The Lutheran Hour
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"An Unpleasant Message"
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Text: Malachi 3:1-4
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The newborn Christchild is placed in a Bethlehem manger; the Savior dies upon a Jerusalem cross. His empty tomb ties both together and tells us who are in the crucible of pain and hurt, that with faith in Him, there is hope, happiness and heaven.
I have a Christmas story for you, although I imagine, many will not think of it as a Christmas story. The year is 1999, the place is outside St. Petersburg, at a Russian holding prison for women. The guests that day are John Reehl, and his interpreter, Constantine. They have been told they can go anywhere in the prison that they want. Only one cell is off limits. No, it is not because these women are especially dangerous to outsiders. You might expect that they would be, since these women’s lives have been filled with problems and pains. No, the visitors are not allowed in because this cell is filled with women who have AIDS and an especially virulent, contagious form of tuberculosis. Most women in Russian prisons get few visitors; the prisoners in this cell, the living who are already dead, get none.
The authorities in charge though, don’t know John Reehl. At that moment, he was representing Orphan Grain Train, a dedicated group of Christians who do their best to answer the needs of those who are in need. That is who he is representing now, but for many years Reverend John Reehl has represented the Savior Who was born in a Bethlehem manger, and died on Calvary’s cross so that the lost might be saved and those in darkness might live in the light of salvation. “Who” he reasoned, “more than these ladies in the forbidden cell, need to hear God’s good news of great Joy?” He asked for admission. That permission was given only most reluctantly and with great warning.
In the cell, using the pictures from a Russian children’s Bible, John, through his interpreter, told the women God’s story of forgiveness. There was the story of Adam and Eve, the first sin, the promised punishment and God’s commitment to send His Son, the Rescuer. John told the Bible stories, and all of the stories he told pointed to Jesus. All of the stories eventually told how God, in His unexplainable love for sinners, sent His Son to take their place. All of the stories told how Jesus was born for us, lived for us, suffered, died and rose for us. All of the stories told how there was no sinner beyond the reach of Jesus’ nail-pierced, loving hands. The ladies listened. You could have heard a pin drop in that room. Year after year, many of you have heard the familiar story of great joy the Christmas angels first shared with Bethlehem’s shepherds; but for those ladies in a Russian jail, the news that God loved them was new. For the ladies, that day, the Savior was born, their Savior, Christ the Lord.
I have a Christmas story for you, although I imagine, many will not think of it as a Christmas story. Move ahead one year. The place is a women’s prison outside St. Petersburg. Reverend John Reehl has come to this place where women serve out their sentence. Among the listeners that day is a face that seems familiar. Different, but familiar. He asks about her, and is told to keep his distance. The woman has AIDS, she has TB. He remembers her. Her hands are bandaged; her face seems shrunken. He asks her, “What has happened? What is wrong?” She shows that she has lost all her teeth. As for her hands, she explains, “I am rotting away.”
Having completed his work, Reverend Reehl went to leave. It was then that the lady came running up to him and grabbed him. No, it was not an attack. Far from it. She kissed him, according to Russian custom, on both cheeks. As quickly as she kissed him, a doctor scrubbed his cheeks with cotton swabbing and alcohol. As the woman is taken away, she begins to shout, in Russian. Again and again she calls out the same sentence. Reverend Reehl asked his interpreter, “What is she saying?” The interpreter replied, “She’s saying, ‘He told me about Jesus. He told me about Jesus.'” The last time Reverend Reehl went to that prison, the woman was no longer there. The authorities sent her home to die. There was nothing they could do for her. But that is not the end of her story. For when Alla, that is her name, takes her last breath; when medicine can do no more, Jesus, Whom she met in a Russian prison, through the power of pictures from a children’s Bible, will take her home. Not to die, but to live.
That is my Christmas story for you, although I imagine, many will not think of it as a Christmas story. Most folks prefer to hear the other stories that are told around this season of the year. We want to hear about Rudolph and Frosty, the Grinch and the folks of Whoville. We long to hear that Scrooge, having been touched by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, became “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.” We love to watch George Bailey discover it’s a wonderful life, and know his guardian angel, Clarence, has gotten his wings.
At this time of year we don’t want to hear Christmas stories about tuberculosis and women prisoners in Russia. No, we don’t want to hear that at all. We want to hear about chestnuts roasting on open fires and Jack Frost nipping at our noses. We want to hear about one horse open sleighs, and Dancer and Prancer, Donner and Blitzen, Comet and Cupid, Sneezy and Dopey. That’s the kind of Christmas story we want to hear.
In contrast, God has His Christmas story to tell you. Of course, not many of you will think of it as a Christmas story. He begins: “suddenly, the Lord you are seeking will come.” No problem there. But God continues: “He will be like a refiner’s fire. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” That’s not the story you want to hear, is it? You like to hear about the coming of babies, especially the Baby Jesus. You don’t want to hear about Jesus, the Refiner. You know in the Bible, there are many pictures of God’s Son, our Savior. He is described as a good Shepherd, (John 10:11f) as the Heir of a vineyard, (Luke 20:13) and as a Master Fisherman. (Matthew 4:18) Here, in the Old Testament book of Malachi (Chapter 3), Jesus is described as a smelter of ore.
The Lord wants you to see the refiner putting on His heavy, leather apron that will protect Him from the sparks of the fire and the splashes of the molten metal. God wants you to see the refiner stoking the fire, to watch as the smoke billows up; to hear the bellows as they create a white-hot heat. God wants you to see the heating jar, the crucible, and watch as the raw, unusable ore is placed into it. Watch, as the vessel is placed into the flames, and melts in the heat. See, after a long time in the fire, the slag, that which is impure and wrong, floats to the top. Then, when all the impurity is gone, the smelter has a product which He can shape, and make into something useful and beautiful.
That is God’s story, and having heard it, you say, “What kind of Christmas story is that? Reverend, tell us of maids-a-milking and lords-a-leaping. Speak to us how we may dream of ‘A white Christmas, just like the ones we used to know;’ and assure me of how ‘I’ll be home for Christmas.’ Don’t talk about crucibles and smelters and slag.” I wish I could. But this is God’s Christmas story. It is God’s Christmas story, which tells of how His Son is born to be a Refiner of sinful souls. It may seem like an unpleasant message, but from before His birth, Jesus was putting His people into the crucible so they could be refined; so they could be saved; so that they could be used for God’s higher purpose. We like to think of Jesus’ birth bringing peace and tranquility. We want to keep Him as a divinely sent Baby, cute, cuddly and cooing. But Jesus is born to refine our souls.
Consider Mary. When the Lord told her she would be the mother of the world’s Savior, she was put into the crucible. The least of her worries would have been the gossips of small-town Nazareth whose tongues would have been wagging about her unmarried pregnancy. Her intended could have walked away from her. She could have been stoned. She was put into the crucible. The heat was turned up, the slag was removed, and she, in faith, ended up at the foot of the cross, watching her Son die to save humanity from their sins.
Her intended husband, Joseph, he was put into the crucible. He knew that he was not the father of Mary’s Child. What would his friends have to say about his marriage? He would be the betrayed laughingstock of town. God put him in the crucible, turned up the flame, swept away the slag, and Joseph became the foster father of Jesus. Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Savior were put into the crucible. For Elizabeth, giving birth at her age might not only have been difficult, it could have been dangerous. The flame was turned up, the slag was removed, and John the Baptist was born. The shepherds, to whom the angels announced the birth of a Savior, left their fields. They had a choice: to play it safe, or see this wonderful thing that God had done for them. God placed them in the crucible. They saw God’s Son, their Savior and were the first witnesses to the birth of the Messiah. The wise men left their homes, followed a star. They were put into the crucible, and saw the newborn king of the Jews. To see the Babe of Bethlehem, to know the Christ of the cross, means you will be put into the Refiner’s crucible. In the heat of the crucible you will become usable like silver, or slag, to be tossed to the side.
At the beginning of this message, I told you a Christmas story about a woman in a Russian prison, who, having heard about the birth of a Savior Who forgives sins and brings hope, could not contain her joy. God had placed her in the crucible. He had turned up the heat. Under His watchful eye, she became shining like silver, glittering like the purest gold. Washed in the Savior’s blood, her body may have been rotting, but her soul was shining. Her imprisonment, her illness had brought her to the point where she longed to hear of God’s love, and how, with faith in Jesus, she could be saved. The good-news, great-joy words of the angel were hers: “unto you is born a Savior, Christ the Lord.”
Today it is fashionable for ministers to preach that if you know Jesus, you will have a perfect, problem-free life. They tell you that when Jesus is your Savior, your suffering will end; you will no longer be ill, sad, discouraged, doubting or depressed. Let me tell you that no such person can be found in all of Scripture. Moses was a man of faith, but his life was plagued by the doubt and disobedience of his people. David was a man of faith, yet he had a son who tried to overthrow him. The prophets were men of faith, but they were hated, hounded, and despised. The thief on the cross, he was a man of faith, but he still remained on the cross. The disciples were men of faith, but almost all of them were martyred in the Savior’s cause. If having Jesus as your Savior guaranteed that your life would be freed from the crucible of life’s sufferings, everyone would soon become a Christian. But Jesus was not born to make life easy for you. He came to change you, to save you, to refine you.
Please, let me ask: do you feel the heat? Of course you do. All of us do. Each of us, sooner or later, longer or shorter, end up in life’s crucible. We try our best. We exhaust ourselves thinking, and working, and planning, and trying to fix things up. But no matter how hard we think, work, plan and try, it’s never quite enough. The heat is still on. Maybe someone you love, maybe you, yourself, are suffering. Things seem so unsure, insecure. Where is the heat coming from in your life? Is it health, job, money, addictions, age, friends, love; a combination of some of those things? Is it all of those things?
You are not alone in this feeling. Being a sinful human being in a sinful world means that you will be thrown into the cauldron. It is part of the human condition. All of us, sooner or later, end up being confronted by things we can’t handle on our own. It is at those times, when we are helpless, when we feel hopeless, that you are most receptive to the Savior Whom we remember at Christmas. During such moments, the Lord will remove the slag from your life, and can transform you with the message of salvation that comes through faith in Jesus.
Jesus, promised by prophet, announced by angels, has good news for you. Jesus has come seeking and saving the lost. Are you lost? He is there. Jesus comes to you, bringing light to your darkness. Do you feel the darkness is all around you? Jesus brings light. The angels said it: “Good news. Great joy. Unto you is born a Savior, Christ the Lord.” Jesus understands the heat of the crucible. Trusting Him will not make all those problems magically disappear in a puff of smoke. But having Jesus as Savior means that you will emerge from that crucible transformed and not cast off like slag.
Today, I have a Christmas story for you. It is your Christmas story. Like that woman in the Russian prison, “I am telling you about Jesus.” I am telling you about Him Who can make your crucible bearable. If you are involved with a sin, the Holy Spirit can scrape off the slag of that sin. If you are burdened by guilt, believe that Jesus has carried that guilt, and taken it away. Repent. Believe. Rely. That’s why Jesus was born in Bethlehem. That’s why He died on the cross of Calvary. His life was lived in the crucible so that you could be saved; so God’s heat could make you something pure and good and at peace.
Do you feel the hand of the Lord upon your life? Do you want to know more? Then please call us at Lutheran Hour Ministries. We ask for no money. All we do is help people through the fire, through the crucible, and show them the hand of a loving Lord.
I have a Christmas story for you. This one is one that all of us will agree is a Christmas story. It begins in the intensive care waiting room of a Minneapolis hospital. Outside people were cold; inside, people were captured in the crucible of suffering. Tragedy had brought them here – a burned child, a heart attack, a stroke, post-operative recoveries. People rummaged through old magazines, sent out news bulletins on their cell phones, said silent prayers. Then, one woman spoke up. “Why don’t we sing? It’s January, but I’m not tired of singing Christmas carols.” She began: “From heaven above to earth I come to bear good news to every home; Glad tidings of great joy I bring, Whereof I now will say and sing: ‘To you this night is born a child Of Mary, chosen virgin mild; This little child of lowly birth, Shall be the joy of all the earth.'” Others joined in. Soon the room was filled with joy. Jesus is the Light. Look to Him. Trust Him. Look to Jesus Who can fill this Christmas, and every day, with hope and happiness. To those of you in the crucible, whether it be in a hospital waiting room, a Russian jail, or anywhere in your life, Jesus comes. Refining. Purifying. Healing. Saving. Believe in God’s Christmas story. A story for you.
Lutheran Hour Mailbox (Questions & Answers) for December 7, 2003
Topic: Are Today’s Jews Responsible for Jesus’ Death?ANNOUNCER: And we’re back with Pastor Ken Klaus, I’m Mark Eischer. As many of you know, Mel Gibson is making a movie about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and it’s already prompted a lot of discussion and controversy.
KLAUS: As I see it, there’s one objection to this film that is being talked about openly, and another that is far more subtle, sort of an undercurrent, if you will.
ANNOUNCER: Let’s talk about the open objection first.
KLAUS: The open objection is coming from part of the Jewish community who believe that such a depiction of the last hours of the Savior might foment anti-Semitism.
ANNOUNCER: Why?
KLAUS: Well, for centuries, to a greater or lesser degree, some within the Christian church have held the Jews of their present generation accountable for Jesus’ death.
ANNOUNCER: Why would that be?
KLAUS: I believe, Mark, that opinion is based on the words that were recorded in Matthew 27:25. Jesus was on trial for His life. The Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, believed Jesus was innocent. But Pilate was on shaky ground, politically, and he didn’t have the courage to let Jesus go.
ANNOUNCER: And what then?
KLAUS: The mob that had been assembled before Pilate said, “Let His (meaning Jesus’) blood be on us and our children.” Those words have given some Christians the impression that all the descendents of all the Jews should be held accountable for Jesus’ death.
ANNOUNCER: So that leads to a very provocative question: are today’s Jews responsible for Jesus’ death?
KLAUS: If we understand who Jesus is and why He died, we would know that all of us, because of ours sins, are equally responsible for Jesus standing before Pilate that day, and hanging on the cross. Jesus came to atone for the sins of all people who have ever lived or will ever live. But if you’re asking, should we single out a particular ethnic or religious group for blame, the answer is no. That’s because of a number of reasons. First, there were a great many Jews in the ancient world who were not in Pilate’s courtyard that day. There were some Jews in Pilate’s courtyard who disagreed with what was going on. They shouldn’t be held accountable; and there’s one more, far more important reason, Mark.
ANNOUNCER: And what would that be?
KLAUS: Although God says in Exodus, “He visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those that hate Him”; that does not mean that my great grandchildren are going to be punished because I’m a really big sinner. If that were the case, it would mean we would be held accountable for the sins committed by people we never even knew. The Jews that day before Pilate, said Jesus’ blood should be on their children, but it doesn’t mean God agrees with them. Throughout scripture I see God calling people from their sins. That would also be true of a wrongful oath that is made by your ancestors.
ANNOUNCER: Everyone is responsible for Jesus’ death because all have sinned.
KLAUS: Yes, but the great joy of Jesus is that God forgives our sins and declares us righteous because of Jesus. We are called from darkness into light; we become in Christ a new creation.
ANNOUNCER: Now you said there was another, more subtle objection to Mel Gibson’s movie.
KLAUS: Now I haven’t seen Gibson’s movie. From what I’ve been told, it is with some artistic license, a realistic depiction of Jesus’ crucifixion. That’s going to be a terrible thing to see.
ANNOUNCER: Why?
KLAUS: Hollywood and artists in general have always cleaned up and sanitized the crucifixion. What happened to Jesus during His last hours as He won our salvation is a bloody cruel, inhuman injustice.
ANNOUNCER: And what’s the objection?
KLAUS: If this movie does what it’s purported, people will see the physical sufferings of the Savior and some will be moved by God’s great love, because Jesus endured all this out of love for us. To pay for our sins, He took our place. The devil and the world don’t want people to see what the Savior has done for them. You can have a movie that portrays Jesus as a homosexual, a coward, an adulterer, a lot of other things the world says, “that’s ok, that’s art.” But to show Jesus as the Savior who suffered for sinners, that the world finds objectionable. It’s almost like the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 were written just for us. He said, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God . . . Jews demand miraculous signs, Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”
ANNOUNCER: Thank you Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.