Sermon prepared for Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn WA

8:30 & 11:00 traditional services – 8-4-02

by Gregory S. Kaurin, associate pastor

 

text: Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon:

Satis Est

Click to go to: home page - or - sermon menu - or - sermon archives

 

The title of today’s sermon is probably my favorite Latin phrase.  It is a two-word prayer from the Bible and from God that I sometimes use to shut the mouth of the devil.  Satis est.  Say that once: [sah-tis est].  Satis means, “full, complete, enough.”  Satis est means, then, “It satisfies.  It is enough.”

I said that you can use this prayer, “Satis est,” to shut the mouth of the devil.  Martin Luther once responded to some questions about Satan by telling a group of people, “You want to know what Satan looks like?  Look in your mirror!”  Now, we might think that he was making a commentary all the wicked things we do to others, all our sinfulness.  I also think, though, about the voice that so many of us hear when we are looking in that mirror.  There is that voice in our head critiquing our body and face, our looks, and hair and age and weight.  Even underneath the surface of what we often call “vanity” is actually a thin mask of self-doubts and fears.

So, we look at that mirror and hear that nagging voice in our head.  Someone might say, “Oh you’re just being too hard on yourself.”  I think it’s more serious.  Who do you think that voice in your head really is?  Who would want to undermine Jesus’ message of unqualified saving grace and love?  Who would want to try to convince you that you’re not good enough, not smart enough, too ugly, too young, too poor, too sick, forgetful, misunderstood or disliked? 

That self-deprecating voice that wants you to think that you haven’t done enough, or won’t amount to anything is not just your low self-esteem.  It’s not just the haunting voices of your past.  And it is certainly not the voice of God—though there are a few people who imagine that it is.  That cutting voice is the voice of lies and deceit, wickedness and evil.  It is Satan who wants nothing more than to tear you down, tear you apart, along with all those people that God loves.  This is how the devil can get many of us to doubt the power of Christ’s forgiveness, the sincerity of God’s love, and the beauty in each person that he has created.

If and when you start to hear that nagging voice—or any voice that undercuts Jesus’ love for you—as soon as you hear a “yes, but” added to that love—then cut that voice off and shut him up with these two words: “Satis est!”  Say it again: [Satis est.]  It is enough: God’s love, Jesus’ sacrifice, and my forgiveness.  Each and every new day is a gift, and it is enough.  Satis est. 

 

It’s enough, and it’s also enough to change the way that you live.  There is not only a saving power in God’s grace.  As if that’s not enough, there is also a transforming power.  If you can shut down that nagging, doubting voice long enough, and believe in the strength of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and the resurrected life that he has handed to you, if you can believe that, then it’s enough to transform the way that you live your life, and the way that you see everything around you.

You have enough!  You have everything: forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.  You have all the time in the universe.  Satis est!  That means that you can enjoy the moment and take time for each person, for every task.  You might get stuck in traffic, or in the wrong checkout line at the grocery store.  It seems, no matter how you might gauge it, you always end up in the line that takes the longest, or behind the slowest customer in the store!  But that’s okay!  You’ve got eternity to play with.  Your next errand isn’t everything in the world.  This extra time can be a gift.  It’s a gift of time to turn to God in prayer, or to chat with the person next to you, or to pray for that cashier and her family that maybe you don’t even know.

Whatever!  You have eternity.  You have love.  You have peace.  You have time.  And you are commanded, commanded, to rejoice in it, to be joyful.  Satis est—satisfied.

 

So, it transforms your life.  God’s grace changes how you experience each moment and each person.  It also changes your vision, how you see people and actions.  You begin to see something just below the surface.

In our gospel lesson, the people had been gathered around Jesus all day long.   They were hungry, and Jesus wasn’t the only one who felt sympathy for them.  Matthew tells us the disciples said to Jesus, “Let them go, Lord!  They need to find food!”

But Jesus answered, “No.  We don’t need to send them away.  They need food, so you answer their need.  You feed them.”

“But, Lord, 5,000 men …not to mention the women and children!  All we have are five loaves and two fish.”

