Working Hands

Sermon Script

Working Hands

Those of you who have had the pleasure of tending cows while they are having little ones, know Murphy’s law… “When there is a mud hole in sight… yup, a cow is going to have her calf in it.” It shouldn’t be surprising I guess, but frustrating at the same time as you approach the inevitable… a newborn calf lying in the muck and a mother standing guard as though you personally had something to do with it.

Even if you have never experienced this situation, you might agree the calf cannot remain in the hole. It is cold, wet, and weak from trying to stand. Intervention is necessary in this situation.

Rescue 

I am going to stop painting this visual picture now so you can use your imagination on how this rescue must take place. It might be easy, it might not… however, one thing you might be able to take to the bank is this… your hands are going to get dirty. Somehow, you must enter the mud, grab the weak one, and one way or another, drag it out with working hands willing to pay the price.

That is what rescue often looks like. Regardless of how the situation unfolded, those hands can now tell this story… they acted with loving care, entered the mess, bore the weight, and carried the helpless one to solid ground.

 God’s Hands

I ask you now to keep that picture in mind as we look… not only at our own hands, but how God uses His.

As I was studying the readings for today, I couldn’t help but think how God meets people who try to get out of the mud by the strength of their own hands. In the Old Testament lesson on this 20^th Sunday after Pentecost, Isaiah speaks to people who are standing in the mud waiting for rescue. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are not standing on dry ground and need to concentrate on the wedding feast where their salvation lies. Then, in the Epistle, Paul writes that even if you are standing in the mud, there is still reason to rejoice. In one way or another, the hands of God are working… preparing, inviting, clothing, strengthening, and providing a safe place to stand.

Mt Zion 

Isaiah provides that foundation… He is looking at that safe place to stand in chapter 25 … Mt Zion. On this mountain is where the temple will be built and the place where Jesus will be crucified. The place where the stone was rejected and become the cornerstone. The foundation where God will prepare a feast for all people… a feast with rich food and fine wine. It is here where Isaiah prophesies, “For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain… He will swallow up death forever.”

This feast, especially in the day of Isaiah, surpasses all understanding… when God swallows up death forever, the old man, that old sinner that clings so closely to me, and whom at times I secretly love, will die once and for all. This is what Isaiah reveals… the Lord prepares, removes the veil, swallows up death, and wipes away every tear… then he concludes in verse 9, “let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation…”

Salvation 

The salvation of which he speaks is not a potluck where God brings most of the dishes and asks for us to bring a salad. He does not provide forgiveness and then wait for us to add goodness. He does not rely on our effort to defeat death. The invitation to the feast is a gift… all-inclusive. The Host does what the helpless guest cannot do.

Isaiah’s promise of a feast comes into sharper focus in the Gospel lesson. In Matthew 22, Jesus tells of a king preparing a wedding banquet for his son. Everything is ready before the guests arrive. Yet the first invitees treat the king’s generosity as an interruption. Their hands are so full of farms, (busy-ness), and self-centered plans that they cannot receive the gift. So, the king sends his servants to the roads, and the banquet hall is filled with the good and the bad, the expected and the unexpected.

Wedding Feast 

Here we are on Mt Zion again. Jesus’ parable confronts the original guests… the religious leaders, the elite of Israel… but they are also the builders who have rejected the stone. They also reject the invitation.

As a result, the invitation is thrown wide open to the outcasts and Gentiles on the street corners. However, this invitation also carries a warning. Even though it is free to all… to enter the kingdom requires transformation, symbolized by the wedding garment.

You see… to sit at this table, the guests must wear the wedding garment provided by the King.

 Ragman

I saw a skit not long ago at a retreat that symbolized this garment quite well… This skit was titled “Ragman.” The Ragman, is a strong young man who walks the filthy back alleys of our broken world, crying out, “New rags for old! New rags for old!” He approaches the weeping, the wounded, and the broken, stripping them of their filthy, blood-soaked rags and wrapping them in His own supply of vibrant, clean clothes. Yet, the exchange costs Him everything… as He puts on their dirty rags, He absorbs their pain and dies under its weight, only to rise in brilliant glory on that first Easter morning.

Jesus took our stained, shameful rags to the cross so that we could be dressed for the King’s table. That wedding garment… isn’t something we earn… it is the perfect righteousness of Christ.

 Put On Christ

This exchange can be taken one step further as we listen to Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4…

“put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life… to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness.” This is how to “clothe yourself with Christ,” as Paul also writes.

A great description of the wedding garment that is talked about today. Luther loved this image as well, that we have been graciously clothed with the righteousness of Christ. We are not asked if we have a suit and tie on when we jump in the mud hole, or especially what we might look like after we get out, but to focus on the robe Christ has dressed us in.

If you think about it, that is wonderful news for sinners… the invitation rests on the king’s generosity, not on the guest’s worthiness. But it is also a warning for self-righteousness like was evident with the Pharisees, who imagine that their work has earned them a reserved seat. They were unwilling to let their hearts and minds be transformed by what Jesus was sent to do.

 What Are You Wearing

Think about what you are wearing. Do you need to exchange old rags for new?  The banquet is ours to attend. With our desire to accept that invitation, He gives us new rags, like I said… not because we are worthy, but because He wants us to be in His presence.

Like the Ragman skit, this parable is given in the middle of Holy Week, making the message today even more profound. You see, Jesus is the working hand of God who took on flesh and gives new rags for old.

Those same hands that touch those whom others avoided, lifted the fallen, blessed children, fed the hungry, pulled Peter up out of the waves, and the humility His hands demonstrated when He washed the disciples’ feet. Jesus’ hands were working for everyone He come across. He healed the blind and the lame and brought the dead back to life. He was… and still is… willing to reach out His hand, enter the mud, wash the sinner clean, and cover each of us with the robe of righteousness.

Invitation 

For whom? For you… for me… the one in that is covered in mud, the one standing out in the street, the one who is unworthy…all because our Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son… who was stricken, smitten, and afflicted… then right before He breathed His last…said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” He died for all of us… then on the third day, those scarred hands were alive again. Death was swallowed up in victory.

Jesus not only gives us a personal invitation to this wedding feast, but His hands also reach out to us when circumstances press hard and answers come slowly. If this speaks to you, Paul guides us to Christs hand in our Epistle lesson today.

 Rejoice In The Lord

Writing from behind bars and facing an uncertain future, Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” This is not cheerful advice from someone untouched by worldly troubles. It is the testimony of a man held by Christ when everything else has slipped from his grasp.

It’s like saying, “Cheer up, things could be worse, so I cheered up and sure enough, things got worse.”

Hardship still hurts, but it does not have to captivate us, because Christ is holding our hand. This is why Paul can say, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” The strength is not Paul’s grip on Jesus… it is Jesus’ grip on Paul.

Then Paul shows us how to put on the robe of Christ. He says in verse 9, “Whatever you have learned and received and heard and seen in me… practice these things.” Practice what?

Put It Into Practice 

He goes on to say… “Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely or commendable… if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” This practice will provide the strength Isaiah talks about in chapter 25, verse 3 and the strength needed in preparing for the feast.

Paul was a living example of putting that strength into practice. He testifies, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”  When we practice these things of which Paul speaks, we will be welcomed off the streets with open hands by the king.

 Look At Your Hands

Take a closer look at your hands. They already have a story to tell. Do they show marks of time? Are they calloused or smooth? Do your hands have stains or a scar that would tell a story? Are those hands you are looking at right now willing to become working hands for the Lord? Brothers and sisters in Christ, before Jesus sends your hands to work, He will open them to receive.

If they are stained by sin, bring them to the scarred hands that purchased your forgiveness. If they are weary from trying to prove your worth, let them rest. But remember this… Christ will take all the old rags you hold in your hands… He will give you new ones… you are held in His hands… His strength will sustain you, and His grace will carry you through whatever lies ahead. Let those hands in front of you receive that grace.

Recieve With Open Hands 

Then bring them to His altar where He places more of His grace into your open hands… with a repentant heart, a gift of sacrament to receive. The feast promised by Isaiah and given by Jesus comes near.

Here in a moment, the risen Lord will give you His true body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. The Host serves the guests. He does not merely tell you that you are forgiven… He gives you the pledge of His cross and resurrection… given and shed for you.

Solid Ground 

Remember the calf in the mud. It reaches dry ground because working hands entered the muck, bore its weight, and carried it out. So, it is with us. Christ did not stand beyond the fence and offer better instructions. He entered our flesh and bore our sin, our judgment, and the death of our old self. Then He carried us onto the solid ground of forgiveness. The Gospel is not advice for escaping the mud. It is the good news that Jesus entered the mud for you.

Rest In Christs Hand 

My friends, Christ has carried you to safety, and He is carrying you still. So, open your hands. Receive the forgiveness He gives, the peace He speaks, and the life He places before you.

Take the new rags He gives, then put His grace into practice by using your hands to feed the hungry, steady the discouraged, welcome the stranger, and fold in prayer.

Your hands will tire… they may tremble… and one day they will release everything they have held in this life. But even then, Christ will not release you. The hands that entered your muddiness, bore your sin, and broke the power of death… will never let go. They will wipe every tear from your eyes and lead you to the feast where you will never again be weary, afraid, or alone. “Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation!”

Amen