In some high schools, each year, there are often polls conducted in which each person in the class is voted most likely to do something, and then that slogan would be put by your picture in the yearbook. Some of them are serious like “Most likely to become successful in business” because they were good in business courses or “Most likely to win a Heisman trophy” because they were awarded a football scholarship to a top Division I football program, while others are more light hearted like “most likely to get as far away from here as possible and never return” if you went to a small, rural high school like I did. My high school didn’t do those in our yearbook, but if they did, because I was more introverted at school in those days, you probably would not have seen “most likely to preach a sermon at a church convention worship service” next to my picture then, or even in my days as a pre seminary student several years ago at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Over the last few days as I have been pondering the lessons you just heard read in anticipation for stepping into this pulpit to proclaim the truth of God’s Word to you as a synod in convention, I have found that these are some readings that really suit us well, whether its for the pastors here, lay delegates from our member congregations, or guests and observers from other synods who are wondering “what is ELCM really all about?” because these are texts that have a LOT to say to us as we go about our work as a synod.
Let’s start with the preacher we meet in Luke’s gospel. It’s Good Friday. There are three men who are there, hanging on crosses, outside of the city on a hill locals call “Golgotha” meaning “Place of the Skull”. The physical eye simply sees an execution going on, three men who deserve to die because of crimes they have committed. Any cries of innocence by any of the men are going to fall on deaf ears at this point. But the thing is, one of the men is innocent. One of them is without sin, yet is accepting the punishment of the sin of the world. One of them is a King. He is God’s Son. Yet, no one is saying so. The religious leaders, the ones who claim to speak for God? They are the ones who set up this whole sham in the first place and if anything, they’re glad that soon, this Jesus will be out of their hair for good and people will eventually forget about Him. The crowds below instead of signing their praises, are mocking Him, demanding that He come down from the cross. It seems that no one will see Him for who He truly is, the sinless Son of God who is atoning for the sin of the world.
Except for one man. Unlike Jesus, he has spent his life breaking commandment after commandment. Instead of living a life in service to his fellow man, he has simply taken, without a second thought of the consequences. With him, there is no protest, he is guilty as charged. He hears the other criminal taunting Jesus, demanding that He save him. And it is at this point, God calls someone to proclaim His Word that day to the crowd assembled there. “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” (v.41) He then turns to Jesus and says “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”, to which Jesus responds “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (v.42-43)
Where even the ones who were charged with proclaiming God’s Word drop the ball, God will not simply stand by and not have His saving Word proclaimed. He instead calls a criminal, the least likely person there that day, to point everyone to the work of Christ at the cross, and to have Jesus speak His Word of forgiveness by assuring the repentant thief that “today you will be with me in paradise” saying to Him “Today, your relationship with God has been restored because of what I am doing here at this cross. You may suffer death, but you will live forever with me because I am atoning for your sin and will rise again so that you may have new life! You are forgiven. You are mine!”
The other unlikely preacher is a man we know very well. You know him as St. Paul. But at the time of our text in Acts, he is known as Saul. Persecutor of Christians. A man headed from Jerusalem to Damascus with one mission in mind: find any who belong to “the Way” arrest them, and lead them bound in chains back to Jerusalem where they will likely be executed for proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. At the point where tonight’s lesson picks up, Ananias, a disciple of Jesus who is in Damascus, is told in a vision to “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul,” (v.11). While the Lord continues with his instructions, one would imagine considering Ananias’ response that this is where he quit listening. “Uhm, Lord, excuse me? Saul? You want me to go look for Saul? Don’t you know who he is? Don’t you know he stood by and approved as they stoned Stephen to death? And don’t you know what He’s done to your people in Jerusalem, and what he is going to do to them here?” Yet what does the Lord say in response to Ananias? “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (v.15-16) While Ananias couldn’t see it at the time, God had plans for this man named Saul. After Ananias approaches him and lays his hands on him, Saul’s eyesight is restored, he is baptized, and when he goes into the synagogue, he is now proclaiming Jesus is the Son of God, the savior of the world. And everyone was shocked at the message he was proclaiming, and would proclaim for the rest of his life.
Indeed, both the criminal at the cross, and the man formerly known as Saul are two men who’se resume’s at the time they were called to proclaim Christ would say “You don’t want that guy preaching in your pulpit!” Yet, in both cases, God used them to proclaim His saving word, not just to the people who heard them speak that day, but throughout the centuries as we hear them speak to us through His Word yet today. And their stories of their calls into the ministry have quite a bit to teach each one of us.
We live in a day and age where “Bigger is better”, and that has spilled over into the world of religion probably a lot more than we are aware of. Larger churches are considered successful, where their attendance numbers and bank accounts are used to decide how successful their ministries are. People flock to hear preachers that point them to having an easy, successful life in this world filled with money, good health, and wealth beyond their dreams. Even church bodies that boast large number of member congregations and baptized members are often viewed as the ones who are doing God’s Work properly.
And it’s very easy for us in such a small body as our Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium to get discouraged. Compared to most of the Lutheran synods in our country today, we’re a tiny mustard seed. Many of our congregations are not very large. In some cases, our pastors are having to serve two or three churches. Many would look at ELCM and say “why are you still holding forth on your own? There’s no way God could use you to do things for His kingdom.”
And yet, we look back at our lessons for tonight. We see the two unlikely preachers who are used by God to proclaim His saving Word then. We see how a thief as he is being executed acknowledges his sin, repents, and asks for Jesus to have mercy on him, and we hear our Lord say to Him “Today, you will be with me in paradise!” We see how Jesus calls a man who openly persecuted those who called upon the name of Christ, and uses Him to bring the good news of the Gospel to others in all different places during his ministry. In both cases, God reaches out to open sinners, men who ignored His word of Law and did what suited their desires at the time, spoke His Word to them, led them to repentance of their sin, forgave them, and called them, as unlikely as they may have been, to speak His life giving Word to the world.
And the same thing happens today. It starts with us pastors. We’re not super human. We’re sinners just like you. We’re people who need to hear the warnings of God’s law, turn to Christ in repentance and faith, and hear the sweet news that our sins are forgiven because of what Christ has done for us at the cross and at the empty tomb. Every single one of us is an unlikely preacher, in that God has called us, despite our sins, despite our shortcomings, despite our failures, to proclaim His life-giving Word to people in our congregations, in mission settings, in our daily lives, and to the world.
But it’s not just pastors who do this work of sharing the Gospel. It’s also true for the lay people in our congregations, too. You confess on a regular basis that you are sinful and unclean, that you have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed, and you hear in God’s Word that Christ has atoned for all of your sin and that you are a redeemed, forgiven child of God! Thus, you, too, are an unlikely preacher when you share the word of Christ with a friend, a neighbor, or a co-worker. When you do this, you are like the thief on the cross or the former persecutor, Saul. You have been one who has been forgiven of your sin and set free to share that message of Christ crucified with others in your various vocations.
And for us as a little Mustard-Seed synod, the world would look at our size, and the size of many of our congregations, and wonder “what can God possibly do with you?” And the truth is, we don’t have a lot of the resources the larger Lutheran church bodies have. We don’t have an established system of colleges and universities or seminaries. We don’t have our own summer camps. We don’t have a large gathering of delegates or a huge congregational base. And as a result, a lot of folks when they are looking at options for their church will simply pass us by, thinking “there isn’t anything good that can come of our membership in ELCM” and we might even wonder “Why are we still here on our own, why don’t we just merge with someone else?” But again, look back at our readings for tonight. God used unlikely men, men who were not wealthy, or prosperous, and used them to further His kingdom. Look at the early church on the day of Pentecost. They simply had God’s Word and His Sacraments, and the Lord continued to add to their number. We have what’s necessary to continue to proclaim Christ to people in our communities, our nation, and the world! And that’s all that matters!
Now does that mean it’s going to be easy? No. There’s going to be suffering along the way. For the criminal on the cross, did his suffering end after he pointed to the truth of who Jesus was and what He was doing? No. At the end of the day, he was dead. He would suffer much pain, and probably was ridiculed by others for daring to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. For Saul, who would later be known as Paul, would his life be any easier as the great missionary? No. He would be imprisoned. Friends would turn their backs on him. He would be beaten. In some places where he would preach, he would nearly be stoned to death. And eventually, he would suffer death. But in both cases, both men knew that their message they proclaimed would not always be popular. They knew they would suffer in this life. Yet, in the end, they knew that because of what Christ had done for them, the suffering they endured in this life was nothing compared to what was to come.
And likewise for us as individuals, in our congregations, and as a synod, we may never have an easy time in this world. As we strive to remain faithful, we will be mocked and ridiculed for our faith. We will be considered insignificant or out of touch for daring to proclaim Christ crucified for the sins of the world. We may see tremendous growth at times in our congregations and in our synod, and other times, we have what President Steward refers to as “winnowing times” where what we preach is not popular, or some may decide to no longer walk with us in our congregations or in our synod. But no matter what happens, we have hope. We know that our suffering, whatever it may be, will have an end, and when that day comes, we will never know suffering again. And it’s all because Christ has lived for us, Christ has died for us, Christ has risen for us, Christ has forgiven us, and Christ has given us new life in Him!
Indeed, whether it’s me, Saul, or the thief on the cross, we are unlikely preachers of Christ But in a way, it was fitting to have this theme from God’s Word before us this evening, because it reminded each of us through God’s Word that He has a mission for us. That He has called us as a church body to remain steadfast in His Word, to proclaim the good news of Christ in season and out of season, and that He will use our little mustard seed synod, as unlikely as it may be, to proclaim His saving Gospel to the world! Thanks be to God that He uses us for that purpose for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Rev. Christopher Martin is Pastor of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, McConnellsburg, PA, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Big Cove Tannery, PA, and Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, Mercersburg, PA. He is the editor of "The Lutheran Centrist."
