Keeping the Vigil

Easter Vigil

April 7, 2012

Mark 14:42–47

The women on the Saturday after Jesus died weren’t keeping a vigil. The disciples certainly weren’t. They had seen Him die and were still in mourning over their loved one they thought would be with them forever. We gather here on the Saturday between our observance of Good Friday, the day Jesus died, and our celebration of Easter Sunday, the day Jesus rose. We call our observance a vigil. How do we keep a vigil? Why do we keep a vigil?

You might recognize that the word ‘vigil’ is related to the word ‘vigilant’. To be vigilant is to be watchful, to be ready. As Christians we are called upon by our Lord to be ever vigilant; as long as we breathe on this earth, as long as our Lord delays His return in glory on the Last Day. We are to be watchful, vigilant.

This remains true today even as our observance of this day that we call the Easter Vigil has our observing of it for a specific reason. The women on the Saturday after their Lord died were waiting for Sunday to come so that they could resume the embalming of His body. We are here this evening knowing everything that happened. We know that He was in the tomb on Saturday. We know He rose from His tomb early on Sunday morning. We know that He died and rested in the tomb and rose from the grave all for the securing of salvation for the world.

This is what we know. And this is the focus of our vigil. If you think about it, it really is the focus of our ever being vigilant throughout our lives as Christians. The problem, of course, is that we so often aren’t vigilant. We forget. We get caught up in day-to-day affairs. We get caught up in the desires of our sinful flesh. We perhaps aren’t aware that our lives as Christians are to be ones of vigilance, ever watchful for the day when our Lord will return in glory. If we are aware perhaps we’re not aware of how to be vigilant.

They way we do it is by receiving the grace and gifts of God as He gives them to us in Word and Sacrament. By daily dying and rising; dying to our sinful flesh in repentance and rising to new life in our Baptism. By being in God’s Word in daily devotions and weekly in Bible Study.

Basically, we keep the vigil, that is, we live lives of watchfulness and vigilance, by being in those things our Lord has given us where He instills in us the watchful and vigilant mind and heart which has its focus on and joy in our Lord who came in order to go to the cross, who rested in the tomb, who rose victoriously from the grave, and who will come again in glory to welcome us into the eternal glory He has prepared for us. Being vigilant isn’t something along the lines of being a monk in a solitary setting. It is much more along the lines of being who you are, where God has called you to serve, and living in the grace of your Lord as He gives it to you in His Gospel through preaching and His Sacraments. Amen.

SDG

The Cry of Faith

Good Friday

Commemoration of Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Dürer, Artists

April 6, 2012

Mark 14:1—15:47

Perhaps the most misunderstood thing in Christianity is faith. And there is perhaps no better time to ponder what faith is than on the day we call Good Friday.

Faith we usually think of as something we do. We normally see it as something we must do. You must have faith. You must believe. If you don’t have enough faith then you won’t receive from God what you are asking.

These are the kinds of things you hear often from Christians and that you yourself may often say and think.

Nothing could be further from the truth. While it’s true that faith is something we do it’s not true that faith is something from us. We are not able to have faith on our own. If we have faith it is by the Holy Spirit creating faith in us.

And while we have faith our having faith is not something we sustain. The faith we have is sustained solely by the Holy Spirit, not by us.

Faith also is often thought of us as understanding or intellectually grasping doctrine. There is indeed an aspect to faith that understands and comprehends and is inseparably linked with rational assessment of actual events and doctrines.

But we are not saved because we understand. We do not stand in God’s favor because we assent to the things He has said and the things He has accomplished.

We are saved by God’s work, His power, His grace.

It’s true that we are saved by faith. The Bible is clear on that. It says those exact words, in fact. So it would be foolish to say that we are not saved by faith.

But here we go back to how we started and the upside-down understanding of faith we so often have. When the Bible says that we are saved by faith it is saying that we are saved by God and His work and His power. We are saved by the trust we have in Jesus Christ and who He is and what He has done, not by what we do.

When we think of this trust that we have as something we do or come up with we are undermining faith. We are going against what God has given us in giving us faith.

The trust we have in Him is not something we naturally have of ourselves. Trust in ourselves is. This is why Christ went to the cross. This is what Good Friday shows us. If we were saved by what we do then Jesus didn’t need to suffer and die on the cross.

He wasn’t nailed to the cross to show us the way, He was nailed to the cross to pay for the sin of the world.

In the Gospel account of the Passion of our Lord we heard this evening from Mark there were a lot of things said and done. There are two things in particular which bring into focus what faith is and why it is at the heart of who we are as Christians.

One statement is by Jesus as He hung on the cross and as His life was about to leave Him. The other statement is by a man who was standing there who we would never expect to believe in Jesus. It was the centurion.

We normally don’t think of Jesus as having faith. When we talk of having faith we are talking of having faith in God. Since Jesus is God it seems strange that He would have faith.

But Jesus’ statement on the cross to His Heavenly Father was a cry of faith. He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” This is an amazing statement coming from our Lord.

If you and I were to say this to God it would be seen as a sign of not having faith in Him. Jesus says it on the cross and it is the ultimate cry of faith. It could be thought of as the essence of what faith is. Part of this is because it comes from the mouth and the heart of Jesus Himself.

When you remember that faith is not something you produce but that God produces then you see that true faith you have does not have its center in you but in Christ.

When Christ therefore speaks in this way He is speaking in true and ultimate faith.

But how is that so when it seems He is decrying being forsaken by the Father? “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Isn’t He showing a lack of faith?

What He is doing is expressing the greatest faith of all. On the one hand He is stating what is actually occurring in His Suffering and death on the cross. It is painful to think of the punishment and torture Jesus experienced from the hands of the Roman soldiers; not to mention the onslaught of persecution from the religious leaders and passers-by.

But Jesus didn’t willingly be handed over to be crucified to suffer in only this way. What ultimately was happening is that He was suffering at the hands of His Heavenly Father. This is infinitely more painful and saddening for us to consider, that the Justice of God was brought down upon Jesus, who is holy and good and without sin and not deserving of anything but the highest honor and glory.

Jesus’ cry of being forsaken by His Heavenly Father was not a cry of despair but of faith. It was the ultimate assent to what was happening. He willingly suffered this wrath and eternal punishment by His loving Father because He did it in our place, in order to save us from this eternal punishment.

We know this because the Scriptures time and again show us this is the work Jesus willingly desired to do. We know this also because of Jesus’ very careful words. They were not, “O God, why have You forsaken Me?”, but “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Even in the suffering for eternal punishment at the hands of the Father, His Father was still His Father, His God.

This is the cry of faith. It is not Jesus on the cross assessing the situation rationally and coming to a conclusion. It is Christ on the cross crying out in faith. Fully one with the will of His Heavenly and eternal Father—His Father, His God.

It is the cry of faith, not a giving up or a rebuking but of a statement at one with the good and gracious will of His Heavenly Father that He be forsaken so that we may be at one with the Heavenly Father, who becomes our Father, our God, in His Son Jesus Christ.

How was it that the centurion who stood there, a man who likely was a pagan, a man who was heading up the team of soldiers that day in crucifixion detail, how was it that he stood there and cried out, “Truly this man was the Son of God”?

How it was is that it was a cry of faith. It’s not something he produced of his own power or will. It’s not something he rationally understood. It’s something he believed and trusted in because the Holy Spirit produced in him faith.

The object of the centurion’s faith was Jesus Christ, hanging there on the cross, dead. The object of our faith is Christ, the one who was crucified, suffering and dying for the sins of the world.

The object of Christ’s faith was God the Father. Because of His faith, because of His suffering and death, we are granted faith.

What a blessing to see that our faith is so much more than a rational understanding of this, that it is indeed a cry of faith, a joyous and firm trust that Jesus is the one who has accomplished everything we need for us to be children of God—our God, our Father. Amen.

SDG

Time Enough for Eternity

Maundy Thursday

April 5, 2012

Mark 14:12–26

A lot happened on Maundy Thursday. In these few verses of our Gospel reading Mark tells us of a lot of things that happened. And he doesn’t even include everything. First they had to prepare the Passover. Jesus had taken care of all the details. The disciples now had simply to carry them out. Then there was the incident we’d just as soon not have to deal with on Maundy Thursday, if at all. Jesus announced that one of them would betray Him. In one of the saddest things ever spoken of a person, Jesus said that it would have been better if that man had never been born. Then one of the most amazing, if not strange, things that ever happened: Jesus gave bread and wine to His disciples and said that He was giving them His body and His blood. After that they went to the Mount of Olives and our Gospel reading this evening ends there. We know that what occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane was Jesus being handed over and arrested.

There’s way too much here to deal with all of that in a short time. But more significantly, there’s way too much here to comprehend fully in a lifetime. But that’s why our Lord has not given us simply a lifetime. He has given us eternity. How He has done so is by giving us His body and His blood. It’s impossible for us to comprehend that in a little physical temporal piece of bread we are given eternity. We are given Christ Himself. It’s impossible for us to wrap our minds around receiving eternity in that little sip of wine.

So the key to all of this is not to comprehend it. It is to receive it by faith. There’s a lot to that, to be sure. There’s the simple hearing of it. There’s the trusting in it. There’s the believing in the Lord who gives you His very body and blood. There’s the confessing of our sin and our unworthiness of such a gift. There’s the rejoicing in it. There’s the confessing it that it’s true and the sharing it with others. But most importantly, there’s the hearing of it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

Think for a moment what you are receiving in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. You are receiving the Lord. You are taking into your mouth the body of Christ and the blood of Christ. Reason can’t explain this. Faith simply receives it and rejoices in it. That’s why we are given eternity. It can’t be exhausted, and so we are given not just enough time to understand it but an eternity to rejoice in it and relish its benefits. We are given it not so much so that we can understand it and analyze it but so that we can be blessed in it. This is something that happens in time but is also outside of time. This gifts of God deal in eternity. By His grace He gives us enough time for eternity.

Mark’s account of what occurred on the Thursday before Jesus went to the cross recounts events that occurred in time. This is a historical account even as its primary purpose is theological: namely, to create and sustain faith in us. This is how we see that it is in time that we receive eternity.

Jesus had His disciples prepare the Passover Meal. What they didn’t realize is that Jesus was the one who really was doing all the preparing. He was using them as vessels to prepare the meal they would celebrate. In the same way we prepare the Lord’s Supper on this altar with the various vessels for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. But make no mistake, Jesus is the one who is doing all the preparing. All we can do is provide on this altar bread and wine. He’s the one who prepares this Meal as one in which what we eat and drink is His body and blood.

The only things we can do in time are things that last in time and history. Jesus uses the things of this world and in time to give us things that last forever. In time He gives us eternity. There is time for eternity because it is in time He gives it to us. At His Holy Supper you are partaking of a Meal in time that is at the same time a Meal celebrated in eternity. When we partake of Holy Communion we are communing with the angels, archangels, and the whole company of heaven, all of whom are not in time but in eternity. In time, that is, here and now when we celebrate Holy Communion, we are brought into eternity with them.

This is why we shouldn’t simply go through the events of that night when Jesus was betrayed as historical events. We shouldn’t simply try to pin them down as events in time that happened one after another. They happened. They’re historical. We believe they’re true. But simply to understand them and appreciate them misses the main point of why they happened. They happened because in them our Lord was preparing for us a Meal. In them our Lord was bringing about salvation history. In time, that is, in those events that occurred, Jesus was bringing eternity down here to earth, giving us time and the means through which we are brought into eternity.

In bread and wine we are given the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus’ body and blood were given and shed on the cross. In His Holy Meal He gives to us this very gift: Himself, His body and blood that were given and shed on the cross. When Jesus was on the cross that was a historical event, an event that occurred in time. And yet, eternity was taking place, if that’s even the way to say it. The point is, Jesus was suffering on the cross eternal damnation, in our place. The suffering of this was in our place, therefore, when that was occurring, eternity, that is, eternal life apart from damnation, was being secured. This is what is given, then, in the Holy Supper of our Lord, this eternity, this eternal salvation, this forgiveness of all of our sins.

Never give short shrift to the fact that it comes in such a simple way, through bread and wine. Simply marvel in it. It is in these things, in time, that you are given eternity. Amen.

SDG

Why Are You Doing This?

Palm Sunday

Sunday of the Passion

April 1, 2012

Mark 11:1–11

When Jesus sends His disciples to untie and retrieve a donkey that is not theirs He tells them that they may get asked why they are doing this. He gives them a simple response and it does the trick: they are to say, “The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.”

I wonder if the disciples asked Jesus, Why are You doing this?, when He asked them to get a donkey. There’s no indication given that they thought this unusual. The plan for Him to ride into Jerusalem on that donkey seemed to accomplish what He set out to do. The crowds seemed to know what was going on, what with their putting their coats and branches on the ground. What with their quoting Scripture and their praises of this one coming in the name of the Lord.

It doesn’t appear that they were asking Jesus why He was doing this. They seemed to know. But the Scriptures tell us they didn’t know; at least, they didn’t fully comprehend who Jesus was and why He was coming into Jerusalem. The Scriptures tell us the disciples didn’t even know. The religious leaders certainly didn’t know. Who knows, maybe the people who owned the donkey did know. There was a reason they had that donkey upon which no one had ever sat. But everyone else didn’t know.

