3/23/05 Maundy Thursday Revelation 3:14-22

3/23/2005
Maundy Thursday
Text: Revelations 3:14-22

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
Tonight we conclude the Revelation sermon series on the 7 letters to the 7 congregations in Asia. It is my prayer that you have enjoyed hearing this series as much as I have in preparing it, for it is just further proof that God’s Words are timeless, for they speak as much to us today, just as they spoke to the people the letters were originally written to so long ago.
I do not know if you noticed, but each letter that we have looked at in our series has contained within that letter references to things, or events that that particular city was famous for or at least the people were familiar with. The letter to Laodicea is no different, so I want to spend some time describing the city and its surrounding area so you might get a better idea of what Christ was telling them in their letter.
Laodicea lay in the valley at the junction of the three major roads. It was a wealthy city, chief among the wealth were its flocks of sheep that produced a fine black wool. It also had a medical school, with two of its best known medications being ointments for the eyes and ears.
Because of its location Laodicea had to get their water from underground aqueducts that brought the water from springs 6 miles away. No heavy equipment, just plain old back breaking digging. Colossae, 10 miles to the East was known for it cold pure waters, while 6 miles to the north were hot mineral springs. It is said the water from those springs flowed across a wide plateau until they came to a mile wide escarpment near Laodicea where they fell over 300 feet to the valley floor. A spectacular sight I am sure, but the water was not worth drinking, for it was lukewarm and filled with an overabundance of minerals.
Knowing that, we can better understand why Christ had John write the theme verse of this letter. Revelation 3:16, “So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit, in Greek, “vomit”, you out of my mouth.”
You see, their experience with lukewarm water would give them a visual connection, with what Christ is telling them. They knew that the mineral water that was so abundant was not only lukewarm, but could make you sick, maybe even kill you. You drink some of it and you would vomit.
We can see why Christ used the analogy of water to describe their faith, but what is hard to understand is why he would rather see them have a cold or hot faith rather than a lukewarm faith. The hot faith I get, for that is better than a lukewarm faith. It means that someone is on fire for the Lord. But, for him to say that he would rather they had a cold faith than a lukewarm faith is a statement that is much harder to grasp, for if that is right, it appears that Christ would rather see a person with no faith than a lukewarm faith. That does not sound like any of the teachings of Jesus that I know. That must not be what Christ is talking about for the Holy Scriptures tell us that Jesus died for all people and that his desire is for all people to be saved, so this rather odd sounding statement must mean something else.
After much research, I have come to the conclusion that the focus of Christ’s statement is not on the coldness or the hotness of their faith, but on their being lukewarm, which simply means they were indifferent as far as their faith was concerned. In other words they were committing the sin of apathy. You know, where you really do not care one way or the other.
You see, apathy is a sin when a person or a congregation is indifferent to their faith for there is almost no hope for them. The reason that I say that is because being apathetic meant that they did not even know they were being indifferent to their faith.
They might have been doing all the right things one would expect a Christian congregation to do; worshiping, meeting together for fellowship, helping the needy, and so forth. But, there is a problem in their doing what I call church. That is all they are doing, for all their plans and hopes are solely self-centered. They are not reflecting God’s love and desire, but their own love and desire, and that is what got them into trouble.
That is why Jesus tells the congregation at Laodicea that he would prefer that they were cold for if they were cold to his Word there is still hope for them, for they might someday be willing to listen to his instruction. But in their present condition, because they do not have a clue of their condition they are on the verge of being lost. That is why he has to use such strong words, for he has to wake them up, get their attention so that they do not lose their faith.
To bring it to our times, I would say that being lukewarm then is how Jesus describes people who claim to be Christians but do not seem to care about loving God or their neighbor. They might go to church, but it is all about what I get out of it, and not about the true meaning of worship, the fellowship of believers. They might even find that Jesus and the Christian life for the most part is pretty boring. I am afraid that the fact that Jesus died on the cross and rose again so they might have eternal life really does not make any difference to them. It just is not relevant to their lives, so they really do not care whether anyone else hears the story of God’s love in Jesus, at least they do not care if they hear it from them.
It saddens me that some Christians feel that way about Jesus. It saddens me, but there is always hope, for God loves all people. For if he did not love us he would not have died for us. If he did not love us he would not have made us his children in Holy Baptism. If he did not love us, he would not invite us to pray, “Our Father in heaven.”
If he did not love us he would not be saying to us today just as he said to that Christian congregation so long ago, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
Some church bodies say that that particular text is talking about people accepting Christ, but in this text he is not knocking at the door of unbelievers, but at the door of believers. He is knocking at our door now as he calls each member of this congregation by name. Hear his words, “This is my body” and “This is my blood,” given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, including your sins of being cold or indifferent.
As we respond to Jesus’ knocking at the door of our hearts it is time to admit to ourselves and God our sinfulness and helplessness. It is time to recognize that left to ourselves there is nothing in us that makes us worthy of forgiveness, despite all the success we might have had in this life. It is time for us all to acknowledge that all we have and are, comes not from our own effort but from God and his mercy.
It is time for us to experience Christ’s presence in such a way that we will with all repentance and humbleness receive his body and blood. For surely God has given us the pure gold of salvation, the white garments of righteousness, and the pure eye salve that enables us to see clearly with our spiritual eye.
Let me close this evening with a quote from our beloved Martin Luther, “If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. But I will find in the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross,” (AE 40:214).

For it is only in God’s free gift of forgiveness received in and through the Word and Sacraments that we can live out the commitment to which the first part of our text calls us to do; to not be lukewarm but to be hot with the love of our Lord. Amen

Palm Sunday 3/30/05 Text:Matthew 21:1-11 Title: Jesus Came Riding

Date: 3/20/2005
Title: Jesus Came Riding
Text: Matthew 21:1-11

Please join me in prayer. Eternal God, pour out your Spirit upon us that we might be aware of your presence in our midst, that we might be attentive to your Word, and that we might be faithful always to your way, through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen
Today is Palm Sunday, that day when we try to recreate the same sense of happiness and expectation that those in Jerusalem must have felt as Jesus entered the city.
We will never know for sure what they were thinking that day, but several years ago I heard a narrative account of Jesus entrance into Jerusalem that I think would help us to get a better feel for what the crowd might have been thinking as Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time.
In this particular story we will view Jesus entrance through the eyes of young boy named Jacob. There he was, just minding his own business, tending his flock on the hillside outside of the city gates when he noticed there was a lot more traffic on the road going into the city that day.
What caught his attention was that the people seemed to be largely gathered around some man on a donkey. Stretched way out behind him were a large group of people, and in front of him other people were gathering as they rushed out of their houses, and fields, cutting palm branches and putting them down on the road, why some were even taking off their outer garments and putting them down on the ground for the donkey to walk on.
Jacob had never seen anything like that before, well there was the one time when the Emperor had arrived, but he was on a magnificent horse, and not a plain ol’ donkey. It was not until Jacob got closer that he could make out what they were shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Young Jacob just did not get it, who was this man, and why were they all acting this way? There is not doubt that he had to be someone really important, for such a big parade, so he asked a man who was standing next to the road, “What is going on?”
The man replied, “What is going on? Have you been sitting under a rock someplace? Why the king is coming, that is what is going on. Well Jesus did not look like a king, so that did not help him any. So young Jacob asked another man if he knew what was going on. Why were those people all lined up shouting Hosanna? The man turned to Jacob, and said, “See that man standing along the road waiting for Jesus to come by. He is very poor and he is crying out to Jesus for help. He wants Jesus to end his poverty and oppression.”
Then he pointed out a rough group of men standing together off by themselves. “See those guys, they are zealots. They want to fight in an army that will drive the Romans from our land. They are crying for help, but they are pretty confused right now as they see what they thought was going to be their mighty king ride by on a plain ol’ donkey.”
“See those other people over there, they are crying out to Jesus for restoration. Some want their wealth restored, others their health. Still others want broken relationships with family members or neighbors restored, while there are some that want their relationship with God restored. That my dear young boy, is why they are crying out to the Messiah.”
Jacob was still confused, but he joined the crowd in crying out, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" He figured it would not hurt anything because he needed food, and his father was at home dying of some strange disease. It could not hurt, so he cried out to Jesus, “Give me food, save my father, Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
Unlike young Jacob we know the rest of the story. We know about this king. We know that Jesus is a king that did not come with an army, but riding on a donkey. This king did not come to be served, but to serve, to give himself to death, for our sake, for the sake of the whole world. He did not come to be crowned with a crown of jewels, but a crown of thorns,
Jacob and the others gathered there that day did not know the reason Jesus was riding a donkey, but Jesus knew full well what this day meant. He knew that by the end of the week he was going to terribly beaten and that nails were going to be driven into his flesh, that he was going to die a horrible death, he knew it and yet he willingly kept on riding into the city.
Jesus knew all the different thoughts that people had about him. He knew that after the excitement of the parade they would go back to their daily lives. He knew that when he did not meet their expectations that the majority of those worshiping him today would turn their backs on him. He knew that even his beloved disciples would be sleeping when he needed them the most, that almost all of them would desert him in the end.
He knew, and yet he kept on riding into the city. He kept on riding knowing that the religious leaders were planning to kill him. He kept on riding knowing that Judas would sell his soul for a handful of silver. He knew and yet he kept on riding with his face set toward the cross.
He kept on riding, because he knew that all people needed to have him ride into their lives as the Messiah. He knew that they needed his kingship in their lives and so he kept on riding.
Palm Sunday is the first day of Passion Week. Are you going to leave here this morning just like the crowds left Jesus on Palm Sunday, going back to your daily routine, or are you going to follow him this week, as he heads for the cross and grave? You should, we all should follow him this week, for it is the most important journey we will ever take, for our souls depend on its outcome.
I hope, I pray, that you will wear your cross this week, as you go about your business, but especially as you attend the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, for when you have traveled with Jesus this coming week you will truly be ready for Easter morning, when we shout out “He is risen, he is risen indeed.”
I pray that you will put the passion of Christ first in your life this week, or otherwise you might like the little boy who had never seen a circus. He knew about circuses from his school books, but he had never seen a real live circus.
One day when he was going to the grocery store for his mom he heard someone say that a circus was coming to town that day. Well he rushed home got his money out the piggy bank and headed downtown.
Just as he got there the circus parade turned the corner. He saw lions, he saw tigers, beautiful horses, huge elephants, jugglers, clowns, acrobats, and the circus band. It was wonderful.
When all the animals and performers had gone by, the little boy stepped out of the crowd and handed his money to the last man in the parade, probably the fellow with the big scooper, and then he went back home. It was not until some years later that he discovered that in fact he had really not seen the circus, only the parade.
You might be thinking that this boy must have not been too smart, or what does this have to do with Palm Sunday and Holy week. This story has to do with this week because I am afraid that there are too many Christians that have only watched the Palm Sunday and Easter parade and have never seen the entire Easter story. I know that some stay away because they think that Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services are too depressing, after all they are all about death.
I use to feel the same way, until I realized that they are not about death but about life, our eternal life. They are about Christ giving us the good news of our salvation, thus allowing us to stand before God, cleansed of the guilt of our sins. They are about our knowing that even in our sinfulness we are made holy.
You see, that is what Passion Week is all about, the Good News of our salvation. Rejoice and be glad in it, for Christ’s resurrection on that first Easter morning is proof that Christ is God. For in that resurrection is the proof, that when he said on the cross, “It is finished!” it was finished, for in his death and resurrection he had fulfilled what he had spoken in John 12, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”
Hosanna, hosanna to the highest. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Amen