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?Give to Caesar what is Caesar?s and to God what is God?s.? Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Our Gospel lesson this morning exposes a deep and hard pressed problem the world has, does and will always have with the God of the Bible-that we are forever missing who God is and what He is up to in the world. That we are forever searching, looking and asking about God in all the wrong places, in all the wrong ways, for all the wrong reasons. And the reason we do this is because we, at the end of the day, really don?t like the God we have already found revealed in the Bible.
And we see this happening in this episode from Matthew this morning. This group who approached Jesus were unlikely bedfellows. The Pharisees typically had no place for the Herodians, for while the Pharisees were focused on religious issues, the Herodians were completely secular. At any other time, these two groups were actively opposed to each other; each were advocating different ideas, different ideals, different goals for the life of Israel. But they had gathered here in order to try to trap Jesus in His words. That they were attempting to find a way to get rid of this Jesus who had come and overturned all their tables. For instead of calling for the strict adherence of the law, as the Pharisee?s believed made one worthy to God, and of constantly speaking of a Kingdom that laid outside of the Roman one the Herodians were dependent upon, Jesus instead was calling people to repent and seek God-to turn around from their current ways and begin to place their trust in the One who came to take away the sins of the world, as John the Baptist proclaimed of Jesus.
And that is why they sought to trap Jesus with this question on whether it is right to pay the tax to Caesar. For if Jesus had answered ?yes,? then the people who detested the Roman rule would have abandoned Him and the Pharisees would have had the opportunity to depose of Jesus. However, if He would have said ?no,? then the Herodians would be able to hand Jesus over to the Romans on the charge of sedition and rebellion. So both sides were looking to benefit from Jesus? answer-either way, they would be rid of this One who came preaching and proclaiming a God different than they both believed and actually wanted. They both were looking for a way to keep things the way they were, the way they were comfortable with.
But instead of exposing Jesus, His answer exposed what they were actually after-to define who God was and what He must be doing in the world. For to render to Caesar and God what is rightfully theirs means that you must learn to separate between what is of man and what is of God. That Jesus, taking what Isaiah said today, refuses to allow them to dictate His mission and so declares that what God will do is what God will do. For here Isaiah saw that God was using Cyrus, the pagan Persian king, to bring about the restoration of Judah, not a Jew as would be expected. And Jesus was calling them to understand the same-that God doesn?t work according to our ways, but will only His own-that He does what He does in order to bring about what He knows truly needs to happen-the salvation of mankind.
And to begin to understand this, we need to ask what in the end, does happens to Jesus? He DOES end up exactly what this group was hoping for today-rejected by all, handed over by the Pharisees and Herodians, and put to death by the Romans. But as Jesus explained in John-no one takes His life away except those He hands it over too. That there will be nothing done without God doing it according to His will and way. That is why Jesus says it will not be up to Caesar to decide what needs to be done. That was the point of the coin-to try to trap Jesus over the issue of taxation is to confuse the reason He was given to the world. That in their trying to use His answer to sway public opinion was to miss completely what God was completing through and in Him.
And this is an important understanding for us today. For we live in a world that acts and works completely different than what God does. For as where we live in a world that thrives on hard work and obeying the law to get ahead. That if we want to be righteous and successful according to the world, then we better put our nose to the grindstone and starting working at it. For the things we hold in our hands will only get there if we strive hard to achieve them. And that is where we find ourselves sharing in the Pharisees and Herodians-when we start confusing this world and God?s, confusing our ways verses God?s. So whether it is believing that it is through a strict adherence to the law we are made good, or a belief that in Christ, we have been can live in this world however we wish-either way is confusing all what God has done in the world and so miss the God in the process.
And that is why Jesus calls us to render to each according to each their own. For the ways and means and ideas of man is not that of God-He is playing His own game and with His own rules. And that means whatever side we fall upon-a law-fill or lawless life-misses all what God has been doing in history. For it doesn?t finally matter what we, like the Herodians or Pharisees, desire-when we try to gain a glimpse of God?s work apart from what He has revealed, we miss the life, depth and breadth of the Biblical message. And that is why if we forever do this, we receive that wrath Paul warned of today-for in rejecting the One whom God desires for the world, we end up receiving the wrath of death over our sin because we have sought God according to our ways over that what God has declared.
Which is why, Jesus insists here, we must stop looking to ourselves for understanding and sole fall upon what God is proclaiming. For God does not show deference to anyone-all are made equal both under the law and in Christ. If one tries to live how it by the law alone, one will finally miss God?s mercy and grace completely because such things can be captured, not in what we can do or should do or even don?t do, but solely by faith alone. That is why Jesus refuses to be trapped-He knows we can only receive Him according to the ways of God or not at all. So to render God what is His is, Luther says, ?to be transferred to another and higher existence, a divine and eternal kingdom, and begin to live with our hearts dependent upon God, uninterested in the ways of the world.?
And that means we cannot look anywhere else for life except in the One God sent to be the Way, Truth and Life of God. Turning our eyes away off ourselves and away from the world, we are called to place them on God?s desire alone. And that is only found in Christ alone, the One who wanted nothing less than to be place on the cross and in the grave with the sins of those He had chosen so that in His resurrection, those who believe in Him will find forgiveness, life and salvation given to them in Word and deed-in the Word of the Good News of God and the deed of the washing of your baptism and the eating and drinking of the body and blood of the Supper.
That is why it is time to sing a new song to the Lord and to tell of His salvation from day to day. For it is His salvation that is true and will do what it sets out to achieve. All we can do is to let go of ourselves and live according to God-becoming, Paul say, imitators of Christ Himself-holding onto nothing of your own but taking solely from God all that He desires to give in faith to His beloved. For as Paul told the Thessalonians today-our redemption comes not from anything that we have done, but solely upon our election by God to be His people. And this means that we must stop seeking our way to God and start to hear and know that in Christ, God has done all things for us.
And so, it is in faith alone that you will begin to give what is God?s-for you will end your desires and trust only Christ?s-knowing that through His work on the cross you will find forgiveness from your sins, life from your death, salvation from eternal damnation, not according to what you, but what He has done already done. For as the things of God are God?s alone, all you can do is to hold before your eyes the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus your Savior-and in Him alone, you are given knowledge of all the ways and will of the Triune God. Amen.
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?Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is pure, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.? Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
We are an interesting people. I mean, here we are, living at the most prosperous time, in the most prosperous us country, able to go where we want, do what we will, even worship where we will. Never before has life been so easy to live, so easy to be happy and find contentment. But yet, here we are, forever worrying and fretting over the fact that our 401k?s are shrinking, that the economy is faltering, that our favorite football team is only 2-3 on the year. We are forever decrying that servility and civility is on the wane-that we are a ruder and cruder society today. We are even forever patting ourselves on the back if we can average 25% of membership attending worship on any given Sunday (btw-you averaged 25.9 last year).
But all that is nothing but lying in our sleep when we continue to focus on what we see before our eyes and yet ignore the root of all our problems. For we have become shallow people-focusing and worrying about those things that matter the least, while forgetting and ignoring the things that really matter, that are important. One even speculates that we are under the condemnation of God these days-attacking our idolatry by punishing us where it hurts us the most-that we are being accused of placing our faith in the things of this world. And so have started to see these things disappear. For it is such, as Jesus declared in this parable today, that we have been too focused on our lives, our desires, our thoughts, ideas and opinions and so have not merely missed but finally ignored the call from our God to come and dine at the wedding feast of the Son. And this parable is highlighted in the fact that it?s not merely those who had ignored the call that met the king?s wrath, but that one fellow who was thrown out because he had not attired himself with a royal robe. That, in the end, we are much alike the people in the parable-so concerned about our lives that we ignore the call of our God
For the King has indeed prepared a grand wedding banquet for His Son. God the Father prepared and laid all things as the world awaited the coming of the One who would save and redeem all through His death and resurrection. He even was the One who, taking the Father?s wrath, took our place and allowed His hands and feet be bound to a cross and was thrown out into the darkness of death for our own sakes. And when the Father redeemed His life from the grave, His resurrection has thrown wide upon the door to the feast and all we are to do is to come and enter and so feast upon the bread and wine of the Kingdom. That there is nothing we are to or can do to help in this endeavor-it is the grace of the King that has prepared all things.
And that is why there is a great and deep need for each of us to repent this morning. For regardless of who we are-whether you are young or old, rich or poor, lay or clergy-we are each guilty either, and probably all, of neglecting, forgetting and disregarding of the depths of the love and compassion our God has shown to us in Christ Jesus. We do this when we ignore the call of our God to place our hope, faith and love in Him and Him alone, as the wicked people refused to in the parable today, as well as when we do heed this call but yet refuse to put on the wedding robe, to put on Christ Jesus, as Paul describes, to put on His death so that all you are will be done away with in His resurrection. That either way, Jesus says, all will receive the wrath of the Father when you ignore and reject what He is giving through the Son.
For there is no hope, whatsoever, for any of us when we either turn the call of God into a burden to be ignored or a call of opulence. There really is no difference between those who refuse to darken the doors of a church or those who leave the same as they came-we all fall flat into the depth of our graves when we wallow in the sin of atheism or apathy. And that means it time to start placing our hopes and desires and interests in the things and ways of God and not ourselves. It is time that we refuse to be seduced by the pleasures of our lives, for it will lead only to our destruction. So don?t be fooled-a sin is a sin is a sin, whether it is booze, drugs, sex or gossip, or even when we come to the banquet but spend our time worrying about who is here or why they aren?t here or what do they think they are doing here.
Which is why it is time to awake from our sleep and to start living in the light of the day. It is time for us, each and every one of us, to repent, to stop going our own way and turn back to God. It is time that we stop caring about what this world has and offers, which, as Paul says today, is nothing but idolatry to the self and whose end is destruction, and to start holding fast to what we have attained through what Christ Jesus has attained for us. For our God is the God who has upon Him destroyed the shroud that is cast over all us. That Christ entered into our sin, was destroyed by our death, so that in His resurrection, He would create a brand new world in which we could live. That it was in the presence of our enemies-sin, death and the power of the devil-that our Lord set His table and now we have been invited to feast upon the bread and wine of the Supper, upon the body and blood that redeemed our life from the Pit of hell and damnation.
And that can only be done by faith-the radical, uninhibited reliance upon God above and before all things. For the banquet is ours only by the grace of the King-the only thing we can do is to recognize it lying before us today. But that means we must take our eyes off of the world and ourselves and forget all that it allures or accuses us with. It means that we will fight the urge to fall to the darkness and so stand tall in the shadow of the cross. It means that we will no longer look around and criticize each other according to race or family or even conduct, but will confess to our own sinfulness and so strive to know each other according to the righteousness of Christ and see, not people, but brothers and sisters. It means, even, that we will refuse to allow the world dictate what is important, what is necessary, what is proper and will seek out this God while He might be found-in the Word, in the Baptism, in the bread and wine of the Supper, striving to place the True God as foremost in our lives, over against all other things.
For your God has prepared a banquet for the wedding of His Son to His bride-the Church. In this marriage, He clothes His bride in His wedding robe, which is full of love, life, righteousness, holiness. To wear it is to then hand over the filthy rags, with all its sin, death and damnation, that you have over to Him-and that is what He wore while He hung on the cross. That is why this call is so important-for being clothed in any other robe finds you thrown out into the darkest recesses of hell. For Christ Jesus is the only Way, Truth and Life-your only hope is to be found on that Way, knowing nothing but this Truth, clinging to solely this Life. For it is in this One that we find our true and only home, a home found only, Luther said, by faith in the Word that has taken hold of you through the power of the Holy Spirit. And it is there that you are to wait for Him to return and finally restore your bodies and redeem your lives, so to forever share in all He won for you on the cross. Amen.
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?But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me? Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I like fruit, apples especially. In fact, just yesterday Wendy and I drove up to Bayfield, WI and attended Applefest-a weekend long festival where they celebrate everything apple. And boy, did I have fun-I got to see the fall colors, walk in the crisp fall air and got to eat applebrats, savor apple pie and come home with an ample apple cider supply. And my love of the apple doesn?t just end here. This winter, you will find me sipping hot apple cider while working in my study. You will probably smell apple-cinnamon air freshener coming from my study as well. There seems to be much about the apple that I find enjoyable.
