Brent Kuhlman

+ Jesu Juva +

Romans 3:19-28

Happy Hour’s special today and always is the Gospel (straight up, neat and clean, neither shaken nor stirred).  It is being justified before God because Jesus died for you.  Dr. Martin Luther popped the cork of this 200 proof, 2,000 year-old Gospel and he couldn’t get enough. Neither can I.  So I invite you to receive the undiluted forgiveness won for all by Christ’s very good, Good Friday death. 

So here’s the big theological question.  It’s the ultimate question.  The life or death question.  “How do you get heaven?”  The stiff drink from the text is:  “for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the Law [i.e. what you do or by what you don’t do].”

As I attend funerals these days the eulogies betray what people really believe.  Grandma is in heaven because she was so kind, caring and loving.  The perfect woman.  Never hurt anyone.  Did her best.  Best sugar cookies and apple pies.  Grandpa is with God because he didn’t smoke, drink, dip, curse or look at Playboy magazines behind the barn.  Grandma and Grandpa are in heaven, the preacher says, because they were such moral religious people.  They worked hard at it.  And so they deserved eternal life.  Merited it.  Earned it.  God owed it to them.  Salvation is our achievement.  Our accomplishment.  “I did my part!  Now God must do His!  He’s obligated!”

Ask your friends.  This is what most people believe.  Many of them go to church.  They may even sit in the same pew with you.  It’s time to go the cellar, pull out that 200 proof, 2,000 year old vintage bottle called “Good Friday,” uncork it, and pour it out lavishly and recklessly.

The truth is that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”   “All” leaves no one out.  No exceptions.  All means all.  All have sinned.  All fall short of God’s glory.  All have sinned sinners are full of rot.  Like the bruised and battered apple that sits on the table for a week.  Cut it in half and what do you see?  Soft brown decay and rot.  Rotten sinners merit only one thing before God:  DEATH.  DAMNATION.  “The day you eat of it you will die.”  “The wages of sin is death.”   Like rotten brown apples all have sinned sinners deserve to be thrown out into the trash heap.

That’s you and me.  The world.  Grandma.  Grandpa.   Sinners who have sinned and who fall short of God’s glory.  Dead in their trespasses and sins. 

Then God up and does the most remarkable thing.  He decides to give sinners what they DON’T deserve.  Refuses to.  For Jesus’ sake.

Hands over your sin, my sin, the world’s sin – all of it – every last bit of it – to Jesus.  Puts it all on Him.  Lays on Him the iniquity of us all and says to Jesus:  “You be Peter the denier!  Paul the persecutor, blasphemer, and assaulter!  You be David the adulterer!  You be Adam and Eve who ate the apple in the garden!  Be the thief on the cross!  You pay and make satisfaction for all sin and every sinner!  Don’t leave anyone out!  Not even Kuhlman!”  Behold Jesus!  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  

You are “justified as a gift by God’s grace through the” vintage bottle of “redemption” uncorked at Good Friday.

Good Friday uncorked for you.  Good Friday’s 200 proof redemption poured out lavishly for you.  At the font.  You are baptized.  Into Christ’s Good Friday death and His Easter morning resurrection.  You are forgiven everything.  Jesus says so in the Absolution.  He says so in the Supper.  Body and Blood of the Lamb for the forgiveness of sins.

What a happy hour!  What a Gospel drink!  Belly on up for the biblical vintage: “for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the Law.”

In the Name of Jesus.

+ Jesu Juva +

Genesis 32:22-30

Behold!  The greatest wrestling match of all time!  The patriarch Jacob wrestles with God.  Can you imagine that?  He wrestles with God.  But what is even more astounding is that Jacob wins.  He puts God in a stranglehold!  And God gives in!   

Most of us wouldn’t dare to wrestle with God.  Wouldn’t even consider it.  But not Jacob.  He’s in deep trouble.  He’s in severe crisis.  His life appears to be at an end.  His faith in God is seriously stressed. 

Everything’s come full circle in Jacob’s life.  It all started when he and his brother were born.  Esau came out first.  But Jacob had his hand clenched on Esau’s heel.

Jacob and Esau:  twins.  And yet opposites.  Esau was the tough, fiery, red-hair-all-over, bear of a man.  Big game hunter.  A man’s man.  A bar room brawler.  A real head knocker.  Get in Esau’s way and he might just teach you a lesson by pulling out his Smith and Wesson. Isaac favored Esau because his oldest son could fix the best deer jerky and fry up a great breaded deer steak.

Jacob.  Quiet.  Clean shaven and smooth skinned.  A momma’s boy.  Stays out of the bars.  A home body.  Hangs out with the women in the tents.  Governor Schwarzenegger would call him a “girly man.” 

But Jacob cheated his brother Esau of his birthright with a bowl of stew.  And then everything came to a head when Isaac’s old man macular degeneration was in full swing and his senior citizen body was wearing out.  As her husband lies on his deathbed, Rebekah plots.  Jacob impersonates his brother and steals Isaac’s blessing that rightfully belongs to Esau.

When Esau finds out he vows to kill his brother.  So Jacob has to flee.  Has to run for his life.   A bounty is on his head.  Esau puts out the order: shoot to kill!  Jacob is exiled to his uncle Laban’s ranch way up in the north.  There he works, wheels and deals, gets married, and has kids of his own.  During his exile God  promises Jacob that he would return to his home.  God promises His blessings of forgiveness and salvation.  Fast forward to today’s text.

Years have passed.  Jacob is on his way home with his family and all that he has.  Heads south.  But look who stands in the way!  Brother Esau is on the other side of the river!  With four hundred well armed Smith and Wessoned men!  “He is coming out to meet you Jacob!”  The gig is up!  Esau will surely get his revenge for Jacob’s sins against him.  Take all Jacob’s possessions and livestock.  Ruthlessly murder the women and children.  And then slowly torture, maim, and execute Jacob himself.

What pressure.  What stress.  What anxiety.  What a crisis.

So all through the night Jacob wrestles with God who has taken the form of a man.  God dislocates Jacob’s hip.  God appears to hate Jacob.  God seems to enjoy hurting him.  God appears to delight in giving Jacob what he deserves. 

But Jacob will not give up.  He will not let go!  Tenaciously he clings to God. “Let go of me!” God commands.  “Let go Jacob.  Your thigh is hurt.  You’ll be lame the rest of your life.  Give up Jacob.”  Jacob does not listen.  “Not until you bless me!”

“Not until you bless me!” “Not until you bless me!”  With these words Jacob wins.  He’s got God in a stranglehold.  It’s the full nelson of FAITH!  And God gives in.  The match is over.  Ding the bell.  God is defeated – BY JACOB’S FAITH!  “Not until you bless me!” “Not until you bless me!”

Things not going so well in your life?  One crisis after another?  Perhaps it’s puberty.  The body changes awkwardly and quickly.  Is it the crisis of becoming empty nesters?  Sending children off to college, watching them get married, and raising their own families?  Is it a health crisis?  Lost a loved one or a very good friend?  Is it the crisis of divorce? Failing a test?  Been betrayed?  Hurt deeply by a friend or family member?  Feeling the effects of sin in your life?  Death staring at your door? 

“Where are You God?  Why do You always seem to be against me?  Do You hate me?”  Is that your cry?  Are those your questions? 

Then it’s time for another wrestling match.  To call God out.  To take God to the mat.  Whether it takes one sleepless night or many.  Whether God puts your hip out of socket or puts you in the sleeper hold.  When God appears to be saying:  “Let go of me, you’re hurt, give up, I’m strangling you,” faith reverses everything and puts God Himself in a throttlehold by saying: “Not until you bless me!” “Not until you bless me!”    
 
The stranglehold of faith says:  “Oh, yes, I’m not worthy God.  I’m a rotten stinking sinner like Jacob.  But you promised God!  You are faithful.  With you there is mercy.  With you there is forgiveness.  I know sometimes it doesn’t appear that way sometimes when I look at my life.  But Your Son Jesus died for me.  Your Son Jesus put His Name on me.  Your Son Jesus gives me His Body and His Blood.  You’ve promised to bring me home.  To give me the Promised Land of Heaven.  You’re not against me.  You’re for me.  You’ve promised.  You’ve promised.  I won’t let you go until you bless me.”

That’s a hold God can’t get out of.  And He’s doesn’t even mind.  Happy wrestling faithful sons and daughters of Israel.
 
In Jesus’ Name. 

+ Jesu Juva +

Lepers.  Ten of them.  Ever seen one?  You’d be repulsed.  Shocked by their disfiguring disease.  Flesh being eaten away.  Pieces of face, hands, feet rotting off.  And very infectious leprosy is.  Don’t get near a leper.  Let alone ten.  Quarantined and confined.  Unclean.  Excluded.  Banned.  Prohibited.  Stay away!  Leper alert!  Leper alert! Steer clear everyone!

But here’s a Man.  Jesus.  On His way to Jerusalem.  And we know what’s going to happen there.  Calvary.  Salvation.  He’s going to do a Jerusalem.  Going to do a Calvary.  Going to do a Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world job.

