Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio.
+ + + 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.
Women whose childbirth has included labor and delivery will often talk about the length of their labor. At their upper limits, the three stages of labor together might take longer than 21 hours, but most totals are less than that. Women who have experienced the sudden onset of labor perhaps can best appreciate the figure of speech Jesus uses in today’s Gospel Reading, when He says “the beginning of the birth pains”, but the rest of us can probably still get the general idea that we are somewhere in the middle of the end times and that the end itself can come at any time. This morning we consider today’s Gospel Reading under the theme “Mid birth pains”.
Jesus’s teaching about the end times that we heard in the Gospel Reading this morning came after He had criticized the leaders of the Jewish religion of His day, including His indictment of the scribes that we heard in last week’s Gospel Reading (Mark 12:38-44). For example, we heard Jesus talk about how at least some of the scribes devoured widows’ houses, and then Jesus drew His followers’ attention to a widow who, out of her poverty, put into the offering box everything she had, all she had to live on. The money in that offering box in part paid for the upkeep of the Temple complex, and, yet, as we heard this morning, when one of His disciples remarked about the Temple complex’s wonderful stones and wonderful buildings, Jesus said to him that there would not be left one stone upon another that would not be thrown down, and, less than 50 years later, that prophecy was fulfilled, as the Romans leveled the Temple along with the rest of Jerusalem.
At the time of the Gospel Reading, however, at least four disciples wanted to know when that destruction would happen and what the signs would be of when it and the other events of the end times would be accomplished. In what we this morning heard of Jesus’s “answer”, He gives a number of “commands” to them and to us related to their and our being “Mid birth pains”. Jesus says to see that no one leads the disciples and us astray, for many will come in Jesus’s Name apparently claiming to be Him and will lead many astray. Jesus says not to be alarmed when the disciples and we hear of wars and rumors of wars, nation rising up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and of earthquakes and famines. Jesus says to be on their and our guard, for people apparently outside of the Church would deliver them and will deliver us over to councils, to be beaten, and to stand before governors and kings for His sake. Jesus says not to be anxious beforehand what they and we are to say but to say whatever is given them and us in that hour, for the Holy Spirit would speak through them and will speak through us. And, even as families or churches are divided over Jesus, and some family-members deliver others over to death, and as the disciples were and we will be hated by all for Jesus’s Name’s sake, Jesus arguably says for the disciples and us to endure to the end and so be saved.
How are you and I doing with those “commands”? Do we see that no one leads us astray? Are we alarmed at the events of the world that we hear about on the news? Are we on our guard for people who would deliver us over to religious and governing officials? Are we anxious beforehand about what to say? Do we speak what the Holy Spirit moves us to say? Are we enduring all, even family or church division over the Name of Jesus, and so are we “eligible” to be saved? No doubt we sin in these regards, as we sin in countless other ways, for we are sinful by nature. For our sinful nature and all our sin, we deserve death here in time and torment in hell for eternity, unless, first moved by God, we turn in sorrow from our sin, trust God to forgive our sin, and want to do better than to keep on sinning. For, when we so repent, then God forgives our sin, all our sin, for Jesus’s sake.
“Mid birth pains”, there is still good news! That call to repentance still goes out! Above all else, the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins by grace through faith in the God-man Jesus Christ is proclaimed to all nations, including us! That Gospel is the good news that, for us and for our salvation, Jesus Himself was delivered over to death by a “brother”, brought to trial before the Council, beaten, stood before a governor, was hated by the crowds, and was killed. There on the cross, He, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Hebrews 10:11-25), offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, Himself. And, He did not stay dead but rose on the third day, showing Himself to be victorious over sin, death, and the power for the devil, for us. So, we draw near to Him with a true heart in full assurance of faith, seeking and receiving the forgiveness of our sins in the ways that He promises to give us that forgiveness of sins.
We note well that in today’s Gospel Reading the very persecution that is experienced “Mid birth pains” leads to bearing witness about Jesus, no doubt in some cases leading to people’s conversion by their believing that witness and in other cases leading to their judgment for their not believing that witness. Yet, the Gospel is proclaimed to all nations! Disciples are made of all nations by Holy Baptism, that Gospel connected to water, God’s putting His Triune Name upon them and His writing their names, along with the names of us who have been baptized, in the Book of Life, of which we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading (Daniel 12:1-3). With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, we hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, and we may privately confess our sins to our pastor for the sake of individual Holy Absolution. As we see the Last Day drawing near, we do not neglect to meet together in the Divine Service but regularly receive in the Sacrament of the Altar bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us, and thereby we receive the forgiveness of sins and so also life and salvation.
As before the birth pains and after the birth pains, so also “Mid birth pains”: all is still under the providential control of God. He works all things together for the good of conforming us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29). As that Son was delivered over to death by a “brother”, brought to trial before the Council, beaten, stood before a governor, was hated by the crowds, and was killed for us, so we may be delivered over to death by a “brother”, brought to trial, beaten, made to stand before governing officials, be hated by the crowds, and be killed for His Name’s sake. We do not pick and choose what we endure, but we endure the religious temptation and sufferings that are imposed upon us. We do not complain or grumble, nor do we grow weary or despondent. God Himself enables us so to endure. (Hauck, TDNT 4:581-588.) And, with daily repentance and faith, we live in God’s forgiveness of sins for when we fail Him, and we, in turn, forgive those who sin against us.
The birth pains of labor come to an end one way or another with the delivery of the child, and the birth pains that Jesus in today’s Gospel Reading says we are in the midst of will similarly end with His final coming in glory to judge the living and the dead. We are “Mid birth pains” now and until that final coming, and we will hear more about that final “deliverance” in the Gospel Reading next week. Yet, as long as we are “Mid birth pains”, we see that no one leads us astray, we are not alarmed at the events of the world, we are on our guard for deliverance over to officials, we are not anxious beforehand about what we will say but say whatever the Holy Spirit gives us in that hour, and we endure all—even family or church division—to the end, and so we are saved—all by God’s grace for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ and to the glory of His holy Name.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +