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

The devil is precisely aware of the gift of salvation that God extends to sinners by the death and Resurrection of His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and this causes him to be filled with disgust towards our God and towards us. For him, to know that we are saved eternally by what Christ Jesus has done for us apart from our obedience to the law is what the devil hates the most about Christians. For we have been reconciled to God through Christ, our sins have been cast into the depths of the sea, and repentant sinners have a higher place in the kingdom of heaven than the devil ever had before he fell into destruction. That is why the devil attacks us, because we have something he never had the right to. The devil was a servant of God, but we are children of God. And Christ is now our good Shepherd, who leads us to the streams of living water, and still among the flock there are wolves in sheep’s clothing, attempting to steal us away.

The flock that our Lord refers to in this text is the Church militant. The part of the Christian church that is on earth, which awaits the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, or to be united with the Lord upon their death. And while on earth, the devil still has the power of deception. The ability to persuade Christians away from the true doctrine of the church with the intention of causing false belief. The word doctrine has gained a negative reputation among the ill-informed. Some treat doctrine as simply an add-on that men have made to the teachings of Jesus. This is simply a confusion between true doctrine and false doctrine. Doctrine that is true is good because it comes solely from the Word of God. For Saint Paul says in Second Timothy, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine.” The word doctrine simply means teaching, and those teachings are simply what the Word of God says applied to us. Therefore, true doctrine is not the invention of man, but comes from the Word of God alone.

And so, returning to our text at hand, Christ says that the devil chooses to deceive us within the context of the Christian Church. To deceive Christians into false belief, he must first inspire incorrect doctrine. As again we return to Saint Paul in first Timothy when he says, “Now, the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to the deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” And Jesus warned us that these doctrines of demons come through false prophets who mislead the people, giving an appearance of teaching only the truth, and yet at root it is all falsehood and lies about what the word of God says and means. †

And now the question is, how do we know that our understanding of God has been shaped by false prophets? Our Lord gives us two ways of knowing and we will address them individually. First, God gives us the Holy Scriptures, which are His Word. And second, Jesus says that these false prophets are known by their fruit.

By making this first claim, I am not saying that you must be an expert in the Bible before you can determine what good and bad doctrines are. Instead, we should know the Word of God to be true by faith and be able to check what we have heard against the Word of God. We should ask ourselves whether that preacher online, on television, or in church is actually saying what the Word of God has already said. If that preacher or teacher has said what the Word of God says, or if he or she contradicts what the overall message of the Scriptures is, then he or she is a deceiver. For example, saying that God is beyond any gender or that salvation begins with God, but ends with our own efforts, or that when the Bible talks about the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper do not do anything for us. These are all things that the word of God clearly teaches against. And simply by reading the plain words of the Bible, we can see that they are lies, and therefore protect ourselves from their deception.

The second way Jesus highlights is by their fruits. This criterion is used when it appears to us that everything they have said seems pretty normal. They seem to say what the Bible says for the most part. In those cases, we see their conduct as it is produced from the heart. Do teachers and preachers of the church truly live in the way that is God-pleasing, as outlined in the word of God? Do they encourage gentleness and self-control, but are filled with anger and discuss with those around them? Did they preach about giving to the church and yet fill their own pockets with the money the church receives? As our Lord says to us in our gospel reading, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And that is the final test: does the tree that speaks the word of God bear fruit that is commanded by the Lord, or does it bear things that are contrary to the Word of God? Every teacher of the church is a sinner, except Jesus Christ, and when the teacher and preacher sins, do they bear the primary fruit of faith that is repentance? And to this, we are reminded that no good tree can bear bad fruit. No Christian preacher can be without repentance

Just as the true, genuine teachers of the church must bear good fruit worthy of Christian faith, so must Christians also. And those good fruits must come from the tree that is planted in and finds its water in the well springs of the Word of God. For as we see in the first of the book of Psalms, “His delight is in the law of the Lord; he shall be like a tree, planted by the river of water, that brings forth fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” It is all because of the Word of the Lord that we prosper and bear fruit for Him.

It is for our sake that He has saved us from our sins and given us eternal life, so that the Lord has planted us along the stream of the baptismal Waters where we have been cleansed and redeemed and claimed to be as His own. And we are fed with the fruits of His cross, that is, His body and blood to eat and to drink. These are all things He gives to us by faith and the Word of God that we may bear fruit.

So when the false prophets and teachers try to disguise themselves as sheep, we have no reason to be deterred because we have Christ and His Word that bestows on us salvation. We can trust in His promises because they cannot be changed or manipulated by the incorrect sayings of men. What God says is eternal and is good forever. Let the false teachers continue their lies because we will not listen. For it is God’s word that is true; God’s word is far better, and it is God’s Word in Christ that saves us. Amen.

† The Christian Year of Grace, Johann Spangenberg p. 272 q.19 

The crowd of 4000 had been with the Lord Jesus for three days in the wilderness. Yet the crowd may have been following Jesus for days or weeks, as they witnessed Him go from Jerusalem to this point. On this journey, Christ cast out demons and healed a man who was mute and deaf. The crowd may have begun as a group of bystanders, waiting to see something even more miraculous than what they had seen before. This is no longer the case, as Saint Mark does not record anyone leaving during the three days between the man’s healing and now. Certainly, if they were only waiting for another miracle, they would have. Still, the crowd does not leave because they have Jesus and His word that creates faith in them to remain with their Lord, even to the point of starvation.

The 4000 serve as a representation of the Christian Church. Those who desire to hear the word of Christ then turn to Him for earthly blessing.  The Lord’s primary and foremost blessing to mankind is not our career, money, shelter, or even our daily bread. Instead, it is that He extends salvation to us in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. How many Christians and non-Christians alike understand the God of the Bible as someone who is only there when we need more of something? We need more money in our bank account to go on a fancy trip, so that is when they decide that they need to pray. Or they pray after their interview that God would somehow work some magic so that they would get a job, even though they provided insufficient answers and are unqualified. Or only after realizing that life is always shorter than we hope for, do they ask for more time to make up for it? 

You see, if we only see God as some faraway cosmic power who just gives us more whenever we ask, we will always end up disappointed and in despair. But to our great surprise, the Lord God gives us what we truly need first, in an overabundance. And the thing that we need first from God, even more than daily bread, is forgiveness, life, and salvation. Because even daily bread only supports us through the number of days that God has granted us on earth. Yet all things that God gives through faith in Christ Jesus endure until life everlasting. 

Therefore, we ought to do the same as those in the wilderness with the Lord Jesus and His disciples to seek the kingdom of God first, and everything else will be added unto us. So what does it look like to seek the kingdom of God and Christ’s righteousness first, and only then, after, ask for earthly blessings? It means praying, thanking the Lord for what He has done before we eat our meals. Turning to the Word of God before we turn to the news. Ensure us that when we do miss church, it is the exception and not the rule. For when we seek what God has done for our forgiveness and salvation before we seek anything else from Him, we soon realize there’s nothing we truly lack. 

For by faith in Jesus Christ, we don’t see how much more that we need. Instead, we see how much we already have. For daily bread includes all that we need, including a house, a home, a spouse, children, livestock, food, shoes, clothing, shelter, government, neighbors, friends, and the like. These are all things that our heavenly Father has given us to recognize His graciousness and generosity towards sinners. Those who have fallen away due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve. They still receive God’s grace, and by faith in Jesus Christ, we come to recognize our daily bread and receive it with thanksgiving.

Our gracious God works through earthly means. Earthly means are those things that God works through to give daily bread, employment and revenue to supply for our needs, the vocation of farmers and laborers to produce what we need, good weather to grow crops and preserve the livestock for food and clothing, as well as government to promote trade and ensure the integrity of industry and our currency. 

And the means by which God works most directly through us to give us daily bread is the vocation of our career and our workplace. Without God’s grace, provision, and providence, we would not have a job, an income, or even the ability to do our work. The Lord has given you skills to work, no less gracious and miraculous than the bread He gave to the people wandering with Christ Jesus. As they received bread with joy, we should also receive this unique means given to us with even greater joy. As Christ provided them with bread for a day, God works in our careers as long as we are able to work.

So how should a Christian think about his or her work? The apostle Paul writes in his second letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 3: “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you who walk in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ, that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.” 

Just as the Lord God gave Adam and his wife the garden to till and cultivate, as it was a blessing to them from the Lord, so we should see our work as a blessing to serve Him and to love our neighbor. For those who reject the Lord’s blessings, reject the one who blesses. Those who see work as a burden will soon forget the Lord’s goodness. Therefore, work that comes from the Lord is always a blessing. 

For the Lord has looked upon you with compassion, dear Christian, as you are the ones who have followed the Lord out into the wilderness. Out of the civilization that is hostile to Christ and into the fertile soil of the Church. And you have followed Christ where He leads so that you may hear His word, teach, preach, and His sacraments administer. And because you have sought His Word first, you have come to the Lord Jesus and His grace, and you have all you need to support this body and life. It is out of faith that you have no lack because you know God does not give in part. The Lord Jesus is gracious and merciful and gives in an overabundance.

Christ Jesus cares for your eternal salvation in the kingdom of God first and foremost, and still He does not forget the needs of your body and life here on earth. Out of God’s grace, Christ supplies for you salvation on the cross and every earthly blessing. Because of what He has done, the Lord does not let you faint on the way. Jesus gives more than you could ever need in this life, as in the life to come. Amen

When the Lord Jesus says to the crowds at the Sermon on the Mount, “That unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven,” this seems to them as an unbearable task of good works and ritual purity. At the time of Jesus’ ministry, the Pharisees were seen as true Israelites and the perfect keepers of God’s law. They followed all the laws of Moses; they purified themselves with ritual washings before every meal; they did not eat with anyone who was impure; and the Pharisees did not have common jobs because they were too busy studying and debating the meaning of God’s Word among themselves. If you asked the common man during the time of Christ who was the most righteous in all of Israel, every single one would point to the Pharisees. And now Jesus tells the crowds that their righteousness must go beyond that of the Pharisees. 

Then, in the remaining portion of our reading, Jesus explains that their righteousness is void before God. And this righteousness that the Pharisees pursue does not gain anything before God, as it is only for pomp and others’ approval. And so He points the crowd to the fifth Commandment, which the Pharisees have not kept: “You shall not murder.”

The Pharisees and our self-righteous sinful state would like to tell us that we have perfectly kept this Commandment if we simply follow the letter of the law. They say as long as we do not follow the actions of Cain, who killed his brother in the field, we have kept God’s Word enough to be righteous before the Lord. For the Pharisees, this command has nothing to do with anger toward our neighbor, cursing, hating them, or spite. Jesus clarifies this line of thinking by distinguishing between civil or secular righteousness and true Christian righteousness.

The first of these is worldly or civil righteousness. This kind can be determined through natural reason or simple logic that we should and ought not to harm anyone, but to do good to everyone. In other words, this is how the world defines what a good person is. And still being a good person in the eyes of the world is not enough to achieve the kingdom of God. Not a single person has gotten into heaven because they are good people. No one has received eternal life because they have never killed another person, or they give loads of money to their local children’s hospital, or they volunteer for the soup line. The Word of God still instructs us to have a good reputation with those outside the Christian Church. And yet, the righteousness bestowed upon us by the world is not the same as that which Christ gives us.

For we are saved by Christian righteousness, which is sometimes known as spiritual or inward righteousness. This one is granted to us by the Lord Jesus Christ through faith and the Word of God. Through this righteousness, we see the fifth Commandment, which we have not kept at all, for this commandment is more than a warning against physical murder. In this passage, Jesus teaches us that murder does not begin with the weapon in our hand, but with anger conceived in us. For anger begins in the mind when we think that if only that person were dead, or if only our neighbor could be struck with bad luck. This may lead to looking at our neighbor unkindly, not speaking to him, turning our nose up at him, or doing similar things, as if we were to say to him, ‘You fool.’ Then it can also result in angry words, such as openly cursing our neighbor, speaking evil of him, or trying to destroy his honor and good reputation. And finally, there is murder, which is the result of evil thoughts, angry actions, and verbal abuse when they are not coerced or restrained. 

