Mercy and Thanksgiving

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Mercy - the word only has five letters, but it has a lot of meaning. The ten lepers in today's Gospel lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." Blind men cried aloud saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David." A woman whose daughter was demon possessed cried aloud, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David" All these people and many more came to Jesus and asked for help with the words "have mercy." Sometimes they expressed their need, but other times as in today's Gospel, they simply asked for mercy and left the expression of that mercy up to Jesus.

Mercy often partners with grace. Grace gives something wonderful that you do not deserve. Mercy holds back something bad that you do deserve. In some ways mercy is sort of the opposite of grace. Grace gives. Mercy holds back. In other ways mercy and grace complete one another. We usually receive grace and mercy together and we are better off for it.

Hospitality

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today's text confuses a lot of people, even a lot of Lutherans. It seems to be contradictory to everything else that we believe, teach, and confess. All that business about salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone – that looks like it gets chucked out the window with this passage. After all, the King is basing His judgment on the works done by those on His right and left. This seems to lend itself to the idea that you will be judged on the works you have done, whether you have done enough to merit the favor of the King.

The Church of Rome reads this discourse in just such a fashion. To them, this passage is all about hospitality that you must show to your neighbor. Your faith is formed by your love, which is worked out in your service to your neighbor. This passage is straightforward Law: do this, and go to heaven; fail, and go to hell. Salvation cannot possibly be grace through faith alone; Jesus commend these faithful for their works of hospitality and service.

Perception

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It has often been said that "perception is reality." Basically, how I perceive things to be is how they really are. If I think someone is a jerk, so be it. He is a jerk. It does not matter what else he does in life. It does not matter what anyone else says. My perception is my reality. Of course, we know this is not always true. Perception is not always reality. I perceive the world to be flat, therefore the world is flat. I perceive that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, therefore the sun must surely revolve around the earth. You can certainly argue with me and tell me that the world is round and that we orbit the sun and so on, but my perception is my reality. I think you are wrong! Nowadays, we would just have to "agree to disagree." Truly, perception is not always reality.

Keep Your Lamps Ready

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.” That is, the kingdom of heaven is like those who are turned out to meet the King when He comes, from every sort, every walk of life, all holding their lamps.

“Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.” In this assembly, all waiting for the Bridegroom, there are wise and there are foolish persons.

This is the nature of the Church on earth.

It Is Not A Forced-Choice Test

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In today's Gospel, the Pharisees want to talk about taxes. Well, what they really want to talk about is how to trap Jesus in His words, which is ridiculous, because you cannot trap God. Nevertheless, they come to our Lord and ask Him about whether Jews ought to pay taxes. Should the faithful people of God do such a thing? Should we obey pagan leaders when they exercise their authority over us?

Often, in Christian circles, this exchange is portrayed as something of a forced-choice test, a broken dichotomy between God and Caesar. In other words, you must give to God His due, and to Caesar his due, and ne'er the twain shall meet. It is as though God inhabits certain corners of your life, and Caesar inhabits other corners, and you can put yourself into various boxes or pigeon-holes, depending on the moment.

But this is not a forced choice.

Are You Serious?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Is the Lord's invitation to the marriage feast of His Son serious? In today's Gospel lesson, you have heard how our Lord Christ compares the kingdom of God to a king who gives a marriage feast for His Son, to which He invites guests. However, the invited guests disdain the King's invitation, stay away, and even deal scornfully with His servants, who were merely sent to call the invited to the feast.

What is this kingdom? The kingdom of heaven is not an earthly kingdom. There are no governors, no presidents, no Congress, no elections.

How Will You Die?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus said, “And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Either way, you are dead. Either you fall on Jesus in broken-hearted, empty-handed, beggarly repentance or you get crushed by the weight of your own engineered pseudo-salvation crashing down against the resistance of your own self-justification. But either way, you are going to be broken when you encounter Jesus.

Jesus told a parable against the unbelief of Israel. A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenant farmers who were supposed to tend it and give a share of the harvest. He sent a servant to collect, and he was beaten and sent away empty-handed. He sent another, and he was mocked and scorned and sent away empty-handed. He sent a third, and they wounded him and cast him out. He sent his son. “His beloved son.” And they took one look at the son and said, “This is the heir. Let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours.” And they threw him out of the vineyard, and they killed him.

Stop here for a moment and consider.