{Prayer}
The theme for this LWML Sunday comes from Psalm 24:7-10 where King David proclaims,
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory.
David starts Psalm 24 by identifying that everything is the Lords. Everything in the world, everything which is upon the face the world belongs to the Lord. The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and each of us. It all belongs to the Lord. We belong to the Lord. What we have in this life is truly a gift. David reiterates this in the middle of the psalm.
What we have this morning is the end of the psalm, and from the sounds of it, the King of glory, the Lord Almighty is away. But He isn’t staying away forever. He is coming back.
When reading this part of the psalm and thinking about the theme for this LWML Sunday, my mind kept drifting toward a childhood classic book and movie, which actually dates back to poems and folklore of the late 14th and early 15th centuries. My mind kept drifting to the story of Robin Hood.
In that story, King Richard leaves to go and fight in the Crusades. Prince John is left in charge during Richard’s absence. Prince John though has an obsession, actually two … gold and power. Talking with his royal counselor, Prince John says, “Life has become so wonderful since King Richard left for the Crusades. He treated the people too nicely and he missed out on all this lovely gold.”
The Sheriff of Nottingham was in charge of collecting the taxes from the people. The real mission though was for the Sheriff to collect all the gold of the land and bring it to Prince John. If you couldn’t pay, you were thrown into the jail. Being made fun of in a song, Prince John got angry and commanded to double the taxes. It was so bad that the Sheriff had to rob the church and arrest good ole Friar Tuck.
Of course, Robin Hood and Little John rescue Friar tuck and everyone else in the jail. Robin Hood even manages to get all the gold out of Prince John’s bedroom and gives it back to the people. Soon after Robin Hood narrowly escapes from Prince John’s room, King Richard comes back from the Crusades to take his place on the throne of England. With King Richard back on the throne, happiness returned to the land.
Now why did my mind drift to that story? You see, like King Richard, Jesus is away. Jesus is not off fighting some Crusade like King Richard was, but bodily, Jesus has ascended up to heaven. Physically Jesus is away and according to John 14, Jesus has returned to the Father’s house and is preparing a place for us so that as God’s dearly loved children, we may be close to our Savior (14:2-3).
Meanwhile, as Jesus is a way preparing that place for us, an awful prince is currently trying to rule the world. Instead of Prince John, we have Satan. Jesus in John’s gospel refers to Satan as the ruler of this world. Paul in Ephesians 2 calls Satan the prince of the power of the air. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul refers to Satan as the god of this world.
Now this is not to say that Satan has complete and total control of the world. God is still in charge. But in God’s infinite wisdom, He has allowed Satan to operate in this world but within the boundaries God has set for him. Within these boundaries, Satan is doing all he can to rob the people of God of the precious gifts they have been given. Satan’s schemes include promoting his false philosophies throughout the world. Philosophies which severely impair the unbeliever to see the truth of the God’s Word. Satan’s screwed up philosophies are the very fortress in which people are imprisoned.
Just one example of such a screwed up philosophy is the belief that man can earn God’s favor by doing a certain act or a set of actions. In almost every false religion, doing good works to earn God’s favor or to earn eternal life is a predominant theme. Earning salvation by doing good works though is completely contrary to what God’s Word says. We can’t work to earn God’s favor. Paul tells us that we are saved by grace through faith. Eternal life is a gift (Eph. 2:8-9).
And even though eternal life is a gift that comes by faith in Jesus, people have the hardest time believing it. We’re okay when it comes to other free handouts or receiving other kinds of gifts, but when it comes to eternal life, we think we somehow have to earn it. Satan has tempted mankind to follow his pride and has twisted the truth of God’s word so much that people don’t believe it. It’s all about me and what I can do for myself. It’s no wonder that Scripture calls Satan a liar and the father of all lies (John 8:44).
So if Jesus is King Richard, Satan is Prince John, then who is Robin Hood? Robin Hood would be the Church. According to Martin Luther, every single person, being a helpless sinner in the eyes of God, needs to hear God’s Word as law and gospel. The Church’s mission finds it source, content, and strength in God’s mission to save the lost.
Robin Hood took back from Prince John that which was not his. The Church, through the proclamation, through the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ, through Christian living, and the help of the Holy Spirit, are bringing the lost and erring out from under the control of Satan and into the good and eternal kingdom of God.
The LWML, our Lutheran Women in Mission, you could say are like Little John, Robin Hood’s assistant. The LWML is all about mission, they are all about sharing the Gospel throughout the world so that all will know of Christ.
The message of the Church and of the LWML, the message of the grace and mercy of God found in the Gospel, that is the life-changing message of God for the world. It changed Martin Luther’s life from one seeking to appease the wrath of God by doing good works, to one who received the good grace of God in Christ as a gift, and who then brought the Gospel back to the church of God.
As part of the church, this is our mission. We need to band together as brothers and sisters and help spread the life-changing message of God. Together, we are fighting for a common good, that all people would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).
In the Robin Hood story, the people couldn’t wait for the day in which King Richard would return from the Crusades and kick Prince John off his throne and out of the kingdom. We too, we pray for the day in which King Jesus comes back, kicks Satan out, and restores the beauty of His eternal kingdom on earth.
David in our Psalm reminds us that we need to be ready. We need to lift up our heads, we need to be lifted up for the King of glory, the Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ is coming. He is coming again strong and mighty and with His might, He will win in the end. With Jesus winning in the end, that means that we and all who believe in Jesus will also win. “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20) we pray. Amen.
The grace of the Lord Jesus, the King of kings who is coming again, be with you all. Amen.
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