While Pastor Kubke was going to university in Calgary, he worked in the hardware department at Woodwards, a department store that is long since gone.  One day an elderly man came in looking for a new low-end lawnmower that had been advertized on sale.   They were out of stock, but the man made such a case for needing one to finish mowing his lawn that very day that Pastor went into the stockroom and looked to see if one of those lawnmowers had not been overlooked.  Eventually he found a box with the right model number hidden among the top-of-the-line models that do everything but brush your teeth.  The man bought the mower, but came back after the weekend with the empty box, a cheque for a mower twice the price, and an interesting story. 

When he came home with the mower, his wife took one look at the box and became very angry with him.  She did not want him to be pushing a standard gas lawnmower up their steep lawn at his age and told him only a self-propelled machine would do.  While they argued, he opened the box and took out the mower, determined to stick to his own choice.  It annoyed him to find that it was the very top-of-the-line, self-propelled model that his wife had wanted.  She convinced him to try mowing his lawn with that mower and in no time at all he realized that his wife had been right. 

Sometimes we have our minds set on something and get very upset when things are not the way that we expect them to be.  But then we discover that the surprise was actually the better way.

That is what our Gospel lesson brings before us today.    Our Gospel lesson sounds so different from what you are used to expecting from out of God's Word that it might really disturb you to hear it.  If that is where you are this morning, then there is something you need to consider: When God's Word is not quite what you expected, you may know for certain that God's surprises will always be the better way!

 

God's surprises certainly are the better way.  They are the better way because when they come, they can wake you up a bit.  They can wake you up to seeing that God does not do what He does in order to please you.  He does not do what He does in order to fit neatly into all of the things you expect God to be for you.  God does what He does because His choices are right and just and true.  You may be shocked by His choices, or assured by them, or you may not even feel very strongly about them one way or another, but that is not the point.  

The point is that God sent us His Son to do what had to be done and to do it right.   God sent His Son to move you to "Trust in God with all your heart and to lean not on your own understanding!"  (Proverbs 3:5)  If there is a problem with what you are hearing in God's Word, the problem is not with God.  The problem is with your own understanding!

The Disciples themselves were not exactly immune to misunderstandings with Jesus.   One day the disciples came to Jesus and they were very upset.  Jesus had been preaching.  Some of the Pharisees were deeply offended at what Jesus had to say because He was attacking the day-to-day practices of the religion of the Pharisees.  Obviously, the Disciples did not think it was appropriate for Jesus to leave those people upset like that.  They were not happy to see our Lord disturb the peace and stir up the neighbours and have less than a perfect reputation with the people the Disciples wanted to impress.  They decided to go to Jesus to fix the problem.  They asked Jesus, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard you?"  

Jesus did not answer by saying, "Oh, I'm sorry.  I think I'll apologize to them now."  Instead, Jesus asked Peter, "Are you still so dull?"  (Matthew 15:16)  Sometimes it takes a shock to get people thinking.  Sometimes the truth really will offend a person, but it has to offend them to really get them thinking.  

In this case, the Jews were blindly following the teachings of people that had no idea what God's Word was really saying about the place of all those Old Testament laws.  Jesus had to offend those people to knock at least some of them out of the habit of letting the blind lead the blind.  

If you find yourself being challenged by passages in the Scriptures like our Gospel lesson this morning, maybe it is because our Lord is doing a similar thing with you!  You might be a person who is not exactly stuck on ceremonial washing or avoiding bacon or not boiling your meat in milk.  Yet, you might be stuck on the whole idea of trying never to offend a person.  You could be stuck on one of those pegs that most people seem to hang their spiritual hat on nowadays.  You might be stuck on a very worldly understanding of peace.  

Do you think that to really love a person you should overlook the disagreements that this person has with God, and accept their sin for the sake of peace?  Do you buy the argument for the sake of peace, that  if a person says he is born a certain way, that is a good excuse for living whatever sinful lifestyle he cares to lead?  Do you think it is wrong for one denomination to disturb the peace by refusing to worship together with those denominations that are known for chopping the Bible into pieces and throwing away anything that doesn't sound good in today's day and age?  Do you avoid doing certain things that the Bible clearly asks you to do because you know it will make your loved ones accuse you of being "holier than thou"?

In our Gospel lesson Jesus said, "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but division!"  In Matthew Jesus said, "I have not come to bring peace, but the sword."  (Matthew 10:34)  

Do you know why Jesus had to tell us that?  It is because our human concepts of peace creep into our relationship with God.  They get in the way of the real solutions to the problems of life.  The only way that Jesus can bring us the real peace that is a lasting peace is to cut away the false peace.  He has to cut away the masks that hide our sins.  He has to divide.  He has to use that sword.  He must perform radical surgery on us if we are going to be saved!  

How does Jesus do that surgery?  He uses the Word of God.  Our Old Testament lesson says, "Is not my Word like fire... and like a hammer that breaks rocks to pieces?"  If you had some serious disease, you would not go to a doctor who only tells you that everything is going to be all right, but does not really do anything to treat your problem.  You would go to the doctor who will tell you just how serious your problem is.  You would trust that doctor to tell you what kinds of pain you will encounter and how dangerous the treatments will be.  You would expect that doctor to perform surgery when needed, and you would trust that he would do the best of his ability to help you.  

It's that way with God's Word.  God's Word is not worth much if it is only supposed to tell you that everything is all right with you and that you are perfectly fine as you are.  You know from your own experiences that everything is not always fine.  You know your own fights with family; your own lack of love; your own selfishness that hurts others and causes you to have a low opinion of yourself at times.  You know that everything is not just fine, if you will admit it or not.  If you would not respect a doctor much for shooing you away with an "It's all in your head", would you respect a person who told you that your sins are not really sins?

The peace of the Gospel cannot mean a thing unless we first listen to what the Bible has to say about our sins!  It does not mean a thing until we realize for ourselves how wrong we are to make peace with the world and with our guilty conscience instead of making peace with God.  In order to have peace, we have to lose peace.  In order to have peace with God, we have to stop trying to make peace with our stubborn hearts!  We must be moved by the Holy Spirit to accept even the disciplining that comes our way with the assurance that this is what will "produce a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."  (Hebrews 12:11)

How can we be healed without God's Law first disturbing the peace?  How can we be helped if we are not first convinced that neglecting God or ignoring God's Word or playing God by deciding for ourselves what is worth believing are all things that will lead to wrath, punishment and death?  Jeremiah wrote, "Do not listen to those prophets who say that no harm will come to you who follow the stubbornness of your hearts."  He wrote that the consequences are very serious for going our own way to make peace.  He wrote, "The storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.  The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He accomplishes the purposes of His heart!"  These words don't just refer to those people out there who never or rarely make it to church.  They refer to anyone with a faith that is lazy and apathetic, or to anyone who feels he can pick and choose in faith.  They refer to anyone whose stubborn heart prefers comfort to conflict when it comes to the things of God!

It's only when we appreciate the cost of faith that we can appreciate its joy and its peace.  That appreciation is tied directly with forgiveness.  

God told Jeremiah, "Let the one who has My Word speak it faithfully."  Faithful speaking of God's Word will always remind us that peace with the World is a sign of a weak faith, not a strong one.  Faithful speaking of God's Word will also tell us that the peace of faith comes because our hearts are not at peace with themselves.  Peace comes only after we have been greatly disturbed.  It comes only after we have seen our sins and hated them, and then turned to God helpless and poor, knowing full well how miserable we are.  It is no accident that we say in our services, "We confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean...We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment."   God hears the voice of repentance.  He hears the pain of someone who is not at peace, and is not afraid to admit it.  God hears, and He offers such people His Gospel comfort.