Therefore, out of Christian righteousness, the new man, strengthened by faith and the Word of God, sees sin crouching at the door, and, by God’s grace, we repent of evil and trust in the One who has delivered us from sin and destruction, so that we may rule over it. This, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the murder of Abel, whose blood is poured out on Calvary to speak for our righteousness. The Lord died in the most miserable way for our redemption.  Jesus, the murdered, gives His righteousness to the murderers, sinful men, by trust in His Name. Those sinners who had fallen captive to the devil, who has been a murderer from the very beginning, are now reconciled through the blood of Christ, the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

It is the righteousness given to us by Christ and Him alone that has saved us from the punishment of our sins and has granted us eternal life with Him. Meanwhile, the world would like to call us good because of our deeds, but God forever makes us righteous by what His Son has done for us. He has done what we cannot do, has paid the debt we cannot pay, and has washed us clean by His blood. 

And so to that end, we have been called to a new life. A life of reconciliation and brotherly love. So, when we sense anger beginning to oppress us, we ought not to let it brew before it is out of control, for Paul says, “Do not let the Sun go down on your anger.”And so, ask your merciful Father for forgiveness, and if it has been put into action, go to your brother. For the Lord says, “Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are still going with him to court.” And if your neighbor is unwilling to hear your repentance, your Heavenly Father does not reject you because of theirs. And so there is no need to waste a day, a week, or a year, for God waits for us to return to Him through Christ Jesus.

In that same spirit, we should not leave our neighbor in doubt of their forgiveness. Sin often cuts deep and is personal, but that doesn’t make you worthy to withhold Christ’s love given to you for your neighbor. Therefore, we ought to be ready at all times to forgive. So our neighbor who has left their sacrifice at the altar, that is their true worship of God, so that they may be reconciled in order to return. And through our acts of reconciliation, we are loving our Christian brothers so that they may join us in the worship of God and receive His grace and pardon here, and eternal life hereafter. Amen, amen.

 The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome, “How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Our faith and trust in Christ are the work of God entirely for us, and still Saint Paul makes clear that to call upon the Lord Jesus we must believe in Him, which requires us to hear, and if we must have heard, someone must have spoken of Jesus to us. And that is the precise reason why our Lord calls Peter, James, and John into the office of the Holy Ministry. In order to continue speaking of the marvelous Words and works of Christ, that our salvation is achieved and given to us by faith and the Word.

It is certainly miraculous enough that God chooses these men, fishermen, who are in no way different from any other, all of whom have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And this is the precise reason why Peter says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Only Christ alone has the power to forgive us our sins, to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to carry out the sacraments that He Himself has instituted. And still, Christ gives that authority to those whom He has called and ordained for the benefit of all who hear and believe in Christ’s Word. 

The manner in which Christ calls these men to forsake everything so that they may be fishers of men, through the miracle of the marvelous catch of fish, also instructs us how our Lord brings us safely into the boat of salvation, that is, the holy Christian Church. 

This all begins the night before these men encounter our Lord as they work all through the night, and they accomplish nothing. And only at the Word of Christ are they able to catch anything. And their catch is so abundant that the boats begin to sink. This shows us what the church is without Christ and the word of God. They gained nothing.

It is only by the word of God that there is life in abundance. The night is symbolic of lack. Wherever the Word of God is absent, the world, the devil, and our sinful flesh will excuse the absence by replacing it with the doctrines of men. The doctrine of God is those things that are true as they come from the truth of God’s Word and are profitable for salvation. On the contrary, the doctrines of men are things we invent that sound good and profitable to us, but in reality, they are not. Such as if I really didn’t hurt anyone or get caught, it’s not a sin and therefore was never really a problem. Or if I am not the first to initiate conflict, anything I do in return is fair game. Or if I just say something is unfair automatically, everyone will likely take me seriously, and soon my problem will disappear. It does not matter how much we want these things to be true; they will not save us from our problems.

We are only saved from the dark sea of despair by being caught up in Christ. For the disciples were only successful in catching fish when Christ was in the boat. It was only by His command that they could catch a single fish. And likewise, the day is faith and the word of God. That is what saves us. We are saved by the word of God and faith in that Word, who is God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Our Lord, who has taken our sins upon Himself, our sins of unbelief and trust in false security. He has redeemed us by His own sacrifice on the cross, and by His resurrection, He has brought life and immortality to light. For it is only by the day, only by the light of Christ that we are saved. The fisherman can bring sinners to salvation only when Christ is in our midst. The preaching of faith and the word of God bring salvation and repentance. Therefore, we must remain in the light of His Word, meaning trusting and believing what it says that Christ has saved us when we cannot. 

To bring us in, the Lord Jesus uses the net. Which reminds us of the Office Christ has instituted for the church. The fish, those who are the genuine hearers of God’s word, God must create a way for them to hear. And so the office of pastors, who are the net, is to bring them into the boat. The men of the office of the Holy Ministry are not sent to game for themselves a marvelous catch, a people of their own following, for that would be no benefit to those who hear. Instead, the Office of Pastor is given to speak Christ’s words. To stand in the stead and by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ to preach, to absolve, and to carry out what God has given to the church for the salvation of our souls. Preaching the Word of God and administering the holy Sacraments are carried out for our reconciliation. That is the way God brings us back to Himself in Jesus Christ

So by these means God comes to us, for we cannot come to God by our own merit or strength. Christ Jesus, who has reconciled us by His crucifixion and death, now extends what Jesus Himself has done for us through the Word of God, baptism, the Lord’s supper, holy absolution, and the Office of Pastor. And none of these things are instituted for the Pastor’s own ego, but for the sake of Christ, because by these gifts He gives us everything achieved by His life, death, and Resurrection. 

And so the fishermen on the boat are the individual pastors themselves, called to a specific congregation. Similar to the miracle, as none of the fish would have gone into the net without the Lord Jesus. The called Pastor would stand idle if it were not for God’s work in bringing him the catch, and so he is entrusted with the responsibility that the Lord’s fish remain steadfast within the church of Christ. 

Now we turn to who are the fish? And what do they teach us about God’s plan for salvation? Those are the hearers of God’s Word, those from every tribe and nation who hear the Word of God and receive it with joy. The fish do not choose to go into the fisherman’s net. Instead, they end up there because they have been chosen to believe in Christ. Just as the fish do not decide to believe. Neither does the fisherman decide who to catch. Nothing you or I have decided has determined that you are a Christian. It is all the work of God for us, sinners.

It is all Christ who has opened our ears that we may receive Him and repent of our sins, accepting Jesus as our Savior. Because without our Lord, we would be toiling all through the night, accomplishing nothing. And so Christ comes to us, and He takes upon our sin and imperfection, lack of trust and obedience. He lives perfectly, obedient to death, so that He may die, so we can live, be saved, and be brought into the church, which is the Lord’s boat for salvation. And in this boat, He keeps us secure until the entire church arrives at the kingdom of God. And there, we are brought to His eternal glory.

  The words from our gospel reading, “Judge not,” have been turned into a slogan by misguided Christians and unbelievers. I use the word slogan purposely because the way they use these words of our Lord is not the way He uses them. And so they are not Christ’s words at all, but they go against what He says in our gospel. To understand these words, we must examine those that come prior. As Christ, the Lord, says, “Therefore be merciful just as your Father is also merciful.” The keyword is “as your Father is.” So, by simply understanding how people communicate, we can ensure that Jesus instructs us not to judge, in contrast to how God the Father judges. Christ is not saying that His Father does not judge at all, but He instructs us that our judgments cannot go beyond His Father.

This is the only reliable way to read this passage because if we truly did not want to judge anything whatsoever, we could not make any decision, whether it is what kind of toothpaste to buy at the store, who writes the best music, or trying to predict who will win the soccer tournament; they all require us to judge. So if our judgment is needed to make trivial decisions that have very little impact on our lives, then why should we not use judgment concerning those things that do impact our lives, mainly the things of God and our salvation? 

So, why does Christ instruct us that our judgments and mercy cannot go beyond or come short of what the Father has done? Christ does this because of our sinful nature. That original sin that we all possess is made manifest by incorrect justice and lack of mercy. The old Adam is a selfish man who is willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead. If it means to look down on others because of their poor decisions or to withhold grace and goodness towards others, that is just part of the game of life. The old Adam will help his neighbor, but only when it means helping himself even more. 

Today, in our reading of Genesis 50, we find the final patriarch of the book, Joseph, a man who, by all accounts, could have abandoned his family. He could have left them, starving in the promised land. Yet he is a living example of what Jesus’ words look like. As a young lad, he was the favorite child of Jacob, his father, and he and everyone knew it. Jacob gave him a marvelous coat, and he used it to taunt his brothers about his status. He spoke of the dreams that told him that someday he would be superior to all his brothers, and that they would need to bow the knee to Joseph. In the spirit of jealousy, his own brothers throw him into a well and fake his death while, in actuality, selling him as a slave to be hauled away to Egypt. 

That is all that anyone knew of Joseph, even while his father was deceived that his son was dead. And how many years later, as Joseph had become second-in-command over the entire nation of Egypt, only to the pharaoh, his brothers unknowingly came into the kingdom of their brother, asking for wheat, and he surprised them with no cost. Their own flesh and blood, who was put in the position of God, also acted as God to them. Joseph was merciful as his heavenly Father is merciful. He did not judge beyond God’s judgment. And he gave as it was given to him, and he forgave as God Himself forgave him. 

Therefore, we can say that Joseph does judge his brothers. Yet, his judgment is correct and necessary because Joseph’s judgments do align with the will and Word of God. The word of God that says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” God’s word that says “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” And also that “God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” It is his correct judgment that saves them; therefore, we should judge as God judges, according to His mercy and goodness, with His eagerness to forgive and His earnest desire for repentance.

This also brings us to the point where God’s mercy can be wrongly applied or extended beyond what even our merciful Father has deemed. This comes about when we make excuses for the sins of our people or even our own. By simply making excuses that this is just how things are now. Even though you know deep down that it has never been right. When people say it is my life, why do you need to tell me how to live it? So we are pressured to just ignore what we know is wrong from the word of God. Because we are accused of not accepting their decisions, we are considered unloving. I believe that the personal attacks taken against us are often related to the most personal kind of sins, including marriage and sexuality. I’m guessing that many of you have heard of, or been part of, conversations about these issues that simply end with “you can’t judge me.” 

We are told that homosexuality is a settled issue. Or this is what people do: they live together for a year before they get engaged, and another two or three before they get married. And we may or may not know it, but this is an appeal for a false kind of mercy. Meaning that they are asking that their sins just be ignored by all, and that we would just accept it. Yet, that is not what mercy is at all. When we ask for God’s mercy upon our sins, we are not asking that He just ignore them, but that He would deal with them through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, meaning that the Lord would forgive them and then, by His grace, we would live contrary to our sinful state. This is what it means to be merciful, as God is merciful, and to judge not. Jesus here instructs us not to let our mercy and judgment direct us, but to let His mercy and judgment guide our way in how we love our neighbor and make decisions in how we should live.

It is true that we cannot ignore judgment and mercy, and still God desires us to use these things, not on a blind whim because of the pranks in our own eyes, but in accordance with the sight of faith. It is by the word of God that we can examine ourselves first and see the plank that is in them, so that we can see Christ and our neighbor properly. And when we look at our neighbor, we see that they are sinful too, and that they need Christ just as much as we do, and by pointing out the speck in their eye, we are not condemning them; instead, we are loving them. 

Because we do not show the speck 7 in their eye, they would be led to despair. Instead, they would be led to our gracious and merciful Savior. Christ Jesus, who has died for the sins of the whole world, that many would come to see Him face-to-face. And that they would see him perfectly with no speck or imperfection in the kingdom of God. This we do out of love for Christ and love for our neighbor, who has been made, that they would be with Him forever and ever. Amen

The commonly attributed title for this parable, “the prodigal son,” is misleading because it assumes that the father has only one son who has sinned against him. Instead, Jesus makes very clear that this man has two sons. The younger son, whom we all remember. He goes to his father to ask for his inheritance in advance, then goes out and spends it on reckless living. And the oldest son, the one who stays and does not accept the repentance of his own brother, and blames the father for showing love where it is undeserved. But that is what precisely our Lord desires to show us in this parable, that no matter our sins, the forgiveness and mercy we will receive from Christ will always be undeserved. If God’s grace were something we married, it would no longer be grace, but an exchange. 