To which Jesus responded: “Bring them.”  “Bring them here to me.”  Two fish and five loaves, in Christ’s name, satis est; it was enough.

What might have happened if the disciples had said the following instead? “Lord, there are 5,000 men and their families.  Here are five loaves and a couple fish.  If you’ll say the blessing, then we’ll at least share what we do have.”  I believe the exact same miracle would have happened, because I think this was what Jesus was trying to teach them, and to teach us.  “Respond because you see a problem, and respond with what you do have.  Don’t let ‘not having enough’ stop you from using what you do have.”  Satis est.  You have enough to do something about it.  And it is enough simply to respond.

Whenever you do, then the actual value becomes eternal.  It represents your heart and soul.  It is loving God with your whole heart, soul, strength and mind.  It is loving your neighbor as yourself.  When you are behind what you do, and the love of God is backing you up, then you are not just serving your small fish and loaves.  You are dishing up the Kingdom of God.  Satis est; it is more than enough.

Deuteronomy 14:11 in the Old Testament captures the response.  That passage comes after a series of commandments.  God says, “Don’t harden your heart.  Don’t close your fist.  Remember everything I’ve given and done for you.”  Finally, Deuteronomy 14:11 adds, “Of course, there will never cease to be poor people in the country.”  Many years later, Jesus would say, “You will always have the poor with you.”  Deuteronomy 14:11 goes on to say, “And that is why I am giving you this command: always be open-handed with your neighbor, and with anyone who is poor and in need.”  You will always have the poor, so feed them.

God isn’t saying, “Solve it.”  That would be a wonderful thing to do!  In fact, God has promised that he will solve it one day.  Hungering and suffering and tears will cease.  Joy and peace will overflow, like twelve basketfuls of leftovers: enough to feed all the tribes.  All nations will come to him and be filled, satisfied.

But now this day, (satis est) it is enough to do something with what you do have.  That is an expression and an experience of the Kingdom now.  You will always have the poor.   You will always have the neglected.  You will always have children in your classroom.  You will always have unwed mothers, and droughts, and airline crashes, widows and hospitals.  You will always have lonely people in assisted living and in prisons, and drunks stumbling across dangerous intersections.  You will always have these.

You see the problems.  Instead of saying, “I can’t fix it!  I can’t do it all,” turn the “all” and the “fixing it” over to Jesus—and just do something with what you do have.  Respond to each new day of your salvation with joy and gratitude.  You might have next to nothing, and you will still have everything you need to respond in joy.

 

I was gone last week because I had just finished a weeklong class on gratitude and joyful giving at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN.  Today’s gospel lesson was one that we spent a lot of time talking about.  Pastor Don Haven was one of the presenters and he said, “The opposite of ‘giving up’ something is ‘sitting on’ it.  If you want to kill the life of anything,” Pastor Haven said, “just sit on it,” keep it to yourself, possess it.

He then said something about the geography of the Jordan River that I knew, but I had never noticed the meaning.  The Jordan River is considered a holy river, being the place of Jesus’ baptism and many Biblical happenings.  This holy river actually flows into two bodies of water as it moves south.  The first is the Sea of Galilee.  The Jordan waters flow into it from the north, and then out from it on the south shore.  As a result of this replenishing flow, the Sea of Galilee is a fresh-water sea.

The Jordan River then continues southward to flow into another large body of water, but that sea has no outlet.  It just takes and takes from this holy river.  As a result, the salt content is higher than the ocean, and it is given this name: the Dead Sea.

 

When you have God’s holiness, and Jesus’ presence constantly flowing into you, let that salvation transform you into a person whose outlet is joy and generosity.  Stay full of fresh holy water in your life.  Let it open your hands and send it along your prayers and your heart as well.

Join together with your brothers and sisters in Christ and people around you and do something.  Satis est.  When you do something it is enough to represent everything you have and everything you are.  The Kingdom of God is already there as well, so “success” is not the “solution” or the “cure.”  “Success” is the love and the loving action. 

“Lord, all we have is in these two fish and five loaves.”  It is enough.  Satis est.  Bring them.  Bring them.

 

Click to go to: home page - or - sermon menu - or - sermon archives