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John 18-19 "Forgiveness from the Cross"

John 18-19

The Way of Grace: Forgiveness from the Cross

Good Friday

April 3, 2015

In the world, forgiveness is rare. People usually have to earn forgiveness to get it. When prisoners serving jail sentences receive pardons, we hear explanations attempting to show that he has merited it either through good behavior or enough suffering. Do you want forgiveness? You have to earn it.

We might think we Christians are better at this forgiveness thing. But we too would prefer people to work their way up to being forgiven. How many times has someone sinned against us, and we are ready to forgive them, but only if they ask. And when they ask, they have to at least do so sincerely like they really mean it.  But for those who don’t, we are often passive aggressive, trying to give them hints of what they need to do to make things up. We prefer to forgive good people, those who have earned it, or at least who are well intentioned.

Today is Good Friday.  To the world this is just another Friday, the day before the weekend.  It goes by quietly for many in the world.  But for Christians, this day is one of special devotion, where we ponder again upon the suffering of Jesus that He took upon Himself out of love.  And what love it is that allowed the sinful world to get their hands on God.  God who became flesh, who lived His life among us, handed over to be crucified.  Human hands that held Divine hands against rough wood and nailed them there. 

Today is also the day where we give the Romans and the Jews a hard time for killing Jesus. How could they have done such a thing? We took part tonight in reading the passion narrative from St. John, even saying those words, “crucify Him!”  Those are hard words to say and we’d like to think that if we were there that we would have stuck up for Jesus, or at least kept our mouths shut in condemning Him to die.  But we are no better than the Romans and the Jews. While we may not have drove the nails into His hands or feet, it was our sin just the same that led Him out of His great love to die for us sinners.  We don’t deserve forgiveness any more than those who were there that day crying out for blood.  So why then is today called “Good”?

Good Friday is not “good” because of you or me. It does not require our goodness to be good for us. We are not, and never can be, good enough. Good Friday is good for us because God is good to us. Good Friday is all about the goodness and the mercy and the love of a gracious Father who has sent His Son, the only Good One, to forgive our lack of good, our evil, our sin.

Good Friday is good because Jesus is good to us. Good Friday is all about the divine Son who became our suffering Servant, the one anointed with the Holy Spirit to take upon himself our sins, the sins of an unworthy people, the sins of his enemies, to the cross. Forgiveness might be rare for us. But it is not rare for God. Forgiveness is what God does. Plain and simple: God says the word of absolution and it is done for you!

And why does God forgive us? Why does God look favorably upon us even when we mess up, when we rebel against God in our sin? The answer lies in the crucifixion itself.  For there we see what love really is.  It is not tolerating evil.  It is not condoning sin. But Jesus freely takes our “no goodness” upon Himself for our sake.  There the Son of Man is rejected, and hanging from the cross, as His death approaches, Jesus speaks His last words, “it is finished.”  But it is not a prayer for himself. Jesus is not selfish. What great love that Jesus does not think of Himself in that great moment of suffering and death, but thinks only of the needy, thinks only of sinners like you and me. What we are unable to do, Jesus does for us.  He offers up His perfect and sinless life, and takes upon Himself the punishment for our sin, the chastisement of us all.

Beloved in the Lord, let us never take this for granted.  We don’t deserve this forgiveness, for we are not good of ourselves.  We are like sheep gone astray, each to his own way.  But for the sake of His Son, God looks favorably upon wandering sinners.  By His Spirit, He calls us to Himself to receive the forgiveness won by the Son of God through faith in Him and His good works for us.  So that when God looks upon a world full of evil and sin and death and the power of the devil, for all those who believe in Him, He now calls “good” for the sake of His Son.

Today is Good Friday. Today we see in Jesus’ sacrifice and prayer the love of God in Christ. On the cross, we see how good Jesus is to us. See what Jesus has done for you. See his blood shed for you! Hear His prayer given for you! Forgiveness divine. Forgiveness from the cross.

