Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
August 18, 2024
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
Pentecost 18
A Parable of Solomon
Wisdom has built her house.
She has set up her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her beasts;
she has mixed her wine;
she has set her table.
She has sent out her maidens to call from the highest parts of the town.
"Whoever is simple let him turn in here!
To him that is void of understanding she says,
"Come! Eat of my food and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Leave your folly behind, and live!
And walk in the blessed way of insight.
Whoever corrects a scoffer attracts abuse,
whoever reproves the wicked should expect disgrace.
Do not reprove a scoffer lest he hate you.
(Proverbs 9:1-8 DKV)
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Today’s Old Testament lesson is fulfilled in today’s gospel – which is a parable about Christ and his church! In it the Lord uses the word “FLESH” in three different ways, and so let us learn them today.
1. Firstly, when Jesus speaks of his Flesh in today’s gospel he is speaking about his incarnation; in which he who is Very God of Very God lowered himself, took on the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, “for the life of the world” as our Lord says in John 6:51.
In this regard Jesus is the “sacrificial animal” of today’s Old Testament parable who was slaughtered on the cross for our trespasses, but also raised up on the third day for our justification (Rom. 4:125) Hail thee O festival Day!
Yes, Jesus gave his Flesh for the “life of the world.” You are that world! And there is no other life to be had, possessed or enjoyed wherever you might look or however wise you might consider yourself to be. For, “The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.”
“So give it up Oh self-satisfied, small-time philosopher who sings from the culture’s hymnal; who scorns Christ and his teaching. Whatever you think is out there that will make you happy: IT ISN’T! Take heed all attendees of America’s propaganda academies who praise Darwin and disparage the Bible. Who lionize the American Indian, and demonize the white man. Who glory in the self-righteous act of recycling which no Christian virtue at all.
The chatter gets tiresome, doesn’t it? Have you ever been brought up short, and find it difficult to respond to the world’s vain religion. Perhaps we should just use the words of Jesus: Physician heal thyself.
Before you do, though, be sure that you will not win any friends in so speaking (though you might win some converts) because Solomon says in Proverbs
“Whoever corrects a scoffer attracts abuse, whoever reproves the wicked should expect disgrace.” It is a lesson that hymnist George Pfefferkorn taught the church in 1667 when he wrote “What Is The World To Me. Verse 5 of hymn #430 in The Lutheran Hymnal
“The world is sorely grieved
Whenever it is slighted
Or when its hollow fame
And honor have been blighted.”
None the less Christ our Lord says,
"Whoever is simple let him turn in here!
To him that is void of understanding he says,
"Come! Eat of my food and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Leave your folly behind, and live!
And walk in the blessed way of insight.
When Wisdom Incarnate says, “Turn in here,” the referent is this “seven pillared” house where the seven gifts of the Spirit reside: Wisdom. Understanding. Counsel. Fortitude. Knowledge. Piety. Fear of the Lord. These are the gifts by which you gain true wisdom, are restored to innocence, and reconciled to your God and Father.
2. This leads us into the second meaning of the word “Flesh” that Jesus uses today: namely the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Communion which our Lord graciously dispenses here, in this seven-pillared” house.
In his name and at his command the Lord’s Church sets the table, prepares the Bread and the Wine which by consecration become the Flesh and Blood of Jesus; of which our Lord says, “He who eats my Flesh and, and drinks my blood has endless life, and I will raise him up on the last day; because my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my Flesh and drinks my Blood resides in me, and I in him. As the Living Father sent me and I live because of the Father; Just so whoever feeds on me, will also live because of me.” (John 6:54ff)
3. That is what we obtain at the Table that Wisdom has laid out for us. But Jesus uses the word Flesh in one other way in today’s gospel when he says: “The Spirit is the One who gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.”
For your edification in theology and Christian history a new controversy arose in the church in the 16th century of her existence. Immediately following the Lutheran Reformation, which affirms the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar – the churches of the Radical Reformation who thought Luther did not go far enough, seized this verse, John 6:63 “ … the flesh counts for nothing,” to neutralize and render symbolic, all the other references in this chapter that Jesus makes to eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood. But that is not what the Lord had in mind here.
In this verse he is teaching the world that only his Flesh, the Flesh of the God/Man can atone for sin, save the world from itself and feed the hungry heart with the finest wheat.
Human flesh can do nothing of the sort and so it “counts for nothing” as it were. Shot through, as it is, with the corruption of sin, and the stench of death, that ruins not only the flesh, but also the mind, the intellect and the desires of the heart. “The flesh counts for nothing,” unless you want to count its disasters. Its wars, its unfaithfulness, its razor sharp words that destroy everyone who hears them, even sadly small children who have no defense.
Not so the Flesh and Blood of Christ our Lord that was sacrificed on the cross, and is given his church to eat and to drink in the Lord’s Supper “for the remission of sins, life and salvation” as our catechism says.
This is the Flesh that counts for EVERYTHING because it changes feeble and feckless Christians into intrepid soldiers of the cross – who do jihad against sin, death and devil every day. It is the balm of Gilead we receive on our lips so that we are transformed from foul-mouthed men, who by the Flesh of Christ, refrain from profanity and toxic talk; and use their lips instead to “pray, praise and give thanks.” And to edify all who hear.
Anger management will not help, but the Flesh of Jesus will. And so come today. “Take eat, take drink,” the Flesh and Blood of Jesus. Amen.