Sunday, September 9, 2018

Throwing Bread to the Dogs: A Meditation on Mark 7


And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, 
and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: 
but he could not be hid.

For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, 
heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; 
and she besought him that he would 
cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled:
 for it is not meet to take the children's bread, 
and to cast it unto the dogs.
And she answered and said unto him, 
Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table 
eat of the children's crumbs.

And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; 
the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
And when she was come to her house, 
she found the devil gone out, 
and her daughter laid upon the bed.

I confess that no matter how often I read this story, it always unsettles me.  Jesus, the Son of God made flesh, who comes to save the entire world from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil, because He is the eternal Creator and Savior of all the world, in this story seems to have a bias for the Jewish people over others.  And more than a bias, He used insulting language to respond to a Greek woman who pleaded with Him to rescue her daughter from possession by a demon.  Anyone who has been up close and personal with a demon knows how vile, dangerous, and malevolent they are, how bent upon the desecration and destruction of the human race they show themselves to be.  This mother, having watched a demon wreak devastation upon her child, sought out Jesus and begged Him to save her precious little girl.  How then could a just, loving, and saving God brush her aside with a racial slur, inferring that His gifts were primarily intended for His own people?

It is first important to note that the text does not reveal what was in this woman’s heart, nor in the hearts of His disciples and those around Him.  We might assume this woman is motivated by love of her daughter, but we do not know what other mixtures of pride and wickedness also flow out of her fallen heart, as Mark’s earlier recording of Jesus’ teaching in this chapter describe— for it’s not anything from the outside going in which defiles a person, but that which flows out of a person’s fallen and twisted nature which defiles him.  The reader is tempted to judge Jesus harshly for His treatment of this woman, but only He really knew this woman’s heart.  Perhaps our discomfort in reading Jesus’ words to the desperate woman reveal something about us that we are uncomfortable acknowledging.

For both Jews and Greeks, and every other race of people under the sun, there is a temptation to entitlement before God.  Such a sense of entitlement shows up as a manifestation of pride, demanding of God what we think we are due by virtue of our own dignity and self-worth.  What this pride fails to recognize is that before God we deserve nothing but death and hell.  Our fall into sin and depravity was not God’s doing but our own, choosing evil over good, hatred over love, destruction over life.  As a whole human race, we are fallen from our Creator’s design, with a twisted nature which pride goads into judging ourselves as righteous and God as unjust.  Pride seeks to make God our servant and bend Him to our will, resulting in a delusional sense of entitlement that manifests in all sorts of bizarre pagan religious trappings.  For the Jews who thought themselves specially entitled to God’s favor by virtue of their birth and nation, or the Greeks who thought themselves entitled by virtue of their own special peculiarities, the problem is the same:  pride is a dangerous delusion, an idolatry which presumes the mantle of divinity, casting ourselves as our own impotent gods who have no ability to rescue from our impending death and hell.

The truth is that every man, woman, and child, regardless of race, affiliation, nation, or peculiarity, is the filthy little dog underneath the Master’s table, unworthy of any good thing set upon it.  When the Greek mother of a hopelessly possessed child realized that she was entitled to nothing from Jesus, but rather begged Him of His mercy to grant her what she knew she did not deserve, she and everyone around her learned something critically important about their God.  In addition to His justice and truth, His power and His righteousness, He is also merciful and gracious.  His love does not come to us based upon our worthiness, but upon His unfathomable compassion.  Jesus knew that so long as anyone approached God in a vain pride pride of seeking justice for what we feel entitled, we could only receive the just reward of the Law which strips every delusion bare, and reveals the fate of every evil creature before a perfect Judge.  But in a faith and repentance which seeks grace and mercy, our Saving God is quick to respond with forgiveness, life, and salvation in this world and the next.  While according to the Law we stand condemned for the sake of our own most grievous fault, in the Gospel of Jesus’ vicarious atonement for our sins through His life, death, and resurrection on our behalf, we receive all the gifts of His grace by a humble, repentant faith in Him.

Pride is always uncomfortable in the glaring light of humiliation, but such divine light is the beginning of our healing and restoration before God.  To know that we are the little dogs who are unworthy to be sustained by the crumbs which fall from our Master’s table, is to know that we are unworthy by own merits of the grand feast He has set before us.  But in a living faith which trusts in God’s promises of mercy and love, we find that we are not merely left to scrounge for scraps, but invited to sit at the table for the sake of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, clothed with His righteousness in place of our own fallenness.  For it is not God’s desire to give us what we deserve according to His justice, nor to validate our deadly delusions of pride and entitlement.  Rather, it is His desire to pour out His riches of grace and life without measure upon all who will repent and believe in Him.


If the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Greek mother of a possessed child makes you uncomfortable, it is the antiseptic of God’s Word and Spirit reaching your heart’s font of pride which resists knowing who you are, and who your Creator really is.  Let the Law break your prideful heart so that you might know the truth of your condition, that together with the whole human race, there is none who can rightly demand any good thing from our Maker.  But in this realization, hear your Savior’s gracious Word of forgiveness and life, receiving from Him a saving faith which trusts His promises and turns from the delusions of evil.  Hear the Word of the Lord which seeks not to give you the scraps you don’t deserve, but the fullness of His eternal banquet, where grace upon grace abounds unto you in eternal life, and joy, and peace.  Amen.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Renewed in the Spirit of your Mind: A Meditation on Ephesians 4


This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, 
that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, 
in the vanity of their mind,
Having the understanding darkened, 
being alienated from the life of God 
through the ignorance that is in them, 
because of the blindness of their heart:
Who being past feeling 
have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, 
to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But ye have not so learned Christ;
If so be that ye have heard him, 
and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, 
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, 
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Wherefore putting away lying, 
speak every man truth with his neighbour: 
for we are members one of another.

St. Paul’s teaching to the church at Ephesus continued in chapter 4, to draw a distinction between the inner and outer lives of unbelieving Gentiles and believing Christians.  In verse 17 he began with a phrase concerning the vanity of the unenlightened mind, hardened and blinded against what is good and holy, given over to pursue the lustful desires which bring forth evil actions.  This state of being is ostensibly what many of the Christians in Ephesus had suffered prior having been born again by water and Spirit, through faith and repentance in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Before the dawn of saving grace had softened their hearts to perceive the love of God given to them through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, they had also surrendered themselves to the vain pursuit of empty passions, were aliens from the eternal life of God, and were marked by the evil thoughts and actions which chased them into death and hell.  Only after this regeneration were the Gentile Christians of Ephesus able to truly trust and love God, to not only do good works rather than evil, but to desire the good over the evil.

This distinction is highlighted when Paul pointed out that having learned rightly of Jesus, they would be given His Holy Spirit to believe and live in Him, putting off the “old man” which pursued selfish lusts and evil actions, and thus be renewed in the spirit of their mind, putting on the “new man” which is a new creation of God in Jesus Christ, informed and motivated by His love, righteousness, and holiness.  This conversion would be the work of God Himself, who came to them through His preached Word of Law and Gospel, and whose Holy Spirit would enliven and enlighten them by grace through faith in Jesus.  Instead of an unenlightened mind motivated by a fallen spirit whose highest pursuits were empty vanity, the Christian was given a renewed mind motivated and inspired by a renewed and sanctified spirit.  Thus Paul could show the Christians in Ephesus that their only path to holiness and eternal life was in Christ, who alone renewed both their soul and their intellect to love, trust, and follow Him.

As in Paul’s time, so in our own, there is a distinction between those who are motivated by a darkened and fallen spirit toward dark and evil passions, and those who have been renewed in their spirit and their minds to pursue love, peace, joy, righteousness, holiness, and truth.  Many Christians who were not raised to know Christ from their youth, were once those who used their darkened intellect to justify themselves and others in the breathless pursuit of vain things, sometimes even having the appearance of righteousness, but eventually being proved out by the false assumptions of their selfish ideals when the results were death, suffering, division,  enslavement, and destruction.  Even long time Christians who wander from the regular nourishment of God’s Word, or who become deceived by false teachers of false gospels, find themselves falling back into the same.  But whether a person comes to living faith in Jesus early or late in life, the distinction remains the same— those who live in Christ are new creations, whose spirit and mind are guided by the Spirit and mind of Jesus, who is the very Word of God made flesh; and those who pursue themselves, their falsehoods, and their twisted passions as they plunge willfully or ignorantly into eternal destruction.

