Opened by the Risen Jesus: Opened
Ears
May 8, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and
peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, Amen.
On this Mother’s Day, one of the many
memories I have of my mom growing up was that, during the worship service every
Sunday, she would make sure I was always singing the hymns, and the different
parts of the service, and doing so out loud. It’s largely because of my mom,
and her insisting that I actively participate in the liturgy and the worship
service, that, even to this day, I pretty much have the entire LBW memorized,
especially the different parts of the worship service we use on certain
Sundays, like today.
Last week, I also promised to continue
talking about the different parts of our worship service and where they come
from. And as it happens, our Hymn of Praise, “Glory to God,” is also a perfect
illustration of what we hear in today’s Second Reading in Revelation, because
it is the same sort of song the multitude is singing around Jesus’ throne as
they sing His praises. The opening line, “Glory to God in the highest, and
peace to His people on earth,” like many parts of our worship service, is
actually from the Bible, in this case, from Luke 2:14 – the song the angels sang
to the shepherds the night Jesus was born. The text of the actual song we sing
dates from about the third century, but, again, takes a lot of images directly
from the Bible, especially with the descriptions of who God the Father and Jesus
are: God the Father is our heavenly King, with His “base of operations” being
in heaven. Every blessing we receive, good thing that happens to us, rescue
from bad things that happen, promise to help us and be with us at all times, comfort
in sadness, healing from sickness, providing us with what we need to live: all
of these things come directly from heaven. Our Father treats everyone equally
the same, without any thought of who we may think is deserving or undeserving. In
the song, we also praise Jesus for being the Son of the Father: in fact, in
today’s First Reading from Acts, Paul even shows that Jesus is the Son of God the
Father, both by quoting Psalm 2, and by reminding us that even though Jesus was
put to death, He we raised to life again by the Father – something God had
promised for centuries before. Jesus is our Lord, and the Lamb of God who takes
away all our sins, and everyone’s sins. We ask Him to have mercy on us as a reminder
that, even without our asking to be, He is still merciful to us. He
gives us more than we expect, and does so without us having to prove our
deserving or worthiness to receive it. We also ask Him to receive our prayer, asking
Him not out of desperation, but out of confidence: confidence that that He does
receive our prayer. He alone is also the only person, the only human being, who
can truly be called “holy,” because He alone was set apart to live a sinless
life, to be able to offer Himself as a sacrifice. He alone is the Most High: no
other power on this earth, no other authority, can claim any power or authority
over Jesus. Also, this song shows who Jesus claims to be at the end of today’s Gospel
reading: He is the Christ who is one with His Father. He and the Father are one
in being divine, immortal, all-glorious, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing,
almighty over everything. Then, at the very end, we sing, “Amen,” an ancient
word which means, “Yes, all this is true.” This is who we believe Jesus is, and
in singing all this, this is what we believe Jesus does for us every single
day. Our song of praise is united with the great crowd of people from all over
the world, both on earth and in heaven, with whom we share one faith in Jesus
as our Lord and God.
And, notice that this multitude is indeed
made up of a diverse group of people: people from all over the world, of every
background, language, experience, and class. People who all have one thing in
common: being believers in Jesus. These are people who are all saved in the same
way: by being washed in the blood of the Lamb. Nothing they have done has
caused them to be saved: Jesus has accomplished it all. In fact, these are
people who, by the standards of the world, are considered losers. Probably
the majority of people in this crowd were people who hadn’t really accomplished
anything out of the ordinary in life, and weren’t all part of a special group. They
weren’t all part of God’s original chosen people. Instead, they all were saved
only by Jesus. They had even been put to death because they refused to give up
their belief in Jesus. It is a great comfort for us to know that nothing we do
in any way affects our being saved: no good works, good behavior, accomplishments,
or following rules or laws makes us worthy or deserving to be promised eternal
life. God’s love for us, and our being destined to live with Him forever, has
nothing to do with how we are, but everything to do with who God is. Nothing we
do even now affects Jesus’ desire to care for us: Jesus is still with us and is
on our side, and nothing will ever change that.
As we hear in today’s Gospel reading,
Jesus is our shepherd. And as our shepherd, He treats every one of His sheep –
each one of us, and everyone in the world – equally the same, with the same amount
of loving care. Jesus is watching over each and every one of us closely, and, so
long as we are alive, nothing can separate us from Jesus. Nothing can snatch us
out of His hands, because His power is greater than anything, and so we remain
in His hands. We are secure in His care: He is someone we can always depend on
to be there for us, to support us, and to lead us gently. Our status remains
the same: we are under Jesus’ protection, under His constant watchful eye. This
is not something that is meant to make us afraid, intimidated, or paranoid – it
means He is always paying attention us and whatever’s going on with us. Deep
down inside, we all want someone to pay attention to us: we just want to know
we’re not being ignored, and our struggles are acknowledged as being real. We
don’t want to be dismissed, to be told to get over it or get used to it, be
told we’re making too big a deal out of what we’re going through, or be told
that there is something wrong with us because we’re suffering what we’re suffering.
We want someone to take us seriously, to meet us where we are, and actually
help us by taking control of whatever we’re going through. That’s exactly what
Jesus does for us: He takes us, and all our worries and problems seriously, and
takes control of them. Just as He took on the sins and sufferings of everyone
in the world and died on the cross to wash them away with His blood, He takes
on all of our present sufferings and heals them. He hears and answers our
prayers, even when we don’t know exactly what to pray for, or how to pray for
it. Whether we pray out loud, or pray silently in our hearts, Jesus still hears
us, even listens to the deepest thoughts of our hearts, and understands what we
are trying to say. Even if we don’t ask for anything specific, Jesus still
knows what we need, and He answers us.
Whenever we wonder in what
direction we are headed, we can look once more at the vision of the great
multitude of people, surrounding Jesus’ throne, singing His praises day and night
– the great multitude of which we all will someday be a part: each one of us
will be part of that crowd, living with Jesus forever, and singing His praises.
Jesus is bringing us to a place, to His home, to heaven, where we will be free
of suffering, where all the tears we have to cry because of fear, anxiety,
frustration, or sadness will all be wiped away. There will only be joy and
happiness in heaven, because we will all be with Jesus. Every conflict we are
going through will be resolved, and every illness we are having to suffer will
be healed. Those who hunger and thirst, especially those who lack food, drink,
or anything needed for this life, will be provided for and will be satisfied. Those
who hunger and thirst for freedom from addiction, rescue from abuse, healthy
friendships and relationships, unity in families and communities, will be
satisfied. And even so, we pray in the Lord’s Prayer that God’s will would be
done on earth as it is in heaven: these are not things which we have to wait
until we get to heaven to experience. These are things which can happen here
and now, because Jesus answers our prayers. He takes us seriously, resolves our
problems, satisfies our needs, comforts us, and wipes away our tears and
everything which is causing them now.
But the key is to be able to listen.
Communication goes both ways: Jesus hears us, but we are also to hear Jesus. I
have talked before about certain messages which are the voice of Jesus, and
which are the voice of the devil, and how important it is for us to be able to
listen carefully and figure out which one is which. Just to review, any voice
which comforts us, encourages us, and reminds us that we are loved unconditionally
is the voice of Jesus. Any voice which does or says the opposite is the voice
of the devil. Unfortunately, there are many voices which sound logical and
reasonable, which try to force us to focus on the seeming hopelessness in front
of us now, but which are ultimately destructive: these voices are from the
devil. So whenever we do feel beaten down or discouraged, we can pray to Jesus:
we can pray for the ability to block out all other voices, and zero in on Jesus’
voice instead. How can we do that? By stopping, taking a deep breath, closing
our eyes, and asking Jesus for help. A prayer doesn’t have to be in a long
paragraph or using multisyllabic words: it only has to be a genuine cry for
help from the heart. Even though we still face trouble every day, we can still
believe Jesus is both reigning supreme in heaven and is with us here and now. We
know where we’re going, because Jesus has already made us ready to get there.
And, with confidence, we can truly sing that all glory belongs to God, and we
have peace and comfort because He is our loving, caring shepherd.
Now may the peace of God, which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Amen.
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