draws all people to himself.” It is there that he gets our attention as he dies.
Jesus is in his full glory on the cross. He is the one who hates his life for the sake of us all. What we mean is that he loved us more than himself. He willingly hung on the cross out of love for you and me. It’s been said that nails didn’t hold Jesus on the cross, love did. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, to be lifted up on the cross and suffer, and die, for the sins of the whole world. Our God is an awesome God. We see just exactly what that means when we stand at the foot of the cross.
What do we see when we look at Jesus? We see Jesus crucified, dead, buried and raised. We see Jesus dying for us, and our sins. We see Jesus paying the penalty for all that we do wrong every day; the things that hurt our friends and family; the things that cause us pain and suffering. We see Jesus’ suffering for all that we don’t do that we should. Ignoring the suffering of others and passing up opportunities to share the love of Jesus with other. We see Jesus taking all our punishment to the grave, and packing it all in there to stay, freeing us from it all.
And there’s something else. This seed dies, but it springs up again and bears many seeds. Jesus rises from death and the grave. The punishment of sin is taken care of; the guilt of sin is washed away. Good Friday sorrow leads to Easter joy. But there is no Easter, no resurrection with out death and burial. There are no “many seeds” with out the death of the One.
Do you want to know who God is? The world is looking for Him. They want to see him as a god who will make their nation successful in war. They want to see him as a god who will give them a happy and healthy life, and a booming economy. But God isn’t necessarily found in those kinds of things. But he is found in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. That’s where he shows his love for the world. That’s where he shows his love for you and me. That’s what we see when we look at Jesus. Amen.
The Peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

2 Corinthians.5.14-21; The Fourth Sunday in Lent; March 27, 2022;

2 Corinthians.5.14-21; The Fourth Sunday in Lent; March 27, 2022;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:14–21, ESV)

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Love... What is it? People everywhere are searching for it. Dating services, personal ads, singles bars, and of course, don't forget the internet. Ask fifty people what love is and you'll probably get fifty different answers. From I love my Harley Davidson ... my dog... my wife...

I'd love to be an Oscar Meyer Weenier,
that is what I'd truly love to be,
because if I was an Oscar Meyer Weenier
everyone would be in love with me.

Take just a few minutes to think of how love is portrayed on Television... or music... or how about the movies... Lovers embracing on the beach as the tide washes in, blissfully unaware of it. How many times have you heard love described as some kind of magic? Have you ever seen, Sleepless in Seattle? It is a movie all about the search for love. A woman who seemingly has everything, falls in love with a widower, on the other side of the country because she hears him talking about love on a call-in talk radio show. And somehow, like magic, true love brings them together. Over all the miles true love wins out because they were meant for each other. Instantly, miraculously they are in love when they meet for the first time. Movies like this one seem to say that love is a supernatural force that has a plan for those that are 'meant' for each other. This movie tells us that love, this magic force that draws to people together, is rare and for the lucky few who happen to be destined to it.
For most people love is feeling. “I love you,” is a phrase of feeling. Something that warms the heart, or causes sweaty palms, or sleepless nights. That 'I can't bear to be away from you' feeling. Human feeling is fleeting... changing... love quickly swings to indifference. Just think about all the books written on the subject, 'How to rekindle the fire of love in your marriage.' The feelings of love come and go... like the changing of the seasons. Love that is only based on feelings won't last.
Some people say that love is blind. If you want to see that just talk to any young couple planning to get married. You will quickly learn... their fiancée is the best human being to ever walk the earth. They don't see any flaws in each other. All they see is their 'perfect' marriage... their perfect children... their perfect lives together. But the blindness will fade away, and sometime later they may begin to wonder what happened to change their spouse. They will begin to see the imperfections that their blind love didn't allow them to see before.
Many times, love is said to be the opposite of something else. Love is the opposite of loneliness. Being alone is the ultimate rejection. The unwanted, unloved child is surely better off to have never been born. Lonely elderly people have little to live for, life alone and without love is life without quality. Surely it is better not to live at all.
Love... we love it. It makes us feel good to see it, it makes us feel good to feel it. We all want to be in love. We all want to be the center of love. ... if I were an Oscar Meyer weenier... everyone would be in love with… ME. We always place ourselves at the focus of our love. I love her because she makes me feel whole. I love him because he accepts me for who I am. In our picture of love, we always place ourselves in the middle.
God's picture of love is different. God's picture of love is a picture of death. A man hanging on a cross, with nails piercing his hands. A man suffering... in agony... tormented and mocked. A man rejected by men, a man alone... and dying... In this picture of love this one suffers... yet, he doesn't deserve to suffer. He suffers in the place of others. While he suffers, they get off scot-free. In this God’s picture of love... this one dies, and that too, he doesn't deserve. He dies in the place of others. He dies, they go on living. But the most amazing thing about this picture is that the ones who live get credit for dying. It is as if they themselves hung there broken and bleeding, suffering, and dying. But they have escaped it, even though they were the ones who should have been hanging there, and the one who was there shouldn't have been. This is a picture of love is one that we don't understand. It doesn't match our picture at all.
This is the love of God for us. In the 1st Letter of John, we read:

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. (1 John 3:16, ESV).

Jesus Christ was the one who laid down his life on the cross for the sins of all human beings. He did it for every human being that has ever lived, every human being that is alive now, and every human being that will ever live. Such is God's love for all people that even this suffering and death of Jesus was a price he was willing to pay.
