Sat, 10 Jan 2026 14:50:04 -0800WeeblyMon, 20 Feb 2023 00:21:02 GMThttps://www.ziongarrett.org/pulpitandpen/sermons-for-quinquagesima-2023In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Who among us can see the future? Who among us can perceive the truth of things rightly? If we could foresee the prices of the stock market, or predict what world events would take place, I suspect we’d have a lot more zeroes in the right places in our bank accounts. But who among any of humanity can do that? The best of mankind’s consultants and analysts are simply making guesses. The news anchors just want your attention, but they don’t know more than anyone else. We’re more or less blind to what the future holds.
There’s an interesting theme in the stories that make it to the classics section of the library. In the stories, it’s common that the blind or foolish see things better than the ones with sight, or the ones who seem foolish according to worldly standards perceive things more truly than the rest. In William Shakespeare’s King Lear, for example, the jester alone could perceive the mind of the king, and can speak the truth where others are blinded by their own ambition and greed. Or the Odyssey, the blind seer Tiresias is often the one to deliver needed truth to the hero. Famous poets like Homer or Milton were blind men, and yet their insights recorded may be of some use to us even today.
I doubt they meant it, but those who wrote about the blind seeing truly were on to something, their stories an echo of the history of what truly happened. The gospel reading for today records comes in two parts: the first part, where Jesus gives his disciples a promise about His death and resurrection, and second, the part where He heals a blind man. “31 And taking the twelve, [Jesus] said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”
Why was so hard to understand? What didn’t they see about it? He’d predicted His death and resurrection before; the steps are terrible, but not complicated. God be praised, even a little child can tell us that Jesus suffered, died, and rose again. There are perhaps three reasons this saying might have been hard for them to grasp. First, the suddenness of it all may have been a sort of a shock for the disciples… people are often willfully blind to the possibility of sudden turns of circumstance. Jesus had great popularity with the people at the time – so perhaps the disciples trusted the inertia of social reputation, thinking it unlikely that He could be betrayed so quickly.
Second, the weakness of our human nature has this temptation to take too many cues from the crowds. There is that tendency to put too much stock in ‘what everyone else is doing,’ as if a popular vote determined right and wrong. None of us are immune to that temptation, certainly not in an age of fads and mass communication. So perhaps the disciples didn’t grasp Jesus’ saying because they were too tuned in to the spirit and the excitement of crowds around them, and thought that Jesus talking about the cross was weird. Who talks like that? Who repeatedly talks about the need for atonement, that sins must be forgiven by God alone?
Yet thirdly, perhaps it was difficult to comprehend how deeply necessary Jesus’ suffering and death is in order to save us poor miserable sinners. The cross tends to offend to our sensibilities… who considers their own moral failures as the kind deserving flogging, spitting, and mocking that was done to Jesus? It is temptingly easy to define how we’re doing in our spiritual walk by comparison to other human beings, or to make decisions on the basis of ‘what everyone else is doing,’ without even asking what written in holy scripture. Yet just as the prophets had foretold, Jesus sets forth in love, going to the cross to atone for our bloodguilt with nothing less than His own death and resurrection.
Whether the disciples saw it or not, Jesus heals a blind man in today’s gospel reading. We know from St. Mark’s account of it that his name was Bartimaeus (Mk 10:46). Being blind, he could not do the work a seeing man could, and was reduced to begging in order to keep himself fed. If you aren’t able to take care of yourself, you have to think of yourself as one who lives by the mercy of others. In that, Bartimaeus could see clearly. While we can get some measure of wealth or creature comforts, temporary material stuff don’t last forever, and can blind us to our overall spiritual condition: we are beggars all.
That can be difficult for those who are used to being so very very capable. Yet for Bartimaeus the blind, asking for mercy was not new. He listened first, then looked. Perhaps that’s one advantage he had. He also had heard that Jesus was passing by on the way to Jerusalem, and with Him the crowd of disciples and hearers who were amazed at all that He was doing and teaching. He hadn’t seen Jesus, but he takes the others at their word. As Jesus passes by, he cries out and asks for help: “38b “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”” and even when they rebuked him, he cried out all the more “39b ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’”
In this, the blind man saw clearly. He calls Jesus by a messianic title: “Son of David.” So doing, blind Bartimaeus confesses faith that Jesus is the promised savior, the One to sit on the throne of David, the savior that God promised from times of old. Jesus had not yet entered into Jerusalem riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey, where the crowds would shout and praise singing “Hosanna to the son of David!” and yet here this blind man saw it more clearly, the office and kingship of Jesus the Christ. The forgiveness of sins put on us on account of His death and resurrection. How did Bartimaeus know? He couldn’t judge by what his eyes saw, but he had heard the teaching and the miracles. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
So he cries out, clamoring for Jesus. Didn’t matter how weird the crowd thought he was. The light of the world was near. The blind man did not know how Jesus would show mercy, just that He would.. Bartimaeus couldn’t see the future, yet he trusted that somehow Jesus could help. He could have been thinking of that passage from Isaiah 35 where it was foretold that the Messiah would open the eyes of the blind (Is 35:5, 42:7), and so he was bold to ask. He cries out in the same prayer we sing at the start of the service, asking that the Lord’s Christ have mercy on us. Whatever it was, he trusted Jesus to work it out in the end. That trust, that faith in God’s gracious mercy, is greater foresight into the future than what our eyes see before us.
That’s a useful example of faith for us, when we can’t see what the future holds. We know that there is plenty of suffering and sorrow in the world today, and we groan under the weight of it all. Yet we also know by faith that God will raise us up on the last day, that He will preserve His people. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church built on Christ our rock and redeemer. Sure, in our blindness it’s hard to see how He will work things out before the Last Day, but that’s is exactly where the faith of the blind man is instructive for us. Bartimaeus does three things: He cries out for mercy, talks forthrightly, and then leaves the when and how up to the Jesus. And Jesus commends his faith. We can pray verses like from the introit this morning: “1 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be | put to shame; * in your righteousness de- | liver me!”” (Ps 31)
Perhaps that is why we close our eyes when we pray. To blind ourselves to everything but the Lord’s Word. To repent of our sins and plead His forgiveness and let His Word guide our ways. 2nd Corinthians [5:7] says “7 … we walk by faith, not by sight,” We can pray that way because we know how His-story ends. You do know a bit of the future. Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. Those who are united to Him in repentant faith will be raised to the blessed life eternal. Therein we have courage to clamor for Jesus, and joy even to join the train of those following behind Him, rejoicing and giving praise to God. As we look forward to the age to come, we remember faithfully the grace promised us through His Word: that the self-giving love of God in Christ Jesus abides forever, even He who loves you to the end. In the name of + Jesus. Amen.​

]]>Mon, 13 Feb 2023 17:38:26 GMThttps://www.ziongarrett.org/pulpitandpen/sermon-for-sexagesima-2023]]>Thu, 09 Feb 2023 18:58:41 GMThttps://www.ziongarrett.org/pulpitandpen/sermon-for-septuagesima-2023In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Grumbling is nearly the opposite of thanksgiving. It’s one thing to be thankless in response to what we receive. It’s quite another to go on and grumble, complain that what we have isn’t good enough, what we experience isn’t what we wanted, or doesn’t fit with our idea of what we deserve. Grumbling focuses on what went wrong in our judgment, rather than perceiving what went well. The secular world – to counter much of the complaining in work culture, I think – has made a trend of talking about ‘gratitude’ and ‘mindfulness’ in the abstract. There might be something to it, but a Christian can see even more clearly. We know the source of our gifts. We know Who to thank for our daily bread each day. Thankfulness is appreciation for what we do have and the good we have experienced, guided in the recognition that all of it came to us out of God’s pure Fatherly divine goodness and mercy.
It’s not as though grumbling makes us feel any better. It’s all too common to hear someone giving voice to his or her discontent. It’s contageous, and most people don’t even recognize how frequently their words are grumbling, just like the people in the Old Testament. It is worth considering why and how often we give vent to our frustrations… The words we say can snare us, echoing out to the world and then back in through our own ears to the heart. It’d like a feedback loop for a microphone, warping our heart’s perspective about the world, and causing even more suffering because we start to believe the discontent. Do you know anyone whose complaining has made them happier in the long run? Yet the sad truth is that… from within and without, all the day long we face temptations to discontent, to grievance, to coveting what that which is impossible. It’s hard to tune out the echoes of discontent from others.
Two examples are given in the readings today. In the Old Testament, we hear the example of God’s people as they wend their way home. Although they had already been set free from slavery, rescued with mighty signs and wonders by the living God Himself, and were being brought miraculously to a land for their own possession, they grumbled. Rather than recognize the immense gift they were being given, the people framed their thinking about their situation in terms of unmet desire. Without recognition of the gifts they’d received… No wonder they were wretched. Mat
Or consider the gospel reading, the parable, how those hired early in the day agreed for a denarius. They were welcomed to work in the vineyard, and received exactly what was promised. It was a good deal. Their discontent came in trying to take the vineyard owner’s place, in judging the imagined worth of their work in comparison to the others who were called later in the day. They complained because the Lord of the vineyard didn’t judge as they judged, didn’t act according to their designs.
And thanks be to God for that. The hero of the parable is not the complainers, however loudly they make themselves miserable through grumbling. The complainers wouldn’t have had anything at all if they were on their own. The parable is about the generous grace of the Lord of the vineyard. It is written: “1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” It is an undeserved mercy that the master of the house goes out to bring people into his vineyard at all. Yes, there was labor during the day, but it wasn’t the work that brought people into the vineyard. The reward at the end of the day was given generously, graciously, to those who were in the vineyard, irrespective of what they had been able to do. The Hebrew people wandering in the wilderness, for all that they suffered during the journey, they had been liberated from slavery and were actively being brought to a good and plentiful land of their own by the Lord of Creation Himself. We need perspective… this was all a gift, not a transaction. Without the gracious self-giving of God, what good things would there be in life at all?
So too you. When we are tempted by our covetous desires to slip into a spiral of grumbling complaint, it’s not a fun feeling. It may be that our words are not only harmful to ourselves by warping our perspective, but also become a thankless affront to the Lord God who gives us daily bread for each day. Instead of grumbling about why the world isn’t the way WE want it to be, we could ask ourselves: “why are we given anything good at all?”
After all, we daily sin much, and despite how clever we may think we’ve been, we are not lords of much. The workers in the vineyard weren’t chosen to go into the vineyard because of some merit or worthiness in themselves – they were day laborers, servants who wouldn’t remain in the vineyard for longer than a day. The Hebrew people were not led out of Egypt because of their own worth – they were slaves – they were brought out because God was faithful to His covenant and promises. In all these cases, it was the Lord God, the lord of the vineyard, the One to Whom this vineyard belongs – He gives out of His Fatherly divine goodness and mercy. On account of His Son, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, we have God’s favor. Jesus paid the price to welcome you into His kingdom, not with gold or silver or with any of our works under the sun, but with His Holy precious blood. The credit goes to Him. In the parable, this vineyard is the kingdom, the covenant of God’s grace, resurrection to life eternal. The generosity of the vineyard owner is the twist in the parable, an illustration of God’s grace in Christ Jesus – given as a pure gift, to be received through faith.
That changes our perspective on things. Seeing what we do have in life as a gift, from God who loves and gave Himself for us, who has promised His ongoing favor on account of Christ, that is cause for confidence in the face of whatever happens. God is for you, who could be against you? When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer for ‘daily bread,’ we do so in the confidence that God will provide because of what Christ Jesus has done. The Small Catechism puts it well, something like this: “God gives daily bread to everyone with our prayer, even to all evil people, but we pray for daily bread so that He would lead us to realize this, that we receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” Or consider the words of Proverbs 10:3 “The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.”
So let your words be thanksgiving, recognizing that we have been given much as a gift of God’s grace. Let those words of thanks, directed to the Triune God, echo out from us, and resound in our ears. Let your words of thanksgiving to God be an encouragement to others to see how gracious He is in providing good for us at all.
And of course we will do the work of the vineyard – whatever vocation you are called to, working within the will of the Lord of the vineyard. Such a labor is gentle, joyful even, for you who are called into these vocations have been welcomed in to the kingdom already, as more than workers... we are heirs, fellow citizens with all the saints of God who are in Christ Jesus. Let his judgment – the generous judgment that your sins are forgiven, be enough. In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
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]]>Thu, 09 Feb 2023 18:57:14 GMThttps://www.ziongarrett.org/pulpitandpen/sermon-for-the-transfiguration-of-our-lord-2023In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The gospel reading today records the events atop Mount Tabor, which must have made quite the impression on the disciples who were there. References to the event appear in the writings of both John and Peter, as we heard in the Epistle today. Unlike the miracles of healing or command over nature, the events in today’s gospel aren’t found anywhere else in the world, and for that reason must have been simply harder for us to imagine. Jesus shines radiant with Godly-divine glory; God the Father Himself speaks from the cloud. This isn’t something one sees every day, and so for good reason the apostle saw fit to bear true witness of it for us to hear and believe.
St. Peter was inspired to write: ““16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17b For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory.” We normally might think of ‘glory’ as something like praise. Humanly-wise, glory seems like something to do with our reputation, how we might be known for great acts of heroism or service and the like. Yet with God this is something even more substantial. The way scripture talks about the glory of God as a physical thing. It appears in the Old Testament in a variety of ways. Exodus 16[:10ff] recounts how the people saw the glory of the Lord in the cloud as they were led out of Egypt safely through the wilderness. In Exodus 24 when Moses was up on Mount Sinai to receive the Law, the Ten Commandments and so forth, it says “15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.”
Small wonder the people were afraid of this. The Glory of God is unearthly, above-earthly, exclusively holy; before His power and His goodness no sinner could stand. We heard last week from Exodus 33[:12-23] how God caused His glory to pass before Moses, and yet in order to be protected, Moses had to be set in the cleft of a rock, and God would not yet let His face pass before him. Because, the Lord said “20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”” Psalm 1 verse 5 explains why that would be: “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” The holy presence of the Lord would, if we were left to stand on our own, bring about the just judgment of the Law against us because of our sins. The glory and holiness and presence of God were not to be trifled with.
So it is that we needed a veil. A curtain. A wall of separation, to protect us poor miserable sinners. In the days of Moses, a portable temple was built – the tabernacle – to protect the people. Likewise the temple in Jerusalem housed the ark of the covenant, a place where God had made His glory to dwell, so that the people would be able to receive His blessings… but not be destroyed by their own sins.
When St. Peter in the gospel reading suggests building tents… he might not have known what he was saying (Mk 9:6), but he wasn’t too far off. “4 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.””And why not? What Peter saw was the exact image of the radiance and glory of God (Hebrews 1:3): Christ Jesus, the true Son of God in human flesh. It says that Jesus’s “2b face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” The reasoning made some kind of sense… if God had caused His glory to dwell there at the top of Mount Tabor, then they might need a tabernacle in which His glory could dwell. You might remember that snippet from Psalm 26[:8], which connects God’s glory to the place where he dwells: “O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.”
Yet in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of God dwells with mankind.1 In the person of Jesus Christ the godly nature and the human nature are joined together. He hid His glory for a time, not always or fully using His divine powers that were always there. He did this for our sake, for us and our salvation. Just as Jesus was discussing with Moses and Elijah, He would go to the cross to be crucified and pay for all our sin. By His glorious resurrection from the dead, He won resurrection, redemption. So that on account of Christ you are forgiven, covered, set in the safe place…. made by God’s grace to stand upright before Him again. Sinful man cannot see God’s holy face and live. But on account of what Jesus has done, you who believe and are baptized are made able to stand. You can see God’s glorious face and live. His countenance shines upon you. What did Jesus tell the disciples? They were terrified of the infinitely-holy and majestic voice of the Father from the cloud, and yet it was Jesus who raises them up. Verse 7 says: “7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”
The majestic glory of God is a perilous thing for sinners, but Christ Jesus is glorified in His self-giving love to forgive our sins and walk with us. No matter how much Peter protested, Jesus would not stay on the mountain, but He willingly went to do what was necessary for us and for our salvation. He walked with His disciples through the dark road that lay ahead of them. After rising, Jesus ascended on High to the throne of God, where He now fully and always exercises His glorious power and majesty – as both God and man.
In this body and life we will not always have glorious mountaintop experiences. Some days will be great, others will remind us of our poor miserable condition. Jesus walks with His disciples through all of it. But the brief glimpse of glory that Jesus manifests to us at the mount of Transfiguration is a foreshowing, a glimmer of the glory and joy that faithful Christians will share in when we too are raised. That glorious resurrection is veiled from our sight for a time, but we do have glimpses here and there.
Until that day, we look to where He has made His name and His favor to dwell: in the holy communion. His Word guarantees that in and under the bread and wine, Jesus is there for us in His body and blood, to forgive our sins and sustain us as we go our way. So it is that He goes with us, through thick or thin, through mountaintop experiences or the depths of January – His constant love for you does not fail. So rejoice, for the dwelling place of God is with man, and for you who believe and are baptized into Christ, your dwelling place is with Him. O lord, I love the habitation of your house, the place where your glory dwells. In the name of + Jesus. Amen.






1Were it not in the context of a prophecy judgment and act of destruction, Micah 1:3 would seem to be relevant: “For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.” Otoh, Christ came to give Himself up as a ransom for many….
]]>Mon, 23 Jan 2023 20:16:53 GMThttps://www.ziongarrett.org/pulpitandpen/sermon-for-epiphany-3-2023The basis for today’s sermon is the gospel reading from Matthew chapter 8, where it is written: “2 And behold, a leper came to [Jesus] and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Everyone was astonished by the sermon on the mount. Jesus didn’t teach them like one of their own scribes, it says (7:28-29), but He taught “as one who had authority.” The crowds were right to be amazed – not only His teaching, but also His actions demonstrated His authority. When Jesus spoke, even the elemental things of creation obeyed His Word of command (c.f. the authority delegated in Matt 10:1). By this authority Jesus accomplished many signs, such as calming storms or healing disease or casting out demons or turning water into wine. Why, He could give a word of command and turn pebbles into food, or call down an army of angels on his enemies! The question is not “is it possible for Jesus to do this” but rather: “What will Jesus do?”
That’s the assumption the leper makes. “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27). So he says: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
What does that mean, “if you will”? Here, to will something means to make the determination, and then take action. Human willpower works like that. It takes a will to make a way. On the other hand, you may have noticed that human willpower is itself fairly limited – no matter how great your willpower, you will not be able to walk to the moon. We cannot free ourselves of our own poor miserable sinful condition, no matter how grand our intentions or great our willpower. There’s no shame in that, in being honest, in admitting our weakness or limits. In many ways, we need those limits to keep us grounded, and we need the humility in order to understand ourselves rightly.
God’s will though, is different. He is unlimited. Infinite. Perfectly righteous and holy and good. Just as God the Father is almighty, so also is Jesus Christ His Son. If Jesus wills for something to happen, it will happen, and it will be very good. The question is: What does He will? That makes a world of difference.
God’s will for us is revealed in the work of Christ Jesus. He sent His only begotten Son, Who joined Himself to our human flesh, to suffer in our place under all the judgment of the Law against our fallen human race. If it’s a question of whether God is favorable to you or not, then look no further than Christ Jesus. On account of Christ crucified and risen, God is favorable toward you. This is the steady center of our hope. Jesus paid the price to redeem you, His life for yours, to reconcile you to the Father almighty, to restore you to the kingdom, to guarantee the certain hope of resurrection to the high feast of heaven. Instead of looking to our material conditions as a measure of God’s favor towards us, look to the it-is-finished guarantee of His cross and resurrection. It counts for you.
As a token and foreshadowing of the resurrection of believers on the last day, Jesus heals the sick and restores their conditions in the body. Like we heard about in today’s gospel reading. He was, and is, willing to provide for the needs of this body and life. In His wisdom, He knows what is best for us: it may be that our aches and annoyances are given as opportunities to rely even more fully on the Lord’s providence until He raises up the believers on the last day. It may be that we receive some benefits or relief in this poor miserable life so that we can praise God’s name for others to hear.
Whatever the case, God who created our bodies has not abandoned us. Jesus healed the leper, the centurion’s servant; God even restored the flesh of Naaman the Syrian in the Old Testament reading. These miracles weren’t necessary for the cross and resurrection to occur, but it shows us something about God’s abundant mercy, it’s an epiphany, a revelation of something. He has not forgotten His creation. Soldiers too can be saved. He bears with us in our weaknesses and infirmities.
All three of those who were healed in today’s readings were outsiders. Either they were outcasts because some sickness kept them away, or because they were from the wrong tribe, language, or nation. And yet God is willing to restore those who are cast out, and bring near those who have been separated. His Word of authority is more than enough to reconcile those who are lost. The Leper was able to go be welcomed to the church again, because Jesus had cleansed him. Naaman was able to go home clean, because He had received God’s mighty word of promise combined with water.
So too you. You who have been baptized are welcomed to God’s kingdom, cleansed of the shame and sin that clings so close. In Holy Baptism, God gives us new birth from above, a re-generation in the holy humanity of Jesus. Even though we are not ourselves worthy that He would come under our roof, He is willing. In the Holy Communion, we have a guarantee of His favor, of His willingness to raise up you who are in Christ Jesus on the last day.
Because we know God wills our salvation, we can learn to pray from the leper in today’s gospel reading, or learn from the Centurion who asked Jesus for help. Instead of commanding God how we think He ought to do things, as if we should micromanage God, we can have confidence when you pray, because confidence in God is well placed. A confident prayer lets God know what we need, and then says to Him “let it be unto me as You will, O Lord.” This is more or less what we do in the Lord’s Prayer, when we say “Thy will be done.” … We express our lament and our needs and our desires to the Lord, and then in humble faith leave it up to His gracious will for how all of this will be accomplished. We know He can do it. All He needs do is say the Word.
For all this, we have abundant reminders. Consider the expression of Jesus’ royal authority in the introit today: “97:1 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” That Royal authority bespeaks favor to you even today. When the pastor speaks Christ’s word of absolution in the divine service, you are made clean in and by the authority of Jesus Himself. Whatever shameful sin or weight of guilt clings to you, know that Jesus is willing and able to forgive, to cleanse, to restore, to provide. You who believe Christ’s word of Law and Gospel, let it be done for you as you believe. In the name of + Jesus. Amen.






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