Sermon Sunday July 20 2008
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am sure most of you have heard the expression ‘the devil is in the details.’ The meaning of the expression is pretty self-explanatory. When used in everyday language it basically refers to the idea that when something is planned, often many of the details that may not seem necessary are ignored and overlooked and then end up causing problems later.
For instance, a family plans a camping trip, and so they find a campground, reserve a spot, get a tent, make sure they have enough food and clothes and they think they are all set. They get to the campsite, they unpack the tent, and there are no tent-stakes. They made sure to bring the tent, but they did not think to double-check and make -sure that they brought the stakes. The devil is in the details.
But when this expression is used in everyday talk, the use of the word devil seems symbolic or metaphorical. But in our Gospel lesson this morning our Lord presents to us an image of the Kingdom of God where, until the day of judgment, the devil, the real devil, is in fact in the details. Like last week’s Gospel lesson, Jesus is once again using farming imagery. In this week’s lesson Jesus is using farming imagery to describe the Kingdom of God.
Right from the beginning we can see that it is part of the devil’s design to be in the details. For in using this farming imagery Jesus parallels the devil with someone sneaking into someone’s field at night, while everyone is sleeping and then sowing weeds among the wheat. And when the weeds appeared, all the servants can say is "Where then did the weeds come from?"
There is a line from a favorite movie of mine that came out about thirteen years ago that speaks to the reality of the devil’s intent to be hidden in the details. The movie is called "The Usual Suspects" and the line in that movie that I am referring to is spoken by the person who ends up being the killer who everyone throughout the movie is looking for. But he is about the last person that one would have expected to end up being the killer. He has a moment in the film where he says "The greatest trick that the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist." And I think that there is a lot of truth in that.
The devil is in the details, and part of the reason why is because he doesn’t want us to think he’s there at all. And we see this in our Gospel lesson this morning when the servants ask where the weeds came from. But the owner of the field who of course represents our Lord Jesus tells them an enemy did it. And much to the servant’s surprise they are told to let the wheat and the weeds grow together. They are told that if you uproot the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them.
And so it is for us, we live as wheat among weeds. But I believe that if we simplify this into saying that, with the weeds and the wheat, Jesus is simply referring to two different kinds of people then we don’t necessarily get to the essence of this passage because we are skipping the details. It would be real easy to simply say well, we as Christians are clearly the wheat and non-believers are the weeds. But again, as I said the devil is in the details.
When Jesus is asked to explain this parable, He explains to His disciples that the field where the weeds and the wheat are growing together side-by-side represents the world. He says that at the end of the age He will send His angels, who in the parable are represented by the servants, and they will collect out of His kingdom all evildoers and all causes of sin. So in other words, the devil, who causes sin with his temptation and deception and despair will remain a reality in our world until the end of the age.
But the devil is not just a reality in the lives of non-believers. Quite to the contrary, with non-believers, the devil’s work is pretty much done. From the first appearance of the devil, what does he mess with? Right from the get-go we see him messing with God’s Word tempting Adam and Eve to question whether God really did say that they were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And today we can hear the echo of the devil’s temptation. I read a survey earlier this week that estimated that roughly thirty percent of all American mainline protestant clergy don’t believe in the devil nor do they believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. Know that I definitely do not include myself in that thirty percent.
But it seems that among some our clergy we hear the echo of the devil’s tempting question to Eve "Did God really mean it when He said that His Son would rise on the third day?" or "When God speaks of the devil, does He mean an actual being?" Or we hear this echo through the words of the recently elected presiding bishop of the American Episcopal church; Katherine Jefferts Schori who when asked whether she believed that Jesus was the only way to salvation she flat out rejected that idea as narrow-minded saying that such a suggestion is to "Put God in a box." And so the echo of the devil continues "Did Jesus really mean that nobody gets to the Father but through Him?"
But I am not singling our clergy out here, nor is my point that even in the church there are weeds among the wheat. There are, so that is definitely true, but the essence of what our Lord says to us in the Gospel lesson goes deeper than that. For, when it comes right down to it we are all weeds. We are not just weeds and wheat living together, we are all simultaneously weed and wheat.
