In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Again we hear the proclamation of Jesus' ministry on earth in today's lesson: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” This is the message of Jesus in a nutshell, proclaimed then to the Jews and the would-be disciples, and still to us today. Repent, turn away from your sins, because the reign of God is drawing near to you. And indeed, the reign of God has come near, and is here among us.
There is a split in the understanding of Jesus' statement, often expressed as “now, but not yet.” Two thousand years ago, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the kingdom of heaven had come. The reign of God stood upon that bank, in the person of Jesus, as He proclaimed salvation to all the people of Israel. The kingdom of God drew near to Andrew and Simon that day as they were drawing their nets, and as they heeded the call and left their nets in the boat and became fishers of men.
The kingdom of heaven is not a place, as it were. There is no one location where you can go to find the reign of God. The reigning of God is in the person of Jesus Christ. Where He is, there God is, and where God is, there is His kingdom, for where God is, there are His children. As Jesus walked along the sea, there was the kingdom. As Jesus preached from the Mount, there was the kingdom. As Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, there was the kingdom. As Jesus hung on the cross and shed His blood, there was the kingdom. As Jesus rose victorious over the grave, there was the kingdom.
But at the same time, the kingdom of God has not fully appeared. Life on this earth still continues. There are still wars and rumors of wars. The Korean War was fought nearly sixty years ago, and yet the fighting has never ended, and is ramping up again in our own time. In our own country, there is a war on the lives and livelihoods of our children. Every few seconds, another newly formed life is ended in the womb. Every few seconds, the burden of debt upon our future generations increases exponentially. Our children are the first generation ever to be forecasted as worse off than their parents, in almost every way. So where is the kingdom of God now?
The kingdom of God is here, on earth, amongst the people of God. For, as our Lutheran Confessions teach, “The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.” Where the Gifts of God are given, there is His kingdom come on earth. While on earth, our Lord Christ called to Himself disciples and apostles to carry His message and His gifts throughout the world, and so those Gifts have been handed down to us from our forefathers in the faith. At all times and in every place, the Lord of the Church has called His ministers to preach the Word of God faithfully and administer His Blessed Sacraments according to His command. Just as in today's lesson, Jesus called Andrew and Simon, James and John to be His apostles and to preach the message of the Cross to all the world, so also Jesus calls through His Church men to preach that same message of the Cross to all the nations, beginning in each pulpit and at each altar. And so, throughout the world, even today, the reigning of God happens as the Holy Spirit draws men and women to Jesus and we hear our Shepherd's voice.
And so, because our Lord Christ comes to us in these otherwise seemingly weak and foolish ways, the Light of the World shines upon us who formerly sat in darkness. As we sit by the way of the sea, covered in darkness and surrounded by thick darkness, upon us a light has shined. For you have been called out of the darkness and into the marvelous light of the Gospel. The Light of the World, the very Light of Life, has invaded the deepest, darkest corners of your heart. You are those about whom Isaiah says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” There is no gloom for you any longer. You do not sit in the darkness, but rejoice in the light of Christ. You do not walk about blindly, but in His light you see light, and in His light, you see love and grace and truth.
But again, one is tempted to ask, where is this light and love and grace and truth? Where is the love in the abortion clinic? Where is the truth in the public university? Where is the light in the hearts of those who seek our lives? Where is the grace in the mugger or drive-by shooter or suicide bomber? By these things, and the questions they engender, the prince of darkness seeks to drag us back from the light into the deep, dark cave of our former existence. For we do not see the Lord on earth in the midst of His kingdom. Jesus has come and gone, and ages have passed since that time. The state of affairs among man becomes worse and worse, spiraling downward into chaos and oblivion with each successive generation, with each rolling tide of the sea.
This is where faith's true test comes. This is where we experience the tension of the other side of the paradox. The “not yet” frustrates our human intuition and instinct. We want God to come now. We want the Last Day to come in our day, so that we need not see any more death or suffering or sorrow or pain. But with each day that dawns, our Lord says, “Not yet.” We do not know the day or the time or the season or the hour. We do not know the reason or the circumstances that will herald the return of the King to His Kingdom. All we know is that Jesus has promised that He will return in glory to save us from this vale of tears, to rescue us from the valley of the shadow of death. We know that we are not alone to face the days and weeks and months ahead. While Jesus has ascended to our heavenly Father, He has sent to us the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Advocate. The Holy Spirit calls out beside us, speaking faith into our hearts and renewing our strength with the grace of Christ, and also bespeaking us righteous before our Father for the sake of that selfsame grace. Through the Holy Word and Blessed Sacraments, the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts and strengthens that faith by the forgiveness of sins and the eradication of doubt. For when the duly called minister of Christ pours that water upon your head or places that bread upon your tongue, there is no hiding from God. As the Word enters your ear or these physical signs strike your body, the Holy Spirit is there, delivering what they say – forgiveness, life, and salvation in Jesus' name.
But do not be fooled, do not doubt, do not despair. Our Lord is coming again in glory to judge both the living and the dead. And His Kingdom shall never end. There is coming a day which will dawn into eternity. The day is coming when the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised, and we shall all be caught up in the air with Christ. While the Last Day is not yet, it certainly will happen. And when that day comes, we shall rejoice, for we shall see in the flesh that thing and that King for which we have hoped so long. And when we have been united to Him in the great multitude of the saints, we shall join our voices with all the faithful from every nation and tribe and language and people, and sing the praises of the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world.
Then raise to Christ a mighty song,
And shout His name, His mercies tell!
Sing, heav'nly host, your praise prolong,
And all on earth, your anthem swell!
All hail, O Lamb for sinners slain!
Forever let the song ascend!
Worthy the Lamb, enthroned to reign
All glory, pow'r! Amen! Amen!
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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