Sermons — Page 5

You can be merciful because your Father in heaven has been merciful to you. He has forgiven you of all your sins for the sake of Jesus. He himself replaces your hypocrite heart that boasts in fake mercy with a true heart that loves as Christ has loved you. Instead of trying to make other people righteous, concern yourself with following Jesus, the one man who isn’t blind, the perfect teacher, the only one who can remove the beam from your eye.

What matters to Jesus is not the numbers. It’s the individual. To him you are not just one of the crowd. You are a dear child of God, paid for by his own blood. Learn from Jesus to love your neighbor like that, like the shepherd who seeks after his sheep or the woman who searches for her coin. Love them the way your Savior does, the Savior who died for you. You were lost, and you have been found. Your Lord loved you too much to lose you. And when you reach heaven you won’t be given a number or told to take a ticket. You will be welcomed in as his own dear child. There is rejoicing in heaven over you.

As you live in this world and as you carry out your vocations, heed the banquet invitation and live for the feast. Don’t neglect the word of God and prayer. Don’t despise the sacraments. In these simple-seeming things you have a taste of heaven. Seek the Lord. Receive his gifts with thanksgiving. And be filled at the feast of his salvation.

Would you rather live for this life, or for the next, when angels will carry you to Abraham’s side, when you will have every tear wiped from your eye, when you will see your Savior face to face and be welcomed into the mansions he in his love has prepared for you? That answer’s an easy one, but that’s because God has opened your eyes to see it. He is your help. He has given you this faith. And faith makes all the difference.

You were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. One God in three persons, and three persons in one God. To know God as he reveals himself, as he wants to be known, is to know his salvation. He alone can reveal earthly things and heavenly things. And he tells you to look to the cross, to listen to his word, and to find assurance in your baptism. By this he gives you eternal life.