What about you and me? Do we know? Why was Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey? Why was Jesus even in a position to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey? That is, Jesus being God, how was God in a situation in which He was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey? That He was shows us that He was a man. We know this of course. We’re Christians. We believe Jesus is a man. We believe also that He is God. That He is God and that He is a man shows us something that is at the heart of who He is. We might take a cue from those who asked the disciples why they were untying the donkey and ask Jesus, Why are you doing this?

Why did You become a man? Why were You born? Why, since You were, were You born in such remarkable circumstances; that is, in such a lowly fashion? Why did You confine Yourself in Your life here on earth to such a small area of the globe? Why, in the same fashion, did You confine Your life here on earth to such a small period of time; namely, about thirty years, and only about three of those in actual ministry? And toward the end of those three years, why did You ride into Jerusalem on that donkey?

Jesus did many things after being born. He grew up as we all do. He was in the care of His parents, Joseph and Mary. He went to school. He probably worked with His dad after that. Why did He do these things? Was He just killing time before the big thing—you know, the one where He died for the sins of the world? Why, when He left His carpentry tools behind, did He spend three years in ministry? Was it just a warm-up for the main event, where He suffered on the cross? When He was in His ministry, why did He do all those things He did, the teaching, the healing, the miracles? Why did He heal some and not others? Why did He show some His powers and conceal it from others?

It’s perhaps a little dangerous to bring up all these questions when there’s not time in one sermon to answer all of them. But questions are good. The purpose of questions can be to stretch us, not necessarily to get answers in a neat and tidy way.

Even so, all these questions can be answered in a straightforward way. What Jesus did on Palm Sunday teaches us why Jesus did what He did. He rode into Jerusalem on that donkey to fulfill Scripture. He rode in on a donkey to make His way to the place where He had always planned on going, Golgotha. Everything Jesus did, from being born to being raised by His parents, to being in ministry where He healed and taught, to riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, all was for the purpose bringing about salvation. Scripture foretold it in the Old Testament, Scripture shows the fulfillment of it in the New Testament.

Nobody seemed to be asking Jesus on that day, Why are You doing this? Why are You riding into Jerusalem on that donkey? They seemed to know. But they didn’t know. They didn’t ask because they thought they knew. We know, but we should ask. Jesus, why did You ride into Jerusalem on that donkey? The words of Zechariah in the Old Testament reading tell us. The words of Paul in the Epistle reading tell us. The words the people who hailed Jesus in the Gospel reading tell us. He rode into Jerusalem in order to fulfill Scripture. He did it in order to go to the cross. He did it in order to be the King and Savior that He is.

We know this. We know why He did it. But we need to ask. But why? Why do we need to ask our Lord why He did that? Because we need to know why He continues to do what He does. It’s one thing to know what Jesus did. It’s equally vital to know why He does what He does now.

So often our questions to God are like this: God, why are You doing this? Why are You guiding me in a way I don’t want to go or don’t understand? Why are you allowing me to suffer through difficulties? Why do You seem so distant if You are always with me? Why is it so hard to talk to others about You when it should be the easiest and most natural thing in the world? Why do You come to me in the ways you do, in ways that seem not to be very compelling, such as water and bread and wine?

One thing we can know is that it’s not a bad thing to ask God questions. He invites them. What we must learn is that we should ask them in humility and faith. We must learn that our asking God why He does what He does should not be to question Him but to seek His will.

In this way we can ask our questions. Jesus, why are You doing this, coming to me in the way You are, in the waters of Baptism? Why are You coming to me through simple bread and wine? Why are you using a man who is just as sinful as I am to proclaim the Gospel to me and absolve my sins? Why do You use me, an ordinary person, and one who doesn’t always know what to say to others, to make known the Gospel to the people in my life? Why not just use those who are really good at communicating and relating to others?

When you look at the way God did things as shown to us in the Scriptures you begin to see the way He does things today. Why He does them is also shown. Why did God become a man? He certainly did it for us. We, the people He created, removed ourselves from His care and so He came to us in a way in which He could restore us to His care. Why was He born in the way He was, humble and to insignificant people? We, the people of this world, placed ourselves above our status and so He came to us in humility, lowering Himself to be our servant. Why did He come into Jerusalem that day on a donkey? Zechariah in the Old Testament reading said that God would come as Savior, lowly and riding on a donkey. He did not enter in power but in peace and salvation.

The Epistle reading shows the true power and glory of God in that Jesus is fully God and yet took the form of a servant. He even placed Himself in submission to His Heavenly Father, becoming obedient to Him. His obedience was not just doing what we ought to do and have failed to do in keeping the Ten Commandments, it was becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Everything else Jesus did was for the purpose of carrying out His obedience unto death, specifically, His death on the cross.

That explains a lot in regard to why He does what He does today. Why does Jesus first come to us in water? Just as God’s Word went forth from the formlessness and the void bringing about creation, everything that we see, so God’s Word goes forth and is connected to that water that is poured on you in Baptism. You are now re-created in Baptism. You are now given new life in Baptism. The water was one of the things He created at the beginning, it is one of the things He uses to bring to you His Son, Jesus Christ, in order to give you new life.

Why does Jesus come to us often in bread and wine? Bread and wine are also ordinary things God created, just like water. Jesus is the Word made flesh. The Word that God spoke at creation was brought forth in His Son when Jesus became a man at His birth. On the night before He went to His death on the cross where His body would be given and His blood would be shed Jesus gave bread and wine to His disciples in a meal. It was a memorial meal, no doubt, Jesus says that Himself. This Memorial Meal was unlike any other, however, in that in the bread He gave and in the wine He gave He gave His very body and His very blood.

It is in the things of creation God’s Word is at work. It is in ordinary things Jesus comes to us. No longer should it seem strange to us that He uses us also, the crown of His creation, as the vessels through which others hear about Christ as we talk with them and serve them. That He used a donkey doesn’t seem all that strange after all when you consider that He is the one who created donkeys in the first place. And when you consider that He also created water and bread and wine it’s perfectly natural that He would use those things as well.

If you every wonder, Lord, Why are You doing this?, just think about what occurred on that day when Jesus posed that some might ask that question. It was about the donkey. That donkey ended up being the vehicle which carried Jesus on His way to the cross. In the same way, the water of Baptism, the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, are vehicles carrying Jesus to you. Amen.

SDG

The Servant Heart of God

Fifth Sunday in Lent

The Annunciation of Our Lord

March 25, 2012

Mark 10:32-45

For those of you who struggle through Lent with its somberness and solemnity, you can take heart because it’s nearing the end. The Fifth Sunday in Lent today will give way to Palm Sunday next week and along with it Holy Week. That, as we know, is the prelude to Easter, and most people who have a difficult time with Lent have a sort of relief in the celebration of Easter. This isn’t a denigration of any of this, simply an observation. It’s what some people experience and it’s good to understand where we’re coming from as we make our way through the Church Year.

