The Preaching of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18

(ESV) For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

(KJV) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

(NLT) The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

Did you ever tell your kids to do something. It was somewhat complex so you had them repeat what you said back. They repeat it back fine and you leave for work. And then when you get home they have done something so mind bogglingly different you wonder if words mean the same thing? Maybe that is just a me thing, but I think it is a shared experience.

Even when you speak the same language, supposedly, and you are taking care in communication, exactly what is being said can be understood in different ways. Now layer on translation from one language to another. And I’m not rehearsing the difficulty to say it is impossible. We reverse the curse of Babel all the time. I’m thinking about this for three reasons.

In the young adult study on the Augsburg Confession, one of them asked a question roughly “why do we Lutherans make it so hard by disagreeing with everyone?” And the answer is not so much that we disagree with everyone, or that we make it rougher. It is that the Lutheran tradition has thought long and hard in multiple languages, and in our deepest doctrine we are trying to be exact. Because doctrine is like the answer book. You may not believe it just yet. You might not understand how you get there. But that is part of life. We believe things because we are told them all the time, and we set off to understand why or how.
Reversing the curse of Babel is the work of Pentecost. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Word goes out and it does not return empty because the Holy Spirit is at work in the world.
The deepest words are not given to us in words, but in the actions of a person. The person of Jesus Christ. The Word made flesh.

Up top I’ve put up three different English translations of the same verse. It’s a verse that is the Apostle Paul’s understanding of the gospel. It is preceded by Paul’s understanding of his purpose or mission. “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (1 Cor. 1:17 ESV)” Paul was a preacher. A preacher might use philosophy on occasion, but the core of the apostle’s message didn’t need it – “not with eloquent wisdom.” The core of the message is the cross. The gospel is the message of the cross.

And that message…or the preaching…or the word…of the cross is always paradoxical. You can look at the cross and see another dead peasant who didn’t understand the way of the world. Pilate had rendered his judgement, and this is what always happens when you become inconvenient to power. Empire…power always wins. The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But if you have ears to hear the preaching. That cross is the power of God. The power of God that doesn’t work in a straightforward right-handed way, but it sneaks by with the left hand. It exposes the power of the world for what it is, that which would kill the innocent, even the innocent Son of God. And it proclaims the steadfast love of God for sinners. Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is power of God.

Ash Wednesday – Neither Flight nor Fight but Submit

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Biblical Text: 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10

Paul’s extended argument in 2 Corinthians is an argument with what we might naturally want to do in s stressful situation. We might want to fight it, which means defeat and domination of the enemy. Or we might want to avoid it, flee from it, which means by varying degrees denial and disappearance. Paul could flee by just never seeing the Corinthians again. Paul could fight by “defending” his apostleship and proving it all over again. But neither of those things are what an Ambassador of Christ does. The one who has not received the grace of God in vain, is the one who can control themselves and not fight or flee, but submit to what God calls them to be. That may look like all kinds of paradox, and the world doesn’t know how to respond to it. But that is the way of the grace. That is the way of Jesus

Baroque Angels and Wooden Shepherds

Biblical Text: Luke 2:8-20
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The format was lessons and carols, so the main part of the service, singing all the great carols reflecting on the lessons, isn’t on the recording. But, this is the first Christmas Eve sermon in eight years that I’ve felt solidly good about. So, if you are ok with a single lesson and a homily for Christmas Eve, give this a listen. I think it comes close to the strangeness, the holiness, of the night.

And you can still come to Christmas day Divine Service tomorrow at 9 AM. Merry Christmas.

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Prayer Paradox

Text: Mark 9:14-29
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This text itself is something of a paradox. It has two of the most memorable phrases from the gospels. “I believe, help my unbelief” which in the story context is this heart rending plea of desperation. And it has Jesus’ summary to the disciples, “This kind only comes out through prayer” which can seem oddly tacked on to the story, seems to add a differentiation to spiritual evil and makes a comment on technique that is wholly absent elsewhere, and added to that is the manuscript tradition adds fasting to prayer. Our two best manuscripts do not have fasting, the first corrector of one of those manuscripts added it, almost all the other manuscripts have fasting. The best textual scholars all say fasting was an early churchly scribal addition, but the evidence of it being original is somewhat staggering for such an easy verdict. The reason that is interesting at all is that driving out spiritual evil by fasting would be a long term thing while just by prayer is an in the moment operation. The disciples did not fast because the bridegroom was with them (Mark 2:18-19). With fasting Jesus’ words would seem to be directly addressed to later hearers after the bridegroom had ascended.

And this is the paradox, with all that interesting stuff to ponder, this episode has been sparsely preached and commented on. Interesting sayings and emotional scenes are usually sermon goldmines. You can here preachers everywhere saying, “That will preach”. Not so much here.

My approach was to struggle with what I think is the central paradox. The father in the story is example. We are the disciples, or they are our entry into devotion. The time that prayer is most necessary, is exactly when you don’t believe in the person you are talking to. When you are thinking – “My God, why have you forsaken me?” is exactly the time you need to say “Into you hands I commit my spirit.” A paradox of prayer.

Less brought out in the sermon, but still something of a paradox is the question of exactly who believes and trusts? Is it our belief and trust that enables miracles? Or is the one who believes really Christ alone? His belief is given to us. His belief helps our unbelief.

Both of those will preach. Both of them point to a deep promise – “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory – Matt 12:20.” At those breaking moments are when we can be most sure of grace.

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Paradox Maintained

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There are a bunch of paradoxes that are part of how the church talks about reality, but one of the biggest is about the end times. Side one of the paradox is that the end has already come. Side two of the paradox is that we are still here. With the resurrection of Jesus, the last day has happened. The age to come has arrived. But the current age still roles on. And we live in that tension.

As we saw the past week, living in a Divine tension is not comfortable. We’d like to resolve it. We want the old age to be done with, now. Hence the rapture warning, but also the much larger number of apocalypses and Armageddons predicted from a wide variety of folks religious and secular. Or, we’d like to just say – same as it ever was, world without end. Hence the lukewarmness, the despising of church and sacrament, the lack of holiness. We collapse the paradox, on our terms, on our time, in our way.

But Peter calls us living stones, placed on The Living Stone. Think for a second about that juxtaposition living…stones… Can you come up with a stranger notion? And we are living stones for God’s purposes. Those purposes are: growing up to salvation, to take our place in being built up into a spiritual house on the cornerstone (i.e. the church is important, its a corporate image), to proclaim Jesus who has called us out of darkness into his light.