Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

“His leaf shall not wither.”

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‘Blessed is the man’ the one true man, [God made man,] Our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus ‘who walked not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of scoffers, but whose delight was in the law of the LORD.’

‘For he was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.’

For ‘when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ ‘For We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself out to be the Son of God.’

And so our Lord was crucified, for ‘his delight was in the law of the Lord’ and ‘according to that law, he ought to die.’

‘For he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.’

‘And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.’

‘Thus saith the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it.’

‘Blessed is the man,’ the one true man, [God made man,] Our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus, ‘for he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water.’

Scourged, crucified, planted upon Golgotha, Himself one with the tree of the cross.

‘He was afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.’

‘For to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’

‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’

Therefore ‘what is sown in corruption is reaped in incorruption.’

‘For with what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? For Jesus is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds of the earth, yet when he is sown, he grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and puts out large branches.’

‘Blessed is the man’ the one true man, [God made man,] Our Lord and Redeemer Jesus, ‘For his leaf shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.’

‘And under him will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of his branches birds of every sort will nest.’

Dear Christians, Our Lord has been crucified, His body sown into the earth in His Incarnation, His body growing up greater than all the trees of the garden in the tree of His cross; greater than all the trees of the garden. Greater than that tree, through which our father Adam was promised life; greater than that tree, through which our father Adam was promised death. For in the tree of the cross, life and knowledge are one; wisdom and immortality are promised.

Your Lord begs you, ‘you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you. How often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.’

The scorching sun of this sinful world strikes you, but beneath the tree of Christ’s cross, there is shade. Therefore ‘come all ye who are burdened and heavy laden, and the Lord shall give you rest.’

And ask not what you can do in return, nor seek to repay Jesus, the tree of salvation, the solace of your life, for the rest He gives you in the forgiveness of His Sacrifice.

Rest beneath the shelter His branches; in peace, take comfort in the shade of His foliage. Rest, and pray:

‘Blessed is the man.’

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Preached by Pastor Fields

Sermon Texts: Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Mark 4:26-34; Psalm 1.