Having made our way through almost the entire season of Lent it might be tempting just to treat this Sunday as one more Sunday in Lent and the last one before the big day of Palm Sunday. But the Church Year is much more powerful than simply a bunch of Sundays in a particular season that simply fade away when a new season in the Church Year takes its place. Each Sunday is designed to grab a hold of us and impact us in a meaningful way.

The real beauty and genius of the Church Year is that it takes us in the way of our Lord. When we observe the Church Year we are being brought along in a way in which we’d otherwise not go. Our way is so often the way that skips the cross, going right to the glory. Glory here, though, is a relative term. Glory is something we don’t see rightly or clearly because we just want glory, period. Jesus is all about granting glory, and glory beyond what we can imagine, but His way of granting it to us is through the cross.

And so we see that James and John were ordinary Christians showing up to church on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, wondering if this penitential season was ever going to end and wanting to get straight to the Alleluias of Easter and the glory that that magnificent celebration brings. And so we see that the other ten disciples were equally ready to get through the Lenten season, a little put off with the two Zebedee brothers, but mostly ticked at themselves that they didn’t bring up this alteration of the Church Year with Jesus before the Zebedee boys had.

Jesus being the liturgical guy He was was not going to let them get away with this. He did, however, entertain their notion of dispensing with the Church Year observance of Lent and wanting to go directly to the Easter season. You say you want glory, but are you able to undergo the suffering necessary to attain glory? They didn’t hesitate. Of course we are. When you have your sights set on glory everything else pales and the worst of things seems not so bad. Perhaps they were sincere. No matter, they weren’t seeking the true glory Jesus was offering because they were preempting the giving of it; much like the prodigal son: Dad, just give me the inheritance I have coming to me now.

Nevertheless, Jesus maintained His liturgical purity even as He continued down this path James and John were traversing. You will. You’re right. You will suffer the suffering that comes from being a follower of Christ. They were looking ahead where they had no business looking. Jesus was looking ahead because He knew what was ahead. Jesus knew that they would grow and mature, that they would come to appreciate being humble enough to observe the liturgical year and walk the path that He Himself walked. He knew that though it wasn’t for Him to grant to them being placed on His right and left they would indeed come into glory with Him.

The reason He knew this is that His sights were set not on glory but on the cross. Yet, that’s not quite right. His sights were set on glory. You see, it was His glory, and His Father’s glory, that He go to the cross. It was glorious in His eyes that He would be handed over. That He would suffer. That He would die for the sins of the world. That He would rise from the grave. Of course He knew the joys and glory of heaven that James and John would share in. He knew that eternal salvation was the ultimate goal of all of this.

But thank God that He knew that the true glory of all of this is the cross. It is the servant heart of God. It is the love that drove Him to the cross.

If Lent ever seems dreary to us it’s not the fault of Lent or of observing the Church Year. It’s our own fault. It’s our sinful nature rising up to rebel against the Lord of all coming in humble willingness to lay down His life for sinners. It’s in us mistaking solemnity for dreariness. It’s in us setting our eyes on glory when they ought to be set on the cross. It’s astonishing, really, how dense these disciples were. Mark, inspired by the Holy Spirit, does not give us a glowing portrayal of these men. And not just James and John, but the whole bunch of them.

Just in chapter 10 alone, in the verses before today’s Gospel reading, we have Jesus exhorting that “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And here they are arrogating to themselves the highest places of honor—Lord, when You come in Your glory, grant to us that we may sit at Your right and Your left. Children are naturally humble in their being in submission to those over them. James and John and their fellow disciple buddies could have used a few lessons from children.

Not long after that Jesus repeated one of His patented lines: “many who are first will be last, and the last first.” So, of course, what did J & J want? To be first, what else? What do we want? We want what’s best for us. And what’s best for us is the best. So why would they and we ask for anything less? Were they daydreaming when Jesus talked about the last being first, and the first last? I doubt it. Probably just that were very much like we are. We hear the Word of God. We know who we are in Christ. We know what we should do. And what do we do? The opposite, of course. We go against everything we know, everything our Lord has taught us, everything He has called us to.

The First Commandment easily lays waste to any notions we have of being pretty good, or at least not so bad. No, we have no regard whatsoever for God and His holy will. We should fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. Sadly, and shamefully, we seek our own will. We seek our own glory. We seek what is best for ourselves apart from God’s will. We skip right past the cross in order to gain glory.

But perhaps the most striking thing about their request was it being in the context of Jesus’ first words in today’s Gospel reading: “he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.’” At the very least they could have shown some deference to Him by bringing their outrageous request to Him at a time when perhaps He was talking about the Padres or the Chargers, or something clearly not on the scale of His suffering and dying for everyone.

It’s not necessarily that Jesus said this and then they immediately dropped the bomb of their arrogant request, they of all people being granted being placed at His right and His left. The Holy Spirit has given us what He has given us in His Word so that we may learn of Christ, so that we may receive Him, so that we be shown His servant heart, His love that drove Him to the cross. So whether the events played out exactly as they’re written in the Gospel reading or there was some discussion after Jesus’ sobering announcement, or perhaps some silence, or perhaps some talk about something else, what we have here is what we need to know. It’s what the Holy Spirit has given us to know so that we can see how utterly dense we are, how supremely arrogant we are, how pathetic it is when we Christians seek glory apart from the cross.

And if that’s sobering, it also is at how patient Jesus is with them and with us. He knows us. He knows we’re dense. He knows our sinful nature is always recoiling against all that talk of the cross, of suffering, of dying, of repentance, of Lenten solemnity and somberness. He knows. And that’s why He came. That’s why He went to the cross. To deliver us from all of that. To deliver us from our seeking of glory apart from Him and His cross. Of our pathetic arrogance that thinks there is something better for us apart from Him and His cross. He loves us. He knows us. He is compassionate. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve. He came to give His life as a ransom. His heart is a servant heart, not of an arrogant lord or ruler. The rulers of this world lord it over others.

It is not to be so among us. It is to be the way of Christ. It is to be the servant way. It is to be the way of the cross; and yes, that means suffering. It means that glory comes only through the cross. It means that we ask our Lord to give us a calm heart as we make our way through Lent. A repentant heart. Even a somber heart and one that is content in solemnity. Where we are tempted to be despondent, we ask our Lord to bring our focus back on Him and His cross. Where we see that there is no despair there at all. Where there is no defeat, but rather victory. Where, in an astonishing switch, there is glory. It is the glory of the Lord who is the servant. The God who is the Savior. Amen.

SDG

In This Way

Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 18, 2012

John 3:14-21

Probably the most well-known verse in the Bible is John 3:16. You probably know it by heart or you easily recognize it when you hear it: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” When things are well-known they can become stale. When you hear it you may automatically not pay as much attention as you would to something you’ve never heard before. This is normal.

Sometimes things we know well can take on new life when we hear them presented in a different way. This verse may seem to have new life to it in the way the original Greek words present it. The English of the translation we’re using, The English Standard Version, presents it the way we’re so often used to hearing it: for God so loved the world. It’s along the lines of, God loved the world, so He did something, namely, He sent His Son. Or perhaps along these lines: God loved the world so much that He gave His Son. These both capture God’s love for the world and what He did in His love; He sent His Son. The Greek has it more along these lines: God loved the world in this way—He sent His Son.

This doesn’t just tell us that God loved the world and that He did something about it. It doesn’t even tell us that God loved the world so much that He did something about it. It tells us that God loved the world, and a lot, and this is the way He loved the world: He sent His Son. In this way we see the essence of God’s love. We see that it’s incomparable love. We see that He loves the world and the way He loves the world. In this way we also see something about ourselves because we are the recipients of His love and the way He has loved us. We also see the way that it now is with us because love that is given in this way cannot simply be an action in which we receive. It is love that produces something in us.

Instead of being eternally separated from God we have eternal life. Eternal life is life without end. It is life without eternal punishment and not being separated from God forever. It is eternal glory in heaven. But in the way that God shows us His love, and not just shows us, but actually loves us, we see that eternal life is so much more than eternal glory in heaven. If that were all that eternal life were, we wouldn’t have eternal life now. We’d have to wait for it. Of course, we do have to wait for the eternal glory of heaven. But we don’t have to wait for eternal life. God has given it to us now. In giving us eternal life He has given us new life and a new way to live.

In this way we live, we are in Christ. We live and breathe in this new life not as ones who are dead, “following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,” as the Epistle reading puts it. Rather, as the Epistle also says, God “made us alive together with Christ… and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This new life we have is all by God’s work, all by His mercy, all by His grace, and it is all through faith. It is all a gift of God so that no one can boast. The new life we have is one in which we are in Christ, and we serve in the good works we do. These aren’t works we do in order to be saved or so that God will love us. They are works, as the Epistle says, “which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

In this way we live. If this doesn’t sound amazing it’s probably because even though you were dead in your trespasses and sins and now you’re not, and you were by nature children of wrath but now you’re not, your sinful flesh still rises up daily to bring you down. Your Old Adam wants to continue to live in the way the Epistle reading describes: living “in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.” To our sinful flesh, new life in Christ as serving others, carrying out good works for the benefit of others, doesn’t exactly sound exciting. It doesn’t capture our attention as the greatest thing ever. We’d much rather act on the things that do capture our attention. We’re far more ready to think about what appeals to us rather than contemplate God’s love for us in Christ and how that translates into serving and helping others.

That’s why Jesus said He must be lifted up. If something is lifted up then it’s readily seen. He said of Himself that He must be lifted up. We usually don’t think of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross in this way, but that’s the way He used it here. He was lifted up. He was affixed to the cross and it was raised up. The Romans raised those crosses high so that common people could see those horrible criminals and they would be warned not to follow in their path lest they be lifted up in this violent form of punishment. And though they did this to Jesus they didn’t realize that He had already chosen for it to happen. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

In this way God loved the world and in this way we see what our lives truly are. How could you think of your life as your own when you have been given new life in Christ? How could you continue to seek out your own desires apart from God’s will when He has loved you in such a way as to give you His own Son? How could you trade this eternal life for temporal desires of your heart and mind? The Son of Man has been lifted up on the cross for all the world to see. It’s not just decoration that there’s a huge cross hanging on the wall above the altar. It’s lifted up high so that you can see it. It’s been raised up so that you can set your sights on that and see there who Christ is and what He has accomplished in being lifted up.

In this way you see more and more that who Christ is and what He has done for you means that who you are is more than just a person who lives life in order to bring about how you would like things to be. How you would like things to be is not nearly as good as what you think they are. But even more importantly, how you would like things to be is actually eternally condemning. It doesn’t seem so, of course. But that’s because your mind and your heart is clouded. It’s darkened by sin.

How often are we like the Israelites, the people of God in the Old Testament? In the verses just before today’s Old Testament reading they were delivered by God from a king who wanted to destroy them. The Israelites were understandably relieved, and very grateful to God. It wasn’t long, though, before they became very ungrateful. No sooner had God delivered them than they doubted whether He was going to take care of them. Jesus’ description of fallen humankind in the Gospel reading is apt: “the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

In this way God shows us the new life we have in Christ. He, as Jesus says in the Gospel reading, gives us the judgment. He tells it to us straight. We are by nature sinful and unclean. We are fallen, we are in darkness. We are so dead in our sin and guilt that we don’t even see it clearly.  Is it any wonder the Son of Man had to be lifted up? Otherwise, I think we’d miss it. Even when the Bible is clear, that this is all a gift, that it is all God’s work of saving us and forgiving us and giving us new life; that it is all by Jesus Christ being lifted up on the cross, dying for the sin of the world; we still so often miss it. In this way we have new life. In this way we are shown what we need to see. In this way we are given a great gift: that of getting ourselves off of ourselves and onto Christ.

We are, after all, in Him now. We are one with Him. He gave His life, He served us. We are now in Him and we now serve. Do we do good works? Most definitely. So often people get the idea that Lutherans don’t believe in good works. Too many times people have the notion that Lutherans teach against good works. The plain truth is that we do believe that we Christians do good works. The question really is, why? An equally important question is, how? The answer to both questions is Jesus Christ.

In this way God loved the world, He gave His only Son. In this way we do good works: God has prepared them from beforehand for us to do. We are most certainly not saved by good works, we’re saved by grace after all. But we are saved for good works. He has prepared them for us so that we may walk in them. In this way we see that it has always been and always is about Christ and Him crucified. He was lifted up so that we may see this and live in this way. Amen.

SDG

The Lord and His Cross; Your Lord and Your Cross

Second Sunday in Lent

March 4, 2012

Mark 8:27–38

There’s the Lord you want and there’s the Lord there is. There’s the life you want and the life your Lord gives you. There’s the Lord you imagine—glorious, above the fray—and the Lord who comes to you—in humility, in weakness; suffering, going to a cross. There’s the life you pray your Lord to give you—free-flowing, glorious—and the life your Lord gives to you—where you suffer in weakness, where you bear your cross.

There’s the sermon you’d like to hear, where everything’s going to be all right, God will remove you from your hurt and your sorrow and your trials. And there’s the sermon you’ll hear, where you are to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow your Lord in the way of the cross, the way of suffering and trials.

It’s not that God doesn’t want you to have glory. It’s not that He wants you to be miserable. Just look at the Old Testament reading and it’s clear that God wants you to be blessed. His words to Abraham is a message that directly applies to you. His promise to Abraham was that he would be the father of many nations. At another point He tells Abraham that all peoples will be blessed through him. In the New Testament we are told specifically how we are children of Abraham, it is by faith. It’s not that we are the genealogical descendents of Abe. It’s that we are his children because of the promise made by God to Abraham that was fulfilled in Christ. That’s why Paul says in the Epistle reading that we are justified by faith.