And I think I?m in pretty good company here because even Jesus is talking about fruit today in Matthew. That, in the midst of a series of parables talking about the Kingdom of God and what it means to live in it, Jesus gives this parable of the wicked tenants who, refusing to do the work for the landowner, ended up killing the son, and so gathering the wrath of the father for their evil act. That, even though they were chosen by the landowner to work in his vineyard and had benefitted from being placed there, when it came down to it, their refusal and rebellion revealed that they cared nothing for him, but sought their own desires and benefit. And so it will be, as Jesus adds this illustration, that those who refuse to produce the fruit of the Kingdom, will have it taken away from them.
And that gets us thinking about fruit, both the earthly and heavenly type. For fruit is nothing more than what is produced by the plant in order to carry the seeds needed to continue its existence. But fruit finds its existence solely from the work of the plant-it cannot produce itself; it is to only carry in itself the possibility for the future. And when Jesus connects fruit to this parable, it points out something important. That those tenants were there only because of the grace of the landowner-they had been chosen to work in his new vineyard. Their entire existence derived from, not their work, but from the call of the one who placed them there. All they were to do now, was to do their work for the sake of the landowner. Like apples on the tree, they were there only because they had been produced for his production. And their wickedness stemmed from that they desired to be something more than who they truly were. Believing they were free from the landowner, they finally killed the son trying to seize his inheritance by claiming the rites to the vineyard. But in trying to take what was not theirs, they end up losing their rights to everything.
And that is something that we, too, need to hear. For the first thing that we inevitably end up taking from this parable is to believe that it is our fruit that will prevent us from being like the wicked tenants. And when we start thinking of fruit, we start to apply those lists we find in Scripture-those fruits of the Spirit as Paul calls them. And so immediately we start aligning our lives with what we are doing-thinking that our fruits will be accepted or not whether we are doing good or bad. But that is a faulty line of logic-for as we?ve already seen, fruit can be nothing and do nothing on its own-fruit is not independent from the plant. There is no freedom in a piece of fruit-it does what it does, not because it wills itself, but because what the plant tells it to do. That an apple can only be an apple and not an orange because it grows on an apple tree.
Which means this fruit Jesus is talking about isn?t something that we are able to produce on our own. The tenants were only tenants because of the landowner and they were rejected him. So, when Jesus called for fruit to be produced, it could only be found when they did what the landowner wanted all along-to collect his produce. And when we compare this parable to Isaiah, we begin to sense what Jesus was doing here. That the problem with Israel is that they had constantly forgotten that the vineyard, the land of promise, was created by the One who had given it to them as a gift. But they ended up producing wild grapes-grapes not cultured and exhibiting the qualities of the vine. That instead of living solely upon faith in the God of their deliverance, they sought to take what had been given to them, the law, as the means to work for God?s approval, and so killed all those who came preaching the true Word of God?s desire.
And so it is with all who are called by the Landowner to work in His vineyard. For the Father again, has cleared a land strewn with the rocks of sin through the death and resurrection of the Son. In His work on the cross, Christ Jesus took upon Himself all that litters our life with pain, struggle and hardship-the sin that plagues us everyday, the death that threatens us our lives, the whispers of the devil that lead us to doubt God?s love over us-and in His death, He swallowed up all that scares and destroys us, so that in His resurrection, we are able to live in a brand new world, a world where our sins don?t plague us, our death doesn?t fear us, and the devil doesn?t concern us any longer. And we receive that, not in what we do, but by faith alone-by trusting that God will be true to His Word given to us in Christ. That is what Paul understood in Philippians-all his past he now regarded as excrement, as the Greek says, now that he knew what Christ Jesus has done for him on the cross. All he would now do was to take hold of the promise that had taken hold of him by Christ.
For faith is the fruit God has been after from His people all along. You have been made Christ?s own through His call and all that is left, is to fall, live and rest peacefully in the promises made over you in the Word of baptism, preaching and the Supper. For when you start hearing and trusting that God has done all things for you, the Holy Spirit will start producing the fruit of the Kingdom in and through you-for you will not be able to sit still or keep quiet and so will start telling everyone you can find about the salvation you have come to know. And from that confession, you will begin to see the world in a radically new way-seeing people in need of a neighbor, seeing wrongs which must be made right, seeing a world in need of some faith, hope and love.
For now, because you have been found, you can now seek out; because you have been known, you can now know; because you have been taken laid hold of, laid hold of Christ Jesus in your faith. For your true, eternal and good fruit is found in the nourishment of your faith in the One who overcome all things for you. And in this vineyard, you are able to feast upon the bread and wine of the eternal banquet, filled up so that you are free to produce the fruit of the Kingdom for the Triune God-picking and plucking all those redeemed in your confession of His heavenly love and mercy by the power of the Holy Spirit. And that is a harvest that will be celebrated in the heavenly festival. Amen.
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?But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me? Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I like fruit, apples especially. In fact, just yesterday Wendy and I drove up to Bayfield, WI and attended Applefest-a weekend long festival where they celebrate everything apple. And boy, did I have fun-I got to see the fall colors, walk in the crisp fall air and got to eat applebrats, savor apple pie and come home with an ample apple cider supply. And my love of the apple doesn?t just end here. This winter, you will find me sipping hot apple cider while working in my study. You will probably smell apple-cinnamon air freshener coming from my study. There seems to be much about the apple that I find enjoyable.
And I think I?m in pretty good company here because even Jesus is talking about fruit today in Matthew. That, in the midst of a series of parables talking the Kingdom of God and what it means to live in it, Jesus gives this parable of the wicked tenants who, refusing to do the work for the landowner, ended up killing the son, gathering the wrath of the father for their evil act. That, even though they were chosen by the landowner to work in his vineyard and had benefitted from being placed there, when it came down to it, their refusal and rebellion revealed that they cared nothing for him, but sought their own desires and benefit. And so it will be, as Jesus adds this illustration, that those who refuse to produce the fruit, will have the Kingdom taken away from them.
For fruit is nothing more than what is produced by the plant in order to carry the seeds needed to continue its existence. But fruit finds its existence solely from the work of the plant-it cannot produce itself; it is to only carry in itself the possibility for the future. And when Jesus connects fruit to this parable, it points something important. That those tenants were there only because of the grace of the landowner-they had been chosen to work in his new vineyard. Their entire existence derived from, not their work, but from the call of the one who placed them there. All they were to do was to do their work for the sake of the landowner. Their wickedness stemmed from that they desired to be something more than who they truly were. That is why the finally killed the son-to seize his inheritance to take his right as the heir to the vineyard. Trying to take what was not theirs, they end up losing their rites to everything.
And that is something that we, too, need to hear. For the first thing that we take from this parable is to believe that it is our fruit that will prevent us from being like the wicked tenants. And when we start thinking of fruit, we start to apply those lists we find in Scripture-those fruits of the Spirit as Paul calls them. And so immediately we start aligning our lives with what we are doing-our fruits will be accepted or not whether we are doing good or bad. But that is a faulty line of logic-for as we?ve already seen, fruit can be nothing and do nothing on its own-fruit is not independent from the plant. There is no freedom in a piece of fruit-it does what it does, not because it wills itself, but because what the plant tells it to do. An apple can only be an apple and not an orange because it grows on an apple tree.
Which means this fruit Jesus is talking about isn?t something that we are able to produce on our own. The tenants were only tenants because of the landowner and they were rejected when they rejected his call to them. So, when Jesus called for fruit to be produced, it could only be found when they did what the landowner wanted all along-to collect his produce. And when we compare this parable to Isaiah, we begin to sense what Jesus was doing here. That the problem with Israel is that they had constantly forgotten that the vineyard, the land of promise, was created by the One who had given it to them as a gift. But they ended up producing wild grapes-grapes not cultured and exhibiting the qualities of the vine. That instead of living solely upon faith in the God of their deliverance, they sought to take what had been given to them, the law, as the means to work for God?s approval, and killed all those who came preaching the true Word of God?s desire.
And so it is with all called by the Landowner to work in His vineyard. For the Father again, has cleared a land strewn with the rocks of sin through the death and resurrection of the Son. In His work on the cross, Christ Jesus took upon Himself all that litters our life with pain, struggle and hardship-the sin that plagues us everyday, the death that threatens us our lives, the whispers of the devil that lead us to doubt God?s love over us-and in His death, He swallowed up all that scares and destroys us, so that in His resurrection, we are called to live in a brand new world, a world where our sins don?t plague us, our death doesn?t fear us, and the devil doesn?t concern us any longer. And we receive that, not in what we do, but by faith alone-by trusting that God will be true to His Word given to us in Christ. That is what Paul understood in Philippians-all his past he now regarded as excrement, as the Greek says, now that he knew what Christ Jesus has done for him on the cross. All he would now do was to take hold of the promise that had taken hold of him in Christ.
For faith in the fruit God has been after from His people all of history. You have been made Christ?s own through His call and all that is left is to fall, live and rest peacefully in the promises made over you in the Word of your baptism, preaching and Supper. For when you start hearing and trusting that God has done all things for you, the Holy Spirit will start producing the fruit of the Kingdom in and through you-for you will not be able to sit still or keep quiet and so will start telling everyone you can find about the salvation you have come to know. And from that confession, you will begin to see the world in a radically new way-seeing people in need of a neighbor, seeing wrongs which must be made right, seeing a world in need of restoring.
For now, because you have been found, you can now seek out; because you have been known, you can now know; because you have been taken laid hold of by, laid hold of Christ Jesus in your faith. For your true, eternal and good fruit is found in the nourishment of your faith in the One who overcome all things for you. And in this vineyard, you are able to feast upon the bread and wine of the eternal feast, filled up so that you are free to produce the fruit of the Kingdom for the Triune God-picking and plucking all those redeemed in your confession of His heavenly love and mercy by the power of the Holy Spirit. And that is a harvest that will be celebrated in the heavenly festival. Amen.
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?They said, ?By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority??? Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
?By what authority?? What an apt question for a world to be asking, for we are a world that is forever obsessed with authority. Politicians seek our votes of confidence to trust them with authority. Congregations give authority to their pastors in their service. Even in our jobs, most of us have authority over people as well as serve under someone with authority over us. And while we all have been raised to respect authority, even having a commandment demanding our respect of authority, we ultimately have a problem with it, especially when it is used over and against us. For no matter how much we strive to be respectful and proper at those who come before us and demand our respect and attention, we have a problem with those who hold authority over us. Like a teenager in rebellion to their parents, what we truly want is independence and autonomy from all others in this world-wanting to go, live and be free from having to answer to anyone else we encounter. And we do this, not because we are anti-social or that we desire to be cankerous, but because we finally do not like the fact that someone else might call into question our thoughts, ideas, motives and actions for what we do in our lives. One can say that it is ultimately a problem with the will-we are forever at odds because we are forever seeking to assert our will, our freedom in the world and when we encounter someone inhibiting that, we are unnaturally inclined, because of sin, to fight back.
And that is why this question was posed to Jesus today in our Gospel lesson. For we are in the midst of Holy Week here in Matthew. Jerusalem had just witnessed Jesus? entrance on the back of a donkey and to the cries of the masses. Jesus has already cleared the Temple of the money changers, exclaiming that God declared that His house was to be one of prayer and not a den of robbers. And so, this question from the chief priests and elders today should come to no surprise-Jesus has been throwing around a lot of authority in the last couple of days and they don?t like it one bit, for Jesus was threatening their own authority. That, instead of Jesus submitting to them, submitting to their control, influence and ideas, here Jesus was, doing and claiming things according to His own authority, according to His own pronouncements of right and wrong.
And so the chief priests and those in control of the religious activities of Judaism found themselves at odds with One who came with His own authority and power. And that presented a problem-for if this Jesus, and John before Him, had come, not according to the traditions and thoughts of those in authority today, then just where and from Whom did it? And their inability and unwillingness to answer Jesus? question proves that their final problems were not merely they were afraid of the crowds, but of what it might mean if their authority had indeed come from God. And so they remained non-committed-refusing to give answer to both the crowds and God and so trying to hold onto their authority over finally what is right and wrong, true and false-for by refusing to give an answer, they were attempting to stay in control over ultimately, as Ezekiel points out, God Himself.
For we find in Ezekiel a people trying to remove themselves from the authority of God over their lives. For at this point in the book, having found themselves in bondage to Babylon, the people of Judah had tried every which way, as that proverb showed, to excuse themselves from being at fault for their rebellion-placing the blame, not on their own lack of faith, but on the shoulders of their ancestors. But God, refusing to be put off, placed them back in their sin-it was their own sinfulness. God declared, and lack of trust that contributed to their situation. For even now, Ezekiel pointed out, after a portion of Judah was exiled, those remaining in Jerusalem were trying to find their salvation, not from God, but from Egypt-placing their hopes in the might of man and not God. That is why God lays down the law-only those who are righteous, those who live by faith alone, trusting and taking all from God, He said, would find life and salvation. That God does desired people to live-to place their entire lives on what He has said and promised and done in the world.
Which is why Jesus refused to tell the chief priests where His authority came from-if they couldn?t see God working through the ministry of John and the Word of Christ, then they could never accept God?s authority over their own. That is why, He pointed out, the one who does the work of the Father isn?t the one who might say they will and so don?t, but only those who will listen and do what He wants. That those who will submit to a greater authority, whether it is a priest, tax collector or a prostitute, will find the Kingdom of God-not because of the work done, but finally because they live by faith alone-trusting that what the Father desires will work only for their salvation.
And so, what is left, finally, for anyone of us still today? For our lives are held in bondage to sin, death and the power of the devil, not merely because we break the law, but because we too, have a problem with the authority God demands over us. For our wills, with that of Adam and Eve, are bound in striving to take a place over and above God Himself-to exchange His authority for our own over what is good and evil, what is right and wrong. But this desire for autonomy from God?s authority has gotten us no where fast-for the fruit of our desire to be done with God has condemn us to eternal death and damnation-and all we do now is live, waiting to reap our harvest of death. Like that of Judah, in our desire to find salvation in ourselves, we end up exiles and in bondage to the cruel taskmaster of death.
But we have a God that does not desire us to remain forever dead and lost, and so comes to us in the person of Son-the One who comes with the authority of the Father and in His death and resurrection assumes authority over all things. For He knows very well our problem with authority-He has been battling us in our sin of pride ever since Adam and Eve took that first bite-He knows that if left to ourselves, we will forever wander in search for a freedom we will never find. And that is why, as Paul wrote the Philippians, Christ Jesus came, not using His divine authority for His own profit, but for ours-giving Himself over to a death on the cross, so that the Father, loving Him unto the end, raised Him, thus defeating the grip of sin and the bite of death for all those who now follow Him in the righteousness of faith. That, even though we are like that first son, forgiveness and redemption is found in our repentance-our turning away from ourselves and our authority and toward God?s in faith. It is to stop trying to live in yourself and what you think is true and false, right and wrong, good and evil but solely upon what God has said over and about you. For the eyes of faith, Luther says, looks not ourselves for hope, but on Christ alone-dying, as Paul confessed, with Christ to the world and the flesh, all so to live and now think in a spiritual manner, seeing only the truth of God?s mercy in Christ Jesus.
For the authority of God is seen and found in our crucified Lord. Loving the world He created and not desiring to see its eternal death, He sent the only One who could live in complete faith to the Father. And in His death on the cross, the Son took all that sin, death and the devil condemns us with, so that through His resurrection, the righteousness and love of God would prevail, so rescuing us from damnation in the waters of our baptism and giving us the assurance of its truth in the bread and wine of the Supper. All that is left to do is to now live upon that Word alone-knowing, seeking, desiring nothing but to hear that Word forever, laying aside our authority in our bent knee, singing to the world the song of our Savior, the One who died and rose for our own sakes. Amen.
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