Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

“To those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2-3).

 

 

In my family we call them the wavy guys. You quite often see them outside of car dealerships, with their long, long cylindrical bodies and wild wavy arms flapping back and forth in the wind. They certainly catch your attention, but they do look quite silly. I don’t think it would be as good of an idea to have one of them waving around outside of our church, trying to attract people’s attention. The Bible tells us that we shouldn’t be tossing back and forth in the wind following every whim of teaching that blows around out in the world (Ephesians 4:14). Rather, we should be steadfast and anchored firmly in the Word of God and not be seen bending first one way and then another.

 

In the Christian Church in Corinth, St. Paul recognized that a lot of their disagreements over various topics were because some claimed that they followed the teachings of one pastor and others claimed they followed the teachings of another (1 Corinthians 1:12). Paul knew that although these teachers were different people, they were all teaching the same things about Jesus Christ and all of the Word of God. Paul was one of these people that had been a pastor in Corinth, and he knew the others, too, guys like Peter and Apollos.

 

Instead of picking which pastor to follow, Paul, in today’s Epistle reading tells us that all pastors should be regarded as “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1). In other words, we don’t have pastors to serve us the things we want to hear, whatever new teaching might be blowing on the wind. We have pastors who are servants of Jesus Christ. They are to serve us what Jesus wants us to hear. That means that sometimes they may have to tell us things that we don’t want to hear. And so, we may be tempted to disregard one pastor and to cling to another, thinking that we may hear something different, or at least hear it in a different way that may be more to our liking. But the servants of Christ are called to faithful, not to the congregation nor to any individual member, but faithful to Jesus, faithful to His Word and His mission to be the Saviour from sin for all.

 

Jesus often spoke about faithful servants whom the master entrusts with his goods while he is away. He told His apostles: “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!” (Luke 12:35-38).

 

Peter wondered if the Lord was talking about what he as an apostle was supposed to do so he asked Jesus, “’Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?’ And the Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.’” (12:41-44).

 

The apostolic ministry in which Peter and Paul worked is the ministry of the Lord Jesus that continues today as pastors and bishops, teachers and evangelists, continue to feed the members of the household of the Church with the gifts of Jesus. That means there are times when they have to warn and scold and even discipline us, as well as continue regularly to feed and delight and to give us rest. They do all of this with the Word of God and everything that flows from it for our growth and nourishment in the Holy Spirit.

 

The steward is the household manager. He has authority from the homeowner to take care of things in his absence, particularly to make sure that everything runs well for those who live in the house, that they will not run out of the things that they need, but be provided abundantly. Also, that no one will spoil the house and risk the safety of the others. Pastors are to be regarded as stewards who serve Christ, the head of the Church, but in doing so they are actively serving the people within the Church.

 

In today’s Epistle St. Paul says they are “stewards of the mysteries of God” (4;1). Throughout his letters, Paul talks about the mysteries being the things that are of Christ. The very fact that God became flesh is a mystery. The fact that He did this in order to die for you is a mystery. And the ways in which He gives this forgiveness and salvation to you are mysteries. That means that Baptism is a mystery. The Lord’s Supper is a mystery. The forgiving absolution spoken by the pastor is a mystery. These are the things that human reason cannot comprehend on its own. They don’t make sense to the fallen mind of mankind.

 

But the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, reveals these mysteries to us. He doesn’t necessarily answer all of our questions about them in ways that would silence all arguments and debates, but He reveals to us what God is doing for us in these mysteries. In the spoken forgiveness from the pastor he reveals that this forgiveness is as good in heaven as if Christ spoke it Himself (John 20:20).

 

In regard to the Sacrament of the Altar He reveals to us that the bread broken and blessed is the body of Christ that was crucified for our sins, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. He reveals to us that the cup holds His blood which is a covenant from God that our sins are forgiven when we drink it in remembrance of Jesus (Matthew 26:26-28).

 

And in Holy Baptism the mystery is revealed that through this washing of water with the Word we are born again as children of God and united to Christ’s death and resurrection that we might live a new life now and also in the resurrection to eternal life (Romans 6).

 

Speaking of stewards of the mystery of Holy Baptism, Jesus spoke about John the Baptist in today’s Gospel reading. There has been a lot of debate throughout history whether, when John was in prison and sent his disciples to Jesus, he wanted to know for himself if Jesus was the Christ or if he wanted to direct his disciples away from himself and to have them follow Jesus directly from then on.

 

“Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me’” (Matthew 2:2-6).