The dialogue between the Church and the world is helped greatly by remembering what St. Paul taught the Christians at Ephesus, as is the conversation between various Christians concerning how we should walk together.  While the history of Christian thinkers, writers, philosophers, and theologians has shown repeatedly the intellectual integrity and rigor of Biblical life and doctrine, conversion is not accomplished by the work of one intellect convincing another.  Apologists at their best expose the irrationality and inconsistency of attacks against Christian faith and life, while showing the intellectual superiority of God’s Word over the shifting vanities of human speculation.  But the real conversion of a person happens through the work of the Holy Spirit, moving through His Word and Sacraments, giving faith to repent, believe, and live in Jesus.  Thus the conversion of the world which would precipitate the improvement of their motives and moral actions among each other, is accomplished not by the gymnastics of human reason or effort, but by the Word and Spirit of God alone.

Therefore, St. Paul concludes, let us speak truth to one another, for we are all member of each other; the various factions of Christians among themselves, the whole of humanity as one human race, and the whole of creation in which we were placed.  That truth, which is Jesus and His Word, is the common link which unites us all, seeks to save us all, and calls us all into life forever in our Creator.  Only there, in Jesus, do we find the renewing of our spirits which also informs our intellect, and thus reforms our lives and deeds among one another to be guided not by selfish desire, but by divine love.  Only there, in Jesus, do we find the common language which speaks to our salvation from the dark pathways of death, and to our reconciliation with the eternal Author of Life.


Hear the Word of the Lord come to you this day, calling you away from the vanities of your own fallen mind as well as the vagaries of fallen social luminaries, that you might receive His free gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation by faith in Him.  Hear Him call to you, be you barbarian or Greek, free or oppressed, Christian or pagan or humanist or any other distinction under the sun— that He might renew the spirit of your mind through His Word and Spirit, and create in you a new person whose life is forever guarded and kept in Him.  Amen.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Because he said: A Meditation on Mark 6


For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, 
and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, 
his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.
For John had said unto Herod, 
It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.

Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, 
and would have killed him; but she could not:
For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, 
and observed him; and when he heard him, 
he did many things, and heard him gladly.

And when a convenient day was come, 
that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, 
high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, 
and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, 
the king said unto the damsel, 
Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, 
I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.

And she went forth, and said unto her mother, 
What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, 
I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, 
and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.

And immediately the king sent an executioner, 
and commanded his head to be brought: 
and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: 
and the damsel gave it to her mother.

This Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark 6 is a good reminder that political persecution for the sake of preaching God’s Word has existed for a very long time.  John the Baptist, whom Jesus said was not only the greatest of the prophets, but that no other person born of women had arisen greater than he, found himself in prison because he dared tell King Herod that his chosen bride was unlawful for him to have.   Of course, John had no ability to change the king’s decision, to influence politics (Israel was never really a democracy, and it certainly wasn’t during the Roman occupation of Jesus’ day), or to wield any earthly power; John simply bore God’s Word.  Herod wanted his brother’s wife, and she seemed eager to improve her rank by ditching her previous husband and becoming the consort of the king.  Abandoning marriage vows is not lawful before God, and Jesus pointed out specifically during His ministry that this kind of divorce and remarriage is just adultery dressed up in socially acceptable clothes.  Because John called Herod and Herodias’ sin what God’s Word said it was, refusing to celebrate and affirm their twisted delusion, John found himself imprisoned and eventually beheaded through the political intrigue of the slighted lovers.

