Hands of Humility.

 

Sermon for Maundy Thursday, April 1, 2021

The Lord is gracious and righteous, and our God is compassionate for His people, for all of you.  Amen.

John 13:1-5, 12-17  Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved those who were his own in the world, he loved them to the end.  ²By the time the supper took place, the Devil had already put the idea into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.  ³Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God.  ⁴He got up from the supper and laid aside his outer garment.  He took a towel and tied it around his waist.  ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.… ¹²After Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer garment, he reclined at the table again.  “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.  ¹³“You call me Teacher and Lord.  You are right, because I am.  ¹⁴Now if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  ¹⁵Yes, I have given you an example so that you also would do just as I have done for you.  ¹⁶Amen, Amen, I tell you: A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (EHV)

Hands of Humility.

Dear disciples of the humble Savior,

            19th century British politician Lord Acton observed, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  He was not the first to come to this conclusion; others had previously expressed similar sentiments, and as we observe the political scene in our country and around the world, we can see that this weakness likely infects all people, well, all except one perfect exception.  Our Lord Jesus holds in His hands all the power and authority in the universe, but because His disciples didn’t yet understand what true love is, Jesus demonstrated with His Hands of Humility.

Most of the time when people think about love, they think of the emotion, that kind, pleasant feeling, perhaps even sensual passion, yet the love demonstrated in our text goes ever so much further than that.  The event takes place during Jesus’ final meal with His disciples before His betrayal by Judas and arrest at the hands of His enemies.  Here, John informs us of a very significant thing: “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved those who were his own in the world, he loved them to the end.” 

The two chief commandments are “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)  Jesus was in the home stretch of His mission to obey those commandments perfectly in order to save you and me.  As we study this episode of humble service, many might guess that Jesus washed those feet to shame the disciples for failing to volunteer to do so.  Others might say that it was to show us how to serve, and while there may be an element of this in Jesus’ actions, primarily, He was giving love as He always had, with self-sacrificing, perfect humility, service, and grace.  This is true love on display: not doing something because it is required, or even because it is the socially acceptable thing to do, but humbly devoting oneself to serve those around him simply out of loving care and concern.

Not long before Jesus and the twelve gathered in that upper room, the disciples were arguing over who among them was the greatest of Jesus’ disciples.  They were jockeying for position in Jesus’ court should He establish the kingdom they expected Him to restore.  Even though they feared He would be killed in Jerusalem before He could succeed in what they assumed was His mission, they secretly harbored the expectation that Jesus would reestablish David’s earthly kingdom in which they hoped they would be perfectly aligned for positions of power and prestige.  However, they should have remembered Jesus saying, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)

Because all the disciples were focused on promoting themselves to be high ranking officers in Jesus’ kingdom, it is obvious that not one of them thought to take on the role of servant that night, or to do for the others what ordinarily would be handled by a house servant.  After a full day of walking in sandals, feet needed a cool, cleansing bath.  It was a common courtesy at every gathering, yet none of the men gave it a thought that night, except Jesus.

Therefore, Jesus, admittedly their Lord and Teacher, and ours as well, took on that job usually assigned to the lowest servant in the household.  We know from Peter’s reaction that many of the disciples were appalled to see Jesus voluntarily do this washing.  In their minds, it was beneath such an honored member of their group.  Yet, Jesus washed and dried every foot, every toe, of every man present.

When Jesus had finished this lowly task, He asked the twelve men gathered there around the table, “Do you understand what I have done for you?”  We could ask the same question today, “Do you understand?”  Many jump to the conclusion that we are commanded to wash each other’s feet when we meet, because He said, “Now if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”  Yet, if all we think of is washing feet, we truly underestimate Jesus’ point.  That night Jesus cleansed their feet with a bath.  The next day, He would cleanse their souls with His blood.

To a group of men who were greatly concerned about how they would rank in Jesus’ kingdom, Jesus taught, “Yes, I have given you an example so that you also would do just as I have done for you.  Amen, Amen, I tell you: A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”  To love means to give oneself to serving another.  Therefore, while we certainly could wash one another’s feet, the real point is that, for cleansing us of all the filth of our sin, we owe Jesus a debt of gratitude which will lead us to humble ourselves to serve our neighbor in whatever way is needed, and to serve regardless of how we may be treated by those who we could help.  Rather than seeking to elevate ourselves over our neighbor, or to magnify ourselves in the eyes of the Lord, we should humble ourselves to serve, to bring the cleansing flood of Jesus’ blood and righteousness to as many as we have opportunity, and to humble ourselves to repent of every unwillingness or failure to do so.

Consequently, having a foot washing ceremony this evening (while a fine thing) wouldn’t earn any merit in the kingdom of heaven, nor for that matter does anything we do earn us a place in God’s presence.  The important thing to note is that Jesus “loved them to the end.”  For every shortcoming in our record, Jesus did the perfect thing.  For every time we have failed to serve or to love unselfishly as we should, Jesus loved perfectly and completely.  No deed that the Father required was left undone.  No command was left unfulfilled.  Not even one speck of prophecy was neglected.  All because Jesus lived perfect love for you and me.

I don’t know about you, but I must admit that I haven’t always served my neighbors as humbly as I ought.  I haven’t always lowered my estimate of my own goodness before the Lord.  Yet the truth remains, in God’s eyes, none of us are righteous, none of us have obeyed the law as we should, all of us struggle to fully understand the magnitude of what Jesus did for us that night and especially the next day.

Jesus is The Lord, and He is The Teacher—the one and only.  He is the Word made flesh who dwelled among us, (John 1:14) who came not to judge but to live for us and to die to pay the penalty for our arrogance, selfishness, and all other sins of the world. 

Jesus is “The radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of the divine nature.” (Hebrews 1:3)  It is in Jesus that we truly see the love of God for all mankind.  Though we all sinned, God came into the world to save us, and Jesus did that not with power and might but with humble, unselfish service, compassion, and honesty.  He never condoned sin but forgives it.  He didn’t come to destroy but to heal.  All of this continues today and will until He returns, but at that point, Jesus will come to judge, and those without faith in Christ will be condemned. 

So that as many as can be saved will hear and believe, Jesus sends His disciples out into the world to serve in His place.  We are to go not seeking fame and fortune, but to willingly get our hands dirty as we serve our neighbor in whatever way we can.  “He himself gave the apostles, as well as the prophets, as well as the evangelists, as well as the pastors and teachers, for the purpose of training the saints for the work of serving, in order to build up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)  Jesus did the hard part.  He earned our righteousness before God and our forgiveness and salvation.  Now Jesus asks us to humbly share in His service by graciously serving those around us with the Good News of His love.

Through His Word, God comforts and assures us that Jesus is our righteousness.  Tonight, we also celebrate another way Jesus demonstrated His great love for us.  Tonight, we once again partake of the Supper Jesus instituted that same night.  After He had washed their feet, Jesus offered those who remained at the meal His real body and blood in bread and wine to refresh in them—and thus in us going forward—the forgiveness and righteousness which He earned for us with His holy life and with His loving sacrifice of His own body in our place on the cross.  To those who call Him, Lord, Jesus says “Take and eat.”  “Take and drink.”

It is for you and me, in company with all the world, that Jesus lived, loved, served, suffered, shed His blood, and died.  In great humility only the Son of God could achieve, Jesus loved us by taking our sins away from us and destroying sin, death, and the devil’s reign.  Tonight, come and partake of Jesus’ living body and blood, the healing medicine He offers to you with Hands of Humility.  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:8)  Amen.

Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, everyone who is walking in His ways.  Amen.

In Jesus, God takes away fear.

 

Sermon for Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021

Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

John 12:1-16  Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus who had died, the one Jesus raised from the dead.  ²They gave a dinner for him there.  Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.  ³Then Mary took about twelve ounces of very expensive perfume (pure nard) and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair.  The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  ⁴But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray him, said, ⁵“Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”  ⁶He did not say this because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief.  He held the money box and used to steal what was put into it.  ⁷Jesus replied, “Leave her alone.  She intended to keep this for the day of my burial.  ⁸Indeed, the poor you always have with you, but you are not always going to have me.”  ⁹A large crowd of the Jews learned that he was there.  They came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead.  ¹⁰So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too, ¹¹because it was on account of him that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.  ¹²The next day, the large crowd that had come for the Festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.  ¹³Taking palm branches, they went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”  ¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written: ¹⁵Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look!  Your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.  ¹⁶At first, his disciples did not understand these things.  But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him, and that they did these things for him. (EHV)

In Jesus, God takes away fear.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            There is a little Greek word used repeatedly in this text that, because it isn’t considered a very important word, is often not included in the translation.  However, it is a word that connects what is previously reported to the thought of the next sentence, so it is usually translated “then” or “therefore,” or “accordingly.” 

Now, immediately before the first sentence of our sermon text, John tells us that “The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he should report it so that they could arrest Jesus.” (John 11:57)  Therefore, one might suppose that with a credible threat hanging over His head, Jesus would play it safe, go into hiding, and not appear anywhere near Jerusalem, but that’s where this little word pops in—Jesus was facing a serious threat against his life, therefore, He openly attends a public banquet given in His honor for raising Lazarus from the dead.  Therefore!!?  What it shows is that Jesus has no fear of anyone, or of what anyone might do to Him, because He knows His mission, He knows who is in charge, and He knows the ultimate outcome.

Because he was the one raised, therefore Lazarus was a second guest of honor, his sister, Mary, was thankful for the gift of her brother’s life and she believed Jesus’ forecast of His imminent suffering and death, therefore, she prepared to honor Jesus in the best way she could.  Also, people were believing in Jesus because He raised Lazarus from the dead, therefore, the crowds were coming to see Lazarus as well as Jesus, so the leaders of the Jews were also devising plans to kill Lazarus. 

All these little connections are important, because they show that there are always, and only, two possible reactions to learning about Jesus: on the one hand will be those who hear the word, see the evidence, and the Holy Spirit works faith in their hearts.  Therefore, they glorify God.  On the other hand, there are always those who reject the word, or the evidence, and remaining true to Satan, they despise Jesus.  Those who despise Jesus, tend to go in one of two directions: either apathy or blind, raging hatred.

In faith and thanksgiving for the miracle of raising Lazarus, Jesus’ friends in Bethany hosted a dinner in his honor.  John tells us that Martha was serving as she was so inclined to do to show the love she had for her Savior.  Her brother is there as a second honored guest because he was the one raised, and then John points out Mary.  Mary had hung on every word Jesus had to say.  She trusted Him completely, and now she recognized, with Jesus’ disciples, that His prophecy of upcoming suffering and death was very likely to happen.  Perhaps she suspected that if the high priests had their way, she would never get the chance to honor Jesus in death as was their custom, so she decided to honor Jesus at this dinner.

Mary spent what amounted to a year’s wages for an ordinary worker on the perfume.  We are not told where she got the money, but she gladly made this offering to the Lord.  Not only was the value extraordinary but consider this picture—Mary anointed Jesus’ head and feet with this pure, expensive, unadulterated perfume, but she humbled herself to use her hair to dry Jesus’ feet.  A Hebrew woman’s hair was considered her crowning glory, but Mary exemplified a servant’s attitude in the extreme.  Using perhaps her life savings, she gladly anointed Jesus’ feet and dried them using her hair, which many would have considered her greatest treasure, as a servant’s towel.  This is the faith God works in a person who believes Jesus is her Savior.  Selfless love and honor for her Lord.  Why, because In Jesus, God takes away fear.

We don’t know the background of these two women, but we do know that faith in Christ took away their fear of death, fear of public ridicule, and fear of condemnation.  They believed Jesus is the promised One God was sending to save them for eternity.  Therefore, earthly possessions, boasting, and works were not necessary anymore.  Both women could give freely and thankfully to the Lord, for they knew He was giving them life everlasting in heaven.

Contrast their faith with that of so many others around them.  As soon as Mary broke open the jar of perfume, Judas opened his mouth to rebuke and shame her.  Some might think he made a valid point.  Even his fellow disciples listened to Judas’ pious sounding, but faithless, words and also began to shame her.  Notice, however, that Jesus defended Mary’s action.  Jesus understood her intent to honor Him, and in honoring Jesus, she was also honoring His Father in heaven.  Consequently, Mary’s faith and works will be honored in the kingdom of heaven as long as this world lasts and beyond.

We sometimes hear the same criticisms today.  “Don’t waste your money and effort on church buildings or mission work when there are so many poor people who need help,” say so many of those who are apathetic to the Lord as they criticize spending any money to show honor to God.  Many like-minded people might even claim to be believers, but like Judas, their apathy about Jesus makes them easy prey for the devil. 

Judas never intended to be a killer, he just didn’t care about what He heard and saw in Jesus, and the devil wiggled into Judas’ thinking until greed took over, after which he betrayed his Savior into death.  Judas did not care about the poor but about lining his own pockets.  Therefore, he agreed to betray Jesus for a few silver coins, and consequently, he lost his salvation forever.  The point is not that we shouldn’t be concerned about the poor, but rather, that Jesus should always be first in our hearts, and then love for those around us will also be evident in our lives.

Along with Judas, the Jewish leadership rejected Jesus, but in them we see the other reaction of people who don’t believe—blind, raging hatred.  There will always be those in this world who, having rejected the Savior God sent, will also hate and despise those who follow Jesus, and irrationally, they will want to kill the followers along with Jesus, just as the Jews planned to murder Jesus and Lazarus.

We saw this reaction again just this week when a writer for a major US publication wrote a hateful article about a basketball team from a Christian college playing in the NCAA tournament.  The writer declares that no confessional Christian should be allowed to participate in any public speech, or activity, nor to be defended in any way for anything we teach.  The article is filled with invectives and compulsive hatred for anyone who believes in Jesus.  Carried to its logical conclusion, that writer’s words would lead to annihilation of Christians.  Yet, we do not fear, because In Jesus, God takes away fear. 

To the world, the events John reports might seem random.  Some even claim there are contradictions between the four Gospel writers who each report on different aspects of the day.  However, through John, the Holy Spirit is teaching us that we have nothing to fear, because Jesus came to accomplish exactly what God had always promised for the salvation of all who believe.  Furthermore, Jesus carried out every promised and prophesied detail so that we could see the evidence recorded by eyewitnesses, and through the faith worked in us by the Holy Spirit, believe in Jesus and be saved to life everlasting.

Because this is the point of everything in the Bible, St. Paul wrote, “This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15)  In order to save us, Jesus had to do everything His Father asked in perfect humility, weakness, and obedience, but as we have heard in our midweek Lenten services year after year, Jesus arrived at His cross on Calvary with both friend and foe alike admitting that He had done all things well. (Mark 7:37)

Six days after this dinner honoring Jesus, all the disciples fled away in fear for their lives.  Peter had so boldly promised he would never betray Jesus, but terrified, he did—three times in quick succession.  The people that on the next day boldly praised Jesus shouting, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” would but five days later be agitating for His crucifixion.  All of it because that was God’s plan to end the separation between us and Him.

This isn’t the end of the story, of course.  The disciples who fled in fear later boldly preached forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ Jesus without regard for their personal safety.  After Jesus had risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit fixed their faith in Him, they knew Jesus is the Savior for all people, and along with forgiveness and salvation comes everlasting peace with God and a home in heaven.  In other words, In Jesus, God takes away fear. 

