Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church

If Jesus were to tell this parable today, I think He might get accused of being a conspiracy theorist! An enemy came and intentionally sowed weed seeds in your field. Weeds just grow, Jesus! Everywhere! But Jesus wasn't being paranoid. This was happening to Him. The Pharisees were actively sowing seeds of opposition and doubt wherever He went. They didn't want to discredit Him or shame Him, they wanted Him GONE.

This week I want to tell you about another plant in our yard, but this one, one that we did not plant. It just grew by itself. A tomato plant in our front yard. And that plant we did not plant produced more tomatoes for us than the ones we did! The seed just grew, and produced an abundant harvest. The parable Jesus told today was about sowing seeds like that. Seeds that are sown that produce an abundant harvest.

Today, in the reading from Romans, Saint Paul talks about being trapped. But this is a far more serious kind of trapped than the others, bad as they may be. He is trapped in his sin. The struggle for Paul is not between his mind and his body, but between his Old Man and his New Man. It is between sinner and saint. But then Paul saw the light -- literally! Once Paul saw the light, he realized that to simply do better and try harder doesn't work.

Tough words we heard today! But Jesus doesn't hate families. They were His idea! But what Jesus does hate is idols. False gods. Which by catechetical definition is anything or anyone in this world that we fear, love, or trust more than God. And that can include the family. Now families are good. We thank God for families. But if family comes before God, that's not good. We've sinned. We need to repent.

Jesus sent the twelve out... Last week we heard the first part of that. And then the words we heard today -- more bad news. And you probably know how they felt. It's not easy being a Christian these days. The question is, what are you going to do? You gonna go back? There's no hope there. The wages of sin is death -- now and forever. He who denies Jesus is denied by Jesus -- but the free give of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So they came to Him, the one who had come to them, and for them. Here was the shepherd they needed. The one they had been looking for and waiting for. The one prophesied, and now here. That's why Matthew used the phrase he did, that the people were like sheep without a shepherd. He didn't think up that phrase himself -- it is from the Old Testament.

And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. It was NOT a compliment! It was ridicule, scorn. Christian meant fool. Christian meant stupid. As it still does for some people today. And yet, we heard, the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. Since the name stuck, that indicates to me that they didn't try to get away from it, but embraced it. It became not just a name but an identity. You could be a Jew or a Greek, you could be poor or rich, you could be from the city or the country and be a Christian.

All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and... do what? It would be an interesting exercise to give these words as what they call a writing prompt. Perhaps Christians would say I'd make people believe. But what would non-Christians say? But what do all these answers have in common? The Law. But this is not the authority of Jesus. And so how Jesus completed that sentence was with using authority to give. To baptize and teach. To give forgiveness. To give the Word of God. To give Jesus. To give life. To give the kingdom of God.

They say that by the time you feel thirsty, your body is already short on water. So thirst is good. It is a warning sign that you need something. Jesus talks about being thirsty today. Now, John tells us that Jesus didn't mean literal water here -- He was talking about the Holy Spirit. He says, whoever you are, wherever you're from, whatever you've done, wherever you're searching, whatever Kool-Aid you're drinking, come to me and drink. Water of life. Water that gives life. For all people.

There's what I should be doing, and there's what I am doing. I should be doing chores around the house, but instead I'm watching the game, or binge-watching that show everyone's talking about. Peter mentions a few things like that for us today. Things we should do, but maybe don't do. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, he says. Be sober-minded, watchful of the devil, and resisting him. Cast all your anxieties on Him. So as we come to the end of this Easter season, we hear once again where to put our hope -- and it's not in us!

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Those were the last words of Jesus recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. Jesus is returning to the right hand of the Father -- His place from eternity as true God, but now also His place for eternity as true man.

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? Ideally, no one, right? But actually, lots of folks. When a Supreme Court justice votes to overturn Roe v. Wade, a man comes to his house to assassinate him. When a baker or florist stands up for God's definition of marriage, they are attacked, sued, and put out of business. That's why Peter goes on to say, But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. So this is the hope, the confidence, the certainty that is in us.

So when Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd, He is saying that He is the Son of David, that He is the Messiah, that He is God. And when He says, I am the door, He is saying that He is the gatekeeper, the one who opens and closes -- not the door of the Temple or Tabernacle, or the door of the synagogue, but the door of heaven. His sheep enter through Him.

One of the things I really appreciate about the Scriptures is their honesty -- the people in these pages aren't superheroes! They're just like us. They fail and sin. They get confused. They are slow to learn. So it was with those two disciples as they left Jerusalem after the Passover. They were sad and dejected, just as we would have been. Just as we often are. So Jesus comes to these two. He doesn't expect them to figure it out on their own. We need to be taught. We need to be straightened out.

The book of Acts tells us how disciples were being arrested, threatened, imprisoned, and beaten. And more than that, the Jewish leaders wanted to kill them, just as they had Jesus. And yet they went on. Not because they were the ones who woke up from a bad dream, but because Jesus did! Jesus is the one who woke up from the dead after being threatened, arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and finally crucified. Jesus was alive, risen from the dead. So the disciples could go on.

In our marriage liturgy, the bride and groom vow their faithfulness to one another until death us do part. As joyous as they are, all marriages begin with that reality -- they will not last forever. But on the wedding day, the joy far outshines that reality. That was the situation for the disciples. He told them that he was going to be betrayed, arrested, and crucified. He didn't tell them when. So the joy of being with Him, enabled them to safely tuck that reality away.

Finally, Jesus is dead. Finally, things can get back to normal. What they didn't realize is that normal was the problem. Normal is what God did not want. So He sent His Son. And finally, the promise made to Adam and Eve was fulfilled. Finally, the Lamb is sacrificed. It is finished. And finally, all will be right again. Finally, a very Good Friday, indeed.

It was bloody. Very bloody. The Old Testament Tabernacle and later the Temple. They were not clean and sanitary places like our churches and homes. Because they were places of sacrifice. Animals were slain there. And their blood was poured out, splashed, sprinkled, thrown against, and wiped upon people and things. And it was important to do so because, as we heard tonight, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Fear not. We heard those words at the beginning of the service this morning, in the Palm Sunday Gospel. It was a quote from the prophet Zechariah, that the Lord was coming to set things right. So fear not. With the Lord there is hope. Jesus enters with the people crying out Hosanna, which means save us. And He will. By not saving Himself.

Those who mock Jesus do so by acknowledging the truth -- He saved others. And look -- He cannot save Himself. Well, that's not quite the truth. He could, but would not. But to those mocking, that's the same thing. To them, if He could, He would. That He doesn't is proof that He can't. Because first and foremost in this world and life you take care of yourself. That's true of a sinful world, a world curve in, bent in on itself.