Bloghardt's Reflector

St. Luke 10:23-37 - Trinity 13 - 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
Sept. 17-18, 2011
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In the Name of Jesus.  The Law of God was never given so that you and I could justify ourselves.  God spoke His laws and threats and thunderings to men so that, at a minimum, men would fear to run wild and butcher each other; and even now and then do a little  of good for the next man in need.  

But Sinai shook and burned and scared Israel out of her wits, to make her plead with Moses to go up in their place to speak with God!  God laid down the Law, that those who would live would know that they must be all about the true God all the time and treat their neighbors as well as they treat themselves—so that men would beg God to speak something else to them, something different, some other message other than more threats.

Adore the mercy of our Father in heaven.  He did not only SPEAK a different message to us—different from the Old Covenant, the contract you had to fulfill or die - “Do this and live!”  No, He MADE HIMSELF totally different, by making the mystery of the un-containable Son of God contained in the One born of Mary, and sending heaven’s chief herald to tell the world, “Fear not!”

St. Mark 7:31-37 – Trinity 12 – 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
Sept. 10-11, 2011
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In the name of Jesus. Amen. “Ephphatha! Be opened!” What a great Gospel word! Ephphatha. Say it with me: Eph-pha-tha.

Ephphatha. Be opened. He opened the ears of the deaf man. He loosed his tongue. His speech impediment left. 

Ever try to say the word “impediment” a few times? It’s not easy!  I’ve messed it up while reading in church one year. The teenagers laughed. This guy could speak plainly after Jesus ephphatha-d his mouth and tongue.  No speech impediment!  

Jesus didn’t do it for the attention either! He took the guy away from the crowd, away from the TV cameras, and the paparazzi. 

He put his fingers in the deaf man’s ears. He threw them in there – that’s the word in Greek! Right into the guy’s ear holes! 

Then, He invaded the man’s personal space. He spit and touched the man’s tongue. The Lord spit. You know. Spit out of his mouth. 

He then looked up to heaven, groaned, and said the Aramaic word, “Ephphatha.”

Imperative. Command. He divine wet-willy-ed the man’s ears and mouth, and then the Lord commanded the universe to change for this man. 

Christ has done the same to you too. Really. No cameras, probably. No press. He invaded your personal space and rocked your world. He touched you, marked your forehead, touched your heart. 

And back in the day, in the Baptismal Rite, the pastor would put his fingers into the ears of the candidate for baptism and say, “Ephphatha. Be opened.”

Fingers in ears. Water dripping down your forehead. Ears opened to hear God’s Word. Tongue loosed to sing His praise. 

Christ’s holy and perfect life lived for you. His bitter suffering and death ransoms you from your sins. 

At that font, in that water, you were saved. Your universe was changed. Your sins forgiven. Eternal life received – given in the water and God’s name which marked you as a child of God.

St. Matthew 25:1 - Last Sunday in the Church Year - 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
November 19-20, 2011
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In the name of Jesus. Amen.  Dear Wise Virgins!  Here you are again!  Thanks be to God you are here.  Here to fill your lamps again with oil!

Isn’t this where we started last year?  Then, your new pastor had just gotten here.  First sermon.  My life was in boxes and the Midwest had taken my Southern voice.   

Now, my life is still in boxes that are day by day being unpacked.  We’ll check at the end of the Late Service whether I have a voice or not.   

Lots has changed since last year.  There’s more folks here coming to fill there lamps with oil every week.  Twenty-nine new members! There is such an excitement around the Lord’s gifts.  

And one not so fun change:  They say I’m not allowed to pray for snow anymore.  I’d vote against it at today’s voter’s meeting if I could.  Snow is the coolest ... or coldest thing about being here!

Yes, here we are again gathered together hearing the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.

And like the Ten Virgins, we are waiting.  Waiting for our Lord Jesus to show up.  The translation says kindly, “he was delayed.”  But, it’s good to check the Greek: it could be translated, “He took His time.”

“He took His time.”   In the ancient world, weddings were planned and thrown by the men.  Yeah, that couldn’t go wrong at all, could it?  

So, the Bridegroom in this parable took His time. The whole thing was on His time, not theirs.  He would appear when He would appear.  Everything is about Him.  He is, afterall, the Lord.  No wedding party without Him.

Ten Virgins are waiting for Him.  Probably something like a beauty contest.  Winner take all - take Him.  

Five Virgins figured they had enough.  It’s not like the Bridegroom was going to be much longer. No need to bring extra oil.  And you can’t hide a flask of oil.  It doesn’t fit in a sheik purse.  It would look just foolish to have oil if the paparazzi took their picture! 

The other Five Virgins looked so foolish lugging the extra oil around.  Everyone who is anyone knows that they had enough oil in their lamps!  Why do they have to have more?  Really. I mean, really, who is going to keep all ten virgins waiting?

The hours passed and still no Bridegroom.  Then, all the virgins fell asleep.  Then midnight there was a cry, “Here is the Bridegroom!  Come out to meet Him!”  Then, all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.

St. Luke 18:9-14 – Trinity 11 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
August 3-4, 2011
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In the name of Jesus. Amen.  Two men in the temple.  The first with tons of religion.  The other with nothing but sins.  Who goes home justified?  

Imagine the first. He is basically good –  “I'm not swindler.   I'm not unjust.  I've never committed adultery.”

I'm an upstanding member of my church.  I give my ten percent before taxes!  I am a good person.  I have sins, but unlike some people, I'm working through them.   Thank God, I'm not like...  that guy.

Now, imagine that guy.  Sitting next to you in church.  I mean – a filthy rotten sinner.  Someone dressed a bit different, or not from your culture, or maybe a different color than you.  

Perhaps that guy is a woman who is pregnant and shouldn't be or a man who has a history... and not a good one.  That guy wronged me, he messed up, he just doesn’t carry his weight in this church.  Why are they even here?  We all know what that guy did.  They just don't fit in. They just aren't right.

They do that for a living.  It's unbecoming.  It's disgusting or kinda sleazy.  In the ancient world you don't get much worse than a tax collector.  They were extortioners and thieves.  They would over charge taxes and keep the extra bit.  No one likes that guy.  

St. Luke 19:41-48 - Holy Trinity 10 - 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
August 27-28, 2011
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In the name of Jesus. Amen.  Jerusalem had the temple.  She was filled with God’s people.  By birth, children of Abraham. So, in 70 AD, when they defied the Romans, they figured God would rescue them.  

And when the Romans arrived with all the vengeance of Almighty God Himself, they chanted “The Temple of the Lord!”  God’s temple, God’s city would rescue them.

The Romans laid siege to the city on the Passover.  On the Passover! They broke through the walls north of the temple and overran it.  And in the Holy of Holies, where sacrifices had been made to God, the Roman legionaries made sacrifices to the Emperor.  

The Romans burned the temple to the ground to teach a lesson to the Jews.  Over a million people were killed.  Ninety-seven thousand people were taken prisoner.  

Jerusalem was barricaded, surrounded, hemmed in, torn down to the ground, and then slaughtered.  God’s temple was destroyed.  It was the judgment of Almighty God.  Just as Jesus said...

Yet, for His Jerusalem, for us, Jesus will endured the same.  He will be surrounded by guards.  He will be treated criminal, dragged before the chief priests and teachers of the law, beaten and mocked.  They will teach Him a lesson on how to speak to the chief priests as they beat and mock Him again and again.  

The Romans, those experts at killing and breaking things, will drive nails into His hands and feet.  They will crucify Him.  They will not stop until He dies.

St. Matthew 7:15-23 - Trinity 8 - 2011

Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
July 14, 2011
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In the name of Jesus. Amen.  Dear friends in Christ, beware of false teachers.  

And this isn’t me saying, “If you listen to different preachers, it’s bad for business at Zion...”

This isn’t me at all, it’s Jesus’ words:  Beware of false prophets, they come to you in sheep’s clothing but inside they are ravenous wolves.”

Beware.  Watch out.  Stay away from.  All messages aren’t the same.  Some messages lead to life and others that will eat you up.

You see, if you think you are going to be near a sheep and it turns out to be a wolf, you’ll probably be eaten!  Not cool!

So, what’s a wolf look like?  What’s he dress like?  Well, he looks like a sheep, talks like a sheep, maybe even sounds sheepy.  If he looked like a wolf, you wouldn’t be near him, would you?

Jesus points you to the fruit:  You don’t get grapes from thorn bushes and you don’t get figs from thistle.