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Pastor Galler is on vacation, and Rev. Adler, who usually fills-in, was not able to be present today, but, upon the Board of Elders’ request, Rev. Adler wrote a sermon for our reflection this morning on the Third Reading for the Third Sunday after Easter. That completed sermon reads as follows:
Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Grace, mercy and peace be yours in abundance, through Jesus Christ our righteousness. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!
There’s an old country saying that’s applicable in many and varied settings. It’s true in education, in health care, in business, and in families. It’s also true in art, culture, and in politics … especially politics – on all sides of politics. You may have heard the adage. It’s one of this author’s favorites. Ready?
“The water won’t clear up ‘til you get the pigs outta the creek.”
In today’s Gospel reading we heard that Jesus “opened” the minds of His disciples “to understand the Scriptures” (v 45). This is critically important because they needed to have their minds opened to the Word of Jesus so that they could believe the Good News of the Jesus’ passion and resurrection (v. 46).
And they not only had to have their minds opened, they had to “get the pigs outta the creek” if you will. Their minds were like a creek filled with the swine of falsehood, fear, doubt, and much wrong thinking. They had to clear out the confusion and chaos that had filled their minds. They needed correction concerning their understandable doubt in a bodily resurrection, their misconception of who the Messiah was, as well as His mission and task. They were confused, as many are in our world today. They had to have Jesus open their minds … remove the “pigs” and clear up the “creek.”
Some people today respond positively about the benefits of having one’s mind opened. Unfortunately, a modern concept of an open mind is very different from what Jesus’ disciples experienced in our text. Many people don’t mind being open‑minded, but they don’t really want their minds cleared out. We are bombarded with encouragement to aspire to be open to all kinds of thinking, all opinions, and all views — because to be open-minded today is to uphold the view that there is no one truth. All different interpretations and judgments are equally valid. Likewise, with regard to religious faith, all roads are said to lead to God. In our modern world the mind is open and filled with all kinds of outrageous ideas until it resembles not a creek, but a cesspool. And this causes nothing but bewilderment and doubt. Not knowing any absolute truth. Not knowing what to believe.
In the news recently there was a piece about a 28-year-old Dutch woman in excellent physical health, and in a loving relationship, who has decided to be euthanized because of mental health issues. She said, “I can’t do this anymore.” Euthanasia has almost become a contagion and increasingly is an acceptable option offered and even promoted by physicians and psychiatrists. Hope, faith, and truth are replaced by despair, unbelief, and uncertainty.
Remember the sorrow and apprehension that gripped the disciples after Jesus’ crucifixion and death? In our text we are told that when Jesus appeared to them, “they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (vv 37-38). When Jesus asks why they were “troubled” it may be helpful to know that the Greek word for “troubled” can also be translated “stirred” as in “stirred up.” Think of a creek that gets stirred up and looks muddy. Likewise, with their minds stirred up, their thinking became clouded and unclear. They were confused, as many are in our world today. Because of these sins of doubt, unbelief, and any other actual sins of which we are guilty, and because of our sinful nature, we deserve both physical death and eternal punishment in hell.
And so, Jesus comes not only to open our minds but also to clear out the confusion and replace it with His Word to give us clarity. He removes the swine of falsehood and fear. He calls and so enables us to repent. When we repent then God forgives us of our sinful nature and all our actual sins. Now the water of the truth of His Word is clear. For only Christ can open the tombs of our minds and fill them with the light of His Word and truth. With repentance comes faith and forgiveness. We know Him, believe in Him, trust in Him, and are saved.
We are given saving faith which believes that in His death on the cross He carried in His body the sin of the world. On the cross Jesus is your substitute, the innocent One for the guilty ones, suffering, shedding His blood, giving His life and dying in your place to pay the penalty for your sins. And because of that vicarious atonement on the cross forgiveness is now available to you who repent. And having conquered sin and death He rose from death in victory. His tomb is open and the victory of His resurrection gives eternal life to all who have faith and trust in Him. And we not only rejoice in His empty open tomb, we also celebrate His opening our minds to His Word and opening Heaven to us.
Now once the creek is clear of the pigs, they’re gone for good, right? If only that were true. We know the pigs will return. God knows, too, that “we daily sin much.” (Explanation of the Fifth Petition of the Our Father. Luther’s Small Catechism. CPH, 1986. p. 21.)And so, to strengthen and enable sanctified minds & lives, our merciful and gracious God provides His cleansing Word in all its forms:
· in the Spirit-inspired Holy Scriptures, written to be heard, read, marked, learned, and taken to heart;
· in the death of the Old Adam and rising to new life in the waters of Holy Baptism;
· in the comfort and consolation of having the forgiveness of sins applied personally and individually in Holy Absolution;
· and in the bread and wine of the Holy Supper which is the true body and true blood of Christ given and shed for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
Through the Word and Sacraments in these means of grace we receive forgiveness of sins, the strengthening of trust and hope, and support for every time of need. He freely gives these treasures of grace to enable you to live in faith and with repentant, contrite hearts that desire to do better than to keep on sinning. Using today’s metaphor: to keep “the pigs outta the creek.”
And so, in Word and Sacrament, the risen Christ is present with us, clearing the swine, filling our minds again and again with His purity and truth. By His work of mercy and grace we are absolved of our sinful thoughts, words, deeds and desires. In today’s Epistle we heard, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). We are His children born again to a new life through the water and the Word of Holy Baptism. The Divinely-inspired St. Paul declares in Romans 6: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (6:4).
Jesus said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things” (St. Luke 24:46ff.). The Apostles were sent as witnesses to speak of Christ’s passion and resurrection. They were to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The Apostolic Office extends today in the Office of the Pastor, whose faithful administration of the Word and Sacraments empower the believing faithful to likewise bring the Word that opens and clears minds filled with confusion and doubt, sin and death. You and I have been called and enabled to Christ’s Mission of sharing the cleansing truth of His forgiveness that has cleared our creeks!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.