Lent

SERMON OUTLINE

Review of the Lord’s compassionate hand
Two processions
Procession of life
Procession of death
What happens when life and death touch?
Our experience of death touching life
Jesus’ hand stops death in its tracks
Jesus has compassion
Jesus brings life
The Lord’s hand through Elijah and Elisha
Jesus is the hand of the Lord
Jesus touched death in His own body and conquered it
In Baptism we come into contact with Jesus’ death and life

SERMON

Let us pray: O Lord, may the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. 

Last week, we focused on Jesus’ healing and compassionate hand. Though Jesus did not need to touch the leper, He did, out of compassion for him. Jesus heals the man, making him clean. Jesus indeed has the authority to heal the sick and make clean. But what can He do for those who have already died? 

In our Reading for today, we encounter two processions. On the one hand, the Lord is heading toward the town of Nain, followed by a great crowd. The fame of Jesus is all around. His mighty hand has cast out demons by His authority. He has taught with authority. He has healed people of their diseases. People are naturally attracted to Him and follow Him. Great crowds are all wanting to touch Jesus. They are all wanting to hear and see Him at work. All this buzz and excitement around Jesus is a procession of life! 

But coming from the opposite direction, just outside of the city gates, there is a different sort of procession. People are wailing and mourning. This procession is led by the hand of death, which touched a young man who is now being carried to his place of burial. A widow has lost her only son, like the woman in the Old Testament Reading this evening. In this time, she likely would have no other option but the life of a beggar with outstretched, empty hands just to provide the necessities of life. She now is completely left on her own to live in this sorrow, overshadowed by the hand of death that touched her life by taking her husband and now her only son.

What will happen when the procession led by the hand of life meets the procession led by the hand of death? What will happen when life and death touch each other? We know all too well what happens in this world. We have seen it time and again. We know from experience that when life touches death, death seems to snatch life away. It does not matter how old or how young, when death touches life, it seems to get the upper hand. For those of us who are still living, the touch of death can have a long-lasting impact. Death was first brought into this world through the grasping hands of Adam and Eve. We all have wrought death by the work of our hands, earning the wages of our sin (Romans 6:23). And death has had a grasp on us ever since. But now it is all coming to a head. The Lord of life, followed by His entourage, is coming to meet death and its band. 

As they approach, Jesus has compassion. The Greek word used here by Luke is almost always used in reference to Jesus’ kind of compassion. It is a gut-wrenching compassion. Jesus is not indifferent to the touch of death upon people. He sees this sorrow as they carry this young man upon the bier, and He has deep compassion.

Now, what does He do with His hand? Just like our Reading about the healing of the leper from last week, there is the concern of becoming unclean by touching a dead body. But Jesus reaches out and touches the bier, and the bearers stop. Jesus’ hand stops this procession of death in its tracks. He says, “Do not weep. . . . Young man, I say to you, arise.” No longer a corpse, he sits up, alive! Not only that but he is also speaking. 

The people at last knew that Jesus was coming with prophetic power. Like Elijah and Elisha before Him, Jesus raises a woman’s only son and gives him back to his mother. But Jesus is even more. Elijah and Elisha relied on the hand of the Lord to act. Jesus acts of His own power and authority. Jesus is the Hand of the Lord. When the Hand of the Lord touches death, He gives life. When Jesus touches this procession of death, He transforms it into a procession of life. There are so many more examples of the Lord bringing life out of death—the kinds of things that only God can do. The Lord raised Jairus’s daughter. He took her by the hand, and she stood up. When the Lord touches death, He brings life. 

And there is more with Elisha. After he died and was buried in 2 Kings 13, Moabites came into the land. As another man was being buried, he was thrown into the grave of Elisha. As soon as that man touched the bones of Elisha, he stood up, alive! God even turned touching the bones of Elisha into something that was life-giving. 

