Sermon

The grace of our Lord T Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.  

Please pray with me.  Heavenly Father, be with each of us now in this moment, and through Your presence unite us with You and with one another.  By Your Holy Spirit, open our eyes through Your healing, life-giving Word, to clearly see our own sin, and even more clearly our great Savior Jesus Christ; through the same Jesus Christ we pray, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen. 

In times of peril, disaster, fear and confusion we often ask questions.  Why is this happening?  Is God punishing us for our sins? Is this the end of the world?

Is the pandemic we are going through a result of sin? To be sure! Sin is the cause of all misery in this world.  Discord and disease; decay and destruction, disaster and even death – these are all the result (the wages) of sin.  It’s all around us every day.  Indeed, sin resides inside the dark corners of our world, and within each and every one of us as well.  And yet most of us do a pretty good job of ignoring it in our everyday lives. 

But then something like the Corona virus comes along that turns our world upside down.  It causes us to stop and take notice.  We realize that all is not right in the world.  No, all is not right with us.  It’s easy to look around – to try to find someone to blame…to point fingers at that country…or at this leader…or at those stupid, selfish people. 

But it doesn’t always take a worldwide pandemic to open our eyes to the sin-driven brokenness in this world.  Sometimes we do stop and take notice in our everyday lives.  We see the hurt and struggle in the lives of those around us, and we (like the disciples and the Pharisees) assume… We assume they must have done something to deserve what they are going through.  We are quick to assign blame…

This is what we see the in our Gospel text from John Chapter 9.  The disciples looked at the hard life of the blind beggar and assumed someone was to blame… He was born blind… was it his sin or his parents’?  The disciples assumed the someone’s sin was the cause of this man’s malformation.  But Jesus said that even this was so that the works of God could be displayed.  Indeed, even when we are enduring the worst that this sin-filled world can dish out, God is there preparing His good, redemptive work to be accomplished in our lives.

But it wasn’t just the disciples; the Pharisees also spewed accusations at the man even after he had been healed, saying, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” They lashed out at him, and cast him out from their presence, because he dared to try to show them the grace and mercy of Jesus’ light.  They were quick to cast shade on this man.  But could they admit their own sinfulness?…their own need to be healed of their own spiritual blindness? 

I’m reminded of another time in the Gospel of Luke when Christ addressed the crowds, opening their eyes to their need to repent.  He told them that the disaster of a great tower which fell on and killed eighteen people in Jerusalem, that this didn’t happen because they were any worse offenders than the rest of the people in Jerusalem.  No…they were not to use tragedy to cast judgement and blame onto others, but rather to open their eyes upon their own sinfulness – to see their own need for repentance.

Likewise, even we who are called children of light – we who seek to walk in the light of Christ – yes, each day we need to humbly come before God and confess our need for His grace and mercy for us in Christ.  When we look around at our world, ravaged by the effects of sin, we must not cover our eyes, but look with eyes wide open, and see our own need for salvation from our sin.  In our sin we are no better – no more worthy to stand in the light of God’s presence – than the most selfish, greedy, disrespectful, murderous person who has ever walked the earth.  If we think we are better, then we too are blind fools, just like the Pharisees in today’s reading. 

Does this mean that we are each to blame for every pain and misfortune that comes our way?  Should we look at our own misery as God’s judgment on our sins?  NO.  But as Christ said, we must look to God.  Look to His redemptive work in us and for us.  God’s love and forgiveness for us in Christ are lenses through which we must frame our whole lives.  For as I said before, whatever misery befalls us, God can redeem it.  Whatever pains we endure, God can heal it.  To be sure, God has already secured our redemption and healing through Jesus our Savior.  Amen?

So what does that mean for how we to look at ourselves when disaster surrounds us or even touches our own lives?  Simply put we must hold fast to the promises of God for us in Christ.  Through Baptism into Christ we are beloved Children of God joined to Christ; both in his sufferings and in His victory over all suffering and death.  Through the body and blood of Christ that was sacrificed for our sake on the cross (that very body and blood that we receive in the Sacrament of the Altar) we are assured that we have full pardon and forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus’ name.

Yes, as Christians, we see ourselves as “children of the light” and rightfully so, for that is what we are in Christ. Amen?  However, if we call ourselves children of light, we must strive to live as children of light.  What does that mean?  We are called to live according to the truth of God’s Word.  We are called to see clearly by the light of Christ (seeing both who God is, and who we are in Christ). We are called to submit to the good and gracious will of our heavenly Father.  

And what is God’s will?  Well, first and foremost, He desires that we know Him.  He is our loving creator.  He is our gracious redeemer.  He is the one who awakens us from the death of sin, enlightens us with His Spirit, and guides us in His will for our good and for His glory.  God’s desire is not for our death, or destruction.  His will is not that anyone should perish.  Though each of us in our sin deserves only His judgement and condemnation; He does not look on us as enemies fit for destruction, but as prisoners of war.  He loves the world (He Loves YOU) with an unspeakable, unknowable love, so much so that He was willing send His eternal Son into our dark perilous sin-torn world to rescue us from certain death.  Christ came and took on the frailty of our flesh, so that He might suffer and die, in order to save us.

God deeply desires that we know this – that we trust this above all things.  That is why God gave us the Holy Scriptures.  That is why God gave us the Holy Sacraments.  That is why God gave us the Church. 

All of the books of the Old and New Testaments point us to Christ our Savior.  All of them are given to us as a light to open our eyes to the love, grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father for us through Christ Jesus our Savior.  He came into the world to defeat our greatest and only true enemy: Sin.  He came to put an end to its tyranny over us; its tyranny of death and eternal Condemnation.  In Jesus we have forgiveness and we must always remember that where there is forgiveness, there is life and salvation. 

Living faithfully in the sure hope of this Gospel….proclaiming it wherever life takes us – and in all circumstances (even the most uncertain and perilous ones) – that is what it means to be the Church (that is how we live as God’s children of light).  We have no need to cower in darkness and fear.  No, in Christ all our sins, all our sinfulness, all our blindness to our own sin, and all the darkness in our own lives…all of it is forgiven.  But who are you, that God would do this for you?  Who am I, that for my sake Jesus, my Lord would take on my frailty and die for me?  As unthinkable as it may seem to you at times, the Holy Scriptures proclaim that you are priceless in the eyes of our heavenly Father.  God Loves You.  

Not even death can separate us from the love of God.  We need to cling to that great truth always, but especially in this confusing pandemic moment, let us boldly and confidently hold fast to the undying hope (the victory over death) that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Trust in that!  Trust in that, when the world is getting flipped upside down.  Trust in God’s love for the world in Christ, when you see misery, injustice, cruelty and death in our world.  Trust in Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for You and for me, endured the misery, injustice, cruelty and death of the cross, making little of all that He had to go through to secure our Salvation. Trust in Him; for He is the one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  Trust in Him, for He is the One who will come again in glory with His all-powerful voice, raising us from the sleep of death.  Trust in Him for, He is our judge – even He who loved us enough to suffer all things for our forgiveness, life and salvation.  Trust in Him!  Believe the Good News!

As Children of the light, we are called to see clearly.  We are called to see our own sin and darkness, and bring it out into the light of God’s truth, confessing our sins to God, trusting in His mercy for us through Christ to forgive all our sins.  As children of light, we are called to clearly see the sins of our society and our world, and ask our heavenly Father to forgive us for the ways we contribute to the sinful brokenness that surrounds us.  As children of light, we are called to walk according to the light, spreading the light of God’s love and truth, His forgiveness and grace wherever we go and in every relationship. 

Do you feel like the world is out to get you?  Is everybody fighting and coming at you to get your last roll of toilet paper?  God calls on you to love those who hate you.  Care for your neighbor.  Pray for those who treat you as though you were worthless.  Why?  Because they deserve it? No. But because by the light of Christ, you can see the truth.  The same love God has for you, He has for them.  The same forgiveness He offers to you, He offers to them through Christ Jesus our Light.  You are a child of the light.  In Christ our Light, you have a priceless treasure.  And in Jesus Christ, you know that God sees you as priceless. 

Sin, with its death and condemnation, no longer rules over us, for God has called us as His Children of light. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is our certain hope in uncertain times…and every day.  In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Please pray with me. O LORD, You are my refuge.  In these dark times of uncertainty, may I always trust that You lord do not ever leave or forsake me. Draw me into You, that I may find shelter and comfort in the marvelous light of Your forgiveness for me through Christ. Open my eyes by Your powerful Word, that I may trust in Jesus, walking as a child of the light as long as I live; through Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. Amen.