“Watch out for the lepers Jesus!  Don’t listen to them.  Don’t help them.  They’re not worthy.  They’re not worthy.  They’re history anyway.  They don’t need mercy.  They need to be left alone.  Kept out of sight. Out of mind.  They’re as good as dead!”

Jesus doesn’t listen to us.  He listens to the KYRIE.  “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

He speaks to lepers.  The outcasts.  The lost.  The dead. 

And He treats them as healed and brought back from the dead.  “Go show yourselves to the priests,” He says.  You only did that after you were healed.

They do what Jesus says.  And on their way to the priests their leprosy disappears.  They’re cleansed.  Flesh restored.  Faces in one piece.  Noses and lips restored.  Eyebrows and eyelids.  Gums and teeth in order.  Fingers and hands -- toes and feet in normal working condition.

All ten healed.  Jesus is for all.  For every sinner.  No matter who you are.  One of the healed men returns.  Not a Jew.  A Samaritan.  Jerusalem Jewish priests wouldn’t have anything to do with a half-breed like him.  No problem.  He falls flat at Jesus’ feet.  Loudly praises God.  And says “Thanks Jesus!  Thanks for the healing!  Thanks for everything!”  That’s faith.  The highest worship.

Worship.  You’re only supposed to worship God.  The Samaritan’s got it right.  Jesus is God.  The one true God.  The Body of Jesus is the manifestation of God’s presence on the earth.  Jesus’ Body is the fulfillment of the temple in the Old Testament.  Jesus is the House of God.  God dwells.  God reigns on the earth.  IN THE BODY OF JESUS.

The other nine don’t see this or believe this.  For them Jesus is an Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland.  A healing vending machine.  Get what you want and then off you go.

But not with this foreigner.  He worships God Jesus.  Praises Him.  Gives thanks to Him.  Genuflects profusely.

And to him Jesus says:  “Rise.”  In the Greek this is the resurrection verb.  And that’s done on purpose.  “Rise.”

You see the Samaritan is a object lesson for all of us.  Sin makes us unclean.  Unworthy.  Excluded.  Banned.  Prohibited.  As good as dead.  Like the lepers.

But in Christ the dead live.  Raised from the dead.  Cleansed by His Blood.  Purified -- sanctified by the sacrifice of His Body on the Cross.  And He raises us to new life in communion with Him.  Feeds us with His cleansing and enlivening Body and Blood.

And then the words to us as well:  “Go.  Your faith has saved you.”  The translation on your bulletins is not so good.  The verb in the Greek is “saved.”  “Go.  Your faith has saved you.”

Be careful now.  The temptation here is to start paying attention to your faith.  To yourself.  Remember last week?  Jesus spoke of faith the size of a mustard seed.  That’s microscopically small.  Too small to be seen by the naked eye.  By any eyes at all.  God alone sees faith.  Let Him worry about your faith.  Otherwise all you’ll do is pay attention to yourself.  And that’s always naughty.

The Holy Spirit wants us to pay attention to Jesus.  Jesus is the Savior.  So the Holy Spirit gives faith when and where He pleases.  And He gives you all the faith you need.

But, please remember, faith doesn’t focus on itself.  We don’t believe in our believing.  Faith doesn’t trust in faith.  Faith clings and believes in Jesus.

We, like the Samaritan, have no room for boasting.  The Samaritan didn’t say:  “Look at my faith Jesus!  See how big it is?  Aren’t you proud of me?”

Imagine that you’re drowning in the Caribbean.  The Coastguard officer throws you a float line.  Hauls you to the boat.  You don’t say:  “Hey man! Did you see how I hung on that inner tube.  We should make this into a reality TV show!  I was magnificent wasn’t I?”   No.  You say:  “Thanks a ton.  I was as good as dead.  You saved my life.”

Jesus is the Savior.  Died for you.  Rose for you.  Thrown you a lifeline in Holy Baptism and you’ve wrapped your dead arms around it.  As good as dead.  But made alive -- raised to new life in Jesus.  It would be silly for you to say:  “I sure did a great job of believing Jesus.  Aren’t you so proud of me?”

“Rise.  Go.  Your faith has saved you.”   Faith saves because Jesus saves.  You have a great faith because you have a great Jesus.  “Thank you Jesus.  You’ve saved our lives.” 

In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

+ Jesu Juva +

It’s no wonder that the disciples beg Jesus to increase their faith.

Why would they beg Jesus for this?  Because Jesus speaks of our relationships with one another.  And that’s hard work.  Perhaps the hardest ever.  Especially when it comes to forgiving those who sin against us. 

What’s your first reaction to someone who sins against you?  Attack right back.  Tit for tat.  Quid pro quo.  Revenge.  Even the score.  Win at all costs.  By whatever means necessary.  “You sin against me.  I’ll sin against you.  Yell at me.  I’ll yell louder.  Push me and I’ll shove.  Stab me in the back.  I’ll do it to you ten times worse.  Steal from me and I’ll rob you blind.  Betray me and I’ll make your life miserable.  And I’ll do it with a vengeance.  Hurt me and I’ll crush you.  Ridicule me and I’ll call upon God’s name to damn you to hell.  And I’ll enjoy it.  Relish it very much.”     

No wonder Jesus clearly says:  “Watch yourselves.  Pay attention.  Listen up.  Take a deep breath.  Slow down.  When my little ones, my believers see this, it’s a scandal.  An outrage.  Causes them to sin.  They think they can act like this too.  And if you folks are going to operate that way, tit for tat -- quid pro quo -- let me give you some advice.  Tie a huge millstone around your neck and jump feet first into the deepest lake you can find.  Sit at the bottom with all the carp and catfish and rot for all I care.”

“Or be who you are in ME.  Unworthy servants for whom I died.  I’ve forgiven you everything.  Yes.  Everything.  No matter what sin.  Big or small.  No matter how scandalous.  No matter how bad.” 

“If your brother sins against you,” Jesus says “rebuke him.”  Rebuke.  This doesn’t mean to go off the deep end.  To go ballistic.  It simply means to lovingly but firmly tell your brother:  “You’ve sinned against me.  This is what you’ve done.  You’ve hurt me.”  You say this not to one up your brother.  Not to win the argument or make debating points.     

But for repentance.  You want to win your brother.  You want the brother who’s sinned to say:  “You’re right.  I have sinned against you.  I’m so sorry I hurt you.  Will you forgive me?”

And what will you say?  “Well, Arthur, I just don’t know.  You’ve been pretty bad.  Let’s see some good behavior first.  I think a little probation is in order.  Then I might make a deal with you.”  Or maybe the conversation goes like this: “OK Mister.  I’ll forgive you but to make the deal stick you’ve got to promise never to do that again.  Because if you do that to me again, I won’t be able to forgive you.  My warranty for forgiveness only lasts for so long.  Three strikes and you’re out.”  That’s not a house of forgiveness.  That’s a penitentiary.

Jesus simply says:  Forgive.  And while you’re at it keep on forgiving.  In fact, Jesus ratchets it up to the hilt.  “If he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times returns and begs for forgiveness, forgive him.”

I suppose one of Shakespeare’s characters would put it to us this way:  “Forgive?  Or not to forgive?  That is the question.”  I think you know the answer.  In fact, I know you know the answer.  And for this work of forgiving our prayer is that of the apostles:  “Increase our faith.” 

And this prayer is answered.  Right before our very eyes.  Jesus says:  “My unworthy servants.  Here’s my Body.  Eat it.  Here’s my Blood.  Drink it.  My Good Friday Body and Blood given into death  for the forgiveness of your sins.  For the strengthening of your faith in Me.  For the strengthening of your love for one another.  Go ahead.  Forgive as you have been forgiven by Me.  This is your duty.  The duty of faith in Me.  So unstrap that millstone of unforgiveness from around your neck.  And let your mustard seed size faith forgive the gigantic sins committed against you.  Because they’ve all been deep-sixed in the Mulberry Tree of My Calvary death anyway.  Never to resurface again.”

Happy forgiving your brother or sister who sins against you.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen

+ Jesu Juva +

Appearance.  Style.  Image.  They’re everything.  In debates. At work.  In school.  Heathly, wealthy and successful?  Well then, God must love you.  That’s the popular thinking.    

But appearances or images can fool you. 

Take  Lazarus for example.  A beggar.  His body riddled with sores.  Oozing ulcers.  Dogs lick the pus.  An outcast.  Rummages through the dumpster for food.  Looks for the scraps that have fallen from tables of the rich and elite.  Lazarus blessed?  Model of the good life?  Looks like he’s a man to be pitied.  Bussed to a shelter and soup kitchen.  No.  Maybe an asylum.  He APPEARS to not be blessed by God.  In fact, maybe God doesn’t like Lazarus too much.  Otherwise he’d be healthy, wealthy and prosperous.