You and I, today, are also living in a society that seems to be growing ever more hostile to Jesus, and to His followers.  Hatred of Christians appears to be rampant in many parts of our world.  Across the planet, more and more Christians are martyred every year.  Here at home, hostility to Christians, and Christian morality, is not only promoted but praised as a more acceptable way of life.  We should not be surprised at Jesus’ words, “In this world you are going to have trouble.” [At the same time, may we never forget His promise:] “But be courageous!  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

For you and me, Jesus overcame the world.  He defeated temptation.  He defeated fear.  He defeated the devil and our frail human flesh.  Wiping out our debt of guilt for all our sins and weaknesses with the sacrifice of His holy life, Jesus had accomplished everything needed for the Father to count you as righteous in His eyes, and through faith in Jesus, worked in you by the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments and hearing God’s Word, you are counted holy in the kingdom of heaven. 

As believers in Jesus, your future is secure no matter what happens to you in this world.  So, whether we should have to face suffering, sorrow, persecution, pain, or even death (whether natural or martyrdom), we can live in peace and joy, for Jesus has us firmly in His everlasting care.  Your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake, and you have peace with God.  Therefore, In Jesus, God takes away fear.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Hands of self-preservation.

 

Sermon for 6^th midweek Lent, March 24, 2021

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and the Lamb of God His beloved Son.  Amen.

Matthew 27:15-26  ¹⁵At the time of the Festival the governor had a custom to release to the crowd any one prisoner they wanted.  ¹⁶At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas.  ¹⁷So when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you?  Barabbas—or Jesus, who is called Christ?”  ¹⁸For Pilate knew that they had handed Jesus over to him because of envy.  ¹⁹While he was sitting on the judgment seat, Pilate’s wife sent him a message.  “Have nothing to do with that righteous man,” she said, “since I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.”  ²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death.  ²¹The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”  “Barabbas!” they said.  ²²Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?”  They all said to him, “Crucify him!”  ²³But the governor said, “Why?  What has he done wrong?”  But they kept shouting even louder: “Crucify him!”  ²⁴When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing and that instead it was turning into a riot, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood.  It is your responsibility.”  ²⁵And all the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”  ²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. (EHV)

Hands of self-preservation.

Dear blood-bought friends,

            Blood at a murder scene is one of the hardest things there is to wash away, yet murderers still so often try.  They scrub and scrub, buckets of soap and water, even using bleach to try to hide the stain.  If the murder happened in a house or apartment, the carpeting is often rolled up and hauled away.  They may even try painting the walls to cover up the guilt.  Yet, when the detectives come, traces of blood always remain as evidence of the guilt.

This evening, we see Pilate’s vain attempt to cleanse his blood-stained hands.  He didn’t want a Jewish uprising to ruin his already suspect, political reputation nor did he want to be accused of the murder of this innocent Man, so we see Pilate act with Hands of self-preservation.

Though there would have been lots of blood at the scene when Jesus was ruthlessly scourged by the Roman soldiers, what we are really talking about is the guilt of Jesus’ blood being shed.  Pilate’s own testimony proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was an innocent Man.  The Jewish leaders had already established that fact, because they could not find two corroborating witnesses against Him, even when they paid wicked men to lie against Jesus, so there was a lot of blood guilt to go around.

The jealous leaders of Israel had blood-soaked hands for rejecting God’s Son and plotting to have Jesus executed.  The mob of ordinary citizens and thugs in the city that morning had hands dipped in the crimson stain as they listened to the leaders rile up the crowd to shout for the release of the criminal Barabbas and to yell the continuous blood-curdling screams for Jesus’ crucifixion.  Likewise, the soldiers’ hands were covered in blood from their relentless torture of our Lord.

Pilate had blood on his hands, too.  Pilate was guilty of terrible betrayals that day.  He betrayed his office as Roman governor.  The Romans prided themselves on the rule of law.  When Pilate recognized that there were no grounds to have Jesus punished, his duty to Caesar was to set Jesus free, but he feared the Jews more than his emperor.  Pilate betrayed his wife, as well, because in the midst of this trial, she warned Pilate not to bring the guilt of Jesus’ death on himself and his household, but again, Pilate was more afraid of rebellion in his district than of being caught in his own injustice.  And, though he didn’t know it, Pilate was betraying his Savior, just as the Father in heaven had known that weak governor would do. 

It’s too bad that Pilate hadn’t heard Jesus when He said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)  It is too late for Pilate, and the historical record doesn’t hold out much hope that the Roman governor ever came to believe in the Savior he sentenced to die.  For us, however, there is still time, even though like Pilate, we too have blood-stained hands.

It wasn’t just the people in Jerusalem that day who have blood on their hands for Jesus’ crucifixion; Cain had the blood of Abel calling out to the Lord.  Moses had blood on his hands for killing a nasty Egyptian guard.  King David had the blood of Uriah staining his, and you and I have our own blood-coated, guilty hands.  For every time we have felt hatred for someone, even an enemy, we have guilt.  For every vile thought and every time envy stirs in our hearts, we are just as guilty as those Jewish leaders of causing Jesus’ death on a cross.  Even for every time we are misled by those who have evil intentions, our hands are sprinkled in scarlet. 