There is glory here. There is victory here and we can latch on to it as Abraham did. But notice how it’s brought about. It’s not in glory. It’s not a cakewalk. It’s through humble means. How would God’s promise to Abraham be brought about? Through a son. Sarah, who was unable to have children, would give birth to a son. This is a great blessing, of course. But think about what God is saying to him. Through this one child, Isaac, will come multitudes. Here the stage is set for not relying on our own visions of grandeur. God could have blessed Abraham with many children in order to bring this promise about, but He didn’t. He said it would be through one. And this promise ultimately would be brought about through one other, the only-begotten Son of God. Going back to Paul in the Epistle reading: “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is in Christ alone that we have this ultimate glory, peace with God, a status in which we are right with Him eternally.

This is your Lord. He is the one who brings about this glory. To this we’re all ears. Bring it on. Bring me into this glory so that I can enjoy it. This is the kind of life we want from our Lord. He’s God, after all. Why should we expect anything less than glory? Why should we settle for less than a life we can fully enjoy? This certainly was the way Peter was thinking. In the Gospel reading he showed his command of Christian theology. He knew who Jesus was. He believed in Him.

But oddly enough Jesus told him and the other disciples to keep quiet about it. It would seem that the best course of action would be to make this known. Since it all started with Jesus asking them what the general consensus was of who He was and that it was way off, it would seem the best thing for Him to tell His disciples was, You guys need to pound the pavement and get people on the right track. Tell them who I really am, I am the Christ, as you have confessed. Some were thinking He was John the Baptist having come back from the dead, some Elijah come back from the dead, some one of the prophets come back from the dead. At least the disciples could have put a dent in the misconceptions so many people had of who He was.

But no, Jesus’ MO is, Be quiet. Don’t tell anyone. Keep it to yourself. Some glory. Jesus was God in the flesh, why wouldn’t He want as many people to know as possible?

The answer is in our Lord Himself. It’s in who He is and how He comes to us. He comes to bring glory but He doesn’t come in glory. He comes to share His glory with us but He does it through humility and suffering. The answer of why Jesus told them to keep their mouth shut was in His next words to them. Our Gospel reading says that “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” This is who our Lord is. This is how He comes to us. He is the Lord and bears His cross. It is the cross of suffering. It’s not just that He underwent a terrible ordeal. It’s that He went to the cross to pay a penalty. He suffered a specific suffering. It was being the recipient of the wrath of God upon sinners and their sin. This is who our Lord was. This is how He came. This is why He came.

Did the disciples know this? Nope. Yes, they knew who He was, He was the Christ!, but they didn’t really know who He was. Good old Peter took to his bully pulpit again and rebuked Jesus. What kind of a Messiah do You think you are? How do You possibly think that it makes sense for You to suffer and even die? What kind of glory can be gotten from You going to the cross?

For all the misconstrued ideas people had about Jesus, the disciples weren’t much different. Neither are you and I. We don’t really want a Lord who comes in weakness and even suffers. We don’t really want a Lord who has to go to a cross. We want a Lord who is God in all His power, glory, and majesty. We want to share in that glory. Instead we get one who was rather pathetic as He hung on the cross. Think about it, the Lord, God Almighty, meekly consented to a bunch of religious leaders to trumped up charges in order to get Him crucified. Think about how the eternal God quietly submitted to a bunch of soldiers mocking Him and slapping Him and scourging Him. Think about the hands that formed the universe in all its beauty now being nailed to wood.

A strange God indeed. A strange Lord. He is basically saying that He’s not the Lord of glory but of the cross. He came to bear His cross. When we think of Him otherwise we are thinking the things of men, not of God. We are letting Satan control how we view, no, believe in, God. I mean, Jesus was pretty pointed in His response to Peter: “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

There is method behind the madness, so to speak. Our Lord is our Lord because of who He is. That is, He’s glorious and Almighty and all that good stuff, but primarily He is loving, He is merciful. He doesn’t come to you in glory because that wouldn’t do you any good. He comes to you in mercy because that does all the good in the world. Or rather, in all eternity. And if this sounds great, it is. Paul makes that abundantly clear in the Epistle reading. He did all this for you. While you were still His enemy, while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. Yes, this is all indeed wonderful, glorious, and fantastic.

And true to form, we’d like to keep it right there. Thank you Lord, that You have finally given me the glory that I want. Thank you that in Your suffering You have brought me the glory that I seek.

To that there’s something else your Lord has to say. He rebukes you. Bringing you this glory doesn’t mean that you have an easy ride now. What it means is that now you bear a cross. I have borne the cross for the sin of the world. Now you bear a cross. It’s your own. I save you from eternal suffering, now I call you to a life in which you bear a cross. Yes, that means suffering.

If you don’t like the sound of this, join the club. Get in line behind Peter. Paul wasn’t on board at first either. None of us are. It’s part of the nature of bearing a cross that it’s not something you relish. It’s not something you seek. It’s something you’d just as soon dispense with. But glory in it, you can. That’s what Jesus is getting at. It’s what Paul’s getting at in the Epistle reading. I’m not sure why they used the word ‘rejoice’ there, because the word is more along the lines of ‘boast’, or ‘glory’, or even ‘take pride in’. Be that as it may, your Lord gives you a new life. You’re not always going to like it, certainly not always enjoy it. But you can glory in it. In fact, in your new life in Christ, you do. Why? Paul lays it out nicely in the Epistle: “we [glory] in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we [glory] in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

The Lord is the Lord because He went to the cross. That is how He is your Lord. Your Lord is the Lord who gives you your cross to bear. You may not see any glory in that but neither did anyone see at first glory in His bearing the cross for the sin of the world. It is because He bore His cross that you may bear yours. Bearing a cross is by nature difficult and not enjoyable. But Jesus as He drew all men to Himself in His cross will draw you to Himself in your bearing your cross. He is your Lord, He will not leave you without hope and strength as you bear your cross. He has strength to give you as He has undergone what you could never imagine. When you bear your cross you won’t always see how you can bear it, how you can bear up under the pressure and the strain of being ostracized for believing in Christ, for serving and helping those who have taken advantage of you, of deferring present glory for humility and suffering.

But He has given you His promise through Abraham. He has justified you by faith. He has gone to the cross so that you are the recipient of these promises. He gives you the very body delivered on the cross to you in His Holy Supper. You drink of the very blood that was shed on the cross. He is your Lord, He will give you strength to bear your cross. He will finally bring you to glory beyond compare. This is something to glory in. Amen.