As we walk through the season of Pentecost, it is important to remember that while we have been given by Jesus the authority and duty to abide in God’s Word, to preach it, bear witness to it, and to remain faithful to it, the world around us will not always receive it gladly.  Jesus, as the very Word of God incarnate, was received by some, rejected by others, and some even used their political or social power to plot His murder on a Roman cross.  As we bear the Word of Jesus in our own time and place, we should not think that somehow we will arise above our Master, for if the world hated and persecuted Jesus, they will hate and persecute His faithful followers, as well.  Jesus told us as much before His ascension into heaven, even as He told us not to fear this world, because He had overcome it through His life, death, and resurrection on our behalf.  The people of God have always lived out this truth, from Abel who was murdered by his own brother, to the prophets who were slaughtered for their faithful witness before reprobate kings and queens, to the Apostles and their descendants who suffered under the hands of tyrants, pagans, apostates, and heretics.  

And the same is true of our own age.  In China, only those churches which the government controls are allowed to preach, and to only preach the message which the atheist government permits.  In India, Christians are regularly accosted, raped, and murdered by Hindu mobs while the police look on approvingly, only later to feign their disapproval.  In many Islamic countries,  governments institute Sharia Law to keep Christians politically and socially enslaved below Muslim citizens, and then promote or turn a blind eye to the Muslim mobs which bomb, shoot, and burn their churches, and kidnap their children to be sold into sexual slavery.  In these lands the blood of the martyrs flow daily, and like John the Baptist, they are persecuted and murdered for the sake of their fidelity to God’s Word.

In our own lands, the tides of this persecution continue to rise.  ANTIFA mobs and social justice warriors target anyone who refuses to celebrate and affirm every kind of debauchery, insanity, and deviancy, stigmatizing Christians into unemployment and financial destitution.  We have thought crimes on our books which seek to prosecute the malleable concept of “hate,” oddly and often used to protect the hateful wrath of those who cannot abide anyone who might insinuate their behavior is unhealthy, unhelpful, or unlawful before God.  Professors and teachers, merchants and store owners, artists and executives, clergy and laity, politicians and staff workers, scientists and doctors, and numerous others in every walk of life have felt the seething, manipulative hatred of a world that will not abide the Word of God, and many have tired to find ways to live out their Christian convictions without drawing such violent attention to themselves.  Some even abandon it altogether, bowing to the world’s preference for darkness over light.

Yet the calling of Christ to His people continues through His Word and Spirit, regardless of the hatred of evil people and spirits, or the apostasy of those who reject it to substitute human opinion in its place.  That living Word of Jesus continues to work in the world, revealing the darkness of our hearts and our fallen nature which leads all of us toward death, and yet also offers to all people forgiveness, life, and salvation by grace through faith in Him.  The Law which Jesus sends to reveals our brokenness, is salved by the Gospel He brings to heal us— the faith and repentance He calls us to, leads us to turn from the ways of death and evil, and puts our feet firmly on the path of life, beauty, love, peace, hope, and joy.  Such a Word, though scorned by some, is the power of God unto salvation for all who will trust and receive it, binding to God with unbreakable bonds every reconciled soul which lives and rests in Him.  By the power of this Word every demonic force has been put to flight, every dark corner made bright, and every infestation of evil purged.  It is a Word which has inspired the saints and martyrs, Prophets and Apostles, to stand before an irrational and hate filled world with love, compassion, and courage, bearing witness to the love of God which seeks and saves everyone who will trust in Him.  It is a Word which fears no wrath of man, no executioner, no prison, no calamity, because the eternal life which comes through this Eternal Word transcends every passing darkness.  


Hear the Word of the Lord come to you this day, calling you to live in Jesus by grace through faith, undaunted and unafraid of the petty, transitory persecutions of wicked men.  To you has been given the forgiveness, life, and salvation won for the whole world through the Cross of Jesus, and to you has been given the mission to bear witness to the reconciling love of Christ to everyone around you.  Hear this Word of the Lord which compels and forces no one, but calls, enlightens, and enlivens everyone who will repent and believe, that through you Jesus’ Word of reconciliation might touch every soul around you— even those who hate and persecute you for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Sent with Power: A Meditation on Mark 6


And he called unto him the twelve, 
and began to send them forth by two and two; 
and gave them power over unclean spirits;
And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, 
save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.

And he said unto them, 
In what place soever ye enter into an house, 
there abide till ye depart from that place.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, 
when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet 
for a testimony against them. 
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable 
for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, 
than for that city.