So much blood has been shed throughout the history of the world.  Murders, war, terrorist actions, the befuddling, desperate actions of the mentally ill who swipe the lives of innocent victims, such as we’ve seen again in just the last few days.  Prejudice, greed, immorality, disrespect—all of those things and more stain the hands of the whole human race.  Whether we consider ourselves wicked or good, we share in the guilt that sentenced Jesus that day.

Pilate was motivated by one main concern, preserving his own skin.  Of course, he made several lame attempts to exercise his duty of conducting an honest and fair trial, but in the end, all that really concerned him was keeping the rioting crowds at bay.  Thus, “When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing and that instead it was turning into a riot, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, ‘I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood.’”  In a pretense of keeping his hands clean, Pilate tried to shift the blame to the Jews.  Yet, the Jews already had more than enough guilt to deserve their destruction, and Pilate’s guilt remained on his hands.

There are a lot of ways people in our world try to shift the blame or wash the stain off their hands.  Some merely ignore their own sins and weaknesses and imagine themselves more righteous than others.  Some people imagine that we can bargain with God using our own works to buy freedom from the eternal punishment we deserve.  Many have devised man-made ceremonies to try to cleanse away the guilt.  Lots of people merely hope to hide from God’s wrath if it should ever come upon them—which they doubt will happen.  Still others imagine that living a more or less obedient life will count as good enough to wash away the stench of guilt.  The natural man makes all kinds of attempts to have Hands of self-preservation.  Yet, all of these things are about as effective as trying to sterilize a slaughterhouse with a feather duster.

Dear friends, the God of love has a better plan.  In Isaiah, we read, “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord.  Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow.  Though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)  Remember who was put on trial that day: “Jesus, who is called Christ.”  The name, Christ, means the Anointed One—the Messiah, to use the Jewish equivalent.  Jesus was God’s specifically chosen Man to pay the price for all the sins of the world.  I have to tell you; God’s economy operates a little differently than that of our world.  In this world, people very often seek revenge and retribution for every hurt—the guilty must pay for their crimes.  At the same time, we tend to ignore our own violations, at least until our consciences bear down on us a little too much. 

Now, God does tell us, “Vengeance is mine.  I will repay.” (Hebrews 10:30)  And repay God does, but not in the way we might have expected.  Instead of wreaking vengeance on all of us who sin most grievously, God appointed His own beloved, and completely innocent, Son to take our place, so Isaiah tells us, “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and to allow him to suffer.  Because you made his life a guilt offering.” (Isaiah 53:10)  Thus, Paul could write for our comfort and hope, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The whole Old Testament was pointing to the day of our text.  All those lambs and bulls slaughtered at the temple throughout Israel’s history pointed to this one perfect sacrifice for your sins and mine.  Hands of self-preservation are nothing but a mirage.  Nothing we do can wash away the stain of our sins.  Yet we have hope, because God provides a way that truly washes away all the blood from our hands. 

The disciple who calls himself “the one Jesus loved” was there at the Jordan River when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist; John was there on the mountaintop when Jesus was transfigured so that the disciples could see His true glory and hear the Father declare from heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5)  John was there too at the trial, at the cross when Jesus hung there giving His life for ours, and three days later, John witnessed the empty tomb after Jesus rose from the grave triumphant over death.  Therefore, John is a faithful witness when he tells us, “If we walk in the light, just as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) 

To walk in Jesus’ light means to believe and trust in Him as your Savior and Redeemer.  All who have been granted this faith, from the time of Adam and Eve all the way until the last baby baptized before Jesus returns to judge the world, are entered into the fellowship of the kingdom of heaven, and in that faith, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, has by His blood perfectly cleansed our hands of all the blood-guilt we had ever accumulated.

Dear friends, we don’t need Hands of self-preservation.  We need Jesus who willingly gave Himself into suffering and death on a cross to preserve for His Father a people made holy by His blood.  We need Jesus in our lives, in our hearts, and in our hearing.  We needed Him to wash us clean of all sin in Baptism.  We need Him to clean us again ever time we eat and drink of the precious supper He gives us with His body and blood in the bread and wine.  Taste and see that Jesus is good.  Through faith in Christ, we rejoice with King David, “Remove my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean.  Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” (Psalms 51:7)  Amen.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever.  Amen.

You are blessed by faith in God’s promises.

 

Sermon for Lent 5, Judica, March 21, 2021

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  Amen.

Genesis 12:1–3  Now the Lord said to Abram, “Get out of your country and away from your relatives and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you.  ²I will make you a great nation.  I will bless you and make your name great.  You will be a blessing.  ³I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you.  All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.” (EHV)

You are blessed by faith in God’s promises.

Dear friends in Christ,

            We love role models; at least, you would think so if you consider the amount of money spent on celebrity endorsements, media influencers, sports stars, and other such public figures.  Our news media and social networks overwhelm us with a constant barrage of what this person, or that one, is doing, what they said, who they love, what products they use, their voting preferences, and their personal opinions on a thousand other subjects.  Yet, in the end, it is all just noise.

