Guest Essay: A Sermon for Pastors (and their families) on Trinity 15

Bertram von Minden (German, c. 1345–1414/15), “Die Schöpfung der Tiere,” detail from Grabow Altarpiece, 1379–83, tempera on panel, Hamburg: Kunsthalle.

A Sermon for Pastors (and their families) on Trinity 15

by the Rev. Jacob H. Benson

The Rev. Jacob H. Benson is the pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lovell, Wyoming. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne with his M.Div. in 2018 and received his STM in 2020.

So it goes, you sit down in your study early in the week and begin poring through the appointed readings for next Sunday. You begin with the Old Testament reading from 1 Kings. What a wonderful and uplifting reading for a pastor to encounter! A woman who is on the brink of death puts her preacher before herself. The Lord has already taken away her husband and He has withheld rain from the land for so long that there is no food for her or her son. She has managed to save up and scrounge enough to make one small piece of bread, so she plans to gather some sticks, start a fire, cook up the bread, eat it with her son, and then starve to death with the only reminder she has of her late husband. 

But then Elijah comes along, a Man of God. What will he provide? Bread from heaven? A meal of quail? Honey from the rock? No. He demands that he be fed first. This woman is faced with a horrible dilemma: does she feed her family? Or does she make sure that her Preacher is taken care of? And here, dear pastor, you begin to salivate at your upcoming sermon. What an opportunity to teach people that they are to provide for their pastor before they provide for themselves. And this isn’t you twisting scripture – truly it isn’t – it’s right there before you: the woman gives the bread to Elijah and, because of her faithfulness and her willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the Word being preached, she is blessed and she finds herself with more food than she knows what to do with. 

The literal? The woman feeds her pastor instead of herself.

The typological? Does this not come to fruition in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus commands hearers to not be anxious about what they will eat?

The tropological? Modern Christians must provide for their pastors. Perhaps this morsel of bread stands in the place of “district scale” or a book budget or a much-needed improvement to the parsonage.

And the anagogical? For those who provide for the household of faith, spiritual seeds will blossom into spiritual life. Indeed, “God will not be mocked.”

With the outline for your sermon already taking shape, you move on to that Epistle lesson, where you know that Paul will call out those who are not living as Christians.

Your fingers fly across the keyboard as you show your congregation that they are dwelling in Galatia, that they are to avoid becoming conceited and especially that they are to “share all good things with the one who teaches.” Those who listen and learn must be willing to sacrifice even their last handful of flour and their dwindling jar of oil with the one who teaches, lest they reap fleshly corruption.

And then you move to the words of Christ our Lord, the crown jewel of any set of propers. Yes, now Jesus Himself will tell these stingy Germans how they are to act, how they are to avoid worrying about money and clothing and food and house. You return to Christ’s warning about being a servant, how no worker can serve two masters. You know that the congregation will be in tears by the end of your sermon. They will, with one voice, repent for not caring for you, for not providing better for you and your family. You are already planning for the raise you’re about to receive, you start to daydream about the new car you’ll finally be able to afford so your wife doesn’t have to drive an old beater around town. Your children will no longer have to wear hand-me-downs, but can look like the dignified children of a well-paid pastor.

And as you begin to put the final touches on your manuscript, your own words gaze up at you.

You cannot serve two masters.

You cannot serve God and money.

God will not be mocked.

To whom are these words directed?

Hearers? 

Preachers? 

All Christians?

You begin to rethink your sermon outline as you move onto the poetic texts of the day. You confess with Rodigast that whatever God ordains, it’s always good. You confess that whatever financial hardships you and your family suffer for the sake of the ministry are – according to Jesus – a blessing. You sing aloud that you will leave all things to God’s direction. You know that the Lord will incline His ear to you and answer you, that He will gladden your soul.

You confess, as you will confess again before you return to these readings on Sunday morning, that it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. How can you do anything but sing to the Lord? Why on earth, poorly clothed and underfed, would you do anything but make a joyful noise to the rock of your salvation?

Now listen, of course your congregation should pay you (or your husband), and they should pay you (or him) well. Of course they should pay you district scale and provide housing in some way, and provide for the care of your family’s bodies. But you, dear pastor, must also bear their burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Do you think you’re something when you’re actually nothing? You will have to bear your own load. Yes, your congregation should pay you as though you’re bearing to them the very Word of God and indeed the very Body of Christ because you are. If they don’t recognize it, it’s not because they’re dumb, it’s because they’ve been taught otherwise. Maybe by you, maybe by someone else. But assigning blame is pointless. Yes, of course, if the individual members of your congregation can provide for you and they choose to stuff their own pockets while you wither away financially, they are sinning. God will not be mocked. So reprove and correct their failure to keep in step with the Spirit by modeling for them what that Christ-focused sacrifice looks like.

Show them how to sow to the Spirit and not to the flesh. If you grow weary of doing good (and bearing evil), don’t be surprised when your hearers do the same. If you fail to take advantage of every opportunity to do good to the household of faith, don’t be surprised when your hearers embrace the same laziness. Teach, reprove, and correct. But also train your congregation, that they will be equipped for every good work. Before you fly off the handle this Sunday, read 2 Corinthians 1:3-6. Learn to be comforted (παράκλησις) so that you may comfort others. Be a man.

Do not be anxious about what you will wear, what you will eat, how you will fund your 403(b), or whether or not the LCMS will have a stuffed pension by the time you retire because you serve God, not money. Look at the birds, the flowers, the mountains, the streams – they’ve been around for much longer than you. In fact, birds, flowers, mountains, and rivers have a pedigree older than Man itself. Has God not always provided for them? Has God allowed them to remain beautiful even when our first father Adam hoisted his sin upon all creation? And yet God cares more for you, pastor, He cares more for you, pastor’s wife, than He does for any of these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things – God willing, even district scale, good healthcare, and a few new books – will be added unto you. 

Do not be anxious. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.