What a burden the lips of the preacher must bear! When he speaks, he must speak for God. He must ever and always deliver the gospel; nothing more and nothing less. Sometimes people presume that this is the easiest thing in the world to do. Church bureaucrats will often encourage parish pastors to move on from the gospel, to bigger and better things; to be about leading, organizing, and telling people what to do. "The gospel, obviously, everyone has down. They have it in their hip pocket. It is their possession. So why do we need to spend all this time preaching it, reinforcing it, and proclaiming it? Let's get on with doing the work of the church." And in that very mentality the gospel itself is put at risk and lost; covered up by our own busyness, activity, and doing. The cross of Christ is covered up by our beautiful works, like the church that installed a PowerPoint screen, which when it was lowered covered the crucifix! The Reformation historian Martin Brecht is right when he says, "The real medium of the Reformation was first the preached Word, not action."

The proclamation of the gospel is the entirety of the church's doing. It is the good tidings, good message, good news and good report; telling of what God has done and is still doing for our salvation in Christ. Nothing better or greater can be done than this. For in God's speech there is all the doing in the world. He accomplishes everything by speaking into being the life that comes from the cross of his Only-begotten Son. Here is God's doing! And even this doing is passive. He allows himself to be arrested. He permits hands to be placed upon Him. He watches His hands be bound. He allows Himself to be led away to a place of unjust judgment. He accepts unjust accusations. He faces those who ripped out His beard. He exposes His back to beatings. He bears His cross tearing into His shoulders. He lets wicked men lead Him to the place of His execution. He refuses the narcotic offered to Him and stretches out His arms on the cross bar. And yet no one takes his life from Him, he gives it up of His own accord (Jn 10:18). All his doing is an active passivity. In this non-doing there is the greatest doing. His gospel, because it is the message about this, also is the greatest doing. The preachers are armed with nothing else, but this sort of the spirit. He must rely not upon his own capacity or ability, his own cunning or human wisdom, his own charismatic personality or showmanship. All these will fail, because they are not the gospel; they are not the message of the death of Christ for the sins of the world. If active passivity is good enough for God's Son, it is good enough for those who carry the message that He has delivered to them. The preacher's lips will bear the weight of what God has sent to them.

If they bear that burden, then the burden of the law will be removed from God's people. Then what Jesus promises will be true for God's people: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Mt 11:28-30). When they bear that burden, you will hear Christ.