This is the love, Paul tells us in the text today, that 'controls us', some translations say compels us. This is the love that drives him to live for the one who made the sacrifice: The sacrifice of death for all people. Because what Paul realizes, what has been made very clear to him, is that he is among those for whom Jesus Christ suffered and died. He, Paul, has gotten off Scot-free, while his Savior suffered. Christ hung on the cross in place of Paul, for the sins that Paul committed. And Paul escaped to live. So, having been saved by Christ, Paul now is motivated to let everyone know that Jesus Christ died for them, too.
You know... what is true for Paul, is also true for us. It is very true that Christ's love for you, each and every one of you, motivated him to death on the cross. When the bible tells us that Jesus Christ died for all people... we are all included. We, too, have gotten off scot-free, while our Savior hung bleeding and dying in our place. And, just like Paul, we have escaped death to live.
The question for us is this: Are we motivated by Christ's love? Does the love Christ showed for each of us have an impact on our lives? Are controlled by Christ's love for us, like Paul, to tell all people of God's great love for them?
It's a good question. Are we controlled? What does that mean to be controlled? Does it mean to drop everything, and go and stand on the street corner screaming out the truth of the Gospel? Maybe. Does it mean quitting your job, packing up your family, suffering through four long years of Seminary to become a pastor? Maybe. Does it mean speaking out the truth about sin, and the human condition? Picketing Planned parenthood? Posting on your Facebook in support of traditional marriage? Maybe.
Paul says he thinks of no one from a 'worldly point of view' any longer. What he means it that the people out there, living from day to day, those with whom you have daily contact, have been affected by Christ's love. They are all people for whom Christ suffered and died, each and every one of them. His death will either mean for them eternal life, through faith in him, or eternal punishment because they have rejected him. Paul is controlled by Christ's love to tell them, driven to inform them of Christ's love, so that they can believe in Him. When we see people, all people, in the light of what Jesus Christ did for them, we too are controlled in a way, to tell them of His love.
"I'm not so sure about that." you say. "I don't have the guts to go out there and tell people about my faith. I've never been able to stand on the street corner, I've never spoken about Jesus at work... I just don't feel compelled." Well, guess what. There are examples of being controlled right here at Life in Christ. We show Christ's love and how we deal with one another and solve our problems. Maybe you haven't shouted from the street corner, but have you ever held the hand of a friend who was grieving over the death of a loved one, and shared with them the sure hope of the resurrection? Have you ever taken the time to invite a neighbor to come to church with you and offered to pick them up? I've seen that here. Have you ever given sacrificially to this church, for its mission work? I've seen that here, too. I could go on and on with even more examples... You see, it isn't hard to find examples of that kind of love here because you do them, sometimes without thinking. You do for them, because you can't help it, you do it automatically... it's almost as if you were compelled to do it. Well, that is just what Paul is talking about. Look around you at your friends and family sitting here in the pews. Think about how you have seen them compelled to show love to you. The motivation that prompts them... the motivation that prompts you to care for those who are sitting here, is the same as it takes to speak out about your faith at work or on the street corner. It is the motivation that Jesus Christ won salvation for you... that he died for you... that he loves you. And what he did for you, he did for others too.
Jesus’ love isn't like the love that people have. His love isn't like the love you see in the movies. His love isn't a feel-good self-gratifying love; difficult to find and reserved for a few. His love is the love that caused him to die for all people. That is where his love is focused.
The Love of Christ, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and motivated to serve him always. Amen.

Luke 13:1-9; Third Sunday in Lent; March 20, 2022;

Luke 13:1-9; Third Sunday in Lent; March 20, 2022;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ” ” (Luke 13:1–9, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
A few years ago, one of those television preachers said that Haiti suffered its earthquake because they made a deal with the devil to get rid of the French. The story goes, according to this preacher, they wanted to end French occupation, so they prayed to Satan to kick them out. He did and that’s how they got Voodoo. This is the kind of thing that these folks were taking to Jesus about. We’re not exactly sure what happed to these Galileans, but it seems they had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and were killed by Roman soldiers, maybe even in the temple. It is a terrible thing. And Jesus brings up another example. Others were killed when a tower fell. The question was the same. Lord, what caused this? What kind of sinful people were these that died so horribly? What they were looking for was a reason for the problem, a reason for bad luck and random death. They wanted to know what these folks did to deserve the death that they got. They must have been terrible sinners. It is a natural thought. But Jesus has a different idea. No, he says. These folks weren’t any worse than anyone else. And in fact, you all deserve the same fate! Ouch! That’s not what we want to hear. That doesn’t even sound like Jesus, does it? After all we kind of think Jesus walks around all day with a smile on his face, feeding people, healing people, holding their hand… these words make Jesus sound, well, not nice! Certainly, he’s not speaking to us! Maybe he’s talking to the drug addicts, drunks, and child molesters out there, but not to his people. Not to people who willingly give up their Sunday morning to sit in the pews here at church. Not to people who drop their hard-earned money in the collection plate. Is he?
Well, yes. That’s exactly what Jesus is saying. The parable at the end really puts the fine point on it. The owner of the vineyard has every right to expect fruit from the fig tree. But year after year he gets none. No one would complain about him axing it. He has the right to expect that the plants will produce fruit. But it doesn’t. The amazing thing is he doesn’t destroy it. The gardener tells him to wait. I’ll tend it some more and see what happens. Perhaps with some care it will produce. Amazingly the owner relents. This is what’s amazing about the world, too. That God hasn’t destroyed it. Even though the news is full of rotten fruit; nations invade nations and kill at will; people kill each other over a trifle; children starve to death while powerful men do nothing; people who speak out about God’s clear will for the world are shouted down and called bigots. And personally, you and me, well our sins seem smaller, but they are sins just the same. We fail to help when help is needed. We push our needs and wants ahead of everyone else. And what is worse is that the people we most often hurt are those who live in our own house. So much for family love. In fact, every day we have that God waits to destroy the world is a gift; a gift to change. That’s what Jesus says after all. Repent. Unless you(all) repent you (all) will perish. Now he’s not really agreeing with the television preacher. The folks in Haiti are no worse sinners than we are. What he is saying is that judgment happens. Every earthquake, tsunami, construction accident, car crash, illness and death are a picture of the world’s deserved judgment for sin, and yours and mine. Now is the time for you and me and the world, as Jesus says, to repent.
There’s that word repent. Tragedies like the tower of Siloam (or the Invasion of Ukrane) and Pilate’s heinous crime against the Jews (or the World Trade Center) don’t show us their sin but show us all the need for repentance. But here’s the thing. You can’t just change what you do on the outside. That’s not really repentance. The word literally means to have change your mind. And this is the real nub of the problem. We must be different people than we are, not in actions, but in heart. Changing what we do is like dipping a bucket into the ocean over and over again and expecting to get to the bottom of sea . The deepest problem with sin isn’t in the doing. The problem with sin is in the heart. We sin because we are sinners. With Jesus word repent he lays the ax at the root of the tree. Good fruit only comes from good trees, and we know, because Jesus tells us so, that we are not good trees.
But Jesus’ parable shows us that God is mercy. He has already taken care of sin. He doesn’t ignore it like some forgetful grandfather. He does cut down the tree. The axe is laid at the foot of Jesus. And it leads him to the cross. All his life he falls under God’s judgment. Every sin he forgives, every person he heals, every mouth he feeds, every hand he holds is good work, good fruit. He is changing sin’s power over people. He brings God’s mercy where there is only suffering and death. As he goes, he gathers up all that evil from everywhere and bears it in himself to the cross. If you would look at Jesus hung on the cross, bloody, beaten, suffering the pain of nails and thorns you might well ask, what kind of a sinner is this that he should deserve such and evil death. Well, the truth is Jesus dies as the worst sinner of all. He carries your sin and mine, and all the people who died at Pilate’s sword, and all the thousands who died under rubble in Haiti. The axe cuts him off. He is ignored by God, rejected to a sinner’s death. There is no mercy there, only punishment. There is no time to repent God’s anger is poured out in full. This is where God deals with sin. This is where the tree is cut down and cast out. Jesus instead of you. Jesus instead of me. Jesus hangs in our place in suffering and death.
You see, apart from Christ you must deal with God on your own for your own sin. And you can’t stand on your own. You will be cut down because your fruit is only bad. Jesus offers you, instead his punishment. And more than that he offers you, his fruit. There is nothing for you to do, nothing for you to change. Jesus earns all that you need. He pays the whole price. His life lived. His death died. Given for you for the forgiveness of your sin. You see, that’s what repentance is. God showing you your need and giving you what you need. Nothing for you to say or do. His gift of love. His mercy in Jesus Christ.
So, what about the tree, and the garden and the fruit? Well, Jesus really is showing us a picture of him at work. He tends the trees. He cultivates the soil and fertilizes, and the trees bear fruit. But here’s the difference. You and I don’t need to do anything for God. God is the one who does everything for us. Through Jesus and the forgiveness, he gives to us we have been changed from bad trees to good ones, so we do bear good fruit. Not stuff we do for God but stuff we do for our neighbors. They are the ones who have needs. They live in a world that is full of trouble, and pain and suffering. Jesus solves our good fruit problem, not so that we can spend our time serving God, but that we can serve our neighbor (and in the process serve God by serving our neighbor).
And when bad things happen, they are our opportunity to humble ourselves and remember our place before God. We are sinners who deserve nothing from God, but we receive everything from him instead. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Jeremiah.17.5-8; Sixth Sunday after Epiphany; February 13, 2022;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN; 5Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6he is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. he shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. 8he is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:5-8 (ESV) Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If you have ever been to court or been in a courtroom you have seen it happen. You have seen it on television, in one of a hundred dramatic courtroom episodes of courtroom drama. You have read it in newspaper and magazines: Laws are introduced by senators and made by legislators. But the law is applied in the courtroom. It is in the courtroom that verdicts are handed down and sentences given. Where justice in handed out. It is in the courtroom where the law is visible. That is where the law is used to judge people.
But in this text, Jeremiah says that God judges people, too. Jeremiah gives us a courtroom scene. God has laws and expectations of people. And based on those expectations he pronounces judgment. God’s verdict is either “Cursed” or “Blessed.” Only those two. The picture Jeremiah paints for us is bi-polar, only cursed or blessed, nothing in between. That is the verdict that was being handed down to God’s people through the prophet. It was as if they were all standing there before God in his courtroom.
It is no different for us. Jeremiah is talking to God’s people right now, right down through time, written in God’s word. God is still handing down a verdict to us. It is a frightening picture, too. You and me standing in God’s court room awaiting God’s verdict over us. God’s law is visible there. God’s standards are judging God’s people. So, what will the verdict be in your case? Are declared cursed or blessed?
Jeremiah lays out the case. “You can tell,” says Jeremiah, “because God pronounces his verdict of ‘Cursed’ or ‘Blessed’ under certain conditions. If this is happening, he says, then you are cursed; if that is happening, you are blessed.” So, which is which in your life?
You know that is just the thing with the God’s law. Since God is perfect, that is what he demands. We do not think it is fair because we can never live up to perfect, ever. We want to say that God only expects us to do the best we can, and that is good enough. But it is clear here: Trust in “man” or depend on “flesh” for strength and you are be cursed. Trust in man that is: depend on government, or your employer, your friends, or your spouse for the things you need in life, and you are cursed. Trust in your own ingenuity, your own strength, your own ideas, be self-reliant and you are cursed. Do these just once or many times, and you are cursed. And that is defiantly not what we want to hear. Especially here in the US where we applaud the virtue of being a self-made man, against all odds living up to his potential. But God says that if our attention, our hearts, our minds, our focus is not on him, always, we are cursed. Listen to it in the First Commandment: You shall have no other Gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things. Always, God first, above everything else. If not, we are cursed.
Just look at Jeremiah’s description of people who live with their focus not on God: he is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. he shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Shrubs alone in the desert. People having no real strength and living fruitless empty lives. Even if good comes they cannot see it because they are on the brink of death.
You and me, no matter how good we are, no matter how much we try, so very often our lives are just like that. Struggling just to get ahead, to pay the bills, feed the family, survive the next round of covid requirements. Depending on everything but God for everything. Living out there alone in the desert hoping for rain and rest that never seems to come. Actually, missing the good that comes because we are just too busy or too self-absorbed. To say it in a word: Cursed.
God pronounces his verdict on the blessed ones, too. Everything is different for them. They rely in him. He is where they find the strength they need in the day of trouble. Trees planted by the streams of water, never have to look for water, it’s always right there with them. Their roots are in contact with it all the time. No drought or trouble phases that kind of a tree. When I lived in Nebraska, we had irrigated farmland. The farmer gives water when it is needed. Iowa is mostly dryland farming. The crops depend on the rain when it comes. Nebraska for plants is the life of the blessed. According to Jeremiah, God has transplanted the blessed plants into a new place out of the dry desert, right near the streams of water. God does this though the Holy Spirit, his Word and Water. 3For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7 (ESV)
That’s being transplanted from the old into the new. God’s word and water… Baptism… Its water applied that brings the blessed one into a vital relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship of faith in what he has done. Listen again, to what’s out in the desert: foolishness, malice, envy, hate, and foolishness. But through water and the word, God brings goodness, loving kindness, renewal, and the assurance of eternal life. That’s exactly what it means to be blessed.
Well, that’s you and me, isn’t it? We are believers in Christ. We are blessed, not because we uprooted ourselves from the desert, but because God transplanted us. Jesus won the right for us to be right there by the irrigation. Jesus was always totally reliant on the Father for his direction and strength. Jesus was always focused on the Father’s will for people. Jesus who lived perfectly in every way, kept every one of God’s laws, from the first commandment through the tenth, and every other one. Every part of the law that we break every day, Jesus kept every day and in every way. He did it, where we fail.
Jesus alone deserved the blessing of God. But he was cursed, there on the cross when the Father turned away from him and allowed him to suffer and die. For him, it was being left alone in the desert, there was no rescue for Jesus on the cross. It’s not just that he was left alone there either. It’s not just that he himself was cursed. Jesus was cursed in your place. He was cursed in my place. All things that we should have received because of our “hearts are turned away from the Lord” were placed on Jesus. He received the curse of an entire world of sinful people. That curse brought him to death and the grave.
Jesus dealt with our curse by his suffering and death, and he deals with our blessing by his resurrection. Just as his death is our death, so also is his resurrection ours. That’s the transplanting. he was dead, now he is alive. We were dead, now we are alive. The water from the font makes it so. God’s promises to us at the font make it so. Baptism connects us to Jesus in death and in new life. 4We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4 (ESV)
Transplanted by the steams of water. Living in the blessing of God, instead of the curse.
Now when Jeremiah talks about bearing fruit, he says it never ends. It doesn’t cease. So, the fruit is there in your transplanted life. It’s that “walking in newness of life” that we just mentioned. You see, it’s a package deal. New life – bearing fruit. Every day you do what you do, as a transplanted tree. God uses your life to help the people around you. Parents raise their children and teach them. Through you, factories supply what people need to make a living, and farms produce what people need to eat, children learn what they need to learn, cars continue on the road, homes are heated, property is bought and sold. All of that is fruit, and it is a part of living your new life. There are other types of fruit, too. Caring for friends and relatives and even strangers who need help. Hospital visits, meals and so many other things. They are good things done, not to earn our blessings from God, but because we have been blessed by him.
And there is one more kind of fruit I want to mention. Out there, still living in the desert, are people who need to be transplanted or people who have forgotten what it means to know Jesus. Their hearts are turned away from him or turning away. It is not hard to find them; in fact, I have a list of members of this congregation who have not been here in years. In some cases, they are friends of yours, in some cases, relatives. Nobody is asking you to pound on stranger’s doors. Just be a friend and look for an opportunity to point them to Jesus again, look for a way for them to return to the life-giving water found here in God’s Word and Sacraments.
