A Blog of Sermons, Devotional Thought, Religious Topics, and Just fun information and thoughts from Rev. Keith GeRue
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
Between Girard and Virden Illinois
September 29 (St Michael & All Angels)Deuteronomy 1:19–36; Matthew 5:21–48
September 30 Deuteronomy 1:37—2:15; Matthew 6:1–15
October 1 Deuteronomy 2:16–37; Matthew 6:16–34
October 2 Deuteronomy 3:1–29; Matthew 7:1–12
October 3 Deuteronomy 4:1–20; Matthew 7:13–29
October 4 Deuteronomy 4:21–40; Matthew 8:1–17
Next Weeks Lessons:
the seventeenth sunday after trinity
“Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king” (Proverbs 25:6–14). Rather, take the lowest position at the table. Humble yourself before Him. For your place is not for you to take but for Him to give. Conduct yourself with all lowliness and gentleness, bearing with one another in love (Ephesians 4:1–6), that the King may give you glory in the presence of those at the table with you. “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:1–11). Is this not the way of Christ? He is the one who took the lowest place, who humbled Himself even to the point of death for us. He is now exalted to the highest place at the right hand of the Father that penitent believers may be exalted together with Him in the resurrection. To the humble at His Supper He says, “Friend, go up higher,” giving you His very body and blood for your forgiveness that you may ascend to take part in the great wedding feast which has no end.
Collect
Lord, we implore You, grant Your people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil and with pure hearts and minds to follow You, the only God; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for today is the raising of the widow of Nain’s son, with focus on the words, He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”
It’s kind of nice to have Easter in September, isn’t it? Easter has a way of bringing focus to the Christian faith like nothing else. Easter points us to Jesus death on the cross. It points us to all of the disappointments and failures of our own lives. It shows us lost opportunities and a gentle reminder of our own approaching death. But it does all of this from the other side of Holy Baptism. In Easter you see your life, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit of Christ that now dwells in you by water and Word. Easter means hope for you. Easter means a future. Easter means an eternal ring of alleluias to God for bringing us out of death and sin and into the marvelous light of His own life.
In our Gospel reading this morning we get a picture of what is coming, the impending eternity that breaks into your life by the holy waters. This poor woman is leaving Nain with her dead son. She is a widow. She has no money, no family, no hope. All she has is a bunch of people following after her, crying. I’m sure she was comforted that they were crying with her, but at that point in time, she needed more than simply tears.
While she is on the way, death meets Life in the road. Jesus meets them coming into town. He sees them coming. What a blessed interruption! Can you imagine the scene? What could be more scandalous than two big crowds meeting in the middle of the road? Death meets life. It’s like a battle in the streets, only we know who will come out victorious. Jesus sees her, and has compassion on her. He loves her with an everlasting love. He looks to His own cross and death and empty tomb and says to her, do not weep.
Now I have had loved ones die. I know, as well as most of you know, that this is not exactly the most comforting thing to hear when you have had a loved one die. Don’t mourn! You must be joking. Nothing will ever be the same again. Don’t mourn! Please. You don’t understand what I’m going through. Don’t mourn! Go away, she might well have been thinking.
But when Jesus says do not mourn, he says it for a reason. He reaches out, and touches the coffin. He does not fear death and it’s stench. He does not fear that He will become unclean by the dead touch of her son. No. He touches the coffin. Unthinkable in Jesus day, but then, so was rising from the dead.
He touches the coffin, and the crowd and those around stood still. Can you see the scene? What’s He going to do? He can’t weep with the mourners. He’s just touched the coffin. You could hear a pin drop. Jesus then says the words to that young man that brought hope for all those around, young man, I say to you, arise. Arise. Get up. And so he who was dead sat up and began to speak. In Greek we can see that the risen man wasn’t whispering or mumbling. No, he was calling out. I wonder what he said? Whatever it was, I bet it was something to hear. So then Jesus presents the young man to his mother.
It has been said, Jesus never meets a corpse that doesn’t sit up right on the spot (Robert Farrar Capon). Luther in his great Easter hymn calls the battle between life and death a strange and dreadful strife. This is how our battle with death looks, to be sure. Our battle with death is dark, mysterious, and almost always painful. Another pastor once said that death is the greatest preacher the Law ever had. When we look at death, either our own or someone else’s, it reminds us so clearly that there is no getting out of death. The mortality rate for humanity is 100%. But in Christ, even in death you are victorious.
What you have here in our text this morning, dear friends, is your own resurrection in short form. You are dead in trespasses and sins, but by the mercy of God, Jesus called out to you and said, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You were bought with a price, the price of His own blood. When Jesus raised this young man from the dead, He did so knowing that He would rise from the dead. And because Jesus rose from the dead, you too shall rise. And your loved ones. And those who died in Christ from floods or fires or terrorists or old age or heart attacks or cancer or whatever else this sick world may throw at us. God can do more, much more, than we can even believe possible.