Martin Luther writes of this reality saying "Since baptism is a sign, a visible Word, its significance endures throughout the believer’s life on earth. Yet, as Luther explains, its significance competes with the continuing natural life and impulses of the baptized person. That person, paradoxically, is at one and the same time righteous in Christ and sinful in his own flesh: simul justus et peccator.9" We are not just weeds among the wheat, we are simultaneously both weed and wheat. The devil is in the details; every detail and nuance of our life.
But Luther also reminds us of the blessed gift our baptism, by which we are united with our Lord Jesus, having been brought into His death and resurrection. Through this blessed means of grace we receive what St Paul wrote of in our second lesson for today a Spirit of adoption when we cry "Abba! Father!" By this Spirit bearing witness with ours we are made children of God.
The devil is in the details, and that is revealed in our lives through our anger and sorrow and despair. The echo of the devil’s temptation reveals itself in our lives. In our every word of anger we show that we are continually tempted by the devil’s whispering in our ear "Did God really say love your enemies?" But the devil can tempt you all he wants because Christ Jesus entered into the details of your life also when He took all of your sin and anger and sorrow and despair upon Himself when He laid down His life for you, and sin and the devil who is in the details were defeated for you.
There is no reason to fear believing in the devil; he is real and he is in the details. So while you still struggle with the details of the devil, through faith in Christ Jesus you have the assurance of knowing that Christ Jesus took the devil’s details of death upon Himself and in exchange you have received Christ Jesus’ details of new and abundant life. The devil’s days in the details are limited. For our Lord promises that one day the devil will be destroyed and you will one day experience the full redemption of your bodies. Until then we are witnesses of His promise. So take heed of our Lord’s Word from Isaiah through whom we are told "Do not fear, or be afraid;" the Lord is with you in all the details of your life.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am sure most of you have heard the expression ‘the devil is in the details.’ The meaning of the expression is pretty self-explanatory. When used in everyday language it basically refers to the idea that when something is planned, often many of the details that may not seem necessary are ignored and overlooked and then end up causing problems later.
For instance, a family plans a camping trip, and so they find a campground, reserve a spot, get a tent, make sure they have enough food and clothes and they think they are all set. They get to the campsite, they unpack the tent, and there are no tent-stakes. They made sure to bring the tent, but they did not think to double-check and make -sure that they brought the stakes. The devil is in the details.
But when this expression is used in everyday talk, the use of the word devil seems symbolic or metaphorical. But in our Gospel lesson this morning our Lord presents to us an image of the Kingdom of God where, until the day of judgment, the devil, the real devil, is in fact in the details. Like last week’s Gospel lesson, Jesus is once again using farming imagery. In this week’s lesson Jesus is using farming imagery to describe the Kingdom of God.
Right from the beginning we can see that it is part of the devil’s design to be in the details. For in using this farming imagery Jesus parallels the devil with someone sneaking into someone’s field at night, while everyone is sleeping and then sowing weeds among the wheat. And when the weeds appeared, all the servants can say is "Where then did the weeds come from?"
There is a line from a favorite movie of mine that came out about thirteen years ago that speaks to the reality of the devil’s intent to be hidden in the details. The movie is called "The Usual Suspects" and the line in that movie that I am referring to is spoken by the person who ends up being the killer who everyone throughout the movie is looking for. But he is about the last person that one would have expected to end up being the killer. He has a moment in the film where he says "The greatest trick that the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist." And I think that there is a lot of truth in that.
The devil is in the details, and part of the reason why is because he doesn’t want us to think he’s there at all. And we see this in our Gospel lesson this morning when the servants ask where the weeds came from. But the owner of the field who of course represents our Lord Jesus tells them an enemy did it. And much to the servant’s surprise they are told to let the wheat and the weeds grow together. They are told that if you uproot the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them.
And so it is for us, we live as wheat among weeds. But I believe that if we simplify this into saying that, with the weeds and the wheat, Jesus is simply referring to two different kinds of people then we don’t necessarily get to the essence of this passage because we are skipping the details. It would be real easy to simply say well, we as Christians are clearly the wheat and non-believers are the weeds. But again, as I said the devil is in the details.
When Jesus is asked to explain this parable, He explains to His disciples that the field where the weeds and the wheat are growing together side-by-side represents the world. He says that at the end of the age He will send His angels, who in the parable are represented by the servants, and they will collect out of His kingdom all evildoers and all causes of sin. So in other words, the devil, who causes sin with his temptation and deception and despair will remain a reality in our world until the end of the age.
But the devil is not just a reality in the lives of non-believers. Quite to the contrary, with non-believers, the devil’s work is pretty much done. From the first appearance of the devil, what does he mess with? Right from the get-go we see him messing with God’s Word tempting Adam and Eve to question whether God really did say that they were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And today we can hear the echo of the devil’s temptation. I read a survey earlier this week that estimated that roughly thirty percent of all American mainline protestant clergy don’t believe in the devil nor do they believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. Know that I definitely do not include myself in that thirty percent.
But it seems that among some our clergy we hear the echo of the devil’s tempting question to Eve "Did God really mean it when He said that His Son would rise on the third day?" or "When God speaks of the devil, does He mean an actual being?" Or we hear this echo through the words of the recently elected presiding bishop of the American Episcopal church; Katherine Jefferts Schori who when asked whether she believed that Jesus was the only way to salvation she flat out rejected that idea as narrow-minded saying that such a suggestion is to "Put God in a box." And so the echo of the devil continues "Did Jesus really mean that nobody gets to the Father but through Him?"
But I am not singling our clergy out here, nor is my point that even in the church there are weeds among the wheat. There are, so that is definitely true, but the essence of what our Lord says to us in the Gospel lesson goes deeper than that. For, when it comes right down to it we are all weeds. We are not just weeds and wheat living together, we are all simultaneously weed and wheat.
Martin Luther writes of this reality saying "Since baptism is a sign, a visible Word, its significance endures throughout the believer’s life on earth. Yet, as Luther explains, its significance competes with the continuing natural life and impulses of the baptized person. That person, paradoxically, is at one and the same time righteous in Christ and sinful in his own flesh: simul justus et peccator.9" We are not just weeds among the wheat, we are simultaneously both weed and wheat. The devil is in the details; every detail and nuance of our life.
But Luther also reminds us of the blessed gift our baptism, by which we are united with our Lord Jesus, having been brought into His death and resurrection. Through this blessed means of grace we receive what St Paul wrote of in our second lesson for today a Spirit of adoption when we cry "Abba! Father!" By this Spirit bearing witness with ours we are made children of God.
The devil is in the details, and that is revealed in our lives through our anger and sorrow and despair. The echo of the devil’s temptation reveals itself in our lives. In our every word of anger we show that we are continually tempted by the devil’s whispering in our ear "Did God really say love your enemies?" But the devil can tempt you all he wants because Christ Jesus entered into the details of your life also when He took all of your sin and anger and sorrow and despair upon Himself when He laid down His life for you, and sin and the devil who is in the details were defeated for you.
There is no reason to fear believing in the devil; he is real and he is in the details. So while you still struggle with the details of the devil, through faith in Christ Jesus you have the assurance of knowing that Christ Jesus took the devil’s details of death upon Himself and in exchange you have received Christ Jesus’ details of new and abundant life. The devil’s days in the details are limited. For our Lord promises that one day the devil will be destroyed and you will one day experience the full redemption of your bodies. Until then we are witnesses of His promise. So take heed of our Lord’s Word from Isaiah through whom we are told "Do not fear, or be afraid;" the Lord is with you in all the details of your life.
Amen
posted by Steve at 8:27 AM
1 Comments:
I really like the use of the devil is in the details methaphor you used throughout. Although, I have to say that while I read it, thinking back on it after that one reading, I kind-of missed the hard hitting law/gospel of the text. (I try to respond after reading it only once cuz that is all people get). I know it was there-you talked about how the devil tries to get us to look elsewhere. But wasn't overly clear.
It was, however, a good sermon (don't get me wrong). Just maybe take a look at it and maybe it could be reworked a bit to clear it up.
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