God's Word by the Prophet

Read: Isaiah 55:11

 

Commemoration of Martin Luther - February 18, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

...so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

 

The scene was stark.

We were there to view the archeological site at ancient Arad in southern Judah, the Negev near Beer-sheba, but since I'm from a farm family, I had my eye on other things as well.

This area is at the very edge of arable land in Israel.

It was January when I was there, and the rains had not yet come.

The fields had been plowed and planted, but they were lying there, brown and dusty in the sun, waiting, waiting, waiting for the rains.

If and when the rains would come, that area typically only gets 10” of rain a year, barely enough to grow one quick grain crop.

But meanwhile, it was brown, dusty, and waiting.

 

Farmers are either a little crazy, or else uniquely faithful people, to plow and plant and wait for the rain.

They are the ones who have heard the old prophet's words and believe them and live them.

 

The scene was dreary.

It was my very first trip overseas, as a member of a college choir tour in 1971.

It was gloomy the entire time that we were in old East Germany, from the hours sitting in Checkpoint Charlie with the Russian soldiers marching around menacingly, to the horror of the concentration camp.

We trudged up the hill to the Wartburg Castle, and remembered the scene from the old black and white movie about Luther translating the scriptures here.

Our minder rushed us through; we weren't to dwell on things like that.

She tried to convince us that it was more important that the Wartburg was also the site of political meetings instrumental in the 1848 revolutions.

And then a day or so  later we were in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach's grave has been moved to the center of the chancel floor.

A whispered message was passed among the choir members, the pitch was given, and we began to sing Jesu meine Freude, Jesus Priceless Treasure.

We had no permission to sing there, we were forbidden to sing there, our East German minder nearly fainted dead away in terror, but we sang Bach in Bach's church anyway.

 

Church musicians are either a little crazy, or else uniquely faithful people, to practice and practice and perform. They have heard the old prophet's words, believe them, and pass them on in song.

 

The scene is midwinter of 1546.

Luther is a sick, crotchety old man who nevertheless is in great demand for his opinion on myriad subjects.

He has been called to the town of his birth to mediate a dispute between two prominent citizens, Count Albert and Count Gebhard.

I think I remember reading somewhere that there were 40 lawyers involved in the proceedings.

But in addition to these civic tasks, Luther was still preaching, often.

His final sermon was on February 15, only three days before his death.

The text was from Matthew 11,  I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants; yes Father, for such was your gracious will. And verses following.

Luther complains about the “wiseacres” who think that “...what God has done is poor and insignificant ...and I must add something to it.

They want to make themselves masters of his divine Word and with their own wisdom rule in the high, great matters of faith and our salvation.

…. If it is his Word that you hold up to me and command, I shall gladly accept it, even though it be spoken by a little child, or even the ass that spoke to Balaam.

….You ought to lift up your hands and rejoice that we have been given the honor of hearing God speaking to us through his Word.

Oh, people say, what is that!

After all, there is preaching every day...What do we get out of it?

All right, dear brother, if you don't want God to speak to you every day, then go look for something else; in Aachen are Joseph's pants; go there and squander your money.

How highly honored and richly blessed are we to know that God speaks with us and feeds us with his Word, gives us his Baptism, the keys, etc.

But these barbarous godless people say: What, sacrament, baptism, God's Word? – Joseph's pants, that's what does it!

But we should listen to God's Word, which tells us that he is our schoolmaster, and have nothing to do with Joseph's pants or the pope's juggling tricks.

Cling only to Christ's Word and come to him, as he so lovingly invites us to do, and say: Thou alone art my beloved Lord and Master, I am thy disciple.”   [LW51:383-392]

 

Luther was either crazy, as the papal party averred, or a stubbornly faithful student of the Word.

He heard the old prophet's words, believed them, and saw them work tremendous changes in church and society even during his lifetime.

 

The scene is a recent month in Ethiopia.

Muslim militants invade a Christian village and murder the village evangelist.

They dismember him and send the parts to all of the neighboring villages with the message that this is what will happen to you, too.

What did the Christians do?

They went around and gathered up all the pieces and buried their beloved evangelist, and then they immediately commissioned another evangelist to take his place.

After all that it has been through, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus

 will not be intimidated by so small a thing as the fear of death.

 

Those folks are either crazy, or joyfully faithful to the Word and promise of Jesus.

They heard the old prophet's words, and believe them; and what wonders the Spirit is working there!

 

The scene is midwinter in central Pennsylvania.

The parochial reports have depressing statistics.

So many people don't even bother trying to come up with excuses for absence from the gathered congregation anymore.

We may want to ask Ezekiel's question: “Can these bones live?”

The mysteriously wonderful thing about the Word is that even as it is spoken, what it proclaims begins.  ...it shall accomplish that which I purpose, says the Lord through Isaiah.

 It may be hidden for a time, it may not be obvious to all, but it is at work.

In the years to come it may require us to organize ourselves in quite different ways.

There is lots more plowing and planting and singing and preaching and teaching and dying and living  to be done.

 

Either we're all  crazy to continue with this, or else the Spirit will gather us up to continue.

We're hearing the words of the old prophet, and by the grace of God, they are true. Amen.