“It is finished.” And so it is. Our forgiveness, our life, our salvation was won upon the cross, earned by the life, suffering, and death of Jesus, and received by us solely through faith.  For Jesus’ sake, God the Father says to you today: “I forgive you all your sins.” You are no longer enemies but friends of Jesus, and children of God.  Today truly is good, for from the cross, the Son earns it, God declares it, and the Spirit delivers it. Amen.

*This sermon was adapted from: THE WAY OF GRACE: A Sermon Series on the Sacraments Copyright © 2011, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO.

Mark 14:12-26 "Something New"

Mark 14:12-26

The Way of Grace: Something New, Until All Things Are New

Maundy Thursday

April 2, 2015

 

Human beings like rituals. We like patterns and celebrations that we observe time and time again. They help to identify us, to reassure us, and to make sense of the world around us. Athletes have their pre-game “superstitions”—these are just rituals. Families have their seating arrangements at the dinner table, or traditions at Thanksgiving or Christmas—these are rituals. Little children love rituals—you always have to read that favorite book the same way, with the same tone of voice, every single time.

What happens when you break the pattern of a ritual? Well, you can have full-scale rebellion, that’s what can happen! There better be a good reason for it, that’s for sure. And for a while, there will be confusion and uncertainty. So, if you’re going to do something different, something new, you need to be sure you know what you’re doing.

The Passover festival was a ritual.  Jesus’ disciples probably observed it every year throughout their lives. No matter what else they were thinking, then, when Jesus asked them to prepare to celebrate the Passover, they were expected a ritual. Even though Jesus had been telling them troubling things that they did not understand about His rejection and suffering and death, this evening would be the old unchanging familiar ritual.

But no. There will be something new. In the middle of the danger, the uncertainty, the troubling prediction that one of the twelve will betray him, Jesus gives his disciples something new, a new gift that had never been given before. Something new that the disciples only understood later, but that once they did understand and believe, became a gift that would carry them into the future. This same gift comes to us every time we gather for the holy supper, to sustain and carry us into the future—until all things are made new.

Let’s put ourselves back into the events of that night long ago. We can’t know specifically what the disciples were thinking. If the disciples thought that this Passover meal was going to be normal, they were soon shaken out of that way of thinking. St. Mark writes, “And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me, one who is eating with Me.’” What a shocking thing for Jesus to say! Passover was about how God had saved Israel long ago from their enemies—their enemies the Egyptians, their enemies “out there.” But now, Jesus says that the enemy is in here, right in that upper room, among the inner circle of the twelve.

The security and peace of the old ritual gone. The enemy is among us, one of us. And it’s even worse than they realize. The enemy is within us. The old ritual, as good and as important as it was, is not enough. A new relationship is needed, a new covenant is needed. And God will have to do it because one of them will betray him, and they will all fall away. Jesus made it clear that something new was needed if there was to be forgiveness, if there was going to be a people of God, and people for God, people who are following Jesus.

So, somewhere during this familiar, old ritual, Jesus gave them an utterly unexpected gift. It’s a gift that comes because of who Jesus is—God’s Son, with absolute authority to give the gifts He wants to give. It’s a gift that comes because of what Jesus said. He said, “Take this bread, and eat it. This is my body.” Talk about something new! It’s not, “This reminds us of the bread of affliction, the bread of haste that our fathers had to eat when they left the land of Egypt.” It’s not just participating by faith in something that happened long ago. It is right now, amazing, miraculous, stunningly new. Take this bread and eat it. This is my body.

There’s more. Jesus took the cup of wine, and gave it to them, and something new happened. That very night, Jesus would be betrayed, and His betrayal would mean His blood would be poured out to forgive sins. The old sacrifices were pointing forward to this all along. Now, the Son of God’s blood would flow, to bring cleansing and forgiveness for everyone. Jesus gave them the cup and said, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

Long ago, that night when he was betrayed, keeping old promises, Jesus gave a new gift that would sustain them in their life as his disciples. Jesus’ body and blood would forgive them, as they believed His words in the days and years to come. Jesus’ body and blood would bind them together as a people through faith in Him crucified and raised.  Jesus’ body and blood would strengthen and preserve them in this life until that glorious day when God will set the full heavenly feast and the whole creation will rejoice. On that day, all things will be made new, in heaven and on the earth.

This is what happened that night, so long ago. It was unexpected. It was new, a new gift from Christ, His body and blood to strengthen and forgive His disciples, to bind them together as one people. It was a new gift, until all things are made new. And all things are not yet fully made new—still there is sin and darkness and brokenness in the world and in our lives.

Since the glory and the banquet are not fully here, this gift that Jesus gave long ago—this new gift—it here also for us. It is Christ’s new gift for us, until all things are made new. This old, old story of what Christ gave His disciples—this story comes true again, right now, among us. What we do today is not just a remembering, it’s not just a symbol, it’s not an echo of what Jesus did. What Jesus gave His disciples that night, He gives also to us, and for the same reasons.

You see, we need this gift as often as we can receive it.  Every time Christians gather to believe what Jesus said about this bread and wine, Jesus gives Himself to poor miserable sinners. We believe His words that tell us that our mouths eat His body and our mouths drink His blood. Our hearts believe that this gift is to forgive us and to bind us together with each other in Him until all things are made new. We eat and drink together, as one people, even as we long for the day when all disciples will eat together at the table of the Lord. Because all things will be made new.

It was dark outside that night, long ago, and the disciples were troubled, afraid. They didn’t even recognize the new gift that Jesus was giving them. But after He rose from the dead, then they saw and believed.

It can be hard to be His disciples, also today. The same fear plagues us. It can be dark in our world, dark in our hearts. But fear not! Christ Jesus has given his body and poured out his blood to conquer your enemies both those without, and those within, to forgive your sins, and to bind you together in faith and in purpose. This old gift—is new again today. Receive it, receive Him again and again and again, until He comes to make all things new. Amen.

*This sermon was adapted from: THE WAY OF GRACE: A Sermon Series on the Sacraments Copyright © 2011, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO.

Philippians 2:5-11 - Humbly Exalted

Philippians 2:5-11

Humbly Exalted

Palm Sunday

 March 29, 2015

The excitement could be felt in the air.  Everyone was talking about it.  Pilgrims from all over the world had come to town for the week that would end with the biggest celebration of the year.  The city swelled from 275,000 people to 2.75 million. 

But along with the excitement comes anxiety, especially with so many extra people.  It’s no wonder that some feared the crowds. He who controls the mob controls the city.  And so extra police were called in just in case, but there was fear that the crowds would react to this badly.  And even more, with the question that the whole city was talking about, “could He be the one?  Could He be the Christ?”

And then He comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, just like the Israelite kings of old.  “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel!”  The crowds met Him with joy and praise and hope, waving their palm branches and laying down their cloaks in front of Him. 

Today their song has become ours.  We welcome the Lord who comes into our presence with joy and thanksgiving and praise and hope.  And yet it’s a bittersweet day. For it also serves as the beginning of Holy Week, of focusing upon the passion and death of our Lord.  This week, this Sunday until next Sunday is what our Christian faith is all about.

Our closing hymn for today explains it really well.  The first and last verses capture Palm Sunday and Holy Week perfectly.  “Ride on, ride on in majesty, Hark! All the tribes hosanna cry! O Savior meek, pursue Thy road, with palms and scattered garments strowed.  Ride on Ride on in majesty in lowly pomp ride on to die.  Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain, Then take, O God, Thy pow’r and reign.” (LSB 441)

Jesus knows that His being glorified is not being received by the crowd with palm branches.  The welcome is appropriate, but neither Jesus’ disciples nor the crowds completely understand what that really means.  But they’re going to find out. But His being glorified takes place in going to cross, His glory of giving His life for us, followed by His glorious resurrection from the dead. 

