WEBVTT 00:01.200 --> 00:05.300 Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord 00:05.300 --> 00:06.700 Jesus Christ. 00:09.400 --> 00:13.700 I was assigned to preach today, I think in the spirit of put your 00:13.700 --> 00:15.500 money where your mouth is. 00:19.100 --> 00:22.900 I stated in my presentation yesterday that I thought that one of the 00:23.300 --> 00:29.600 most practical benefits for increased attention to patristic exegesis 00:30.000 --> 00:31.500 would be in preaching. 00:32.700 --> 00:35.000 And so now, I guess I have to try to prove it. 00:36.200 --> 00:42.300 So, what is going to be particularly patristic about this sermon? 00:43.100 --> 00:45.100 Well, I'm not going to quote Church fathers. 00:46.000 --> 00:51.300 Instead, what I'm going to do is to try to be attentive to patterns 00:51.300 --> 00:55.000 and connections that I think would disclose something that's 00:55.000 --> 00:55.900 important 00:56.100 --> 01:02.400 and worth talking about. So today we commemorate the call of St. 01:02.400 --> 01:03.000 Matthew. 01:03.000 --> 01:06.100 And what I would like to do is to use the call of St. 01:06.100 --> 01:11.500 Matthew, as a way of talking about the question of meaning in life. 01:13.500 --> 01:18.600 Now, I admit that Matthew probably was not thinking about the question 01:18.600 --> 01:22.400 of meaning in life because if you look at the Gospel reading, the 01:22.400 --> 01:25.700 question, really seems to circle around the issue of who is it, that 01:25.700 --> 01:27.400 Jesus is calling into the kingdom. 01:27.400 --> 01:30.300 Does he call the righteous or does he call sinners? 01:31.900 --> 01:36.900 And yet, I think this text is extremely well suited to address the 01:36.900 --> 01:38.700 question of meaning in life. 01:38.700 --> 01:41.000 And so I want to attempt to do that. 01:43.200 --> 01:45.500 So, we began with the text itself 01:45.500 --> 01:49.300 where Jesus says that he did not come to call the righteous, but to 01:49.300 --> 01:56.700 sinners, but he came to call sinners. And the word call here, the 01:56.700 --> 01:58.800 Greek, the Greek verb coletteo 01:58.800 --> 02:03.900 actually has a broader range of meaning than the English word 02:03.900 --> 02:04.500 called us. 02:04.500 --> 02:09.000 And this is not just, you know, a grammatical point of trivia. 02:09.400 --> 02:11.800 This is actually very important in 02:11.900 --> 02:15.100 understanding theology and also an understanding what it means to 02:15.100 --> 02:16.400 follow Jesus. 02:17.800 --> 02:22.300 If you translate Kaleo as call the way, the ESV does here, then 02:22.300 --> 02:26.700 probably what you're thinking of is, that Jesus is laying a set of 02:26.700 --> 02:30.800 responsibilities onto Matthew, follow me. 02:31.800 --> 02:34.400 So now Matthew has to follow Jesus. 02:36.100 --> 02:38.900 And that can be kind of scary because he doesn't know where Jesus 02:38.900 --> 02:39.800 might go. 02:41.800 --> 02:44.600 And it doesn't help that the Old Testament reading for today is the 02:44.600 --> 02:52.900 call of Ezekiel and who wants a Ministry like his. I don't even think 02:52.900 --> 02:56.700 it would be appropriate for me to go through all the things that is 02:56.700 --> 02:57.200 Ezekiel 02:57.200 --> 02:59.800 endured. So, being 03:00.200 --> 03:02.900 called is kind of intimidating. 03:04.800 --> 03:09.000 But Kaleo is also the Greek word that you use when you want to 03:09.000 --> 03:11.900 invite someone to a celebration. 03:12.800 --> 03:16.700 We see this later in Matthew, when the king sends out servants to 03:16.700 --> 03:22.600 invite guests to his wedding feast. And there the ESV translates, it 03:22.600 --> 03:26.900 invite to capture that aspect of the word. 03:28.500 --> 03:33.100 The question there is not about laying responsibility on people that 03:33.100 --> 03:33.800 it's an honor. 03:33.800 --> 03:41.100 It's an honor to be invited to the banquet of the king and Matthew 03:41.400 --> 03:43.400 desperately needed honor 03:45.100 --> 03:49.900 because he was a tax collector. And tax collectors rank right up there 03:49.900 --> 03:51.200 with prostitutes 03:51.200 --> 03:54.900 when it comes to the social status in Israel. 03:55.200 --> 04:00.100 So for him to be invited to a meal with Jesus was probably the 04:00.100 --> 04:01.900 greatest honour of his life. 04:03.600 --> 04:08.300 And he didn't even yet know that he was really being invited to that 04:08.300 --> 04:13.600 great banquet at the end of time that Isaiah foretold. When he said 04:13.600 --> 04:18.500 that, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all people, a rich feast, a 04:18.500 --> 04:22.600 feast of rich foods and that he will swallow up death forever. 04:27.500 --> 04:31.800 Now I think the challenge for English speakers is to try to keep both 04:31.800 --> 04:36.200 of these meetings in mind at the same time. Because in you can see this 04:36.200 --> 04:39.600 operative in the Gospel reading, Matthew is called because Jesus says 04:39.600 --> 04:40.100 follow me. 04:40.100 --> 04:42.900 But then the next thing that happens is there, reclining at table with 04:42.900 --> 04:43.500 Jesus. 04:44.200 --> 04:45.600 He's called, he's invited. 04:47.600 --> 04:51.300 So I'll just just since we're not native, Greek speakers. 04:51.300 --> 04:54.100 I'll have to discuss these two aspects separately. 04:54.500 --> 04:58.400 The honor aspect of Kaleo is just pure gospel. 05:00.800 --> 05:04.100 You have received the call of God in your life and it's brought you 05:04.100 --> 05:07.800 into the kingdom and it's set before you the promise of eternal life. 05:08.500 --> 05:10.600 And the fact that you don't deserve it 05:12.400 --> 05:16.500 well, that's irrelevant. Matthew didn't deserve it. 05:17.800 --> 05:21.200 And no matter how shameful you are, you're never going to be more 05:21.200 --> 05:25.900 shameful than Jesus. When he humbled himself to the point of death on a 05:25.900 --> 05:26.600 cross. 05:26.700 --> 05:32.400 Because if there's one thing that's lower than a tax collector, it's a 05:32.400 --> 05:33.900 crucified criminal. 05:35.700 --> 05:43.800 And Jesus was willing to endure that shame to honor you. But what about 05:43.800 --> 05:45.700 the responsibility aspect? 05:47.400 --> 05:49.700 I mean as Lutheran's we're sort of tentative thing 05:49.700 --> 05:52.200 okay, well honor must be gospel honors gospel. 05:52.200 --> 05:55.200 So responsibility must be law and this is going to be threatening and 05:55.200 --> 05:58.100 terrifying, but I think that's a little bit superficial. 06:00.000 --> 06:02.400 Because the responsibility is also a gift from God 06:02.400 --> 06:04.900 that's really important for our lives. 06:06.000 --> 06:09.900 And now that the threat of condemnation has been taken off the table, 06:11.300 --> 06:16.200 the responsibility serves to give us meaning and purpose in our lives. 06:17.500 --> 06:21.600 And we desperately need meaning and purpose in our lives, the same way 06:21.600 --> 06:24.000 Matthew desperately needed honor. 06:24.500 --> 06:30.600 Because in our society, you can be anything you want to be, This was 06:30.600 --> 06:36.100 not the case in traditional societies, where your big life choices 06:36.100 --> 06:41.500 were decided for you, your career, your spouse, your religion, you 06:41.500 --> 06:43.200 didn't pick these things. 06:46.100 --> 06:47.700 They were decided for you. 06:47.700 --> 06:51.400 And so, you had a clear role and a clear place in society and you 06:51.400 --> 06:54.200 lived out your life with purpose in that framework. 06:54.900 --> 06:56.700 But not so with us. 06:58.400 --> 07:03.500 In our society, not only can you choose your career and your spouse. 07:03.500 --> 07:06.800 You can also choose your religion, you can choose your morality, you 07:06.800 --> 07:10.900 can choose your worldview and more recently, you can even choose your 07:10.900 --> 07:11.700 gender. 07:14.300 --> 07:16.300 Everything's up in the air. 07:19.100 --> 07:23.800 And while that may sound freeing, consider what happens as soon as you 07:23.800 --> 07:24.600 pick one. 07:26.200 --> 07:30.300 As soon as you pick one, you shut down all the other options. 07:32.100 --> 07:37.000 And now the one you picked becomes the standard by which your judged. 07:39.100 --> 07:44.900 So, you can be anything you want to be and you decide to be president. 07:47.500 --> 07:49.900 And you can't even get elected dog catcher. 07:52.500 --> 07:54.500 Now, you've got an existential crisis. 07:56.200 --> 08:00.600 Or let's imagine that you actually succeed in whatever goal that you 08:00.600 --> 08:01.600 pick for yourself. 08:02.700 --> 08:06.400 Well, so what how do you know you pick the right goal? 08:08.000 --> 08:09.700 Maybe a shot too low. 08:12.000 --> 08:17.800 How do you avoid the longing of what might have been if you had only 08:17.800 --> 08:19.000 chosen differently? 08:22.400 --> 08:26.700 The psychologist Carl Jung captures this feeling of restlessness when 08:26.700 --> 08:32.900 he describes a woman who was a compulsive traveler, She wandered the 08:32.900 --> 08:37.200 world trying to find meaning in life by accumulating experience 08:37.200 --> 08:38.500 experiences. 08:39.000 --> 08:40.400 Here's what he said about her. 08:42.799 --> 08:46.500 I was amazed when I looked into her eyes. 08:48.100 --> 08:57.200 The eyes of a hunted, cornered animal seeking seeking always in the 08:57.200 --> 08:59.100 hope of something. 09:00.900 --> 09:02.400 She is possessed. 09:04.000 --> 09:05.500 And why is she possessed? 09:05.600 --> 09:09.700 Because she does not live the life that makes sense. 09:11.500 --> 09:16.700 Hers is a life, utterly grotesquely banal. 09:18.800 --> 09:21.400 With no point in it at all. 09:22.800 --> 09:24.300 If she dies today 09:25.800 --> 09:26.900 nothing has happened. 09:28.500 --> 09:29.900 Nothing has vanished 09:31.200 --> 09:35.100 because she was nothing. 09:39.000 --> 09:43.600 Into this despair thunders the voice of Jesus, follow me. 09:45.600 --> 09:50.800 I will give you identity and purpose and life everlasting. 09:54.300 --> 09:59.100 Now the archetypal story of people following the Lord in the Bible, is 09:59.200 --> 10:01.100 the story of The Exodus. 10:01.800 --> 10:07.600 And so if we follow Jesus, then the story of The Exodus becomes the 10:07.600 --> 10:09.800 pattern for our own life as well. 10:09.900 --> 10:12.900 God has rescued us from slavery in Egypt. 10:13.000 --> 10:16.900 He has brought us through the waters of the Red Sea in our baptism. 10:17.000 --> 10:23.100 And now now, we're in the desert. 10:25.700 --> 10:28.800 The Israelites did not like being in the desert. 10:32.400 --> 10:34.000 But God did not let them die 10:34.000 --> 10:37.600 there, he gave them Manna from Heaven, he gave them Quail, he gave 10:37.600 --> 10:41.800 them water from the rock. But even more, he gave them purpose and 10:41.800 --> 10:47.200 direction because he led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar 10:47.200 --> 10:48.600 of fire by night. 10:52.500 --> 10:55.500 When they were toiling in slavery in Egypt. 10:57.000 --> 10:57.900 What was that 10:57.900 --> 10:58.700 all for? 11:00.700 --> 11:02.700 It was for their oppressors. 11:05.700 --> 11:09.000 Now they're in the desert and they're suffering 11:10.700 --> 11:15.700 but at least they're going somewhere, God is leading them. 11:18.600 --> 11:23.500 Now if this is the pattern for our lives as well, then let's just get 11:23.500 --> 11:27.900 a little bit more specific about what kind of meaning and purpose that 11:27.900 --> 11:31.700 we're talking about here because it's not always obvious. 11:33.700 --> 11:34.700 Parents have to change 11:34.700 --> 11:39.100 diapers. Pastors have to prepare budgets for congregational meetings. 11:40.100 --> 11:42.100 The dishes aren't going to do themselves. 11:44.000 --> 11:46.300 So where is the meaning and the purpose and all that? 11:48.600 --> 11:53.800 Well in medieval Catholicism they would have told you there is none 11:53.800 --> 11:55.800 and that's why you need to leave 11:55.800 --> 11:59.800 the mundane realties of secular life and enter a monastery. 12:03.200 --> 12:06.500 But for Luther it was exactly the opposite. 12:07.500 --> 12:12.500 For Luther it is precisely in the mundane realities of life that we 12:12.500 --> 12:14.400 follow Jesus. 12:14.900 --> 12:20.700 And in order to make this point, clear Luther picked a religious word. 12:23.000 --> 12:28.300 In fact, he picked the Latin equivalent of Kaleo, 12:28.300 --> 12:33.900 the word for call in our text. The Latin word is vacatio. 12:35.100 --> 12:39.600 And we get the term vocation from this. Vocation used to refer in the 12:39.600 --> 12:45.200 Middle Ages to your call to be a priest, or a nun, or a monk. 12:47.500 --> 12:52.700 But for Luther it applies to your calling in the family in society and 12:52.700 --> 12:58.300 also in the church. So this means that a mother changing diapers or a 12:58.300 --> 13:00.200 farmer growing food or a cobbler 13:00.200 --> 13:05.700 making shoes is actually contributing to God's larger purpose. 13:06.300 --> 13:11.200 In fact, they are the very means by which God preserves and takes care 13:11.200 --> 13:12.400 of his creation. 13:12.500 --> 13:17.000 It is precisely in the mundane realities that you participate in 13:17.000 --> 13:20.500 something much much larger than yourselves. 13:21.900 --> 13:25.300 These are not random, meaningless tasks. 13:28.300 --> 13:32.500 And the fact that they are not random, meaningless task, task the fact 13:32.500 --> 13:34.100 that we are following. 13:34.500 --> 13:37.700 Even if we can't see where we're going, we have the pillar of cloud by 13:37.700 --> 13:39.800 day and the pillar of fire by night. 13:40.300 --> 13:45.800 That's what gives us the meaning in our lives that enables us to get 13:45.800 --> 13:48.900 through the work and the suffering that we have to do. 13:51.800 --> 13:55.200 Follow me then has a double significance. 13:56.200 --> 14:01.700 Jesus is saying I would be honored to have you as my guest in that 14:01.700 --> 14:05.100 eternal banquet where death is no more. 14:06.600 --> 14:15.300 And he is saying, I will be the purpose and goal that gives meaning to 14:15.300 --> 14:17.800 all the suffering and the work that you do. 14:20.000 --> 14:22.700 So follow me, Amen.