Today we see the stark contrast between how the Pharisees would like to understand the Bible and how Jesus Christ, the Word of the Father incarnate, the very author of the Scriptures, tells us how we must read His Word. The Pharisees attempt to bring Jesus into a debate that they have among themselves. The five books of Moses contain hundreds of commandments, yet they still want to know which is most important because they are not deep in their hearts; they fail to keep them. So the Pharisees make a point of keeping only the most important ones. They have to know the bare minimum because, for them, they wouldn’t be saved otherwise.

Our Lord shows that this debate among themselves is aimless. By asking, “Who is the Son and Lord of David?” the Lord puts an end to the squabbling. The Pharisees did not understand this question, for  they did not search the Scriptures to find God’s holy Messiah; as Christ also says to them in John chapter 5, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify to me.” Therefore, the whole of the Scriptures testify to Christ Jesus, the source of eternal truth.

I. There is a common question that arises when we discuss the Prophetic Word found in the Old Testament. For example, in the Scripture Christ cites as the words of David, recorded in Psalm 110, how could mortal David know something that had not yet transpired in human history: that the Messiah would come through his own lineage? The answer is found in how Christ presents this passage to them when He says, “David in the Spirit.” This, of course, must refer to our Lord’s Spirit, who proceeds from Him and the Father, the third person of the Blessed Trinity: the Holy Spirit. David did not know this in himself, but the words that he recorded were inspired by the Holy Spirit. God inspires not only the ideas and concepts presented in the Bible, but also the specific words each author uses to write the Word of God. 

Therefore, what the Bible says is always true, because it does not come from human imagination but from God Himself. The Bible is true in two ways: first, as we have already discussed, it is recorded because the Holy Spirit inspired these men with the words to write. And Second, Jesus demonstrates they are true because they refer to Him, the very Son of God. The entire Scriptures are about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Pharisees do not understand. They want to only know the bare minimum they must meet to be saved, and Jesus says, ‘You Sadducees and Pharisees have missed the entire point of the Law and all the Prophets.’ If they had not shut out the Holy Ghost from their hardened hearts, they would have seen that Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures. Yet, they did not ask Him any more questions because they desire to crucify the one whom Israel hoped. 

II. So then, if Christ is the point of the Old Testament, and all the promises and commands are fulfilled and kept in the incarnate Son of God, Christ Jesus, does this mean that the Old Testament loses its authority? Or does the Christian have any obligation to it?  No one would dare to say it in such a direct manner, for that would be an insult to God and what He has done through the patriarchs and the ancient Israelites. The question may appear in a subtler form, such as saying that the God of the Old Testament was full of wrath and condemnation, and only the God of the New Testament is merciful and forgiving toward mankind. Or to say something like I don’t care about the things of the Old Testament, like the Ten Commandments, because Jesus has removed their penalty from me. Or all I need is a couple of passages from the New Testament, and I can leave the rest.

When we speak of Christ’s fulfillment, we are not saying everything before Christ is erased. For if the Old Testament is about Jesus, how can we leave it behind? So when we read and study the Word of God, no matter where it is placed in our Bible, we must understand that God recorded these words because they report the forgiveness of sins through the crucified and risen Son of God. 

Also, the Old Testament is not a set of fables that somehow point to Jesus. Fables are meant to point to an ideal or moral. Jesus is not a concept. He is a person. A true Man who walked the Earth, bore our sins, and was crushed by His Father. So if the Bible points to a real person, then the events leading up to Him are also historical by necessity.

Let me give an example. The theories of the Big Bang and evolution have brought great scandal upon the church, and have even stolen many away from true Christianity. These theories not only deny Genesis chapters 1 and 2, but also deny the person of Jesus Christ. And this is how, for in Genesis chapter 1 verse 3 it says, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” So, through God’s act of speaking, also known as God’s Word, the universe and all that is within it are created. That word in the beginning is Jesus Christ, as St. John begins his gospel like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the light shines in the darkness… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Therefore, the New Testament does not replace the Old, for if the Old Testament were understood to be non-historical, it would remove Jesus from Scripture entirely.

III. This means that we cannot look at the Bible in the same way that the Pharisees and Sadducees do, trying to decide what parts of the Bible are needed and which are not. Because of our fallen nature, we want to pick and choose the parts of the Bible that best suit what we think the Bible should say. Maybe it’s verses that only talk about God’s grace, verses that condemn the sin of others, but not our own, or removing verses that challenge us and make us feel uncomfortable. We might avoid those verses because they might cause offense or turn people away. 

But if we never let the Word of God challenge us and the way we see ourselves and the world, we would not increase in our faith. We would not allow the Word of God to shape us. Instead, we would want to shape the Word of God to our liking. This would not benefit us. Of anyone in the entire Old Testament, no one knows how much the Word of God can be challenging and uncomfortable more than Moses. He was called by God in the form of the burning bush to go to Pharaoh and tell him to release his 3 million slaves to go worship in the wilderness. If Moses said to the Lord, ‘That makes me feel uncomfortable,’ the Bible would be a pretty short book of unkept promises. Yet God has a plan, and He will see it through.

Therefore, do not let the world’s opinion distract you from following the Word of God. The world did not die for our sins. Nor does it care about your best interests. Jesus Christ has fulfilled what was written; the Lord has removed our sins in His blood. Our Lord’s word has brought us new life, forgiven our sins, and saved us all for the sake of God’s Son. 

Let us search the Word to find Christ and, by the Holy Spirit, be inspired to live by it. Amen.

Christ Jesus heals and exalts the humble through His Holy Supper.

I. It is the Christian intention to be saved from our works of wrath and to inherit eternal salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, for us to receive such good things, we must have faith. As Saint Paul writes in Romans chapter 4: “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to… those who are of the faith of Abraham.” There is no way around it; we must have the faith of Abraham in the Lord Jesus Christ to receive eternal grace.

Yet, to possess that saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we must be humbled. But what does this mean to be humbled in the way of the Lord? Godly humility will never come if we do not let the law, the Ten Commandments, which God requires of all men, condemn us and find us guilty; we will be stuck in pride and arrogance. For God’s law shows us our sin, our failure, our shortcomings, and our disobedience. The Law shows us that we have not loved God with all our hearts, mind, and strength. God’s command to be obedient and holy cannot be ignored because, in the end, Christ will judge those who do not believe in Him by what they have failed to do.

This is what we see in our gospel reading from Luke: the righteous Pharisees on one hand and the sinful man with dropsy on the other. The Pharisees believe they are keeping the Sabbath laws perfectly in the five books of Moses. For them, the law shows God their righteousness. The Pharisees see the law as an outward call to obedience. This means that as long as they do not do any work on the seventh day of the week, they have perfectly kept God’s command, even if they do not truly love God in their heart.

Therefore, the Lord says to them: “Which of you, having a donkey or ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” Christ Jesus exposes their hypocrisy: they trust their salvation because they believe they keep the law perfectly. And still, do not show love to their neighbor. The Pharisees have not shown God their righteousness; instead, they are sinful.

So we must look to the man who intrudes on this fine feast of the Pharisees to call upon the Lord Jesus. This man possesses a true and genuine Christian heart. The man with dropsy has heard of Christ’s marvelous deeds and pure teaching. That is, the man knows our Lord’s Law, also known as His command and His gospel, or the Lord’s promises. First, he was instructed in the Law when Jesus says, “You have heard it said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Or “you have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” 

This infirm man comes before Christ desiring to receive the gospel, that is, healing from sin. For he has heard that Christ has already healed the lame and the blind, and now the man comes before Jesus to plead for His divine mercy. The man knows his sins are great, as he has offended God. Yet still, our offenses do not deter the God of all mercies, as the man is healed of his diseases and we are saved from our sins. Because we confess Christ by the power of the Spirit, all who confess Jesus to the end will be healed and saved eternally.

II. Saving faith imparted by the Holy Spirit makes us humble in order that we may receive our Lord’s gifts and be exalted by the Father through Christ. All the heirs of Abraham’s promise hear our Lord’s call in Revelation chapter 19: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”The marriage feast that our Lord speaks of in our text today is His own marriage feast to His beloved bride, the church. This marriage supper is ongoing, as Jesus unites us to Himself when He comes to us in the sacrament of the body and blood. In the Holy Supper, Christ Jesus removes the sin of all who acknowledge Him in the bread and wine and believe that what they receive is for their eternal benefit. 

Here and in many other places, such as Matthew 22, Christ compares the kingdom of God to a wedding feast. As Christ Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is like a certain King who arranges a marriage for his son and sends out servants to call those who were invited to the wedding.” And now that the fullness of the gospel has been revealed in our Lord by His last testament and passion, the very kingdom of God is in and with the bread and wine that are the body and blood given and shed on the cross and raised to life again. 

Right here right now, in holy communion, Christ Jesus and the kingdom of Heaven are here in body and blood. Are present here and now. With them are forgiveness, strength, and endurance. 

Forgiveness. In the sacrament, we receive the crucified and risen body and blood of Christ. He is the Lamb offered for our sake. As the people of old ate the passover lamb as God freed them from the bonds of slavery. We are freed by eating and drinking Christ.

Strength. It is not only for the soul, but also for our present body. Though the body will be brought to nothing through our own death. Those who eat the bread of Christ in faith receive the medicine of immortality that strengthens the soul inwardly and will raise the body eternally on the last day.

Endurance. True faith begun by Christ must always draw from Christ. As the Vine gives life to the branches, so Christ in the cup continues to pour His mercy and obedience into us, so that whenever trials and fears come our way, we may run to His Supper. For Jesus, who has overcome the world, dwells in us and we in Him.

Everything we need for the Christian life finds its fulfillment in this holy meal, the wedding feast of the Son. In God’s law we know sin, yet in the sacrament we find redemption. In our flesh, we find only weakness and temptation; in our Lord’s body, we are made one with Him. In our life, we fall; in Jesus’ blood, we are exalted. 

May we be humbled by the mysteries of this Sacrament and, by God’s Holy Spirit, desire it for eternal life. Amen. 

Elijah tells the widow of Zarephath, “Give me your son.” Within these four little words, we have the entire Christian theology of death. When we lose a loved one to any kind of disease or tragedy, we should see it as if Christ, the greater Elijah, were to come and say to us, “Give him to me.” For when a saint of God comes to their death, it is our Lord Jesus’ final call to turn away from the sinful world and to find peace in His nearer presence, where there is no death, sorrow, or crying, and where the Lord Himself will wipe every tear from their eye. As that is our Lord’s final calling to come unto Him, we can confess with the Psalmist: “Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.”

Our gospel reading proves this in three ways:

First, it is fitting for the Saints to have a proper funeral and Christian burial.

Second, the Lord does not forsake the mournful, especially the widowed and orphaned.

Third, we must go to our deathbed, believing that our resurrection is close at hand, even as we are led to our grave.

I. When Christ Jesus departs from Capernaum and comes into the village of Nain, He is greeted by death. Not death only, but also sin, as the wages of sin is death. Christ and the disciples see a procession led by a corpse and a coffin heading to a cemetery, a resting place outside the small village. Right behind the last of the pallbearers is his mother, who was already a widow. Her only son, who was supposed to take care of her until she died, is now dead himself. While the world would look upon these events as the most to be pitied, the Christian sees the greatest confession of hope.

For when a saint of God is laid to rest in the ground, it is the Christian way of saying to the world that death is not the end. For death, in its most fundamental sense, is the separation of the soul from the body. Upon our death, our souls will go to be with Christ for a time known only to God the Holy Trinity until the day of the final Resurrection, when our bodies will be raised to immortality, with no disease nor infirmities. The very same body we have now will be restored and glorified, and our righteous soul, which was with Christ from our death, will be reunited to dwell in the new heavens and new Earth for all eternity. 

For when we are laid to rest, and our loved ones commend us to the ground and the Lord’s care, we do so in the confidence of our Lord’s word. For even the saints of old still rest in peace, for they are like seeds in the ground that will sprout up, bearing much fruit of righteousness on the last day. In the same promise, the patriarch Abraham, a visitor in a foreign land, still bought land to build a tomb for his beloved Sarah in Genesis 23. In Genesis 50, Joseph’s last words before his death were to plead that his bones be carried to the promised land to be buried with his forefathers. In John chapter 11, Lazarus, a friend of Christ, is buried in the tomb, for his sisters awaited the day of the Lord’s coming again. And of course, Christ was buried in a freshly cut tomb. 

These are the examples presented to us by the Word of God as external confessions of Christian faith, and we still take comfort that Christian burial is not an absolute necessity for the Resurrection to life, for the Lord has promised to raise all men, those buried, whether in the land or at sea, or scattered upon the Earth, and to give those of faith their righteous award.  

Also, the Christian funeral, whose sole purpose is the preaching of God’s Word, that is, although sin led to death, in Christ Jesus that death has been defeated in Him, in order that those who are living may likewise be prepared to be placed into the grave and to rise soon after. The funeral is our encouragement to keep the Christian faith that our loved one now waits for us in the presence of Christ. 

II. In the raising of the son, we also see our Lord’s interest in the needs of the mournful, especially the widow and the orphan. The eternal Son of God becomes a man so that He may know in Himself the bitterness of sorrow and death. As the Lord Jesus mourns over his beloved friend Lazarus, Christ knows our own grief because the Father did not spare His Son either. Therefore, even as we wait in hope, our grief is not in vain. For if grief was necessary for Christ Jesus, we are truly blessed to be counted worthy to mourn with God’s only begotten Son. 

Sorrow and grief over death are not something to be avoided or taken lightly, for the Lord uses them for our sanctification, which is God’s work through the Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of Christ. Trials and grief are not signs that God has forsaken us. Instead, they prove God is at work, equipping us for eternal salvation. 

Until that day when all the dead in Christ are united in the kingdom of Heaven, our Lord does not cease to care for those in extreme need, as Psalm 68 verse five states: “[The Lord] a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.” The Lord will not forsake them, and He will not allow them to befall anything that He would not allow to befall His own Son; and still, as Christ Jesus was forsaken, we will never be forsaken.

III. As the Lord Jesus has compassion on the woman by raising her son and saving her from shame and poverty, we find our own consolation. We must go to our deathbed in the full conviction that our Lord Jesus Christ, who has already united us to Himself in Holy Baptism, is with us. For Saint Paul writes in Romans chapter 6, in the water and the Word, we have already died and have been raised with Him. If we have already died, our second death, the one that separates the soul from the body, should be no more intimidating than shutting our eyes to rest, as we will be awakened from our slumber by the joyful sounds of the heavenly trumpets, announcing Christ’s reappearance.

When our last hour comes, we need not hesitate or be dismayed. For in the death of Jesus Christ, your death is also holy and glorious in His sight. Your place of rest will be safe and secure, for He has shed His blood upon the Earth, the very blood that has won you eternal salvation. The Lord will remain faithful to what He has spoken of your body and soul. We will awake from that holy sleep and see our Lord Jesus, as the man saw Him on the way to the Earth. The Lord Jesus will say unto us, “Do not weep; I say to you, arise.” To God be praised forever, for He has visited His people! Amen. 

When man has two lords, anxiety will come, so we must be generous lords over such mammon.

I. Christ Jesus states what the cause of all anxiety is. It is simple: we serve two masters. The first is the one true God, and the second is earthly mammon. God, our Heavenly Father, has looked on us, fallen creatures, in such love and compassion that He has sent His only begotten Son to remove our sins by dying in our place and to be raised for our justification. This is His first gift to us, eternal life in Christ Jesus. The Lord has also equipped us with earthly and temporal blessings. These are mammon—money, possessions, much food, elaborate clothing, or whatever else we possess that could help our neighbor without bringing detriment to ourselves.

Christ says that we cannot have both as our Lord. To be our lord requires us men to put our fear, love, and trust upon it. To place our very life on the promises that it gives. That is what we mean by having a lord to put our trust in with our entire being. We know that Christ is Lord, worthy of these things, yet the old sinful Adam in us neglects the truth. As a result of the sinful state, we can only see our current and imminent needs and how they must be satisfied. Out of our own foolishness, those are the things that we put our trust in: where we will receive our next meal, how we will clothe ourselves the next day, and whether our current situation is what is needed. If these or any other anxieties occupy our minds, they are sinful. 

Anxiety is a sin because it places our trust in ourselves to supply our needs rather than in the gracious provision of the one true God. If we trust anything other than God, that becomes our true god. Being anxious is not only bad for our minds, but it is a transgression against the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” Therefore, if we desire to be heirs in the kingdom of God, we must cast off anxiety and put our trust in Christ alone for our eternal salvation. 

II. Now we must repent and turn to the God of grace who has provided us so lavishly. For us to do so, we must know the root of our anxiety, as the devil is hostile to those who confess Christ by attacking us with various temptations and lies about the needs of life, throwing us into poverty and despair, and depriving us of food and drink, clothing, and all human comfort. For if he can take away those things, the devil can also drive us to trust ourselves completely to reclaim what he has stolen. In doing so, he would be victorious, making us rely on what we can do to cure the stomach, other than what God has provided.

Christ Jesus exhorts us to trust His Father in heaven by pointing to the birds and the lilies. These birds, who neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, practice a better devotion to God than we can. They are simply unable to do these things by their nature, and still our gracious Lord provides for them. The birds do not know Christ or where their food comes from; they simply do not fear what will come. 

How much more is there for us, who are capable of believing in Christ Jesus, according to the Spirit of God. If the birds were not created in the image of God and do not know the promise of eternal life, how much more does God care for our needs? 

Therefore, when we sow and harvest and gather into barns, and do those things that the birds cannot do for themselves, it is not out of fear that God will fail to provide. Instead, we do them in thanksgiving to God, that He has provided more than enough for today. For what God will do for the least of these creatures, He will not withdraw it from us. 

And to the lilies that neither toil nor spin. The flowers of the field live by the sustenance granted by our heavenly Father. As they do not choose where they are planted or what source they draw from for water and nutrients, they live purely by God’s providential grace for survival and growth. These plants, which trust God perfectly, still last only a short time: they bloom one day and may be gone the next, and they guide our trust in the Lord. Let us, ones of little faith, see the grace of God in the life that abounds in creation and say, if God has provided for these, what will stop Him from providing for me in life and death?

III. After taking comfort in God’s grace and absolution that we are forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ when we believe we do not have enough. We are sealed in the promises that Christ has given us all good things that we do not need to worry about tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of its own. How must we treat our mammon so that they do not become our lords? 

We must look to righteous Adam before his fall into sin. He was given all of creation to be his very own, more than you or I could ever comprehend, richer than Solomon, with dominion over all things. As all things came to him to be named in the garden, and to be used according to his pleasure, and for the glory of God, he was not meant to serve those things, but to lord over them. We must practice our authority and be the lords over our possessions; that is, our wealth and riches. 

This is not a selfish use of God’s grace. It is truly acknowledging what God has given to serve our neighbor and to glorify Him. As our heavenly Father has spared nothing, even to the poor, the widow, the orphan, the hungry, and the infirm, neither must we. For when we give our neighbor, we are not only doing a good work for them; we are also realizing how much we have already received in abundance. God’s grace supply of all things needful is not meant to make us slaves of earthly things. Yet, according to what we have received, we are free to extend the grace God has bestowed upon us.

You, dear saints of God, are no slave to the mammon of this world. You are made a child of the living and gracious God by His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through His death and Resurrection. Our blessings are eternally secure in Christ. Do not put yourself under the yoke of burden for more goods and possessions. For even if we used everything we had for the sake of another in need, you would still have no shortage, as it would all be measured back to you by our good and gracious Father in the kingdom of His glory! Amen. 

To be a leper is to be marked by God as an unrepentant sinner. For it has been recorded for us in the 12th chapter of the book of Numbers that Miriam and Aaron sought to lead a rebellion against their brother Moses, who faithfully led the people out of Egypt, because they no longer believed he was fit for the task the Lord had called him to do. In the eyes of the Lord, this was not only a rebellion against Moses, but against God Himself. As the Lord came to visit with judgment upon Miriam and Aaron from the cloud, the anger of the Lord rose up against these two. Leprosy was afflicted upon her that even her entire body was as white as snow. 

In fear for her life, Moses cries out to the Lord. Miriam recovers from her illness only after seven days of being shut out of the encampment. Her being leprous was a work of the flesh that pointed to her sin of rejection of God’s work among the people of Israel in the appointed Moses. It was her own sin that cast her out as a rejection of her citizenship among God’s people, and by the intercession of the Lord’s appointed one she was restored to God’s saints, the nation of priests. By this account we come to see the Lord Jesus, who hears those who cried by faith and frees them from the leprosy of sin and affords heavenly citizenship to the elect in Christ.

Saint Luke does not divulge the cause of the leprosy of these ten men, yet like all diseases and infirmities, it is the result of the fallen state. The fruits of sin lead to the death of all men. Whatever their offenses may be, they all come to Christ in faith for His divine mercy. These unclean seek our Lord’s mercy of healing, not apart from His mercy of forgiveness. For Christ is merciful insofar as He forgives sins. The cleansing of their leprosy is therefore the result of the removal of their sin. 

As the ten all possess saving faith in Jesus Christ, for no one can call for mercy from God if they do not believe. Christ Jesus does not turn them away, for all who seek Him will receive absolution, that is, restoration of the soul from the bondage of sin, death, and hell. As true believers in Christ, they are freed for the purpose of the true worship of God in the communion of Saints. In order for their citizenship to be reinstated so that they may live among God’s people once again and come to the temple, they must go to the priest. Their departure for the temple also demonstrates their belief in Jesus: they took Christ at His word, which was not vain speech. Instead, when Jesus proclaimed that they were cleansed of their infirmities, they took Him solely at His word and did as they were commanded.

We should have no doubt that they went to the temple, each and every one of them, and so after that only one from the nine, the one who has so happened to be a Samaritan, an outsider of the promises given to Abraham, returns. Why was it only one? An easy answer would be, ‘Well, this is the only one who truly had faith in Christ.’  In fact, they all possess faith in Jesus Christ, at least at first, as they receive healing through forgiveness and a desire to obey. 

As the ten show themselves to the priest, all but one lose the desire to offer thanksgiving to Christ. In other words, it is this Samaritan who does not lose faith in the Lord, while the others are persuaded to forsake Christ and the spiritual gift of faith in Him for earthly pleasure and fame, as was undoubtedly the desire of the temple priest when they heard that they were healed by Jesus. The priests in this miracle are much like the world, our sin, and the devil. When faith in Christ begins to take root in us, those things will try to steal Christ away from us, especially at the very beginning. 

Does this mean that saving faith in the Lord can be lost? Yes. This is what we are warned of in our reading from Galatians chapter 5. As Saint Paul tells us, the lusts of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the Spirit is against the flesh, meaning that, as they are contrary to one another, the things of God, granted by the Spirit, will fight against the temptations of the flesh. At the same time, our sinful condition will not respond without opposition. The new man, given to us in Holy Baptism, will always fight the hostility of the old Adam. When man allows their proclivity to overtake them, that is when we sin. This is the goal of the world and the devil: that we no longer repent; the outcome being that we do not return to Christ, as if we would be counted among the nine healed, those who rejected their heavenly citizenship. 

Saint Paul continues to make his point as he lists the sins of the flesh that will bring about their purpose if they persist in unrepentance. Some of the sins named are obvious, while others seem as if they would be insignificant, but they are all the same in their intent. Such as lewdness, the use of vulgar or obscene language. Or sorcery, the dependence on spells and horoscopes over the one true God. Finally, outbursts of wrath or anger, which include violence and hatred for the fellow man. These are the sins that we must be watchful of, as they are how the world takes us away. 

So we are instructed in the way of the Spirit, grounded in faith, as it is fixed on Jesus Christ. The faith that produces long-suffering, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and the like. For there is no such law that prohibits them, as we live by the Spirit; let us walk by the Spirit. Christian faith that trusts in the Lord continues to seek the glory of God of all grace and mercy by its fruits, and does not become distracted or persuaded by the things of the world. The one who desires to return to Christ to thank Him for the removal of their sins will do so and will not forsake Him.

For when we are forgiven and restored by God’s only Son, our Lord Christ, we are made well. Meaning that our old self, the one infested with sin and selfishness, is removed from us. As the works of the flesh are no longer counted against us, so we have been counted righteous for the sake of Jesus Christ. By divine grace, we will stand before the judgment seat of God, not as sickly outcasts; instead, we are made whole and so saved eternally and granted citizenship in the Kingdom of God, which we enter in body and soul at the Day of our Resurrection. Until that most glorious Day, we thank the Lord God for the benefit received through Christ, that He may both sustain us in faith and finally bring us to eternal life! Amen. 

There is a striking similarity between the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the miracle of the deaf-mute man we heard last week. As we observe that the friends of the man possessed saving faith in Jesus Christ, which led them to bring the deaf-mute to be restored, it is not without love for the neighbor. For the sake of clarity, we are saved by faith alone, as St. Paul says in Galatians chapter 2: “we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

And still, saving faith in Jesus Christ is not alone, as good works proceed from that faith in Him. This is one of the mysteries of our faith: that it is faith in Christ that saves us, yet that saving faith is not without works. For if the Christian does not understand this distinction and the reliance on faith alone for salvation in the Lord Jesus, we will find ourselves in the company of this lawyer who seeks to justify himself apart from faith and only by works. 

Take note of how the scholar of the law asked this very question to Christ: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The man supposed something that is not supported in Scripture: that we can do something to earn God’s approval. And so, with compassion towards the man, Christ Jesus responds with a question to bring the man’s claim to its logical conclusion. ‘What is written in the law, and how do you read it?’ our Lord says. 

The lawyer knows the answer: “‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself’” He says it while he believes that he is not guilty of any sin against these two words of the Lord. 

Christ Jesus, as well as we ourselves, know that if we attempt to measure ourselves according to the law of God alone, we have not kept either word. Let us first examine the second statement made by the man: that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. If we truly kept our Lord’s Word, we would not spread a single rumor; we would not seek revenge; we would honor all those in authority over us without exception; we would be successful in curbing the desires of the flesh, and our wants would be solely for what God has given and has promised to bestow. This is how God desires us to love our neighbor; by faith we have come to the knowledge of our sins. We realize that none of these Commandments by God have we kept by ourselves.

What about to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength? Have we been able to do that much? The answer is a resounding no. Since the perfect love of God produces the perfect love of neighbor, and if we’ve already seen that we have not loved our neighbor to the fullest extent of the Commandments, we have been unsuccessful in this, as well as we have not loved God perfectly. While the law was meant to give life, we have found that it brings death.

The law is meant to kill self-righteousness and to steal away pride in oneself, as if it is we ourselves that are merchants going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. For it is the job of the Commandments to leave no sense of goodness in us. To take it away, for the Law is always good. So it is we who are dead along the road, seeking that someone would come to save us. For if we lie there too long, the heat of the sun will kill us by day or some wild beast by night.

Certainly, our good intentions will come to rescue us! Yes, we haven’t done everything we ought to do, but we always intended to do good. We did not mean to hurt anyone despite the outcome. Can these bring us out of the ditch of despair and back to the road of righteousness? Our good intentions are like the priest in the parable. They only want what is right, but the priest rarely brings it into fruition. 

And so we’re still stuck; if they couldn’t save us, who can? What about our good deeds, the times we did do what God commanded of us? Certainly, they would stop to lift us out of the pit along the road! Our good deeds may stop and gaze upon our misery, but they can’t help us either. The Levite cannot bother to touch us because if so, he would be unclean in the service of God’s temple. And they cannot bring us any comfort. So who is left to save us from our sins? 

Here comes the Son of Man, our unexpected good Samaritan, Jesus Christ. A man who was despised among the people of Jerusalem. He sees us in our misery and does not just say ‘Oh pity.’ Christ Jesus comes to fulfill His Father’s will to live a life of perfect obedience in the place of sinners. The Lord Jesus takes on human flesh and blood, the same as you and I, and is truly a man who knows our condition perfectly, as He was tempted in our place and still remains without sin. The Lord Jesus suffers and dies on account of our transgressions, that his righteousness and the Father’s mercy may be granted to us.

This is how our Lord looks upon our pain and misery. He binds up our wounds with the ointment of the preaching of the Lord’s Word made up by His commands and His promises. His word calls us to repentance and to believe in the Son who has died for us for our eternal reward

The Lord does not leave us on the side of the road, hoping that we would find some shelter afterward. He brings us with Him. He puts those who have been crushed by the weight of the law on His own back. He brings us to a little inn, the holy Christian Church. Upon our entrance into the church, we are washed thoroughly of sins and given regeneration in the sacrament of Holy Baptism. Even though we died in the water, a new man rises. Our broken bones by the thief of the law are set aligned by means of Holy Absolution. Then the Lord gives our weary bodies something to eat, His true body and blood. This is true medicine that removes sins and grants peace with God; through this heavenly food, we are strengthened in our saving faith in Jesus Christ. The Lord must go back to his Father in heaven; He charges the innkeeper with the care of sinners, the called and ordained Pastor, to do as the Lord has commanded: to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments. 

There is still more, as the Lord Jesus promises to His higher servant and to you, that He will return to bring you to the heavenly Jerusalem. When the Lord brings forth the new Heavens and new Earth, we will dwell with Christ without any sorrow, misery, pain, or sin. It is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan, who has saved us purely by grace with no such merit or deeds of our own. 

Finally, when the Lord Christ says “go and do likewise,” we do not remain in any doubt of our salvation. For we are saved by faith alone in the Son of God, who saved us by His death and rising again. As washed in baptism, Christ goes with us so that we may see our neighbor in need and, as we help them, glorify God the Father in love, as He has done for us. For it is not love shaped by a want or pride. The love we bring to our neighbor is the love given at the cross for us and for those we serve for Christ’s sake.

May God grant us such love for our neighbor and especially our enemies. Amen. 

The apostle James writes in his epistle, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to him, “Depart in peace, be warmed and be filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” 

James is deeply concerned about those who say they have faith in Christ yet still do not live in service to their neighbors. He uses the example of simply telling someone who is hungry to depart in peace, without ever feeding them. If we say out of Christian love that we care for the needs of our neighbor, but yet don’t act upon them, our faith is dead. 

The friends of this deaf-mute man who brought him to Christ possessed genuine Christian faith granted by the Holy Spirit. For their trust in Jesus produces works as they bring the man to be healed. If they had not believed in Christ, they would not have done such an act to improve the life of their beloved friend, but they did seek Christ in true righteousness, and faith shows that they did not make a vain request; at their asking, the Lord Jesus healed this man. As a result of this band’s devotion for Christ and love for their own, the Lord laid His hands on the deaf-mute and healed him. 

Although the man never heard with his own ears the things concerning Christ, it was his friends who prayed on his behalf that God would give him faith in the Lord, forgive all his sins, and save him by opening his ears and loosening his tongue. For Christian faith ought to possess concern for our neighbors’ physical and earthly needs, yet, with even greater urgency, our concern should be for the needs of their soul and spirit. 

Yet, how is it that any work of ours can be considered good before the Lord, even while we are still sinners? Our works, please God, not because they are perfect, as they are always tainted by sin, but because they proceed from true faith in Christ; they are offered by His beloved children as our thanksgiving to Him. The works that we do are called good because we do them, not because we are perfectly good at them.

Think of this by means of an analogy. When a young child helps their grandfather with morning chores or their mother in the kitchen, more often than not, the child thinks they are offering a great deal of help, but in reality, the work is being done at a much slower pace on the farm, or there’s a bigger mess on the floor with wasted flour and broken eggs. Yet, if the adults did the work themselves, yes, things would be done sooner and more efficiently; still, it delights them to see children trying to imitate those they love. These are like our good works before God; it is not that we have done something that God cannot do Himself. Our good works still pleased Him as they came from a desire to carry forth His love and mercy. 

So, Christ sees what these friends do for the man and then responds; the Lord Jesus first touches his ears for hearing, then his mouth for confessing. The Son of God’s compassion on this individual man is particularly noteworthy because it is through these two members of the body, the ears and the mouth, that we participate in believing in our Lord. For if you take away these two members, there is no distinction left between a Christian and a non-Christian. To trust and know Christ, we must first hear. As faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God, says Saint Paul. 

We don’t first choose or decide that we want to hear about Christ, because when we do, it is because we have already possessed faith, the desire to be nurtured through the Word once again. Likewise, we do not choose what soil we belong to, as our Lord Christ cultivates us and our hardened sinful hearts so that we will be the good soil who will receive His Word with joy.

And then through the ears, the man hears the words of Christ that loosen his tongue: “Ephphatha,” be opened. Out of our Lord’s mercy, the man may profess and offer praise to God who has spared him from his ailments. Now, the tongue of a Christian has been loosened from idolatry and blasphemy and set free for the true worship of God. As Saint Paul writes in Romans, chapter 10, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

We are able to profess Christ with our mouths because when we hear the Word, we have received the Holy Spirit that creates faith that is not dead, but is alive and full of good works. For dead faith does not speak of God or to God, but the Spirit is placed into our hearts that we may cry to God “Abba,” our Father.

For this miracle also reveals the true purpose for God’s creation of mankind: to receive His Word and to offer the Lord due reverend and godly fear by worshiping Him. By this sign we see what the ears hear changes what the heart believes. And from what the heart holds certain comes forth in what the tongue declares. So if we let our ears and eyes absorb absolute filth and those things that work against God’s Spirit. Those evil things will make a dwelling in our hearts; from our hearts, they will proceed through the mouth and by actions. 

Therefore, we must be vigilant over what we consume through our ears and eyes. If it is lying and gossip, those things that provoke the sin of lust, as well as falling into false doctrine, they will produce what is unpleasing to God, such as swearing, cursing, and bearing false witness, and other such evils through the body. 

And so, the Holy Spirit does not forsake those who repent. By His mighty power, He has opened our ears to hear the Words of Christ that call us to repentance and receive the promise of the forgiveness of sins through His suffering and death. Let us use our members to seek the gracious God and Father to grant us grace and strength for Christ’s sake, that we never be found deaf or mute, but obtain God’s favor and blessing here in time and eternal life hereafter! Amen 

The grace of God, the Father, through Christ Jesus, does not make one proud, but it makes one humble. Without true humility, we have not yet become partakers of the Lord’s goodness and mercy. For the grace of God is truly like a stream as it flows downward and not upwards. For we know the streams of God’s grace flow from the wounds of our crucified Jesus. As natural streams seek the lowland, so those of divine grace throw down into lowly hearts.† This is the stark contrast that we see in these two men in the parable: the first, the Pharisees, has no trace of humility within him as he brings before the Lord the much good that he has done to prove his worthiness. The second man, the Tax Collector, brings nothing of his own merit, but only a broken and contrite spirit. It is this one, this outcast of society, who our Lord Jesus praises and says that he is justified. For the saints of God are those who have done nothing good of themselves, and still, they are welcomed into paradise with these words spoken by Christ: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

So let us compare these two to train ourselves in the righteousness of God, turning from boastfulness to humility, worthy of God’s grace.

The first thing that this Pharisee says in prayer before God is that he thanks God that he is not like other men. In a way, this man is right; we are individually created by God, according to his design and for his purpose, as God even knew us before we were in our mother’s womb. Certainly, this is not what the Pharisees mean. He says to God that he is better because he has no sin that he is guilty of. This is utter foolishness; we are all born under sin. For we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Saint Paul says. And St. John says in his first epistle that if we say we have no sin, we make God to be a liar. So who is it? Is it us who are tempted to fall into lies and boast about ourselves, or is it the merciful and just God of heaven and earth?

Meanwhile, the tax collector, who was probably only a few feet away, says, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” This is all this man says in the entire parable. Instead of boasting, we see confession. He doesn’t need to go on listing his sins because God already knows the man’s sins better than he could understand them himself. The Tax Collector knows there is no use in hiding because how can you lie to a God who already knows everything? Therefore, dear Christian, you have no worry to list all your sins before God. You do not need to remember all your offenses that somehow only those in your memory you will be forgiven, because neither does God; instead, He never forgets what His Son has accomplished on the cross; and Jesus proves that to be true when He says, “Come to Me who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Meanwhile, the Pharisee continues his useless babbling as he states before God known sinners in the community, ‘extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even this tax collector.’ It is as if he said, ‘Lord, I know I am not a sinner because I know what other people have done.’ And if that isn’t bad enough, he is so bold as to even name the people who are present in the temple with him. And from this, we have something to avoid: the spirit of Cain, who looked at his brother’s sacrifice and, instead of looking inwardly to see why God cannot accept it, looked at his brother. For the book of Proverbs says in chapter 28, “whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.’

This is why the Tax Collector has nothing more to say and only asks for mercy. For he believes that there is no worse sinner in the world, other than himself. And this is worthy of imitation, as Saint Paul writes, “not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think of himself.” It is for our eternal benefit to consider ourselves as the worst of all sinners, as Saint Paul writes to Timothy, “It is a faithful saying, and worthy of acceptance, that Christ died for sinners of whom I am chief.” That is our prayer: those who are humbled will be exalted by Christ on the last day, and those who are boastful will be cast out.

And lastly, the Pharisees recall before God all his deeds, all the things that he has done that he believed would earn even more approval than his lack of sin. How easy is it to fall into the same trap? Maybe when we say in prayer, ‘I know I haven’t done everything right, but there’s at least one or two things that I should be repaid for by God,’ the man has not only broken the entire Law but has also retracted the gospel, the promises of Christ that our salvation is paid for by His death. By showing forth what he has done, he forgets God’s grace. For when we stand on our own righteousness, it is like the house built on the sand; it cannot be supported. 

The righteous man who confesses his sins has been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, as we are now members of His kingdom, we are justified by Christ through faith, and it is our faith that now conforms us to Christ and His love. We are now free in Christ to love our neighbor, to serve them as Christ has served us. 

This first means that when we sin against our neighbor, we must be honest to ourselves and to them. For it is better to come to our brother in Christ beating our chest, than to come with hands in the air saying ‘I know I’ve done you wrong but look at all the good done for you instead’ or maybe we’re so bored to say ‘you may perceive I’ve wronged you, but I was really helping you.’ These words do not come from a repentant heart but from a heart that has not been made low by the Holy Spirit. 

Second, this means when we have been sinned against, who is more likely to forgive those who have wronged them, the Pharisees or the Tax Collector? For when a Christian forgives another, it is not just them alone, but Christ is present with them, giving the courage to forgive and the strength to confess. So when we refuse to forgive, we are not withholding God’s grace from our neighbor but from ourselves by shutting out the work of the Holy Spirit. 

Therefore, rely on the Holy Spirit; He will sustain you. By faith in the Word of God and the strengthening through the Holy Sacraments, our old sinful and boastful hearst are crucified daily and made new through humility. The divine grace that flows to the humble never runs dry now unto eternity. Amen. 

† Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations, No. 34, The Cultivation of True Humility.

The great flood in the days of Noah has been recorded for our instruction. God destroyed the entire world by means of water as judgment upon their sins as a result of their unbelief in the promises and grace that He bestows. Yet, the Lord God saves believing Noah and his family in the ark. This flood demonstrates to us that the days of transgression and unbelief are numbered. On the Last day, we will find our escape from the wrath to be revealed at the end of time only in our Lord Jesus Christ and in the temple of His body that will not fall or be destroyed.

We see in the beginning of Luke 19 Christ entering the city of Jerusalem to cheers and palm branches. And now we find Him weeping and lamenting over the same city that received Him with such great joy. While Christ has come to His beloved Jerusalem to buy her back from sin, many within her will not receive Christ as Lord. And this is why Jesus predicts that the city will be destroyed. For the destruction of Jerusalem is God’s confirmation that His Son was rejected by her people. 

And in the year 70 A.D., the city of Jerusalem was destroyed precisely as Christ depicted. In that year, Jewish historians record a rebellion in Jerusalem against the Roman Empire. In return, the city was destroyed, and it was God’s will to use the Romans to bring about judgment on the city, for at that time, there was nothing in Jerusalem but robbing, stealing, slaying, and murdering daily, and this was considered holy to God. But this gravely offended God, as it was the fruits of their denial of His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Then there arose great slaughter and bloodshed beyond description. Every armed man was defeated; every house and street was filled with the dead, and there was such killing and murder that a stone would have pity. † 

Our Lord Jesus already knew the calamity that would befall the city that killed the prophets of the Lord, and where kings appointed by God dwelt; Christ had mercy by telling them what would come 40 years later. For the temple would be destroyed as a sign to them, so that they no longer make satisfaction for sins by sacrifices, as those things are fulfilled in the sacrifice of Christ. As well as their security and identity as the people of Israel, no longer rest in a temple made of stone, but instead in the eternal temple of the living flesh of Christ. Some of those in Jerusalem did repent of the murder of Christ, and to those who did not repent, they were given 40 years to continue worshiping in the temple before its destruction and rejection by the Lord.

And like the flood in days of old, the time given for repentance must yield to God’s plan for salvation. For in Christ, we have the very archetype of the temple, as it foreshadowed Emmanuel, God with us in our own human flesh and blood. Now that the Lord Jesus has come and paid the price as the last Levitical sacrifice, there is no longer any need for the temple in Jerusalem. Everything signified by the temple is now fulfilled and accomplished—never to be repeated again. For the sacrifice of the eternal Son of God is good for all people of all times and places. Jesus’ body is our temple, and it is our sanctuary. It is by His wounds that we have peace with God. For this is why Christ tells the Jews, “Destroyed this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” For our new temple is the incorruptible body of Christ. 

The destruction of the temple not only teaches that God takes no pleasure in the sacrifices of the temple after His Son, but also teaches us that God is found in Christ wherever the Church is, wherever the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and wherever the sacraments are administered according to His institution; that is where Christ is. We do not need to journey to the old city to find Christ, our Lord comes to us wherever His word is carried out, and He comes to us, even now in His body and blood. This very place is a temple of God. And it is also in you as you have been cleansed and washed in baptism, for Saint Paul writes in first Corinthians chapter 6: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” For the salvation of the unrepentant of Jerusalem, the city was destroyed so that they may find rest and safety in the one true temple of our God from His righteous judgment.

And though all Christians possess these great promises of Christ, there are still some believers in Him who hold the view that the temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt before the final Judgment Day. Many American Christians have fallen prey unknowingly to this false theology. Many American preachers have read this passage from Second Thessalonians chapter 2 incorrectly, as referring to a physical new temple in Jerusalem. In this passage, Saint Paul writes, “The son of perdition (the antichrist), who oppresses and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

And those have interpreted this passage as referring to the actual temple in Jerusalem, which still existed during Paul’s life. And so they interpret that if the temple is no longer there, it must be rebuilt so that the antichrist can come, then Jesus can come on the last day for his judgment. We Lutherans do not interpret this passage this way. And so, we cannot deny the truth of God’s word. How do we interpret Paul’s words? Well, we know that Paul does not contradict Jesus Christ at all, but especially in his warning about the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. The temple that Paul is referring to is the church, and is the heart of every Christian believer. And so Paul records that the antichrist will come within the church to steal Christian away. 

So the antichrist does not need to come to a physical temple in Jerusalem, but we know that the antichrist is already here because there is false teaching in the wider Christian church. Also, this theology denies what Christ says: that there is nothing you or I or any future construction project in the state of Israel can do to invoke the second coming of Christ. For our Lord says to His disciples in Matthew 24 concerning His coming again in glory, “You also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

As our Lord’s words were fulfilled by the destruction of the temple, we should also be sure that He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. On the day of our Lord’s visitation that approaches with every passing hour, we do not need to wait in fear. Since we have the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our living Temple, for He will not be demolished by the wrath of men. For Christ was killed by them, and He still lived victoriously. His body was pierced for our transgressions that we may flee for refuge in Him from final judgment, in the Temple of the eternal living God. Aman. 

† The Christian Year of Grace, Johann Spangenberg, p. 283, q.31-37

The parable that is before us, concerning the Unjust Steward, is one that is meant to call us to consider the absolute magnitude of God’s grace towards the children of Adam. As our forefather and his wife had everything they could ever desire. And to remain in the land of paradise, they were to remain faithful to God’s word, that they would be good stewards of creation and that they would not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Yet, to this requirement, they were unfaithful. They failed in their stewardship, failed to confess their sins, and so blamed God for their downfall. Adam and Eve were children of light, children made after the likeness of their Father, the Lord God. And still, we see in this parable that even among the children of darkness, there is a greater urgency to receive God’s approval than those who have been called by Him to faith.

The manager has been caught in his failure, as he has wasted his master’s goods and brought shame upon his employer. To save his reputation and bring justice to the manager who has wronged him, the manager is fired and left without a job, opportunities for employment, or even a place to lay his head. What the master does is completely justified, as it is the just consequence of the man’s sins. For as we see in the fourth Commandment, those who are set over us, even the government and managers of our employment, exercise the wrath of God here on earth. And this is why he is punished. 

Yet, the manager is not satisfied with such a punishment. So instead of bringing greater insult upon the master. As he certainly could have spread even more rumors and lies, saying that he was fired unjustly. Or tried to save his own reputation by saying, ‘We simply had a parting of ways.’ And tried to use his rumors and gossip to try to get a different job with a different master. The fired manager would much rather honor his former master in hopes of earning his approval once again. 

And so this is precisely what the manager goes on to do. He knows the master’s book of business, and he knows who owes the master money. Yet the manager does not go on and collect it for himself, or even gather the debt without permission; instead, he forgives debts he does not have the right to forgive. And by this action, he does not bring shame to the master, but he promotes his master with even greater honor among those with whom he has business. Where Adam points fingers towards God, the unjust steward brings praises to the one who has cast him out with shame. 

And as a result, at the end of our text, Christ says that this Steward, a child of darkness and unbelief, is worthy of imitation among the children of light, the believers in Christ, the members of the holy Christian Church. So if such wisdom is found among those without faith, how can we imitate them? Although the children of darkness have no understanding of divine imputed grace, they do aspire after worldly approval with steadfast eagerness. Meaning that they will stop at nothing to seek the approval of others. Some Christians and non-Christians alike may work without stopping, putting in 60 to 80 hours a week to strive for a promotion. Young students will not settle for a C or a B if it means they could work harder for the A. Fortune 500 companies do not settle for good enough if it means their competitor could outperform them.

Jesus tells this parable to show us that even those who lack understanding of God’s grace still make better use of it. For everything we possess in the world, our body and our soul, come from the Lord. Out of God’s grace, we receive the things of the world: our goods and riches, our food and our drink. Also, the things of the body, such as strength, health, and limbs. Also, the things that belong to the soul: reason, good intellect, patience, humility, faith, the word of God, and the sacraments. † And it is only through that Word of God and revealed in the Sacraments that all these things are granted to us without merit, and still there are those who receive it ignorantly; and still make use of God’s grace better than we can.

And so Jesus encourages us, in this regard, to be even better at utilizing our gifts with even more appreciation and thanksgiving, even when those who are unaware of God’s grace. In the end, Jesus does not leave this question unanswered. For the sake of Jesus Christ, we have faith to see them. Because our Lord Christ has looked on our necessity with compassion. Because of Christ, we who are poor, lost, and condemned. Christ Jesus comes into the world in poverty and in need. The Lord Christ takes on what we have that is our sins, and Christ gives what He has in the kingdom of heaven, that is salvation and eternal life. To bestow on us these great heavenly blessings, the Lord has also given us faith to receive.

By this divine gift of trust in Christ, our Savior, and knowledge of His grace, Christ commands us to make friends for ourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they will receive you into an everlasting home. Jesus says this because He knows the reward that comes with faith: eternal life with Christ Jesus and all the saints of God; therefore, as we await their company in the kingdom of heaven, we should show them God’s grace now as we live upon the Earth with our fellow Christians. Therefore, we cannot ignore other Christians and their needs of body and spirit, especially those nearest to us, as Christ will speak to our faith; it is our neighbors who will recall our deeds to God the Father on the last day. So, it would be good for us to use His grace and goodness towards others, calling them our friends on the last day, who will welcome us into their heavenly dwelling to remember our good deeds before the Lord and the salvation achieved by our Lord, Christ. Do not spare a moment; let us ambulate the man to bring glory to the God of all graces.

For our Lord’s sake, we have all that we need in this life and then the life to come, including forgiveness, faith, and salvation by means of His death and resurrection. And in this world, we possess beyond measure; but do not waste what Christ has given; let us be more generous than those who are unaware of God’s goodness. It is by Christ we are saved, and it is our friends who will present us to God for our eternal rewards. 

† The Christian Year of Grace, Johann Spangenberg, p. 276, q.13-16, 33-35