Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

From the Old Testament of the Day: Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, all My words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say, ‘thus says the Lord,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear. [Ezekiel 3.10-11]

From the Epistle: Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ. [Ephesians 4.15]

From the Holy Gospel: But when He heard it, He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. [Matthew 9.12-13]

     Today we observe the minor church festival known as “The Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist.” St. Matthew is familiar to you all as an author of one of the first four books in the New Testament, which we call “the Gospels.” Thus, St. Matthew is called “Evangelist,” because of the Greek name for the Gospel account, “The Evangel according to St. Matthew.”

     St. Matthew also is called by Christ to the role of an apostle. He is called out of that questionable business that, today, we would call a career in the I.R.S. In fact, back then, the job of tax-collector was despised even more than the job of I.R.S. agent, and with good reason. The tax-collector was a licensed cheat, authorized by the powers of Rome to collect as much as he could get away with from his fellow Jewish citizens, and allowed by Rome to keep what he could as his pay.

     St. Matthew is called by Christ in the midst of his trade, and Matthew leaves the tax business and follows Christ. Both as Evangelist, privileged to write one of the four Gospel accounts, and as Apostle, privileged to be part of the foundation of the New Testament Church, of which Christ is the chief cornerstone, St. Matthew is called to speak for God.

     This never has been a comfortable assignment, to speak for God. We are reminded of the challenge of speaking for God in the Old Testament of the Day.

                              I.

     In the Old Testament reading, you meet Ezekiel. He is a priest, one whose job is to speak TO God, in the temple, on behalf of God’s chosen people. Unfortunately, Ezekiel has recently become unemployed.

     The Babylonians have invaded, and Jerusalem has fallen, and the brightest and best of the sons of God’s people have been captured and taken into captivity, including Ezekiel.  He is unemployed; He is a captive; he is a hopeless man with no future.

     Then it is that God calls him to new employment. No longer an official spokesman TO God, Ezekiel is now called to be a spokesman FOR God, a prophet, the spokesman for God: “Son of man, take into your heart all My words which I will speak to you and listen closely. Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, ‘Thus says the Lord.’”

     The prophet Ezekiel is to speak to God’s people: defeated, captured, and carted off to a foreign land. The spirit of this captured bunch is expressed by the unidentified psalmist was part of the defeated people: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.” This lament, Psalm 137, reflects the pain, but also the hope, of the suffering remnant, who remained faithful to God.

     Most of the captives, however, were not of that mind set, which is why Ezekiel would have to speak to a group of people who don’t want to hear from him or from anyone who would speak for the God who punished them.

     Yet, God will be heard. He has His spokeman, and Ezekiel, the prophet, will speak for God: “Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will did; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deed which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you delivered yourself.”

     Ezekiel, the spokesman for God, has a difficult task. It is not difficult because of the man, nor because of the hearers, but because of the Word of God he must speak.

                              II.

     St. Matthew, too, is called to be spokesman for God. It may seem that he has an easier job. It may seem that the Old Testament prophets had a tougher time being a spokesman for God, but that just isn’t true. St. Matthew, along with his fellow evangelists, Mark and Luke, and along with his fellow apostles other than John, will be martyred for his work.

     It is never easy to be the spokesman for God because the one thing that made the life of spokesman so tough for Ezekiel, the prophet and St. Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist, remains the one thing that hangs over the spokesmen for God today: the Message! The Word of God! There has never been a time when sinful mankind is up to hearing and embracing the Word of God, not without the converting and sustaining work of the Holy Spirit.

     Today, God has identified His spokesmen. You find them in several layers. First, there is the on-going voice of the Evangelists and the Apostles who form the foundation of Christ’s church. Then, there are those who are called in these present days to exercise the apostolic office in Christ’s church, on his behalf, and for the welfare of His called and kept believers. Then, there is whole number of the baptized who both receive the Word of God as saved sinners and also carry forth the Word of God as the body of Christ in mission.

     And here’s the truth: It doesn’t matter where you are in that order of things. The challenge of being spokesman for God remains the same. The challenge really isn’t found in those who are to speak, nor in the reaction of those who are to hear. The challenge is in the Word of God that is to be spoken and heard. For it does today what it has always done: It kills. It therefore causes resentment and resistance, because no one likes to face that which kills. The Word kills, and it is only after it kills that it also gives life.

III.

     If you wonder why it is that churches which are proclaiming the Word of God, being faithful as spokesmen for God, face resistance and even face struggles to survive, this is the reason. The Word of God is a threat to all who are not first killed and humbled by it. If the Word is NOT doing that, then the Word is NOT being spoken as God intends be spoken.

     God’s Word will always be the problem when it confronts sinful mankind. When our Lord Himself gets graphic in His terminology about how His follows will eat His flesh and drink His blood, many forsake Him. His numbers drop drastically, so much so that it shocked His disciples.

     The Word of God is the challenge, because the Word of God first must kill before it brings new life; whether from the mouth or pastor or people, whether speaking to a crowd or a neighbor, the Law of God must precede the Gospel.

     The Word of God kills in order to bring new life. That new life is created and sustains by Gospel that comforts repentant, humble sinners: You are Christ’s, now and forever. God’s love for you has brought you through spiritual death to spiritual life. God’s promise to you is that He will always continue to do this to you and for you. With this promise, you can withstand all that life might throw at you, for He is with you, and life only gets better – life only gets to be what it is designed to be– after the dying, and in the rising to new life. This rising now bit by bit, but that is the foretaste, of the life that never ends. Thus says the Lord!