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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.)
If you ever saw Cecil B. DeMille’s 19‑56 movie The Ten Commandments, or, better, if you ever read the second chapter of Exodus, you may remember that, one day, Moses, prince of Egypt, saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and killed the Egyptian, and, the next day, when Moses tried to intervene between two struggling Hebrews, one of them asked Moses who made him a prince and a judge over them (Exodus 2:11-14). That Hebrew man’s words to Moses may have been familiar to the man in today’s Gospel Reading, who commanded Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance with the man (Plummer, ad loc Luke 12:14, p.322), and so whom Jesus asked, seemingly echoing the Hebrew man’s words to Moses, who made Jesus a judge or an arbitrator over him. With the help of the Holy Spirit, this morning we realize that Jesus is not only “the Judge” but also “the Redeemer”.
Jesus’s question to the man in today’s Gospel Reading is often taken as if Jesus was saying that He was not a judge or an arbitrator over the man, though that is not necessarily the only possible interpretation (confer TLSB, ad loc Luke 12:14, p.1740.). People in Jesus’s day usually took such inheritance cases to the Jewish “rabbis”, or “teachers”, the “scribes”, or lawyers”, in order for them to settle their cases, but the man in today’s Gospel Reading took his case to Jesus, arguably thinking that Jesus had at least some relevant authority, and Jesus’s question to the man may have been intended to get the man to realize just Who Jesus was and just Who put Jesus in place to carry out the role of judge and that Jesus’s judgeship covered more important things than just dividing inheritances, as the following so‑called “Parable of the Rich Fool” perhaps shows that Jesus’s judgeship covered matters of eternal life and death.
God made Moses a prince and a judge over the Hebrews, first as a prince of Egypt and a later as a “judge”, or “leader”, sent by God from the burning bush (for example, Exodus 3:10). Like Moses before Him, God also put Jesus in place as a “judge”, namely, to judge the living and the dead (for example, Acts 10:42). That Jesus is such a judge is bad news for us according to our sinful human nature. We may be caught up in disputes over inheritances of our own or be greedily fixated on what we leave for our dependents. As described in today’s Old Testament Reading (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26), we may strive after wind. We may sinfully covet what others have and wrongly think that our life consists in the abundance of our possessions. We may foolishly think only of ourselves and make decisions without considering other people or even God. We may wrongly think that our ultimate rest and enjoyment depends on our laying up ample goods for many years. We may not, as we are called to do in today’s Epistle Reading (Colossians 3:1-11), set our minds on things that are above. Even though we trade not in crops and barns but in money and banks, we may lay up treasure for ourselves and not be rich toward God. If we do not sin in those ways, then we certainly sin in other ways. On account of our sinful nature and all of our actual sin, we deserve punishment here in time and in hell for eternity.
God’s judgment and His imposing His sentence upon us could come at any time, not necessarily years from now but even this very night (confer NIV84, NASB95). Or, we may eat, drink, and be merry tonight, and tomorrow we may die (confer 1 Corinthians 15:32). Unless Jesus returns first, whenever His judgment and sentence might come, God separates the soul from the body, and the body rests relatively‑briefly where we lay it, while the soul begins to experience the torment or joy of the existence in which the resurrected body will eventually join it for eternity. The Lord kills and makes alive (for example, Deuteronomy 32:39), physically and spiritually. Before it is too late, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can turn in sorrow from our sin and trust God the Father to forgive us our sinful nature and all of our actual sin for His Son Jesus’s sake. When we so repent, then God so forgives us.
When St. Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin, he recounted the Hebrew man’s question to Moses about who made him a ruler and judge over them (Acts 7:27), and St. Stephen eventually said that God had sent Moses as both a ruler and redeemer (Acts 7:35). As God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel from slavery to Egypt, so God sent Jesus to deliver us from our slavery to sin. As true man, Jesus was able to die on the cross in our place; as true God, His death was sufficient payment for the sins of the world; and Jesus’s resurrection showed that God accepted His sacrifice on our behalf. In today’s Introit (Psalm 49:7-8, 13-14a; antiphon: vv.1-2), we sang the psalmist’s words to all people, both low and high, rich and poor together, that no one can ransom another or give to God the price of his life, but God Himself ransoms souls from the power of Sheol and receives us unto Himself, giving us peace and joy. As we prayed in the Collect of the Day, God has stored up treasures for us in heaven. We are rich toward God the Father, when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we trust in His forgiveness of sins for the sake of Jesus, “The Judge and the Redeemer”.
We receive that forgiveness of sins here and now, as God’s Word is read and preached to groups such as this group and as His Gospel is applied to us individually: with water in Holy Baptism, with touch in Holy Absolution, and with bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us in the Holy Supper. Our life is not in the abundance of our possessions, but our life is in Christ: Who He is, what He has done for us, and what He gives to us through His Word in all of its forms. All that we need God completely gives us once in our Baptisms, and then He gives it to us again and again in both Absolution and the Supper. Like the Israelites’ manna, the Supper is the “bread” that we need for this one day. Here we truly both have “relaxation”, or “rest”, and can eat, drink, and be merry—all in Christ.
So baptized, absolved, and strengthened and nourished in body and soul, we are transformed. As described in today’s Epistle Reading, our life is hidden with Christ in God, and we put to death what is earthly in us. We put off the old self and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator, which image was at least partially, if not totally, lost in humankind’s fall into sin (confer Genesis 1:26). As Jesus commanded in today’s Gospel Reading, we are constantly on our guard against all covetousness. Unlike the rich man whose land produced plentifully, we do not plan with our soul exclusively for ourselves, but, like the Virgin Mary, our souls magnify the Lord, and our spirits rejoice in God our Savior, what He has done for us and does through us, in our various callings in life (Luke 1:46-55). As we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading, we find enjoyment in our toil. And, we generously give the first-fruits of our labor in order to support the work of God’s Kingdom in this place. When we fail in those or in other ways, as we will fail, with daily sorrow and faith, we live in God’s forgiveness of sins for Jesus’s sake.
Like but greater than Moses before Him, God made Jesus “The Judge and the Redeemer”. By God’s grace, we who repent do not live in fear of God’s judgment and sentence that could be imposed at any time, but, redeemed from our sin, we look forward to the full and final realization of His peace and joy, whenever it might come. Thanks be to God, now and forever.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +