Pentecost 5 [Isaiah 65:1-9] (23 June 2013)

This sermon was preached at Trinity Lutheran Church, Tailem Bend (9 am).  

 In order to experiment with how introverts and extroverts react to different things, some researchers took a bunch of kids, and one by one had a researcher give them what that researcher said was their “favorite toy” to play with while they stepped out of the room. Unfortunately, the toy was designed to break. So what they found was, the introverts reacted more strongly, because they didn't just fear getting in trouble, but they felt bad for the person whose toy they broke. They had more empathy. But let me draw attention also the fact that – they gave them a toy that would fall apart in their hands! It's a tough business, science. But the hands that hold false gods, when those false gods turn to dust in their hands, are the hands that hold onto the true God for dear life. For

Christ Jesus establishes a holy place despite the unholy rebellion of idolaters.

Idolatry is something that is present in the Old Testament as well as in the New. Martin Luther teaches that as well as anybody in the explanation to the 1^st Commandment: We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. And the connection between turning idols to dust and establishing a holy place for people is only to be found in Christ Jesus. Let's start with idolatry. We're not so good at picking out the signs of idolatry in this reading from Isaiah. Good thing that Jesus interprets them in the casting out of Legion – because there we see a demon-possessed man in the wilderness and among the tombs, and the demons are cast into a herd of pigs. All of those things are present in the Isaiah reading.

All of the these things have to do with idolatry, but we don't see the connections anymore. Here's how God describes the idolatry of those “who provoke me to my face continually” in Isaiah 65, “sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; ⁴ who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; ⁵ who say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.” Let's take tombs, for example. Today, hanging around in cemeteries is what bored teenagers do. But in the Old Testament, anyone hanging around tombs did so for things that had to do with inquiring of the dead, necromancy, and the like – all idolatry, because we are commanded to call upon God in every trouble. Today, going out bush is a relaxing holiday. In Old Testament times, the wilderness was described as the very edge of God's ordered creation colliding with the demonic. Hanging out there was also done because of idolatry. Sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks are two things we really don't see as idolatrous, until we are reminded that God clearly called for sacrifices to be made only at the temple, and that bricks were clearly not the right material for altars. This is worship that God didn't authorize, done simply for the reason that it was the popular thing to do, and because it required not listening to God's clear Word. And it's not like this replaced the true worship of God, it was just a little addition. But God still calls it idolatry. And what about you? Don't you want to do the popular thing too? So what if God has clearly spoken or not?

This is serious stuff, and if we get that, then the thing about pigs is easily understood. Today, they are delicious, and Christ clearly declared all foods clean. But then, pigs were heavily involved in idolatrous worship. Tainted meat was meat that was used outside of God's instructions for sacrifices, either the wrong kind, or using it outside the time frame that God set. See, the Bible knows idolatry inside and out – whether something plainly looks like idolatry or whether it barely does. And your sinful heart runs after idols, even if the idols may look a bit different, a bit more “modern”, and have different demands. But they still do; all idols do.

But the kicker is that these verses aren't describing the demon-worshiping Gentiles. They're describing Israel. That's the surprise between verse 1 and verse 2. Verse one is about the Gentiles “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here I am, here I am," to a nation that was not called by my name.”. But verse 2, “ I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;”, the people that God had been reaching out to in appeal all day, that was the Israelites. They knew God's holiness first hand, so the shock is when they say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”. That's where we get the phrase, “holier-than-thou”, from the King James translation. It's like they're saying it directly to God, even if it might be addressed to another person. The surprise is that these are people who knew God's holiness first hand by receiving it in the divine service of the Old Testament – the one that pointed forward to Christ by the guilt offerings. And you? You are holier than God when you have no sin, no death. You don't go around saying so, but what about your thoughts and actions? What do they say? Listen to how Luther puts this in regards to the Sacrament; just, be prepared:

“If you say you feel no sin, death, world and devil and have no battle and strife going on against them and why this struggle forces you to go to the Sacrament (I.e. to the Holy Supper), to that I say this: I hope you are not serious, that you alone among all the saints and people on earth are the one person who does not feel these things.  And  if I knew that you are serious about this, then I would want to order that, on all the streets where you would be going, all the bells would have to ring out and shout out before you:

“Here enters in a new saint above all the rest of the saints who feels and has no sins!”

However I would without joking tell you: “If you actually no longer feel any sin, then you most certainly are dead in sin, and this is already such an over the top huge sin; namely, that you really think you have no need or desire for the Sacrament. You then have no regard for God’s Word and have forgotten about Christ’s suffering. You are stuck  and filled with ingratitude and suffering from all sorts of spiritual problems.”

¹”

No wonder God says, “Behold, it is written before me: "I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap ⁷ both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds." ” This is the punishment that breaks God's heart, but it is just.

But don't for a second think that this is the last word.

In spite of idolatry, Christ establishes a holy place. You'd think that if the people who did know God's name and God's Word do this, how is it possible for God to have a people? Because God breaks idols of the heart. That's another place where Jesus helps explain this text in today's Gospel. At the end, the man who had the demons goes and tells what Jesus has done for him. Before that, he's sitting at Jesus' feet, which is what a disciple does. But first Jesus had to get rid of the demons who had a grip on him. His Word exposes your idols, shows that they don't live up to their promises, that they have not created you and are not strong to save.

He establishes a holy place because he doesn't just break idols, he stretches forth his hand all the day long. First, what love, that God appeals to you like that even though you are the one who has sinned. Second, there is One who stretched out his hands all one particular day long, on the cross for you. He stretched out his hands in invitation to you, at great cost to himself. When idols turn to the dust that they are, Christ's cross is free to be the gift that it is – the forgiveness of your idolatry.

And the holy place is the place where Jesus is for you, the place where he's the true God and you are his people, the place you can inquire of him, which means to trust him and set your conscience according to his Word (not inquiring of the dead but listening to the living Savior by trembling at his word as the only Word that has eternal life). The holy place is worship according to Jesus' word.

That holy place is the Church (even if idolatry is pounding at the door, from both sides). The Church is where there is right praise, the praise of not being holier than God, but carrying our sin and death to the place where his Word and Sacrament put our death to death by the forgiveness of sins which counts his holiness for you. It's a praise that takes place by receiving the forgiveness of sins and that sings thanksgiving for that forgiveness of sins. The Church is where there is right praise even when idolatry pokes its head in the Church by saying “you're too holy for God or his Word, too holy for sin, too holy to tell people that something's true, especially Christ, his death, and his Church”. Even so, God continually breaks idols.

The Church is the holy place for unholy Jews and Gentiles, even when idolatry breaks in and says it would be better if the Church was made up of people of the same culture or race as you. Even so, God continually breaks idols.

The Church is the holy place where Christ puts his people by the forgiveness of sins [even when people would rather ignore that to keep the Church at arm's length. This is the grief that we carry.]. But Ap IX still rightly says, “Christ's kingdom exists only with the Word and Sacraments.” The Church is the holy place where Christ the holy One by sending his Holy Spirit gives you the holy things, the communion of the holy things, by giving you his Holy Word, Holy Absolution, Holy Baptism, and the Holy Communion of his Holy Supper. If Isaiah 65 lists an overload of unholiness, the Church is the place where God gives an even greater abundance of his holiness, and where you can save the holier-than-thou act for the pagans to do, because forgiveness comes from outside of you, and in doing so Christ continually smashes your idols too.

Conclusion: Hands that cling to false gods don't remain empty once those gods are smashed. They are filled with God's Word and Sacraments. Idolatry may pound and pound on the Church, but one pound of a nail into a cross pounded the gates of hell to dust for you – all so that you may dwell with him. Amen.

1- See more at: http://cyberbrethren.com/#sthash.wjasG99U.dpuf

Pentecost 4 [Luke 7:36 - 8:3] (16 June 2013)

This sermon was preached at St. John's Lutheran, Karoonda (9 am) and Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Bend (11 am).  

 We're pretty good at spotting bad advice. “Child, you better make a lot of money so you can get a job” - obviously bad advice. “You better plant them seeds so you can fix that seeder”. We have a problem with those, but do we have a problem with this piece of advice, “You better love God so he'll forgive you.” Christ our Lord has a problem with that advice, and teaches us what's true in today's Gospel reading.

Because where is Jesus in today's reading? He's at the house of a certain Pharisee. Why? To eat, but not just to eat, because this is a Sabbath meal. The closest thing for us would be an annual luncheon – it's a big event, and there's often a speaker. But a Sabbath meal would often have a teacher come and the topic would be something from God's Word. So it looks like Jesus was invited to be the speaker at a big time occasion.

But what's the surprise? It's the moment when everyone would have said, “What's this person doing here?”. And that's the moment when “a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house” came to where Jesus was. Whatever this woman has done, it's public, and it has made her ceremonially unclean, so that the Pharisees wouldn't eat with her. But the point here is that Jesus is the honored guest in the house, but who treats him like one? An honored guest was supposed to get all the things Jesus mentioned – water to wash his feet, a kiss of peace, and an anointing with oil, so everyone there knows who the special guest is. “Hey, where's that nice smell coming from?” “That guy, because he's the special guest, so I anointed his head.” But the Pharisee didn't give any of that to Jesus. Yet what does the woman give? She washes his feet, with her tears, kisses his feet, and anoints his feet with very nice smelling myrrh. Even if the Pharisee had done all the things he was supposed to, they still wouldn't compare with the love that this woman showed him. Why is that? Jesus explains, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven-- for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." ”

And there's a problem with that, because you'd rather not be a big sinner. But between the woman and the Pharisee, who does that resemble? The woman knew whatever she had done had made her life in her community hard, in some way she had cut herself off from the people around her. So she had that wrongdoing before her all the time. The Pharisee's sins were smaller in the eyes of the community, but not before God. The Pharisee didn't want to be a big sinner, and that's seen by the result of him not loving Jesus by even bothering to be a good host. It's this woman, whom the Pharisee identifies in his head as a “sinner”, that treats Jesus as an honored guest.

So if we're talking about results, does that mean when it says, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven-- for she loved much.” that because she loved Jesus he forgave her? Isn't that the bad advice from the beginning of the sermon? Is that what that means? No. The results for the woman were the anointing and washing of Jesus' feet. The cause was hearing of Jesus, his rebuke of sin and his promise of forgiveness as the thing that makes it all okay. That's what Jesus taught. He taught the forgiveness of sins. And so that phrase is identifying the cause by its results. That's because the forgiveness is invisible, we can't see her forgiveness, but the resulting love wasn't, it was the visible evidence.

You can see the same thing with the Pharisee. The results of the Pharisee were being a bad host and “just knowing” that Jesus wasn't a prophet or he wouldn't go near this “big sinner” - as it says, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”. The cause was hearing Jesus and not being a big sinner. You couldn't see what the Pharisee was thinking to himself, you could see the result which would have been the rude look on his face. But Jesus knew his unbelief and so told a parable that showed the results of his unbelief. That's how you can deduce the cause – from the results!

It takes a boldness to be a big sinner, and we don't understand it. To be a big sinner isn't to go knocking over banks, it's to trust in the forgiveness of sins, to hear the Word of God and repent. Little sinners either won't take any reproof of their big sins, or despair when those sins are seen in the community. That's why we confess our sins. Confess means “to say the same thing”, and here we're saying that what we say about our sins is what God says about our sins. We always are big sinners, but when we repent we confess our sins to be what they really are.

But it's a very good thing to let the Bible itself explain the phrase “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven-- for she loved much.” for us. That's a lot better than just taking that one sentence out of the text and getting confused by it. There are two places in today's Gospel itself that prove that the woman's love didn't cause Jesus to forgive her. The first is the parable Jesus told, which is central to the reading: “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" ⁴³ Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly." ” In this parable, what happens first, the moneylender cancelling the debt, or the debtor loving him? First he cancels the debt, then they love him. First Jesus forgives you your sins, then you love him.

The second place is the very next sentence in v. 47: “But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” What comes first there? First the forgiveness, then the love. And the problem for the Pharisee is that he didn't love at all, so what does that say?

This is also illustrated by the sentence “Where there's smoke, there's fire.” This is the same thing Jesus is saying – seeing the results allows you to trace them back to their cause. We don't say that smoke causes fire, but the other way around. Smoke is evidence of fire. Your love is evidence of faith.

This is important so that we may imitate the woman's faith in the right way, and not imitate the Pharisee. This woman is overcome with gratitude and love because of Jesus' teaching, so much that she begins to weep, and in weeping she rains down tears on his feet. She doesn't think of how it looks, so she just takes her hair down and uses it to wipe up the tears (which was culturally shameful). She takes the expensive flask of myrrh and anoints Jesus' feet, which is very unique in Scripture. She violates all the things you should do for an honored guest. But while the Pharisee is disdaining her, Jesus says to her “Your sins are forgiven”. He praises her faith, and bids her to depart in peace. The highest worship of Christ is to seek forgiveness from him. (This reading is also important for when you don't see that you have any love. If there isn't love, you have no way to produce those results again unless they come the same way that they came before – as a result! So it's not “I’ve got to get more love”. It's “I've got to repent and trust God's Word about my forgiveness from Jesus.”)

There is a lot to be said about the cause of this love: Jesus reproves sin, Jesus fixes everything he came to fix by forgiveness. That's the fix. That forgiveness leads him to say “depart in peace” - the same thing we hear at the communion railing. This is not an accident. He's so in the business of forgiving big sinners that he puts his forgiveness in mouths, from any Christian who finds a terrified conscience and speaks what Jesus has done, and in the public worship service by a pastor, that you may hear “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins.” That's not an accident either.

The cause of your love is the word of Christ's cross for you. Pure and simple. You're a big sinner? Good, because you have a Savior who's a big forgiver of sins, so big that he died on a cross to wipe away every sin for you.

The results of Christ's love are when we're blessed to sit in our local Lutheran congregation and see big sinners, but none bigger than the one in the mirror (and then to trust what God's Word says about big sinners – that Christ died for them).

The results of Christ's love are when we're blessed to see what our works of love do for the community. We see what our sin does to the community. But we see what a Christian who trusts God by loving the neighbor does, and we praise not ourselves, but God who forgives.

Love follows only when Jesus forgives great big sins.

We're blessed to see the results of the love of God acting in love for our neighbor. But they are the results of Christ's great love in dying for you. It's God's Word and grace that make you happy to be a big sinner who gets big forgiveness. Amen.

Pentecost 3 [Luke 7:11-17] (9 June 2013)

 This sermon was preached at Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Bend (9 am) and St. John's Lutheran, Karoonda (11 am).

We all know how easy it is to talk somebody to death, but reason loudly insists you can't talk someone to life. That's why when the enlightened 19^th century writer Mary Shelley wanted to tell a scary story, she put the scientific advances of the day into a mad scientist's lab, as the only way that Frankenstein's monster might make sense. If you follow that lead, then you shy away from the reality of what Jesus did in today's Gospel until it's a nice story, but Jesus didn't actually do it. But that's denying that Jesus actually really did raise someone with a compassionate word, and the word about that word got out.

When Jesus raises from the dead, word gets out.

Jesus actually really raises from the dead. It's what happened there, in that town of Nain. But that required someone to raise from the dead. That's who Jesus, his disciples, and the crowd following him ran into. They ran into another crowd, a crowd in mourning on the way to bury someone, as we hear, “Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹² As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only[-begotten] son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.”. And that phrase should remind us of something so that we can see how Jesus is different than this dead man. First, for Jesus, death is easier to undo than sleep. To prove that, how many times does it take to wake up a sleepy family member? And how many times does Jesus tell this young man to arise? Second, Jesus is also an only-begotten son but in a different way than this dead young man, because he's the only-begotten Son from eternity, the only-begotten Son of the Father, being of one substance with the Father, yet always of one substance as the Son, as the Father is always of one substance as the Father. And lastly, like that son at Nain, Jesus too will be really, actually dead but he will rise that by the preaching of his death and resurrection he may say to many “arise”.

But that's not the only person we can compare Jesus with. In last week's Gospel, Jesus goes to a Gentile, and now in the next few verses he raises the only son of a widow. The Old Testament reading from 1 Kings 17 should be a hint – that's the same order that Elijah did it – first he goes to a Gentile widow, then later he raises her son. But unlike Elijah (and Elisha his successor after him), Jesus doesn't intercede in prayer that the child be healed, he simple says, “Arise.” And Elijah and Elisha were pretty great, but Jesus just tells the dead man to rise, and it happens.

And the crowds that saw Jesus raise this dead son in Nain said some really great things. Because, remember, one of the crowds was in mourning. They weren't holding any of their grief back, but Jesus turns that grief into exclamations – 1. “A great prophet has arisen among us” and 2. “The Lord has visited his people.” But they don't get it unless they can say the same thing at Jesus' cross. There in Nain they don't even get what they're saying: a great prophet has arisen, which is the same word that Jesus said to the young man. He has arisen all right, because he himself will lay down his life on the cross and pick it up again when he rises. And hearers of Luke's Gospel would recognize the language of God 'visiting' his people from the song of Zechariah : “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people”. But all three of these are only pointing forward to the great visiting of salvation that Jesus brings with his suffering and death.

And not just then and there does Jesus do this, but he does this starting here. It's only seen more clearly in today's reading that death confronts us. We see it very clearly when we see this wailing crowd runs into Jesus as they are coming out of the city as Jesus is coming in. Death is literally right in Jesus' face. Just as powerfully as at a funeral, in this text we see that it's just as much our problem as theirs. So when Jesus really raises from the dead, it starts where he does things for you who are born, as St. Paul writes, “dead in your trespasses” (Colossians 2:13). And where he does things for you is where he speaks a word of compassion to you.

That's Jesus really raising from the dead. And it happens in Baptism. Baptism rescues from death and the devil, so that in your Baptism Jesus says “you are joined to my death and resurrection” and that's what happens.

Jesus really gives eternal life when he invites us to pray the Lord's Prayer. Because when we pray the Lord's Prayer, when we pray “but deliver us from evil”, we are praying, as Dr. Luther explains, “that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to himself in heaven.” So when we pray it on Sunday as the Church, we are together and each one of us being prepared by our Lord for a blessed end, for our death.

Jesus raises from the dead here in the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper does this because it is a heavenly eating here on earth of eternal life. That's why it's called “a foretaste of the feast to come”, because he comes with eternal life and shares it with us bodily. Through the forgiveness Christ offers through his body and blood in this Holy Supper, he prepares your place at the heavenly feast. The bread and wine you taste now give you a foretaste of heaven itself. It's not just a part of the service you tick off the list as having done, it is all comfort of eternal life, when heaven touches earth according to Christ's promise.

So Jesus really raises from the dead. And when Jesus raises from the dead, word gets out. The word got out of what Jesus did at Nain: “And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.” The word got out, but this is only what Jesus said he would be doing. In Jesus' first sermon, in Luke 4, Jesus says he fulfills the prophecy spoken by Isaiah to declare the year of the Lord's favor – good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, liberty to those who are oppressed. And so, in the verses after today's Gospel, when John the Baptist sends his disciples to see if any release is coming his way (since he had been put in jail by Herod), Jesus says to them, report what you have seen - “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up.” Jesus does what he said he would do, and word gets out. Compare that with the crucifixion and resurrection – same thing. Jesus does what he said he would do, and word gets out, only this time it's the message of what Christ did, which Christ spreads through the Church which calls the world into the Church. Word gets out.

And while that word does get rejected, as he himself was rejected, the same compassion of Jesus which we see in today's Gospel is seen most clearly at the cross for you.

The Word of his compassion gets out here. See, Jesus isn't disinterested like you. You're like the son in today's Gospel. He's so disinterested he doesn't even ask to be raised, because he can't, because he's dead. But because of his compassion, Jesus is keen, keen to raise that son and give him to his mother. And he's keen to raise you, to forgive you all your sins.

And if Luke's sequel, Acts, shows us anything, it's that he will send his word – which he did at Pentecost, in the founding of the Gentile mission in Antioch, in the sending of Paul and Barnabas. Yet what he sent is nothing less than his Word. It doesn't matter how keen we are if we speak something that isn't God's Word of Law and Gospel to people. Our opinions or our programs won't matter, because God's Word is what matters, and he's promised the Word will get out.

All this is to say, the word of Jesus' compassion for you gets out. What's the heart of today's text? “And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." ¹⁴ Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." ¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” The miraculous removal of the woman's grief starts with a word of Jesus: “stop crying”. So we look for Jesus to preach his word to us too. He has a lot to say to your death. He preaches, and at his word he gives eternal life. He meets your death and grief and says to you “stop weeping” and “arise”. And it happens.

The Word gets out that that he makes of death a nothing, a defeated enemy. He overcomes death, for only he can, because he's the only-begotten Son. The Word gets out because it's the word that the Father gives the Son to speak, the word which the Holy Spirit teaches us. The Word gets out that this is the only God who can give life and raise from the dead.

Conclusion: Jesus actually raises from the dead. But more than that, he does it by his word. And more than that, this is a compassionate word because it is the saving word of his cross. And that word gets out. Amen.   

Pentecost 2 [Luke 7:1-10] (2 June 2013)

This sermon was preached at St. John's Lutheran Church , Karoonda (9 am) and Trinity Lutheran Church, Tailem Bend (11 am).   

Why make a big deal about something little? Little things are little. But a big deal is a big deal. The centurion has a big deal, and Jesus' jaw drops because when hearts trust in him it's a big deal!

Jesus' gifts are received by repentant, humble faith (throughout the nations).

That's a big deal, because Jesus is a big deal. But in today's Gospel reading, the elders of the synagogue who come to Jesus, they say, “they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him, ⁵ for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue." ”. Where are they pointing? To what the centurion has done. That's the knee-jerk reaction. The centurion has a big deal need – a slave in his house, who is practically part of the family, is near death. So the knee-jerk reaction of the respected people of the synagogue is to go to Jesus and give a reason why he should do this.

1. He loves Israel (meaning he loves the God of Israel, he doesn't just like the weather and the nice people), proven by – 2. He built our synagogue. That means he valued the Word of the Lord, because that's why there was a synagogue. It's not just a gathering place, it's a place to hear the Word of the God of Israel read. And it means that he was wealthy and important, to be able to do that for the people. Because he did that, they say, “he's worthy, the one that you would do this for.”

And that's your knee-jerk reaction too. When you have a need, talk about yourself. This last week, Oprah gave a commencement speech at Harvard University. And since many people believe whatever Oprah tells them to, I'll share what she said. She said, “What do people want most?”, and then you think, what will she say is the answer? “To be validated, to be understood”, because . . . at the end of all her interviews, everyone has said, “was that okay?” But there's a better word for that: to be justified. To be justified in what you do. But that's not what Jesus praises the centurion for. That's not faith. Faith is something different. But the knee-jerk reaction of the sinful nature that clings to us is to justify yourself. “Was that okay? Yeah.” Simply put, the knee jerk reaction is to say that God has a reason to do what we want because of something we do, something in us. But the centurion doesn't point to himself.

