March 25, 2020 Lenten Midweek Service
The Invocation: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Confession: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Let us then confess our sins to God our Father. Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of Your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.
The Absolution: In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for His sake, God forgives us all our sins. To those who believe in Jesus Christ, He gives the power to become the children of God and bestows on them the Holy Spirit. May the Lord, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament Reading is written in the book of Amos, chapter 7, verses 1 to 9
7 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord. This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God. This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
The Holy Gospel is according to St. Mark, chapter 1, verses 1 to 8.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Apostles’ Creed: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen
The Sermon: Locusts Here, Locusts There, Locusts Everywhere!
This is a sermon about locusts. Now just the mention of locusts brings to mind Mr. Locust himself, John the Baptist. Can you imagine eating locusts? In 2004, a man from Bloomington, Minnesota, did just that. Do you remember this? He made national news by eating thirty of them and then suffered an allergic reaction to them. Apparently he had a locust allergy! So the man ended up in the hospital with a rash all over his body, and almost died! Pastors may call that “the theology of the cross.” Lay people call that “just plain dumb.”
Locusts may not be our insect of choice, but they certainly were in the Old Testament. Israelites were so familiar with locusts that they coined nine different Hebrew words to describe these purveyors of powerful plagues. Sometimes there can be as many as 120 million critters in one square mile of locusts. One swarm that crossed the Red Sea in 1899 covered an area of over 1,900 square miles!
And boy, do locusts love to eat! Why, they can eat their own body weight each day. Just imagine eating your own body weight each day! Uh, on second thought, don’t imagine eating your own body weight each day.
Amos, who grew sycamore trees and harvested their fruit, knew all about the deadly destruction of locusts. The prophet describes one in our text, Amos 7:1–3. The timing of the plague is critical. This is why Amos gives us two chronological markers in verse 1.
If a locust plague attacked in the late spring, the results were catastrophic. They destroyed both the late-spring crops as well as the more developed, and as yet unharvested, earlier grain crop.
If the locusts had arrived earlier, the late-spring crops would not have sprouted. If they had come later, the grain was already gathered. So the locusts arrived not only when they could maximize their destruction, but adding insult to injury, also after the king had taken his lawful part of the harvest remnant. As it stands, Amos is seeing the worst possible agricultural enemy come at the worst possible time. The result is certain. If not halted immediately, the people would have to face the worse possible hardship, an entire year of famine.
The first judgment of locusts in Scripture came when God inflicted them upon Egypt in Exodus 10:1–19. What does this mean? It means that Israel is now in the same place as their ancient enemy, Egypt. Why is this the case? Because upper class Israelites were enslaving lower class Israelites by withholding justice in the courts, ignoring their cries for food and water, and by employing dishonest business practices. The “haves” were abusing the “have-nots” and in doing so they were doing more than just making a living. They were making a killing. So the nation fell under this covenant curse that is found in Deuteronomy 28:38: “You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it”.
In Revelation 9 John uses the imagery of locusts to remind us of our enemy, who also comes to kill, steal, and destroy. John looks at this vast army and describes them with these graphic terms: “Their teeth are like lions’ teeth. They have iron breastplates . . . they have tails and stings like scorpions . . . and they have as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon (Apo lyon).”
Abaddon and Apollyon (Apo lyon) both mean “Destroyer.” Later in Revelation 12 and then again in chapter 20 John calls this Destroyer, “the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan.” Satan’s demons seek to devour everything in us that is spiritually alive. Their strategy is clear: “We will chew you up and spit you out!”
The devil’s lies strip away baptismal promises, eucharistic joy, and Gospel power. His temptations destroy marital fidelity, moral responsibility, and churchly civility. The devil’s swarms lead us to whisper wicked words, lunge for lustful looks, hate with hard hearts, and go on in godless gossip. Who can stop this onslaught of the locusts? It reminds me of a story.
Little Rachel was at her first wedding and watched the ceremony with great interest. She was fascinated as the bride, adorned in her beautiful dress, walked down the aisle with her elderly father. Rachel then smiled later on during the service when the bride walked down the aisle with the groom at the end. However, that smiling faced became a puzzled one. She asked her mother, “Why did the lady change her mind?” Her mother asked, “What do you mean?” “Well, she went down the aisle with one old guy, and came back with a different younger one.” Her mother could just chuckle at her observation.
Changing our mind is not always a bad thing. God changes His mind, too, and in the case of the locusts, it was for the better. Amos intercedes for Israel, and God relents. The Lord changes from wrath to mercy, from Law to Gospel. And we call this change amazing grace!
Jesus is the greatest intercessor and insister in the Bible. He continually intercedes for sinners. In fact, one of our Lord’s chief functions as High Priest is to make intercession for His people. Luke 23:34 records Jesus’ prayer for the Roman soldiers crucifying Him: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” The verb in this verse indicates that, far from saying this just once, our Savior repeatedly asked His Father to have mercy on those who killed Him. Jesus said this outside of Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha where the Romans bent and broke and maimed and mauled their victims. And then they systematically threw them away. There “the angel of the Abyss, Abaddon and Apollyon” stalked Jesus, took aim, shot straight, and killed.
But Christ is alive! And this means that the Destroyer will one day be destroyed and the Devourer will soon be devoured. John encourages us with these words: “And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).
There are some years in South Africa when locusts swarm the land and eat all the crops. They come in hordes so thick that the sun is completely blocked out. The crops are destroyed and an impoverished winter follows. The years of the locust are feared and dreaded. The year that follows, however, is a year of plentiful abundance! The dead bodies of the previous year’s locusts serve as fertilizer for the new seeds, and the crops swell from the land.
In life, there are seasons of deep distress and afflictions that eat away the baptismal abundance that is ours in Christ. Yet the promise of God is that in Jesus Christ He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten. So, look out locusts, here we come! Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer: Let us pray the prayer Jesus has taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious unto you. The Lord look on You with His favor and give you peace. Amen.
Closing Address: Thanks for joining us for our service today. We ask if you could like, share, and comment below to help this video pop up in the feeds of others. Forward it to a friend. Hopefully in this time of lock down, God’s Word can be spread more now than ever! Help us with that task. Keep your eyes open for our next service that will be sent out on Saturday on John 9, and we will be blessed again with the musical talents of Paul and Betsy. We also ask if you could continue to help and support the work and ministry that is done at Emmaus. You can find more information about giving plus at our website, which is our online giving app, or you can send your support to the Church. We also value your prayers. Again, thanks for joining us for our virtual service, and we hope to see you in person again, soon. God’s blessings on the rest of your week.