Sermon Proper 29A Last Sunday in the Church Year, November 23, 2008
November 20th, 2008 Posted in Sermons+ In Nomine Jesu +
The Rev. Evan P. Gaertner
November 23, 2008
Ezekiel 34:11-16; 20-24
The First Commandment is: You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? Martin Luther asked that question and answered: We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
This explanation is remarkably short and concise. Within these words of fear, love and trust there is a window for us who God is and who we are to be him as we follow his voice.
Follow with me today through these words of fear, love, and trust as we study the word of the Lord revealed in the prophet Ezekiel chapter 34.
Ezekiel was a prophet to the people of Israel and most of the book of Ezekiel is filled with images of God who is incredibly angry over sin. Ezekiel describes in his opening chapters the power and majesty of God. In chapter 16 the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and the Lord calls the people of Israel prostitutes who trusted in their beauty and have sold themselves out. The Lord promises to gather all of Israel’s lovers and they will show the truth of their love.
To put it mildly Ezekiel reveals the power and majesty and anger of God against Israel for her sins against God and against one another.
But in the middle of all of this anger are these words from chapter 34 that show us that our God will come back as a nurturing shepherd who will rescue and heal the broken nation.
When you hear those words that we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things, I want you to recognize that God is certainly due our fear. He alone is the one that can kill both body and soul. He is the only one worthy of this kind of fear in our lives. We don’t fear God because he is capricious, arbitrary, or foolish with his power. We fear God because he is just and right in all that we deserve. We fear God because of all that he is and all that we are.
Even as we fear in God above all things, we also trust in God above all things. We are helpless before such an awesome God. But God sees us scattered and on account of his name he brings us back to him. He does not gather us back on the day of clouds and darkness because we are victims that deserve to be rescued. He gathers us back because that is the God that he is. Those sheep, those people that are messed up and hurt by this world, all those that have been pushed aside and even to those that have pushed themselves out. You can trust in God, “for thus says the LORD GOD: Behold, I, I, myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered” (Ezekiel 34:11-12).
God sees us scattered and he gathers us.
Ezekiel then brings to us the comfort of Psalm 23 becoming realized to be true when the Lord says that he will seek the lost and find them, feed them in rich pasture, and make them lie down in safety. Our good shepherd is promised to us.
We can love God knowing that he will deal with us with His strength married to His mercy.
We can fear, love, and trust in God above all things. We trust God as we listen to his voice that he will take care of us. God’s rule over our community of faith will be defined by healing and justice. Today the last Sunday in the church year is called by some as Christ the King Sunday and by others as Christ Triumphant. Christ is our triumphant king who has come to restore us to his kingdom.
As much as we can trust God the truth is that we do not live in a world where it is easy to trust others. In fact we may not be kind to one another. The Lord says, “Behold, I, I, myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.”
As we are gathered by the Lord there are some that will not head the voice of the shepherd as he guides to springs of living waters to drink from and green pastures to feed upon.
We cannot become overconfident in God’s loving care and begin to fail to hear his voice. The fat sheep that Ezekiel described were the people that were gathered by God but no longer listened to his voice but instead followed after their own desires to satisfy themselves.
They not only feed on the good pasture, but the rest of the pasture they trample and tread down. They drink from the water but then they muddy the rest of the water with their feet. So that those who are not strong enough to push their way to the front of the line end up even more thirsty, hungry, broken, and tire.
Our community of faith is called to be a reflection of the healing and mercy that our Good Shepherd has called us by. When gathered by the Lord we are called to hear his voice. What has the Christ called you to be? He has called all of us to be his children. We fear, love, and trust in God above all things because he alone is the Good Shepherd that can lead us to springs of everlasting and life.
Martin Luther wrote about recognizing the majesty and power and mercy of God present in this world when he wrote about seeing the presence of God in our everyday lives. Luther wrote, “If anyone earnestly believed that he is receiving the Lord himself when he receives a poor brother, there would be no need for such anxious, zealous, and solicitous exhortations to do works of love. Our coffers, storeroom, and compassion would be open at once for the benefit of the brethren. There would be no ill will, and together with the godly Abraham we would run to meet the wretched people, invite them into our homes, and seize upon this honor and distinction ahead of others and say: ‘O Lord Jesus, come to me; enjoy my bread, wine, silver, and gold. How well it has been invested by me when I invest it in You!”
Martin Luther was describing our Christian lives in relation to our brothers and sisters. When we love God we will love our neighbors. The priority of the first commandment is found in how we treat God, we are called to treat one another.
We are only able to love God because he has first loved us. We have been gathered by his love out of the darkness of sin into the marvelous light of his mercy. Hear the voice of your shepherd as he calls you with his love. I know that God loves you, no matter what darkness or cloud seems to follow you. I know this because on a day of darkness and deep clouds Jesus died on the cross for you.
The voice of the shepherd is heard by his sheep. If you are worried that you are becoming deaf to the call of the shepherd get back into the Word of God. It is in the proclamation of God’s word and the physical presence of the Word of God in the sacraments that we most confidently can clearly hear the voice of Jesus at work.
Soli deo Gloria
