A, Post-Pentecost 23 All Saints - Revelation 7:9-17 "The Eternal Goodness of Giving God His Glory"

This side of death, it’s hard to imagine what heaven is like.  We are beings in time, and being in time, we use it to focus on ourselves.  But as we go through these days as God’s people, the Holy Spirit works within to move the focus from ourselves to God.  But because we are human in our being, our desire to focus on ourselves never quite disappears regardless of how self-giving we might become.

John is taken from himself and given a revelation of heaven, recorded in the book of Revelation at the end of God’s Word.  He is given a look at the last things of human existence when Christ the King returns to fully reveal the resurrection of His saints, and to finally remove our self-centredness forever.

Notice in our reading today that John is asked by one of the elders, “Who are those clothed in white robes?”  Why is he asked the question?  He cannot answer it! He does not have the eternal knowledge to know!  So John replies and says, “Sir, you know!”

We do not know heaven! John is given insight into a privileged place before his death that is hidden from the sight of humanity.  John does not know.  These strange events need to be made known by God, and they give us a glimpse of what heaven is.  What is hidden from our eyes is only revealed and given by God and His Word.

John answers the elder rightly.  Imagine if, in his self-centredness, he answered the elder, “Well, I reckon that these in white robes are those who have found their way to God!”  But no!  John does not know and doesn’t guess.  The revelation of God was not about what he thought or reckoned; it was given to him. Heaven is a place of giving, and John is given God’s revelation of heaven, and in the revelation, those in white robes are giving glory to God, having been given the blood of the Lamb.

Because we are humans, we primarily concern ourselves with getting as we live in these times before eternal life is realised.  And there comes a time in our lives when we realise that we can never get enough to satisfy our human desires.  In fact, all our getting hopefully drains our desire to get.  As we grow in the Lord, God allows us to tire of getting goods.  We learn that our goods are not good enough for eternity, because acquiring these goods wearies us and kills us.

When John received God’s revelation of the everlasting hidden things, John presents himself as the faithful witness or seer.  John saw and reported what God allowed him to see and hear.  He tells us, “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches…” (Revelation 1:9–11a ESV)

This book is the book of Revelation, and all that he sees and reports comes from when he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.  He was imprisoned in a place because of God’s Word, yet paradoxically, God allowed him to see the eternal expanse of heaven unhidden.

In this part of the revelation, John saw the saints dressed in white robes bearing palm branches, branches from trees of life, date palms that give life at oases in the Middle Eastern desert.  These are the same branches with which people welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  He sees Jesus Christ in all His resurrection glory, “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.” (Revelation 1:5 ESV) But he sees not just Him, but also the whole throng of heaven with Him, worshipping Him eternally and arriving with Him, led by Him, into the eternal realm of the heavenly Jerusalem!

John sees the blessed, the saints of God, with Jesus who gives blessing, “…they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence.” (Revelation 7:15 ESV)

Just as John could not answer who those were wearing the white robes, having made them white in the blood of Jesus, we have a hard time comprehending giving glory to God forever.  We think, “That’s a mighty long time,” and wonder how this eternal giving won’t get the better of us!  Such is the struggle we have comprehending the eternal glory of God and His kingdom.  This is why John could not answer the elder and why we struggle with the reality of “forever.”  As beings in time, pondering “forever” just makes us even more tired than we already are.

Yet as our getting wearies us and our tribulations drain us of life unto death, you and I yearn for rest, a sabbath from works that make us weary and break our bodies back down into the dust from which we were created. 

It might be easy for us to wallow in this reality, and many do!  But the blessing of our being broken and the breaking down of our bodies is that the Holy Spirit seeks to turn us from the death within to life from without. 

This is what Jesus was doing when He sat down to teach the Beatitudes.  Our poverty, mourning, humility, hunger, mercy, purity, peace-making, persecution, and reception of tribulation are not there for us to justify our wallowing and woes to get pity!  Rather, these occur to lead us out of ourselves and to hope for rescue and rest in God, into a holy environment of giving – giving glory to God, having been given eternal life.

As beings in time, we struggle to understand eternity.  Like John, who needed the elder to tell him what he had witnessed, we need God’s Word to see what it means to be with Him eternally.  Every human being will continue to be. It’s just a matter of faith with whom that reality will continue: with God or without Him, glorifying Him in His eternal protection, or, without Him, eternally getting grief from never getting the good we want, eternally dying without God’s protective glory.

On the seventh day, God rested. Jesus, too, rested in the tomb on the seventh day—the Sabbath. But on the eighth day, He rose to reign and rest in eternal glory. Those whom we love have washed their robes in the blood of Jesus. May we, too, let the Holy Spirit bring us through tribulation into the rest of the resurrection, with Jesus Christ and the whole company of heaven. Having laid down our deeds in death, may we rest with them in the living waters of eternal life, with our Lamb and Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus Christ, our Lamb and Shepherd, thank You for the life You give through Your blood. When our getting leaves us weary, turn us towards Your mercy. Holy Spirit, sustain us through tribulation and teach us to receive God’s gifts with faith and thanksgiving. Bring us into resurrection rest with the whole company of heaven, where we may give You glory forever. Amen.

 Sermon Summary

Through John’s vision in Revelation, the sermon invites you to look beyond your limited understanding of heaven and trust what God reveals in His Word. John does not guess who the white-robed multitude are; he receives the answer. Likewise, eternal life is not something we acquire by finding our own way to God. It is His gift through the blood of the Lamb.

The sermon contrasts our restless desire to get more with heaven’s life of giving glory to God. Our possessions cannot satisfy us or secure eternity. Amid weariness and tribulation, the Holy Spirit turns our attention away from ourselves and towards God’s rescue and rest. The sermon connects the Beatitudes with this movement towards dependence on Him.

The conclusion brings together God’s rest on the seventh day, Jesus’ Sabbath rest in the tomb, and His resurrection on the eighth day. Our hope is to be brought through tribulation into resurrection rest with Jesus Christ and the whole company of heaven, sharing eternal life with our Lamb and Shepherd.

Reflection

We often approach life by asking, “What can I get?” This sermon invites a different question: “What has God already given me?” The white robes point us away from our achievements and towards the Lamb. Giving glory to God begins with receiving His mercy, rather than trying to make ourselves worthy of it.

Our weariness can expose the limits of self-reliance. Yet we need not pretend that suffering is easy or hide our mourning. In our weakness, we can ask the Holy Spirit to turn us towards the life and hope God gives. The promise of resurrection rest invites us to trust our Lamb and Shepherd when we cannot see the way ahead.

As we remember those we love who rest in Christ, the sermon draws our attention to the whole company of heaven. Its final hope is not endless striving, but life with Jesus: receiving His gifts and giving Him glory.

1. Where am I seeking lasting satisfaction from things that cannot give eternal life?
2. What changes when I see giving glory to God as a response to His gifts rather than another demand?
3. What weariness or grief can I bring to Jesus, trusting Him as my Lamb and Shepherd?
4. How might the hope of resurrection rest shape the way I live today?

C, Maundy Thursday - All readings "Feasting and Foot Washing"

There is a greet paradox in the readings for Maundy Thursday.  The Old Testament reading tells us of what happened when God passed over Egypt and handed out judgement on the gods of Egypt.   This is a powerful picture of the destroyer, passing through Egypt, killing the firstborn sons of those who did not paint the blood of the Passover Lamb over the door frames of their homes.  The Israelites who did, were spared death as God moved to free them from slavery under Pharoah, four hundred years after Israel found a haven from famine under Joseph in Egypt.

Then we have the picture of Jesus washing feet.  Not a glamorous picture by any stretch of the imagination.  This is a picture of servanthood.  A picture of stooping down in vulnerability without much clothing, taking off other’s footwear, and washing their feet.  Washing someone else’s feet today might seem humiliating enough, dealing with body odour or fungal rashes.  But washing the feet of those who walked in the dusty filth of Roman roads in footwear such as sandals, washing feet was a very unsavoury task.  This was a job for the lowest of slaves.

So, we have this pictorial paradox before us.  God passing over Israel, but God the Son stopping over the feet of his apostles, to wash their feet.

Simon Peter pridefully shuns Jesus in his attempt to enact a servant’s cleansing of Peter’s feet. According to Peter, this was not a job for the Messiah!  But little did Peter understand that this was a demonstration of the duties the Messiah needed to perform physically and spiritually, so all would have a part in the cleansing of the cross.  Little did Peter know, Jesus would commission him and the apostles, after the resurrection, in sharing the glorification of God in what Jesus taught them, how he served them, and in what they witnessed at the cross.

Little did Peter know that Jesus would have to pass over Peter’s sin of denying him three times and then restore him to lead the church in “feeding the lambs”.  Peter and the apostles in their witness and proclamation of what happened to Jesus would cleanse those who allowed Jesus to cover and cleanse their hearts with his blood.   

Beginning the start of the three-day event of Jesus’ death and resurrection always occurs near the Jewish Passover.  This is why Easter Sunday is not nailed down to a single date.  Easter Sunday is a movable feast in the church calendar year.  It occurs after the Paschal full moon. 

The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, and the Passover occurs on the 15^th day of the month of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew Year.  This relates to the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere; that is the 21^st of March, in our calendar.  Therefore, the Easter festival begins on the first Sunday, after the first full moon (that is, the Paschal full moon) after the 21^st of March.  Easter Sunday always falls between the 22^nd of March and the 25^th of April.

Maundy Thursday means mandate or commandment Thursday and it’s connected with Jesus’ foot washing in John’s Gospel and Jesus’ institution of the Last Supper in the synoptic Gospels. 

The time of the Passover differs between John’s Gospel and the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  The Passover begins in John at six pm Friday evening and concludes at six pm Saturday.  Therefore, John refers to the Passover occurring on the Sabbath in his Gospel as a high day.  In the synoptic Gospels the Passover begins on Thursday evening and ends at six pm Friday when the Sabbath (Saturday) begins.

This means the Passover feast in John’s Gospel occurs when Jesus is already in the tomb, after 6pm on Friday evening (the Sabbath).  Hence, John’s Gospel brings to the fore, the theological truth of Jesus’ servanthood in the foot washing.  Also in John’s Gospel account, the Passover preparation of slaughtering the Passover Lamb is aligned to the same time as Jesus is crucified on the cross, so our sin is passed over with the spilling of his blood.

In the synoptic Gospels the Lambs were slaughtered for the Passover on Thursday evening, where afterwards Jesus shares in the Passover meal, come Last Supper, with the twelve disciples.

Peter and the disciples did not understand the significance of the foot washing, nor what Jesus did at the Last Supper.  They thought they were just remembering the Israelites’ escape from Egypt and following God’s command to remember and eat the Passover.  But this supper of remembrance was the Last Supper they had with Jesus Christ before his death and resurrection, and the first celebratory communion where our being passed over, from death to life, would be connected eternally to Jesus’ death and resurrection.  But even more so, this celebratory commanded meal, looks forward to the heavenly eternal feast after our eternal resurrection from death.

That means now the church gathers regularly for a new feast to continue the remembrance of what Jesus did, what happened to him after he did it, and what’s in store for you in receiving and believing what he did and commands!

With his word, Jesus connects the Last Supper with a new commandment!  To take, to eat, and to drink, the bread and the wine as his body and blood.  The blood of the lamb that covered the lintel of the doorframe of the Israelite homes in Egypt, now, physically and spiritually covers the frames of believers in the consecration of the bread and wine.  Jesus commands us to consecrate the bread and the wine in remembrance of God’s action in Jesus’ incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension to his right hand.  We are commanded to do all this in remembrance, but we also do it in celebration of our forgiveness of sins, the life we receive from Jesus through faith, and the hope of our resurrection and salvation.

The other command Jesus gives on this Last Supper at the first Maundy, mandate, or commandment Thursday is the church’s command to love as he has loved us.  The servanthood love of Jesus’ foot washing and the celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Communion are now connected with our forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

In the Early Church the celebration of the sacrament was called a love feast.  Those outside the church were suspicious of it as some kind of debaucherous orgy of human pleasure seeking.  Indeed, Paul had to correct the Corinthians when the love feast began to turn into a pursuit of personal pleasures to the detriment of the community gathered in Christ.

Tonight, we continue the celebrations of having our sin passed over and covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Paradoxically, we also have Jesus’ command not to pass over our neighbour in sharing that same love, which he shares with us at the cross and continues to do so as we receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in the mandated meal of his body and blood.

Our meal is one of remembrance, but not just that.  It’s the refuelling of our being to be outwardly looking!  We’re not hidden away from the world as the disciples were on the day of Jesus’ resurrection.  But rather, God prepares us for his service as we leave this place, each time we receive his love in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  God empowers you and me to take that forgiveness to the world as have the apostles and countless disciples ever since.  Amen.

B, Post Pentecost 2 Proper 4 - 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 "Clay Jars that We Are"

Clay jars need rest!  But the power to rest in the right way does not come from the clay jar!  In its fragility the clay jar does not know how to rest, it needs a knowledge greater than the lack of knowledge it contains.  Clay jars can hold many things, but one thing they cannot hold is knowledge.

Saint Paul speaks of us as the clay jars holding the light that shines out of darkness.  A clay jar that has an absence of light contains only darkness.  Like creation we are clay jars without form and void.  Likewise, to creation, we need God to say, “Let light shine out of darkness,” “Let there be light”.  We need God the Holy Spirit to shine, “in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV)

Clay jars need rest to be reformed and recast.  I’m not talking about pottery anymore, but the earthenware of our humanity, our flesh, our soul or being, both physical and spiritual.  We need the light of God that’s more powerful than the strongest laser light.  To cut with greater precision than a plasma cutter.  To open us and expose what’s hidden within.  And to burn out what’s rotting away inside of us!

Some clay jars believe that the darkness within is light, and therefore do not want to be reformed or recast.  At some point though, without rest, clay jars will return to the dust from which they’re made.  “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19 ESV)

All clay jars will crack and fall apart, explode in a shower of shards from pressure, or on Christ’s return God’s decree will be fulfilled in him.

From Psalm two we hear, “I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.  Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” (Psalm 2:7–9 ESV)

We, clay jars, need rest in God!  Why do we need this rest?  And what does this rest do?  How do we get this rest?  What does this rest look like? 

Returning to Second Corinthians four, we know that without God, there is nothing within shining the necessary light to recast and reform us in Jesus Christ.  Even Paul says, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants (slaves) for Jesus’ sake.”  (2 Corinthians 4:5 ESV)

Even Paul needs rest as a servant slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, as do all who preach and teach for Jesus’ sake!

So, why do we need this rest?

The fragility of our being is evident in this world.  This world is one bound by death.  In fact, death is the great unifier of all people, all animals, all things, in all of creation.  Everything is dying!   You, me, the person next to you, your animals, everything ever built, everything ever created.  This is fact, this is the world in which we die.  It’s not life we’re living, but death we’re dying!

After God created the heavens and the earth, on the seventh day he rested.  God called Saturday the Sabbath, to repose from work.  After the fall into sin, where humanity’s being got its clay jar fragility, to sabbath, or to rest in God, requires more than just a physical sabbath, but our fallen nature also needs a spiritual sabbath.  After God chose the Israelites as his own, he called them through the law to faithfully rest with him in repentance and atonement through the sacrifice for sin, performed by God’s representatives in the temple.

After the Word became flesh, Jesus Christ fulfilled the Word of the old covenant.  The Word enfleshed, revealed the fragility and futility of our flesh, and finished what Israel could not finish in the weakness of its human flesh.  The sabbath, the day of rest, had become for the Jews, a day of rules, rather than a day of faith where one could rest with God after atonement was made for sin.  Jesus said to the Jews, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27 ESV)

What Jesus was saying is, the day of rest, God’s holy day, or holiday,  is made for us to faithfully rest with God.  It’s not a day for a self-justifying stoppage of work.  The Jews had turned the Sabbath into a work of righteousness, by their good works of not working.  The focus was on themselves doing, rather than being with whom they were called to be!  Their motivation was on what they did, rather than being with God!

What is your motivation in coming to church?  If it’s for a work of some kind, let the example of the Jews of Jesus’ day, stand as a warning to you!  If your primary reason for coming to church is for community, morale, making an appearance, to be seen, to be a leader, to do a certain job, to move others by one’s own motivation, or for good morals, then you’re coming for the wrong reason!

As honourable as the tasks performed might be, (I include myself as your pastor in this), if I or you come for reasons other than to rest in God, through the forgiveness of sins, atoned for by Jesus Christ, you and I have come for the wrong reason!  We’re not here to work for God, but to be arrested by him, to allow him to work for us, in us, so we can rest in him.  And in doing so we glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in their honourable tasks of reposing, recasting, and reforming the clay jars that we are!  

In Paul’s leadership as a slave or servant of Jesus Christ, even he needed to rest in the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  So too with you and me, now that we have been recreated and recast in Jesus Christ, as Sons of God in his works of righteousness, having been reborn with water and the word, as kings in God’s creation.  We are returned to Psalm two where we’re reminded, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”  (Psalm 2:10–12 ESV)

Every one of us who remains and rests in God’s Son, glorifies God by acknowledging God’s righteous judgement.  As we have just heard,  “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”  What does this rest do?  It blesses us or balances us in the truth of God’s Word.  Hence, we find ourselves fleeing to this rest for refuge. 

We might think God’s judgement is Jesus’ anger as Psalm two says!  But it says this for us and others when we focus on ourselves.  When we kiss ourselves, someone, or something other than the Son of God.  However, when we’re led to kiss the Son, we trust in him and what he’s done to balance us with forgiveness and blessed rest with God our Father.

So, how do we get this rest?  We get this rest or sabbath, firstly, through Jesus Christ who being the only one to rightly rest in God the Father, paradoxically died for us who through sin struggle to rest with God.  Ironically Jesus’ rest was so perfect, this “Holy Clay Jar” rested in God’s holy judgement on Holy Saturday,  “that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,  in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.”  (1 Peter 3:18–19 ESV)

In the continuation of Jesus’ perfect work and rest, the Holy Spirit continues this work by bringing us in faith into God’s rest.  We kiss the Son because the Holy Spirit brings us to the Son through his holy word and holy sacraments. 

The Holy Spirit calls you and me through the holy work and holy rest of Jesus, in other words, the gospel.  The Holy Spirit enlightens you and me with God’s gifts, of forgiveness, to confess, and forgive as we have been forgiven.  This happens with the enlightenment of God’s holy word and faithful trust in Jesus’ holy communion for the forgiveness of sins, continuation of life in the midst of death, and salvation from eternal death.  The Holy Spirit also makes us holy; he covers us with the robes of Christ’s righteousness, so we have free access into God’s holiness to pray and confess.

So, what does this rest look like?  We are still clay jars, fragile and easily broken.  We are holy with “the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”   But the darkness of our original state still lingers.  However, the Holy Spirit now works within you and me, so we, “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”, as we hear in the Third Commandment.

In his explanation, Martin Luther says in the Small Catechism, “We are to fear and love God so we do not neglect his Word or the preaching of it, but regard it as holy and gladly hear and learn it.”

The Holy Spirit leads us to church to hear the word, to stand under it in understanding, to unpack it in its truth and relevance for us, and to give us joy in gathering as forgiven people in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  However, we, being clay jars, don’t always appreciate the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Our fragility and futility, tends to lead us to see without eyes of faith, where we overlook the reality of what resting in God is all about.  Then we neglect his word and the preaching of it, regarding it as common, and turn against hearing and learning it. 

Every person struggles with this.  After all we are clay jars!  This is where we have the Holy Spirit to help us, to once again fear and love God, in a way where we no longer “have got to” read the bible.  Where we no longer “have got to” go to church.  And where we no longer “have got to” serve our neighbours as Christ serves us. 

Rather, we keep knocking on God’s door in prayer for the Holy Spirit to give us a hunger “to want to” read the bible, to give us a desire “to want to” go to church and rest in God, and to give us a longing “to want to” serve our neighbours as Christ serves us.

When you keep praying for the Holy Spirit to give you a love for God’s Word, he will lead you to Jesus Christ, deepening your knowledge of his grace and the depths of your sin in your self-justifying knowledge of good and evil.  You will get understanding as to why you might have struggled to find true joy in church, and why being daily in the Word is difficult. 

In God’s time you will find yourself looking forward to coming into rest in God.  To be forgiven and fed!  Rather than coming in cold to hear the Word of God on Sunday morning, your joy in the Word of God, will see you put off the world, so the Holy Spirit can prepare you, the clay jars, in the Word of God for rest with God in his word and sacraments.  Amen.

C, Epiphany 3 - Luke 4:14–21 "It's Time to Come to Church"

 Luke 4:14–21 (ESV) And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.  And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”  And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.  And he began to say to them,“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

This is the start of Jesus’ ministry.  And where does he find himself?  In a congregation, amongst God’s people with God's Word!  He's been brought there by the Holy Spirit.  And there he does not bring them new word but Word from Scripture which they would have heard and considered many times before.

The Holy Spirit rested on him in his baptism.  Led him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.  And now brings him into the synagogue to proclaim the Word of God; to fulfil the Old Testament Scriptures.

Jesus announces he is the one to bring good news to the poor; freedom to slaves and those afflicted; sight to the blind, and favour or a holy jubilee from the Lord.

But first to the pattern.  This pattern is easily overlooked!  The Holy Spirit works within a very precise structure.  He does so because he is God, he proceeds from God the Father and God the Son, and he inspired peopled to write down the Word of God.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit chooses to work through the Word of God!