It is very difficult to find that Gospel comfort in our Gospel lesson in words that say, "Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but division."  Yet,  the Gospel can indeed be found here.  It is found in the very fact that Jesus does divide.  He divides the unforgiven and the forgiven.  He divides the saved and the lost.  He separates us from our attempts to seek a worldly, sin-accepting peace and opens up the way to that real and lasting peace.  We sometimes dwell on the fact that not everybody in the world is going to be saved and go to heaven, but we certainly lose out on a lot when we do that!

The account of Noah and the Ark is a case in point.  It’s the account of God’s wrath on sinful people who had become so arrogant that they rejected God and made life very difficult indeed for the very, very few people who still had saving faith.   Noah kept trying to warn the people about a coming flood even as they ridiculed him for building such a big ship so far from the ocean.   The people were given many chances to listen to God’s Word, many chances to repent, many chances to help Noah and his family so that they, too, could be saved, but they only tormented Noah and his family more.   They didn’t even stop tormenting them and ridiculing God’s Will when they witnessed the miracle of so many animals coming from every direction to board the Ark.  

We know how it went.  The rains came and the flood waters rose and the people eventually realized that they needed to be on that Ark if they were going to survive.   They begged to get onto the ship, but the doors were sealed; their chance to be saved had come and gone.   They died.  All of them died, men and women and children in great numbers.  All of them died, but not all of mankind died with them.  God has set Noah and his family aside.  The human race would go on even to that point where you yourself would be born and live and have the same opportunity for God’s saving grace.

Does that account of our sad history leave everyone rejoicing over how God did not give all of humanity what we deserved, but actually preserved our human race?   Sometimes, it is easier to be disturbed by the fact that Noah would not open the door than it is to rejoice in God’s mercy!   Sometimes it is easier to be upset with God for the truth that He has given people the freedom to turn away from God than it is to praise God for the fact that not everyone is going to reject Him and that not everybody in the world is going to be damned and go to hell!   It is easier to dwell on the loss than it is to rejoice in the gain!

Jesus Himself does not do that.   Yes, He tells us that saving faith will bring great division, even on the level of those relationships that mean most to us in this life.    He tells us that, but He reminds us that this division is necessary.  How else can someone be saved if Jesus Himself does not set us apart from the ways of this world?  

Indeed, Jesus Himself was set apart.  The writer of the Book of Hebrews explains: “Jesus, our High Priest, has become the guarantee of a better Covenant.  Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to interceded for them.  Such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”  (Hebrews 7:22,25-26)   Jesus was set apart from us in order to set us so far apart from the people who refuse God that Jesus is able to save us completely.   He was set apart by being the perfect, sinless man to die that totally undeserved death on the Cross so that the doors of heaven itself would be opened for you and for me!

Jesus has come as the perfect servant of God’s mercy and grace.  Jesus has come to pull us away from all of those temptations to choose peace with our loved ones or with our neighbours over peace with God.  Jesus has come as one who was set apart perfectly to carry us to that place where we, too, can rejoice in being different from those people who insist on rejecting God!   He has set us apart, not so that we can obsess over the fact that Jesus brought a division in this world between the saved and the unsaved, but so that we can focus on the fact that at least part of the human race will know Paradise!

You, as someone set apart by Jesus, have a place in your life to exalt and praise our Lord who is so completely different from everyone else.   You have the amazing gift of recognizing in faith how great God's love is to have chosen you!   How awesome it is that God has taken you for Jesus' sake, set you apart at the cost of Jesus' own life, and made you that dearly beloved child of God!  

What a surprise it is that God has sent Jesus to set you apart!   When we appreciate that surprise, then we learn to value God's peace.  That is when we see how special that peace of faith really is!   That is when we understand how important it is to hold fast to God’s Word and to share God’s Word and proclaim God’s forgiveness so that others, too, may be set apart for salvation. 

May the Lord lead you to see that, time and again, for Jesus' sake.  Amen.