I asked earlier whether you were blessed or cursed. And the answer is clearly, blessed. Through faith in Jesus, through God’s Word and Sacraments you are that tree that is never thirsty. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Luke.5.1-11; The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany; February 6, 2022

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Lk 5:1-11, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” I wonder, really, what brought Peter to this point? I mean, I wonder what it is that makes a strong fisherman, whose nickname by the way, is “Rock”, I wonder what makes a man like that kneel among a mountain of fish in a sinking boat, and shout in fear, “Get out of here our I’ll die!” So, you get the full impact of what I’m asking I want you to place this scene in your mind. Peter is a workingman, very strong from dragging waterlogged fishnets out of the water. His skin is dark and leathery from a lifetime of water reflected sunburn. His hair is long, bushy and sun bleached. His eyes are dark and penetrating. Here is a guy who probably gets what he wants when he wants it. You might even imagine that if he were around today, he’d have tattoos on his biceps. Here’s a guy who has worked hard all his life to achieve all that he has achieved, a self-starter, a businessman who is very self-confident. He’s a family man, used to making a living the hard way, blood and sweat. That’s the man that St. Luke would have us believe is kneeling at Jesus knees, pleading to be left alone. And so, I’ll ask the question again. What makes a man like that do a thing like that?
“Well, isn’t it obvious?” You say. Just look at that load of fish they hauled in. Simon said himself that they had worked all night and caught nothing. A few moments with Jesus on the lake and they’re full to capacity and sinking, and not just one boat but two. There is nothing that will humble a man faster than to be a better fisherman than he is. Just ask any angler’s wife who’s had a good day of fishing at the expense of her husband. And everything Jesus tells them to do defies all fishing logic. No one fishes in the heat of the midday sun in deep water and expects to catch anything, especially in the kind of nets they were using. Those nets caught fish that swim near the surface of the water to feed. But Jesus did in minutes what Simon and his partners couldn’t ever do. And the thing I want you to see here is exactly how Jesus does this miracle (it is beyond a doubt, just that a miraculous catch of fish!) “And when [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” There in His makeshift pulpit when the teaching was done, Jesus gives a word to Simon and the other fisherman. And it’s a curious word. It’s a word that doesn’t make fishing sense. “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Here already you may notice that Simon seems to be acting out of character. He doesn’t say, “are you crazy! We’ll never catch anything out there at this time of day!” Instead, he reacts to the word of Jesus doing exactly what Jesus says. “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” He makes it clear that what he’s doing makes no sense, but Jesus words have their effect on him, and he does it anyway. “And when they had done this…” Luke tells us, as soon as they did what Jesus said, the nets were full to overflowing, and not just overflowing but to the point of tearing apart. The question to ask, the question that must have entered Simon’s mind, is “How is it that all these fish have come to this unlikely place at the altogether wrong time to these nets?” And the answer is; because Jesus spoke the words and the miracle happened. Simon was confronted with the reality that what Jesus had spoken to him wasn’t a command, “Put out the nets for a catch,” but what Jesus had spoken was a promise. “Put out the nets and you will catch fish.” When the work was done, when all the fish were in the boat, and water was slipping over the hull, threatening to plunge them all into the water, Simon turned to the source of miracle. He fell at the feet of the One whose spoken word could do exactly what it promised. Simon Peter, the man that is called “Rock,” crumbled at power of the Word of God.
In fact, that is exactly what this text is all about, the power of the Word of God. Look again at the first sentence. “The crowd was pressing in on [Jesus] to hear the word of God.” Notice also, that Jesus gets into Peter’s boat. In reality, he has a front row seat to Jesus Words. God’s Word spoken from the lips of Jesus struck Peter’s heart. When Jesus says, “put out your nets.” Peter responds. Jesus words were at work in Peter before he responded to Jesus. But even though, it’s easy to see the Word of God at work in calling the fish into the fisherman’s nets, because that’s a visible miracle, after all it nearly sunk the boats. But the important work of God’s Word wasn’t on the fish. The same miracle of God working through his Word that was shown to the eyes of Peter was at work invisibly as Jesus taught the people from the boat. God’s Word was there, crumbling hardened hearts of stone, convicting sinful people of their sin, removing mountains of doubt, creating, and strengthening faith. We see it in Peter’s words, “Master, at your word I will do it.” And we see it when Peter confesses his sins, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
What Peter was confronted with was the fact that the God whose Word created the universe, the God who controlled all nature, was seated in that fishing boat with him. The spoken Word of God showed him all his sinfulness and he knew what he deserved. It is evident the same reaction we see Isaiah’s words from the Old Testament reading for today. “Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips! I’m a dead man.” Peter and Isaiah were afraid of the awesome power they saw; the power of God that should have left them dead.
What did Peter see? What did he hear? What does God’s Word say to you? God’s Word often convicts us of our sin. That must be what happened to Peter. He heard Jesus preaching backed up by a miracle and he knew he was in trouble. What do you hear when God’s Word says to you, “You shall not commit adultery”? Do you hear the “you” as you or do you hear the “you” as someone else? Do you say, “at least I’ve never done that sin”? Do you hear Jesus says that adultery is a sin done in the heart first? Do you imagine that yours is free from it? Try to tell yourself that next week while you are watching the Super Bowl commercials with barely dressed young women, or when you wish the camera angle were just a little different when then cheerleaders are filling the screen.
How about “you shall not kill”? Are you very sure you have never done that? Maybe there’s no bodies buried in your back yard and no bloody knives in your dresser drawer. But Jesus says that this too is a sin in the heart. Tell yourself you are free from this sin when that negative comment about your neighbor, your ex-husband, or your ex-pastor, or even your worst enemy slips from your lips. Jesus tells you that any thought word or deed that diminishes your neighbor in any way is breaking this command. These are just the easy commandments to use, but we could go through all ten and it would be the same.
“I can’t help it!” you protest. And there you are right. You cannot help it. That is because Jesus is right. Sin is imbedded in the heart. There is a part of you, a sinful nature that never wants to follow God’s Word in any way or at any time. You cannot stop sinning. You cannot help it. You can’t stand in the presence of a holy and perfect God who demands perfection in every detail. He says that if you do, you are dead. That’s what Peter saw and heard. That’s what Isaiah saw and heard. The God who spoke to and commanded the fishes in the sea, sees right into your heart. And when he finds, what you know is there, he says, “The soul that sins shall die.” God’s Word is the same weather spoken from a boat on the shores of the sea of Galilee, or in this pulpit, is powerful. It cuts us open like a sword and displays our sinful nature. That Word causes us to speak to God like Peter. “Lord go away I’m a sinful man. I’ve sinned against you in thought, word and deed…”
Ah, but the most powerful words in this reading today aren’t Peter’s confession of sin. It is not Jesus words of condemnation. It is Jesus words of comfort and forgiveness. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus says instead of striking Peter dead on the spot, instead of dropping him in the deepest part of the lake. Jesus doesn’t punish. He doesn’t leave Peter in his sin and fear.
Peter knew why he should be afraid, because God, himself, in the flesh, was standing with him in a boat full of fish on the Sea of Galilee. What he’d have to learn later is why he didn’t have to be afraid. Really, it was the very same reason. God, himself, in the flesh, was standing with him in a boat full of fish on the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus the man at whose knees he fell face down was God who had come not to destroy him, but to destroy the sin he harbored in his heart. We talked about that sin, didn’t we? It’s the same as ours. It’s the same that we can’t get rid of. Jesus, Our Lord, takes ours away, too. One of our hymns says,
Nothing of my own I bring, simply to the cross I cling.
That’s where Jesus destroyed our sin and Peter’s. He put it to death in his body. The pain of pierced hands and feet; the suffering of suffocation; and most important of all the loneliness of being left there to suffer and die by God the Father.
Peter said, “Leave me!” But Jesus didn’t leave, even though it meant the cross. He instead was left alone to bear all of God’s anger and wrath over sin, all the punishment God had to give. Jesus suffered the punishment of eternal hell for the whole world on the cross. Empty crosses are fine. They show us where this all happened. But when Christians see a cross with Jesus body on it (we call it a corpus), we see our sin being destroyed and we see our Savior, saving us.
Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, from now on you will be catching men.” Peter left everything and followed Jesus. It is Peter’s response to God’s saving Word. It is our response too. We leave this place after having received the Word of God, spoken into our ears, and placed into our mouths with bread and wine, and poured on our heads in Holy Baptism, and take that Word to where we live and work every day. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, “Now do this.” He says, “you will do this.” That’s God’s Word working again, His powerful Word bringing about exactly what He says it will do. So, it happens sometimes even when we don’t know it. That’s just the way God’s Word works. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany; January 30, 2022;

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany; January 30, 2022;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN; For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of his sermon one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” (1 Corinthians 12:12–31a, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Ben Franklin once said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." Certainly, the kind of unity that Ben Franklin was advocating is not the same as what St. Paul is talking about here, but there is unity that Paul is speaking of here just the same. He uses the analogy of the body to speak about the unity of Christians. Just like all the parts of the body make the body function properly, Christians bring varied gifts and abilities that make the Christian church function properly. It is our sinful human nature that wants to divide the body as useful parts and less useful parts. As those in the know, and those who are out of God’s council. It is our sinful nature that looks with envy on other parts of the body of Christ for what they have and think of ourselves as less. Or to look down on parts of the body of Christ that seem in our eyes to be less important and think that we have no need of them. This was a very important discussion for the recipients of this letter of St. Paul. The Corinthian church was in disunity. They were divided among teachers and teachings. They were divided by social strata. They were not living in the unity that was theirs in their Savior. St. Paul calls them to account. But he doesn't base this unity out of thin air. He bases it on one single truth that is true for all Christians. It is not something they have done, rather something that God has done to them. It's not something they earned by their living rightly or doing rightly, but something gifted to them. It's how the second sentence begins. It is the word for.
For (because) in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...
What he is saying is that our unity in Christ, in the church, begins in Holy Baptism. We have unity with one another because we have unity in Christ through the water and the Word that was placed on us by the Holy Spirit in baptism. He says it again in his letter to the Romans chapter 6.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3–4, ESV)
"all of us" he says. That's all of us together collectively. When we are baptized, we are baptized into Christ Jesus. We are baptized into his death. We are baptized into his resurrection. We are promised a resurrection from the dead. When I used to speak to \preschool kids about baptism I call it a "special bath". A bath that washes away your sins. A bath where God makes promises to you. In holy baptism God makes true for you Jesus life and saving death on the cross. He takes your sin and punishment to the cross. He has punished for your sin there. In baptism Jesus’ death and punishment is yours. And his new life is poured over you with the water poured over your head in God's name. Although Franklin would never say it this way, we can use his quote to think about it. In Christ we hang together on the cross. Jesus bears the burden of all our sin and punishment. Or we hang separately, without faith in Christ, when we die in our sin, we must receive our own punishment. That punishment is eternal hell. Holy Baptism is God's mark on you that says you hung to death with Jesus and are promised new life, that is no hell for you. We Christians are united together by this promise.
All this unity goes against our American mentality. We think we are the rugged individual. We want to think we don't need anyone. We look at our faith as "me and Jesus". St. Paul puts us in a family of forgiven sinners all. And that forgiveness comes to us by God's gift. There is nothing in us that God looks at and says, "I see something good in that one so I'm going to save him." We are all only sinners deserving hell. God saves us by no merit or worthiness on our part but by grace. The definition of grace is God's undeserved love. The baptism of babies and young children is the perfect picture of this. They do nothing but lay there in their mother's arms while God uses human hands to pour water and speak his name and give all the gifts of Holy Baptism. Baptism is not something we do, but something that God does to us. Baptism is our collective connection to the cross of Jesus Christ and all that it brings. And the fact that faith is a gift of God's grace not based on anything in us or anything we do is the great equalizer. God saves us purely by grace and therefore we are all the same. There are no lesser parts and greater parts. We are a family with different abilities, but all are needed and all are called by God equally to do what we are given to do. This is our common salvation in our common Savior. We are in this together. As Franklin said, "we all hang together."
St. Paul's analogy of the body goes even further. Not only are we all the same but we need each other. If every part of the body were an eye there would be nothing but seeing and the body couldn't function. So, the eyes should look at the ear and rejoice that there is an ear for hearing. For without hearing the body could not function as a complete and whole body. And the eye looks at the foot and rejoices because without the foot there would be no movement. The hand looks at the eye and rejoices because without the eye we would not be able to see the wonders of the created world. The Christian church is this way also. We are called to rejoice in our varied gifts. Some are good at teaching. Some are good at caring. Some are good at meditation and prayer. These are all gifts that strengthen the body as a whole and make it function as a whole body. But we can apply this more broadly also. Congregations are different. They have different strengths and abilities. Some are large, some are small. Some are given many resources some are given few. But because of our unity in Christ large congregations are not more important than small ones, nor are small ones more important than large ones. We all hang together in Christ. God places congregations in specific locations to accomplish the tasks that he calls them to do with the abilities he has given them. And so, we rejoice in the variation of God's calling. Our congregations need each other. What some lack can be found in others that do not. And we will function as the body of Christ more completely when we see this unity. St. Paul says this by speaking about how when some suffer all suffer and when some are honored all are honored.
And so, as Christians united together in Christ we confess our faith to the world. We speak about the Jesus who lived died and rose again for the whole world. And we call people to faith in his saving work. We do it with a gifts and abilities that he has given us and, in the places, where he has placed us. And we do it is the body of Christ. Or as Franklin said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
The Christian religion, though scattered and abroad will in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet)
Never think that you are kneeling or standing alone, rather think that the whole of Christendom, all devout Christians, are standing there beside you and you are standing among them in a common, united petition, which God cannot disdain. Luther, AE 43:198
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Isaiah 43:1-7; The First Sunday after the Epiphany; January 9, 2022;

Isaiah 43:1-7; The First Sunday after the Epiphany; January 9, 2022;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”” (Isaiah 43:1–7, ESV)
Grace and peace to you, Precious… Honored and Loved Children of God, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
She knew it was there… somewhere… it had to be. How could she be such a fool as to lay it down? How could she forget where she laid it? The room, now in shambles, had been scoured from top to bottom in search of her precious treasure, but the wedding ring was no where to be found. And now, she peered over the edge of the sink and gazed in to the blackness of the drain in the middle of the bowl. It was the only place left… it had to be there. Determined she walked to the closet and dragged out a plastic bucket. Tool handles poked up from its rim. Wire and nails rattled as she dropped it next to the sink. She plopped down beside it, and looked over the collection. It was clear nothing would fit over the drain pipe to disconnect it. There was only one solution left in her mind… she had to get the ring. Slowly she began to drag the saw back and forth just above the drain trap. Tiny metal filings began to litter the space below. It would take time, it would be expensive to replace the pipes, but no cost was too high. It was her wedding ring, she had to get it back.
The desert sand blew up from the hot ground and bit Greg’s face. He didn’t want to be there. “Guard that oil well with your life!” Sarge had said. “… with your life!” echoed the final three words in Greg’s mind. How was it possible that that oil was so precious? How could that black slimy gunk be worth more than his own life? Oh, he knew that oil was critical to the war. He knew that factories lived because they had it… he knew that tanks drank it… but what was one single well, more or less, to the effort… what made that one particular well so precious that he was to give his life guarding it? He peered out over the sand, wondering if anyone were out there. Would anyone really kill him for that seemingly insignificant spot in the whole desert? “Would I really kill them,” he wondered, “prevent them from taking it?”
Amy sat, perched on the edge of her couch, with her eyes flickering back and forth from the glowing gray of the television to the brightly colored precious square of cardboard she pinched in her fingers. “… if only this time the numbers match… if only this time, some of the numbers match… then things in my life will be different.” She thought. She had waited almost a week for this one night. This had to be the night that her life would change.
