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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.)
Here at Pilgrim Lutheran Church we recently have been blessed again to have a number of children regularly attending in-person, not only the Divine Service but also Sunday School—in the case of Sunday School, in-person children are an answer to a petition that for years we have been making in the Prayer of the Church. In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus to some extent focuses our attention on a child and on children, both literal and figurative, emphasizing how the Kingdom of Heaven cares for such children. So, as we this morning consider primarily the Gospel Reading, we direct our thoughts to the theme, “Child-care in the Kingdom of Heaven”.
From the end of last Sunday’s Gospel Reading to the beginning of today’s Gospel Reading, we have jumped forward over one chapter in St. Matthew’s Divinely-inspired Gospel account. Notably, right at the end of what was skipped, Jesus spoke about earthly kings, children, and not “giving offense”—or “scandalizing” people, tempting them to sin or causing them to fall from faith—and then Jesus paid the temple tax for both Himself and Simon Peter (Matthew 17:2427). At that time, as we heard, the disciples asked Jesus who the greatest is in the Kingdom of Heaven, and Jesus put a child in the disciples’ midst and said that they needed to turn and to become like children, to humble themselves like that child, to receive such children and not to cause the little ones to sin, to do what they could to keep themselves from sinning, not to despise the little ones, to seek out those who have gone astray, and ultimately either to bind their sin if they refuse to repent or to loose their sin if they do repent. And, the same goes for us.
When it comes to the Kingdom of Heaven, have we turned and become like children, humbling ourselves? Do we recognize that we need God’s help and are we receptive to that help that we need? Do we remember that our entering the Kingdom of Heaven is not something that we achieve, no matter our age? Do we receive such children in Jesus’s Name? Are we careful not to cause the little ones to sin? Do we do what we can to keep ourselves from sinning? Do we seek out those who have gone astray and, when it comes to our straying members, do we ultimately either bind their sin if they refuse to repent or loose their sin if they do repent?
The reality is that we do not do these things as we should. We are sinful by nature, and so we sin in countless ways, and therefore we deserve not only death here and now but also torment in hell for eternity. We each have gone astray like a lost sheep (Psalm 119:176; confer Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:25). In the Gospel Reading, the 99 of the 100 sheep that are described as never having gone astray help us focus on God’s seeking the one—each of us individually—but we should not think that 99 percent of people are righteous and do not need to repent (confer Luke 15:4-7). For, Holy Scripture says that no one living is righteous before God (Psalm 143:2), that none is righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10, citing Psalm 14:1-3). Having a great millstone fastened around our necks and being drowned in the depth of the sea is better than being eternally responsible for tempting believers of any age to sin or causing them to fall from faith. Entering life crippled or lame or with one eye is better than with two hands or two feet or two eyes being thrown into the eternal fire of hell, but, even if we took what Jesus said literally and cut off a hand or a foot or tore out and threw away an eye, we would not stop ourselves from sinning in this life. Our whole human nature, body and soul are corrupt. Only the repentance and faith that God enables us to have result in the forgiveness of our sinful nature and all of our actual sin by grace for the sake of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death and bring the transformation that comes with that forgiveness.
As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, it is not the will of the Father Who is in Heaven that one of the little ones should perish. So, the Father loved the whole world by giving His only Son that whoever believes in Him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, should not perish but have eternal life (confer John 3:16). God in human flesh, Jesus was present on the cross in order to die for the sins of the whole world, including your sins and my sins, to die for us, in our place, the death that we deserved. Risen from the grave, Jesus is present in His Word and Sacraments in order to give us the saving benefits of His death. From the beginning of St. Matthew’s Gospel account (Matthew 1:21-23), through the account’s middle—as in today’s Gospel Reading—and at the account’s end (Matthew 28:19-20), the Names of Jesus and the Name of the Triune God are connected both with His presence and with His salvation given through His ministers (confer Kilcrease, CLD II:67, 71, 89, 237). When we are sorry for our sinful nature and all of our sin and trust God to forgive us for Jesus’s sake, then God does just that: God forgives us all our sin, whatever our sin might be. Not only the day of our conversion but also each and every day that we live in contrition and faith, God forgives us our sins in those ways that He Himself is present in order to forgive us.
At the Font, we are baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and so we are born from above by water and the Spirit and can see and enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe the words and promises of God about Holy Baptism (Small Catechism IV:6). After privately confessing to our pastors the sins that particularly trouble us, our pastors absolve us in that same Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, forgiving our sins on earth and in heaven. And, we who are so absolved, are admitted to the Sacrament of the Altar, where Jesus is present in bread that is His Body given for us and wine that is His Blood shed for us and thereby forgive us and so also give us life and salvation.
The Lutheran Reformers were careful to distinguish between the secular government’s role, either approving of those who do good or carrying out God’s wrath on those who do evil, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Romans 13:1-10), and the Church’s role, either binding the sin of those who refuse to repent or loosing the sin of those who do repent, as we heard in today’s Gospel Reading (for example, Smalcald Articles III:ix). The danger of a watchman’s—a pastor’s—not speaking the Lord’s warning was made clear in today’s Old Testament Reading, namely, having the wicked person’s blood required of him (Ezekiel 33:7-9), and, similarly, God’s people confront unrepentant sinners, lest God’s people share in the sin and guilt of those who are unrepentant (Leviticus 19:17). Of course, none of us is of ourselves holier than another, but we who repent and are forgiven have a responsibility to those who do not repent and so are not forgiven. Fulfilling that responsibility is especially difficult with members who, despite their commitments to do so, are not bringing their children for such things as Divine Service and Sunday School. Jesus’s words in today’s Gospel Reading are precisely on point: for those who tempt one of the little ones to sin or cause them to fall from faith it would be better to have a great millstone fastened around their neck and to be drowned into the depth of the sea. We pray that God would work through us to lead them to repent of their sin and to return with their children to Divine Service and Sunday School.
Such is the nature of “Child-care in the Kingdom of Heaven”. God Himself is present through His Ministry of the Means of Grace to forgive for Jesus’s sake us who repent, and there is great joy over every one sinner who does repent. As we sang in the Introit (Psalm 92:1-4; antiphon: v.5), the Lord has made us glad by His work, at the works of His hands we sing for joy!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +