Moving Under Fire – Luke 21:5-28

One of the first things we were taught in the military is how to maneuver under fire so as to be able to get close enough to an objective to accomplish our mission.  We learned three basic techniques which are used for varying degrees of danger. 

The first technique we learned is called the three-to-five second rush.  This technique is used when cover and concealment is available, and the person is not under direct heavy fire.  Essentially, the soldier will emerge from a covered position and run for no more than three-to-five seconds, then throw themselves down behind the nearest piece of cover.  This is repeated over and over until the soldier gets to the desired location.  The theory is that when not under heavy, direct fire, you can more quickly move closer to the objective while not allowing an enemy shooter the time required to take aimed shots at you. 

The second technique we learned is called the high crawl.  This technique is used when cover and concealment is available; however, the person may be under direct fire.  When using this technique, the soldier will use a half-crawl to move from covered position to covered position.  The soldier’s hips are prone to the ground while he moves, but he is able to support his upper body on his  elbows and forearms and maintain his head in an erect posture so that he can see where he is going.  Movement using this technique is slower, but it affords more protection to the person. 

The last technique is called the low crawl.  This technique is used when the person is under direct, heavy fire and cover and concealment is scant, if present at all.  This technique involves the soldier laying in a completely prostrate position so as to minimize their profile to enemy fire.  Hips, chest, arms, and even his face are in the mud.  Head down, the soldier propels himself with one foot a few inches at time.  The only thing he can see is the few inches of ground in front of his face.  When under fire in this manner, movement to the next covered position seems to take an eternity.  This is the movement technique when the excrement hits the fan. 

I bring up this description, because in this week’s gospel lesson, Jesus is describing the kind of situation used in the last movement technique. 

In today’s lesson, it is Wednesday of the Passion week.  In less than forty-eight hours, Jesus will be arrested by the Jewish and Roman authorities, tried, and publicly executed. 

As Jesus and his disciples are walking along the temple mount, the disciples marvel at the beautiful temple complex around them.  Jesus jolts them with a startlingly casual remark, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 

The disciples’ reaction is immediate, and it sounds something like this:  Wait, what?!?  Jesus had just told them that the equivalent of what would be the combination of our National Cathedral, Capitol Building, and White House would be completely destroyed.  Understandably they seek clarification, asking, “Teacher, when will these things be and what will be the sign that these things are about to take place?”

Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat his answer to their dismay.  He tells them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences.  And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

He further tells them, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.  Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance to fulfill all that is written.  Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing in those days!  For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against his people.  They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all the nations, and Jerusalem be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.  And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world.”

As if these warnings are not frightening enough, Jesus tells the disciples that they will be personally affected by all these things.  “But before all this they will lay their hands on YOU and persecute YOU, delivering YOU up to the synagogues and prisons, and YOU will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake…YOU will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of YOU they will put to death.  YOU will be hated by all for my name’s sake.”

In other words, turn on the fan, cue the excrement.  Things just got real.  Our natural reaction is to assume the low crawl position, face in the dirt, making ourselves as small and unnoticeable as possible, and try to avoid the fire that will come our way. 

And though this word was written long ago, the warning still stands.  We see echoes of its fulfillment today.  We live in a world where tolerance and acceptance are the mantra of society.  Social pressure and even government coercion are brought to bear to compel the Christian that sin isn’t sin, that we don’t really need a savior, and that Jesus is not the one and only savior of the world.  The pressure to assume the low crawl, and try to escape notice, to not have to confess our faith can be exceedingly powerful.

And yet, that is not what Jesus tells his disciples to do.    

Jesus tells the disciples, “This will be your opportunity to bear witness.  Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.” 

Jesus tells us, that in the midst of enemy fire, we are not to lay prostrate, making ourselves as small a target as possible.  He tells them to stand up in the face of the fire and walk forward in faith.  We are instructed not to fear, but to remain faithful to Christ in our response.  Even though the disciples may be persecuted or killed, they are to remain faithful.  The veteran in me recoils at this instruction. 

How can Jesus ask us to remain faithful in the face of such opposition and danger? 

Even though the disciples face and may even taste death, Jesus offers them the following hope.  “But not a hair of your head will perish.  By your endurance you will gain your lives…Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”   

Jesus reminds the disciples that though they may die, they will not perish.  Their redemption is drawing near.  Christ our redeemer has conquered death.  Christ has conquered the world. 

On the cross, Christ took on the worst that the world in bondage to sin, death, and the devil has to offer.  He experienced the humiliation and pain of crucifixion and death.  He experienced the weight of bearing the sins of the world upon his shoulders.  On Good Friday the world thought it had won.  And yet, on Easter morning Jesus rose from the dead and declared his victory over the world. 

