Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
November 10, 2024
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
Pentecost 25B
Who Wants What
But now, once, at the end of the ages, He STANDS MANIFESTED to set aside sins by his sacrifice. And inasmuch as it is appointed to a man once to die and after this the judgment; thus also Christ having been OFFERED once to bear the sins of many; will appear a second time, without sin, to them that wait for him for salvation. Hebrews 9:26-28 (DKV)
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Today we ask the question: Who wants what? What does God want from man, and what does man want from God? Let’s take the second question first.
Every well-catechized Lutheran knows that all men want to attract God’s Kingdom, Power and Glory to themselves. Jesus says in Mt. 11:12 that “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” We are those violent people who want to ordain ourselves God; make the world in our own image, and make the rules of life to suit ourselves.
In our Scripture studies we often refer to the Flesh, as the “Red Man.” That part of us that can never be satisfied as long as the Kingdom, Power and Glory belong to God alone.” The “Red Man,” is a term we pick up for Isaiah 1:18 which says, “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.” A brilliant promise if ever there was; one that find its way into our stony hearts, brings about an end to our warfare with God, and gives us a good conscience.
But because of the Red Man it is a “great and mighty wonder” when any person prays “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen!” A prayer that no person will fervently pray lest he be a forgiven sinner. A child of the Heavenly Father by faith in Jesus Christ our crucified, resurrected and reigning Lord.
But the question addressed in today’s readings is this – what does God want from man? We find the answer in all of the readings assigned for today; in our Old Testament, gospel and epistle lessons.
According to Scripture God wants our full time and attention. He wants our will to be in line with His will. A task so impossible by our own reason and strength, that Jesus includes this petition in the most important prayer of all:
“Thy Will Be Done On Earth.”
“Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”
In all three of our readings today we see people yielding their will to God.
First let us consider our Old Testament lesson where Elijah leaves Cherith because of a draught; and the LORD instructs him to travel some 60 miles north/west to meet a widow in the Gentile town of Zarepthath. There he encounters a poverty-stricken woman, gathering sticks to bake her last loaf of bread, after which according to her own testimony she and her son will die of starvation. Yes, she is flat broke. Out of provisions. And had no hope of gaining any ever again.
Upon first encountering her Elijah asks her for a drink of water, then for a morsel of bread to eat. She explains her situation to which Elijah responds with a divine promise. He says, “Do not be afraid! For thus says the Lord the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’”
Now fortified by the divine Word, even as we are today, she proceeds to believe it and the results were amazing! Scripture states:
“She went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. And the jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.”
Yes! Even staring into the abyss and against every motherly instinct, she gave God’s prophet all that she had. She emptied herself of herself, of her very substance, and gave herself entirely over to God – and the LORD blessed her magnificently. And this is what God wants from us. To empty ourselves of ourselves, and give ourselves altogether over to God.
We find the same thing in today’s gospel. The LORD criticizes the Scribes because they want to glorify themselves, rather than give glory to God. And so they walked about in public in their official garb so that people would recognize the high office they held, and greet them respectfully. Each time this happened a little tingle went off in their brain, dose of feel-good hormones was eleased – and Oi did it make them happy! It’s the same tingle a person gets they she opens up her FB in the morning and finds 50 “likes”. Oi what a tingle.
The same with those who had a great deal of money. They came to make their offering to the LORD, but they were giving their excess; their donut money; which they could well afford and they felt no pain. But not so this widow who, like the widow of Zarepthath 850 years earlier, gave everything she had. In the original Greek it says that she gave her whole substance to her God. Not only what she had, that is, but what she was.
“Take my life and let it be,
consecrated Lord to Thee.”
Take my moments and my days,
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
She was willing to sacrifice her very life, and die a slow death of want, before she would hold back anything from her God. She emptied herself of herself, and gave herself, her very existence and being, altogether over to her Lord – and received Jesus’s benediction, "Amen! I say to you that this poor widow gave more than all the rest; because they gave of their abundance, but she of her poverty gave all that she had to live on.” May we do the same!
Now in our epistle lesson from Hebrews we come to Jesus who is the only man ever to empty Himself before God (Philippians 2:6). He who was rich “became poor for our sakes.” (2 Cor 8:9) He offered up his very life, his peace, his comfort and his well-being, all that he had and was – in order to suffer the death of all sinners, at one time, and one place.
On the cross.
It was the perfect storm when divine judgment for sin, the full hatred of the devil and all his angels who were cast out of heaven, and the searing, seething hatred of sinful man all fell on him, so that it killed the very Son of God and Son of Man.
But by that consecrated death, pre-ordained by the Father (“What wondrous love is this O my soul”) … he rescued us from the quashing burden of our own sins; our death, our culpability, our disgrace our dishelelment, and sentence that our sins warrants; and restored us to heavenly peace with our true Father.
Moreover the preacher to the Hebrews uses a pregnant phrase when he says,
“He stands manifest,
to set aside sins by his sacrifice.”
The picture portrayed here is that of our crucified, resurrected, ascended and glorified Lord permanently “stationed” at the Right Hand of the Father, ever-living to make intercession for us. (Romans 8:34) And where Jesus intercedes for sinners they become like Teflon. No sin, death, devil, no accusation can stick to them because of his perfect liturgy on the cross, for us.
And so contrary to what man thinks he wants from God, a djinni who makes his every whim come true; this is what he truly wants. For only divine favor this will make him happy. Or in the words of St. Augustine,
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
Amen.