Sermon for Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Sermons Archive - St Paul Lutheran Church

[Machine transcription]

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
When at the first wedding ceremony in this world’s history,
the Lord God himself led the bride to the altar and gave her to her bridegroom,
there was nothing but joy.
This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, Adam exclaimed.
There was his newly wedded wife,
beautifully adorned in pure righteousness and holiness without any
sin, a helper comparable and fit to him. God made them male and female and he
made them for marriage. He created and instituted that estate to be in a state
of joy and gladness. No coincidence therefore that our salvation is also
likened to a marriage.
Not only do we see our Lord as the first groomsman
and the first one to officiate a wedding,
we also see our Lord as a bridegroom himself.
He takes his chosen people, his church, as his bride.
And because he himself paid for all her sins and covered them,
he rejoices again over his wife.
This is what we hear in the prophet Isaiah, where he writes,
You shall no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed desolate,
but you shall be called, My delight is in her, and your land married.
For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you.
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Marriage was made so that husband and wife may rejoice in the gift that the
Lord gives them with each other. And not just that, he also gave them a purpose. He
said, be fruitful and multiply. So already right at the beginning, our God proves
himself to be a lover of children. He was waiting for Adam and Eve to bring their little
children to him that he might bless them. And the same we have in our text from St. Mark,
that the joy of marriage and the joy of children, these two things that were already there
at the very beginning. And these children then become an example for us because we too
have to receive the kingdom of God like the children. But of course there’s also
something else in that debate between Jesus and the Pharisees and the
disciples. Destruction entered this world, destroying the beautiful joy of marriage,
staining it with horrible darkness, leading to strife and contention,
neglect and despise. Man’s sin introduced the idea of tearing apart a
oneness that God himself instituted. So these three things, the goodness of
marriage, the question of divorce and the faith of little children is what our
text requires us to take to heart today. Firstly, the goodness of marriage. It is
very beautiful how the Lord Jesus shifts the focus of the question. He goes back
to creation and quotes from Genesis 1 and 2, and not to talk about divorce but
to talk about God’s good creation and his institution of marriage. Jesus, the
one who is God in the flesh, through whom the Father created the whole
universe, he reiterates and affirms the first two chapters in the Bible. So,
far from being a mythological account, he treats Genesis as history and as
foundational for human society. And if there was any doubt about the creation
account, which should not have been there anyways, Jesus makes it clear. The
creation account from Genesis 1 and 2 is to be believed and it is foundational.
Now the world rages against that but the words stand here like a fortress. He made
them male and female and for this reason a man shall leave his father and
mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Now it is
beautiful what the Lord in his divine authority adds to these words from
Genesis. Not only the obvious but necessary conclusion. He says so then
they are no longer two but one flesh but also he says what God has joined
together let not man separate it is God who joins together husband and wife and
Jesus is not just talking about Adam and Eve because remember he is answering a
question about divorce and he’s saying God is the one who marries husband and
wife and in this way marriage is an earthly thing as Luther says earthly in
the sense that it pertains to this time and this age as opposed to heaven even
non-christians who are publicly married without the church are married in the
eyes of God so while marriage pertains to this world and is thus earthly for
Christians, it is nevertheless a holy covenant and a holy estate because God
created it and he sanctified it. So while the public consent of the two
constitutes the marriage, it is still God who marries husband and wife. It is his
gift for us and his blessing. This also means that a pious husband or wife is a
gift of the Lord. And as with all gifts, the Lord desires to be asked for it. So
for all those singles among us who desire to find a husband or wife, start
by this, start by falling on your knees and asking your dear Father in heaven to
provide for you, to give you a spouse. Pray for a spouse that fits you and
especially one with whom you can go to church together. And for all those married
among us, thank the Lord for the gift that he has already given you. And not
just that, let’s also pray that the Lord would uphold this marriage. There are
many crosses that fall upon this blessed estate, as you all know. There are on the
one hand all the difficulties of life, worry about money, finances, and health,
and children. Sometimes there’s even the death of children that parents have to
suffer, and many other hardships.
And then there is your own sin.
How much easier would marriage be if there wasn’t any sin?
The person that you should love the most,
that you are closest to, suddenly
becomes the one that you fight with most,
and at times becomes even hard to love.
I don’t think I need to bring many examples here.
But what I do need to do is underline
the sweet comforts of our dear Lord. In his love, he strengthens us. He helps you
carry all these crosses that are too heavy for you to bear by your own
strength. He provides you with the daily bread. He provides you with the necessary
finances, even if you don’t see how that can be possible. He watches over your
children, and he helps you taking care of your ill spouse. And most importantly, he
He forgives all your sins against your husband.
He forgives all your sins against your wife.
In His divine love, He carried those sins and nailed them to the cross.
In this love, your marriage stands.
In this love, He attached you closely to your spouse,
yoked you together, as the Greek says,
and made you one flesh.
In this love, He also upholds your marriage.
And as he unites all Christians through the one baptism and the one bread and
the one cup in the Holy Sacrament, so he also unites and reunites husband and
wife. So think about this when you come to the altar today, that the Lord unites
you to himself and to each other by the drinking and by the eating and drinking
of his holy body and holy blood. Now diametrically opposed to this beautiful
union of husband and wife stands the Pharisee’s question. Is it lawful for a
man to divorce his wife? We can see here a great example of how Jesus deals with
those who come to test them. He throws the question back to them and
gives them a lesson on Holy Scripture. Jesus does not replace Moses with a new
law. He doesn’t do that in the Sermon on the Mount either, but he needs to show
Pharisees all they knew what Moses actually says. So what does Moses say?
What did he command? Which commandment should we all be thinking about when
asking about the dissolving of the holy covenant of marriage? You shall not
commit adultery, Moses says. But isn’t it fascinating? They jumped to the only
passage from the books of Moses that talks about the certificate of divorce
in Deuteronomy 24. Now it’s very interesting what Deuteronomy 24 does not
say. It does not say if you want to get divorced it’s fine go ahead write a
certificate of divorce. Instead that passage is an if-then statement. God
already foresaw the hardness of hearts and the sinfulness of the Israelite men
who wanted to divorce their wives.
So, in order to prevent further evil,
he gave a specific commandment.
He said,
if a woman is remarried after divorce
and then divorces again, is divorced again,
she shall not return to the old husband
and marry him again.
Now, the Pharisees looked at that statement
and said, well, clearly,
God allowed us to divorce our wives.
He’s totally fine with it.
so let’s go ahead.
But that is a grave error.
That is the hardness of hearts,
the stubbornness and sinfulness that God foresaw.
But against this hardness of hearts
stands the sixth commandment.
So while God allowed divorce to happen,
as He allows other bad things to happen,
and in that sense permitted it,
He never approved of it.
divorce always had the Lord’s displeasure. Now we know from St. Matthew
that there is the exception of adultery and sexual immorality and that is the
only legitimate reason for divorce and remarriage that our Lord gives. And of
course if someone is being abandoned and deserted against his own will that is
also a different question. But besides these, the Lord Jesus makes it clear very
drastically. If someone marries a new spouse after divorce, he commits
adultery. He does not call the divorce adultery, he calls the new marriage
adultery. Why? Because the old marriage still exists in the eyes of God. Now
after these harsh words, the disciples prove that they also need to be rebuked
for their hard hearts when they rebuke and hinder the children from coming to Jesus.
I had already mentioned that marriage and children belong together.
And so, again, it is no coincidence that St. Mark records the blessing of the children
right after this debate about marriage.
So we will lastly ponder on that, that the Lord gives the kingdom of God to such who
are like their little children.
What does he mean by that?
Why does he say, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child
will by no means enter it? The point is that children who believe in the Lord
Jesus demonstrate to us best what it means to receive. Children receive. That’s
why they need parents. So likewise in faith, we need to receive everything out
of the gracious hands of our Heavenly Father.
We cannot contribute anything of our own
except our neediness and our sinfulness.
We cannot even bring our good desires and our decision.
And the Lord Jesus wants to bless us nevertheless.
Or rather, only then, when we don’t contribute anything,
he wants to bless us.
He wants to take us up on his arms,
lay his hands on us, and bless us.
especially he calls the little children to himself. This is exactly what happened
today in the baptism of little Anna. The Lord Jesus said, let the little children
come to me and do not forbid them for of such is the kingdom of God. And you dear
parents you heeded the call and faith and you brought your newborn daughter to
her shepherd and Redeemer. Now it’s true that our text doesn’t mention baptism by
name, and Jesus did not pour water on those children in the name of Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, but Jesus encountered them physically. He took them on his arms,
laid his hands on them, and he blessed them in order to strengthen them with
the Holy Spirit. This is exactly what happens in
The Lord Jesus is in that water, uniting himself to a lost sinner to forgive all sins and cleanse
from all unrighteousness.
So dear Anna, you are a redeemed and beloved child of God, and we pray that the Lord would
keep you in the one true faith all the days of your life.
And as Anna received this gift of salvation in her baptism and trusting faith, as we certainly
believe, we too have to believe, we have to receive that in the same faith every
day. And this is why it’s good that this text is not just read at infant baptisms
but also at adult baptisms. Especially to the adult it must be said, receive the
kingdom of God like a little child. So all of you who have been baptized in
Christ Jesus, have received that grace of God,
have been freed from the lordship of the devil,
and placed under the rule of Christ.
So hold onto that entrusting faith.
Become like the little children with their simplicity
and humility, this simplicity and humility
that flow out of such a faith.
And in that faith, we receive the Lord’s gifts of marriage
and children rightly so then they are no longer two but one flesh and let the
little children come to me and do not forbid them the joy of marriage and the
joy of children two wonderful gifts from the loving hand of our Heavenly Father
may he grant us that childlike faith and give us his Holy Spirit through Jesus
Christ our Lord

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