SDG

Why I Love Lent

First Sunday in Lent

February 26, 2012

Mark 1:9-15

I love Lent because it’s about victory. Lent is a solemn time, there’s no question. Some don’t do well with it at all because it can be downright depressing for them. And when we think of victory, we would normally think of Easter, what with the victory over the grave in Christ rising from it. But make no mistake, Lent is all about victory. And I love it.

I love it because it doesn’t take a Pollyannaish look at the Christian life. It takes a hard look at it. It’s real in its assessment of it. It’s gritty and not afraid to get down in the dirt with the hard questions of Christianity and the challenges of living the Christian life. Through this all there is the victory that Lent ultimately is all about.

Lent is a paradox in a world that wants easy answers. Lent doesn’t hide behind beautiful pictures of the Christian life that so often are promised to people who are hurting. Lent steps right into the world of hurt and embraces it. Lent doesn’t ignore very real threats to the Christian life and our often fragile faith, such as temptation. Lent meets temptation head on and spurs us on to duke it out with Satan.

I love Lent because it goes against so much of what our society values. I love Lent because it forces me to examine what it really means to be a Christian, to live in society, to have to wait until God calls us to His eternal home. When society tells me that I have rights Lent cuts me down to size and reminds me that when all is said and done I am a poor miserable sinner. There is something immensely freeing in seeing things as they really are rather than as I would like them to be but with no hope of them ever being that way. There is something enormously gratifying about knowing that even as I live in society I am not of this world; of knowing that even as heaven is my home that I nevertheless am called by my Lord to take up my cross and follow Him, to serve Him in many ways in society with my time, my talents, and my treasure. There is something tremendously fulfilling in knowing that even as my culture will tell me that I am a rugged individual that I am always reliant on my Lord who went it alone to the cross so that I may not be alone but serve others with all the many gifts God has given me.

Lent is above all a time of repentance. And I love that. Why? Because I need that. I love it because what I really love the most, in my heart of hearts, in my inner being, at the core of who I am, is myself. When God says “You shall have no other gods,” He says it because He knows that I am first and foremost my own one true God. Repentance shatters all that. And it’s only in repentance that I can see myself for who I was created to be—God’s own child, a new creation, a person redeemed by Christ. No, repentance is not fun. I don’t love Lent and repentance because it’s fun, or even particularly enjoyable.

But it’s real. It’s substantive. It’s lasting. Unlike my own thoughts, and desires, and wants, and needs, and basically everything else that has to do with me, Lent points me outward. It points me to something other than myself and my inborn sin, my wretched nature. It, at its essence, points me to Christ. That’s why I love Lent. Lent shows me Christ. It teaches me Christ. It teaches me that temptation is not something to be ignored. Or underestimated. Or dealt with on my own. It teaches me that Christ is the one who is the Victor, I am a poor miserable sinner. I am one who listens to the voice of Satan and succumbs to temptation.

But that’s why I love Lent. Because it shows me what I can’t know within myself. That there is something else. Someone else. That something, that someone, is Christ. Lent shows me that. Lent shows me victory where I end up in defeat. There is a reason the First Sunday in Lent always has as its focus the Temptation of Christ. Temptation is real. It’s hard-hitting. Don’t ever let anyone fool you into believing that Christianity is easy, that it’s a glorious life, that you’ll come to a point where you’ll overcome sin, and perhaps above all, that you have reached a point where you are more spiritual, or a more faithful Christian, than some of those other Christians you know. You are nothing else than a poor miserable sinner. And Lent tells you that. That’s why I love Lent.

Lent doesn’t allow you to skip right to the Resurrection. There is no resurrection without the cross. And really, there is no cross without Lent. Jesus didn’t come down to earth and step right up to the cross to be nailed to it. He was born. As we see in our Gospel reading today, He was Baptized. As we also see, He was tempted. As we further see, He proclaimed the Gospel, He carried out the holy ministry. Jesus in a fashion went through Lent. Before going to the cross He went through the desert, the wilderness. He endured temptation at the hands of Satan. Lent shows me that He did all of this for me. Specifically, for victory.

If I am under the illusion that my Christian life is an easy ride, then I ignore much of what Jesus has done. Jesus met head on with the pain and suffering and discouragement of people’s lives. He met head on with the thing we cannot withstand, the temptation of Satan. All you really have to do is look at Adam and Eve. They were sunk the moment they gave the serpent an audience. They went it alone and they got nailed. Only God can crush Satan under His feet. We get strangled by Satan’s lies. That’s why Jesus met Satan’s temptation head on.

Mark doesn’t say much about the temptation. It happened, that’s about as much as we get from him. But even so, we do get an amazing context, in that Jesus was Baptized, anointed by the Holy Spirit, declared the Beloved Son of the Heavenly Father, and then is immediately driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. The stunning development is that He is driven into this mess of temptation by the Spirit! What kind of love is being shown here by the Father and the Spirit?

This is what Lent is about. It’s why I love Lent. Lent shows us that even as the love of the Father and the Spirit never wavered for God the Son, the love of Father, Spirit, and Son, was always and fervently focused on the brothers and sisters of Adam and Eve. That’s you and me. That’s what Lent is here for. Its purpose is to get you and me to focus on why the Holy Spirit was driving Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Make no mistake—it was an ordeal. It was a trial such as you and I could not imagine. This was not a no-holds-barred tackle football game between friends. This was an assault by Satan on the one who came to be Savior. Would He survive this assault? The victory is in Jesus not fighting back of His own power but relying on God the Father and the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ temptation, the angels came and were ministering to Him. Our only hope of enduring under temptation is to rely on God, not seek our own path.

I love Lent because the victory is true victory. It’s not a bait-and-switch. It’s not a promise of a pleasant life, but of actual hope and real strength in time of need. Our Lord, having withstood temptation and secured victory over Satan, gave us these words to pray: and lead us not into temptation. Many a Christian has puzzled over those words. Does the wording suggest that God might lead us into temptation? That we’d better pray He doesn’t, lest He does? I have my own thought of why He worded it that way but it’s nothing more than conjecture, so take it for what it’s worth: I think He might have done it simply to capture our attention. It’s all too easy to take things God tells us and quickly pass them by. But when things are worded in such a way, it really forces us to think about them; forces us to go back to Scripture where we continue to learn what God wants us to know and where He increases our faith. Be that as it may, the Bible makes it absolutely clear that God tempts no one, as we heard in our Epistle reading. So, no, God is not going to be leading us into temptation.

But when we do pray that petition of the Lord’s Prayer—lead us not into temptation—might we turn our focus to the place where our Lord Himself was led into temptation? Driven, even? Might we see in our Lord’s words of what to pray—namely, lead us not into temptation—an amazing comfort, an amazing promise? Specifically, that our God, the Holy Spirit Himself, drove our Lord into temptation, and therefore we can know that He did this in our place. That He will never lead us into temptation, He did so with Christ so that the victory could be won.

