St. Matthew 5:1-12
Holy Abraham lived with eyes fixed to heaven. Holy Isaac, laid out as a sacrifice on the mountain, thought of heaven--of life and of death. Holy Moses encounters the burning bush and suddenly his life is changed. He suddenly longs for a land beyond, a blessing and a promise given by the One who resides in that burning bush. Encountering the eternal God causes sustained reflection on life, death, faith creation and eternity. God tells Abraham to leave his country. He is told that good things will come to pass. Abraham will become a great nation and his name shall be great. But how? he wondered. His wife, Sarai was barren. God causes sustained reflection concerning this life and the life to come for Abraham--and he waited for these things to come to pass in his life. At just the right time, it came to pass that Isaac was born. But, more reflection enters when Abraham is to sacrifice his only son. The way things go in this world (thanks to original sin) are such that people are born to live and die. If the voice of Christ does not enter one’s life through the preaching of the holy scriptures then one’s reflective devices tend to be concerned mostly with this body and this life. We see this in such mottos as “he who dies with the most toys wins.” Those who live for the next party or for self-gratification are those who are plagued with sin. There are those, however, who may think on death and what happens when one dies, but without the voice of Christ entering the conversation, no comfort is to be found. Either way, we are all plagued due to the fallenness of mankind. But in our struggle with sin, Christ’s voice through the scriptures has a way of pulling us out of ourselves and leading us to ponder life, death, and the life hereafter. It is needful for us to think about such things. Christianity isn’t supposed to be made up of gimmicks. Christianity is not intermittent periods of “pep rallies,” to help us feel better about ourselves. Christianity is the sustained dialogue and meditation of who God is, and who we are as we rest in Christ, as well as who we are becoming. This was Abraham’s gaze. To be promised that your descendants shall be as many as the stars in the night sky leads one to look to what is coming, not just in history but in one’s life, as well. Who is God to make such a promise....and Who is He Who fulfills it. To consider that the voice that comes from the holy scriptures is God Himself speaking of the way of your salvation causes you and I to ponder the meaning of our lives, personally. But it also causes us to reflect on God, the world, salvation and damnation. Part of this contemplation leads us to faith. Faith is really trust that the holy scriptures really is the voice of God to bring light to a dark world that gropes and scrapes for meaning. Faith and trust is really our clinging to God and crying to Him to do what He says He will do. The lives of the saints throughout history did exactly this. They let the things of this world swirl around them as often happens, while they knelt down on their knees before an altar in order to be fed by God and to return their own heartfelt prayers and praises for the work that God is doing, both, in their lives but also in the world. They let the blood of Christ cover them as Christ promised and completed from the cross. One question that springs from all of the musings on Christ and the Scriptures is this: are we, in fact, living out our faith in a way that we are looking for God’s hand to bring meaning to our lives, or are we encumbered by the world and all its enticements? It is easy to fall into the trap. We easily become more concerned by our achievements and recognition. We desire earthly rewards and approval, sometimes even in the name of Christ. We even let our children and their activities get in the way of our gaze to heaven. We forsake God’s gifts given in Word and Sacrament for family time at home or other responsibilities. We tend to set the scriptures aside when its’ our loved ones who are doing the sinning. Or even more common, we just become too lukewarm in faith and devotion to even consider the reality of God’s hand in our lives. We so often tend to leave Him be. We are far too content to let God do His thing while we do our thing. To live in such a way is to divorce ourselves from Christ. It is much like a bride who no longer loves and cherishes her groom but is all too happy with just forgetting that he exists. In a marriage two spouses are to love, cherish, honor, and care for one another with undying devotion. In the same way, Christ’s bride, the church, is to show the same love to Christ the groom. To live our faith in apathy is to divorce ourselves in mind and heart from the groom who loves us. Abraham, Moses, Isaac and the whole host of saints heard the voice of the Lord and showed their love through their worship, prayers and the very lives that they lived. In our own apathy and failure to look to heaven through receiving the word and sacraments, we are to repent and watch carefully lest we suffer damnation for our hard hearts. It is Jesus, who came to take away your sins. The voice of Jesus that speaks into the darkness and creates the light of life comes to move our gaze from this world. While we were dead in our sins, Christ came to save us. Part of our sustained contemplation of Christ and His holy word is the recognition that we are dead in our sins. A mature faith and trust realizes more just how poor in spirit we really are. The realization of our sinful condition and the extent of those sins has the effect of leading us to look forward to Christ’s promise of redemption and forgiveness. Christianity has a way, if we look to God’s voice in the scriptures, of leading us to be very honest about ourselves, the world, and our beloved Lord who has come to save us. We have been given the promise that we shall be changed. St. John tells us “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself, just as He is pure”(1 John 3:2-3). Part of the beauty of God’s mercy and love for sinners is the reality that while Jesus shed His blood on the cross for the sins of the world, His love is poured into the cup of blessing which we receive in the sacrament. Not only does Christ bring forgiveness for your sins, but He also gives you the strength and ability to love Him in return. This is the Holy Spirit’s work through the gospel and the sacraments. He forgives and teaches. He redeems and guides. He opens the eyes of faith and then sets your gaze on heaven. The holy saints rest in heaven and in the arms of Jesus because of His cross. Jesus will continue to feed you and, as you receive His heavenly food, your gaze with all the saints will move from this world and its enticements to heaven. He will abide with you as you hear His voice in the holy scriptures uttering forth the promises for what is to come for you, just as He has faithfully promised for all the saints as they have watched His eternal truth unfold in their lives and in their deaths. It is as the psalmist says: “For with You[Lord] is the fountain of life: in Your light shall we see light”(Psalm 36:9). Amen. -- Rev. Chad Kendall Trinity Lutheran Church Lowell, Indiana www.trinitylowell.org http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=243282012833
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