Christ died that the claim of sin over us might be paid, and he rose that in him we might live eternally.  He bought us back, or redeemed us, from the power of sin and the grave.  This is the simple gospel message: the declaration of Christ’s victory for us, received by faith. 

Just as Jesus was raised in glory in his body, so shall we be when Christ returns. 

As fellow disciples in Christ, what are we called to do when the excrement hits the fan?  Jesus tells us to rest in the certain knowledge that though we may die, we shall not perish.  He tells us to stand in the hope that our redeemer is drawing near.  We are to hold steady to the confession of faith that we maintain in Christ. 

As believers we are baptized in the promise that in Jesus we died to sin and have been raised to new life in Christ.  We gather together to hear God’s word, which forms us in the faith, gives us comfort in the gospel, strengthens, and sustains us in our daily walk with Christ.  In Confession and Absolution, we receive the gift of forgiveness that we might go forward as forgiven witnesses for Christ.  In Holy Communion we celebrate Christ crucified and our sinful nature with him, and Christ raised to everlasting life and us with him. 

It is these things that give us strength in our confession.  Death holds no threat to us because we know that though we might die, we shall not perish.  Our redeemer is near, and he already stands victorious. 

In ordering our lives around the Word and Sacrament that Christ freely gives us through his Church, we bear witness to the world that Jesus lives. 

Let us remain faithful in the certain knowledge that Christ, our redeemer, will give us the strength to raise our heads and walk forward in faith.  This is our opportunity to bear witness to the world that Christ the redeemer has overcome sin, death, and the devil.   Amen. 

The Spoiler Alert – Revelation 7: 9-17

My kids and I are huge fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  We have been ever since they started the movie franchise back in 2008.  For over ten years we have been watching as new installments were released in theaters, waiting for the culmination of the Avenger’s franchise.  Two years ago, the moment had finally come.  The first of the two-part Infinity War movie series was finally hitting the theaters, and we were overwhelmed with excitement to go see it. 

The kids and I went to watch Part One, Infinity War, on opening weekend.  We had our popcorn, candy, and sodas.  We were ready.  In the movie, the main adversary of the Avengers, Thanos, is battling with the Avengers to assemble the Infinity Stones.  The movie ends with a climactic battle between the forces of Thanos and the Avengers.  There is a moment where it appears that the Avengers are about to thwart Thanos, when Thanos turns the tables.  He obtains the last of the Infinity Stones, and with the snap of his fingers, half of all life in the universe vanishes.  The movie ends with the disappearance of half of the Avengers and their apparent defeat. 

My kids were aghast that the movie could possibly end this way.  Characters we had watched for ten years, whom we had come to love, just vanished.  How could this be?  We sat there in the theater, my kids dumbfounded and upset. 

At this point, I turned to the kids and said, “Spoiler Alert:  the Avengers are going to win.”  My kids looked at me with confused expressions.  How could I possibly have that kind of confidence?  I said to them, “Because there is a part two to this movie.  I don’t know the details of how its going to go down, but I know the Avengers win.”  In that one statement, my kids were encouraged, and we patiently waited to see part two of the movie series. 

I submit to you today, that John is presenting us with the same kind of spoiler alert in today’s text.  To understand what John is doing we need to enter his world.

According to tradition, the Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John in the year 95 AD.  John had witnessed the ministry of Christ, and the ascension of our Lord into heaven.  He heard Jesus promise that he would return, and his instructions that first they must make disciples of all nations.  He would continue his ministry as apostle and later Bishop of Asia Minor, in what is now modern-day Turkey. 

However, over sixty years later, the Christian community was still waiting on the Lord’s return.  They were stuck dealing with sickness and death.  They continued to see natural disasters such as famine, earthquakes, and even the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Pompeii. 

And now, under Emperor Domitian, the first empire-wide persecution of Christians had broken out.  Many bishops and priests were arrested.  Some such as Clement of Rome were martyred for their faith.  House churches were subject to raids by Roman soldiers.  Articles used in worship were confiscated.  Copies of the scriptures were burned.  To add insult to injury, John, the last of apostles, had been arrested and exiled to a penal colony on the island of Patmos. 

In John’s vocabulary, first century Christians found themselves amid a Great Tribulation, or time of trial. 

Under these circumstances the Christians to whom John had been bishop were beginning to question their faith.  They asked themselves when is Jesus going to return?  Why are we suffering as we are suffering? 

The Book of Revelation is God’s answer through John to their questions. 

John speaks to their reality in his vivid descriptions of the Great Tribulation they were facing.  He describes Satan as a fearful dragon raging against the Christian community.  He describes the trials that Christians in his day faced such as war, famine, sickness, and death, as four horse-mounted riders of the Apocalypse.  He describes violent persecution of the Church. 

And yet, in the midst of the chaos and Tribulation, John’s message in Revelation is a message of hope. 

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’  And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, ‘Amen!  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!  Amen.’

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?’  I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’  And he said to me, ‘These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

‘Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ 

John’s message to the Church of his day is a Spoiler Alert to them:  God Wins. 

But this Spoiler Alert isn’t just for the First Century Church.  This Spoiler Alert was written for us also. 

When we read Revelation today, we are tempted to think it doesn’t apply to us.  We assume it is addressing a future reality.  Or perhaps only the reality of the Church in John’s day.  We don’t see ourselves in his description of the Great Tribulation. 

The fact is, the Tribulation is going on right now, even as we speak.  Satan is actively raging against the people of God, and using his tools of war, famine, sickness, and death right now.  John’s description is as true today, as it was 19 centuries ago. 

Millions of Christians around the globe live under persecution.  In places such as China, North Korea, Iran, and others, Christians today are jailed and even killed for their faith.  For them, the Great Tribulation is alive and well. 

But even in places where Christians do not face persecution, Christians are no less subject to the ragings of Satan. 

To the mother who has miscarried or given birth to a stillborn child, to the loved one taking care of a mother or father suffering from Alzheimer’s, to the man or woman suffering the ravages of cancer, the rider of the pale horse mentioned by John is a distinct reality. 

To the person who has lost a child in a senseless school shooting, or to the person grieving a family member lost to violent crime, the rider of the red horse who takes away peace from the earth is bearing down on them. 

To the inner-city single mom trying to find a way to feed her children, the rider of the black horse who brings famine is alive and well. 

The power of sin, death, and the devil to attack God’s people and his creation are still at work in the world today.  We need to see ourselves as part of the story that John describes in Revelation because we still live in that reality. 

Amid all of this we may be tempted to question our circumstances just as John’s followers did.

And yet, John’s Spoiler Alert applies to us also.  God Wins.  Victory is assured.  We are those who have made our robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

The day that Satan conspired with men to nail Jesus to the cross, he guaranteed his own defeat.  Every crack of the whip that scourged his flesh, every hammer strike on the nails in Christ’s hands and feet, every drop of blood that was shed made Satan more the loser. 

Through his death, Christ defeated the power of sin, death, and the devil over us and over creation.  By taking our sin upon himself and paying the penalty that we owed, Christ destroyed any claim that Satan has over us and over creation.    

On the cross, Christ guaranteed victory for us through his blood to be received through faith.  God made us who were enemies and strangers into a multitude of nations rejoicing before the Lamb who is seated victorious on his throne. 

And though victory was gained on the cross, its assurance was revealed to us on Easter morning through the resurrection.  This John whose Revelation we read today, walked into the empty tomb.  He placed his fingers in the nail prints in the hands of Jesus.  He ate and spoke with the risen Lord and declares to us today the certain hope we have in Christ. 

As Christians we order our lives around this hope.  When we were baptized, we were made white with the blood of the Lamb.  When we pray the Lord’s prayer, we declare, “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven,” in the sure and certain knowledge that God’s victory has come to us through faith.  When we receive the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion, we rejoice with all the hosts of heaven in the presence of Christ himself.  When our neighbor suffers, we speak God’s victory to them and offer them the comfort they will receive when Christ wipes away their tears. 

May you all go in the peace of knowing God’s Spoiler Alert.  God Wins.  Christ is victorious.  Amen.  

The Walking Dead – The Account of the Ten Lepers (Luke 17: 11-19)

Several years ago, AMC first produced a TV series about a dystopian version of the United States following the survivors of a zombie apocalypse.  The premise of the show is that a mysterious pandemic virus causes the dead to rise as zombies.  Contact with the zombies passes the virus to living hosts.  The unfortunate person who is exposed to the virus becomes fatally ill, and returns as a zombie known as a Walker, a short form of the show’s title, The Walking Dead.  Unfortunately for the characters caught in this nightmarish alternate reality, there is no cure for the virus with which they now contend. 

The show quickly became a cult phenomenon and is now in its tenth season.  It turns out that Americans have developed a past-time of being startled.  This seems to be the privilege of living in the Western world where medical care has made illness and death a rare thing.  Mankind however has not always had such a cavalier attitude about the idea of sickness and death. 

This week’s gospel reading provides us a glimpse into the terror that sickness and death held, and deep down still hold, for us.  Our reading for today comes to us from Luke 17:11-19.

“While he was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee.  As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  And as they were going, they were cleansed.  Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.  And he was a Samaritan.   Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed?  But the nine—where are they?  Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”  And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” 

The specter of leprosy was terrifying to the ancient world.  Just as the zombie virus of the Walking Dead universe, leprosy seemingly came out of nowhere and had no known cure or treatment. 

Leprosy, known to us today as Hansen’s Disease, is a slow growing infection that attacks soft tissues and nerves.  The disease causes the skin to become patchy, discolored, and ulcerous.  The nerves of the affected area swell causing the area to become numb, and susceptible to unnoticed injuries, even as the surrounding areas become swollen and painful.  Over time, appendages may be re-absorbed by the body causing the shortening or loss of fingers and toes, and even the soft tissue of the nose and face.  The disease even attacks the corneas of the eyes, often resulting in blindness.  Having encountered people overseas suffering from symptoms closely resembling descriptions of leprosy, I can tell you that encountering this disease in person will stop you in your tracks. 

Today, we treat leprosy using a host of antibiotics and steroids.  However, in first century Roman society, there was no cure to this affliction. 

The only means of dealing with this disease was a potentially lifelong quarantine of the unfortunate leprous person.  Leviticus 13 describes the ancient Israelite means of diagnosing a potentially leprous person, and describes how the person would be declared unclean, and quarantined for further evaluation. 

Leviticus 13 provides a somewhat sanitized version of what this procedure should look like.  However, historical accounts and archeology show us a bleaker reality than we might glean from these passages.  Persons confirmed to have leprosy, were isolated in every sense of the word.  Having been declared as unclean, they could not participate in the rites of temple worship that connected them to their nation and their God.  Having a disease that was thought to be highly contagious through human contact, these people were frequently expelled from their homes to live on the outskirts of town, often in caves or cemeteries.  Lepers were separated from their friends and family members so completely that they had to declare aloud to passersby their status by shouting, “Unclean!”  Passersby would take all precautions to avoid even coming into the general proximity of the afflicted person.  Having lost the ability to engage in commerce or make a living, lepers frequently sought out and formed their own communities of the afflicted just so that they could scrape together the means to subsist.    Without hope of a cure, and suffering from a progressive disease that would eventually take them, these people had no hope.  They truly were the Walking Dead of their age. 

Alone, afflicted, all but dead.  This is the place of desperation from which the ten lepers encounter Jesus. 

The group cries out to Jesus, “Master!  Have mercy on us!” 

Then we see Jesus’ response, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  By his word, the ten lepers are healed. 

Just imagine it.  The tough scaly patches on their skin, once numb and impervious to feeling, became supple and tender again through Jesus’ word.  Fingers, toes, facial disfigurations are restored to their once youthful appearance by his command.  Eyes that were once sickly, milky, and blind, clear and are opened again by his voice. 

The ten lepers leave at once, rejoicing at their miraculous healing to offer the cleansing sacrifices stipulated in Leviticus 14. 

Then something else happens.  The one man least expected to understand what has just happened, the one least likely to “get it,” returns and falls at Jesus’ feet, worshipping him in abject thanksgiving.  The man whom the Jews would say did not have the word of God, knelt at the feet of the Word of God, knowing and understanding that it was God himself who had delivered him from his affliction. 

Jesus marvels at this unexpected devotion, and finally tells him, “Go, your faith has made you well.” 

Interestingly, the verb that Jesus spoke, which we translate as “has made you well,” is the Greek word Σώζω (pronounced Sόzo), which is normally translated as “to save, to deliver, to rescue.”  It is the same word from which we derive one of the normative title we use for Jesus, the Savior.  It is the word we use to describe the role that Christ takes in saving us from sin. 

And yet, in our day and age, we tend not to associate sickness and death with sin.  We oftentimes look at this account as a miraculous event of healing.  We fail to see the link between deliverance from sickness, and salvation from sin. 

To the ancient Israelites however, this was not so.  To the first century Jewish mind, sickness, death, and sin were related.  Examples abound where this is the case. 

-          In the account of the Fall, Adam and Eve are warned that in the day that they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they will surely die. 

-          In Deuteronomy, when Moses reminds the Israelites of the Sinai covenant, he warns them that before them are the choices of life and prosperity, and death and adversity. 

-          In Romans, Paul tells us that through one man, sin entered into the world, that death came through sin, and spread to all men because all men sin.  He tells us that the wages of sin is death. 

-          Similarly, in Ephesians Paul tells us that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. 

In the scriptural view sickness, death, and sin are intimately linked, inseparably so.  In order to deal with sickness and death, sin must be dealt with. 

In the scriptural view we are all afflicted of sin, and hence we too are hopelessly ill.  We are the Walking Dead.  As Paul tells us in Romans 3, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

It is through the mirror of the law that we see that we too are lepers, the Walking Dead, without hope or cure. 

I look at the First Commandment, you shall have no other Gods.  I see in the mirror of the law that I fail to fear, love, and trust in God above all things.  In doing so, I see the scaly rough patches of skin where youthful flesh should be. 

I look at the Fifth Commandment’s decree, you shall not murder.  I see in the mirror of the law that I should fear and love god so that I do not hurt or harm my neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need, and see that I fall short.  In doing so, I see fingers and hands fashioned by God to help and support my neighbor, shortened and rotting by the failure to follow His will.

I look at the Eighth Commandment, that You Shall Not Bear False Witness.  I see in the mirror of the law that we should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way, and see that my words fall short.  In doing so, I see lips meant by God to speak well of my neighbor and speak truth in all my dealings, ulcerous from failure to follow this command. 

The list goes on and on.  We are the lepers, we are the Walking Dead.  Helpless and hopeless.  It is in this realization where we encounter Christ.  It is in knowing our hopelessness and helplessness where we come to repentance and seek the healing hand of Jesus. 

Paul who in his epistle to the Romans told us that the wages of sin is death, also tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.  In Ephesians, Paul tells us that even when we were dead in our sins, God made us alive together in Christ Jesus, raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  In Revelation John tells us that at the end of all things, when Christ returns, that sin, death, and the devil will be destroyed.  He tells us that there will be no more crying, no more pain, and no more death. 

Christ died on the cross that sin might be dealt with, and that the power of sin, death, and the devil over you, and over the world would be broken. 

In baptism, you were healed, saved, and delivered just as the lepers in Luke’s gospel were.  Your leprous sinful flesh was made tender and new in Christ.  Through confession and absolution, you are told just as the ten lepers, “Go,” for you are now well!  When we celebrate Communion, we rejoice at the feet of Jesus that we are healed!  All of this you have received through faith.    

Today if you look in the mirror and staring back at you is an image of the Walking Dead, afflicted by sin, look to Christ.  I proclaim to you today, on behalf of the one who healed the ten, “Go, your faith has made you well.” 

Fathers Choose Whom You Will Serve

Joshua was quite elderly when he gathered the heads of the families of Israel at Shechem.  He was ready to go the way of all things soon and wanted to address Israel one last time. 

By this point the wars of conquest in Canaan had largely quieted down.  Instead of living as nomads, the people of Israel had begun to occupy their own cities and homes.  Instead of relying on God’s provision of manna and meat, they began growing their own crops and tending their own herds of sheep and cattle.  They were successful as God had promised they would be. 

And yet, something was not right.  Instead of exclusively serving the Most High God, who brought them out of Egypt and sustained them during their time of exodus in the desert, they had begun to incorporate the worship of other gods into their daily lives.  When rain was needed to grow crops, some were tempted to worship the Canaanite deity Baal Hadad or his consort Asherah.  Afterall, it seemed to work for the peoples around them. 

And yet, Joshua could not forget the words that Moses had imparted when he himself gave his farewell address to Israel many years before. 

“Hear, O Israel!  The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  There was no room in this statement for sharing.  One can only serve one master, and yet the Israelites were trying to please many, and in doing so were losing hold of the God who had the power to rescue them. 

Joshua remembered the solemn task that fathers were commanded to faithfully pass on what they had seen with their eyes, that God had saved them, claimed them, and made them his own. 

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them to your sons and talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” 

Joshua remembered the solemn warning that Moses had given them of their success, and the tendency to become forgetful and complacent, to rely upon themselves rather than upon the God who delivered them from captivity. 

“Then it will come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat are satisfied, then watch yourself , that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” 

Joshua marveled at the prophetic wisdom of his predecessor.  Israel had been successful.  Israel had grown fat off the produce of the land.  And now Israel was beginning to turn its eyes away from God. 

Now, all the elders and leaders of Israel had assembled before him.  Joshua scanned his eyes over the multitude of men, young and old, before him, and opened his mouth.  He reminded them how God had made a promise to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He reminded them how God, through a mighty deliverance, had rescued them and fulfilled the promise given to them.  Pride swelled in the hearts of the men before him. 

Then Joshua went to the heart of the matter as an arrow seeks the center of a target:

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.  Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” 

Chastened by the man they loved and respected, Israel’s leaders pledged to put away the gods they had allowed to sneak into their lives and made the choice, for themselves and their families, to serve the LORD. 

I can think of few more inspiring scenes in all of scripture.  Men, humbled by the word of the LORD proclaimed to them, and responding to it, and taking responsibility for their households to faithfully serve God.  The most amazing line in this passage follows:

“Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel.”

It is a lesson I learned in the Army.  People have a tendency to adopt the personality of their leaders.  Bold leadership works. 

The men of Israel followed the example that Joshua set, choosing to set aside the practices of the cultures around them to serve God.  And because the heads of the households made this purposeful decision, their families followed. 

Men are the single most important influence in the home.  When a man sets the tone in his home for good, it is a blessing to the whole family.  When men either fail to set right standards for their families, or abandon their family altogether, it is disastrous for that household.  Both secular and parochial studies affirm this. 

Today our families are beset with far more distractions to the singular rule of God than the Israelites ever faced.  There are more -ism’s to be watchful of than ever before.  Consumerism will try to teach your kids that, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”  Scientism will try to teach your family that the world is limited to only the material forces of nature, a concept for which there can be no objective morality or purpose.  Emotivism will teach your kids that there is objective reality or truth, only feelings that change at the drop of a dime.  The greatest idol of the modern era, Autonomy, will teach your kids that the greatest good is to be subject to no one, not God and not one another. 

Like the false gods the Israelites had begun to turn to, none of these idols have the power to save, only to enslave.  Only Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, who put to death our sinful nature, and has called us through the Holy Spirit to be conformed to his likeness can save.  It is this God to whom Joshua appealed before the Israelites.  It is this same God who we today need to appeal in the sight of our families. 

I pray that God would give us the boldness to stand before our families and say, “We are called to choose this day whom we will serve.  In this house, we will serve the LORD.  In this house, we pray as a family.  In this house, we worship as a family.  In this house, we study God’s word as a family.  In this house, we confess Christ as LORD as a family.” 

If we do so, let us stand confident that the Holy Spirit who has called us will keep us in the true faith and sanctify us, as a family. 

The Irrational Nature of Sin and The Foolishness of the Cross

Recently I was reading the news and saw the announcement that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had finally closed their investigation into the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Shooter, Stephen Paddock.  The announcement struck me as somewhat odd. 

The investigation had gone on for over a year after this man had barricaded himself in a Las Vegas corner suite overlooking a country music festival and let loose with over a thousand rounds of ammunition on the unsuspecting crowd below.  All told over fifty-eight people were killed and scores of others were wounded in the attack. 

Though Stephen Paddock was eventually found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the hotel room strewn with shell casings and over twenty weapons, the investigation continued.  Paddock’s guilt had been firmly established within minutes of SWAT entry into the hotel room.  There was no doubt who had committed this horrendous crime.  Still, the investigation continued. 

Investigators descended on Paddock’s home and other real estate, searched his bank records, and contacted anyone with any connection to him to establish whether this crime was committed alone or in concert with other conspirators or accomplices.  Within weeks the FBI had determined that Paddock had acted alone.  Still, the investigation continued. 

Investigators interviewed Paddock’s relatives and associates, and scoured electronic devices, email, and social media.  Though guilt had been established, and no accomplices had aided in the crime, the search for a motive would continue for over a year with no discernible reason why someone would commit such an atrocity.  This man held no religious or political ideology that might account for his actions that we could identify.  Unlike the DC Beltway Sniper of several years ago, Paddock was not a disenfranchised castaway trying to get even with the world.  In fact, he was quite affluent.  As far as could be seen, he was not the victim of an abusive home that might explain his actions.  The elusive question of Why haunted us, and so the investigation continued on, and on, and on.  Finally, the FBI closed the case announcing that no motive could be determined for this horrible crime. 

When faced with tragedy, suffering, sin, and death, the first question we ask is Why?  We desperately try to make sense of tragedy.  Maybe if we understand why, we can make peace with what occurred.  Maybe we can mitigate it somehow.  It provides a justification.  It makes us feel better, it makes us feel useful, it makes us feel in control.  

Sin however, has no rationale.  It is completely irrational and senseless, and this scares the hell out of us.  It means that any one of us has the potential to commit grave evil, and perhaps this is the teachable moment from the Las Vegas shooting.

Any person who has ever had kids understands what I mean.  I can think of countless moments where my children have gotten in trouble for breaking some behavioral norm.  They know our rules, these have been clearly communicated.  And for almost every incident where something like this happens, I can remember staring at my kids and asking them why they did it.  Every time this happens I get the following response, a dumbfounded expression as the child says, “I don’t know.”  It frustrates me and my response is usually to press the issue, “Give me a reason why you did it.”  The kid, again confused, says, “I don’t know.”  Maybe I should just appreciate their honesty and move on to discipline. 

This behavior holds true for adults just as well.  Ask the person who was arrested for murder if he knew that murder was wrong and that there would be negative consequences, and he will tell you he did.  Ask the husband who was caught cheating on his wife of twenty years if he knew that his infidelity would destroy his marriage and his family, and he will tell you he did.  Ask the gossip who sows discord by fabricating lies about another person whether they knew that slander was wrong and injurious to the other person, and they will tell you they know they shouldn’t gossip.  None of it makes any sense, and yet we do it anyway.  So why do we do it? 

The Bible addresses the question of sin almost from the outset.  In the book of Genesis, the Bible describes the creation.  In it, God creates the world out of nothingness, orders it, and creates life.  On each day of creation, God surveys his work and calls it Good.  On the sixth day of creation, God creates mankind, creating them as man and woman and gives them dominion over creation to rule it in God’s own image.  He gives them the plants to eat, blesses them to be plentiful, and places them in the garden of Eden, giving Adam and Eve meaningful work in carrying out God’s will.  It is this arrangement that God describes as Very Good. 

However, in the garden of Eden grew the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God had warned Adam not to eat from the tree.  He tells Adam that in eating of it, he would surely die.  God clearly communicated his will to Adam.  Adam knew God’s expectations, and he understood the stakes. 

However, in all of Adam’s blessings, he cannot live with the status quo.  Rather than receiving God’s grace and blessings as they were designed to do, they decided they wanted to take become like God, effectively putting themselves in his place.  When Adam and Eve disobey God by eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they set themselves outside of God’s will.  By doing so, we see the entry of sin into the world, and with it, death enters the world as well.  The author of Genesis offers no explanation, no excuse, no justification for Adam and Eve’s rebellious act.  They knew God’s will, they had everything they could want, and yet they disobey God.  All of creation stands aghast at this senselessness and becomes subject to the corruption of it. 

The story doesn’t change throughout the scriptures.  We see the same thing in the nation of Israel.  God had set aside for himself a nation consecrated to him.  Through Moses God delivered them from slavery and bondage to Egypt, and delivered over to them the land of Canaan, the Promised Land.  In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gives his last address to the nation of Israel as they prepare to enter and conquer the Promised Land.  He urges them to follow God’s will communicated to them in the Sinai covenant.  He tells them they have a choice between obedience and life, and disobedience and death.  He explains to them the blessings associated with obedience, and the curses associated with disobedience.  In his impassioned plea he urges them to choose life.  Joshua, Moses’ successor would repeat this choice to Israel after they conquer and begin to settle the Promised land. 

And yet, we see the same senseless disregard for God’s will.  Throughout the history of Israel, Israel would disobey God, follow after gods of their own making, and forsake the God who promised such rich blessings.  Senseless.  Irrational.  Why?

We are no different than Israel.  Paul describes our situation in this way:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie…” 

Paul makes clear that God’s will has been made manifest to us.  And yet, we actively subvert God’s will, and exchange his truth for lies. 

As humans, we expect wickedness to be met with justice.  In fact, we demand it so long as justice is administered to a third party.  But when we realize that the wicked one is us, we sing a very different tune.  We realize that there is no way that we can fulfill the demands for justice for our own sin.  And yet, the requirement of justice must be fulfilled.  Paul tells us that ultimately, “the wages of sin is death.” 

This is the offense of the message of the cross.  “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 

To the world the message of the cross is foolishness, it is audacious disregarding of what makes sense to us.  Wickedness demands justice, yet we cannot pay it.  We want grace, yet we deserve the demand of justice for our wickedness. 

So what does God do?  God gives us both.  He fulfills the just requirement of the law, and redeems us through grace in one man:  Jesus Christ. 

The author of Hebrews tells us that though Christ has been tempted in every respect as we are, he met those temptations without sinning.  Christ fulfilled God’s will where we subverted it. 

And though, we were guilty of transgressing God’s law, bringing with our transgressions the curses of the law, Christ became the curse of the law in our place. 

Though we fall short of fulfilling God’s will for us, God credits the righteousness of Christ to our account. 

Paul tells us, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

It makes no sense.  The math doesn’t seem to add up.  And yet, God declares this to be true, so we accept that it is true.  And there it is, the audacity of grace, the foolishness of the cross.  Christ died, that you may live by faith in him. 

May we all become fools and accept the audacity of Christ, the foolishness of the cross.  

The Epiphany – A Tale of Two Responses to the Lorship of Christ

This week, as part of my men’s group Bible Study, I was contemplating the story of the Epiphany, or the revelation of Christ to the Three Wise Men.  As I read, I could not but help to think about the two responses to the coming of Christ that are juxtaposed against one another in the narrative.  As I thought about this, I could not but help to be convicted by the two examples set before us in Matthew’s Gospel. 

Matthew narrates the story of the Epiphany as follows:

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship Him.’  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  They said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

‘And you, Bethlehem, Land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’

Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.’  After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  After coming into the house, they saw the Child with Mary, His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshipped Him.  Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.”

Here we have these two glaring responses to the revelation of Jesus Christ, the King. 

The Magi, or Three Wise Men, saw his star in the east.  Matthew doesn’t tell us much about them personally.  We don’t know if they are Jews who might be familiar with the scriptures, or if they were Gentiles.  Maybe they knew of Micah’s proclamation that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.  But then again, maybe they didn’t.  What we do know is that God called them through the appearing of His star in the East to come and see this King of the Jews and they knew they had to experience Him for themselves, and to fall down in joy and worship Him.  Out of their own treasures, they laid down an offering for their King.  This was their faith in action, the response to grace.

On the other hand, there was Herod’s response. 

King Herod was declared king of Judea for over forty years maintaining his power through the support of the Roman Empire.  Although he was the King of Judea, Herod himself was not a Jew.  He was an Idumaean by birth (an Edomite in Old Testament terms).  This wasn’t the only problem for Herod though.  The Jews had been promised since the time of Isaiah, roughly seven hundred and fifty years before Christ, that a Messiah would come, a shoot from the branch of Jesse (the House of David).  This Messiah would rule on David’s throne forever in righteousness and truth. 

Herod knew that there can be only one king.  He knew that the true king had come.  Herod knew that he was a pretender to the throne.  He chose to try to usurp the throne that wasn’t rightfully his.  Herod’s response, just as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Chief Priests, and Romans would do thirty years later, would be to try to kill this king.  We are told by Matthew, that even after being foiled by the Three Wise Men who refused to divulge the location of the Christ child, Herod gathered his troops and killed all the children in Bethlehem aged two and under.  This is what the world untouched by grace does.  It tries to kill the king and rule from his throne.

And so, these are the two responses to the coming of Christ.  Bow down in faith and worship the king, or kill the rightful king and take his throne. 

When I look at these responses, it convicts me to the core.  I would like to think my response is like the Wise Men, to rejoice in the kingship and lordship of Christ in faith, and to worship Him as they did.  But if I am honest with myself, my response is often much closer to Herod’s. 

I think about the words that I speak to others.  How often do I speak crassly, or unlovingly?  Who is this Jesus to tell me what to speak?  At these times, am I not like Herod, refusing to bend the knee to the true king?

I think about those times I am presented with opportunities to love my neighbor, and I fail to do so.  Who is this Christ, to tell me how to live?  At these times, am I not like Herod, refusing to give over the throne?

I think about those times I do what I know I should not do.  Who is this King to tell me what to do?  Am I not like Herod, attempting to kill the king who should be ruler of my life?

The earliest creed of the Church captures this theme of Epiphany.  We find this creed in Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 12:3):  Jesus is Lord. 

My question though, is do we live like Jesus is Lord?  Do we love him in faith?  Do we act as though he is our king?  Does Jesus determine how we think, how we speak, how we act, even down to how we spend our money?  Shamefully, I see that the spirit of Herod lives within me and I cannot of myself live in the posture of worship of the Three Wise Men. 

Paul puts it far better than I can.  In his epistle to the church at Ephesus Paul tells us:  “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”  He shows us the spirit of Herod in which we all were born, rebelling against the righteous rule of the King of the Jews.

But the good news is this, Christ died for me.  And in dying for me, he died, that the spirit of Herod within me would die with Him, and be raised anew in the spirit of the Magi. 

“But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Through our baptism, we are called by God, just as surely as the star sent by God called the Wise Men.  Through the proclamation of the gospel of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit within us, we are shown the Herod within us, and brought to repentance.  Through Jesus death, our sinful flesh is killed, and through his resurrection, we have been raised with him.  Through the sacrament of Holy Communion we receive assurance that Jesus died for our sin.

And now, having been raised anew by the grace of God in the spirit of the Wise Men, we joyfully bow the knee to our savior and worship him for what he is to us.  He is our King.  He is our ruler.  This Jesus is Lord.  He restores us to fellowship with Him, that we might live in worship, just as the Wise Men presented their treasures before the Christ child.  As Paul continues, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

This is the promise that we carry with us in Epiphany.

God, as you have promised through your son, kill the Spirit of Herod within me.  Let me rejoice as the Three Wise Men did in the salvation and Lordship of your Son this Epiphany.  Let me live in faith, and let me not withhold my time, talent, and treasure in worship and service to you.  Amen.