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The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007 Ordination of Louise Christensen
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
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The 3rd Sunday in Lent (C) Have you ever known anyone who has been “beaten up” by other Christians? I don’t mean physically beaten up, I mean emotionally, spiritually. Let me explain the type of people I’m thinking about…there are a lot of them around I think. I once met a guy in college, for instance…His name was Ryan. Nice guy, conscientious, a guy who would try to do the right thing, a young man of integrity… Anyway, we played Frisbee golf together a time or two. And, Ryan, when he discovered that I was a Christian, informed me that he could never ever be a Christian, because (in his experience) Christians were unforgiving and thought they were better than everyone else. Now, this obviously irritates me and scares me but not for the reason you might think. Mostly because I believed this guy…I mean, I knew a different side of Christianity, at least I hoped I did—I knew a loving and forgiving Christ, who spent his time with sinners (like us…does that bother you). When I say I believed Ryan, I mean to say that I believed what he was telling me was not a lie. He had encountered this unforgiving condescension amongst Christians and as a result, he would not want to be a part of the church. And, like I said, it irritates me. When Christians come of as arrogant, it moves us in a direction exactly opposite and opposed to the direction that Christ sent us. And, it worried me a bit too. My conversations with Ryan and others like him, make me ask questions of myself…question we should perhaps all ask ourselves: Could I be coming of as conceited, by the way I carry my faith…faith in Jesus Christ? How am I applying the love and forgiveness that I have come to depend upon for my own walk of faith, to the world around me. Brothers and Sisters, today, Jesus warns us…(read Luke 13:1-5) A few years after my conversation with Ryan, I had the opportunity to attend what is Called Creation festival at a place called the Gorge at a town called George, Washington. Somehow, I could see with some pain, through Ryan’s eyes, what he was talking about. I saw t-shirts that in big-bold print labeled the wearer of that shirt…”FORGIVEN.” Brothers and sisters, you should know God’s forgiveness—this is the promise of your baptism which Philip Melanchthon calls the chief topic of the gospel, the forgiveness of sins. But as we receive the promise, we become messengers as well…And so we must ask ourselves what is the message that Christ would have me bring to the table? Today, all of our scripture have to do with repentance and forgiveness, and it is a gracious, gracious message. I believe it is a message that will save the world…but we need to pay attention to how we use this message? We need to be careful what we say. We need to remember, Jesus did not forgive u just for us…so that we can draw a line in the sand and say, “I’m forgiven, I’m on the inside, and too bad for you.” No, Jesus reveals God’s forgiveness, so that we can share his forgiveness and love with other people. We are people of good news—we are changed and empowered by the gospel, not for ourselves, but for all people. What makes us different, in reality, is the Gospel. We are the people who live with the revelation of Jesus Christ…which tells us that God, not only loves us, but loves everyone. And a huge part of that love can be experienced when a person repents and experiences forgiveness. But for the purpose of teaching, we here understand repentance as the entire conversion, in which there are two sides, a putting to death and a raising to life. According to the customary usage, we call them (1) contrition (terror of the conscience that feels God’s wrath against sin and grieves that it has sinned, both because we fear punishment and because we love God) and (2) faith (the belief that on account of Christ [our] sins are freely forgiven (that’s the gospel). This faith uplifts (and because faith has to do with the spiritual presence of Christ being with us—it is easier to talk about what Christ does with faith, rather than what faith is), Christ (or our faith in Christ) sustains and gives life to the contrite…receives forgiveness of sins (the gift)…gives (us) access to God…it grows gradually and throughout life struggles with sin in order to conquer sin and death) ~Article XII, Apology of the Augsburg Confession The discussion between Jesus and his disciples in our Gospel today is interesting. I think he is giving us a helpful warning…be careful how we talk about sin. For me, he gives me a helpful reminder about how we are to be Christians in the world. Warning against judging All people still need forgiveness God is patient—a God of second chances. And so, I have a proposal. Rather than a t-shirt that say says, “I’m forgiven.” How about a Lutheran version which says, “God forgives.” God forgives, brothers and sisters, and because of this reality, we are renewed by the good news and freed to live a new day to the glory of God. -------------------- Joshua W. Magyar, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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