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Quinquagesima 2016

Bible Text: Luke 18:31-43 | Preacher: Rev. Mark Buetow | Series: 2016

This is what matters. This is everything. Jesus. Going to Jerusalem. Delivered to the Gentiles. Mocked. Insulted. Spit upon. Scourged. Killed. Risen the third day. It all comes down to this. Jesus, going to Jerusalem for His disciples. For the blind man. For the crowds. For all the people. For you. To be handed over. Mocked, insulted, spit upon. Scourged. Killed. And rise again the third day. And we get a window on the ignorance of the twelve. They have no idea what Jesus is talking about. It was hidden from them. They don’t know what He’s saying. It will only be later that they realize everything Jesus has just told them is going to happen has actually happened and was supposed to happen and happened for them. And for the world. And for you. Handed over. Mocked, insulted, spit upon. Scourged and killed. Rise the third day. If you ever want to know what the most important thing is that Jesus ever did, it’s that. That’s your salvation. Walking on water. Healing the sick. Raising the dead. Feeding the 5,000. Telling cool parables about God’s grace. All of it points to Jesus as the one who is going to undergo His saving work for you. Handed over. Mocked, insulted, spit upon. Scourged. Dead. Risen. Pay attention. We’re about to enter Lent and that’s what it is all about: Jesus going to suffer all things to save you.

The twelves disciples have big question marks above their heads. They still don’t get it. So it’s ironic that Jesus opens the eyes of a blind man. Here is a guy who cries out for Jesus’ mercy. And the crowds tell him to shut up and he just cries out louder. He wants to see! And Jesus opens his eyes so he can. And then he can see Jesus. You: cry out for mercy! Cry out for Jesus to open your eyes and show you God’s mercy and grace and forgiveness. But when you do that, there will be lots of things telling you to be quiet! Stop yelling for Jesus! The devil. The world. Your own sinful nature. It may be your warm bed on a Sunday morning that cries out, “Be quiet! Never mind Jesus. Go back to sleep!” It may be your friends or even family members: “Quiet with all that Jesus talk. It’s not that important!” It may be the people around you or the world that says, “Jesus is irrelevant! Stop calling out to Him. What has he ever done for you and what will He ever do for you?” Cry out to Jesus and everyone and everything will tell you to be quiet! What is it in your life that tells you to shut up and leave Jesus alone? Our repentance is to pay no attention to those things and cry out even louder: “Jesus, have mercy on me!”

Well, is he going to have mercy on you? He already has! The mercy of Jesus is that He gets handed over, mocked, insulted, spit upon, scourged, crucified to death and then rises the third day. What saves you is that whether you are a hard-headed disciple who doesn’t get it, or a blind guy who just wants to see or any other kind of sinner or person–nothing stops Jesus from going to Jerusalem. Nothing can sidetrack Him or turn Him from doing His work of being your Savior. You want the mercy of God? You want God to be merciful to you, a sinner who’s messed it all up? He’s got mercy for you, all right. Mercy on Calvary where He suffers and dies for you. Mercy at the font where He washes the sin crust from your eyes. Mercy in His Word, where He declares your sins forgiven. Mercy at the altar where the handed-over-mocked-insulted-spit-upon-scourged-dead-and-risen body and His blood are given to you to rescue you from blindness, from sin, from every little last bit that stands between you and the Lord. That’s mercy. Jesus is on His way. There’s no stopping Him. He’s gonna be handed over. He’s gonna be mocked, insulted and spit upon. He’s gonna be scourged. He’s gonna die. He’s gonne rise. He’s baptized you. He’s absolved you. He’s gonna give you His body and blood. And He’s going to keep reminding you of your baptism. He’s going to keep absolving you. He’s going to keep giving you His body and blood. That’s the Jesus that He is. His one mission, His work, His goal, is to save you and deliver His salvation to you. Now go in peace because your faith, your Jesus, has made you well. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Sexagesimal Sunday 2016

Bible Text: Luke 8:4-15 | Preacher: Rev. Mark Buetow | Series: 2016

Just like last week, the story isn’t about you, it’s about Jesus. The grace of Christ. The generosity of the Lord. Because, again, we have a parable telling us of something that wouldn’t fly in the real world. In the real world you don’t pay everybody the same no matter how much or how little they work. And when you sow seed, when you plant crops, you don’t just throw the seed all over the place. I’m no farmer, but the last time I checked, don’t you plant the seed in well-ordered rows in good soil? Not this farmer. He’s chucking the seed all over the place. It lands on the path. It lands in the thin soil. The thorns. The good dirt. Jesus’ Word isn’t targeted. It’s for everyone. The whole world. This Good News, that Jesus died for sinners and rose again; the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His Name; it’s for everyone. Everywhere. Any time. Any place. That Good News is proclaimed; preached; spoken; delivered. The Son of God came into this world to accomplish our salvation. To deliver us from our sins. To conquer sin and death. To die and rise. Then He ordained preachers and they ordained preachers and the Lord keeps sending preachers so that His Good News is sown and scattered to the ends of the earth. Far and wide. Near and far. Everywhere. A Savior. For you.

But wait! The devil! Like birds snatching up the seed from the path, the devil comes and snatches away the Word from people so they don’t believe. Then there’s the sinful flesh! The Old Adam gives in so easily to temptation. The Word might take root a little bit but it’s thin roots. The Old Adam lets tempation wither away faith. And then the world! The Word gets choked because the person who hears it is overcome by the worries and cares of the world about all sorts of things. These are the things that could rob us of the Word. They just are. It’s not as if the Word is not strong. It’s that there are things trying to destroy the Word and faith in Christ and the devil, the world, and our sinful natures are working together to make that happen. In simple terms this is the answer to the question: Why do some people hear the Word but don’t believe? Why do some people stop coming to church? Why did they get confirmed and then never come back? Why were they baptized but now you never see them? What happened to the ones who heard the Word but are nowhere to be found? Jesus answers it. These enemies snatch, wither, and choke the Word. And without the Word, we will bring forth no good fruit. Fruits of faith which trusts in Christ and fruits of good works which serve our neighbor.

So which one are you? Path? Thin soil? Thorny ground? Good dirt? Wait a minute… I’ll tell you which one you are. You are the disciples to whom Jesus says, “To you has been made known the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” You are the ones who are warned by the “seeing but not seeing and hearing but not hearing” words of Jesus to pay attention and treasure this saving Word. You are the ones to whom the Lord has given His Word and planted it and brought forth fruit. You are the disciples who have been given the “God’s-eye” view of how this works: the Word is for everyone. Splashed upon you in baptism. Fed to you in the Supper. Preached into your ears. Your repentance is to cry out to Jesus that you don’t want to be unseeing or unhearing, but that His Word would do its work in you. Your clinging to Jesus is to trust in Him that He will protect the Word in you from the devil birds, the thing soil of your sinful flesh, and the thorns of the world in order to bring forth a good crop from you. Here we come before Jesus and say, “Yes, Lord, it would be so easy to let the devil have it or let it wither or be choked to death. Yet you have promised me mysteries. Your death and resurrection. Your forgiveness. So plant your Word in me and make me a true believer who bears fruit. The fruit of faith which grows stronger as it trusts your good and gracious Word and the fruit of good works which seek the best for and help the people around me and in my life.” In short, this parable teaches us to learn that the Word is the Lord’s, the growth of that Word is the Lord’s and it is all a gift that we want to have a part in. And the fact that you are hearing this parable preached right now is Christ’s own proof to you that He will do exactly that: save you from sin and death and bring forth in your life a great big harvest of faith and love. Because the Sower went out to sow, and He has sowed life and salvation in you through His Word. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Septuagesima 2016

Bible Text: Matthew 20:1-16 | Preacher: Rev. Mark Buetow | Series: 2016

There are two ways you can deal with God. The first is that you can work out an agreement with Him. Earn what you get. Like the guys who got hired first. You work a day, you get a denaius, a day’s wage. People do this. They want God to do something in exchange for their good behavior or fixing something in their lives. “God, if you save me, I’ll do x, y, or z.” “Jesus, help me and I’ll be a better person.” This is how the world figures God works. (Otherwise, those guys wouldn’t have assumed they were going to get more when the others got the same.) God gives you what you earn. You get what you deserve. That doesn’t usually work so well because you’re going to get what you deserve when you don’t hold up your end of the bargain. Sinners don’t keep the commandments. They may be hired in the morning but there’s no way they did a full day’s work. The worst thing about dealing with God this way is that in the end, all you have is what you have earned and that will never be enough for eternal life and paradise. You want to deal with God like that, go ahead, but the result will be very sad. “Take what you got and go away.” But the other way of dealing with God isn’t about you at all. It’s about His grace. It’s about Him giving you not what is fair, not what you’ve earned, but what His generosity comes up with: forgiveness of sins and eternal life. That comes to you not because of you, but because of Him, His grace, His mercy, His generosity. His gifts are just that: gifts. Undeserved, given freely, given to you and the world.

I should think that the less you worked in the vineyard, the more generous a denarius is. If you work all day and you get paid a day’s wage, well, meh, that’s not that big of a deal. If you worked half the day and got a day’s wage, that’s pretty cool. If you only worked an hour and got a day’s wage? Awesome! And here’s the point: We could extend that out infinitely when it comes to our sinfulness. If you don’t have a lot of sins, what Jesus has for you isn’t that impressive. But if we understand just exactly what it is the Law says about us, that no sin is too small to condemn us and no work is big enough to save us or make us right, then we’ll begin to see just what exactly Jesus has done. His work. His bearing the heat of the day. His brow crowned with thorns, His hands nailed to the cross. His side pierced for blood and water to flow. His enduring the agony of death and the punishment of the Law for those who wouldn’t lift a finger to keep it. His death on the cross in the place of sinners who demand something from God and think they’ve earned something when they’ve earned nothing. It is the death of Christ for sinners that is the demonstration of the vineyard owner’s mercy in giving all of us way more than we deserve. To put it another way: the point of the parable isn’t something about us but something about God. It’s that He is merciful and He dishes out that mercy to those who don’t deserve it at all. It’s His forgiveness, life, and salvation to do with what He wants. And he wants to give it to you.

And He does. At the font. At the altar. From His Word. From this pulpit. Grace. Mercy. Not what is fair. What is “just.” What is “right.” He gives you the forgiveness of sins, everlasting life, and salvation. He rescues you from death and the devil. He opens heaven and paradise to you. Why? Because you earned it? Nope. Worked for it? Nope. Kept your end of some bargain with God? Nope again. He gives it to you because His mercy is His to do with what He wants. And He wants you to have it. To have all of it. To have the Jesus-born-of-a-woman-grown-up-to-die-and-rise-for-you mercy that means it’s yours. Look around at the church. Here you are. Brought in by the Lord. Some of you were scooped up by Jesus when you were babies. For others it was later in life. Some of you have rotten, obvious sins, and others have dark, hidden sins. Some of you are dealmakers with the Lord. Others might not even know what to try to negotiate. Some have drifted away and been brought back. Others of you have been here your whole lives. The thing is, none of that is the point. Time frames and quantities of sins and all of that is really not the point at all. Jesus is. He has borne the heat of the day for you. And you receive a wage based on His work. The vineyard owner is super generous. He’s crazy generous because He pays people like no other employer ever: not on your hours worked or your performance, but because He likes to gift His riches to you. And that’s what He does. After Transfiguration last week, it probalby won’t surprise you to learn that right after this Gospel lesson too, Jesus gives another “going to Jerusalem to die and rise” speech. That’s because it is by His death and resurrection, by His water, Word, body and blood, that you are called and chosen to be on the receiving end of His immeasurable gifts. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Transfiguration of Our Lord 2016

Bible Text: Matthew 17:1-9 | Preacher: Rev. Mark Buetow | Series: 2016

When Jesus was baptized, the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” Right there. In the Jordan River. Boom! That’s God’s Son! At the Transfiguration, with Jesus shining in His glory like the sun, the Father speaks again: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” But this time He adds, “Hear Him!” Listen to Him. Why does the Father add that on? Because what is about to happen is completely unlike what everyone pictures about God. Jesus shining in glory and power and majesty on the mountain top, hanging out with the likes of the Old Testament saints Moses and Elijah? That’s awesome! Awe-inspiring. Fear-inspiring! That’s God! Right there! You can’t even look at Him! But what Jesus says after that doesn’t make any sense. It’s after our Gospel reading. But it goes like this: Jesus tells His disciples that He’s going to be betrayed into the hands of evil men, suffer many things, be crucified and rise again the third day. He shines like God on the mountain and then tells them He’s going to undergo some very not-Godlike stuff. Suffering? Dying? What kind of God does that? This is why the Father says to “Hear Him!” Because it is the Word that tells us what Jesus is doing. What He will undergo. What will happen to Him. And since the disciples had seen Jesus on the mountain, they might never have believed what would happen to Him in His suffering and death. They certainly didn’t and they were blown away by His resurrection. But He had told them everything ahead of time.

Jesus’ Words save us from a false Jesus. They rescue us from our disappointment in a God who lets Himself get arrested and who suffers. We want the God who rides in on the white charger with His legions of angels and destroys all the bad guys. Except we’re the bad guys too. We’re sinners. If Jesus came to deal with sinners like that, we’d all be toast. So He comes to take the place of sinners, as we heard when He was baptized, and to suffer our suffering and die our death. To rescue us, forgive us, and give us new life. This is the Father’s beloved Son. Hear Him! What does He say? He says that He has come to bear your sins, to be your rest, to heal and restore you. He says that He has come into this world not to be served but to serve and give His life as your ransom. Jesus says that He is the fulfillment of all the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah) so that we know God always keeps His promises. He says that He will give Himself into death for you so that He will raise you up on the Last Day. He says that He glorifies the Father by doing His will, which is to save sinners. He says that He is not here for Himself but for your sake. Jesus says that all that He will undergo, He undergoes for you. To save you. So when the Father says “Hear Him!” then we listen to Jesus tell us what sort of Savior He is and how He will do His saving. That way, we’re not disappointed by a God who can die on a cross but rejoice that His death and resurrection save us.

Then now, today, in your life, “Hear Him!” You see, you are a child of God. You shine with a hidden glory the world cannot see. But the world, along with the devil and your sinful nature, wants to cause you to suffer. And you will suffer. You may suffer the things that other people do to you. You will put up with the indignities of people’s faults that cause you suffering or they may cause it directly. You will put up with the suffering that comes from plain old life, as the world and the devil try to take you down: bills, job, disasters, whatever. You will suffer as death creeps on your body, making you old, making you sick. You will suffer the attacks of your sinful flesh which plunges you into the frustrating and wearying habits of your sins and transgressions. And you will look up to God and you won’t see bright, shiny Jesus and you’ll say, “Well what am I supposed to do now?” And the Father says, “Hear Him!” And what does He say? “I baptized you…” “I forigve you…” “I died and rose for you…” “Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.” The Words of Jesus mean what they say and deliver what they promise. Even when it doesn’t look like it. Even when Jesus in water, Word, bread and wine doesn’t look anything like the shiny, bright, power-God everyone demands to see. His Word. Hear Him. He says what you need to hear. Always. You are the Lord’s. His death and resurrection happened for you. Your sins are forgiven. Your enemies are defeated. Your suffering is not all there is. Your death is not the end. You have a Savior. You have eternal life. Jesus is the beloved Son. You are a beloved child of God. How can you know? Hear Him. Jesus tells you exactly that. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Baptism of Our Lord 2016

Bible Text: Matthew 3:13-17 | Preacher: Rev. Mark Buetow | Series: 2016

“Why can’t you be more like your brother? He’s the responsible one?” “Why can’t you be more like your sister? She always cleans up her room when I tell her.” “Why can’t yo be more like her husband…he’s always fixing stuff when it breaks?” Why can’t you be more like…? Oh, come on. If we’re going to do that, let’s go all in! Why can’t you be more like JESUS! Why can’t you act more like He does, all loving and well-behaved and all that. The fact is, we could do that. We could play the “Jesus card” and lay it out for people that they need to act more like the Son of God. But that misses the entire point of what Jesus is all about, doesn’t it? Today, we arrive at the Jordan River to see the camel-hair-wearing-locust-eating prophet John baptizing sinners. Sinners show up. Sinners confess their sins. John washes them away in the river. But wait, what’s this? Jesus is showing up? To be baptized? With the sinners? John gets it. He thinks like us. “Jesus, I gotta be more like you! You’re the spotless Lamb of God. You should be doing the baptizing.” But Jesus has not showed up to tell the world, “Hey! Look at me! Act like me! Be like me!” He has arrived at the Jordan River to delare to the world, “I will be like you. You are sinners? Then I will be as one of you. I will take on your sins and make them my own so I can take them to Calvary and get rid of them by my suffering and death.” Being saved, being a Christian, being a saint, is not about you being like Jesus. It’s about Him becoming like you, taking on your sins, making them His own, and saving you from them. That’s why Jesus shows up to get baptized today.

But there’s more. Jesus does this so that you WILL be like Him. And by that I don’t mean you’ll improve a bit here and there. Jesus doesn’t get in that water so you can have a nice example to follow. He is baptized with the sinners so that you will be perfect. Holy. Innocent. No guilt. No sins. And this isn’t something you strive for or work at. It’s something that is given to you. It’s yours! Just as our sins are given to Him at His baptism, so His perfection and righteousness is given to you in yours. Paul told us in the epistle reading: Jesus has become for you the wisdom of God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Righteousness because you won’t get right trying to live right. You’re right with God because Jesus goes to Calvary to die and rises the third day. Sanctification because you won’t be a holy person trying to imitate Jesus. You’re sanctified, holy, because Jesus is holy and perfect and has taken all your sins away. You can’t redeem yourself; you can’t make up for your sins and work your way out of them. Jesus is your redemption because He trades places with you, swaps His innocence for your sins and gives you His righteousness in place of your transgressions. Get it? It’s all Jesus doing this.

And all of that makes you God’s beloved son, too. Your baptism: You are God’s beloved. He loves you! Christ’s body and blood? Makes you the Father’s beloved. You got Jesus and His righteousness. You got the Father’s “atta boy!” spoken about you. You got the Spirit on you that declares you are the object of God’s loves and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. And so for the new man in Christ, there IS some imitation. We want to imitate the Father who says of Jesus, that is my beloved son. We want to imitate the Father saying that about other people. Look around you. At your brothers and sisters in Christ. At your families and friends and coworkers. They are beloved by God in Christ Jesus. How could you see them any other way? How could you call them sinners or think less of them for their faults and mistakes when God Himself cannot? There you go! There’s some repentance: Be more like the Father, which means merciful to those who have been redeemed by Jesus. They, like you, have had their sins answered for by Jesus’ death. He became for them, as for you, their righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. You couldn’t possibly see them any other way! You can’t be more like Jesus! You’re as like Jesus as you’ll ever be because He has clothed you with His own righteousness. You couldn’t be more like Jesus if you tried. When the Father looks at you, that’s what He sees. And when you look at others, well, that’s what you see too: Jesus. And in Him, there is nothing but everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. Because He became one of us and took our sins upon Himself to save you. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.