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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. (Amen.)
Recent rainfall and at least somewhat cooler temperatures generally have been welcome blessings, whether or not weather forecasts have been right about, for example, when the rainfall would come and how low the cooler temperatures would go. One day this past week when it was pouring rain here at Pilgrim, I looked at the radar on my smart-phone to see how big the storm cell was and so how long the rain might last, but the radar did not show any rain anywhere for miles—perhaps so much for modern technology. For the people in today’s Gospel Reading, a cloud rising in the west towards the Mediterranean Sea apparently was a pretty-sure sign of a coming shower, and a wind blowing from the south towards the Negev Desert apparently was a pretty‑sure sign of scorching heat. So, Jesus asked the hypocrites in the crowds why they knew how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky but did not know how to interpret the present time. Comments about times, as well as about both peace and storms, are common to today’s Old Testament Reading (Jeremiah 23:16‑29) and today’s Gospel Reading, and so this morning we consider “How to interpret the present time”.
In today’s Old Testament Reading, the Lord through His faithful prophet Jeremiah is warning the people about the false prophets who said continually, both to those who despised the Word of the Lord that things would be well with them, and to those who stubbornly followed their own heart that no disaster would come upon them. But, the true prophet Jeremiah said that the storm of the Lord’s wrath had gone forth, a whirling tempest, that would burst upon the head of the wicked, the anger of the Lord, that would not turn back until He had executed and accomplished the intents of His heart, all of which, the Divinely-inspired Jeremiah said, would be understood clearly in the latter days (confer Jeremiah 30:23-24). And, in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus can be taken as similarly both warning His disciples about their wrongly expecting peace instead of division, even in families, and warning the crowds about the fiery judgment that is coming imminently, whether or not they recognize its coming (confer Psalm 11:6).
The disciples’ being of the opinion that Jesus had come to give peace on earth and the crowds’ not being able to test or examine the times are seemingly related, not only by their being expressed by apparently related verbs in the original Greek of the Gospel Reading, but also by their arguably being the result of not letting the Word of God rightly inform and shape opinions and instruct how to test or examine the times. How well do we do with letting the Word of God have its sway over us? When our religious beliefs are different, do we expect peace between people, such as members of our own families? Do we maybe even think that the world might have been better off without the preaching of God’s Word that brings such division (confer Luther, ad loc Galatians 4:30, AE 26:452)? What about our testing or examining the times? Are we more concerned about the coming weather than the coming of the Lord? Do we prefer this life over what God has promised for eternity? Are we prepared for Judgment Day with repentance over our sin and faith in God’s forgiveness?
“Extreme fires” are said “to have swallowed up huge swathes of land, destroyed homes[,] and threatened livelihoods across the world” so far this year, fires that scientists reportedly say are “increasingly frequent and fierce, fuelled by heat waves, droughts[,] and the growing menace of climate change” (Reuters). If you think that those fires, the heat waves, and climate change are hot, consider what may be the literal heat of hell, which, apart from repentance and faith, we all deserve on account of both our sinful nature and all of our actual sin. Whether or not the Inflation Reduction Act actually helps with climate change, the only thing that can save you from what may be the literal heat of hell is repentance and faith. So, faithful prophets like Jeremiah, Jesus, and pastors today always proclaim God’s Words to His people so that they turn both from their evil ways and from the evil of their deeds, and so that, when they turn, they are forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus’s coming brings not peace but division between people on earth because His coming brings the peace of reconciliation between God and those people who with repentance and faith receive His peace. Truly, Jesus is the Coming One, the long-promised Messiah, the Christ, the Savior. God in human flesh, Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), and at His birth the angels sang of peace on earth among those with whom God is pleased (Luke 2:14), because those people have not rejected but received God’s free gift of peace for Jesus’s sake. Before Jesus could cast the fire of judgment on the earth, He first, out of Divine necessity and love for us, had to complete a “baptism” that included His death on the cross for us and for our salvation of body and soul. Jesus longed to save all people, and, on the cross, He with joy “accomplished” or “finished” that salvation of all people (John 19:30; confer Luther, ad loc Psalm 6:7, AE 10:78), and then He rose from the dead. If we remain alienated from God we will experience the fire of eternal judgment, but, if we repent and believe, then we have fellowship with God and are saved. Today’s Epistle Reading (Hebrews 11:17-12:3) continues the book of Hebrews’ often-named “roll call” of faith. Like those people Hebrews lists, when we repent and believe, then God forgives us. God forgives our wrong opinions about Jesus’s coming; God forgives our failure to interpret correctly the present time. God forgives our sinful nature and all our actual sin, whatever our actual sin might be.
God forgives us through His Word in all of its forms. Pastors read and preach God’s Word to groups such as this one, and they apply the Gospel individually with water in Holy Baptism, with touch in Holy Absolution, and with the bread and wine of the Sacrament of the Altar that are the Body of Christ given for us and the Blood of Christ shed for us. Today’s Gospel Reading can lead us to think especially of Holy Baptism, where we are united with Christ and die and rise with Him (Romans 6:1-6; Colossians 2:11-14). At the Baptismal Font we are given new family ties with our brothers and sisters in Christ, from whom our faith in Christ does not separate us and with whom our faith in Christ unites us. Today’s Gospel Reading can also lead us to think especially of the Sacrament of the Altar, where family divisions can be especially painful, though, as the Divinely-inspired St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, some divisions are necessary so that those who are genuine may be recognized (1 Corinthians 11:19). And, any sorrow that we experience in the process of coming to the rail is outweighed by the peace and joy that come with the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation that we receive with Christ’s Body and Blood.
As we receive God’s forgiveness through His Word in all of its forms, we are trans‑formed. Like our Lord, we expect rejection and division, and, in the words of the Epistle Reading, we run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. So, we do not grow weary or fainthearted, but we are eager for our own deaths or Judgment Day, whichever comes first, and we are eager for the glory that we will experience in heaven, with eternal peace and unity in the family of God, eating the family meal that never ends.
Here in East Texas, the clouds bearing rain showers may or may not rise in the west, and the winds that bring scorching heat may or may not blow from the south, but, with or without a meteorologist’s help, we figure out enough about the weather to get by. And, by the Lord’s revelation to us, which we let hold sway over us, we know “How to interpret the present time”. So, with daily repentance over our sin and faith in God’s forgiveness, we live both in the forgiveness of sins that we receive from God and in the forgiveness of sins that we in turn extend to one another. And, until our Lord Jesus finally and fully delivers us, as with today’s psalmist (Psalm 119:81-88; antiphon: v.81), our souls long for His salvation, and we Hope in His Word.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +