Sermon, Sunday September 30 2007
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The last words believed to have been written down by Martin Luther were the words "We are all beggars." These words were scribbled on a piece of paper that was found not long after he died. I bring this up because in the Word proclaimed to you today your Lord speaks to you of your status as beggars. Indeed in the second lesson for today, Paul writes that we bring nothing into the world. We come into the world, totally dependent on those around us. We come into the world with nothing. We come into the world as beggars.
And so for pretty much all of us the first thing we do after being thrust into this world from the comfort of the womb is to cry out. We cry out for attention. We cry out for nourishment. We cry out for someone to make us feel like it’s going to be ok. Whatever it is, we cry out. And thus begins our lifelong quest to make something out of the nothing that we bring into this world.
And so you are like both the characters from the Gospel lesson for today. You are like Lazarus the poor beggar, longing to satisfy your hunger, but you are also like the rich man seeking to fill the void and emptiness in your lives with things of the world. Like the rich man, you seek to satisfy your gaping hunger with wealth; all the while sin, death, and the devil tell you that seeking your own fortune is the righteous way to go. And of course you are more than willing to buy into this. You have the hunger and the yearning of Lazarus and the dependence on material possessions of the rich man.
The problem with the rich man was not his wealth per se’, nor is that the problem with you, even though when going by worldly, global standards you would be considered wealthy. The problem with the rich man, and you is that you set your hopes on the uncertainty of riches and not on the eternal certainty of Christ.
And so indeed we are always beggars. We are never satisfied. We never have enough, whatever our income level, we are just naturally so focused on what we don’t have that we completely lose sight of the rich blessings that God has already provided us with. And when we become so focused in upon ourselves we lose sight of those around us. We don’t hear the cries of the poor and the needy, who are really just echoing God’s own call for justice and mercy. We shut out the "noise" of the needs and desires of those around us so that we can focus on our own self-contentment and seek the past of self-justification.
There is within all of us a tendency to make money and wealth the master that we cling to rather than Christ. We become trapped by harmful desires and addicted to destructive behaviors. And so we make money and wealth our masters. And so that which we place our hope in, we naturally become reluctant to part with. Martin Luther writes that this passage was written as a warning to us.
He writes "This was written as a warning to us, lest we fall into avarice and the practice of usury. Such misers will be the losers in the end. They will be severely punished for not giving a penny to anyone. When they die, they will go to the devil and leave their ill-gotten gains to others, who will show no gratitude but will squander the money on carousing. But this is what they want. I call it a plague on body and soul, honor and goods, wife and child. There is no more damnable person on earth than a rich miser who is not considered worthy of serving God and man with his goods."
And so in your quest to fill the nothing that you come into this world with, you ultimately fill it only with your own death and condemnation. You shut out the cries of God’s needy and hungry people, and thus you shut out the cries of your Lord. As your Lord tells you in Matthew 25, as you do to the least of these, who are members of His family, you do to Him also and so as you do not do to the least of these, who are members of His family you do not do for Him. And so the judgment that is cast upon you is not simply the result of not being generous with your possessions, although that is a calling we all share, but rather the judgment comes from not listening to your Lord, from not listening to the prophetic Word of your Lord. And so, by your own doing, the great chasm that has been fixed between you and God is only widened.
But the very One who’s cries you ignore when you ignore the cries of the poor and the needy is the One who bridges that gap for you. You confess in the creed that for you your Lord descended into hell, and that confession does not simply refer to that which we normally think of when we think of hell. It refers to the "hell" of our daily lives, the "hell" of our futile quest to fill the nothing that we come into this world with, with things of this world.
The very One who claims you in baptism enters into your daily lives where the divide between you and God is ever-present. And in that moment that you are claimed by Him He descends into the depths of the chasm between you and God, and brings not the judgment that you deserve, but He brings the eternal hope and promise that only He can bring through His death and resurrection.
He refuses to leave you in the chasm of despair. He does not allow you to continue to not listen to Moses and the prophets. He lifts you out of death and into new-life by which you cannot help but become convinced of what Moses and prophets point to; that we are not self-sufficient, that we cannot do it on our own.
Indeed, Luther was right, you are all beggars. You are all completely dependent upon God’s grace, which alone is sufficient to save you, and does save you from the justice that you deserve. Indeed, your Lord comes to you in His Word and humbles you and reminds you that you are all completely dependent upon God’s grace. He reminds you of the futility and the uncertainty of worldly riches.
He calls you to new life in Him, the new life that really is life, and not the life of trying to fill the nothing that you come into this world with, with things of the world, for that is the life built on the lie of your self-sufficiency and the lie of your capability toward self-justification.
And so you are humbled. You are humbled by your Lord opening your eyes and ears so you can finally listen to Moses and the prophets as you are completely laid bare and your sin is exposed to you. You are humbled as you stand face to face with the reality that it is your Lord who provides you with all that you need. And like your Lord, in your humility, you are exalted as children in the faithful line of Abraham. In your humility you are exalted as children of the most high God.
And so you are beggars. But the good news is your begging and pleading has been answered. It has been answered in the cleansing waters of baptism, and it continues to be answered everyday as your Lord comes to you in His Word and in the bread and the wine of His Supper and in fellowship with each other. He answers your begging and pleading by filling the nothing that you bring into this world, with God’s grace and His promise of eternal life through faith in His Son Christ Jesus.
And so now you have been freed to hear your Lord through the begging and the pleading of your neighbor. You are freed to hear the pleas of the poor person at your door, knowing that what you do for even the least of your Lord’s people, you do for Christ Jesus.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The last words believed to have been written down by Martin Luther were the words "We are all beggars." These words were scribbled on a piece of paper that was found not long after he died. I bring this up because in the Word proclaimed to you today your Lord speaks to you of your status as beggars. Indeed in the second lesson for today, Paul writes that we bring nothing into the world. We come into the world, totally dependent on those around us. We come into the world with nothing. We come into the world as beggars.
And so for pretty much all of us the first thing we do after being thrust into this world from the comfort of the womb is to cry out. We cry out for attention. We cry out for nourishment. We cry out for someone to make us feel like it’s going to be ok. Whatever it is, we cry out. And thus begins our lifelong quest to make something out of the nothing that we bring into this world.
And so you are like both the characters from the Gospel lesson for today. You are like Lazarus the poor beggar, longing to satisfy your hunger, but you are also like the rich man seeking to fill the void and emptiness in your lives with things of the world. Like the rich man, you seek to satisfy your gaping hunger with wealth; all the while sin, death, and the devil tell you that seeking your own fortune is the righteous way to go. And of course you are more than willing to buy into this. You have the hunger and the yearning of Lazarus and the dependence on material possessions of the rich man.
The problem with the rich man was not his wealth per se’, nor is that the problem with you, even though when going by worldly, global standards you would be considered wealthy. The problem with the rich man, and you is that you set your hopes on the uncertainty of riches and not on the eternal certainty of Christ.
And so indeed we are always beggars. We are never satisfied. We never have enough, whatever our income level, we are just naturally so focused on what we don’t have that we completely lose sight of the rich blessings that God has already provided us with. And when we become so focused in upon ourselves we lose sight of those around us. We don’t hear the cries of the poor and the needy, who are really just echoing God’s own call for justice and mercy. We shut out the "noise" of the needs and desires of those around us so that we can focus on our own self-contentment and seek the past of self-justification.
There is within all of us a tendency to make money and wealth the master that we cling to rather than Christ. We become trapped by harmful desires and addicted to destructive behaviors. And so we make money and wealth our masters. And so that which we place our hope in, we naturally become reluctant to part with. Martin Luther writes that this passage was written as a warning to us.
He writes "This was written as a warning to us, lest we fall into avarice and the practice of usury. Such misers will be the losers in the end. They will be severely punished for not giving a penny to anyone. When they die, they will go to the devil and leave their ill-gotten gains to others, who will show no gratitude but will squander the money on carousing. But this is what they want. I call it a plague on body and soul, honor and goods, wife and child. There is no more damnable person on earth than a rich miser who is not considered worthy of serving God and man with his goods."
And so in your quest to fill the nothing that you come into this world with, you ultimately fill it only with your own death and condemnation. You shut out the cries of God’s needy and hungry people, and thus you shut out the cries of your Lord. As your Lord tells you in Matthew 25, as you do to the least of these, who are members of His family, you do to Him also and so as you do not do to the least of these, who are members of His family you do not do for Him. And so the judgment that is cast upon you is not simply the result of not being generous with your possessions, although that is a calling we all share, but rather the judgment comes from not listening to your Lord, from not listening to the prophetic Word of your Lord. And so, by your own doing, the great chasm that has been fixed between you and God is only widened.
But the very One who’s cries you ignore when you ignore the cries of the poor and the needy is the One who bridges that gap for you. You confess in the creed that for you your Lord descended into hell, and that confession does not simply refer to that which we normally think of when we think of hell. It refers to the "hell" of our daily lives, the "hell" of our futile quest to fill the nothing that we come into this world with, with things of this world.
The very One who claims you in baptism enters into your daily lives where the divide between you and God is ever-present. And in that moment that you are claimed by Him He descends into the depths of the chasm between you and God, and brings not the judgment that you deserve, but He brings the eternal hope and promise that only He can bring through His death and resurrection.
He refuses to leave you in the chasm of despair. He does not allow you to continue to not listen to Moses and the prophets. He lifts you out of death and into new-life by which you cannot help but become convinced of what Moses and prophets point to; that we are not self-sufficient, that we cannot do it on our own.
Indeed, Luther was right, you are all beggars. You are all completely dependent upon God’s grace, which alone is sufficient to save you, and does save you from the justice that you deserve. Indeed, your Lord comes to you in His Word and humbles you and reminds you that you are all completely dependent upon God’s grace. He reminds you of the futility and the uncertainty of worldly riches.
He calls you to new life in Him, the new life that really is life, and not the life of trying to fill the nothing that you come into this world with, with things of the world, for that is the life built on the lie of your self-sufficiency and the lie of your capability toward self-justification.
And so you are humbled. You are humbled by your Lord opening your eyes and ears so you can finally listen to Moses and the prophets as you are completely laid bare and your sin is exposed to you. You are humbled as you stand face to face with the reality that it is your Lord who provides you with all that you need. And like your Lord, in your humility, you are exalted as children in the faithful line of Abraham. In your humility you are exalted as children of the most high God.
And so you are beggars. But the good news is your begging and pleading has been answered. It has been answered in the cleansing waters of baptism, and it continues to be answered everyday as your Lord comes to you in His Word and in the bread and the wine of His Supper and in fellowship with each other. He answers your begging and pleading by filling the nothing that you bring into this world, with God’s grace and His promise of eternal life through faith in His Son Christ Jesus.
And so now you have been freed to hear your Lord through the begging and the pleading of your neighbor. You are freed to hear the pleas of the poor person at your door, knowing that what you do for even the least of your Lord’s people, you do for Christ Jesus.
Amen
posted by Steve at 6:06 AM
1 Comments:
Again, great sermon. I played the bringing in Luther's beggar quote and the connection with Lazarus the beggar. (I wish I would have thought of that!)
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