And so St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians speaks God’s Word to strengthen both our understanding and our faith.  “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with Gad a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  The cross is the entire point of Christianity, and thus of Palm Sunday, of Holy Week, and of our lives.

The way of grace leads to the cross; to the cross where Jesus died for us.  And then the way of grace flows from the cross to us through God’s Word and Sacraments. As a response, our praise and thanksgiving ascend back to God for what He has done for us. There is sadness in this day and this week, to be sure.  But there is also Easter. 

We too often don’t understand the reality of this. There’s a reason why Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services always have lower attendance than Sunday morning: we don’t always get it.  And what we understand, we don’t always like.  We hear about it over and over again, which is good. Yet, we become numb to the cross, numb to what Christ underwent for our sake, numb to the glory of the Son of God lifted upon a tree to die, and hence numb to the glory of the resurrection.

Repent.  Repent for waving your palm branches in praise today, then tomorrow forgetting what this is all about.  Repent for wanting only Easter but ignoring how Jesus got into the tomb.  For God the Father exalted His Son upon the cross and there bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name—Jesus, the Lord saves.  This salvation, this justification, the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation are won by Christ the crucified.

We do not, we cannot, justify ourselves, but by God through Christ who was like us in all ways, though without sin, humbled Himself to serve us by forgiving our sins upon the cross. As believers in Christ, in bowing our knees to our Lord through faith, we too are exalted with Christ. His glory is for us.  Jesus is lifted up so that all who believe in Him might be lifted up.  That we might be lifted up out of our sin. That we might be lifted up out this sinful world. That we might be lifted out from 6 ft under.

The exaltation of a Christian in this life looks like that of Jesus’ life.  Stricken, smitten, and afflicted.  Beat down by the world, our sin, and the devil.  Our Christian exaltation is most clearly seen in suffering. But again, not in our suffering, but in the suffering of Christ upon the cross.  There, He suffers for you. There is humbled for you. There He dies for you. There He is lifted up for all the world to see, the death of the Son of God.

In our life, as we look to the cross, we realize that not everything is going to be perfect.  Christ was crucified between two criminals. So we the church exist between in a sinful and fallen and rebellious world.  We often want to live our lives secluded from the all the evil of the world, attempting to protect ourselves and our families from danger.  Yet the Kingdom of God exists surrounded by enemies, and those who would distract us from the cross and the empty grave.

May God gives us the strength and courage to not look away this week but to rejoice in the Son of God who was humbly exalted to save us. The Father has glorified the name of Jesus by placing it upon us.  In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hebrews 5:1-10 - The High Priest

Hebrews 5:1-10

The High Priest

Lent 5B

March 22, 2015

 

In all fairness, the punishment ought to fit the crime.  And in perfect justice, atonement for sin demands a blood covering. Blood for blood.  Life for life. In the Old Testament, the animal’s blood was a substitute for the life of the person. The blood was carefully separated from the animal’s flesh, collected, and used in accordance with God’s command as a blood covering for the people’s sins.  The ones who were responsible in getting this done were the priests.

During the ordination of the Old Testament priests, the blood of sacrificial animals was sprinkled on them to cover their sin and set them apart for service before the Lord in His tabernacle (Ex 29:21). The priests collected the blood from sacrificial animals and applied it daily to the tabernacle altar.  Without this blood rite, nothing could be burned on the altar, no one could eat in God’s presence, no priest could enter the Holy Place, and no blessing could be pronounced upon the people. In this daily blood rite, the life of the animal was a substitute for the life of the people.

Also, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place and approached the ark of the covenant, the throne of grace, where God in His love dwelt with His people (Heb 9:7; see p 495).  The High Priest was chosen from the sons of Aaron, but did not take this responsibility upon himself.  His main job was simply this: to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer prayers and sacrifices for sins. The high priest had to bathe before entering the Most Holy Place to avoid certain death. He applied some of the sacrificial animal’s blood to the mercy seat. Then he retreated from God’s presence and brought the remaining blood out of the Most Holy Place and applied the most holy blood to the altar’s horns as a blood covering (atonement) for the people’s rebellion (Lv 16:1–16).[1]

You might ask, even though this is interesting, why are we hearing about it right now?  In the Old Testament, these priests and their work was simply to serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5).  All the Old Testament sacrifices pointed to the one all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But you see, Jesus is not only the sacrifice, He is also a priest, and not just any priest, but THE High Priest.  Again, the High Priest’s main job was simply this: to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer prayers and sacrifices for sins. 

Just as the high priest in the Old Testament took the animal’s blood into God’s presence in the Holy of Holies and brought the most holy blood out to cleanse the altar, so Jesus offered His own blood, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and entered into the heavenly sanctuary to be with His Father. As true God and true man, Jesus lived a perfect life under the law. When it was His hour-then, and not before-He laid down His life of His own accord, as a gracious, life-giving sacrifice. The Lord provides Himself as the sacrifice. He is the scapegoat, the peace offering, the whole burnt offering, the guilt offering and the meal offering. His blood is the required blood covering for the sin of the world. And what’s more, He is the One who offers. He has done it all, and He had done it all for you. He did what we are unable to do with all our filthy good works and sinful motives.

This has incredible implications for us here and now.  Because if Jesus is the High Priest and the perfect sacrifice for sin, then you are not.  There was a mistake made sometimes in the Old Testament, one which still lives on today unfortunately.  That mistake was that the sacrifices of the people, doing the Law, in other words what we do for God, makes up for our sin.  We talk about our sacrificial service to God and others, which is all well and good.  But when we start to think that our good works earn God’s favor, that we make God smile because we are a good person, then we are in for a world of trouble. 

King David gets it after he is caught in his sin with Bathsheba. He writes in Psalm 51:16-19, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  Do good to Zion in Your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will You delight in right sacrifices…”

Our good works, our sacrifices we make for God and for others and good, right, and salutary.  But they do not earn our forgiveness. They do not make up for our sin. Rather, they flow out of a contrite heart full of faith in the Christ who freely forgives.  He acts first, and our sacrificial response is simply one of thanksgiving and praise for what He has done for us.  God does not need these works, but our neighbor does. And so we strive throughout this life to do godly service to our neighbors, but always being on guard so as not think of ourselves too highly.  The sacrifice of Christ dying on the cross is enough for the sins of the whole world. There is no need for other sacrifices, as though Jesus’ was not enough for our sins.  Jesus came to establish an everlasting covenant and atonement for our sins.

Jesus’ sacrifice is done, it is finished, as He proclaims from the cross.  But His work is not over. He continues to act on behalf of His people.  In Holy Baptism, Jesus sprinkles us externally with His most holy blood, cleansing us and pardoning our sin, setting us apart to be His holy people, to serve God has a royal priesthood of believers in our vocations.  In the Lord’s Supper, He sprinkles us internally with His most holy blood, setting us apart to serve in the heavenly sanctuary with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.

The Son who represents the Father to us, presents us to the Father.  We can approach God through His Son confident not in our merits, but in the merits of Christ.

 

[1] Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 2117.

Numbers 21:4-9 "The Disease of Boredom"

Numbers 21:4-9

The Disease of Boredom

Lent 4B

March 15, 2015

Everyone gets bored. There isn’t a parent nor a teacher alive who has not been plagued by a bored child. Not a boring child, but a bored one. “I’m so bored!” comes the moaning cry from one who has iPods, TVs, video games, friends, and more. And it doesn’t really get much better as we get older.  Surrounded by stuff to do and things to see and engage in, still we’re plagued with boredom.  So people try to fill boredom up with all manner of things. From toy trains to playing sports to getting drunk to getting high to going to the gym to being a couch potato.  The laundry list of stuff to do is limited only by our imagination. Funny how boredom isn’t so easily overcome just by stuff to do. In fact, stuff to do never gets rid of boredom. It merely postpones it.

But boredom can’t really be defined simply by having nothing to do. That’s surface boredom. Everyone can find something to do. And we have all experienced boredom even while doing stuff. We can be bored at and even by our work. We can be bored with sports. We can be bored with our families or our home life.  We can be bored at church. No, boredom goes deeper than having nothing to do.

At the heart of boredom is rebellion.  Consider the people of God during the Exodus.  God had rescued them out of Egypt. He had led them through the desert.  He had provided for them water from a rock that Moses stuck, quail and manna from heaven to fill their bellies.  Maybe upwards of 2 million people were there.  That’s a lot of people to talk to, to play with, to get to know.  And what do they do?  They whine, speaking against God and against Moses, because they are bored with their lives, bored with the gifts of food and sustenance that God had provided kept them alive for years. 

What we have here is a classical case of acedia, one of the seven deadly sins, usually translated as sloth.  But this is more than just laziness.  This is a prevailing boredom with the holy things of God.  One theologian has described this sin like a type of spiritual morphine: we know the pain is there, yet we simply can’t rouse ourselves to care.  We become numb toward God and toward His gifts.  The manna, the quail, the pillar of fire by night and cloud by the day had lost their luster.  How the Israelites could have complained against God and Moses over these things is almost beyond our comprehension.

Before we judge the Israelites too harshly, we must take a good, hard look at ourselves.  We are surrounded by electronics, by a constant demands for our attention.  Over and over again I hear the same thing-our lives are so busy and hectic.  Attention Deficit Disorder seems to be becoming the norm.  You would think with all the stimulation that we wouldn’t get bored.  Yet, the busyness of our lives is a dead giveaway that the solid and lasting things of the kingdom of God have lost their luster among us. Our busyness with work, with sports, with ourselves is just another attempt to stave off our spiritual boredom and fill it with earthly and fleeting things.

The third commandment, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, teaches us that it is our duty to keep God’s sacred things holy among us.  These holy things most clearly and directly delivered to us here, when the Holy Spirit gathers us together to hear His Word and receive His Sacraments.  

And yet, every one of us here has had a Sunday when we became bored through part of the Service.  “I’ve done all this before. I’ve heard all this before. I get it all ready.”  And we simply go through the motions, checking out our watch until it’s over and we can go to something more exciting.  The liturgy is more than form and ritual, but enacted reality, holy ground where we actually come into the presence of God to receive His gifts, then to praise Him in word and song, with our body and soul.  When spending time with God gets boring, where does the problem lie? With God, or with you?

Or consider this.  Historically in the Lutheranism Communion was offered each week for all those who wish to receive it.  One of the biggest complaints about offering weekly Communion is that it will lose its meaning if it’s done too often. In other words, it’ll get boring.  It’s the same old manna from heaven, I’m tired of being fed by God.  Good Lord, what sinful thoughts and words! What apathy toward the gifts of God. What sloth! Repent.

Our sin stings us like the bite of a snake, though all too often we are so sick that we don’t even feel it.  We need a doctor to diagnose our bite, but even more importantly, to prescribe the right treatment-repent and believe in Him who was lifted up for all to see.  This sounds too easy, too convenient, yet there He is, lifted up on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins.  This cross isn’t the most exciting, and our wandering eyes don’t like to linger there.  We are reminded of the great sacrifice our Lord made for us men and for our salvation.  When faith looks up to Christ crucified, God saves from eternal death all victim of the fatal venom of sin. 

Thus, this treatment isn’t something new or different than it has ever been. The solution to our spiritual boredom and apathy isn’t less Jesus, it is more Jesus.  More time spent with Him and His Word. More receiving His Sacramental gifts. To receive that objective and solid truth that our sins are forgiven regardless of the whims of our feeling or our boredom with Christ. We are part of God’s ongoing story of salvation. We have been made into the living children of the living God, made to be and to do what God has created us in Christ Jesus, the good works He has prepared beforehand for us to walk in.  We look beyond this fleeting sinful world, the tiring old complaints of sin, the uncertainty and confusion of this life.  For we have the promise of eternal life, the promise of our living Lord to sustain us throughout this life and into the next.  And there is nothing boring about that.

Mark 8:31-38 "Unashamed of the Cross"

Mark 8:31-38

Unashamed of the Cross

2nd Sunday in Lent

March 1, 2015

How quickly something goes from good to bad.  Peter had just answered Jesus’ question about whom the disciples say that He is.  He answers correctly, in faith stating, “You are the Christ.”  And then he turns around at the first opportunity to correct Jesus on what this means and what this looks like.  Peter will not accept a suffering Christ until after the resurrection.  We too live after the resurrection, yet still the fears  and doubts plague us.

How easy it is for us to be like Peter.  How quickly we are to say, “I believe in Jesus,” then want to turn around and contradict Him in what He says.  We make bold statements, but do when push comes to shove, do we live up to it?  All too often, we don’t want a Jesus whose word means what He says.  We don’t want a Jesus who doesn’t give any wiggle room when it comes to sin. We don’t want a Jesus who doesn’t fit our idea of what He ought to be.  When it comes down to it, this is a temptation for all us, and one in which we all too often fall into sin because of.

Why? What causes us to want to pick and choose what to believe about Jesus?  What causes us to keep your mouths shut about Him when someone says something that is wrong or misrepresenting Him or His church? What causes us to avoid looking someone in the eye, of getting that uncomfortable feeling in our gut, of just wanting to run and hide from the situation?

Shame. Shame is often at the heart of this issue.  In a world where sin is excused and shame over that sin is downplayed in the name of tolerance and progress, shame is heaped upon those who would follow Christ.  And we fear it.  We fear the scorn, the weird looks, the gossip.  What if they don’t like me? What if they stop talking to me? What if they lose their friendship, the relationship with family? 

But there’s more.  We try to justify ourselves by thinking, “I’m not ashamed of Christ and of being a Christian, I’m just avoiding problems by not speaking up.  It’s not that I’m anticipating my own shame or that passed on to another generation, I’m just pretending I don’t really understand what is going on, and it’s really none of my business.  Fear of being ashamed leads us to put our mind on the things of man, not upon the things of God. Jesus’ words are pretty straight forward here, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” The shame of hell is far worse than that of man.

Repent.  For Jesus warns that He has come to suffer, die, and rise, and that all who believe in Him must carry the cross.  The temptation is always there to avoid the worldly shame of the cross.  Repent of your shame of Jesus, for even this He has taken upon Himself. He has suffered many things and rejection by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and was killed, but after three days He rose again, destroying the power of the cause of shame.  For the shame of our sins, for the shame that we feel and that we don’t, but shouldn’t, Jesus takes the cross.  Jesus suffered for our salvation and has overcome the temptations of the flesh, the sinful world, and the devil.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you have no need to be ashamed.  This adulterous and sinful generation is temporary and fleeting.  Adam and Eve were naked in the garden and they were not ashamed. Why? Because there was no sin. So too Abraham was called by God to walk before Him, and be blameless.  We too stand before God, bearing naked all our thoughts, words, and deeds. We too, like Adam and Eve, like Abraham, like all the saints of God who have gone before us, can stand unashamed, for our nakedness is clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness.  We need no shame because we have no blame, for it was all laid upon Him. 

Isaiah 53:3, 5, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not… But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.”

The shame of our sinfulness, of our wavering, of our own Peter like-rebuke toward Christ when His Word says something we don’t like, is forgiven. We stand unashamed of the Gospel.  Unashamed to follow a crucified Christ.  Unashamed to serve one another, to be in submission to one another.  Unashamed of denying ourselves, denying our sinful desires, denying a world which is hostile to Christ and therefore is hostile to us.  Unashamed of whatever suffering and death we face for our Savior, who suffered and died in our place.  Because of this, unashamed to take up the burden of the cross - proclaiming the Good News to a world who often doesn’t want to know about Jesus.  Facing the shame of the world not with pride, but with humbleness, not with wavering, but by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. We can go through life, confident in St. Paul’s words to young Timothy in his first letter, 1:12.  “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

Mark 1:9-15 "The Sacrifice of a Son"

Mark 1:9-15

The Sacrifice of a Son

1 Sunday in Lent B

February 22, 2105

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.” Brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the message for you here today.  This is the message of the church of God in Christ Jesus to the world. 

And on this, the first Sunday in Lent, we focus upon this very fact, this reality of our lives.  The time is fulfilled.  The promised Messiah has come. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, has come into the world, who offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins. And by that single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:1-13).

This is the point of the Old Testament reading for today with Abraham and Isaac.  The Lord provided the sacrifice so that Isaac could be spared.  That Lamb is God’s own beloved Son.  As the substitute of all men, in our Gospel reading, we hear how Jesus is driven by the Spirit out into the wilderness after His baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.  There He is tempted by Satan in order to endure and defeat all temptation.  What God did with Abraham foreshadows the cross of Christ.  The sacrifice of a Son. What Jesus does in the wilderness being tempted by the devil does the same. 

All too often we try to make the sacrifices ourselves, feeling as though God is demanding and unfair in what He asks us.  We don’t face temptation the same way that our Lord did.  We can’t.  The Lord can hear the temptation and not sin.  He doesn’t have the desire for evil, He doesn’t fall as our first parents, Adam and Eve, did.  Yet sin infects us. When we are tempted to sin, we consider it. And imagine what it would be like “if only.”  And we are dirtied by it. Our passions translate into sin in thought, word, and deed.  We are not in control. We do not resist. We are not strong.

Repent. Repent of your sin. Of trying to sacrifice to earn God’s favor. Of trying to stand up to temptation by yourself. Of yielding to temptation and falling into sin. Of trying to bring God’s kingdom down into this earth by your own actions.

Yes, repent and believe the gospel.  For all our temptations that lead into sin, for all our selfishness and perversions, we have a great strength in Christ.  All that Jesus did, He did for us.  He faced temptation and beat it back with His Word.  He serves an example, the most perfect example of a truly godly life.  But even more, He stands in our place.  We don’t have to overcome the devil. We don’t have to suffer for our sins. The Holy Spirit drives Jesus out into the desert on purpose.  To be the people of God personified.  Jesus replicates the experience of the people of God in the wilderness.  Here His “forty” corresponds to their “forty years” in the Exodus.  Unlike the children of Israel, Jesus does it right. He does it perfectly. He overcomes temptation acting as the people of God should act.

This is what pleases the Father about His beloved Son.  This is why He was anointed by John the Baptist in the Jordan.  To stand in our place. He was tempted for us even as He was crucified for us.  For He faced down the temptations and the sin, and then He offered Himself up as the once and for all sacrifice for our sin.  He died the death that we deserve.  He took the punishment that we deserve.  He bore the wrath of God that we deserve.  Our sin was served to Him, so that He may serve the world with eternal life. 

This is what pleases the Father about those who are His beloved children through faith in Christ.  Jesus brings with Him the kingdom of God.  God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father give us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity (SC explanation of the 2nd petition). Redeemed through our Savior’s sacrificial service, out of pure grace, so we, whether at Zion Lutheran Church, our Daycare, or our School share that grace of God with others. Forgiven and restored through Jesus, the Suffering Servant, we hear His call, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:44), which is the theme this year for National Lutheran Schools Week.

The focus of Lutheran churches and schools is upon this Servant of the Lord, the One who suffers, dies, and is risen in our place, for our justification. We confess Christ. We worship Christ. We teach Christ. We serve Christ by serving others, showing His grace to fellow members of the school and church family, to the community and into the world.  With that same saving good news of God, that in Christ, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel.”

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