Pentecost 21 - Sermon and Video Divine Service
Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer
The prophet Amos pulls no punches. He is confrontational in his speech. He speaks directly and bluntly of a problem that is bringing spiritual ruin to God’s Chosen People. The sinful behavior that the LORD and Amos witness are not innocent deceptions. They are not little white lies that don’t hurt anyone. The powerful and wealthy are taking advantage of those who are beneath them in wealth and status and who cannot legally fight back. They refuse to receive God’s truth. They engage in bribery to conduct business. They manipulate the law and work the government against the less fortunate so that they can make more money. They have allowed their wealth and their endless need for more to become their idol. Their love for their idol is leading them down a path of manipulation and perversion that demonstrates no love or concern for their neighbor. In this mindset, neighbors exist to be exploited for personal gain. Amos offers a word picture in his indictment, “O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth.”
Wormwood is rotten wood. It is good for nothing. Stand on it and you will fall. Build with it and the building will crumble. Such is the sorry state of justice because the affluent and elite choose to love an idol more than the LORD God.
As I encountered the fiery pronouncements of Amos this week, I was reminded that wormwood is not only rotten wood, it is also the name of a devil in C. S. Lewis’ insightful collection of fictitious letters called The Screwtape Letters. In these letters, the apprentice devil is instructed by his uncle Screwtape on how to turn the Christian that he is working on away from faith in God toward something else. It really doesn’t matter what that “something else” is, as long as faith is no longer centered squarely on the cross of Jesus Christ.
Screwtape’s advice to the young Wormwood is to do exactly the opposite of Amos. Don’t confront directly. Don’t accuse. Don’t argue. Don’t name specifics. Don’t offer an alternative like “Seek the Lord and live!” Instead, what you want to do is engage in a campaign of distraction, build up confidence, increase the subject’s ego so he thinks that he is better than others. Entice the subject to focus his time and energy on something other than God’s Word and Sacrament, the Community of faith, and loving the neighbor. What you want to do is to get the subject to doubt. Better yet, get him to think that he should be entertained by the Most High and His servants so that the subject becomes bored. Play to the subject’s innate greed and desire for more and more stuff and power. Encourage materialism. That is also a good way to proceed. Worked on Israel. And, it has worked on the Church too.
Uncle Screwtape encourages his nephew Wormwood in these letters to gently redirect the subject’s focus. Blow on the embers of the subject’s worries and anxieties. Help him to feel unsafe so that he does not walk forward in faith in the company of fellow believers, but seeks to hold onto that which is said to be “safe.” The subject needs to follow the law and customs of his land, not the Enemy’s laws. By Enemy, Screwtape means God, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The author of Hebrews speaks to and writes to Christians are suffering persecution. We can imagine that even the threat of persecution, whether through violence or through social or economic sanction, can increase anyone’s anxiety and worries. What about my family, my children, and my grandchildren?
Hebrews acknowledges the anxiety as well as the very real consequences of persecution because a person confesses that Jesus, and only Jesus, is LORD. But hold on to the faith that you have received. Do not be deceived. Do not be tricked. Remember what happened to Israel in the wilderness when they let their worries and anxiety take control. They lost faith. They did not doubt, they disbelieved that it was possible to go forward. God’s judgment was that almost everyone of that generation, except those who kept faith in the LORD God that rescued them from slavery, died in the wilderness. Hebrews encourages to remain steadfast in your confession. Jesus has died for you on the cross. He is risen. He is your ever-present Savior and Good Shepherd. He is your high priest. Trust Him only and completely. Continue to put your life and all those that you hold dear into God’s hands. Do not come to the border of the Promised Land and be refused entry because of your unbelief.
Jesus comes face to face with a good and pious man who has unknowingly been turned away from the true faith. He has placed his faith in his own actions. He seeks affirmation and a blessing from the Rabbi Jesus for his good choices and works. He has kept the commandments. But, Jesus sees his true love. His faith is distorted. Jesus looks on this man with love as he calls him to true faith and discipleship. At that particular moment, that man rose sad and disappointed, for he could not do what Jesus said.
We do not know the rest of the story. I prefer to think that later, he heard the Apostles preaching, repented, confessed Jesus as His one and only Lord, sought Holy Baptism, and laid his wealth at the feet of the Apostles for the work of the Church. The reason I prefer to think this is because I know that a direct Word from the Lord never truly leaves us. Just as our baptism never truly leaves us. God’s Word stays with us because He wants all of us with Him for eternity.
Most of us are not confronted with a stark choice such as the rich man. We are encouraged to keep our wealth and possessions and use them for God’s glory. Yet, the temptation is always present to be redirected. Between our sinful condition and the whisperings and gentle guidance of a Screwtape and Wormwood, we can easily drift away. Yet God’s Word calls us back. God’s Word calls us to repentance and turns us to the author of our faith. Jesus, who loves us, even as he took up the cross, suffered and died for us, so that we may receive forgiveness, and continue to walk in the true faith.
The Benediction from Hebrews 13.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
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