Sermon Sunday Sep 1st 2013

Brothers and sisters,

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What do you think of when you hear the word “wicked”? Chances are what you think of is not something very nice or pleasant. Maybe you think of witches and demons and things of that nature. Maybe you think of pedophiles or drug-dealers or rapists. Maybe you think of people like Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer. Or maybe you think of some of the images we have seen from Syria this week. The word “wicked” no doubt evokes images of something that, in some way shape or form, creates fear or anxiety or anger in you. It is a word that is used, in some form, in the Bible roughly 500 times. So scripturally it is clearly an important word. We see it in our lesson from Proverbs this morning where we read take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness.   

    So going by these words from Proverbs we can see that wickedness is basically anything that opposes righteousness. So this begs the question then “What is righteous?”  The word “righteous” or some variation of it, appears in the Bible roughly 555 times so it is also clearly an important word in scripture. Well perhaps the first thing that we should understand about what is righteous is that without Christ, we’re not. As Paul says in Romans 3 For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,. Paul also cites Psalm 14 when he writes “None is righteous, no, not one;  no one understands; no one seeks for God.” 

    Nobody can live a holy life. It might seem that some come closer than others when we look around, but when it comes right down to it we are naturally born with sin. Our confessions define the sinful condition that we are born in as being born without the fear of God, without trust in God and with the inclination to sin. This is a deadly condition to be plagued with as it brings eternal death on those who are not born anew in Christ. And so we are born in opposition to righteousness.

    We are born wicked. And so when we look around and we see anything that is in opposition to righteousness we are seeing wickedness, and we are seeing where we used to be. We are seeing what we used to be bound by. When we see wickedness, we should not be quick to exalt ourselves and boast of our own piety and righteousness. We should see it as if we were walking past a prison that used to hold us, but that we have been graciously freed from, though we did not deserve it. And we should see those still mired in wickedness as prisoners, and with the Gospel we have the power to free them, we have the power of God unto salvation. We have the words of eternal life.

     And this power to free the wicked comes from Christ Jesus, Who is righteous. We have no righteousness of our own. Christ Jesus is righteous and He is the very source of our righteousness. Paul writes in Romans 3  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  And Paul writes of this righteousness, that your faith in Christ is counted as righteousness. Theologians refer to this as the imputed righteousness; like we are stamped with the righteousness of Christ. At the cross, Christ Jesus pours out His righteousness to you and you receive this righteousness through faith.

    And this righteousness that we receive from Christ Jesus is nothing else than the forgiveness of sins and the gracious adoption as children of God on account of Christ’s obedience and merit alone. You have been adopted by God the Father in baptism and you receive the gracious outpouring of His love and mercy and forgiveness through faith in His Son Christ Jesus, and so through Christ alone, you are righteous. This is why Paul writes in Romans 1 that the righteous will live by faith. In Christ you are righteous, but you also know that since wickedness opposes that which is righteous then there is wickedness that opposes you.

     And how do we identify this wickedness? Is it all the atheists? Is it all the Muslims? Is it all the Buddhists? Going back to the lesson from Proverbs, it says take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. Does this mean that we should look to get rid of all non-believers, all non-Christians, all those who would, in some way shape or form, place themselves in opposition to our King, Christ Jesus? By definition they would be “wicked”, so how should we see them, how should we look at them?? Should we see them as enemies who need to be taken out??

    How did Jesus look at them?? How did Jesus look at the prostitutes or the tax-collectors? How did He look at the adulterous woman?? He looked at them in the same way that He looks at everyone; in love.  When Jesus sees sinners He sees us as someone He loves and desires to save and heal. He sees us the way He saw the man with dropsy in the Gospel lesson; the man whom Jesus healed in front of the Pharisees and lawyers, even though it was the Sabbath.

    When the Pharisees and the lawyers saw this afflicted man, what did they see? Well they never really say but our Lord Jesus gives us an idea by what He says to them. As if Jesus were reading their mind it says that Jesus responded-though the Pharisees and lawyers did not actually say anything- by asking whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus knew that this was exactly what was running through their minds and He gave them their answer: no. Just prior to this in the previous chapter of Luke we see where Jesus had a previous run-in concerning healing on the Sabbath.

    The Pharisees and the lawyers saw this sick man. They saw his need for healing, they saw his pain, they saw his illness-they saw someone with a problem, and that is all they saw. They did not see someone they loved. They did not see someone in need of mercy. They did not see someone they cared for or for whom they could sacrifice. So they did not see reason to help him.

   And indeed I am sure it seems cruel and heartless to you that someone would have more concern over legalistic traditions and customs than the welfare of an afflicted person. But let’s be careful about translating that scenario to our lives. Speaking about customs of first century Jews to 21^st century Lutherans isn’t always easy. But asking whether we always see those who need help as those whom we love strikes closer to the heart. Do you grow weary and tired when people ask for your help? Do you find yourselves rationalizing that you have to set boundaries or that you must not be an enabler? Not that setting boundaries or being cautious of being an enabler is a bad thing-but they can become an excuse or justification for our lack of love, or at least unwillingness to love.

      When you look around you at people with problems how do you react? When you hear of someone struggling with addiction of any kind; drugs, pornography, alcohol, gambling etc. how do you react? When you hear of someone who cheated on their spouse, is your default instinct to have mercy?? Or is it to judge and condemn?  How Jesus treats this man and reacts to what He can see as the growing contempt of the Pharisees and lawyers toward this sick man gives us- those made righteous in Christ-a picture of how we should see the wicked.

    Jesus cuts right through the Pharisee’s and the lawyer’s deception, and our deception and points to the true problem. If it were someone that they loved, they would have acted. If it were their ox or their son then they would not hesitate, because they would see someone they love. They cannot even respond to Jesus when He asks them if it would be different if it were their son or an ox that they owned that they were talking about. Jesus brings it on a level that is personal. Jesus is no longer talking about a stranger or a hypothetical person, now He is talking about someone we love. What if your child was a non-believer or a Muslim or a Bhuddist? You would see with them with love and mercy.

     Your heart would likely ache for them. You would see them the same way that Jesus saw the sick man in the Gospel lesson; as someone He loves. Jesus acts immediately and shows His love.  He heals the man and sends Him away healed, restored and refreshed. He did not delay.

   Jesus does not delay with you either. In baptism He cleanses you and forgives you. He knew you before you were even born and bore the penalty of all your sins and endured God’s wrath for you. He endured the punishment that we deserve. He did not delay in healing you. He did not delay in restoring you. He did not delay in forgiving you. He did not put off your pain. He did not put off your needs. This is because Jesus acts out of love on your behalf.

    The truth is we cannot remove the wickedness, the wickedness can only be removed by Christ. And so the best thing we can do for those still in bondage to wickedness is to give them Christ in Word and deed; to love them as Jesus loves us. Jesus expects no reward, no reciprocation with His love. His love asks nothing and expects nothing. He loves purely and simply to free and unbind sinners from sin and death. This is the love of God that led Him to send His Son for your salvation. This is the love of God from which we will never be separated. In this love we see the gracious salvation that is indeed our’s now.

Amen