Epiphany 3A-- The Kingdom of Heaven Is At Hand (and It's Kind of a Big Deal)

Text: “17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

It’s Kind of a Big Deal

This statement, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” is kind of an important one in the Gospel of Matthew.

It’s an important idea. Matthew starts with a description of Jesus’ birth, but what is he emphasizing when he does? The fact that Jesus is a king— in fact, not only a king, but the son of David. Then, Matthew doesn’t spend time telling us about there being no room for them in the inn and visits from shepherds. He talks about the foreign delegation that comes to bend the knee to this new-born king. And, of course, that leads to an attempt on His life from a rival king.

Matthew turns to John the Baptizer next.

How does Matthew sum up John’s message? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

From John, Matthew turns his attention to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

How does he sum up Jesus’ message? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

First the messenger, now the King, Himself, are declaring the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven.

I feel like the line from the movie “Anchorman” is strangely relevant here. I’ve never actually seen the movie, but I understand that one of the main character, Ron Burgundy’s, big lines, is “I’m kind of a big deal.” In the movie— and do not stop me if I’m getting this wrong, because we’re going to have to go with the basic point either way— Ron Burgundy (played by Will Ferrell) is a TV anchorman with “delusions of grandeur,” as the saying goes. The line “I’m kind of a big deal,” sort of sums him up quite well. He wants to be famous, to be a big deal, but if you have to tell everyone that you’re a big deal then you’re probably not. (Spoiler alert, as the kids say....)

Jesus is no Ron Burgundy— or Ron Burgundy is no Jesus Christ (I’m not sure which one is better).

Yet, at these words of Jesus, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” I almost feel the need to add: “It’s kind of a big deal.”

Inviting you to wonder, “If you have to tell everyone that it’s “a big deal” then is it really”?

I know we’re not just Christians, we’re modern American Christians, (by that I mean that we are incredibly blessed) but do you need to be reminded of how big a deal that really is? If so, then look at the world around you. We can go through just the news headlines, for example. I did a quick check just this morning: A family in Mount Pleasant lost their home to a fire Friday night; Bay City is raising their water rates (although they’re lowering sewer rates); Flint residents still have to drink filtered water. And those are the tame ones. That doesn’t touch the war and bloodshed, the natural disasters, the shocking evil that we commit against each other.

And then you and I complain, “Why would a loving God create a world like this?” He didn’t. You did. I did. Adam and Eve and every one of their descendants (except one) choose a world like this every single day. The 10 Commandments aren’t a bunch of arbitrary rules so that God can try to control you. We even have a special name for a place where the 10 Commandments are kept perfectly, all of the time: Paradise. You and I have chosen this world instead.

God didn’t create this world. You and I did. But now the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Even here in this building, I feel the need to remind you, “That’s kind of a big deal.” Let me be very clear: I know that you love this building. It means a great deal to you. What I’m saying is: it should really mean even more.

This place is more than just a communal version of a cabin “up north” where you sometimes go on the weekend in order to get away from things for a little while.

Many of you have very good reason to love this place. Not only is it a really wonderful group of people, but you have such deep roots. Your parents brought you to this very baptismal font <cough> years ago. And their parents brought them to this same font even longer ago.

You brought your children here to this font and perhaps they even brought their children to it, also. That’s not what makes it really special.

I get that many of you were confirmed before this altar, confirmed at this communion rail. For some of you, your parents were confirmed here, your children were confirmed here, your grandchildren were confirmed here. That’s not what makes it important.

I’m not saying that this congregation means too much to you. I’m saying that it should mean even more. Brothers and sisters in Christ: Repent. the Kingdom of Heaven is here!

He’s Kind of a Big Deal

The Good News is that the Kingdom of Heaven is here. It has broken into this creation. Paradise has broken into this sinful world.

This world is beautiful in so many ways— that perfect creation God intended for you still peeks through from time to time. But, at the end of the day, it is what it is. You’re still surrounded by everything from the minor inconveniences of this life to the genuine suffering and evil.

It has broken through because Jesus has taken all of the sins that make this world what it is and has paid for them in full.

Every curse that is threatened for those who break God’s Law was put upon Jesus. “He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4).

Notice— not just your sin, He has borne your griefs and carried your sorrows. That is why Isaiah is able to say that, “upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace” (Isaiah 53:5).

The reason for everything that has caused you grief, the cause of all your sorrow, the sin that has made this world what it is was all laid upon Him. He has paid that price in full. “Upon Him was the chastisement that brought [you] peace, and with His wounds [you] are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

If redeeming you out of this dying world was all that He had done, that would have been worth eternal praise and thanksgiving. But there’s more.

“[He] has redeemed [you out of this dying world], purchased and won [you] from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that [you] may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.” (Luther’s Small Catechism, explanation of the 2nd Article of the Apostles’ Creed).

He has prepared a place for you there in the New Creation that His death and resurrection have ushered in.

This Is Kind of a Big Deal

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: The Kingdom of God is at hand. It is here.

This place is more than just a communal version of a cabin “up north” where you sometimes go on the weekend in order to get away from things for a little while.

If this font is only important because of the people you know who have been brought here to it, then by all means, shove it up against the wall. Get it out of the way for more important stuff.

It is not an obstacle, standing in the way of what we want to do in this building, to be pushed out of the way when it’s inconvenient.

This baptismal font is the very doorway through which you have entered into the unseen reality of what has come to you in this building: the very Kingdom of Heaven.

Here at this font you were washed clean of the sin that made you part of this fallen creation and made you heirs of His Kingdom— heirs of paradise.

The list of people who have come and who have been brought to the font is not nearly as important as the person you found there in the waters of baptism: Jesus Christ. All that He earned for you on the cross was put there into the water for you to find, including Himself. You not only found Him there in the waters, He joined Himself to you and gave you an inheritance in His Kingdom.

That Kingdom of Heaven that has come is an entirely new creation in which there is no death or mourning or tears or pain for the old order of things has passed away and He who is seated on the throne has made all things new (Rev. 21). And that Kingdom came to you at this font. You were made a new creation through the water in it, combined with the word and promise of Christ.

You were buried there, with Him, into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, you were raised to a new, eternal life in His Kingdom.

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is right there.

If this altar were only important because of who has been confirmed here, then by all means, go ahead and push it out of the way when we have something else we need to put up there or just treat it like any other table, put whatever you need to on it.

From this altar, Christ, Himself gives you a foretaste of the eternal feast of heaven.

Upon that altar sits the very body and blood of Christ, Himself, in, with, and under bread and wine— the body and blood of the King of Heaven, given for you, on that altar. The Kingdom of Heaven comes to you there.

If you’ve forgotten why what you receive at this communion rail is such an amazing, literally earth-shattering, gift, then check to see if you still have flesh and blood. If you do, then believe what the scriptures say of it: “...the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. ...[T]hose who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21). If you’ve forgotten why what happens at this rail is really “kind of a big deal” then look around you to see whether you are still in the world. And if you are then remember that there will be no lack of sin and trouble as the Scriptures say and as you well know. If both of those are true, then know for certain that you will have the devil also around you, who with his lying and murdering day and night will let you have no peace within or without, as the Scriptures picture him: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). (Slight paraphrase of question #20, “Christian Questions with their Answers,” Luther’s Small Catechism.

At this communion rail, forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation that He won for you on the cross are placed in your hands, are placed upon your lips to sustain you through all that you have to endure in this life, to strengthen and keep you steadfast in the One True Faith until the day when He returns and you enter His Kingdom fully and forever. The Kingdom of Heaven is there.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, you’ve heard the phrase countless times, haven’t you? But it’s never been a vague, abstract promise. When John the Baptizer declared it, he was able to point to Jesus— “The Kingdom is there.” When Jesus, Himself declared it, it was because He, Himself, was there. The same thing is true today. I declare to you the kingdom of God is there at this font; it is there at this altar; it is proclaimed here at this pulpit. It is here. Repent. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It is kind of a big deal, isn’t it?