This is weird stuff because Jesus is weird. He’s not a cut-and-paste, trimmed-down moral teacher. He’s a friend to sinners who always does good and heals all under the devil's power because he’s God. Jesus takes on all the burden of life in this world in a catastrophically beautiful act of love, crucified for you.

And today, there’s a lovely rhyme in the life given to Harriet. Gary worked at the co-op, handling planting and harvest. Harriet took the grain that was harvested and transformed it into beautiful cakes for her family and friends. This, too, is a lovely picture of how Jesus takes the things He has made and combines, mixes, and transforms them into beautiful new creations. The seed is given to the sower, the harvested grain is given to the baker, and the baker adds water, salt, and leavening and transforms it into bread for the eater. 

We confess our sins in humility, acknowledge our faults, and ask for forgiveness in Jesus’ name. And here, week after week, you don’t need to exalt yourself. Instead, Jesus exalts you as He forgives, restores, and resurrects you from the death of sin to life with God. And God the Spirit will call with us more sinners, humbled by their iniquities but gathered to be forgiven and exalted in Jesus’s justification, too. 

I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

This is precisely why Jesus came to Jerusalem that Holy Week, to bear the sins of His people. He wept because He knew that most of His people would not recognize Him as the source of their forgiveness and peace. After Jesus arose, He came to His disciples and gave them peace, and then He breathed out His Holy Spirit upon them, and with that Spirit, the ministry of the forgiveness of sins. This was what made for their peace. 

The whole proclamation of the Christian Church is to speak the truth, and the calling of every Christian is to believe what Jesus says. We’re not given only to take the white pills and leave those ugly black ones for the gloomy types. No, we’re given to consume the whole scroll of God’s Word, bitter and sweet. We are called to be honest and true, not liars and fake. 

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

For this work of Jesus, our heavenly Father commends him for His wisdom and shrewdness. By dying, rising, and giving the wealth of the Father to those who do not deserve forgiveness, He has won friends for the Father to dwell with Him in the eternal tabernacles. Indeed, while from your perspective, you owe your God outstanding debts, from His perspective, He has forgiven them. And His forgiveness is far greater than the anti-type of the unjust steward. He has not forgiven only 20 or 50 percent of your debts to Him. In an act of utter worldly wastefulness (or godly forgiveness), He has removed the entire wage for your sin. Balance owed? Zero. Merit needed? Nothing. Worthiness to work on? Zip.

God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!