But you know, all the raising of the dead that happened in the Old Testament was just a foreshadowing of what Jesus brought. Jesus raised the widow’s son, Jairus’s daughter (by taking her by the hand), and Lazarus (by calling into the grave)—those examples were simply a foreshadowing of what He was about to bring out of His own death. All people that were raised from the dead prior to Jesus’ own death died again.

But our Lord is even more than a prophet. He fully took on human flesh. Jesus is not merely human. He is also fully God at the same time. So what will happen when Jesus touches death in His own body? That is just what He did on the cross. He was led on a procession of death, forced to carry the rough-hewn instrument of His death, taking the just penalty for our sin, even though He did not sin. He willingly came into contact with death firsthand. He died and was buried. But when the Lord touched death, He brought life. Three days later, He rose from the dead, never to die again (Romans 6:9). He defeated death once for all time. This is the kind of resurrection that Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus broke death’s grip on our lives. If God can use Elisha’s bones to bring life, resurrection life is so much more in Christ because Christ is alive to this day and forever! If we are thrown into the grave with Him in His death, it means only life because He lives today!
That is just what Baptism has brought to you. “For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Romans 6:5). When Christ touches you through His Word and Sacrament, death is stopped in its tracks. Your sins are forgiven. And now death does not have the final hold over you. Even though we still suffer the effects of our sin in this life, which bring about death, we are now a part of the living because we are united to Jesus. So, when Christ returns, even our bodies will also be raised on the Last Day. For when Jesus’ life touches death, death is stopped in its tracks and life proceeds. 

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

SERMON OUTLINE
Held at arm’s length or out of reach
Lepers knew what it was like to be kept at arm’s length
Jesus can heal by only saying the word
Jesus compassionately reaches out
The man asks if Jesus wants to heal him
Jesus combines the healing Word with His touch
Jesus’ touch makes the unclean clean
Jesus’ touch reveals who He is
Jesus is compassionate toward the far-off
No one is outside of His reach
Jesus’ touch points to His eternal healing
Jesus continues to reach out and draw us near with His Word

SERMON

Let us pray: O Lord, may the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Do you know what it is like to be kept at arm’s length? Unable to hold your newborn son or daughter. Impossible to get close to your spouse, or feel the loving embrace or touch of your loved ones? In modern times, in India many know that feeling. They are called Dalit  meaning "broken/scattered". It is a term used for untouchables and outcasts. In biblical times, lepers knew exactly what that feeling was like. “Leprosy” in the Bible is likely a catchall term for a whole host of diseases that involved sores on the skin. According to Leviticus, “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:45–46). Those whose condition was persistent were forced to live outside of society with their only companions being other lepers.

Lepers were physically, socially, and, religiously ostracized. To have leprosy meant that you were essentially cut off from life as you knew it. “Unclean!” “Unclean!” And if you touched or hugged a leprous person, you would be unclean! 

The general conclusion was that lepers must have done something to bring this disease upon themselves. Them or their parents must have sinned grievously for this to happen to them. People would even use the possibly of being unclean themselves to justify showing no mercy toward those in need.

Then comes this man in our Gospel. To make contact would make anyone unclean. No one would want to come near to this man, much less touch him.

Jesus could heal this man in any way that He saw fit. In our Old Testament Reading, leprous Naaman, a mighty commander of the army of the king of Syria, made his way to Elisha’s house. He had no concerns for Mosaic Law, yet leprosy was still a great hindrance to him. Elisha did not even come out to him but sent out a servant with a command to wash in the Jordan River. Naaman saw this as an affront to his pride. But when he finally listened to the word given to him, God healed him. It was what Naaman needed. His pride needed to be broken down to simply believe the Word.

Jesus could have responded like Elisha. If He wanted, He only needed to say the word and the leprous man would have been healed. As we see in the text right after this, Jesus healed the centurion’s servant just by His words alone. And likewise, Jesus cleansed ten lepers in Luke 17 simply by speaking the word: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” The Lord is capable of healing in whichever manner He sees fit.

In our Reading, this man first asks if the Lord is willing to heal him. Does Jesus want him to be clean? This question gets right to the heart. What is the Lord desire’s? I love our Lord’s response. He reaches out and touches the man! There is no worry about being unclean. And He says, “I will; be clean.” 

Just like the healing of the ten lepers, the power is in the command. The power is in the Word. But here the Lord lovingly combines the Word with the touch. He does not need to do it, but He willingly and compassionately reaches out and touches this unclean man. Under the Torah, lepers were unclean. They needed to keep their distance, but Jesus’s action says that He is the source of what makes one clean. The amazing thing is that when Jesus touches the unclean, it does not make Jesus unclean. No! The unclean becomes clean!

Jesus is not deterred by any uncleanliness, disease, or condition. To Jesus, there is no person that is untouchable, no person that is unreachable. Jesus does not keep people at arm’s length! He reaches out to touch them! Christ comes right to the sick, the outcast, and the sinner. He is not concerned about Himself or His reputation among those who would distort the Torah into justification for not showing mercy through word and deed. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Torah and shows us what it truly means to be clean before God.

All over the Scriptures, the hand of our healing Lord shows His compassion. One of the first miracles Jesus does in Mark is to take the sick hand of Peter’s mother-in-law, and the fever leaves her. Matthew’s gospel echoes Isaiah 53:4: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (8:17).

In Isenheim, France, there stands a medieval monastery that served as a hospital for people with skin diseases. In it, the artist Matthias Grünewald was commissioned to create an altarpiece. When the leaves of this altarpiece are closed, it shows the famous central scene of Jesus contorted upon the cross. While many are familiar with this painting, Grünewald added a unique feature to this portrayal of Christ as a reminder for the patients at Isenheim. He depicted Christ’s body covered with many skin sores as a visual reminder for them that “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” When the people looked upon this depiction of Christ, they were reminded that their Lord was with them in the midst of their afflictions.

Jesus does not stay far removed from us. You are never at arm’s length from Jesus’ touch. Jesus is the great Suffering Servant, who has come to us in our lowly estate. He bore the effects of our fallen world. The fallenness of this world is the cause of all infirmity and disease in this world.

The Father is still compassionate to us in sending Jesus. Jesus willingly reached out to us in the midst of our sinful condition. “For our sake [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). When Jesus healed the leprous man in our Gospel, He demonstrated His compassion for all those who are far off. The pinnacle of this compassion is shown in Christ’s elevation upon the cross, where He took on the sickness of our sin. In fact, all the healings in the Scriptures point to Christ’s identity and ultimate mission, which is to defeat sin, taking it all to the cross and rising on the third day “to never die again” (Romans 6:9).

Indeed, the Lord can and still does work miracles of healing in this world. He gives doctors, surgeons, and, nurses His wisdom and skill to make others better. The Lord does not promised that healing in this life will always come. However, He does promise eternal healing that has begun at the cleansing waters of Baptism to heal sinners. We hold fast to His promises and entrust the rest into His compassionate care. Just as someone who is ill has need of a physician, the sinner needs a Savior. That is who we have in Christ Jesus. He is your Savior. He is the one who has taken your sin to the cross, shed His precious blood, and paid all of your debt towards God.

It does not matter the depth of your sin. You may be a persona non grata, a Dalit, to the world. That cannot keep your Lord’s outstretched hand from your life. There is no place that you can go to where He cannot reach. As David says, “Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:7–10). No matter where you go, how far away you are, or how unhealthy you may be—physically, socially, emotionally, or spiritually—your Lord’s outstretched hand is reaching out to you today, freely offering His words of eternal healing for both Body and Soul.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
 

Sermon Outline 

Jesus is the mighty hand of the Lord who has defeated the devil 
An account of the disciples’ inability to cast out a demon 
The devil’s power is too great for our hands alone 
The leaders’ reaction to Jesus’ power over demons 
This is the finger of God 
A house divided against itself cannot stand 
The devil is like a strong man 
Jesus binds the strong man and plunders his goods 
Jesus’ cross has put an end to Satan 
We can have confidence today because Satan’s time is short 

Sermon 

Let us pray: O Lord, may the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. 

In our Readings for this evening, we hear of the mighty hand of the Lord. This mighty hand has come to defeat Satan and free people from his grasp. By the might of their own hands, no one else has this kind of power.  
Earlier in Luke’s Gospel account in chapter 9, an exasperated father came up to Jesus, pleading on behalf of his demon-possessed son. This demon had taken ahold of the son, had convulsed him, and would not leave. Jesus’ own disciples did not have the power to do anything. The demon threw the boy to the ground just at the presence of Jesus. All Jesus needed was His word of rebuke to make the demon leave the boy. He healed him, lifted him up, and handed him back to his father. The disciples, by their own hands, were no match for this demon.  

Later, Jesus would send out seventy-two with the authority to cast out demons. And when they returned, they marveled at what had been done through them. Jesus still wanted to remind them not to lose sight of what is most important. Their names are written in the Book of Life. Taking their eyes off God’s work always opens the door for pride. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). The devil’s power is not to be trifled with. Their casting out of demons only comes by the hand of God. 

So when Jesus comes, doing what no mere man could do, you would think that it would have been welcomed by all the people. But the opposite was the case. They accuse Him of casting out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. But it is ludicrous to say that Satan would cast out his own demonic forces. A house divided against itself cannot stand.  The religious leaders were threatened by Jesus’ power and authority. They were so deceived by Satan’s power that they couldn’t see liberation from his captivity when it was happening right before their eyes.

Sadly, the reality of Satan’s power is in his great deception to hold people captive ever since the garden with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve listened to the crafty voice of the serpent instead of God Himself. And as a result, we have suffered the consequences of wanting to be our own gods to this day. As Burger King famously says, you can have it your way. To take everything in our own hands—is not power, as much as we fool ourselves, but in reality, it is the greatest kind of captivity. It is to put ourselves under the tempter’s power and thereby receive the tempter’s fate, which is eternal condemnation. God did not create hell for human beings but for Satan and the fallen angels. If God truly and only let us have it our way and let us take everything into our own hands, we would find ourselves in the greatest captivity. We cannot break free from this captivity to sin, death, and the devil. As we confess, we cannot save ourselves by any might of ours or by the work of our own hands. We are trapped. 

Jesus says that Satan is like a strong man. No one around can match his strength, and by his might, he keeps hold of all his possessions. We cannot escape by our might. No mere human being is strong enough to defeat this strong man. The devil’s house and kingdom are terrifyingly too strong for us. 

That is, until they come up against the finger of God. The finger of God is used as a way of describing God’s work of creation. The Psalmist says, “What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him? By the work of your fingertips you created heaven and earth.” 

It is also used to describe how God inscribed His commandments in the tablets of stone. In other words, the finger of God is His Word! By His Word, He created everything. By His Word, He gave His Law to Moses. Jesus Himself is the Word of God in the flesh! At Jesus’ Word, the demons shudder and flee. Jesus is the finger of God! It takes only the finger of God for Satan’s kingdom of tyranny to come crashing down like a house of cards. 
Unlike Adam and Eve, Jesus did not succumb to the devil’s temptation in the wilderness. Jesus has overpowered the strong man in order to plunder his house. Jesus has gained the upper hand on the devil to rescue us out from under his tyranny. That is just what God did in Christ when He came casting out demons. The devil is no match for the Son of God. He has done it all by the finger of God. 

By going to the cross, Christ defeated sin, death, and the devil for you. In Christ Jesus, you are forgiven and given eternal life. The devil’s power and hold on you has been routed. His accusations hold no weight. Christ has fulfilled that promise that we heard in Genesis 3:15: He has crushed the serpent’s head underfoot. Jesus has taken you from Satan’s grip of despair and placed you under the mighty hand of God. You have the One who is stronger than the strong man. You can cast all your anxieties upon Christ. He will protect you, and no one can snatch you out of His hand. “Indeed, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:6–11). Getting too close is extremely dangerous. But he is bound. His time is short. He has been defeated. You are under the mighty hand of God. The devil cannot harm you because the Lord holds you. 

“Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us, we tremble not, we fear no ill; they shall not overpow’r us. This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him” (LSB 656:3). 

Just the finger of God knocks him down! This gives us confidence this day to cast all our anxieties upon Him. For by the finger of God, Jesus has defeated the strong man and plundered his goods in order to rescue us and place us under the mighty and protective hand of God.  

In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 
 

SERMON OUTLINE
Jesus’ hands are the hands of the Lord
Jesus treads upon the waves
Jesus is God in the flesh
His hand can seem mysterious and at times terrifying
Peter tries to take things into his own hands
We do the same
The Hand of the Lord is quick to save Peter
The same Hand of the Lord has reached down to save us

SERMON
O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the mediation of our hearts, be acceptable in Your Sight, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

In our Lenten and Easter series, we will be focusing on the hand of the Lord. We are focusing on the hand of our Lord Jesus, God in the flesh, the Creator. In our Gospel for this evening, Jesus’ hand reaches down save Peter. Thus our theme tonight, The Hand of the Lord saves.

Up to this point in Matthew’s Gospel account, Jesus’ hand has been at work. Right before our text, Jesus took five loaves and two fish into His hands. With that He fed five thousand men, besides women and children. Jesus was in control of that situation, and He had control of what was happening with Peter even before Peter needed Jesus to grab him out the water. It was Jesus who made the disciples get into the boat. When they were struggling against the wind and the waves, it was Jesus who came to His disciples, walking on the waves. 

All of this points to who Jesus is. He is God, the Creator in the flesh. Job said that it is God “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea” (9:8). Jesus is the Great I AM. He is the Word through whom “all things were made” (John 1:3). He is God walking on the sea. When His hand stretches out, it is truly the hand of the Lord. That also means that what Jesus does with those hands also is the work of God. His hand is in control. 

Sometimes, our limited understanding has difficulty grasping this control. There are times when God seems distant, mysterious, and even terrifying. 

While the disciples were out in the boat, they had one of those moments. They were frightened early in the morning. They were not scared of the wind and waves. They had seen and controlled their fair share of wind and waves out on the Sea of Galilee. What terrified them? It was this figure walking on the water! They cried out, “It is a ghost!” Now that would strike fear into the heart of a fisherman. 

But the Lord addressed each of their concerns. To their being troubled, He said, “Take heart.” To their cry that it was a ghost, He said, “It is I.” To their being afraid, He said, “Do not be afraid.” The Lord immediately addressed all of their concerns right there! They had everything that they needed in His words. Everything was in His hands and under His control.

But Peter, instead of clinging to Jesus’ words alone, ended up taking matters into his own hands. He wanted Jesus to prove that it was him on Peter’s terms. “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (Matthew 14:28). Surprisingly, the Lord agreed. Peter was walking on the water on his way to Jesus! But it was not long until Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink.

Before we are too hard on Peter, we should see that Peter’s actions also shine a reflection on our own attempts to take things into our own hands. So often it happens in a moment of uncertainty, and we may wonder why the Lord is allowing this or that to happen. How often have we been like Peter, not content to trust in the Lord’s words of promise? Rather, we have attempted to seize with our hands something out of our control when we ought to have started by folding our hands in prayer. How often have we discounted patience in the Lord in favor of brash action? How often have we attempted to be so bold as to live as though His words of promise were not enough for us? How often do we end up crying out, just like Peter, at the mess that we made when everything slips through our fingers? It illustrates our sinful condition all too well. Our hands alone cannot keep us from sinking to the depths of Sheol and eternal judgment. All that we can say with Peter is this: “Lord, save me.”

Immediately the hand of the Lord reached down and saved Peter. Jesus acted at just the right time. Jesus made them get in the boat at the beginning of this scene. He immediately calmed their fears. Now our Lord reaches out His hand in compassion and mercy at the right time. While Peter was attempting to take things into his own hands, soon it was the Lord’s hand reaching out and grabbing ahold of him. Everything is in the Lord’s hands. Peter is too.

The Lord has answered our cries of “Lord, save me.” The Lord has reached down into the depths. Our Lord has taken upon Himself our own human flesh. He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross, for us. This is the Hand of the Lord at work to save us today. Only God in the flesh can do that. Only the Word, through whom all things were created, can pull us from the depths of judgment and despair.
This is true even in our moments of uncertainty and doubt. It is not a promise that every challenge, hardship, or trial will go away immediately. It is not a promise that working through it will be easy or that there will be easy fixes to everything that ails us. Because of our sinful condition, we not always understand the workings of God in our lives. 

However, when it comes to salvation, the Lord’s merciful hand is right there. His presence and forgiveness in His Word are immediately there when we need Him. His Word and Sacraments are true, no matter how great or little our faith is. They derive their power not from our faith but from Jesus Himself. 

He has reached down with His Word and His Sacraments to save you. You can trust in His true promises.Your old self has been drowned in Holy Baptism so that the new will arise. He has reached down to proclaim to you in Confession and Absolution that your sins are indeed forgiven. He has reached down to feed you with His very body and blood, given and shed for you! You have everything that you need today! You have everything that you need in the gracious hand of the Lord that created you, saves you, and sanctifies you.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.
 

SERMON OUTLINE
Hands are amazing instruments
What hands can do
What moves the hands
Empty hands that have been filled give
The poor in spirit have nothing to bring in their hands before God
“Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”
Many know that trumpeting the work of our hands is not good
Jesus helps us to see that no one is exempt from this sin
Great Physician with skilled hands
Jesus has come for the sick
Jesus holds us in His hands
Jesus is the only one to live and give wholly out of love
His right and left hands were stretched out upon the cross 
He exchanges our sin in order to give us His righteousness

SERMON

O Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight our Rock and our Redeemer.

Have you ever looked at your hands? Our hands are amazing instruments. When our hands are working properly, they showcase the amazing feat of the Lord’s engineering, capable of an intricate series of movements made possible by articulating joints between twenty-seven bones and the more than thirty muscles that move them. Even seemingly simple movements can be quite complex. Recent research has determined that the fastest accelerating part of the human body is not the blink of an eye. The snapping of your finger is actually twenty times faster, taking just seven milliseconds to travel from the thumb to the palm.  Our hands are truly amazing. 
Our hands can do so much. We use them for work, for sports, for crafts, and on and on. In fact, hands are almost universally recognized as the symbols of our work, action, power, and control. The hands’ controlling capabilities, powerful potential, and authoritative actions are not governed by our hands themselves. 

In our Gospel this evening, Jesus mentions hands. He says, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). This text comes to us from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is addressing His disciples while a great crowd is overhearing. Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Jesus’ disciples are the “poor in spirit” who have nothing to offer God. They have only empty hands. However, the Lord has filled those hands with His good gifts. 

The same is true for you, brothers and sisters in Christ! You had nothing to bring before God to merit blessing because of your sin. And yet, Jesus has exchanged that sin, taking it to the cross, and filled your hands with His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. You have this promise. It is completely dependent on your gracious and merciful Lord. In Christ, your hands are full!

Jesus says, “When you give to the needy . . .” It is not a question of if Jesus’ disciples will be using their hands to help the needy or to do good for the sake of others. It was already an expectation among the Jews that almsgiving would be done. Look at everything Jesus gives you! He fills your empty hands with the Gospel, those hands will share both the gifts of creation and salvation with other empty, outstretched hands.  Like a beggar telling another beggar where to find food. While it is true that one does not need to be a Christian to give earthly gifts to the needy, Jesus is saying that the heart of the Christian life of giving is completely different.

Jesus starts by contrasting the hypocrites who trumpet their deeds for the synagogue and streets. They give to others only so that everyone else can see them and praise them. They seek the rewards of the world because they close their hands to God’s gifts and promises. We know all too well what it means to seek the praises of this world. We know it when we see it in people who love to trumpet their successes, to hold the rewards or praises before the world like a trophy in their hands, saying, “Look at the good that I am doing!” If we are honest, we see that same desire in ourselves. But those rewards still fade.

Jesus’ words show us the true heart of the matter. It’s one thing to let others know what you are doing, but don’t think for a moment that your good deeds will do anything to save yourself. Jesus says, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”! The moment that we start to dwell on what our hands are doing, we take our focus off our neighbor and his or her needs in order to make our giving all about ourselves. Our neighbor is no longer best served. 

There is also greater spiritual concern. Our sinful condition has so distorted our lives that we can outwardly appear humble, keeping our giving to ourselves, but inwardly be brimming full of arrogant pride in the work of our own hands. It may not look like the praise of others. But it is the praise of self, a reward that also soon fades. Closing our hands to God’s gifts in order to quietly praise ourselves leads us to the same place as the hypocrites. Jesus shows us that our sin is much worse than what we do or don’t do with our hands. Even anonymously giving to the needy can be distorted into our own selfish praise.

The real problem is not a condition of our hands. It’s a heart condition. Jesus says, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Matthew 15:19–20). This condition of the heart puts us in the throes of judgment and death. That is what we are reminded of this evening on Ash Wednesday. As you received the ashes on your forehead, you heard the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We die because we are sinners, plain and simple. If our lives were left in our own hands—as amazing instruments as they may be—the only reward that we will have earned is God’s judgment and wrath. 

However, this evening, we also heard the words from Joel: “‘Yet even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments’” (Joel 2:12–13). The recognition of sin is not merely something that we can take into our hands by an outward display of contrition. The Lord is calling sinners to true repentance of the heart.
In Psalm 51 David writes: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (v. 10). David knew that he could not heal himself by the work of his hands. He needed the hand of the Lord. He needed the expert physician who is able to create a clean heart to blot out David’s iniquities, to restore the joy of the Lord’s salvation.

In Matthew 9:12, Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” If you are like David. You know that your heart is not well, then hear the words of Jesus. He has come for you as the only one who can cure the sinful disease of the heart. He has come as the good physician who is able to give you a new heart and make it beat in His expert hands according to the steady rhythm of God’s mercy. And He continues to give and hold your heart captive in His hands.

How has He done it? How is it that our loving God continues to give and give? Christ is your Lord and the Great Physician who has come to bring you life in Him. He did so by the work of His hands, purely out of love for you. He has selflessly given His very life for us. His right and left hands were stretched far apart upon the cross for you; His death for your life. He has taken your sins upon Himself all the way to death on the cross. God has taken your sin and put it out of His memory. Your sin is now as far from you as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). In return, He has filled your empty hands with His forgiveness. He has taken care of not only the sinful deeds of your hands but also the sinful condition that lies in your heart. He creates a new heart within you. He has given you a heart that does not need to remark on what your hands are doing. Christ has done it all.

With your new heart, you know that your empty hands have been filled with God’s good gifts and are not concerned with rewards of praises from others or ourselves. You have the reward from your Father who sees in secret. Now, as you live your life, as you give to the needy, as you share the Gospel of Jesus with others, keep your right hand and left hand ignorant of each other in daily repentance. Your giving is the Lord’s work through you. Remember that there is no need to gain the rewards in this life through the works of your hands because you already have the reward of your Father who sees in secret. 

Indeed, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With those words, you received the sign of the cross pressed upon your brow this evening as a reminder that your life has been marked and sealed by the redeeming hand of your crucified and risen Lord. And soon as you come to this altar with empty hands, the Lord will fill them with His very body and blood, given and shed for you. 

In Jesus’ name. Amen.