Download C, Pentecost 7, GL Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Brookings, SD Rev

C, Pentecost 7, GL
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Brookings, SD
Rev. Matthew Wurm
July 3rd, 2016
Sermon Text: Luke 10:1-20
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sermon text
for this morning is from St. Luke 10: 18-20, “And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like
lightening from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions,
and over all the poser of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in
this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written heaven.”
God does not do things the way we expect Him to do them. Instead of using super-star
celebrities that think they are awesome at everything, God uses weak, reluctant, sometimes
weird prophets, apostles, disciples, and pastors to carry out His Word to the world. Mosesreluctant and bad at public speaking, so God gives Him Aaron to help out. Jonah-reluctant and
sulky when God’s Word takes effect. Elijah-trusting, yet at times timid and full of complaints.
David-mighty, yet weak on focus. John the Baptizer- ate bugs and wandered about homeless
and dressed as such. The Apostle Matthew-sinful, tax-collecting past. St. Paul-so boring in his
preaching that it killed Eutychus, the young man who was so bored at St. Paul’s preaching that
it literally killed him, causing him to fall asleep and out of a third story window to his death. (He
was raised to life immediately again by St. Paul). It begs the question—Why does God chose to
work through ministers to proclaim the Good News that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and
Christ will come again? Couldn’t He work just as well, if not better through some other means?
Last Sunday we learned that Jesus is the one who [Luke 9:51] set his face to go to
Jerusalem. That means that Jesus had absolutely determined that He was going to Jerusalem to
sacrifice Himself for us on the cross. When the Bible tells us that Jesus set his face to go to
Jerusalem, that is one more way that the Bible says that Jesus loves us.
As we continue following Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, we learn that Jesus allowed extra
time in His journey. He allowed extra time to minister in the towns and places along the road.
In today’s Gospel, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two
by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. Jesus used seventy-two
sinners to prepare people for His coming. That’s right! Jesus sent sinners to proclaim His Good
News to the people. We are so used to the idea that sinners proclaim the Word of God that we
don’t even think about how strange an idea that is. Jesus put His most precious Good News
into the mouths of filthy sinners. Couldn’t He do better?
Remember that just last week, we heard that James and John, who were likewise sent
out, wanted to call down fire from heaven on an unsuspecting Samaritan village just because
they didn’t want Jesus to pass through their town. Jesus sent out Peter … you know the one to
whom He had to say, “Get behind me, Satan!” Then there was good old unbelieving Thomas.
Then, of course, Judas … the one who would betray Jesus … the one who would hang himself in
despair. He also was one of the disciples that Jesus sent out to prepare the way for His arrival.
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Each and every one of these disciples had failed Jesus multiple times. Each and every one of
these disciples would fail Jesus many times again after the events in today’s Gospel. These are
not the men that I would choose to get out the word if I were God. But then, I am not God and
God has a consistent habit of not doing things the way I would expect Him to do things.
In spite of the fact that all of these men were sinners … in spite of the fact that we know
that at least one of them, Judas, was even a traitor, Jesus still entrusted His message to them.
He even said, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and
the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” Jesus promised that even though they were
sinners, His message would remain intact in their mouths. People were to pay no attention to
the sins of the messengers. Instead, they were to pay attention to the truth of the message.
What is this precious, holy message? In today’s Gospel, Jesus said, “Whatever house
you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’” This is no ordinary peace. This is the peace of
God that passes all understanding. This is the peace that Jesus would soon earn when He
finished His journey to Jerusalem and kept His appointment with the cross.
Jesus also told them to heal and preach. “Whenever you enter a town and they receive
you … Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” There
were great blessings for the people who received these messengers from Jesus: They would
receive the blessing that we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer. God’s Kingdom came to them with its
blessings.
For those who didn’t care about the kingdom and the preaching of the Christ and His
work and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy to forgive sins and grant life everlasting, don’t
waste your time. Shake the dust off your feet and move on. Don’t start a facebook fight, don’t
engage in arguments for the sake of arguments and do not attempt to coerce faith. Just
proclaim the message to all who have ears to hear. For the one who is rejected is not the
messenger who was sent, but the One who sent the messenger, as Jesus said, “The one who
hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me
rejects Him who sent me.”
The seventy-two returned with great joy because the Word went out and did what Jesus
sent it to do. People heard and believed and the messengers were cared for along the way.
Stories of great successes assuredly abounded. Even the demons were subject them! How
exciting! A new reality TV show was in the works and it was going to be a success with Jesus at
the head of it all. They were going to be rich! I bet those disciples thought great earthly
opportunities laid in store for them if they continued to stick with Jesus as we went about
proclaiming the Kingdom of God. They could be special like Jesus was special. They got a little
taste of what Jesus was doing and even demons listened to them. Jesus gave them a little taste
of the power of His word and they thought it was great… for earthly gain. But Jesus said,
“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your
names are written in heaven.”
If these disciples were going to go with Jesus and stick with him to get more of what He
had to offer then they would have to go to the cross with Him too, for He had set his face to
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Jerusalem and the suffering and death that awaited him there. God does not do things the way
we expect Him to do them. We would not expect God to work through reluctant Moses, failing
David, weird and smelly John the Baptizer, long-winded and boring Paul, but He did and He
continues to work the proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom of His Son through the
pastors and ministers of His church today, reluctant, failing, smelly, long-winded and boring
though we may be.
He does His work and continues to do His work and send out His message through
various messengers that all who hear might rejoice over the simple, the constant and the
mundane – that you hear in your ears that your sins are forgiven, that your recall that the water
splashed over you in your Baptism was and still is a life-giving flood, that His body and His blood
were shed just for you, now take eat, take drink.
Could God work His ultimate will for you through other means than a rough and sordid
bunch of prophets and pastors throughout the centuries? Couldn’t God have done better?
Wouldn’t a better theme for success be anything but the preaching of the cross? Maybe, if God
would have set it up that way, but He didn’t.
Dear friends in Christ, rejoice that God comes to sinners, to prophets, pastors, and
people alike to redeem us all, a rough and sordid bunch in need of the precise things He has to
offer—forgiveness, life and salvation. Gifts that come to you in ways you really wouldn’t
expect. Forgiveness through a perfect death on a cross not your own—Jesus’ in place of you.
Life today with the certain knowledge that the Lord of your life dwells with sinners. And
salvation because dear baptized, your names are written in heaven and nothing shall hurt you.
In Jesus Name. Amen.
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