Bob tried to rub the pain from his mind with his fingers, as he sat in the darkness of his kitchen. He couldn’t believe the last 8 hours, they were something from a dream… a bad dream.. No, it was more like a nightmare. Only a few hours ago his little girl was sleeping on the couch, but now… he would give anything to see her lying there peacefully breathing… but now, that just wasn’t possible, his precious little girl was gone. He remembered the horrible sound of the screeching tires and then the dead silence that followed. “Oh my God!” came the voice of the driver as he leaped from his seat to the front of the car. “Somebody please help!” he screamed… Bob dragged himself from the images in his mind back to the darkened kitchen. His eyes passed through the shadowy space, as usual there was a pile of plates waiting to be washed and an opened fruit can on the counter. The milk was on the table… it hadn’t been put away again. All of it blended into the grayness of the room and Bob’s mind. But there was one thing that drew his eye. A beam of light from the street peered in the window and half lit a white crumpled piece of paper on the refrigerator. On that one spot in all the room there was color. Several purple and red lines ran out of the light to form some picture in the darkness. Bob walked to the white box and moved the picture so the light could brighten it all. “Dad” it said with a shaky green line over a stick figure with bulbous hands and a scribble beard. Just as Bob felt he would fold up on the floor in sheer pain, his daughter’s picture spoke again. There were more letters near the top of the page. “Jesus died for me,” they said in red, and below that was a quickly drawn green cross. A child’s faith, marked out in red and green wax. Nothing had ever been more precious. “Thank you, Jesus.” Bob said from his knees.
It was the most precious thing he had ever seen. A small squirming pink mass in the blanket wrapped up in his wife’s arms. Jeremy looked at his wife… she had never looked more beautiful. After all the work… all the time.. all the money… finally they had a child. For them adoption was the only way, something about mumps when he was a boy. But, all the struggle, money, and worry, now fell deep into his memory, this moment was worth it all. Here, right here, was a child to raise, a child to teach, and a child to love. He brushed a finger across her soft cheek, she was so tiny, and she would need him very much.
We know what it means for something to be precious. We have precious things all around us. We may even know what it means for us to be precious in someone’s eyes. I think though, that often we have a hard time seeing that we are precious to God. After all, fears are right here… our troubles are right here… our sins are right here… our lives are right here and God often feels so far away.
It isn’t a new feeling. Isaiah the prophet was dealing with the same feelings when he wrote the words of our text today. The Children of Israel had put some distance between themselves and God. They quit listening to what God had to say. God even called them deaf and blind. And now, says Isaiah, they were in for trouble. Their land, the land that God had given them, would be taken away. And they would be dragged off into exile. Separated from the land they loved and separated from their own people. There would be a lot for them to be afraid of… when they were literally looking down the barrel of the Babylonian army. But in all that, with all that to look forward to, God tells the people to remember who they are… and remember who he is. He gives them a very personal word, to remember that they, despite all that was coming, where his precious people.
Isaiah begins by reminding them who is speaking to them. God, the one who created them. He, the one who formed them with the same care that a potter uses to mold and form a clay pot. They went into Egypt, 12 brothers, and came out a great multitude. He molded them through trials in the desert, water from rocks and manna from heaven. He formed them into a great army that was feared by all the kings they stood against. He redeemed them from slavery in Egypt, and he would again free them from exile in Babylon. Just as they passed through the red sea unharmed, again they would pass through troubled waters that would not destroy them completely. And just as a fire led them in the desert, so they would walk through fire, protected by God. Why does God go to such lengths to tell them this…? because they were his precious people… I am YHWH, he says using the name he gave Moses at the burning bush. “I am your God, and your only Savior. You are precious to me because I have put my name on you. Don’t be afraid, I am with you."
But the real beauty of this text isn’t that it tells the story of God’s love for a group of people who lived so long ago. People long dead, individuals long forgotten, and relegated to words written on dry dusty paper. The real beauty of this text is this… In these same words God is telling us that we too are his precious people.
We are reminded that this God, the one who is speaking here to us, is the one who created us. He carefully knit us together in our mother’s womb, a precious treasure. But he did even more than that, His act of creation continued because of Jesus Christ, and all that he has done for us, his life, death and resurrection. We, just like his precious Israel, have been called by name. We have been Baptized and given his name. He said, “Welcome to My Family, my precious child. I give you my name” I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Fear not, for I am with you, he says. When our fears flood over us threatening to drown us, when our troubles threaten to burn us up, when we face the fact that we are sinful, and God feels far away. He says, "Remember who you are and how precious you are to me my child."
We are more precious to God than a lost diamond in a dark drain, barrels and barrels of black gold, or even a multimillion-dollar lottery ticket. And the proof is as simple as a few words scribbled in red crayon, “Jesus died for me.” We are so precious in God’s eyes, that he sent Jesus Christ, to be a king’s ransom. His life in exchange for ours. He said fear not, I am with you. He sent Jesus to be with us, literally, to walk the earth, to smile and laugh, to eat and sleep, and to suffer and die, for us God’s precious children. He came to be with us right here, right where we are with our fear, right here with our troubles, and right here with our sins. And Jesus promises that he is always with us. “I am with you always to the very end of the age. Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am with you.” You see, it’s the same promise given to us that was given to the children of Israel.
Ok, so we are God’s precious children gathered, in his name, in his presence, to be reminded that we are precious to him. We all need to be reminded often that we are precious to God. Take advantage of what God offers you here in this place. Open your ears, hear the precious good news of Jesus proclaimed to you. Open your mouth, receive the body and blood of Jesus, the very same that hung on the cross for you. Open your heart, Jesus is here for you his precious child. Where Jesus is, in His Word and Sacraments, he comes with forgiveness. Your sin, all of it, is forgiven. You are so precious in God's sight he is provided everything you need to have your sins forgiven and live forever with him. You are precious to God, and he wants to remind you of that again and again.
The Lord says to all his people, “You are precious and honored in my sight, and … I love you.” Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen