Sermon for the 17th Sunday After Trinity, 13.10.2019

Sermon Text: Mark 9:17-27
Epistle: Romans 10:9-17
Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28
Hymn of the Day: Seek Where You May to Find a Way
Hymn after the Sermon: “Hands Stretch Over My Dungeon"

Today our scriptures address the theme of ‘belief’. We hear about this theme in both the epistle and gospel . “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).

That is the basic formula of Christian thinking and life: belief and confession. Of course not just belief in something, but a belief in the miracle that God’s Son ,Jesus Christ, was raised from the dead. A belief in this special human being and also the Son of God that allows you to confess that he is Lord of my life and that because of that belief we are saved. Resurrection from t he dead is quite a miracle that runs completely contrary to the human mind. And I have to confess that I can not grasp this idea with my own mind. This past week I was at the morgue and saw how an autopsy is performed. A person can grasp the reality of the soul but the reality of a resurrection? I can only believe it and nothing more. But the basis of our entire Christian faith and of our church is based on the belief that God raised this true man and true God from the dead. We need to believe this and spend our entire lives thinking about it.

Another time that faith is mentioned is in today’s gospel. It the famous story of the Canaanite woman as found in Matthew 15:21-28. Here we find another type of faith. It is not a type of faith that believes that something happened (like the Resurrection of Jesus) but it is faith that something can and will happen. Here faith is not looking back but looking forward. Here faith is not believing that something is true, but a faith that trusts that something will happen. This woman trusts that Jesus can help her. AT first, he doesn’t want to help her because she not of the House of Israel, the church of that time. But then he is so moved and overwhelmed by the gigantic faith of this woman that he is moved to say, “O Woman, great is your faith. Your request is granted!” (v.28) This story teaches us in two different ways: 1) Faith and trust are worthwhile and 2) Faith and trust go beyond the confines of the church; in fact, faith and trust are what founded the church. Trust that someone will help you and you are on the way to becoming a Christian.

I need to explain my last statement a bit more. In our modern world many people have given up trusting and hoping. And one can understand that for life here in Russia is hard. But if you give up hoping and trusting it will harden you and will make life more difficult for you and those around you much harder. I remember the words of the elderly Dimitrij Schroeder: “Without faith and trust one can not live.” I agree with him and I think that everyone believes and trusts in something. But some choose not to show it. But the person who shows his faith and trust and says, “You can help me and I am trusting in you,” brings new life into our life which has become very hardened. This person is crossing boundaries and is creating new human interaction. This person is making life more humane and full of joy. The person who with trust, hope and faith turns to another person for help, and I repeat this statement again, is on the way to becoming a Christian. Of course, he is not completely a Christian (but who among is?). Since for one to be completely a Christian one must have faith and trust that Jesus can help this person. But I want to say this one more time: I believe it to be true and I am deeply convinced that a person who in trust and hope turns to another person for help, will also ultimately turn to the God/Man, Jesus Christ, who alone is the greatest helper, who so to speak is the perfect ideal for and prototype of a helper. This sounds somewhat mystical but it is definitely true and Christian: In every human encounter we have in which we meet people who have not given up on hope and who encourage us by reaching out in faith and trust to help us are a way for Jesus Christ to speak to us! And the people who dare to ask for help in a spirit of trust and faith are what the Christian Church consists of! The true church does not consist of those who say over and over: This is what I believe and you have to believe the same things I do. The true church consists of those who live their faith and dare to trust for help. They do not keep to themselves in a spirit of bitterness and hard-heartedness, but instead, they cross boundaries and they say, “I am a poor person and I need help.” They also say, “You can help me and I trust you.” Our life is often hard and cold because people are afraid to trust one another and no longer dare to trust and have faith in each other. One of our texts for today, the Letter to the Hebrews also addresses this: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. “ (Hebrews 10:35) The reward for our trust (confidence) is that this hard, cold world will become more humane when we learn to trust each other.

There are so many definitions for what the church is. The classical definition is: the church is the communion of saints (Apostle’s Creed). Another definition is that it is a community of justified sinners. Another definition that I use the last time is that the church is a community of sick people who have been healed. Here is an additional definition: the church is a community of people who have not thrown away their trust, but instead deeply trust each other. The world does not recognize the church, by the creeds that it recites and tries to use to convince people to believe as it does, but instead the world recognizes the church as those who have and show trust and use that trust to make our society much more humane.

And as I conclude my sermon, I want you to hear the sermon text for today, which shows a third type of faith (1. believing something is true and 2) trusting in that truth.) ( I will read Mark 9:17-27) The most important part of text for our consideration today is verse 24: “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” We now have heard that faith is 1) believing that something is true 2) trust in that truth and 3) humility. Yes, I said humility. It seems to happen quite often that a person who considers themselves to be a 150 percent Christian says the following: I believe, and this is what I believe; and since I know everything there is to know, you better believe the same way I do.” A person who speaks in this manner has very little faith, at least, very little Christian faith. A true Christian knows that he is on a journey, a journey through life, and as we heard last Sunday, we are on a journey of faith and discovery with Jesus Christ. A Christian is humble and a characteristic of the Lutheran Church is humility. The more progress I make in my belief, the more I realize how little I know. What did Saint Paul our greatest Christian say? “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12) Finally, faith is humility. “I believe Lord. Help my unbelief!” A wonderful saying. The man in our Gospel text makes this statement with tears in his eyes. His discovery of faith so moves him that he cries. There have been some times when I and maybe you, too, also have said with tears in our eyes: “I believe Lord. Help my unbelief!”

Amen!