Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
August 25, 2024
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
Pentecost 14B
The Synagogue of Jesus
Therefore Behold! I will again do wonderful things with this people with wonder upon wonder; I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and the understanding of the understanding … And in that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and out of their gloom the eyes of blind shall see. And those who have nothing shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor of the land shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 29:14 ff
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Once again please take note that today’s Old Testament lesson is fulfilled in today’s gospel. This is no coincidence but something carefully planned by the church and led by the Holy Spirit, for our instruction and our warning.
In today’s Old Testament lesson the LORD thunders at his church until they are shaking in their boots. He convicts them not only of rampant idolatry – which always included use of drugs and sexual immorality of every stripe. But he further lays the blame on them for the blindness that results from an ungodly life. In Deuteronomy 28:28 the LORD gives this warning to all transgressors, “I will strike thee with madness and blindness.”
It happened in their day, it happened during Jesus’s earthly ministry as we learn in today’s gospel, and it still happens today. Not only in blind churches who play patsy with the world, but also the whole population of scoffers and unbelievers. The elite and the intelligentsia of this world – whose wisdom the LORD has brought to nothing. Or why else do we make the incredible blunders that we make, both individually and collectively, and shoot ourselves in the foot over and over again?
No! No good thing attends, or awaits, the person who lives an ungodly life.
But remember what the LORD says after he excoriates Israel with great fear, which he does only to get people’s attention. To “scare them straight” as it were. To awaken them from their self-induced comas. He says to them in Isaiah 29:14 “Behold! I will again do wonderful things with this people with wonder upon wonder; I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and the understanding of the understanding.”
This he did by giving us Wisdom Incarnate, Jesus the Bread of Life and the Living Water, who washes away our and opens our stopped-up ears.
Yes Jesus is wisdom incarnate! In the Flesh! Who gave his flesh for the life of the world. (Jn 6:51). But notice the Lord’s strategy, not just today, but over the gospels of the last four weeks. He opens eyes and ears by explaining the miracle of the loaves.
After the Lord had fed the 5,000 he sent his disciples across Lake Galilee in a boat when a killer storm arose, and they were sure they were done for. To make a long story short, Jesus sees their trouble (and he sees yours). He came to them walking across the water and when he entered the boat the storm suddenly ceased.
But just as interesting is the disciples’ response to their rescue, stated in Mark 6:51 “ And he went up into the boat; and the wind ceased: and the disciples were in great wonder and amazement; for they did not understand concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened.
What is the point?
It is this. Until a person understands about the loaves that the Lord gave thanks for, and multiplied by the thousands.
Or in today’s gospel until a person realizes that ritual washing before eating one’s BREAD is unnecessary because we are made clean by the baptismal Word that Jesus speaks to us. By his Word of absolution: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Until we understand that Jesus is the Bread of Life come down from heaven, whose flesh is food indeed and whose blood in drink indeed, given to us in the Blessed Sacrament.
Until then … we are as blind as the Pharisees and Scribes who came to Jesus in today’s gospel.
But a careful translation of V. 1 of today’s gospel, does not say that these men “gathered” around Jesus, but rather that they “were gathered.” That is the passive voice if you remember your grammar. In the active voice the subject of the sentence is doing the acting; but in the passive voice the subject is being “acted upon,” and that is what we have here!
And so the right understanding of this sentence is this: “The Pharisees and select Scribes came from Jerusalem and “were gathered around Jesus!”
But who is the actor in this case?
Who brought them?”
Who “gathered them around” Jesus?
There is only one Actor in Christian theology who can take blind people and give them sight, foolish people and make them wise, The very Holy Spirit of God. The “Lord and giver of Life.” Who “calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies us.” And he is the one who did it. Who brought about the fulfillment of today’s Old Testament lesson by bringing these men to “the synagogue of Jesus,” the Rabbi of Rabbi’s!
When St. Mark informs us that: “The Pharisees and select Scribes” showed up at Jesus’ door, we should assume the best. Namely that of all the Pharisees in Jerusalem, and of all the Scribes in Jerusalem, only a select few made the trip to Galilee. A trip of 80 miles that took some 4 days to complete!
And though they came to pick a fight, Jesus out-foxed them, but more importantly out-loved them so that they, too, were left with their mouths hanging open in wonder.
The 12 did not understand how Jesus could walk on water and calm storms, because “they did not understand the miracle of the loaves.” And today the Pharisees and Scribes did not understand what makes a person worthy and prepared to eat the Bread of Heaven – the flesh of Jesus given in Holy Communion.
And so Jesus who IS the wisdom of God incarnate, instructs them. He opens their eyes and makes them think new thoughts that they never thought before.
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Now Scripture never says what you are about to hear, but consider it as a possibility. Did these particular Scribes and Pharisees just happen to go to Galilee together? They did not! But were selected by the Holy Spirit.
And … what happened to these particular men when they left Jesus’ little Synagogue that day?
To be sure: we don’t know.
But the possibility exists that in their face to face meeting with the Living God. The Lord Almighty come down from heaven in the flesh to die our death. In whom, “The fullness of the Godhead dwells, bodily.” (Col. 2:9). Is it possible that they then went on to become disciples of the Lord like St. Paul, or like Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Gamaliel, or so many others?
We don’t know. But we do know that each of us who is hwew present today has been selected by the Holy Spirit to be here. Has been brought here by the Spirit’s power, to lead us to repentance, to absolve us from our sins, to open our eyes so that we understand the Bread of Life, and to feed us with it. Amen