Proper 9C
Lamb vs. Wolf
St. Luke 10:1-20
3 July 2016 – Redeemer
What chance does a lamb have against wolves? Jesus sent His men out to establish His Kingdom as lambs in the midst of wolves. A Kingdom of lambs led by a lamb. Does that sound like a powerful Kingdom? Would King George and the British Empire been intimidated 220 years ago if the United States would have portrayed themselves as a lamb? Not likely. The great symbol (as it is called) of the United States is an Eagle, wings spread, holding in its left talon 13 arrows and in its right talon some olive branches. Thirteen arrows, for the 13 colonies – strength in numbers. Olive branches that show a nation which desires peace, but arrows to proclaim those colonies are willing to go to war to achieve that peace.
When Jesus sent out the seventy-two He sent them on their way saying, “Behold!” When Jesus says, “Behold” he is saying, “If you’ve been sleeping through the sermon wake up, pay attention. I’m about to reveal another mystery of the Kingdom.” “Behold! I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.”
Sometimes we think we have a monopoly on wolves in the 21st century. We live in a nation where one Supreme Court justice thinks he can change a six thousand year old definition of marriage based on feelings. Where a president can by executive fiat undo the biological, natural definition of gender and force schools (including private schools) to abide by his wishes. But the wolves are nothing new. The early Christians lived in a world controlled by the Caesars of Rome. For its first 300 years Christianity was an illegal religion – if you refused to acknowledge Caesar as Lord and confessed Jesus alone as Lord you were killed. Under Emperor Nero Christians were covered with the skins of animals and torn by dogs. They were nailed to crosses. They were hung on poles and lit on fire to light the streets and gardens of Rome. (Schmidt, p. 26) In the Roman world female infants were killed as undesirable, abortion was commonplace, the sick, the weak, and the dying were despised and abandoned. Christians stood for life and for the rights of every human, unborn, born, suffering, and dying. And because of that the wolves attacked. The morality of the earliest Christians set them at odds in an immoral world. First century Rome worked by fraud and lies. It played by indulging in food, drink, and sex. It lived by demeaning women and the family and children. Christians were at odds to this – being faithful to their marriages, being honest in their deeds and words, being moderate in food and drink, honoring and respecting women as co-heirs with Christ and regarding all their children as precious gifts of God.
“I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Jesus’ words are not hard to understand. It would be easy this morning to talk about the big, bad, nasty wolves out there in the world. We certainly need to be on guard as Christians against the many enemies of the faith who would destroy even our consciences. But before we can fight the battle against those wolves out there – this wolf, that wolf that is me, the wolf that is you, needs to face the Lamb.
For what have you been this week but a wolf? Have you growled and snarled in anger? Snatched and grabbed what was not yours? Torn into your enemies and tried to devour them? Have you tried to be head of the pack? Elevated yourself at the expense of others? Rejoiced to see someone weaker and lesser than you fall? And what does your wolfishness produce? Does your snarling and biting make for peace? Does your grabbing and snatching make you content? Does your devouring and indulging your appetite ever actually fill you up with life?
It is against this wolf, the wolf that is you, that God sent His Lamb. Who’s going to win in a battle between a lamb and a wolf? In the animal kingdom the answer is obvious – the wolf wins every time. In the Kingdom of God, where God works in His mysterious ways – the Lamb devours the wolf. That’s right! Jesus, the Lamb of God swallows your sin whole. He takes your sin into Himself. He who had no sin, who never bit and growled and devoured, takes your biting, snarling, and destruction into His flesh and He dies. He becomes sin for you. Having swallowed the wolf whole He dies with it because there is no reforming of wolves. You cannot make a wolf into a pet – once a wolf always a wolf. The only safe wolf is a dead wolf and the only good sinner is a dead sinner. And so in Christ we die. The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world – your sin. As Paul says in today’s Epistle – far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” In Christ sinners die, wolves are devoured by the Lamb – that’s God’s way of bringing you into His Kingdom.
The Lamb of God spreads His Kingdom in a Lambish sort of way. He sends His men out as “lambs amidst the wolves.” What weapon do they carry in their arsenal? What thirteen arrows do they hold in their talons? They go with nothing except His Word, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’” They do not to force this word upon anyone. They do not coerce people into following. There are no threats – simply “Peace.” The peace of forgiveness. The peace that there is One Lamb whose blood will cleanse your conscience, whose flesh will give you life, whose Word will bestow everything for which you hunger, whose death and life will forgive your sins and make peace between you and your Father in heaven.
Wherever the Word of this Lamb was received – the wolf lost – sinners were forgiven, the demons submitted, the sick were healed. That’s how it is in the Kingdom of God – once sin is forgiven, more peace comes – hope in the midst of suffering, joy during your sorrows, eternal life, the resurrection of the body. All of this is because the Lamb lives and in Him you have died to sin and live in righteousness.
Jesus wants you in His Kingdom. He died for every one of you, but He will not force you. He’s a Lamb after all. You can say, “Move along. We don’t want your Kingdom here.” And He’ll go, but with a warning. He told His men, “But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’” Without Jesus you are no different than the dust of the ground. Dust you are and to dust you shall return. There is no life, no peace, no future, apart from the Kingdom of God and that Kingdom is Jesus — the Lamb who was slain for us sinners and now lives to bring us near to Him.
Sometimes the Lambish nature of this Kingdom is frustrating. Wouldn’t it be a great display of Kingdom power if the Holy Spirit would make all our children go to church when they have grown up? Wouldn’t it be a mighty demonstration if every Christian marriage would be marked by fidelity and life-long exclusive love? Or if life and marriage and the rights of all humans were honored in our land because of our Christian influence? Or if churches across our land would grow instead of decline? But the Kingdom of God is not a visible powerhouse. It is not a Kingdom of might and sight, of eagles and talons and arrows. It is a Kingdom of the Lamb and His Word. This Kingdom conquers by water and the Word. It rallies around men preaching the Word. It feasts on the Word made flesh and blood for life and forgiveness. By the Word alone Satan falls and your names are written in heaven. By the Word the Kingdom of God is brought near to you and you are brought into the Kingdom. And by that Word the Lamb devours the Wolf for you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
2 July 2016 anno Domini