All the way through his ministry, Jesus goes from synagogue to synagogue and on the Sabbath day, finds himself in the presence of God’s people and God’s Word.

In the synagogue at Nazareth, he is given Isaiah to read, and he reads from chapter sixty-one, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18–19 ESV)

When Jesus finishes the reading from Isaiah, he gives the scroll back and preaches a one sentence sermon, saying, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21 ESV)

Unfortunately, I cannot preach a one sentence sermon.  Not because I have more to say than Jesus!  But rather, because I am not Jesus.

All the Old Testament pointed forward to the Messiah.  A Messiah anointed by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus preaches a one sentence sermon, but its preface is everything written about him beforehand under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. 

But what is it the Holy Spirit is anointing the Messiah to do?

First, he is anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor.  The poor are beggars, and beggars beg for mercy.  With outstretched arms those who truly know their predicament and trust Jesus over all things will cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:38 ESV)  Just as the blind beggar Bartimaeus did, when Jesus of Nazareth was entering Jericho, on his way to Jerusalem and death on the cross.

But it was not just a word of good news that the poor received, it was also release from captivity, a recovery from clouded sight, and deliverance from the madness of being overlooked.  The poor and the blind and the oppressed would have a new start in the Lord’s favour. 

This favour was greater than the jubilee of the Old Testament.  Every fifty years was a jubilee, debt was released, and people got their property back.  Here, Jesus was led by the Spirit to declare the eternal release to the poor, the captives, the blinded, and the oppressed.  All those held down by their sin and the sin of others. 

People get their life back through the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth.

Just as the Holy Spirit led Jesus, our lives in Christ are led in the pattern of the Holy Spirit.  And through the Holy Spirit’s work, we get our lives back.  The Holy Spirit wills those to trust in Jesus for sight and faith, for release from captivity and oppression, and to cry out for mercy!  The Holy Spirit wills us with his pattern and we see the pattern at work in Jesus.

What is the pattern of the Holy Spirit for you?  What is the Holy Spirit’s will for you?

We get a glimpse of what it is when Jesus sends out the seventy-two followers and they return to him having been given power over Satan.  We hear from Luke ten… 

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I  thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Luke 10:21–22 ESV)

Just like the seventy-two sent out by Jesus, you have been sent out from this place in the Word of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Just as Jesus went out and came in, by the power of the Spirit you too come in as beggars but go out rich in the Word of God.  Jesus reveals his Father to you!

You have come in as captives but have been free from eternal death in the forgiveness of sins.  You have sought mercy to be released from the depression and maddening oppression of your old Adam.  You have been given the promise of an eternal inheritance in the glory of God the Father.

Just as Jesus came into the synagogue and the seventy-two came to him, you have come here to church, led by the Holy Spirit, gathered together in our Messiah, Jesus Christ, all forgiven members of the one body under our head, Jesus Christ. 

The Holy Spirit has brought us here to be taught by Jesus Christ in the Word of God, and through his word the Heavenly Father is revealed to us, his little children, his church.  We his children in his church are his weak ones – poor, captives, blind, and oppressed. 

Today is the first day of the new week.  Today is the first day of the new creation in Christ.  It is also the eighth day of the old week.  It is the day of resurrection from sins of the last seven days of the old creation.  We are sent out bearing his victory.  The sin which we all carry; the poverty, the captivity, the blindness, and the oppression, is now covered under his cloak of victory over sin.

When you have doubt about the power of God to cover and forgive your sin, Jesus tells us to ask for the Holy Spirit.  “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”(Luke 11:13 ESV)

If Jesus is led by the power of the Holy Spirit!  If he tells you to ask for the Holy Spirit!  If Jesus praises God in the joy of the Holy Spirit!  And, if you are his child and we are his children!  If Jesus was led into God’s congregation on the sabbath, if he fulfilled the Sabbath by resting in the grave and descending into hell between Good Friday and Easter Sunday!

Then surely, we will receive the greater gift of the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins and peace with God the Father, when we come to church to be forgiven and fed on the day of his resurrection. 

Jesus finds himself with his people on the Sabbath.  Find yourself with Jesus and his other forgiven sinners on the day of his resurrection.  Let the Holy Spirit place you in his weekly pattern, in church.  It’s time to come to church!

In church you receive the will of God the Father, the will of God the Son, and the will of God the Holy Spirit.  Amen.