Trinity 14
Beloved. On this Labor Day weekend, it does us good to stop and ponder a few moments on Labor, on work. Thoughts on labor/ work have seemingly been taken over/ dominated by secular thinking. We think of the socialists and communists and their emphasis and glorification of labor. And now with Labor Day upon us, the election rhetoric heats up with each party/ candidate wanting our vote claiming to represent best the interests of the average working man. With this sort of thinking, it is very easy to separate in our minds our everyday life in which we live in the world from our life as a Christian; it becomes very easy to compartmentalize our lives and to separate our “Sunday/ churchly life” from the rest of our week. That’s why it is good, certainly at least once a year, on Labor Day, to remember what our work/ labor really is.
To get our bearings, we go to the very beginning, right when God first created Adam. There we read in Scripture [Gn. 2.15]: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. Did you catch that? – To work it and keep it. That’s labor. Work/ labor is a good gift of God to us. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden as part of God’s design and plan for people. It goes all the way back to even before sin entered the world. Work, is, if you will, a bit of the “pre-fall into sin” world that we still have with us. But with the fall into sin, work became toilsome; it became a source of hardship and suffering as a curse of sin.
So, yes, work/ labor is a gift and blessing of God going back to paradise, but it is something that has been contaminated by sin. And yet, even though work is not what is once was, it is still a good gift of God and something that blesses and works through. After all, how is it that we can live and make our way in the world today? It is because of our work and the work of others which God is blessing and working through. How is it that we have food on our tables? –From the farmers. How is it they can grow their crops on their large acreages? Among other reasons because of their tractors/ combines that can do a huge amount of work. Why can he get the tractor? –Because the engineer designed it, because the assembly line worker at the factory put it together, because the miner dug out the metal, etc. And then there’s the vocation in the home, the health field, education, etc. So much has been left out, but the point is clear: God blesses our labor and He works through it to bless and preserve us. We are only here because of the Lord’s will and His blessing the labors of our hands.
Is our work at time toilsome? Disappointing? Frustrating? Of course, that’s because of the curse of sin. But, dear Christian, take heart! See your work/ labor in a whole new light—as a good thing from God that He is working through for your good and for the good of your neighbor. See your work as part of your life as a Christian. Your Christianity affects your whole life. That’s part of what St. Paul is talking about in today’s epistle when he writes: What I am saying is this: Walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out what the sinful flesh desires. Walking by the spirit: that is the Christian, the new self in you, follows the leading, the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And notice St. Paul says walking, that is, how you live your life. Part and parcel of the Christian life is to follow the Holy Spirit and strive do the good that He is leading us into. As you walk by the spirit, you will faithfully carry out your work, your vocation doing so to the glory of God. You are serving both the Lord—doing the work He called you to do—and your neighbor. And the Lord is working through you. There is a glorious dignity to our work.
This walk[ing] by the spirit will show itself not just in our work but in all areas of our life. Again, we cannot separate our Christian faith from the rest of our life. If we are Christians, it will show in and affect all areas of our life; if our faith doesn’t show through/ affect all areas of our life, then we must seriously question whether we are Christians or not. What I am saying is this: Walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out what the sinful flesh desires. One area where walk[ing] by the spirit shows itself in our life is thankfulness, our life of thanksgiving. That’s what we see in today’s Gospel. Jesus had healed the ten men of leprosy. He did so in a way that they had to first trust His word and promise when He told them to go show themselves to the priest, meaning that along the way they would be healed. But only one comes back to thank Jesus. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. Jesus responded, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?”
Notice, Jesus expected to receive thanks. He was disappointed that only one returned—a foreigner. In other words, Jesus expected what is rightly due Him—here in this case specifically, it was thanks. It is only right that we give the Lord thanks; it is truly right—and the Lord expects us—to fear, love and trust in Him above all things. That’s the 1st Commandment! That’s what we pray for in the Our Father: Hallowed be Thy name. We pray that we use His name rightly in prayer, praise and thanksgiving. In our communion liturgy we say: It is truly meet, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God. As Christians, walk[ing] by the spirit, It is right and proper to give God our thanks and praise. And that’s what the Lord says in our text through the prophet Malachi: A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My fear? Says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name. But you say, “How have we despised Your name?
As our heavenly Father and Lord, we owe God our thanks and praise. The general universal rule/ expectation is: A son honors his father, and a servant his master. It’s just how things are to be. Where this does not happen—we see chaos and societal breakdown. If a human father and a human master deserve honor, how much more so does the holy Triune God? Notice what the Lord asks: If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My fear? The Israelites were certainly claiming God as their Father and Lord. That’s the if the Lord refers to; or to flesh it out a bit: since you are claiming that I am your Father and Lord, which I am, where is the honor that is due me as Father? Where is the fear you should have before Me? In other words, talk is cheap. In our text, the Lord is saying that the Jews were claiming Him as their Father and Lord but they were not treating Him like it.
Yes, the Lord definitely showed and proved that He is their Father and Lord. Of course, as the Creator, God is the Father of all people but to the Israelites God proved to them in a wonderful way that He is their loving Father. He rescued them out of slavery in Egypt; He preserved them during the desert wandering; He gave them His holy law; He brought them into the promised land; He sent them prophet after prophet to warn them to repent and to repeat and comfort them with the promise of the Messiah; He brought them back to the Promised Land after 70 year exile. So lovingly God showed Himself a true Father to them.
By His making them His possession, by His mighty displays of power and by His just punishment of their sin, God indeed showed that He is their Master. But what was the result among the people? There was no honor, love and fear. If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My fear?
What would the Lord say to us today—to each of us personally—we who claim to be His dear Christians? We claim Him as our Father and Lord. Are we giving Him the honor and fear that He is due? The Lord is not looking for lip service. He isn’t due mere lip service; He is due our thanks and praise, our honor and fear. He is due concrete acts from our heart. This is a personal love: the love of the father looks for the response of love from the son. Here, from us, God looks for concrete acts of love and obedience. Our Gospel: One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. Jesus responded, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.”
At the heart of it all is our life of thanksgiving. Where there is no thanksgiving, lives of love and obedience do not follow. When there is no thanksgiving, there can be neither love nor fear of God because there is only an insolent slave and a proud son. What a powerful call for each of us to examine heart and life: Am I giving God the honor He is due as my Father, who loved me and brought me into His family in the waters of Holy Baptism, who loves me and nourishes me with His holy word and sacrament, who, in Jesus, gives me every heavenly and spiritual blessing? Am I fearing God by taking seriously His warnings and threats, by shunning evil rather than face His wrath, by my thoughts, word and deeds do I strive not to offend Him, am I walk[ing] by the spirit, [so I]… will not carry out what the sinful flesh desires?
May our hearts be soft, lest we be like the priests of Malachi’s day, 400 years before Jesus’ coming: O priests, who despise My name… you say, “How have we despised Your name? They resented the charge against them and basically called God a liar. They did not let the law of God convict them so that they could sorrow over that sin and run to and receive the Lord’s forgiveness. Instead, they denied their sin. Let that not be us, dear Christian! When we feel God accusing us of sin in His holy word of law, when we feel the guilt and burden of our sin, let us gladly confess our sin so that we may receive forgiveness. What is so bad about confession? It’s a good thing. Instead of holding on to our sin, we give it to Jesus who died for it on the cross and in place of the sin, He gives us, in the holy absolution, the forgiveness for that sin and His holy and perfect righteousness.
In fact, each day/ time that we confess our sin, we are doing nothing more than returning to our baptism. We are reclaiming once again the gifts of forgiveness of sin and eternal life; we are again clothing ourselves with Jesus and His holiness. And we are reminding ourselves precisely who we are as Christians—spiritual priests—for it was in the waters of holy baptism that God made us true spiritual priests. And what is a priest’s work? It is to pray and offer sacrifice. That’s what we as Christians are called on to do—to stand before God with our prayers and our sacrifices, the sacrifices of ourselves, that is, of our lives of faith and good works. As our Lord’s spiritual priests, ones to whom He has shown great love and honor by giving us His Holy Spirit so that we know Him rightly, to whom He has given His Holy Spirit to guide and to lead and to empower us into a life of faith and good works, we then walk by the spirit, and … [do] not carry out what the sinful flesh desires. We are thankful to the Lord for saving us from sin, death, devil and hell; and our life of faith and good works is the sacrifice we spiritual priests offer; and it is a sacrifice of thanksgiving we offer. All that we do—even our everyday work—we do to the glory of God. Our life of faith is intimately tied together with our thankfulness. It is right to give God thanks and praise—as our heavenly Father and Lord He is owed it, and we as spiritual priests offer it up. INJ Amen.