For a truly worthy role model, one might consider emulating perhaps the most famous role model in the history of the world—the patriarch of the Christian Church who lived about four thousand years ago, and the subject of today’s sermon text—Abraham, or here, still known as Abram.  If you walk in Abram’s footsteps you will learn that You are blessed by faith in God’s promises.

There are likely very few people alive today who will be remembered even four hundred years from now, much less four thousand, so why Abram?  Why did God choose Abram for this unique and amazing blessing?  If you want the answer, you won’t find it in Abram, but rather, in the Lord. 

Now, many have extolled Abram’s great faith, and certainly, we would want to have the same trust in the Lord, for “Abram believed in the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)  Still, this doesn’t answer the question of why God chose Abram?  Did God make the choice because Abram had such a great religious background?  No, for it is a fact that his father’s family, though believing in God, also worshipped idols.  Did God pick Abram because He knew Abram would have a great faith?  Well, that’s not possible, either, because on more than a few occasions, Abram’s faith was quite weak.  At least twice, Abram allowed his wife to be romanced by foreign kings to protect his own hide, so his faith in the Lord was not always all that strong.

Then, perhaps, you think Abram was an exemplary, holy man, and that is why the Lord selected him.  Again, see the previous example, along with his listening to his wife’s idea to start a family by sleeping with her servant girl, in addition to accusing God of failing to keep His promises.

Therefore, we must conclude that the answer is not found in Abram or anything he did, but in God alone.  God picked Abram in exactly the way He chose to save us, by grace.  As Paul notes in his letter to the Ephesians, “Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)  No one can boast—not even faithful Abram.  At the same time, we do well to imitate Abram, because he did believe God, and in a great demonstration for us, Abram was richly blessed by faith in God’s promises.

Therefore, Abram’s greatest value to us as a role model is not in how we should live, but rather, in seeing how great God’s promises are, and seeing how the promises work to give us faith and eternal blessings.  You see, Abram’s faith truly was a work in progress.  Abram had his spiritual struggles just as any Christian believer will.  Yet, here is the point, the promises God made to Abram served to make that man believe, and he was richly blessed through faith. 

It is the same for you and me, for Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed by faith, for faith, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17)  God’s promises to Abram are Gospel, they told Abram what God would do for him, and it was the promise that worked faith in Abram and kept him looking to God for the fulfillment.  Likewise, God has promised us that through faith in Christ Jesus, our sins are forgiven, we have citizenship in His kingdom of grace, and we will be given a home in the glorious Promised Land of heaven, which brings us to God’s covenant with Abram.

At a point in history when so much of mankind was forgetting the promise of a Savior that had been handed down from Noah, God revealed the family through which He would bring the Savior into the world.  When He chose Abram, God also chose to set his family apart for something special.  God would be with the descendants of Abram in a special way, protecting them, providing for them, and through them carrying out His plan for bringing redemption and reconciliation to the world.

The Lord commanded Abram to go from his father’s house, but Abram didn’t earn any of the blessings by doing as he was told.  Rather, he was moved to go by those incredible promises.  To a man who had a baren wife, God promised a multitude of descendants.  What wonderful news that must have been to Abram and Sarai.  No doubt they had longed for children, but none had been begun in her womb.  So, when the Lord said, “Go,…and I will make you a great nation,” do you think it was hard for Abram to convince Sarai to move?  Though Abram and Sarai still had to wait for God’s chosen time to fulfil His promise of a large family, after four hundred years, their descendants numbered in the millions, and four thousand years later, Abram’s nation has grown exponentially.

Still, God promised to bless Abram so much more.  The Lord’s hand would be over Abram and God intended to pour out multitude blessings on that nomadic shepherd and cattleman.  After Abram followed God’s instruction, it wasn’t long before Abram had great herds and flocks and a small army of servants who gladly worked and fought for Abram’s family.  Yet, it is interesting that some of the greatest fulfilments were not going to happen for hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, but Abram believed and the longer he believed and the stronger his faith became, the more the promises and the blessings poured out upon him.

God also told Abram, “You will be a blessing.”  Thus, Abram became a blessing to his neighbors, and a rescuer for Lot and his friends.  Abram even interceded for his neighbors which led to Lot and his family being saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  More important, Abram became a blessing to multitudes of generations because it is through Abram that God was bringing His Son into the world to rescue poor sinners like you and me.  God could have picked any family into which His Son would be born, but Abram was chosen, and we are blessed to know it.

God put a special promise and protection over Abram: “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you.”  Because God was singling out Abram for this great honor of being the patriarch of the Savior of the world and because Abram believed God, the Lord always made sure that Abram was blessed.  Even when those kings might have had reason to demand retribution from Abram for his deception with Sarai, they were moved, instead, to pour out prodigious gifts to make sure there was no offense against Abram. 

We see God’s protection and care displayed throughout the history of Abram’s family.  When they called out to God from their desperation as slaves in Egypt, God came to their rescue and destroyed their idolatrous overlords.  When the people were faithful to the Lord, He interceded on their behalf, and when they wandered away from the true faith, the Lord disciplined them as those He loves.  And the psalmist’s words are confirmed, “The Lord says, because he clings to me, I will rescue him.  I will protect him, because he acknowledges my name.” (Psalms 91:14)

The most important promise God made to Abram, for all people of all time, is this: “All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”  This was not the first promise of a Savior, but it was the first time anyone knew through which family the Savior would come.  It was another demonstration that God keeps His promises. 