And they went out, 
and preached that men should repent.
And they cast out many devils, 
and anointed with oil many that were sick, 
and healed them.

It is tempting to look at the state of the Church today, and see it as a mess.  Regardless of which Christian tradition one examines or finds one’s self in, there is plenty of scandal, incompetence, intrigue, and charlatan antics to go around.  There are church leaders angling for power or prestige, hucksters trying to separate gullible fools from their money, self righteous authors writing self help books to line their own pockets, abusers of young and old, cantankerous cranks and prideful ignoramuses.  And that’s just briefly looking at the inside.

Outside, the Church is beset by politicians who try to use her people and resources for political gain, and when even marginally rebuffed, attempt to destroy her; by academics who spin off endless vacuous theories to debunk the ancient witness of Scripture, who when when revealed as frauds, shift their attacks to other venues; by a media which seeks to use her foibles as entertainment, presenting biased and shoddy journalistic research as incontestable fact, then bristling with animus when confronted for their errors; by those who prefer darkness and evil to the light of God’s Word, who try by every means to extinguish the light which reveals their depravity; by demonic hordes who tempt and seduce the minds of fallen men into every form of evil, always urging the world toward bloodbath, insanity, and destruction.

On most levels of observation, the Church of Jesus Christ looks pretty weak and insignificant— not so unlike Jesus appeared during His earthly teaching.  Beset on all sides by every conceivable enemy, and in His humanity like us in every way except without sin, the divine Son of God embraced the weakness of persecution and eventual death on a cross to accomplish the greatest victory ever recorded in the history of the world.  Through His weakness, His omnipotent power was made manifest over sin, death, hell, and the devil, securing for every person the promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation forever.  Rising triumphal from the grave and before His Ascension into heaven, Jesus gave these powerful gifts He had secured for the world to His Church, carried forth by the Apostles and their successors into every generation, right down to our own.  These gifts of divine power and authority were shrouded in His Word and Sacraments preached and administered according to His institution and command, entrusted to sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Thus the Church became the living extension of Jesus’ Incarnation in the world, where His triumphal power would be made known through weakness until the end of time, when Jesus’ final return to judge the living and the dead will remove all shrouds of mystery, and every eye will behold the Lord of Glory face to face.

And so, the Church continues to battle her enemies inside and out, to struggle in faith and repentance against sin, death, and the devil wherever they rear their ugly heads.  She continues to bear the scorn of those who despise her and her saving Lord, of hypocrites and heretics and schismatics of every type and kind, and the manipulation of bureaucrats and politicians in secular or ecclesiastical garb.  In fact, every Christian wrestles with the same forces inside himself every day of his life, so that the existential struggle of faith on the individual and global scales are really one and the same.  But even so, shrouded within this mess of weakness, is the Eternal Word of God which comes to save every soul who will repent and believe in Jesus.


To you this Word comes again today, looking weak and despised by the world, but to those who believe, it is Word of eternal life which conquers every enemy of the human race.  Hear His Word come to you this day, that this treasure of infinite worth might be yours by grace through faith in Jesus, and that you, though broken and weak, may become yet another sanctified vessel by which the saving power of Almighty God will flow to everyone around you.  Amen.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Talitha Cumi: A Meditation on Mark 5


While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, 
Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?
As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken,
 he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, 
Be not afraid, only believe.
And he suffered no man to follow him, save 
Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.

And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, 
and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
And when he was come in, he saith unto them, 
Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, 
he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, 
and entereth in where the damsel was lying.
And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; 
which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; 
for she was of the age of twelve years. 
And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; 
and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

As the Church walks through the season of Pentecost, her people are reminded of the power of the Lord whom they serve, today in the appointed Gospel reading from Mark 5.  Among the teachings and healings Mark records of Jesus, there is this account of a young girl brought back to life.  And though Mark records this event in fast paced narrative, he leaves us some details worth slowing down to consider.

At the outset, we are told that the girl’s father is a ruler of the synagogue, which would have placed him in close company to the Sadducees and Pharisees who were actively plotting to murder Jesus.  As a father of daughters myself, I can only imagine the agony of seeing a beloved child on the brink of death, and appreciate the willingness to cross any distance or sacrifice any material good to save her.  Jairus beheld his beloved daughter dying, and despite the social ostracization he would face from his peers— perhaps the loss of his livelihood, social status, or even his life— pressed through the crowd around Jesus only to fall at His feet and beg for mercy on behalf of his child.

Jairus had no reason to expect Jesus to help him, knowing what his brood of treacherous vipers were planing to do to Him.  But Jairus knew that he could not preserve his daughter’s life, anymore than he could preserve his own.  Perhaps in panic, despairing of his own powers and might, Jairus fell on his face before Jesus and begged for what he knew deep down only God could provide:  life in the place of death.  While he and his murderously minded cohort plotted to give Jesus death in place of life, now a ruler of the synagogue pleaded with Jesus for life in place of death.

And yet, Jesus didn’t rebuke him, call him out for his hypocrisy, or make a spectacle of him before the crowd.  He told him not to fear, but to believe, even as Jairus’ servants came to tell them that girl was already dead— and then, on the way to Jairus’ house, Jesus showed him the power of faith in the healing of the woman whose incessant bleeding had left her a broken and bankrupt pariah.  Rather than crushing the broken, Jesus showed Himself as the savior of the hopeless.

At Jairus’ home, the mourners scorned and mocked Jesus, but rather than become offended, Jesus simply but them outside while He took the mother and father, Peter, James, and John, into the dead little girl’s room.  Inside, there was no magical incantation, bizarre gyrations, or long winded prayers.  Jesus knelt down, took the girl by the hand, and said, “Talitha cumi.”  Translated, it means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”  At Jesus’ Word, life returned to the child and she arose, much to the grateful amazement of her parents.  In the place of death, Jesus gave life back to Jairus’ family, and reunited them with the beloved child they had lost.

Surrounded by a world of death and evil intentions, it is easy to lose sight of the Lord of Life whom we serve.  Like Jairus, we might forget that only God Himself gives life in the place of death, until death comes close enough to us to remind us of our utter weakness before it.  No one in this world commands life on his own authority, and every person will eventually meet death as their powers of mind and body fail.  Such a reality may drive some to ignore death until it smacks them square in the face; others may live in perpetual fear of death; still others may despair and take their own lives rather than have it taken from them.  And yet, into this cacophony of delusion, panic, and despair, Jesus comes to speak His Word of life.

Sure, we are all guilty of collusion with a murderous, treacherous, and evil world— and certainly, we all deserve the death which comes inexorably to us all.  Death reminds us that there is no one righteous in this world, no one who can say to God that he is not tainted by the corruption which leads to death.  No one, from the smallest child to the most aged elder, stands pure before the holy God of life, for we are a fallen race, each conceived in sin, and twisted toward it all our days.  But like Jairus, we find in Jesus not one who has come to ridicule or destroy us, but one who comes to speak life, forgiveness, hope, and mercy to us.  Though we are the people who betrayed Him to death on a Roman cross only to see Him emerge triumphant from a tomb which could not hold Him, what we hear from Him is not condemnation, but love.  To us He speaks peace and grace, washing away our sins and evil through His innocent blood poured out for us, and for everyone who will come to Him.  To us He says, “Fear not—only believe.”

Into your broken, dying, and troubled life, Jesus comes to you this day, that He might offer to you life in the place of your death, forgiveness in the place of your sins, and mercy in the place of your judgment.  To you He speaks His healing Word of reconciliation, that you might once again be at peace with God and your neighbor, not in the virtue of your own power or righteousness, but in His.  To you He speaks His Word of resurrection so that you might not fear death, but know that even at the end of your time in this world, Jesus will speak eternal life into the reality of your death.  The Word He breaths upon you today is the Word you shall hear even as death’s sullen stream over you flows, as He calls you to arise out of darkness, and live forever in His unspeakable light.


Hear the Word of the Lord come to you this day, that He may give you eternal life in the place of your death, by grace through faith in Him alone; He alone who has conquered death for you, and He alone who can speak eternal life to you.  Hear Him today, repent, believe, and live in Him forever, shining forth as a living testament to His everlasting Gospel of life.  Amen.