The centurion could point to a lot of things, but points away from them. The centurion has a lot of qualifications which he doesn't speak. A centurion was in charge of a hundred soldier in the powerful Roman army. They were looked upon very well by society – they were well paid and had a high status. But what do we hear? “When [Jesus] was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. ⁷ Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. ⁸ For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." ”. He doesn't even go out to meet Jesus. He sends the synagogue leaders with his request, and when Jesus comes near he sends friends to say he's not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof. That's a humble centurion, but it's his faith that is humble.

The big deal for the centurion isn't himself and what he himself has to say. The big deal is Jesus. The centurion speaks of Christ and what he would say. He's content with a word, because he knows when someone with authority speaks, things happen. And what authority does Jesus have? Authority over demons, disease, and death. None of this is about what he can do. It's about the Word. It's not our knee-jerk reaction (it's not justifying yourself, but trusting in the One who justifies the ungodly, forgives you your sin because he has mercy on you, not because you deserve it).

At the end of chapter 6, Jesus says “"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? ⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great." ”. And what does this centurion do? Just that. He trusts in the word. Who builds on the solid foundation? The centurion who hears of Jesus in faith and speaks in faith.

The occasion is the big deal of the sickness of this part of the family, but the biggest deal is the faith that makes Jesus' jaw drop. Luke writes that Jesus “marveled” at the centurion and then said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” That's a big deal because all four Gospels use this word “marvel” a number of times, but it's usually something the people do, to be 'amazed' at what Jesus does. Sometimes Jesus is 'astonished' at people's unbelief (same word). But only here is Jesus 'amazed', and it's at the faith of this Gentile! He's astonished at the man who points to his unworthiness and to Jesus' words!

It's a big deal when Christ's gifts overflow to humble repentant faith, and what an overflow. Look at what a humble faith receives. Christ says, “my cross, my death, this is for you”, and faith says, “yeah, that's not about me. That's about what Jesus has done for unworthy little me, about his forgiveness of all my sins.” Faith receives that the cross of Christ does something for you that you can't possibly do – you are justified for the sake of Christ's cross. It's the opposite of justifying yourself; it's being justified. Faith receives that there is no message like the message of the cross – all this for you, without needing anything from you but claiming all of you. It's a big deal when it's an undeserved gift, and a big deal to confess that (as the centurion did).

These gifts overflow in the proclamation of that Word, and the giving out of the visible Word in Baptism and the Lord's Supper. If faith is content with a word of Jesus, then faith is content in his salvation given with water and given when his true body and blood are received by eating and drinking in faith.

These gifts overflow to the nations, as we see in today's readings, and as we see that the centurion came to love the Word of God (in the synagogue and from Jesus' mouth, basically OT and NT, and he's a Gentile!), anticipating the mission of God throughout the world and all peoples and tongues.

The knee-jerk reaction of humble faith is trust in God and love for the neighbor. And that love is a swiss army knife of tools that never runs out of applications. And the Small Catechism serves so well in the confession of a humble faith – Luther puts these really great bits in all over the place: “without any merit or worthiness in me”; “we are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that he would give them all to us by grace”. That's also what we do when we sing the Kyrie – Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. 'I have nothing, only empty hands.' It's also done in the corporate confession (“we justly deserve your punishment in time and in eternity” ). It's done when we sing hymns that praise the Word (“Speak, O Lord, They servant heareth. To Thy Word I now give heed: Life and spirit Thy Word beareth, All Thy Word is truth indeed. Death's dread power in me is rife; Jesus, may Thy Word of life Fill my soul with love's strong fervour. That I cling to Thee for ever.” (LHS 259) or “We have a sure prophetic Word By inspiration of the Lord; And though assailed on every hand, The Word of God shall ever stand.” (LHS 273) ). These are all big deals because Jesus is a big deal, which is what humble faith says.

Conclusion: Faith isn't a little thing, but that's always because who you believe in is the big deal. Saying your faith is a big thing is the opposite of the centurion, who only pointed to his unworthiness, and was content with a word from Jesus. When that word is your forgiveness, life, and salvation, that's a big deal. Amen.