Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2017

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Matthew 21:38
Theme: The True Heir

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

The world is unsettled. The media generally reports the upheavals of society selectively. There is an agenda at work. A certain picture is painted that is intended to colour things according to particular convictions. But the pervasiveness of sin is not taken into account. Do we really think that all the unrest in the world, all the violence, all the hatred, all the premeditated bloodshed, all the anger, all the malcontent, all the tension and frustration, the fear and the uncertainty; do we really think that’s just caused by differences of opinion, by people not seeing eye to eye on otherwise inconsequential matters? Yet the Almighty God says, “When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.”1 Of this truth, we can be certain. On it our confidence rests.

Worldviews are currently clashing. Different convictions about core realities are being vented in concrete ways. What is the purpose of life? What gives it meaning? What is the basis for authority? Is there objective and knowable truth? How did I get here and where am I going? Is there divine love, or is love just a composite of the best virtues humans can muster? Did God create men for a purpose or are we just here by random chance? These and other questions are swirling in a vortex of tension that is stretching the fabric of our shared society.

But we are not unique. Humanity has been here before. Today Jesus tells the parable of the unscrupulous tenants. It wasn’t meant to resolve a parochial matter. Universal spiritual truths were at stake. Who did these tenants think they were? Had they become over-protective and over-possessive employees? Were they greedy opportunists? Were they arrogant squatters? Perhaps all descriptions hit the mark, but they were more. They had made themselves owners and lords, judge and jury. They committed murder and brazenly tried to take the inheritance by force. They became a law unto themselves. Jesus was sending a clear message to the religious rulers that they were only stewards of the kingdom. They were not the owners. They did not have the authority to administer the inheritance. They would meet with justice.

The Scriptures confront us with the sobering question also, “Who do you think you are?” It has nothing to do with discovering our ancestry and everything to do with true humility. When we think there is no greater power than combined human ingenuity, when we become entrenched in the belief that we are masters of our own destiny, when we are convinced that we are accountable to no one and nothing but our own sense of justice, then it’s time to consider the question, “Who do we think we are?” The Bible says, “We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”2

God knows, of course, how unruly and selfish our natural intentions are and that’s why He has decreed His will for the well-being of human society. The Ten Commandments are not a quirky or eclectic set of religious rules. It’s no coincidence that biblical morality resonates so closely with natural law. As such, they speak not only to believers, but to all humanity. They reflect God’s passion for the sanctity of life. They are the standard for a stable society.

Sometimes things have to become more broken before God can make it clear to us the only way they can be restored. God does not finally accomplish His will through force, but through “weakness”, through gentleness. As the Scripture says, “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey.”3 No one could have been farther from understanding the gentle grace of God than St. Paul. But Jesus changed that dramatically. So today, as St. Paul reflects on his family history and the privileges and opportunities he had because of it, he quickly puts it into a proper perspective, “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.”4

You see, it’s only in, and through Christ that all things are finally reconciled- resolved. Can there be a rage that burns with such intensity that the tranquility of Christ cannot quench it? Can there be evil that is so sinister that the holiness of Christ cannot triumph over the depravity? Can there be an ugliness so pervasive that the beauty of Christ cannot transform it to magnificent virtue? Can there be a person so lost in the labyrinth of Satan that the Good Shepherd cannot recover him? Can there be a heart so stained with sin that the blood of Christ cannot purify it to the brightness of the driven snow? Can there be a soul so fragile that the gentleness of Christ cannot nurse it back to strength? Can there be a darkness so impenetrable that the light of Christ cannot pierce it? Death could not prevent the Easter morning sun from revealing that the tomb was empty. The resurrection of Jesus proved God’s power over all the consequences of sin and evil.

Dear friends, don’t be fooled by the look of innocence that attends an infant baptism. The devil is seething. There is a spiritual battle taking place. Satan is a foe too great for us, but He is powerless against the Son of God. Christ makes a claim on a person, who, left to his or her own natural tendencies, would remain blind to the love and truth of God. Baptism is about a promise so serious that it required a crucifixion. The Scripture says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 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.”5

Newness of life is what God gives to us each time our sins are forgiven. Renewal of hope is what he grants to us every time we hear His promises. Revival of faith is what He bestows on us each time we receive His body and blood in Holy Communion. The question, “Who do you think you are?” must also be understood from the perspective of Christ’s work for you. In the eyes of God, you are His precious child. You have been written into His will. You are sealed with His blood. You are freed to be His servant. You are a treasured member of His family. You are an heir to His everlasting kingdom.

The Scripture says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”6 Jesus Christ is the unassailable foundation. He is the cornerstone. An earthquake cannot shake Him. A flood cannot sweep Him away. A wind cannot topple Him over. It is impossible to load Him up with more weight than He can bear. All the controversy and chaos of human history past or present does not rattle Him. Christ is the true heir to the Father’s kingdom and we are co-heirs with Him in the richness of heavenly blessings. Amen.


+ In nomine Jesu +

Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
8 October 2017
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Psalm 75:3 2 Romans 3:19
3 Zechariah 9:9 4 Philippians 3:7-9
5 Romans 6:3-4 6 Hebrews 12:28