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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you have been keeping up with our congregation’s financial situation, by way of the monthly newsletter updates and especially the recent Council reports, you should know that the Voters Assembly faces a serious challenge at its meeting two weeks from today. Today’s Gospel Reading, which continues from last week’s on the theme of wealth and the Kingdom of God, certainly can seem relevant to our congregation’s financial situation, if for no other reason than for Jesus’s statement that all things are possible with God, even if that statement comes in the context of accomplishing people’s salvation and not eliminating budget deficits. This morning we reflect on the Gospel Reading under that theme of “Wealth and the Kingdom of God”.
The theme of “Wealth and the Kingdom of God” came up in last week’s Gospel Reading (Mark 10:17-22), as you may recall, when a man who had great possessions, and had run up and knelt before Jesus, was asking Him what to do in order to inherit eternal life. When Jesus told the man to go, sell all that he had, and give to the poor for treasure in heaven, and to come and follow Jesus, the man was disheartened and went away sorrowful. Then, as we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus spoke about the difficulty not only for those who have wealth but also for all people to enter the Kingdom of God. And, Jesus spoke about people’s leaving possessions and relatives for His sake and for the Gospel’s sake and receiving a hundredfold now in this time with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life.
That Jesus said that those who had wealth would have difficulty entering the Kingdom of God amazed Jesus’s disciples. Although admittedly the Divinelyinspired St. Mark does not say why Jesus’s disciples were amazed, Jesus’s disciples may have wrongly thought, like many think today, with some Biblical basis, that riches are a sign of God’s favor. And, that Jesus said that anyone would have difficulty entering the Kingdom of God exceedingly astonished Jesus’s disciples. They were not like I was when I was younger and tried to think of ways a camel, the largest animal that they knew, could go through the eye of a needle, the smallest opening that they knew, but they correctly understood that Jesus was saying that anyone’s entering the Kingdom of God, by their own efforts, was not “merely” difficult but actually impossible.
What Jesus said is impossible for people in general is certainly impossible for us in particular. We may or may not consider ourselves rich or to have wealth and great possessions, though certainly compared to poorer people we are rich and do have wealth and great possessions. Regardless, rich or poor, we are unable on our own to enter the Kingdom of God. Whether or not we sin by trusting too much in our wealth or possessions or by not using them as we should, the original sin we inherited and the actual sins it leads us to commit leave us spiritually dead and deserving both of physical death now in this time and in the age to come the torment of eternal death. The Word of God is living and active, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Hebrews 4:1-16), sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and no creature is hidden from God’s sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.
And yet, in warning us of the coming judgment that we deserve, God also calls and enables us to repent: to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust Him to forgive our sin, and to want to do better than to keep on sinning. When we so repent, then God forgives our sin. God forgives our original sin and all our actual sin, whatever that sin might be. God forgives us for Jesus’s sake.
That all things are possible with God was evident in Abraham and Sarah’s conceiving Isaac in their old age (Genesis 18:14), and that all things are possible with God was all the more evident in Mary’s conceiving Jesus as a virgin (Luke 1:37). Out of God the Father’s great love for the world, He sent His one and only Son to be born in human flesh in order to live for us the perfect life that we fail to live and to pay for us the price of our failures to live that perfect life. On our account, Jesus died on the cross. For our own salvation, we can do nothing; but, for our salvation, He has done everything. As the Holy Spirit leads us through faith to receive the salvation God freely offers us for Jesus’s sake, we are forgiven of all of our sin, and we enter the Kingdom of God and have eternal life as our possession already now in this time, even if we do not fully enjoy it until the age to come.
Not the dumbfounded amazement and exceeding astonishment of the disciples at Jesus’s words but faith in those words should be our reaction, which faith, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading, unites us with all those who have ever listened, listen now, and will ever listen to God’s Word. God’s Word with water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism enables us to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). God’s Word spoken by the pastor in individual Holy Absolution is as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself (Small Catechism V). And, God’s Word with bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar gives us the Body of Christ given for us and the Blood of Christ shed for us, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Here and now we already eat and drink at His table as we will in His Kingdom (Luke 22:28-30). In all of these ways, we confidently draw near to His throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. God’s mercy and grace lead to our forgiveness, not our wealth and possessions, although God’s having forgiven us leads to our using our wealth and possessions as God would have us use them.
Jesus told the man in last week’s Gospel Reading to sell all that he had and to give to the poor and to come and follow Him. Although perhaps exaggerating a little bit, Peter told Jesus in this week’s Gospel Reading that the disciples had left everything and followed Him. Jesus’s response may be taken as a gentle warning to Peter, to the other disciples, and to us, that we should not think of ourselves as first, only to find ourselves as last. But, Jesus does say that those who leave possessions and family will receive back onehundredfold, even if in different ways, such as with countless brothers and sisters in Christ. Those with wealth and possessions can be saved, if they have the right faith relationship to God and to their wealth and possessions. The Bible is full of examples of wealthy people who were saved and used their wealth to benefit others: Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57-61), Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), and Lydia (Acts 16:13-15), just to name a few. God enables us to do likewise, for surely, as we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading (Ecclesiastes 5:10-20), there is nothing for our toil that we may carry away in our hands.
Reflecting on today’s Gospel Reading this morning under the theme “Wealth and the Kingdom of God”, we have realized that, wealthy or not, our entering the Kingdom of God is impossible for us but possible for God, Who sacrificed His Son for us. All things are possible with God, and God may well both will and accomplish the elimination of our congregation’s budget deficit, and, if so, He will eliminate the deficit through means such as us ourselves. Where we have failed to use the resources God has entrusted to us as we should, there can be forgiveness. Where we are giving all that we can, there is no reason for guilt. And, even if the deficit is not met, and service arrangements at Pilgrim may change, somehow somewhere God’s free forgiveness of sins will still be available to us all, and so we need not be anxious but may still have peace and joy in Him.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +