Trinity 19
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Matthew 9:1-8
Trinity 19
October 3, 2021
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul is quick to remind the Ephesian Christians, as well as you and me, that before we came to faith, all of us who walk the earth were allied with the prince of the power of the air, that is, the devil, Satan himself. We once lived according to the passions of our flesh, we carried out the desires of our bodies giving in to lust and promiscuity, anger and malice, greed and covetousness. Before coming to faith in Jesus Christ, we once saw nothing wrong with promiscuity or fornication or abortion or cohabitation. In fact, those who follow the prince of the power of the air, says St. Paul, still teach these things. They chase after them with all they have. Children of wrath are those who belong to the devil and they despise the order of creation, they despise large families with lots of children. They despise babies, thinking them to be a nuisance and they despise natural marriage, teaching heterosexual marriage to be only one option for people on a long list and broad spectrum. Fallen humanity loves sinful desires—finds nothing wrong with them—because why shouldn’t they follow the passions of the flesh and carry out the desires of the body? After all, who is God to tell them otherwise?
St. Paul also reminds us that at that time, when we agreed with those things, when we practiced those things, we were separated from Christ and alienated from the Commonwealth of the Church. When you live according to the sinful desires of flesh, when you willingly give in to and practice sinful behavior, you alienate yourself from God and from the promises He makes to you. No one can serve two masters. You cannot willingly live a sinful life and then expect to go to heaven. Sin is harmful to faith.
Yet, even though we were, by nature, children of wrath, opposed to the things of God and in league with the devil, God, in His mercy, sought us out. We who were once far off have now been brought near to God by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolish the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and that He might reconcile us to God, in one body, through His cross, thereby killing all hostility in us.
You were, by nature, a child of wrath. But now you are, as the baptismal hymn in our hymnal puts it, a child of the heavenly father. And even still, though you are not a child of wrath, you are still a child in this faith. Of course, our church, our congregation is made up of infants, young people, the middle aged, and the elderly—members who are quite obviously not children. But we are all children when it comes to the faith. No one here, nor even can any pastor or theologian say that he is an expert in matters of the faith or the things of the Lord. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor? We are all children—children of our heavenly Father. Because we are children, we possess childlike faith. How much faith do you need to enter heaven? Jesus says you simply need the faith of a child.
Now children ask for many things from their parents. They ask for supper to be ready, for instruction, they constantly ask questions in order to gain a better understanding of the world, and for things that are truly good and beneficial. But sometimes, children ask for things that aren’t always good for themselves—for candy before supper, to ride their bikes without a helmet because they aren’t comfortable, and to stay up late past their bedtime because they want to watch TV. Sometimes children need to be told no, that candy before supper is not good for them, that broccoli and lima beans are healthy and will make them grow, that helmets protect against lasting injury, and that being well-rested leads to a more productive day and most modern-day television shows are anti-Christian and most often, propaganda. Perhaps we adults need to be told the same things.
Now the difficult thing about all this, is that children don’t like to be told no. I mean who here likes to be told no? We want what we want. Much of this is the same in our relationship with God, our heavenly Father. We don’t want to hear “no.” We don’t want to hear it. “God, just give us what we want because we know what’s important for us. We know what we need better than you so just give us what we want, when we want it.” More often than not, it doesn’t work out this way it seems. So often, we forget to pray, “Thy will be done.” We replace ourselves with God, much like how children often daydream about being adults. Because if they were adults, they would be able to eat cotton candy and ice cream for every meal! Who didn’t fantasize about this when they were growing up? But thank goodness parents don’t allow this to happen. Thank goodness God doesn’t allow us to seize His Fatherly authority for ourselves.
God knows what is best for us. For He Himself is the creator of all things, visible and invisible. Does He not give us clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all we have? Does He not defend us against all danger and guard and protect us from all evil? Only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, He does. He does, without any merit or worthiness in us.