In Abram, God was promising an end to our separation from God.  In that one descendant God would eventually give to Abram and his family, all the sins of the world would be removed.  No other person could ever do what Abram’s descendant would bring.  Because God was working on His plan to save, every detail would be revealed in its proper time, and every promised blessing would come our way.  Thus, just as Abram was blessed so too You are blessed by faith in God’s promises.

Through faith in Jesus, we have promises that equal or exceed those given to Abram.  It was eventually revealed to Abram that his family would inherit a homeland in Palestine.  God has promised all who believe in Abram’s distant great grandson a home in the eternal paradise of heaven.  Abram was promised riches of earthly blessings.  We are promised the riches of forgiveness and life everlasting.  Abram was promised a large family, and through faith, we are members of his great nation, not a nation on earth, but a kingdom of glory and freedom from sin, death, and the devil with Jesus as our King.  St. Paul wrote, “The promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s descendants—not only to the one who is a descendant by law, but also to the one who has the faith of Abraham.  He is the father of us all.  As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’” (Romans 4:16-17)

Abram’s faith was great, not because it was always so strong, but because it was always in God the Lord.  Abram believed God’s promise that He would send a Savior for the world through Abram’s descendants, and in that faith, Abram died and was received into glory before God’s throne.  We have the same promise.  Jesus said, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.” (John 5:24) 

Just as God told Abram that he would be a blessing, so God tells us that He preserves us as blessings to the world.  Through Peter, He says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)  God chose us by faith before any works on our part, just as He chose Abram.  Yet, like Abram, God has purpose for us, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Dear friends, as God made Abram a blessing to all, so He also empowers and blesses us to be a material and physical help for lives here on earth, but especially to be an eternal blessing to those we meet as we share the Good News of all Jesus has done to take away the sins of the world, how He lived and died to bring peace with God to all mankind, and gain for us all the forgiveness of all sin so that any who believe in Jesus will be saved to enjoy life everlasting in heaven.  When you consider the magnitude of what God has given us through faith in Abram’s descendant, our Lord Jesus Christ, we can say nothing less than, You are blessed by faith in God’s promises.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Hands of Brutality.

 

Sermon for 5^th midweek Lent, March 17, 2021

The God of love and peace will be with you all.  Amen.

Matthew 27:27-31  ²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort of soldiers around him.  ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.  ²⁹They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.  They put a staff in his right hand, knelt in front of him, and mocked him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”  ³⁰They spit on him, took the staff, and hit him repeatedly on his head.  ³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.  Then they led him away to crucify him. (EHV)

Hands of Brutality.

Dear friends of the brutalized King,

            When I was young, my dad had a number of pithy sayings he liked to use, and one that came up quite regularly with three rough and tumble boys was, “After the laughing comes the crying.”  This was usually said either when he noticed our sport getting more than a little out of control, or more likely, after the damage was already done.  Sometimes, it was a bit of a reprieve for us, because instead of some additional punishment, he allowed the hurts we had caused ourselves to suffice.

Now, one wouldn’t quickly assume that the events of our text started with good natured boys getting out of control.  No, in fact, every event of Jesus’ passion was very much part of a controlled and coordinated plan.  Tonight, we look at the actions of the soldiers and their Hands of Brutality.

A cohort of soldiers was about 600 trained, fighting men.  Even if we would concede the unlikely possibility that only a fraction of those men were on duty that morning, it would still be a brutally powerful force.  Roman soldiers were trained to overwhelm their enemies and to make examples of any bad characters so that rebellion would be too terrifying for anyone else to consider.  Yet, let’s not forget the enormous other brutal actions Jesus had already endured that night and early morning.  The Jewish leaders had brutally mocked, beat, and spit on Jesus before they turned Him over to Pilate.  Pilate had already demonstrated his brutality by having his soldiers unmercifully scourge Jesus with their skin-slicing, multi-lash whips to show the Jews what he thought of their charge of Jesus claiming to be a king.  Herod’s troops had inflicted their mocking brutality as well.  Each party showing what Rome could do to anyone foolish enough to challenge its authority.

By the time of our sermon text, Jesus had to be a forlorn, bloody mess.  Some have argued that Pilate was showing pity on Jesus because he knew Jesus was innocent, and its true that Pilate recognized Jesus had committed no sin, especially no sin worthy of death, but in truth, Pilate didn’t really care about Jesus, or kindness, or justice.  Pilate mostly wanted not to be bothered, so when that didn’t work, the Roman governor allowed the unmerited brutality to proceed, as he again turned Jesus over to his soldiers, this time to let them have their sport. 

Imagine those soldiers, who were trained to be brutal and cruel to any opposition, being told to go ahead and treat Jesus as a conquered enemy king.  This mild, meek Man who had caused no trouble for anyone in authority and put up no fight at all in the hours of torment that had already taken place, who hadn’t cried out in anger even once as the vicious lashes repeatedly cut His skin to shreds.  It had been a long time since those brutes had this much fun.

Once more, that mob of soldiers stripped Jesus’ clothes off His back, and in place of those humble wraps, they hung over our Savior a scarlet robe, no doubt some discarded remnant of a ruler’s finery.  Yes, dress the Son of God in the tattered, worn out rags of royalty.  But what is a king without a crown?  So, they gathered up some thorn branches.  You’ve no doubt seen pictures of the long, sharp thorns so common in that area.  They twisted and wrapped those barbed-wire-like branches into a makeshift mocking crown.  They put an ordinary reed into Jesus’ hand.  What kind of a king wouldn’t wield a scepter, right?  Still, these things were just the preliminaries.

Now that they had Jesus attired for the role of conquered king, they had their fun.  I can almost imagine how mean my brothers and I might have been to each other if we had ever dreamed up such a cruel game.  Oh, the fun we could have had (if we had been that sadistically cruel).  Here, wave after wave of muscular soldiers came at Jesus, some spitting on His battered face, some using their staffs to pound those cruel thorns into His scalp and brow.  Oh, they bowed the knee before Jesus, while laughing and joking at His condition.  Did they play a for half hour, an hour?  How long before cruel men get bored of taunting One who doesn’t respond to their jests and cruelty?

It would be easy for us to condemn the Jews, Pilate, and certainly those soldier for their cruel treatment and mockery of our beloved Savior.  Yet, we shouldn’t be so hasty to point our fingers at others.  Remember what Jesus will say to those who stand before Him on Judgment Day: “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40 NKJ)  The good we do out of faith in Jesus will be remembered.  However, the evil we have done to others is just as wicked and cruel as what those soldiers did to Jesus.  In fact, using Jesus’ own words, every action we wrongly took against a brother, a friend, or even an enemy, we did it to Jesus.

How many times as children did our actions get out of hand and a sibling was left sobbing?  How many times have we caused our wives to cry?  How often have we mocked someone for being different, or for a mistake they made, or just because we could?  If I am the one trial, I have no defense for the thousands upon thousands of times I am guilty of brutality against Jesus.  In one way or another, we all Hands of Brutality.

I think most of us, if we had been in Jesus’ place, would have eventually tried to put up some kind of fight.  No one likes to be mocked.  We will only put up with abuse for so long before snapping and trying to get back at those who hurt us.  In most people, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is assumed to mean we can seek revenge upon our abusers.  At the very least, we aren’t willing to be helpful and kind to those who abuse our trust, or our bodies.

On the other hand, there was Jesus—abused, mocked, spit upon by hundreds of soldiers.  He was slandered, wrongly accused, and hand after hand was raised in brutality: first, voting to convict that innocent Jesus, and then raining abuse on His body in the most shameful fashion.  Yet, the Lamb of God never once cried out against any of them, or any of us either.

Jesus was there silently suffering that awful abuse because of the sins of the world, yours and mine included.  Because of His love for us, because of His dedication to carrying out His Father’s will to pay the price for all of us sinners who have so terribly mistreated someone along the way, because “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” (John 3:16) Jesus never once considered retaliating against any of His abusers.  Jesus never even once complained about their unjust treatment of an innocent man.  All of this is because “We all have gone astray like sheep.  Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.” (Isaiah 53:6)

My dad’s saying might come into play here—“After the laughing comes the crying.”  It was all fun and games for the sadistic soldiers that day—for a while.  The mocking and cruelty continued all the way to the cross and even after Jesus hung there nailed to the tree, suffering the worst part of what we all deserved.  For many of those mockers, the crying came only when they eventually had to stand before Jesus at His throne, but for a few, the crying started right there when Jesus died.  “When the centurion and those who were guarding Jesus with him saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:54)  In that moment, they understood that there would be hell to pay for their actions against God’s Son, Jesus, or would there be?

Many throughout history have assumed that Jesus is just storing up His righteous anger for the brutality of the human race, so that He can treat us cruelly on Judgment Day.  How ironic that people still mock the Savior who loved them enough to die for them and for us all.  Because assuming Jesus will punish all of us on Judgment Day is denying God’s love for us and denying His promises as well.  Isaiah wrote, “He himself carried the sin of many, and he intercedes for the rebels.” (Isaiah 53:12)  St. Peter later wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)  And Paul under the same power tells us, “For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become righteous.” (Romans 5:19)

God does indeed seek retribution and just punishment for all sins, but He gave His Son to take the penalty in our place.  Therefore, all our sins have been removed and our debt of guilt is paid.  Jesus gave His all to reconcile us with His Father, now our Father as well.  Through the gift of faith in Christ Jesus, we are granted a new and certain hope, not of righteous anger for our brutality and shame, but rather, the sure and certain confidence of being welcomed into heaven by the Savior who gave His life so that He could count us innocent, because “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  Indeed, what the law was unable to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did, when he sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to deal with sin.” (Romans 8:1-3)

Dear friends, be rejoicing for what Jesus has done for you.  No matter how cruel you may have been, or what thoughts of revenge you might have entertained, Jesus has set you free of all guilt.  Indeed, because of Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice in our place, the Lord Himself has declared, “I will be merciful in regard to their unrighteousness, and I will not remember their sins any longer.” (Hebrews 8:12)  By the gift of faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has made you children of God and kings and priests in the kingdom of heaven.  That is our home, because Jesus endured Hands of Brutality for you and me.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.