Sunday, June 3, 2018

We preach not ourselves, but Christ: A Meditation on 2nd Corinthians 4


Therefore seeing we have this ministry, 
as we have received mercy, we faint not;
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, 
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; 
but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves
 to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded 
the minds of them which believe not, 
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; 
and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

Much of St. Paul’s 2nd epistle to the church at Corinth sheds light on the relationship between ministers of the Gospel and those to whom they minister.  Between the the two letters we have of Paul to Corinth, we can assess that much was askew in this metropolitan congregation, despite its prestigious city location.  Fornication, adultery, and incest were scandalously permitted within the congregation (evils fully embraced by their surrounding pagan culture, but clearly forbidden by God,) and their leaders seemed content to hear accommodating words from false teachers rather than the Apostles whom Christ sent to them.  While the second letter of Paul to Corinth begins on a more conciliatory tone than the first, it stills ends with stinging reminders that the Word of God sent to them by the Prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New are not to stand on equal footing with the vagaries of their contemporary luminaries.

One of the ways given to distinguish between the authentic Apostles and false teachers, is still quite relevant today:  true ministers of Jesus bore witness to Jesus and themselves as lowly servants, rather than the false teachers who heaped upon themselves honors and lorded their own words over the people.  The Apostles handed down a tradition that their faithful successors emulated as being servants of the Word of Christ, and by that Word to be servants of the people to whom they were sent.  Unfaithful ministers often ignored the Word of Christ given through His Apostles and Prophets, came up with novel teachings that sounded good to pagan ears, and gathered followings after themselves.  Of course, these false teachers often created cults of personality around themselves, and thereby became the slave masters of the people they deceived.  Modern examples are countless, with well quaffed hucksters fleecing people of their money and livelihoods, living in opulence through peddling advice that enriches themselves at the expense of their people.  These false teachers lead others into sin for which both they and their people will stand in judgement before the Lord Jesus Christ.  Not only does the false teacher bring destruction upon himself, but as he leads people away from Jesus and His saving Word, he brings destruction upon the people who follow him.

St. Paul’s inspired admonition to the people of Corinth is worth listening to today.  Many of our churches sit in opulent cities of pagan grandeur, surrounded by multitudes who revel in evils of every description.  Pagan schools inculcate pagan values in children from the most tender ages, while markets bustle in the purveyance of every vice imaginable.  Many Christian parents have given ear to the false teachers who assure them that the evils and vices so common in our day are normal, that God has done new things in our time, that the destruction which God brought upon others in ancient times for rejection of His Word could not apply to them, and in so doing hand their children over to destruction.  Other seek respite in the get rich quick schemes heretics, throwing their hard earned money into the purses of charlatans who grow rich upon their desperate poverty, while those who need their help are ignored.  This temptation of Paul’s age was as common 2000 years earlier in Abraham’s day as it is 2000 years later in ours.  For whatever reason, our sinful human nature is more inclined to heed the false words of enslaving, diabolical liars, than the liberating and enlivening Word of Christ.

The corrective, of course, is the same as it has always been.  The ministers of Christ must repent of their pride and selfishness, and in faith remember again their sacred charge before Jesus to serve His people according to His Word.  The people must repent of their disordered passion of listening to false teachers who lead them into destruction, and by faith submit again to the Word of Christ.  Thus the ministers of the Word and those ministered to through the Word, become one people in and through Jesus, so that their lives are hidden in Him, no matter what this fallen world might hurl against them.  Even if that Word of Life may be hidden from the blinded eyes of those who refuse to believe, it remains the glorious light of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, shining in and through all who repent and believe.


Have you been scandalized by false teachers?  Hear the Word of the Lord call to you again this day, that your deadly slavery may be turned into enlivened liberty, and that you may be reconciled once again to the God who created, saves, and seeks you through the Cross of His only begotten Son.  Leave the falseness of a dying pagan world behind, and turn away from any preacher who preaches anyone or anything but Jesus.  Hear Jesus and His Word anew this day, that by grace through faith, the light and Spirit of His saving Word might shine in you, and through you, to everyone around you.  Amen.