Sermon for Easter 5, May 7, 2023
Acts 4:8-12 8Then Peter, filled with the
Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, 9if
we are being questioned today for a kind act that was done for the lame man, as
to how this man has been healed, 10let it be
known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that it was by the name of
Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the
dead! By him this man stands before you
healed. 11This Jesus is
the stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12“There is salvation in no one
else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must
be saved.” (EHV)
Jesus is the name of
salvation.
Dear heirs of a home in heaven,
They
rejected the Messiah God sent; arrested, slandered, tortured, crucified, and
killed God’s Son, hoping to erase Jesus’ name from the people’s memories. When those priests and rulers heard the
soldiers’ report of angels opening the tomb and the body missing, they tried to
hide the news of Jesus’ resurrection to keep their treachery hidden and to keep
people from learning that Jesus arose and lives forever. However, a few weeks later, after the Holy
Spirit had filled Jesus’ apostles with the boldness and ability to spread that
Good News, the disciples began their apostolic work preaching daily in the
temple to let the people hear the Good News that Jesus is the name of
salvation.
As the apostles shared the Good News of
forgiveness and life through faith in Christ, the number of people believing in
Jesus as God’s promised Messiah and our Savior grew rapidly. Those same Jewish leaders who had tried to
eliminate Jesus grew more and more determined to intimidate and silence the men
sent to tell the world about Jesus.
After a beggar born lame was healed at the temple through Peter’s
command and touch, the rulers arrested Peter and John and threw them in prison
overnight. In questioning them the next
day, those leaders challenged the apostles’ authority to preach and pretended
that the healing of that stricken man was somehow evil. Our sermon text is Peter’s answer to the
rulers’ interrogation.
The first thing you might notice is that Peter
no longer shies away from opposition, nor is he impetuously provocative as he
was previously sometimes prone to do.
Filled with the Spirit of the Lord, Peter can now stand there boldly and
confidently in the face of danger and call out the truth. One thing that jumps out is how Peter treats
the accusation of doing something questionable in healing a lame beggar. The rulers had treated that miracle like some
kind of shameful thing. Peter bluntly
describes it for what it is, a kind act, but notice too, he takes no credit for
that healing, but rather, confirms that Jesus’ power to heal is again
demonstrated. The Man those leaders had
so desperately tried to eliminate is still working among the people, though now,
through the hands of His followers.
You and I can expect similar treatment from the
world. Do something good, kind, or
helpful, and some unbelievers may see you as doing something dirty or
evil. You are working for your own
benefit or pride, they might say. Preach
the truth of God’s law, and you will undoubtedly be accused of being
prejudiced, two-faced, a hypocrite, or any of several other derogatory
judgments.
Still, before we get to that point, how many of
you heard what those Jewish rulers were doing and thought those were some
wicked men? How many of us thought they
didn’t deserve to hear that Jesus paid for their sins. And, both of these opinions is certainly
true, but they are also true for me and you.
All of us have had wicked thoughts in our hearts. Furthermore, whenever we decide to go against
God’s commands, whichever commandment you might choose to violate, we too are
rejecting what God has said, and thereby rejecting our Lord. The Bible tells us several times, “Every
one has turned away. Altogether they
have become rotten. There is no one who
does good. There is not even one.” (Psalms
14:3) For this reason, everyone on earth
deserves condemnation and thus needs to hear both law and gospel to be saved.
Even as Peter hinted at the shame of
considering this good work as something bad, he pointed those who accused him
to the Savior who died for all. He said,
“Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that it was
by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised
from the dead! By him this man stands
before you healed.” The word used
for “healed” here is the same word that call us saved. That former cripple now clung to the
apostle’s message with great hope. The
Holy Spirit who empowered Peter to speak, likewise, wanted those leaders of the
Jews and the countrymen who called for Jesus to be crucified to be brought to
their knees in repentance so that they all could be saved.
How it must have cut those hearts to hear that
the Man they had crucified possessed the power to heal a cripple even after
dying on the cross. Of course, Jesus
didn’t stay dead because God raised Him from the dead to give us all
forgiveness and life. By His
resurrection from the tomb, Jesus opened for us the path of healing that fixes
our infirmities forever. Jesus promised,
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16) We are not saved just for a few days on
earth, nor so that we have less pain or suffering in this mortal life, but so
that we may enjoy the perfect peace and perfect life in heaven where “There
will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things
have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
Jesus worked out this salvation, not just for those who suffer much on
earth, nor for those who appear to be holier than some others, nor just for
those who practice greater external piety.
Those rulers who were to be building Christ’s
Church beginning at the temple with the Jewish people had fallen into the grave
error of believing that salvation could and must be earned. The Sanhedrin ruled temple worship, but they
imagined only the rich and earthly prosperous had earned God’s favor. Others imagined themselves better at keeping
the law and thus likewise deserving God’s praise. These two fatal errors continue among many people
today. It is so easy to fall into the
trap of comparing our lives to the lives of the worst sinners and imagine
ourselves good—to pretend that we build God’s house. However, there is only One who is righteous; “there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
Peter told the leaders who were trying to judge
him, “Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become
the cornerstone.” A cornerstone was
used to secure the alignment of all the rest of the structure. If there was any deviation at all, the
building would not come together as it should.
However, for you and me and the world, Jesus was perfectly in line with
His Father’s will and with His Father’s laws for the human race. For that reason Jesus’ righteousness and
holiness could be counted as enough for all of us. And because He had no sin of His own, God
could and did count Jesus’ suffering and death as the substitutionary atonement
for the whole world. “He was crushed
for the guilt our sins deserved. The
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
There are so many in the world around us who
have convinced themselves that there are many ways to heaven. It’s the story of humanity. Ever since mankind’s fall into sin, people
have sought to be reconciled with God, or with whatever gods they imagined
there to be. Even those who claim there
is no god, usually seek a peace that only the true God can give. They want the world to be a pleasant
place. They may want to put an end to
suffering and inequity. They want there
to be no more death, nor war, nor illness or pain. But, the only place any of those things are
found is in the heaven to come, and the only way anyone will get there is
through Jesus.
Peter boldly proclaimed, “There is salvation
in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by
which we must be saved.” Earlier, Jesus
had declared, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through
me.” (John 14:6) No one except the
Son of God could live the perfect life God’s law demands. No one except the Son of God could pay the
due penalty we all owed for sin yet conquer death and the grave and live.
As Peter rightly tells us, that life-long
cripple was saved by the name of Jesus.
It is the same for you and me.
When the Holy Spirit reaches out and touches us through the Holy Gospel,
God puts His name on us and we too are saved for eternal life and peace “by
the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene.”
By the power of Jesus, we too will walk and not grow weary. In heaven, we won’t have to beg for a
living. We won’t have to toil and slave
to eat our bread. No, as Isaiah
foretold, because of Jesus, “Those
who wait for the Lord will receive new strength. They will lift up their wings and soar like
eagles. They will run and not become
weary. They will walk and not become
tired.” (Isaiah 40:31)
Before Jesus was born, Mary’s betrothed husband
was ready to divorce her when he thought she had been unfaithful. However, Joseph was comforted when the Angel
of the Lord assured him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take
Mary home as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy
Spirit. She will give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from
their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21) The
name, Jesus, literally means, “The Lord saves.”
That is what Jesus has done for each of us by bringing the power of His
salvation to us through the hearing of the Word and the cleansing of
Baptism. For you and me and for all, Jesus
is the name of salvation. Amen.
Blessed
be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Blessed be his glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment