The 12th Sunday after Trinity Sunday | August 30th, 2009
Dear Saints,
The troubles of this life are like the waves in the ocean, they just keep coming, one after another. The longer we live, the more people we love, the more we know and care for the people around us, the more the waves come.
This person is sick, that person is dying. Over here there is trouble at home, and over there is a fierce battle with temptation. No matter which way we look, there are troubles, pain and death and there is no escaping them; you all know this.
“Deliver us from evil,” we pray. And do you know how the Lord will answer that prayer? “We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.”
When we pray that prayer, “deliver us from evil,” we are praying for our death, for where on this world can we go to escape evil? Is there some valley hidden up in the mountains in which there is no evil, some beach in Hawaii? No, not until the resurrection will this prayer be answered. Not until the Lord comes will we be done with this evil life.
We know, then, that we will be surrounded with bad things from the moment we are born until the moment we die. Things are not right in the world, and until the second coming of Jesus they will not be.
And all of this is the result of sin. When Adam and Eve stole the fruit and disobeyed God by eating it, they, together with all of creation fell into sin. It was on that day that things began to get older, that is, to get closer to the grave. It was that day that death came into the world. It was that day, that instant, the moment that Adam bit into the apple that there was cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease, and car accidents and hunger, and poverty and blindness and death.
What this means is that everything wrong in the world is the result of sin. Every tear is the result of sin. Every sickness is the result of sin. Every death is the result of sin. All of it, all of the troubles on this earth all of the evils, are the result of sin.
But there is a worse result of sin. Really, the more we study the Scriptures, the more we see that these troubles on earth are a symptom of a much worse trouble in heaven. Sin does not just result in trouble here, the worst result of sin is trouble with God.
Because of the sin of our parents Adam and Eve, and because of our own sin, God should be angry with us, mad at us, full of wrath. Evil is directed at us from heaven because of our sin, because we live contrary to God’s word.
Now this is quite a pickle. We look around us and there are hospitals and graveyards and evil on every hand, and then we look up and things are worse, there is a wrath from heaven. And there’s nothing you can do about it. You deserve what’s coming. I deserve the evil that comes in this life and in the life to come.
But then comes Jesus. He enters into our troubles, into this evil life, into our sickness, our rebellion, our sin and death – He even enters into the wrath of God. When he looks up to heaven from the cross, He sees the frown of God, the wrath of God against all ungodliness poured out on Him. And all the while he goes around preaching and saying, “Peace,” “Do not be afraid,” and “I am not mad.” How wonderful!
What Jesus comes to do is sort out the trouble between earth and heaven, between humanity and God, and this He does by teaching and dying. Now we can say, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)
This is the most wonderful news in the world. God is not mad, He is not angry, He loves you, He died for you. “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.” (Isaiah 12:1)
Every time you hear the Absolution, the declaration of the forgiveness of all of your sins, you are hearing the peace treaty between you and God written with the blood of Jesus. God be praised for that. There is no more evil from heaven for you. All is right between you and God.
But pastor, you say, that is wonderful, but what about all the nonsense and wickedness and trouble that surrounds us every day. Does Jesus have something to do with that? For the answer to that question, we turn to our Gospel reading appointed for today, Mark 7, the healing of the deaf and mute man.
Here is a man with things wrong in his life. He couldn’t hear or speak. His body was broken. We don’t know if he could care for himself, if could work, we don’t know his name or how old he was, we simply know that he had trouble. His ears and his mouth didn’t work right. He was another example of things that are wrong with the world. And so the people bring him to Jesus.
Now remember that I said Jesus came to make things right between heaven and earth, to make peace between man and God. This peace Jesus makes by teaching and by dying. I would like you to notice something in the Scriptures. No one ever asked Jesus to come and preach to them. It does happen that people come to Jesus with questions, but Jesus is never invited to a place to preach. He does that on his own. But please notice that every miracle that Jesus performs for another person, every healing, raising from the dead, casting out of a demon is done by compulsion. Someone comes and begs Jesus to perform and miracle. (If you, in your reading of the Scripture, come across a healing that Jesus does of His own initiative, please let me know.)
And here’s the point. Jesus came to make everything right. His first coming is to preach and to die, to make everything right in heaven. When he comes again He will make everything right on the earth. There will be no more sickness or sin or death or tears or sorrow. No cancer, deafness, heart attacks, no funerals, none of it. That is the great hope of the resurrection.
But when Jesus is walking the earth it is almost as if He (can’t ?) help himself, He brings a foretaste of the resurrection. He gives life and wholeness, health and joy. So, dear saints, when we read about this man brought to Jesus, this man whose ears Jesus opened and whose tongue he loosed, we have hope and comfort and joy, for just as Jesus made all things right with this man, so will your loving Lord Jesus do for you.
There is a day, not many days from now, when the Lord will return and call all the dead from the grave and give them the resurrection of the body, and if we are alive we will be transformed and made whole. Then there will be no more sorrows, no more trouble, no more evil. In the midst of all our troubles, this is our comfort and hope. May the Lord preserve us all in the true faith until that day comes. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
