Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
All in the Family
Theme: Jesus wants you to know that “the mutual conversation and consolation of
brethren” is a gift greater than gold.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ..
Amen. In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes a rather stunning promise to you. Rather
than focusing your attention exclusively on the resurrection of all flesh, when
you shall receive the inheritance “kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4), Jesus
also wants you to think about and rejoice in the great wealth He has given to
you here and now. “Truly I say to you,” says Jesus,
there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father
or children or lands, for My sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a
hundredfold NOW IN THIS TIME, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and
children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
There are two parts to this sermon. The first part speaks about all
that Jesus has taken away from you—or rather, all that you have been required
to give up for the sake of following Jesus. The second part heads in the
opposite direction and focuses on one of the unimaginably great gifts Jesus has
given to you for your everyday life.
Dear Christian friends,
1. St. Peter speaks FOR YOU when he says to Jesus in this Gospel, “We have
left everything and followed You.” If you are a Christian, you—like Peter and
the other disciples before you—you have indeed left everything and followed
Jesus. Are you a Christian? If so, it is impossible for you or for any of these
other Christians with you not to have left everything in order to follow Jesus.
That might strike you as odd, especially when you think about your
boat… or your house… or your collection of whatever it is you collect… or your
family… or your second helping of potatoes. If you are like me (and we’re not
all that different), you probably are surrounded by stuff—and piles of it. Your
Christianity has not made you go hungry. For the most part, it has not cost you
your possessions or your relationships. In fact, as far as our town and county
are concerned, it is still socially acceptable—and maybe even a little bit
cool—to be a Christian (even if most of other Christians around us wish we were
Baptists). Despite all that you see and experience, I say to you again: Peter
speaks FOR YOU when he says to Jesus in this Gospel, “We have left everything
and followed You.” If you are a Christian, you—like Peter and the other
disciples before you—you have indeed left everything and followed Jesus.
· Of course you love your “brothers or sisters or mother or father or
children,” but you do NOT love these people as much as you love your God. If
you did love these people more than you love God, you would be an idolater and
no longer be a Christian. Your idolatry ended when Jesus baptized you, thus
making Himself your God. That is what you received in your Baptism, along with
forgiveness of sins, life and salvation: You received a God whom you can love
more than any other. Stated another way, in your Baptism you left everything to
follow Jesus.
· Yes, you love your stuff, too. “Clothing and shoes, food and drink,
house and home” (Small Catechism, First Article)—it’s all really great stuff.
But you know it very well: there is not a single thing in your possession you
would not throw into the fire at the coming of our Lord. Stated another way,
when Jesus speaks His life-giving, faith-producing Word to you in worship, He
makes it possible for you to continue leaving everything to follow Him. When
your Lord Jesus serves you eternal life in the Holy Communion of His Body and
Blood, He miraculously sets “your hearts on things above…not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1,
3, NIV)
That is why Peter speaks FOR YOU when he says to Jesus in this Gospel, “We have
left everything and followed You.” You and Peter have the same God. If you are
a Christian, you—like Peter and the other disciples before you—you have indeed
left everything and followed Jesus. That is your Baptism; that is the power of
absolution; that is the power of the preached Word; that is the power of the
Altar for you.
Peter began to say to him [Jesus], “See, we have left everything and followed
you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or
brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for My sake and
for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold NOW IN THIS TIME, houses and
brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands…
2. Some people foolishly understand these words to mean that, if they sell
their RV and give the money to the Church, God will provide them with a bigger,
newer RV as a reward. That is NOT what Jesus is saying to you in this Gospel,
dear saints! When Jesus tells you that He will pay you back “a hundredfold now
in this time” for everything you have lost by following Him, He is speaking
about His blessed Church. He is speaking about your fellow Christians. Jesus is
speaking about the new family God your heavenly Father gave to you when He
adopted you to be His child in Holy Baptism (Galatians 3:27, 4:4-5)
· Did you know that you have close brothers and sisters in Siberia, half
a world away, who gather with you around the same Gospel purely preached and
the same life-giving sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion? In the same way,
you also have dear relatives in Canada, in Kenya, in England, Denmark,
Venezuela and Paraguay and in many other places throughout the globe.
· We do not even need to reach that far. Throw a hymnal and you will hit
a relative. Jesus once asked aloud, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Then
He looked around at those who sat with Him and said, “Here are My mother and my
brothers” (Mark 3:33-34). You are the Baptized of Christ and you are the family
of God. Jesus has given to you those people who are seated in these pews with
you.
Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands, for My sake and for the gospel, who
will not receive a hundredfold NOW IN THIS TIME, houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age
to come eternal life.
What does this promise mean for you?
· This promise means that you are not alone, and you do not hide your
needs or to suffer as though you were alone. Look around and see the family who
loves you and who will go to great lengths to care for you in your need.
· This promise means that, if you should suffer persecution or rejection
on account of Christ, not everyone will turn the back to you or harm you. God
assured the lonely Elijah that there were still 7,000 faithful saints in Israel
who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). “So too at the present time
there is a remnant, chosen by grace” (Romans 11:5).
· This promise means that your God is exceedingly great in His gifts, and
superabundant in the way that He provides and cares for you. Not only does He
speak to you the forgiveness of your sins; not only has He adopted you to be
His child; not only does He feed and nourish you with the meal of eternal life;
not only does He give His Church pastors and teachers who treat you with a
shepherd’s care; but your gracious God has also given you each other. Luther
called this “the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren” (Smalcald
Articles, part III, article IV)—and consolation is a very good word.
“There is no one… who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time.” This
promise from Jesus wants you to see the great mercy and comforts of you’re
here-and-now, in addition to the greater time that is to come. Today’s Gospel
does not overlook your future, but here Jesus gives you plenty of promise and
hope for that time as well, for He speaks about your eternal life in the age to
come. On that great day, your family and your lands will only increase. When
Jesus promises you eternal life in the age to come, He wants you to know and to
trust that you shall without doubt be counted in the countless multitude—
a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes
and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with
a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10).
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
___________________________________________________________________________
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