 

It may be because the crowds that heard the disciples of John ask the question and Jesus give His answer that day, were having the same kind of debate that has gone on long through the history of the Christian Church: Was John the Baptist in prison doubting who Jesus was and in need of a reminder, or did he know firmly and surely and was sending his own disciples to hear and see it directly from Jesus?

 

Perhaps it is in answer to the questioning within the crowd and within us that Jesus asks the people about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” (Matthew 11:7). John was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and all the people around went out to where he was by the Jordan River and they confessed their sins and were baptized by him, there (Mark 1:4-5).

 

Jesus asked, “Why did you go out there? Did you think that John the Baptist was one of those wavy guys being blown around by the winds of change? Was he just teaching something new and exciting, or were you drawn to his preaching and baptism because the Holy Spirit was working through the Word and the Sacrament?” Was he just the latest new thing or was he a faithful steward of the mystery of God entrusted to him?

 

Jesus’ question expects them to answer, “No, we didn’t go out to see a wavy guy, a reed shaken by the wind. We went out to see this man who was anchored to the prophetic promises of God in the Old Testament and was revealing that the time has come for the long-awaited Messiah to appear.”

 

For John the Baptist the mystery was being revealed through his teaching and his baptizing. In the beginning of the Gospel of John we are told that it was all revealed to John the Baptist at the moment he baptized Jesus and the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and remained upon Jesus (John 1:32-34). The mystery was revealed and so John began to point to Jesus and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:36). He began to send his disciples to follow Jesus, the mystery hidden for long ages but now revealed.

 

So when John the Baptist was later in prison and his life was in jeopardy, was it for his sake or for his disciples’ sake that he sent them to Jesus to ask, “Are You the one who is to come or do we wait for another?” Hmmm. During the time of the COVID epidemic your pastor prayed Matins every morning on-line for over a year. Was it for himself or for you? Was he a firmly anchored steward of the mysteries or was he a wavy guy, a reed shaken by the wind?

 

The winds of change tends to shake us. Plagues and pandemics tend to do that to us. Sickness and death tend to do that to us, just consider John the Baptist in prison. The wind was blowing so hard that his head was about to come off. Servants get tired and weary, even the stewards appointed over the household. That is why Jesus encourages them to keep watch; keep being faithful; keep dispensing to the household the things that they need and when the master comes he will bless those servants.

 

You get tired, don’t you? The winds are blowing and there are all kinds of crazy things waving around in the breezes. I took my parents hunting for Christian Christmas cards. They are not quick to order things online. They would rather go to a store to buy them. But because most people order on line nowadays there are very few Christian stores around to sell religious Christmas cards. The secular stores mostly have cards with wishes of Peace and Joy, but it has become anathema to carry anything that comes close to referring to Jesus. Anyway, I Googled for a Christian bookstore in their city and we went there. They had all kinds of religious cards for Birthdays and Weddings and Sympathy and Well Wishes, but no Christmas cards. The owner came over to help us as he noticed we weren’t finding what we are looking for. He said that his Christian Book Store doesn’t carry Christmas cards because Christmas has pagan roots. This is one of those blasts of hot air and a sure sign of a wavy guy. He might as well of had one of those things flailing about outside of his store.

 

Christmas does not have pagan roots. Christmas has Christ as its root. It is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, which actually happened. The date of Christmas may come close to pagan celebrations of the winter solstice when the northern hemisphere is dark for long periods of the day, but Christmas was not founded on that. It was founded on when the early Christians confessed that Jesus was born, long before the pagan rites of any heathen societies began.

 

There are no pagan roots to Christmas, although many pagans have tried to deflect the celebration from the Christ Child. These wavy guys do the same thing to the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Spring. So, according to them we cannot have any Christian celebrations when anything else is happening in nature—not when the snow melts, or the frogs lay their eggs, or the salmon run, or when there is a full moon, or when Jupiter is in retrograde.

 

In response to whatever may leave us shaking in the wind, Jesus points to His works of salvation and says, “’Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good new preached to them.’” (Matthew 11:4-5). The servants of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God need this message as much as anyone in the household. And as they proclaim it and administer the sacraments, just like John the Baptist, the mystery is revealed to them too.

 

Jesus Christ is God born into this world, come in our human nature to redeem us from our sins. He opened the eyes of the blind, He healed the sick, He raised the dead. He died and was raised Himself for our salvation. He ascended into heaven and He comes to us in His Word and in the mysteries of Baptism, Absolution, and the Holy Supper. And the mystery we await is His coming again to judge the living and the dead, “bringing to light the things now hidden in darkness and disclosing the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

 

 

“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you” (1 Corinthians 16:23).