Lent 1 The Word’s working word
2/25/2007
Rom. 10:8b-13
† In the name of our Lord Jesus †
Grace, mercy, and peace are to be yours, given to you from God our Father, and our risen Lord Jesus Christ.
The Depressed Composer
Disaster
What could change him?
The Messiah
For the musician, it seemed like one of those months that came straight from the depths of the pit of hell. Depression weighed in on him, partially because of the devastating events, and partially because he had nowhere to turn. He even had trouble getting out of bed, to face the day, and he thought of abandoning his career.
The group he led, had to disband, as it lost its lease on the place they practiced and played. Not that anyone considered them good, anymore. Indeed their last concert was shut down, as the boors and mocking of the audience made it impossible to play.
George did not know what to do, for in days he would be homeless as well. Should he return to his hometown, a man who left with high hopes, but returns as a failure? Could he? Could he even rise out of his depression and despair, and get dressed?
A knock on the door would change everything, as a friend named Charles asked him to create the music for some Biblical passages he had put together. Twenty-four days later, a man no longer depressed, but full of overwhelming joy, would leave his home, to present 53 pieces divided into three sections. The encounter with the person of Jesus, the Messiah shown in scripture, from prophesied hope, to suffering servant, to reigning King, would change George Frideric Handel. His work, which we know as The Messiah, would inspire Kings to rise, honoring the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. It would inspire generations, who would sing the scriptural passages He put to music.
For it is a hard man, that given that much time with the Messiah, with the words of scripture which tell of Jesus life, to not be changed, to not go from despair to joy. For it was the words, that brought the music out, and it was the working of the Holy Spirit in those words, that changed Handel, and still changes people today. To go from deep depression and hopelessness, to complete joy. To go from prospects of a dark future of failure, of shortcomings and eventually death, to know we are saved, by God’s love, by Christ’s death, that is the story of our scriptures. That is the gospel, the word of God which is shared with you, this day.
The Word
The whole thought,
Our Homologia
Jesus is Lord, and has been raised from the dead
“Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come…”
In Paul’s letter to people just like us, that were the church in Rome, He quotes an Old Testament Passage. It starts, the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. It will help us first, to realize what we mean by the term, word. It is Rhema in Greek, one of three words that we translate as word. But it means more than just a few letters put together, syllables that present a single thought or a simple picture.
In our case, it means the entire content of a rabbi’s teaching. Using Handel’s field of music, we could say that we are not talking about an individual note, but the entire score of the Messiah. Though it may be summed up in a simple manner, the concept is deeper than any well.
Here in Romans 8, Paul sums it up quite succinctly, when he puts two phrases together, one trust that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, and two, that Jesus was raised from the dead by God the Father. Two very simple truths, but from that comes so much – that the Messiah died, that He has risen, that He will come again. This Rhema, this word, is a deep as the oceans, for we can talk of all God has done in making it happen, all that the Messiah did for us their, as He died and was resurrected from death.
What an incredible word, we call it gospel as well, that which has the power to save us, to transform us, as we realize the love of God, for us. It is what we trust, we believe in our heart, it is what we confess, for there is nothing else that provides what we need.
Confess, like Word, has a deeper meaning as well. It is not the one time declaration that we have decided that something is a fact. It is in greek, homologia – literally the “same words” – a testimony that never changes, that which we believe, trust, and have faith in. It is much like the latin “credo” – I believe. It is the credo of the church, throughout history, this word, this gospel. It is what we confess when we gather, in words of creeds, and sermons, words of hymns, it is what we see God do to us, in the water He washes us with, and what we are given as we share in Christ’s Body and Blood.
A word that we are God’s, that we are His people, that He is our God. That despite all the things we have put in the way of that relationship, God has swept them away, and found, that because of Christ’s blood, we have been found to be righteous, not of our own, but righteous because of Christ. Because we trust, that He has saved us.
The Word Kept Near
OT custom
Luther’s W&S quote
It is what Satan seeks to snatch away…
That is why Paul tells the people comprising the church in Rome, that the word is near. The incredible word of the gospel, the words of faith that are proclaimed, and bring us to trust in Christ. To keep those words near, the word there in greek is a derivative of the word to squeeze together – to keep that near to us, that we can never forget, that it cannot be stolen from us.
I think of Old Testament passages, where Moses advised the people to keep the word close,
4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. (that is the another way of summarizing the word) 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV)
And
8 You shall tell your son on that day, ’It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ (there too is a summary of the word – that God does save His people) 9 And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. 10 You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year. Exodus 13:8-10 (ESV)
Everywhere you go, keep this word close to you, talk of it, meditate upon it in your heart.
I like to quote Luther sometimes, because he put things so clearly,
632. It has been well said that we must seek Christ not only while He may be found, but also where He may be found. The shepherds were given this direction: “This will be a sign to you:”—a proof that you have found Him whom you were seeking—“You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luther says: “Word and Sacrament are the manger and the swaddling-clothes into which it has pleased Christ to lay Himself.” The lowliness may seem incongruous to the superspirituality of some, but our Lord will be found nowhere else.
This word is near, as we gather and hear God’s word read, as we gather and sing His praises, and know He has rescued His people. It is near as we hear His gospel, this gospel proclaimed. This word is near as we recall our baptism, and the promises guaranteed there. It is near as we pray, together and individually. We keep it as well in the promises given to us as well, as we commune, as the people of God share in the meal of Christ’s body, and the refreshing Blood.
Satan would do anything to steal this word, to distract us from it. To get us, for even the briefest of moments, to trust it not in our heart, or confess it together as the people of God.
The Word’s richness
What did Handel See?
God’s love, God’s care, God’s work
Our Fellowship is the result…
A little over 270 years ago, a man named Handel looked at 58 passages of scripture, and spent hours with a pen and staffs, creating amid tears a masterpiece of music. The passages that were placed together are incredible – in your bulletin you have a summary sheet of them. I would have you look at each of those verse, to see what Handel saw – the word of God.
The word that is near, the word that led him in 24 days, to write 3 hours of the most incredible music. Not out of the love for the music, but because of the love of God he found in Christ Jesus, through those very words.
He found God’s love for him, a love that is for you as well…love that so desired us to be His children, to be with Him, that He sent Jesus to die, that it could happen…
He found God’s care for him, care expressed in Christ’s death and resurrection that we might be saved, and found righteous in Him. Care expressed in the fact that we gather weekly in His presence, because He has called us to trust in him. A care that is ours as well…
And Handel saw God’s work, as he understood that life existed, not in success or in failure, but in realizing that we are God’s people, gathered by God, cleansed by the Holy Spirit – living in a peace beyond comparison. God’s peace, protecting us in Christ. Amen? AMEN