This gracious father, representative of our own heavenly father, accepts the request of the younger that he would receive his inheritance upon his death, but at that very moment. Someone may ask, doesn’t the father know that there can be no good intentions behind this? The father certainly knows his son’s heart, which is why he is not surprised by such a request. And so he is obliged and divides his property and all his possessions that very moment to give to his younger son. We should not interpret the father as a fool; rather, he is gracious because he knows this will ultimately lead to the repentance and faith that are lacking in his son. 

He soon takes the money and flees to a foreign country to spend it all to satisfy his appetites and lust. As a result of all his money being spent and a famine in the land, he is forced to work with swine, and if he is paid anything at all, it is still not enough that he can only eat the scraps that are not even good enough for the pigs. It is in a miserable state that he remembers his father’s goodness. And the son recalls to his mind that even his own father’s servants have food to spare while he dies of hunger.

And this leads him to repentance. He sees how far he has strained. He remembers a time without misery. He recalls a time when he had plenty. He compared the state he’s in and can see the weight and cost of his unrighteousness.

The same is true for us. God earnestly desires us to represent all our sins as they are a breaking of God’s law, and a separation between God and us is the result of sin. So, God sends His only begotten Son. That we are so far from Him, that He must come to us. Christ must pay the price of our sins and pay our debt with His life. Through the cross, Christ announces that the kingdom of God has come to be in the presence of the ungodly. The Son of God preaches and shows the goodness of the Father that we may see our shameful state and live. 

Typically, we hear the call of repentance from the Word of God, preaching, and the Holy Sacraments. Yet, when God deems it necessary, the Lord will allow us to fall into deep misery and to suffer severe consequences brought on by our sin. As the younger son in the parable was only brought to repentance because everything was now gone, and he was left with the swine. He could finally repent. The Lord will allow us to endure much to show us that if we continue down this path, we will keep pushing Him away and be left with our old vices. The Lord allows us to feel that pain and misery for a time until we see the detriment of our sins, and the Holy Spirit may work in us true repentance and love towards Christ. Some may ask, “How can God be so cruel?” Yet, the Lord never allows hardship to be before us that is not for our good. He allows us to see what may come of us if we continue, so that we can avoid it and return to Christ. 

In this way, we are to mirror the younger son to repent, to flee to God’s embrace, and to taste the Lord’s forgiveness at the feast prepared for us because of His Son, Christ. Yet, not all in the parable receive this news with joy. As the older son is only filled with disdain and refuses to hear that his own brother has returned, not only did he not return in misery and shame, but with rejoicing and feasting pronounced by the father. And so he refuses to come in to see the marvelous work of God in the heart of a sinner. 

We may also learn from this one as well. He does not want to go to the feast of his father because he does not accept that such sin can even be forgiven. And by rejecting his own brother, he rejects the grace of his father as well.

And so we as Christians must be watchful over this in ourselves. That we do not become detained over God’s grace to others. I believe this disdain could take two forms. The first of these is pride. Pride that at least we have not committed the same sins that we know or believe other Christians have committed. And if we know someone else’s sins, we should, instead of comparing them to our own, ask ourselves if they were so enticed to do those evil deeds, what is stopping me from doing the same? And the answer is nothing without God’s grace. 

The second way we must consider is envy. Meaning, we have seen how our brothers and sisters in Christ have broken the law of God and been restored, and we are envious of them. Wishing secretly to ourselves that we could have done something similar and have likewise been forgiven. To this kind of thinking, I say repent. Because we know from the words of Jesus that there is no distinction between committing a sin in our mind and having the will to carry it out, as they are both breaking God’s commandments. 

In order to fulfill the Lord’s command, the very thing that we are unable to do. Our gracious heavenly Father looks upon our misery with compassion. He comes to us while we are still far off because of His Son, Jesus Christ. And by the Holy Spirit, you have been led to turn from wicked ways and live. God, the Father, does not see you as you were, but as you now are as baptized sons and daughters. Everything that belongs to God is now ours in Christ Jesus, and we have by faith the inheritance of eternal life in His kingdom.