Is Your Reality An Illusion?
Text: Luke 19:41-48
In the
name of Jesus: Amen.
We
should all be immediately captivated by today’s Gospel reading from Luke, where
we hear about Jesus bursting into tears.
Now, these
tears were not a silent cry – the kind where you hold the emotions back, and a
small tear silently runs down the face.
No, Jesus’ weeping was audible.
It was most likely visible too.
Therefore, it is hard not to notice this weeping.
But
why the crying? Why the visible and
audible display of tears?
Well,
Jesus is crying for Jerusalem. He is
crying because of Jerusalem’s unbelief – their hard hearts. He is crying because they are living within
an illusion – they are living in a fairytale of unbelief. And this unbelief? It is so stubborn that it
will eventually result in destruction being brought upon them as judgment.
Let me
paraphrase what is going on with Jesus’ tears.
He is essentially crying and saying,
“O
people of Jerusalem! You are going to be
destroyed because of your hard hearts and unbelief! You could have known of this upcoming destruction
and also avoided it, but you despised God’s servants who came to warn you of
your hard hearts! You slandered me
too! You think you are good to go;
however, destruction is on your door step.
Destruction is coming for you to judge you for your unbelief. And you…. You…. Won’t….. Listen! You think there is nothing to worry
about. You are spiritually fat and
sassy, not knowing that in a little while destruction is coming upon you!”
Dear
friends, what we are encountering in our Gospel reading from today is the human
condition and God’s tearful response. We
are full of unbelief. Our hearts are
hard. We do not like to listen that we
are wrong and heading towards destruction, and the Lord God mourns deeply.
Let’s
think about it this way. The human condition
is a condition where we are sin-sick. We
have fallen down. We have taken the
wrong road. We are going backward. However, because the Lord God cares for us,
He sent prophets in the Old Testament, and He sends pastors today to preach and
teach. These messengers are sent to
point out the obvious – sin and its destructions. They are sent to warn people of sin and to then
give the antidote of sin – Christ and His gifts. However, the human condition is such that we
do not want to get up, we do not want to turn around, and we do not want to
change directions. The human condition
is such that we are more comfortable holding on to our illusions that
everything is alright than hearing that we are wrong. We like to pull the covers over our
heads. You see, people prefer the
illusion of peace more than real peace.
It is just easier that way. That
is why Jesus wept.
But
the Lord God keeps sending pastors to preach the Word, just like He kept
sending prophets in the Old Testament to preach the Word. Why? Well,
because the Lord God is compassionate.
He takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked who are living in
illusions. He wants the wicked to change
and live.[1] He longs to gather everyone to Himself as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings of safety.
But as
is it can be expected, mankind not only tries to ignore the message of God’s
Word but also rejects the messengers God sends.
For example, think about the Old Testament. We heard from Jeremiah in our Old Testament
reading this morning. Many years ago, Jeremiah
hung a chain on his neck when he prophesied that the King of Babylon would
bring all the nations under himself as a way of judgment upon Judah. However, Jeremiah’s own Jewish kinsmen would not
hear such a message; therefore, they cursed him, beat him, and threw him in
prison. And today, it is no
different.
All
too often, we Americans have our ears stuffed with wax – deaf as a post, blind
as a bat to God’s Word. However, the
Lord God still sends pastors to speak the Word.
But as is often the case, we Americans reject God’s messengers. Now, we Americans do not violently put
pastors in prison, like Jeremiah, but we do something that accomplishes the
same thing. You see, some of the most faithful
pastors are finding their pews more and more empty. What is happening is that parishioners want
to hold on to their illusions that everything is fine, but to do so, they don’t
put their pastor in prison to shut him up but simply leave the church. They leave for a different church that will
uphold their illusion.
And
these churches that they are going to?
Instead of preaching God’s Word, these churches readjust their message
and marketing strategy to reinforce the illusions of mankind – that mankind has
nothing to worry about. In other words,
these are churches are feeding spiritual junk food – catchy opinions that
tickle their fancy. These false churches
turn their backs on the truth of how things really are according to God’s Word and
encourage confused sheep to chase mirages.
These false churches cry out, “Peace,”
when there is no peace. They say, “It’s not so bad. You will be fine. Everything will be alright.”
But dear
friends, things are not alright for you and me.
Things are bad. This world that
we are a part of is sin-sick. And
because it is sin-sick, we do not need to pretend that we are o.k. Putting our head in the sand doesn’t make the
problem go away, it makes us into deaf and blind fools. Plugging our ears to the bad news of our sin
and thinking positive thoughts instead of clinging to the Gospel, do not bring
us peace but only create the illusion of peace and mourn the heart of God. Running to false churches that tickle ears by
saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, well… attending these churches is
nothing more than letting so-called religious experts taking you for a ride
into a fairy tale version of life. Indeed,
when we reject the reality of sin in our life and the sin in the world that we
live in, and when we run to cotton candy clichés of happiness instead of the
Gospel, we are not grounded in reality but foolish blinding unbelief.
Baptized
Saints, open your ears. Open your
eyes. Do not dull your hearts. Do not make your ears heavy. Do not shut your eyes like the people of
Jerusalem did, saying, “I’m o.k., your
o.k. Everything is going to be alright!” This unbelief leads only to one place and one
place alone – destruction.
Keep
in mind, though, the Lord still has compassion right now on humanity, sending
pastors to preach the Word. But beware,
the compassion of the Lord will soon give way to His final judgment. Mark this: Christ is coming to judge the
living and the dead. And on that great and final day, Christ will not come with
tears but will come with vengeance for those who reject Him with unbelief. That great and final day will be a whole lot
worse than the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century.
Baptized
Saints, but the time is now. And the time
is not too late to unclog your ears, to open your eyes, and to wake up! You see, God’s Word is right here before you,
being read from this lectern and being proclaimed from this pulpit for you to
hear and believe. The Word is right here
– for you to hear, receive, and believe!
The Word is heard to swallow up illusions – to swallow up unbelief.
And
what is that Word? Well, it is quite
simple. It is a Word of Law and a Word
of Gospel.
It is
a word that tells us that things are not o.k. for you, me, and this world, for
we are all sin-sick. But it is also a
word that tells us that things are o.k. in Christ. Indeed, God wants nothing more than for you
to receive His Word that reveals reality to you: that you are a great sinner
but that you have an even greater Savior name, Jesus Christ. It is a message that He longs to gather you out
of your sin-sickness into a faith that is cemented to Christ. It is a message that He holds out to all
people, inviting everyone who is weak and weary; everyone who is tiresome and
burden by sin to come. But keep in mind,
to recognize the gift of the Gospel, we must first understand the malady of our
sin. And that is why the Lord gives us ‘both’
Law and Gospel. Law unto our repentance;
Gospel unto faith and forgiveness, with the ultimate aim of giving us real
peace!
Yes, you
have real peace with God almighty right now – peace of conscience, peace from
wrath, peace from the sting of death, peace from the condemnation of sin –
peace. Yes, peace - that no matter how
good or bad that things get that we have Christ and Christ has us.
No
illusions. No false peace. No unbelief, but Christ who is for you. Christ who is for you right here and right
now.
In the
name of Jesus: Amen.
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