Trinity 25

Text: Matthew 24:15-28

As we approach the Last Sunday of the Church Year next week, the Gospel readings begin to focus on the end times. For this reason, they can be uncomfortable to hear and even more challenging to process and make sense of; it’s as if Jesus is sometimes speaking in riddles or parables.

I found the following words from C.F. W. Walther, the first president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, helpful regarding one aspect of our text today. He wrote,

There once was a time when Christ was almost completely silenced in Christendom. This was the time before the Reformation. Mary and the so-called saints had almost entirely displaced Christ from Christianity and occupied His place. There is no longer such a silence about Christ. Indeed, He preached everywhere. “Here is Christ! There is Christ!” many thousands of preachers exclaim.

There’s a lot to unpack here.

In the first place, Walther says that praying to Mary and the saints had become so ravaging that Christ was minimized, dethroned, and nonexistent in the Church before the Reformation.

And He was.

The elaborate system of praying to Mary and the saints, buying indulgences, and so on removed Jesus from the cross and the Church.

Think of it this way: the object of man’s prayers and faith was now being directed to faithful children of God whose bodies lay in the pits of the earth. Or in a forgiveness, they were led to believe could be earned and purchased with earthly wealth.

But then the Reformation occurred, and through God’s use of Martin Luther, we hear again these words written to the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

The Church can breathe again, right? God has used His faithful servants to steer it aright.

However, as a product of the Reformation, splinter churches rose and sprouted in every nook and cranny of the world. Like a tree, the teachings of the Church also branched off, some staying close to the base and trunk while other limbs spread far and wide.

As a bystander, you might ask, “How is this a bad thing?” More Jesus everywhere, right?

Well, the churches that stayed close to the trunk and base remained with the source of our faith: Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. However, those branches of the church that spread far and wide from its source became easily swayed by the winds of this world and life.  

This is what happened to the Church after the Reformation.

The Church grew and splintered and then splintered some more.

But as each branch of the tree grew further from the trunk, its teachings also grew further away from their source and strength: Jesus Christ.

This remains the story of the Church today.

Many denominations possess many and various beliefs. They all cry out from their pulpits, “Here is the Christ! Or There is Christ!”

But Dr. Walther would say, “This is what makes our age so dangerous and abominable, and demonstrates that the final, evil days of this world are approaching.”

His words of caution and warning are because the Christ being preached from so many pulpits today is fictitious and false.

Even in the mid-nineteenth century, Walther cautioned his flock against falling for the false teachings that led the Church to see Jesus as simply a teacher above all teachers, a model citizen, and an example of virtuous and moral living we should strive to merely imitate and follow.

Now, imitating the virtuous and sacrificial love of Jesus is a good thing we should strive to do in our lives.

But this is precisely what isn’t being preached from the many pulpits that fill the limbs and branches of Christ’s Church even today.

The sacrificial love of Jesus - the cross.

And if the cross is not present, neither is a recognition of man’s sin.

Think about this: how many churches have you gone to where the readings, sermons, and hymns point you to the cross of Jesus?

If you listen carefully, probably only a few, if any.

A significant reason for this is that man does not want to consider himself a sinner in need of a Savior.

This was true for the Pharisees and religious leaders of Israel, the Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation, and the many churches sadly swaying with the winds of this world today.

As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” (1 Corinthians 1:23)

Isn’t this something?

Whenever the Church on earth has been led astray, it is because the cross of Jesus is absent.

So, I ask you, in these gray and latter days of life, is the cross present in your life?

Or, to say this differently, do you see your need to confess the sins of life before Jesus, trusting Him to be “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?” (John 1:29)

You see, the trunk and base of the true Church of Jesus Christ is the tree of His cross.

And by clinging to it, you have forgiveness and salvation; you have the true Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.

As we approach these last Sundays of the Church, do not lose sight of this simple truth. Because where the cross is, Jesus will be present, too.

With His Word, His flesh and blood, and with His life for you.

So, look here (point to the cross next to the pulpit) and see your Savior. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI