Trinity 9
Dear friends in Christ. One of the perennial questions is: why do the wicked seemingly succeed while the godly don’t fare as well, while things go badly for the godly. Though couched in different words, even non-Christians are annoyed at wonder why the crooked, the wicked get ahead while the nice guy, the guy who “plays by the rules” gets left behind in the dust.
To the non-Christian, it all seems so random, so unfair—and in the end they are left without any comfort. The Christian, of course, too has such thoughts, but we have the divine comfort of Holy Scripture. While it, too, seems unfair and random to us as well, we hear such comfort from Scripture like [Psalm 37. 1, 2, 12]:
Do not fret because of evil doers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart… The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming.
As Christians, we know in Spirit worked faith that we are at peace and reconciled with God; we know that as our Lord’s dear Christian, we are safe in His hand and that He is working out everything for our spiritual and eternal good. Even our “setbacks” are the Lord’s working for our good. And we know that a glorious heavenly future awaits us and that allows us to endure/ put up with all the sin, wretchedness, “unfairness”, etc. in the world that we encounter. As Christians, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we strive to live our lives according to the holy will of God. The ultimate goal/ purpose of our life on earth is the performance of good works. By God’s grace through faith in Christ we are the Lord’s and we strive to do what is right and pleasing in His sight—and let the chips fall where they may!
As we examine our text this morning, we will see another reason not to give up and “go the way of all flesh” but to continue on in our life of faith and good works—as simple, quiet and insignificant as they may be: our Lord sees and knows them.
1. The events of our text unfold on Tuesday of Holy Week, just days before Jesus’ betrayal, suffering and death. Our Lord is in the Temple grounds. His enemies, the Sadducees, scribes and Pharisees—the religious leaders—are trying to trip Him up. Jesus, in His preaching and statements to them warns them to repent; He teaches them that He is the Son of God, the true God and Savior. But they continued to reject Jesus. But the holy Evangelist adds right before our text: And the common people heard Him gladly.
The break with the religious leaders of the Jews was final. Jesus had to point out just what sort of people they were and He warned the people and denounced the these religious leaders: Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, 39 the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 40 who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation".
The point is this: as Jesus looked out that day—and as He looks out on the world today, He sees that there is much to condemn. Of course, this is no surprise to us. But what is a surprise is who Jesus here denounces and condemns—the scribes, one of the groups that were the religious leaders of the Jews. The scribes would certainly not be judged as “wicked,” after all, they were so good and pious. They were praised as pillars of virtue and piety. The difference, though, of why Jesus judges and denounces them as wicked and the world regards them as godly/ pious is that the world looks at the outward and sees all kinds of great and wonderful works but Jesus, as the true God, looks inwardly, at the heart and knows what is there, what motives, guides and leads.
Yes, as Jesus looks out, there is much to condemn—even in those who are praised by the world, by outward standards. We see this in Jesus’ very first words: Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in... Notice, they pay attention to those things that were only external and despised the inward things: to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts. By going around in long robes, they drew attention to themselves; with the greetings in the marketplaces they were gratifying their vanity and their self-importance; with their getting the best seats in the synagogues and at feasts, they were sure to be noticed. Jesus said at another time about those wanting to make a show of their supposed piety [Matthew 6.16]: Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Then the scribes would use this outward show of piety and the honor that they were held in to their advantage: They devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Since the scribes had no other income, they got their support from widows for whom they prayed long pompous prayers that were short on faith. Here we see selfishness and greed—using their outward piety for as a cover and as a way to satisfy their selfishness and greed.
Human selfishness, vanity and greed will rear their ugly heads in the lives of all, even trying to pass itself off as “good or godly”. As Christ looks out on the world, He sees much to condemn—even those whom and the things that the world praises. That’s because Christ sees the heart; all we can see are the outward actions. Here is the call for us to examine our own hearts and lives today. Is our piety/ godliness merely an outward thing? Is it done just for show, for respectability, because it is the thing to do? Do we only do good to avoid the possible negative consequences? Do we do the good things because we truly fear, love and trust in God, or for another reason? We may be able to fool others; we may be able to fool even ourselves; but we cannot fool God, Who looks at the heart and knows our heart. May we always hold before us the mirror of God’s holy Law even to our godliness and to our motives. May we then repent as we see our focus on ourselves, as we see our vanity, self-importance, selfishness and greed.
As we recognize these sins and sinful traits in us, let us then turn to Christ because in Him is God’s grace. He is our Savior from sin. All of our sin of greed, vanity, selfishness, hypocrisy Jesus took upon Himself to the cross and there suffered their penalty for us in our place as God poured out all His wrath and punishment on Him instead of us. As Jesus took our sins upon Himself to the cross, He then gave us His perfect holiness and sinlessness life. This is the grace of God—the only way we sinners can be reconciled to God and get into heaven.
It’s not as if the sin of the scribes was too great to be forgiven; it’s not as if our sin is too great to be forgiven. Jesus obtained forgiveness of all sin of all people. When Jesus looks out over the world and sees much to condemn, it’s because people reject the grace of God to us in Christ Jesus, His forgiveness. These scribes rejected Jesus as the Savior. They had grandiose, materialistic ideas about the Messiah and His kingdom; and Jesus and His kingdom, established by a suffering Savior and entered into through sorrow over sin, repentance and faith wasn’t what they were looking for. Where God’s grace to us in Christ is rejected, only judgment remains.
2. When Christ looks out at the world, He doesn’t see the works as works—a work which the world judging outwardly will say is a good work. Instead, He sees the heart, the motive why that work was done. With the scribes, who reject Him and His grace, whose works were done apart from faith in Him—without fear, love and trust, rejecting His grace, there is nothing but sin sticking to it/ contaminating it. But the flip side is also the case and that is the greatest comfort to the Christian: Whatever the Christian does in faith, does having received and enjoying the grace of God, is a good work—no matter how insignificant it may be in the eyes of the world. That’s because the Lord has a different standard; He looks at the heart and there, in the Christian, sees faith, that fear, love and trust in Him; and that faith is clinging to God’s grace and receiving the forgiveness of sin. That means that the good works of a Christian are truly good works—free from any stain or tinges of sin because it is all forgiven and nothing but the good remains!
Our text is a glorious example: Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and was watching how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood".
Outwardly looking at this, many would conclude the rich giving lots of money were doing a truly good work. Perhaps many were. The Lord is not condemning them, condemning the giving of large gifts. But He singles out and praises this widow for outgiving the rich—and she did it with what amounted to 1/40 of a day’s wage. Jesus here shows Himself as the all-knowing God as He knows both what the widow put in and that it was all that she had. As Jesus looks out over the world, yes, He sees much to condemn but like we see here, He also has much to praise. Let us take comfort here, dear Christian, our Lord watches and He knows the heart. Although the things we do may not be all that praise-worthy in the sight of the world; although we are just faithful husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, workers, students, quietly going about the work of our daily calling to which the Lord has called us, Jesus looks out and sees us. Like He singled out this poor widow, so too He takes great delight in His Christian living out his/her faith where He has called them to serve Him. No work the Christian does in the work of his/her calling is futile or pointless—no matter how mundane or simple/ humble it may be. Done in faith, it is a glorious work—like this widow’s.
This widow gave from the right motive. She feared, loved, and trusted in the Lord—that’s faith—and that faith showed itself in her action. She trusted in the Lord to continue to care and provide for her; she loved the Lord and rejoiced in His grace and His promise to send a Savior from sin; she feared the Lord, knowing Him as the one true God. Where there is that true faith, it is only there because the Holy Spirit created and preserves that faith through the holy word and sacraments. And where there is that true faith, the Holy Spirit is at work in the heart prompting, leading and guiding us to do the good, to want to do the Lord’s holy will. All that we do that flows from faith, like this widow giving her offering, are acts of worship that are pleasing to God. When you place your offering envelop or gift in the plate, see it as symbolic of your entire life of service to the Lord; when the offering plates are presented at the altar, there see your entire life of service being presented as an offering to the Lord.
Today as we see our Lord looking out at the world, and like He did with the scribes, finding much to condemn—even what the world may praise—so too He finds much to praise—like this widow and all His dear Christians who simply and humbly carry out the work of their calling in faith. The great comfort to us—especially when we think the wicked/ ungodly rule the day—is that Christ our Lord preserves His Christians—though, like the widow, we may seem like a few and insignificant. And the other great comfort to us is that He is watching and paying attention and rejoicing greatly over the good works of His dear Christians, works done in faith and love. How meaningful our lives are to our Lord. INJ Amen