THE LORD GOD SENDS YOU A PROPHET TO SAY, "THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD." TO SAVE YOU. Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Mark 6:1-13 and Ezekiel 2:1-5

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Psalm 123

Ezekiel 2:1-5

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Mark 6:1-13

            Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Pastors are not perfect people.  Shocker, right?   So why do we have them?  Do we really need pastors?  We've seen the sins that the pastor commits.  We definitely read about it in the paper or hear about it on the news.  We may have seen how he grew up, how he acted as a youngster and now he's preaching to us? Man, the pastor even does the same things he tells us are sin. 

            My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, you don't know the half of it.  Pastors are horrible sinners.  Even worse so because they are acutely aware of the Law and its demands.  And when they hear that Law they know they are guilty.  Guilty to the core.  They need to hear the Gospel.  They need to hear from your lips, "I forgive you." when, not if, they have wronged you. 

            But guess who else is guilty?  You.  Today's Gospel text reminds us that the Word of God is offensive.  As you heard the words of Ezekiel you heard of the rebellious house.  Today, the Lord sends pastors to His rebellious houses to save His people. 

THE LORD GOD SENDS YOU A PROPHET TO SAY, "THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD." TO SAVE YOU.

I.

            It sounds ridiculous but think back on our Old Testament text again,  "Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me to this very day.  The descendants also are impudent and stubborn."  A rebel.  We're certainly acquainted with rebels.  During the Civil War, the Confederates were called rebels.  Maybe you've called a child a little rebel.  What is a rebel?  It is someone who revolts against what has been mandated. 

            The sad thing is that in Ezekiel, God calls the nation of Israel rebels.  Which should be considered a low, low blow.  These were his chosen people. They are the people who are supposed to worship God alone, who are to have no other Gods.  Instead he calls them impudent and stubborn.  Meaning they have become disrespectful and ill-mannered to the point that they will not move from their sinful ways.  And indeed they were.  As you read the Old Testament you see they embraced teachings of false gods, they avoided going to the temple for their sacrifices, to receive God's gift of forgiveness. 

            This wasn't a recent event either. This occurred from the very beginning when they left Egypt.  They immediately rebelled against God saying that they had been brought out to the Red Sea to be killed by the Egyptians.  As they marched in the wilderness they said God would starve them to death.  They were shown the wonderful bounty of the land they were to take up and they cried out that they would be slaughtered by those who lived there.  They couldn't even wait for Moses to come down off the mountain with God's Holy Law before they asked Aaron that other gods be made for them to worship.  Yes their rebellion was ugly.  This doesn't include the centuries afterward in which we get but a small glimpse into their wayward ways of chasing after false gods. 

            Yes, the people of Israel were rebels and so today continues the people of Israel.  Listen again, "The descendents also are impudent and stubborn."  That is you.  Well hold on you may say.  I'm not a Jew.  I didn't say you were a Jew, but you are the people of Israel. Peter says in his 1 epistle, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people." This was the same proclamation he made to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 7, "you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."  You were made part of this family in your baptism.  Paul reminds us in Romans 8, that we are adopted as Children of God and later in chapter 11 that we have been grafted into Israel so that we are no longer part of the wild forest of unbelief but now belong to Yahweh.

            Yes you need your God to send you prophets, for you too are a rebellious house with the rest of God's chosen people. And today he still does, he sends pastors as his modern day prophets, not to foretell what will happen as we often think of prophets, but as forth-tellers, as ones who proclaim the Word of God, not to reveal anything new, but to make clear what God needs you to hear.

            You need your pastor, for he teaches you why you need Jesus Christ.  It is not because you are a generic sinner but because you are impudent and stubborn persisting in your sin.  Do not think that your pastor declares the Law without himself in mind, for us pastors are just like you, sinners from birth to death.  And so we are sent by God to lay out the law in its fullness so that your sin may be made known to you and that you would not persist in it, just like your pastor does for himself. 

            You need your pastor, because he is called by God to teach you the true doctrine, God's teaching.  He shows you right and wrong.  And if your understanding of God's Word is wrong, He is called to correct you in loving care so that you may not be led astray. 

II.

            For therein lies the danger for the sinner, for you.  When you sin you are not transgressing against your pastor, but against God.   The Lord sends you a pastor so that you may know the truth! Because woe to us if we do not listen to God's holy Word!  As Jesus says in our Gospel text, "If any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."  And as Jesus says in the sending of the 12 in Matthew 10, "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me."

            It is for this reason that it is crucial that the Word preached be not our opinion, nor a time of entertainment, but that it be focused clearly upon the Word of God. For this reason, when you hear the sermon, it is not, thus says Pastor Herrod or Pastor Heinecke, but "Thus says the Lord God." So that as Ezekiel says, "Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them." 

            And lest you think, well if it was Jesus speaking to us we would listen or we could get others to listen, let us recall the great sadness that is in our Gospel text. Many questioned Jesus' teaching in the synagogue one Sabbath day saying,  "Where did this man get these things?  What is the wisdom given to him?  How are such mighty works done by his hands?...And they took offense at him…And he marveled because of their unbelief.  For you see when you hear the Word of God, it truly is Jesus who you hear.  And when someone does not believe, it is Jesus who marvels because of their unbelief.

            It's not going to be amazing miracles or amazing pastors that convert people.  No, rather it will be as Abraham tells the rich man in the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."

            And lest the church or pastors get discouraged that no one will listen, Paul say in our epistle text, "I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities."  For when he recognizes his sin and his weaknesses, he knows the promise of Christ, "My grace is sufficent for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Your comfort, my comfort is not large crowds of followers but rather Jesus Christ and him crucified.  Christ's grace, his undeserved love and kindness that he died for you and me is your comfort and mine. 

            The Lord God tells Ezekiel later in the chapter, "Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house."

III.

            This is what Christ would have you hear.  You are a rebellious house. But why!  Why bring you low?  It is so that you may be brought up.  It is because the Lord God calls you His people, his heirs, his branches.  This is why you are the people of Israel.  You have striven with God and have been victorious. Not because of anything you have done, but because of what God has done for you. He has given you the key to victory, he gives you Jesus Christ.  We are reminded of this later in Ezekiel at the valley of dry bones.  We who were those dry bones have had life breathed into us, we have Christ breathed into us through the hearing of the Word and are made whole as we have been baptized with the Holy Spirit!

            So that when we realize that we are rebellious, that we have sinned against God, we don't remain in a state of rebellion but rather we welcome being called to repent.  We take joy that our Lord is gracious and compassionate and will call us to turn from our sin by sending us our pastor to finally deliver the gifts of forgiveness. 

            Yes, just as Yahweh sent out Ezekiel to the Israelites in order to save them from their impudence and stubbornness so also he sent out the 12 disciples out into Israel to call the people to repentance to prepare them for Christ who was coming into their midst.  Today he continues that sending as he calls pastors into the harvest field.  Today he continues that sending by placing you into your vocation, as husband or wife, son or daughter, employee or boss.

            He sends you pastors to deliver forgiveness to the repentant, to those who hear and desire to change their sin-filled ways, who know that it is only Christ who can save them from their sins. And within your vocation, you forgive one another as well.  Next week you will hear of one who remained impudent and stubborn, but our Lord never wants people to remain in such a condition for Christ came to save all.

            Oh yes, his desire is to save you.  He wants your stubbornness to sin to be pointed out so that he may save you.  Oh people of Israel, let us be reminded that you and I have already been baptized.  He has already adopted you into his Holy house and calls you his Israel.  He has already sent the Holy Spirit to create faith in you.  He has already washed you clean of your sin and though you muddy your soul with sin time and time again, hear the good news!  He sends you pastors to declare you forgiven. 

            That is good news, your pastors deliver God's forgiveness.  Hear the absolution.  In the rite of Private Confession and Absolution the pastor asks, "Do you believe that my forgiveness is God's forgiveness? And when you respond, "Yes." He says, "Let it be done for you as you believe.  In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

            This is what Ezekiel, the Apostles, and now your pastors do, they were and continue to be sent to deliver you the good news of salvation, for you!  Your Lord loves you that much for he wants you to know what Christ has done for you and have it delivered to you.  He continually sends you the good news every week, every day.  He delivers this good news wrapped up in his means of grace.  Baptism, Lord's Supper, and as you have heard today he so graciously proclaims it through the Word of God, both in preaching and in Confession and Absolution. 

            God sent Ezekiel to nations of stubborn and impudent rebels, not to be rid of them but because he loved them. He has sent you pastors and most currently pastor Herrod for the same reason.  Today your Lord and Savior delivers a message of stern warning so as to save you, to draw you to himself and thanks be to God for that!  The message is: THUS SAYS THE LORD! He alone is your savior. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen. The Peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.