This is the very essence of the Christian faith, dear baptized. It isn’t a philosophy or a way of life. It isn’t a self-help plan or finally something about your behavior. No. The Christian faith is about Jesus raising you from the dead by the power of His own resurrection. The Christian faith is delivered to you in water, Word and holy food. This faith always has more to give than we can even consider, because God has big plans for us, plans that will last to all eternity. As St. Paul wrote in our Epistle: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.” Amen. (Ephesians 3:20 – 21)
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Our text is from the Gospel lesson just read, with focus on the words, Are you not of more value than they?
When Elijah went to see the widow of Zarephath, things looked bleak. Very bleak. Elijah asked her for a sip of water and a mouthful of bread, and instead he got a confession of despair. She said:
“As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” (1 Kings 17:12 ESV)
Don’t bother me, she is saying., I am preparing my last meal for my son and I. She could not look up and see the God of mercy gazing down upon her in love. She could only look down. She could only see the problems right in front of her, and so did not know what was coming.
Have you ever been there?Has there been a time in your life when it seemed as though God had abandoned you, you were left to yourself, and you might as well lie down and die? It is all together too easy to go there. The more we look down at the world, the more we forget to lift up our eyes and behold God at work, taking care of us day in and day out.
We live in a time of great anxiety. In the summertime we work hard to forget responsibilities and to just live in the moment. But when the fall comes, and it is around the corner, dear friends, when the fall comes, we are reminded again of everything that must be done. Work. Family. Children. Our health. Jobs. It seems as though everything comes crashing down in September. Like that widow in our text, when you look down at all of this stuff that is coming around the corner, it is easy to despair. It is easy to believe that they are insurmountable, impossible to overcome and just never ending.
So how does God answer your fears? Many of your fears, if we’re honest, are quite real. Maybe you don’t know how to make ends meet. Maybe your health is poor, and the prospects don’t look good. Maybe your marriage is a lot shakier than you wish it was. So how does God answer your fears?
First of all, we need to understand and recognize that God does answer your fears. He doesn’t belittle them or treat them as insignificant or meaningless. God knows your trials. He knows your fears. He sees your sorrows and your pains. He knows what aches inside you. Perhaps this is obvious to you, but perhaps not. God knows your troubles. God knows your troubles, and He answers them.
Consider how God has answered the fears of His people in times past. When Joseph’s brothers feared for their lives, He sent Joseph to them to comfort them and provide for them. When the children of Israel feared that the Egyptians would crush them alongside the Red Sea, God sent Moses to them to deliver them from their fear. When Joshua looked over the land of Canaan and all of the peoples who stood between him and God’s promises, God said to him, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” (Joshua 10:8 ESV) When Ruth feared for her life at the hand of the Israelites, God sent Boaz to her to be her redeemer, and to protect her from all harm. We can confess and rejoice with the Psalmist who prays, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalms 118:6 ESV)
But all of this is but a shadow compared to what our Lord does for you. Jesus points us to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. God takes care of them in due season, provides for them, and gives them life. Then Jesus asks this wonderful question: Are you not of more value than they?
The answer is yes! Yes you are. God created you in His image. He sent His only begotten Son to redeem you from sin, death and the power of the devil. God has set eternity in your heart, so that you may live and commune with Him forever. If God is going to do all of these wondrous things for you, don’t you think God will take care of you in this life as well?
Of course He will. After all, He clothes you with Himself in Holy Baptism, feeds you with Himself in His Holy Sacrament, and draws you to Himself here in the Divine Service. He is not satisfied to simply give you food and drink for the body, although He does that as well. He gives you food and drink that will last forever.
Don’t be anxious about your life, our text says. Jesus says this to you this day, not because your trials and problems don’t matter. He says this to you because He has taken care of them. Sin is paid for, death is but the door to eternal life, and the devil is cast into hell forever. You need not worry about the troubles of tomorrow. God has been there. He’s seen the end of the show, and it is only good for you, His beloved children.
St. Peter reminds us to “…cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 ESV) Lift up your eyes and see the salvation of our Lord. It is now. It is for you. And it lasts forever. Don’t be afraid. Amen.
September 21 (St Matthew)Nehemiah 5:1–16; 6:1–9, 15–16; 1 Timothy4:1–16
September 22 Nehemiah 7:1–4; 8:1–18; 1 Timothy5:1–16
September 23 Nehemiah 9:1–21; 1 Timothy5:17—6:2
September 24 Nehemiah 9:22–38; 1 Timothy6:3–21
September 25 Malachi 1:1–14; Matthew 3:1–17
September 26 Malachi 2:1—3:5; Matthew 4:1–11
NEXT WEEKS LESSONS:
the sixteenth Sunday after trinity
A large funeral procession carrying the only son of a widow is confronted by another large procession, Jesus and His followers. Death and Life meet face to face at the gate of the city (Luke 7:11–17). Filled with compassion, Jesus comes into direct contact with our mortality in order to overcome it. He touches the coffin and speaks His creative words of life, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” Jesus does what is neither expected nor requested. For through Christ, God the Father “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:14–21). Jesus bore our death in His body that we may share in His resurrection. Even as Elijah stretched himself out three times over the Zarephath woman’s son (2 Kings 17:17–24), God stretched Himself out over us in the threefold application of His name in the baptismal water, breathing new and everlasting life into us. “To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”
Collect
O Lord, we pray that Your grace may always go before and follow after us, that we may be continually given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