So that brings us to the rich man.  Armani suits.  Custom-tailored silk shirts.  Manicured fingernails.  Botoxed forehead.  Spa-ed and tanned.  His daily menu is not a notch below royalty.  Caviar.  Lobster.  Escargot.  Cornish hen.  Kippered salmon.  Filet mignon.  Oyster in the half shell.  Coddled eggs.  Waldorf salads.  Trifle and frozen custard.  Claret and champagne.  And a portfolio to bankroll his extravagant lifestyle indefinitely.  Wears out 3 stock brokers and his church treasurer before noon every day with all his wheeling and dealing.  Secure and confident.  From ALL APPEARANCES he seems to be blessed by God.  That what the best selling authors say.

Appearances can be deceptive.  What counts, however, is what God sees.  What counts is how these two men stand before Him.  Before Him nothing can be concealed. 

Both die.  Death strips both of them of their outward appearances.

Angels escort Lazarus to heaven.  Abraham’s bosom.  No more sickness, shame, or hunger.  Sores gone.  He feasts from the bounty of the Savior’s table.  Given a place at the banquet of salvation with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Now we see Lazarus as he really is.  Clothed with the righteousness of his Savior.  His poor life redeemed.  He shines in a glory not his own.  He is in the presence of His God and Savior Jesus. 

Death peels back the veneer of prestige and fortune of the rich man.  Unravels the wealth he used to hide his spiritual corruption.  Jesus says:  “The rich man died and was buried.”  Can you imagine the eulogies? The magnificent funeral?  Attended by heads of state and hollywood celebs.  But he died without faith in Jesus.  His god?  Money.  He ends up in hell.  Forever separated from Jesus.

The agony and torment of hell is immense.  Of never ending regret.  Forever seeing Jesus but having no access to Him.  Seeing what could have been and now never can be. 

So Jesus pictures the rich man looking over that great divide.  That unbridgeable chasm between heaven and hell.  Remarkably, even in hell, the rich man still thinks he can call the shots.  Wants to use Lazarus as his lackey.  “Father Abraham,” he demands,  “send that poor chap Lazarus over here with a drop of water to cool my tongue.”  “Sorry Charlie.  No can do.  Lazarus is in paradise.  He’s forever separated from all that would cause him pain.”

Still thinking he’s in charge, the rich man barks out more orders.  “Send that sap Lazarus to my brothers.  To warn them.  We don’t want them to end up here in hell with me do we?”  

“You just don’t get it do you Charlie.  Your brothers have Moses and the prophets, i.e. the Scriptures.  They’re read in church every Sunday.  They proclaim Jesus the Savior.  Let them listen to the Word of God preached in church.”

“Yea, right Abraham!  Nobody pays attention to sermons.  Been to church lately.  I’ll tell you what.  Let’s do a crossing over thing.  A back from the dead extravaganza.  If Lazarus returns from the grave, surely my brothers will get religion.  Seeing a ghost from the grave is just the ticket.  They’ll clean up their life for sure.  I’m brilliant.  Haven’t lost my touch even in hell.  Chop chop Father Abraham!”

“No dice,” is Father Abraham’s icy reply.  “No wonder you’re in hell Charlie.  The Scriptures plainly proclaim Jesus as the Savior.  The one true God.  And guess who died and ROSE FROM THE DEAD?  . . .  I’m waiting.  . . .  Still no answer?  ...  Time’s up.  The answer’s Jesus.  He rose.” 

Father Abraham continues.  “Moses and the prophets constantly preached this.  But you would not listen.  You would not believe.  The prophet Amos warned you about your idolatry.  Putting all your trust in your prized possessions and wealth.  And one of our Lord’s apostles wrote:  ‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.’  In life you appeared to be blessed.  You fooled a lot of people.  I heard what they said at your funeral.  But appearances, especially in your case, were deceptive.  You’ve wandered from the faith.  You’ve pierced yourself with the eternal grief of hell.”

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is your God.  He is your Savior. He died and rose from the dead for you.  For all your sin.  Including the idolatry -- the worship of money.  Scripture says so. 

With Jesus you have everything.  Your life is full and complete with Him no matter how sick or poor you might appear in the eyes of the world.  You are heirs of heaven.  You have in your possession all the treasures of God’s grace.  At the Lord’s Supper today you receive the pledge of your eternal inheritance.  There you take into your own dying body the life-giving Body and Blood of Jesus Himself.  Receiving the foretaste of the heavenly banquet that Lazarus enjoys. 

You’re numbered with Lazarus.  One who believed and trusted in Jesus alone.  And when you die the angels will carry you to heaven.

In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.