Jeremiah 23:16-29; Romans 8:12-17; St Matthew 7:15-23
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
In fairy tales forests are often dangerous places. They're dark and scary. They're filled with witches and monsters and people who would do you harm. So its a good thing that Little Red Riding Hood had a mother who warned her about the dangers of the forest. She lovingly warned the little girl before she headed through the forest to visit her sick grandmother, so that she’d get there safely. “Beware of strangers and stay on the path.”
But Little Red didn’t listen. She didn’t pay attention to her mother’s word and because of it, people died. While in the dangerous forest she met a deceitful wolf - one who appeared nice and friendly. He asked her where she was going and she answered. So he told her to go pick some flowers to take to granny. While she did the wolf went to grandmother’s house and ate her. But he was hungry for more. So he dressed himself up in grandma’s pajamas and waited for that disobedient and gullible little girl to arrive. And then he ate her too.
But your life is no fairy tale. You live in the real world. And the real world is a real, fear-filled, scary place, not just in the forests, but everywhere. Adam’s sin and your sins have made it that way. Transformed that beautiful garden into a thorn-filled forest, complete with beasts and monsters. A world filled with darkness and death where that wolf Satan lurks in order to deceive you, mislead you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Eventually he wants to kills you and bring you to eternal ruin.
It is the good and gracious will of God, then, that the Church has Jesus to warn her about the very real dangers of this world. Not trans-fats and gun violence as emphasized by the recent ELCA convention. Beware of false prophets, Jesus says, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. For those who have received the Spirit of adoption as sons fruit usually connotes character and virtue, faithful works done in love for the neighbor. Bringing a basket of goodies to grandma’s house when she’s sick.
But for the sheep’s skin clad prophet the fruit is not merely what you see, but particularly what you hear. For false prophets seem so nice on the outside. I’m not talking about the blatant deniers of Christianity, the avant-garde new atheists, the purveyors of false religions. Those are wolves in wolves’ clothing. You see them and run. False prophets come from within. He’ll probably seem nice on the outside. He might even wear a clerical collar. He’ll probably be called “Reverend.” And he’ll certainly talk a lot about Jesus.
Oh yes, false prophets talk a lot about Jesus. Heretics in the Church have always appealed to Scripture. Even the prince of darkness, that big bad wolf, when he wanted to tempt the Son of God he said, “For it is written,” and misquoted Psalm 91. Even if he holds out Scripture, be careful. Test what is offered against the rest of Scripture and you will soon discover if he is peddling a strange Jesus.
Beware, our Lord says to you today. He knows your deadly tendency to listen to your heart, rather than to His Word. He knows how impressed you can be with external appearances, with personality and charisma of a preacher. Pay careful attention to what comes out of his mouth. Jeremiah, that depressed prophet of Israel, constantly warned the people, but they refused to listen. St Paul warns the Christians in Galatia, Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a Gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed (Gal 1:8). Jesus says, Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven.
Beware. He knows how much your heart hungers for a false Jesus, a fairy-tale Jesus. One who is more concerned with your short-term happiness in this life than your long-term joy in the life of the world to come. He knows how much your heart hungers for a fairy-tale Jesus. One who will just wink at your sin, condone the shirking of your responsibilities and vocations under the guise of piety. One who considers the subjects of sin, death, and the devil taboo. Beware. Lest you be like gullible and foolish Little Red Riding Hood, enticed with niceness off the path to Life, swallowed up into the bowels of hell.
Little Red didn’t have the obedience, the wisdom, the savvy to take on that sweet-talking wolf. Neither do you.
So it’s a good thing a Savior came along. One who found her in the grips of the wolf’s wiles and rescued her. That savior was a woodsman. He saw her plight, cut the wolf open so that granny and Little Red could walk out unscathed and ready to eat a meal with their Rescuer.
Beware. The wolves are everywhere, even hidden inside ourselves. Beware and be on your guard. But also be glad and do not despair. For in this dangerous and fear-filled world you have a Rescuer too. Not One from the pages of a children’s book, but the True Prophet promised from the pages of the Old Testament. The One who came preaching and teaching, but also came to save the foolish and naive. He saw the big, sharp teeth of the satanic wolf, big enough to hold all of humanity in his jaws. Sharp enough to pierce the heart and destroy the body.
Yet for your sake He rescued you. Not with the power of a woodsman, but with the mercy of One who was willing to insert His holy Body right into the wolf’s jaws. He was killed on wood and swallowed up in death for all your mistrust of His Word. Even though you have a tendency to ignore His Word, He didn’t ignore your need for salvation, but hung on the cursed tree until the True Prophet preached those true and sweet words, It is finished.
And finished off was the wolf. Finished off was a happy future for all false prophets of his. Finished off was the power of the grace over you. For Christ your Lord sends you true prophets who prophesy in His Name, who in His stead and by His command forgive all your sins. True prophets who cast away your demons by water and the Word of His Name in Holy Baptism. And it is true that grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, but the True Prophet, Jesus Christ, has transformed the wood of His Cross into a Tree of Life from which comes the most blessed fruit of all: the fruit of His Body and His Blood which preach a better Word than the blood of Abel.
Don’t be naive. Don’t be fooled by externals. The Dead Man on the Cross bleeding and dying for your sins is the greatest sight there ever was. Don’t consider the subjects of sin, death, and hell to be downers. Especially when you know that Christ has triumphed over them in the Resurrection, putting down your enemies forever, as the Psalmist says, The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Ps 110:1). Christ Jesus has defeated the wolf for you, rescued you from certain death, and gives you to walk in His integrity, to trust in Him without wavering.
Therefore do not listen to your heart. It is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Neither put much stock in your dreams and visions. Listen to Jesus and be glad. Cherish and love Him as the True Prophets sent into our sin-filled and dark world not to condemn you, but to rescue you.
Do not fear. You live in a dangerous world, but the Lord abides with you. In repentance and faith you love the habitation of His house and the place where His glory dwells. In repentance and faith, listening to His Word, you go around His Altar, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud. For you have been buried with Him by Baptism into death by which He also raises you to newness of life. One day you will walk out of the grave just like granny and Little Red, unscathed and unharmed, ready to feast with your Savior forever.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
In fairy tales forests are often dangerous places. They're dark and scary. They're filled with witches and monsters and people who would do you harm. So its a good thing that Little Red Riding Hood had a mother who warned her about the dangers of the forest. She lovingly warned the little girl before she headed through the forest to visit her sick grandmother, so that she’d get there safely. “Beware of strangers and stay on the path.”
But Little Red didn’t listen. She didn’t pay attention to her mother’s word and because of it, people died. While in the dangerous forest she met a deceitful wolf - one who appeared nice and friendly. He asked her where she was going and she answered. So he told her to go pick some flowers to take to granny. While she did the wolf went to grandmother’s house and ate her. But he was hungry for more. So he dressed himself up in grandma’s pajamas and waited for that disobedient and gullible little girl to arrive. And then he ate her too.
But your life is no fairy tale. You live in the real world. And the real world is a real, fear-filled, scary place, not just in the forests, but everywhere. Adam’s sin and your sins have made it that way. Transformed that beautiful garden into a thorn-filled forest, complete with beasts and monsters. A world filled with darkness and death where that wolf Satan lurks in order to deceive you, mislead you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Eventually he wants to kills you and bring you to eternal ruin.
It is the good and gracious will of God, then, that the Church has Jesus to warn her about the very real dangers of this world. Not trans-fats and gun violence as emphasized by the recent ELCA convention. Beware of false prophets, Jesus says, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. For those who have received the Spirit of adoption as sons fruit usually connotes character and virtue, faithful works done in love for the neighbor. Bringing a basket of goodies to grandma’s house when she’s sick.
But for the sheep’s skin clad prophet the fruit is not merely what you see, but particularly what you hear. For false prophets seem so nice on the outside. I’m not talking about the blatant deniers of Christianity, the avant-garde new atheists, the purveyors of false religions. Those are wolves in wolves’ clothing. You see them and run. False prophets come from within. He’ll probably seem nice on the outside. He might even wear a clerical collar. He’ll probably be called “Reverend.” And he’ll certainly talk a lot about Jesus.
Oh yes, false prophets talk a lot about Jesus. Heretics in the Church have always appealed to Scripture. Even the prince of darkness, that big bad wolf, when he wanted to tempt the Son of God he said, “For it is written,” and misquoted Psalm 91. Even if he holds out Scripture, be careful. Test what is offered against the rest of Scripture and you will soon discover if he is peddling a strange Jesus.
Beware, our Lord says to you today. He knows your deadly tendency to listen to your heart, rather than to His Word. He knows how impressed you can be with external appearances, with personality and charisma of a preacher. Pay careful attention to what comes out of his mouth. Jeremiah, that depressed prophet of Israel, constantly warned the people, but they refused to listen. St Paul warns the Christians in Galatia, Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a Gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed (Gal 1:8). Jesus says, Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven.
Beware. He knows how much your heart hungers for a false Jesus, a fairy-tale Jesus. One who is more concerned with your short-term happiness in this life than your long-term joy in the life of the world to come. He knows how much your heart hungers for a fairy-tale Jesus. One who will just wink at your sin, condone the shirking of your responsibilities and vocations under the guise of piety. One who considers the subjects of sin, death, and the devil taboo. Beware. Lest you be like gullible and foolish Little Red Riding Hood, enticed with niceness off the path to Life, swallowed up into the bowels of hell.
Little Red didn’t have the obedience, the wisdom, the savvy to take on that sweet-talking wolf. Neither do you.
So it’s a good thing a Savior came along. One who found her in the grips of the wolf’s wiles and rescued her. That savior was a woodsman. He saw her plight, cut the wolf open so that granny and Little Red could walk out unscathed and ready to eat a meal with their Rescuer.
Beware. The wolves are everywhere, even hidden inside ourselves. Beware and be on your guard. But also be glad and do not despair. For in this dangerous and fear-filled world you have a Rescuer too. Not One from the pages of a children’s book, but the True Prophet promised from the pages of the Old Testament. The One who came preaching and teaching, but also came to save the foolish and naive. He saw the big, sharp teeth of the satanic wolf, big enough to hold all of humanity in his jaws. Sharp enough to pierce the heart and destroy the body.
Yet for your sake He rescued you. Not with the power of a woodsman, but with the mercy of One who was willing to insert His holy Body right into the wolf’s jaws. He was killed on wood and swallowed up in death for all your mistrust of His Word. Even though you have a tendency to ignore His Word, He didn’t ignore your need for salvation, but hung on the cursed tree until the True Prophet preached those true and sweet words, It is finished.
And finished off was the wolf. Finished off was a happy future for all false prophets of his. Finished off was the power of the grace over you. For Christ your Lord sends you true prophets who prophesy in His Name, who in His stead and by His command forgive all your sins. True prophets who cast away your demons by water and the Word of His Name in Holy Baptism. And it is true that grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, but the True Prophet, Jesus Christ, has transformed the wood of His Cross into a Tree of Life from which comes the most blessed fruit of all: the fruit of His Body and His Blood which preach a better Word than the blood of Abel.
Don’t be naive. Don’t be fooled by externals. The Dead Man on the Cross bleeding and dying for your sins is the greatest sight there ever was. Don’t consider the subjects of sin, death, and hell to be downers. Especially when you know that Christ has triumphed over them in the Resurrection, putting down your enemies forever, as the Psalmist says, The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Ps 110:1). Christ Jesus has defeated the wolf for you, rescued you from certain death, and gives you to walk in His integrity, to trust in Him without wavering.
Therefore do not listen to your heart. It is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Neither put much stock in your dreams and visions. Listen to Jesus and be glad. Cherish and love Him as the True Prophets sent into our sin-filled and dark world not to condemn you, but to rescue you.
Do not fear. You live in a dangerous world, but the Lord abides with you. In repentance and faith you love the habitation of His house and the place where His glory dwells. In repentance and faith, listening to His Word, you go around His Altar, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud. For you have been buried with Him by Baptism into death by which He also raises you to newness of life. One day you will walk out of the grave just like granny and Little Red, unscathed and unharmed, ready to feast with your Savior forever.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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