Epiphany 3B

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

This week has been yet another week in the ongoing drama that is our country, hasn’t it? President Trump has now stepped down and President Biden has been sworn in and moved into the White House. Those two seemingly simple facts have caused great emotion in many people across the country. According to the final tallies, 81 million people are ecstatic that their candidate ascended to the highest office in the country. 74 million people are disappointed that their candidate was voted out.

Now before I say another word about this, let’s remember: people within this congregation voted for both candidates. Just within this church family, we didn’t all agree on who would be the best president. I don’t think it’s very evenly split, but let’s acknowledge that there are differences of opinion on politics here in our little church family.

And that’s true across the NALC. Yes, we’re predominantly a conservative church body, but that doesn’t for a second mean that we all vote politically conservative. Far from it. I’ve seen in recent months some very heated discussions among clergy about political candidates in this election cycle. I don’t know if that surprises anyone here, but it’s true. We, the pastors in this church body, are not of one mind when it comes to who we want leading our country.

I don’t think that is a huge problem. Ultimately, I think most Christians have the same end-goals in mind - a country that has a system of laws which treat everyone fairly and that stands out among the other countries of the world as a country that we, her citizens, can be proud of. Where we disagree is how we go about achieving those ideals. I think President Trump said it very well in his farewell speech: “We must never forget that while Americans will always have our disagreements, we are a nation of incredible, decent, faithful, and peace-loving citizens who all want our country to thrive and flourish and be very, very successful and good. We are a truly magnificent nation.” Later he described America as a country “that is safe, strong, proud, and free.” I can’t imagine that anyone - from any political party - would disagree with either of those statements, or that vision.

The problem in 2021, at least part of the problem, what sets this year apart from previous years, is how we now treat those who vote differently from us. I don’t know about you all, but I am seeing absolutely the worst that humanity has to offer, and it’s coming from both sides of the political divide. We yell at each other and insult each other and belittle each other. It’s absolutely sickening to watch. For 3 straight months, I refused to post anything on my personal Facebook page partially because I refused to take part in the melee. If you participate in any social media right now, you know that you can’t post an opinion about anything political, anywhere, without being attacked. It’s an absolutely awful environment, and it’s getting worse every day.

To his credit, our new president has made a call for what he calls “unity”. In his inaugural address, President Biden said this: “We must end this uncivil war, that pits red against blue, rural vs. urban, conservative vs. liberal. We can do this, if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts”. In this sentiment, I agree that I don’t want to see our country plunged into a war with itself. I don’t want to see our people fighting the way they are, split along the lines that they we are.

Unfortunately, we can’t just pretend that the reasons for the fight have disappeared now that the election is over and just come together in unity. If he really wants to unify the country again, he has to work on something else first: reconciliation. And that, brothers and sisters, is where the Gospel comes in.

I am of the opinion that the reason that red and blue, rural and urban, conservative and liberal are so vicious toward each other is that both sides, by and large, have moved away from God. Instead of putting our hope in Jesus Christ, our Savior and King, we put our hope in Donald Trump or Joe Biden. And what happens when our champion doesn’t win? We’re crushed! We feel a huge sense of loss. We feel like what we believe in doesn’t matter. It wasn’t just that our political opinion lost in the election; we feel like our whole belief system, our morals and our values lost. We have put all our emotion and energy and passion into supporting our side of the election, so much so that we’re willing to say the nastiest things to people in our own families because, well, it’s what we BELIEVE.

Is it? Is Joe Biden’s win that important? Is Donald Trump’s loss that devastating? Did your hope really grow that much because President Biden now sits in the oval office? Did your hope really fade that much because President Trump didn’t win another term? For Christians, our hope had BETTER NOT be in either of these two mortal, sinful creatures. Yes, they’re children of God, but they’re sinful. That’s not where our hope belongs.

No, our hope is supposed to be in Jesus Christ. You know, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world? The Messiah foretold by the prophets who died on the cross and was raised again 3 days later? Whose death and resurrection ensured that we can all be together with him in heaven ETERNALLY? THAT Jesus Christ. He is where our hope belongs. After all, he bought and paid for it.

This season of Epiphany is about how Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. How He lets all creation know that He has come, just as the Father promised, so that all would see Him for who He is and believe in Him. Look at his words at the beginning of His ministry as Mark tells it: “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus said this 2,000 years ago, telling the people around Him that time had run out. It was time to repent - to turn back to God - because the Kingdom of God had arrived…in HIM. Jesus WAS the walking Kingdom of God, because He is the King. Folks, this has already happened. That doesn’t mean it’s over. It just means that the Kingdom has already arrived because the Messiah already came and did what He was sent to do. He did what was necessary to save all of us. That’s done.

Now, we are merely waiting for Him to come back. He’s told us everything we need to know. He’s taught us what is expected of us. He’s showed us what we are to do. And He has freed us so that we can go do it. So, what are we supposed to be hoping for? Our hope is in Him. In Romans 8:24 Paul tells us about this hope: For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

There’s our first clue that our hope is misplaced. We can see both of these two sinners with our own eyes. That’s not where our hope needs to be. We need to place our hope in the Son of God, who is revealing Himself to us in various ways until we see Him returning to us. What ways?

Well, in those ways I talk about all the time, so much that I hope you’re sick of hearing me say it: He reveals Himself to us in His Holy Word. That’s where He continues to speak to us and teach us. And He reveals Himself to us in the Sacraments. I look forward to the day when we can get back to enjoying Holy Communion on a more frequent basis, and we can allow our Lord and Savior to reveal Himself to us as we come to His Table, and we can - literally - drink Him in.

But He reveals Himself to us in other ways too. Some of you have heard me talk about this little pizza shop I discovered recently. I hope some of you will go find Bambini’s and talk to him. He makes some really good NY style pizza. But you’ll notice when you look at his menu that he’s got a Bible verse on the bottom. Just be warned: if you mention that you’re a Christian, or ask him about the Bible, get comfortable - you will get a full-blown testimony from a man who is absolutely in love with God. He will tell you how God turned his life around, and how he is now serving the Lord in a pizza shop. I’ll let him tell you the rest of the story. Don’t worry - he won’t let your food get cold.

The last time I was in there, when I picked up my order, as soon as I walked in the door “PASTOR!” and he proceeded to tell me about a conversation he had earlier in the week. A random customer came in and he asked the customer about his faith. The man replied “oh, I don’t believe in God.” And let me tell you, this pizza shop owner proceeded to give a witness to this non-believer that was just amazing. He asked the customer “why don’t you believe in God.” “If God exists, why does He let all this bad stuff happen?” “Do you have children?” “Yes I do” “And what if your child came to you and said, ‘you’re not my father any more. I don’t want to live by your rules anymore.’ What would you say to your child?” “Well, I’d tell them to go find somewhere else to live and find someone else to give them food and shelter.” “Well, it’s kind of like that with God.” And this pizza shop guy explained how God doesn’t FORCE us to live His way, and when one of His children walks away from Him, He lets them. He lets them find out how miserable life can get without Him.

And then he looked me in the eye and said “Pastor, I don’t think I changed his mind that day, but I know I made him think, and God used me to get His foot in the door.” Amen to that. That pizza shop owner just did more evangelism with a customer than I’ve done as pastor of this church all year. I haven’t spoken to any unbelievers… at least none that I know of.

What does this have to do with Epiphany? Well, look at how God revealed himself to that unbeliever. He used a pizza shop owner. This is where I see if I can make you start squirming in your seat. If God can use a pizza shop owner, He can definitely use a plumber, or an electrician, or a school teacher, or a nurse, or an accountant, or an insurance salesperson, or a grocery store employee, or an interior decorator, or a librarian, or a high school student, or a hairdresser, or a UPS driver, or a property manager, or a furniture maker, or a police officer, or a dental hygienist, or a truck driver, or a music store owner, or a retiree… ok, who did I miss? So I ask you - whatever your current vocation, could you do that? Could you talk to an unbeliever about your faith? Could you let God use you to reveal Him to someone who doesn’t know Him?

One more thing. When Jesus called His disciples, Mark tells us that they “immediately left their nets and followed him.” Now, I’ve always understood that to mean they gave up the family business to follow Jesus and become “professional” apostles. I heard a scholar yesterday explain that wasn’t the case. In fact, they followed him for his brief time while he walked among us, and then they went back to fishing. So what are we to learn from that?

That’s where Paul’s lesson today comes in. Basically Paul is telling us that because “the appointed time has grown very short”, we must not let earthly things get in the way of eternal things. We can still do the earthly things, but they must not be our priority. We must not cling to them, because we want to be free to cling to the eternal things.

Put another way, we must not put our hope in earthly men, not in Trumps or in Bidens. We must put our hope in the eternal Son of God - in Jesus Christ. Whether He returns in 2 weeks or whether it’s not for another 2,000 years, the time *is* short. Jesus will return in triumph, and He WILL bring all things into true unity, because He WILL reconcile all of creation - all people to each other, and He will reconcile everyone and everything to God. All will be made right, put back to the way it was supposed to be before humanity messed it up. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like exactly where I want to put my hope.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.