But such is the case, in our fallen nature, that we feel God is holding out on us. So it is that you can probably imagine the disappointment the paralytic and his friends felt when all Jesus said was, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” They had brought their friend to Jesus to be healed. They wanted him to walk. He wanted to walk. They knew Jesus had healed others. Surely, He would do the same for their friend, whose legs were paralyzed. Jesus is not a genie who grants 3 wishes. He does not necessarily give us what we want or what we demand. But what He does, is give us what we need. He gives us what is necessary, what we know or can realize beyond all other things.
At first, Jesus only says, “Your sins are forgiven.” But because we often care too much about things of this world—about finding a cure for cancer, about finding a diagnosis so we can figure out a prognosis, about curing all diseases that ail the body—we do this at the expense of putting the forgiveness of sins on the back burner. “Yeah that’s fine. I know my sins are forgiven. That’s important,” we say. But do we mean it? Is receiving the forgiveness of sins the most single important thing in our lives? Because to enter into heaven, your sins must be forgiven, they must be paid for, and you must receive this by grace, through faith. The ability to walk is not a prerequisite for eternal life. But in the life to come, everyone will be able to walk. Everyone will be cured. Everyone will be whole again.
Thus, the forgiveness of sins is what we need the most. We need faith. We need our faith strengthened so that we can bear our personal burdens and problems caused by sin. Because it’s through and in faith that we endure. It may be that God will not remove your ailment from you, that you will be on medication the rest of your life, that you will need the care and support of your loved ones, or that you live now in a world with less family members and friends who have died. But we endure it all because we have faith in Jesus and trust in Him to give us what we need the most. That’s what we do here in this church. We put away all falsehood and speak the truth with our neighbors, for we are members, one of another. We speak the truth. Sometimes, it’s a hard word. Sometimes speaking the truth to our neighbors means that we warn them of their sin, that they need to knock it off because no sin is good for anyone. But sometimes, speaking the truth to our neighbors means that we comfort them when they are grieving. That we put aside everything they may have done, even though they may have offended us in the past, and offer words of consolation because we don’t want to heap burning coals upon their head. Nor do we let the sun go down on the anger we may have for each other. We labor together for the sake of the building up of the body of Christ. We share with everyone in need.
We have been granted a generous portion, more than we can even understand. To prove that Jesus has the authority to forgive sins, He said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And the man did. Jesus has authority to forgive sins. Such is His power. And so also does He have the authority to lay His life down for you, and take it up again. And He did.
Although it is often our prayer, it is not necessary for us, in this life, that our cancer go into remission. Of course, we want that it does! It is not necessary for us, in this life, that that we heal every paralytic, that we heal everyone born blind, or with down syndrome. Although it’s good we try and this is a Godly and faithful prayer. But it is not necessary that our sicknesses and diseases, our trials and tribulations be removed from us, in this life. All that will surely be removed from us on the other side of glory at the resurrection of our bodies. What is necessary now, for us, is that our sins be forgiven—that we receive Holy Absolution through the words of forgiveness, through the Mutual Conversation and Consolation of the Brethren, through suffering together and bearing each other’s burdens. What is necessary is that we receive Christ’s Body and Blood, which is present in the bread and the wine. That is what’s necessary for us. That’s what we need. That is the one thing needful.
In fact, that is how we put off our old selves, which belong to the former manner of life—the life of being children of wrath—where we continued in our corrupt ways through deceitful desires. This is how we put all that off, by receiving. And through this, through the one thing needful, through absolution and forgiveness, through the Righteousness of Christ bestowed upon us in abundance in Holy Baptism, we are renewed in the spirit of our minds and this is how we put on the new self as St. Paul says, which is created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
For the same Jesus who spoke the words to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your bed and go home,” will speak the same words to you at the consummation of the age, “Rise, O Christian, pick up the bed on which you were laid in the ground and come home.”
In +Jesus’ name.