This is why I love Lent. Because with me, there’s only defeat. My sinful flesh conspires with Satan to bring me down. The world is all too happy to join in with Satan to kick me around and kick dust in my face. But Christ, He was victorious. He defeated Satan. He brought him down. He kicked him around.

And if that weren’t enough, He finally crushed Satan under His feet by destroying death with His own Suffering and Death. He finally put an end to the lie that we are our own gods and that acting on our sinful desires will bring us fulfillment. He gained this victory putting sin and guilt to death in dying for the sins of the world. And if that weren’t enough, He showed that His power knows no bounds because the grave could not hold Him. Satan has no power over one who willingly gives His life and actually is able to take on the sin of the world. He has no chance against one who by His own power can bring Himself back to life. Satan gave everything he could. He had no chance. That’s why the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. That’s why I love Lent. That’s why I love to confess in the Catechism the meaning of the Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, Lead us not into temptation:

“God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.” Amen.

SDG

The Treasure of Confession and Absolution

Ash Wednesday

February 22, 2012

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

This Lenten season when we gather midweek we will be exploring the blessing of Confession and Absolution. Confession and Absolution is a big thing with Lutherans. We know well that we all are in need of confessing our sins. We know even better that the purpose of that is to receive Absolution, the forgiveness of our sins. What we Lutherans may be losing, though, is the treasuring of Confession and Absolution. Somewhere along the line it fell out of use as a regular part of the lives of Christians. The Confession and Absolution spoken of as the Fifth Chief part of the Small Catechism is something in addition to the general confession of sins and the general statement of Absolution that we do at the beginning of the worship service on Sunday mornings.

It’s what’s usually referred to as private or individual Confession and Absolution. Many people think of this as a Roman Catholic ritual. But it never has been that. It has always been at the heart of Christian life and the life of the Christian Church. If it’s been a while since you’ve looked at that section of the Catechism I would encourage you to look at it again. When it comes to the need for it, some people are unnerved by the thought of going to their pastor privately to confess their sins. This is understandable. For as much public awareness as there is of people’s lives on the internet Facebook and YouTube as well as the tabloids at the grocery counter, we live in a very private society. We don’t want anyone else to know our deepest darkest faults and thoughts. There’s also the fear that the pastor being a human will blab their sins to his fellow pastors, or worse, the other members of the congregation. Then there is simply the question of why it’s necessary. We get forgiven in the Absolution on Sunday. We get forgiven in the proclamation of the Gospel and in the Lord’s Supper. Not only that, we have direct access to God and are granted forgiveness daily. Why do we also need to do it in a private setting to the pastor?

These are real and understandable concerns and questions. The answers might best be seen in the context of why we’re here. We’re here because we’re starting the Lenten season. We’re here because it’s Ash Wednesday. We’re certainly here because of our need, our sinfulness, and in order to receive forgiveness. We’re here because it’s valuable to take time out of the normal schedule of our lives to hear and receive the Word of God; to hear the proclamation of the forgiveness of our sins. All of these reasons why we’re here tonight match up nicely with the value of private Confession and Absolution.

Even as the Lenten season is a season of repentance and meditating on the passion of Christ, our lives need to be lives of repentance. Throughout our lives we need to consider the suffering and death of our Lord and what that means for our daily lives. Individual Confession and Absolution provides this. Even as a setting of being here gives you opportunity for spiritual growth, a setting in which you confess your personal sins to your pastor gives you an opportunity to hear the words of the Gospel spoken to you in a manner that is personal, spoken directly to your situation.

In the Gospel reading Jesus is not directly speaking to Confession and Absolution. But He is talking about righteousness. If we may not see a major need for private Confession and Absolution we certainly can see the need for righteousness. Jesus talks in the Gospel reading about righteousness in a very private way. Do not practice your righteousness in a way in which it is a show. Do not live as a child of God in such a way that others notice it and your focus begins to be on yourself just as theirs is on you. Certainly do not seek to gain favor in the eyes of God by what you do, how you do it, how much you do, how well you do it, and countless other ways you can think of to consider yourself righteous. When Jesus speaks of the practicing of righteousness, as He does here, it’s in the context of the righteousness that He first declares to you.

And this is the treasure of Confession and Absolution. No one likes to admit they’re wrong. No one likes to have to say they’re sorry. But what a treasure this is. It’s a blessing to be able to get it out in the open instead of it staying hidden in your mind and heart. Especially to be able to be before God and confess your sin to Him is a treasure He has given us. If in the recesses of your mind that one sin that keeps plaguing you is still hanging around and you can’t shake the guilt then Confession and Absolution is medicine for you. When you sin against someone and you apologize to them face to face you get to receive forgiveness directly from them. You get to hear from their mouth the words, “I forgive you.”

This is what is happening in private Confession and Absolution. When you go to your pastor and confess your sins to him you are confessing them to God. He’s a person just as you are, but he’s not there simply as another person. He’s there in the stead of God. The vow he made was to hear confession and never divulge it. The reason this is a treasure is because when you’re talking with God all by yourself you can’t hear anything back. It’s true that He speaks to you in His Word, the Bible. But with private Confession and Absolution you get to hear the words spoken by God Himself through His called and ordained servant the specific words of forgiveness to you, for your sin.

Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What is it that you treasure? What do you hold most dear? God Himself is a treasure. You ought to treasure Him above all else. You don’t, of course. But that’s why you continue to go back to repentance, confessing your sins, asking Him for His mercy. You do this because you know what kind of God you have. You have the God who looks at you and sees the waters of Baptism flowing over you. He sees you and sees you clothed in His Son Jesus Christ, in whom you were clothed in Baptism. When He sees you He can’t wait to tell you these words, I forgive you of all your sins. Now you can see what a treasure it is that God gives when He dishes out His mercy, beginning in Baptism, often in the Lord’s Supper, and with the open invitation to Confession and Absolution. Amen.

SDG

Same New, Same New

We all get tired of the “same old, same old.” Whether you’re in a job where you do the same thing hour after hour, day after day, or you’re retired and you get stuck in certain routines, or out of habit you eat the same thing for breakfast every day, the same old, same old can get pretty, well, old.

Sometimes we can feel that way in our spiritual walk with Christ. Reading the Bible every day can feel like it gets old. Getting through chapter upon chapter of Leviticus or Job is tough slogging and reading these and other parts of the Bible doesn’t always feel very spiritual or spiritually renewing.

Going through the liturgy in worship Sunday after Sunday can sometimes feel like you’re just going through the motions rather than really worshiping.

But there is something that is coming around that is just the ticket for us. It is Lent. True, we go through this every year. Every Spring in the Church Year Lent comes around and it can seem like the same old, same old.

Lent itself can seem rather dreary and dull. All the talk of repentance and rending your heart and not your garments. All the focus on our guilt and the need for spiritual discipline. This isn’t exactly the stuff of excitement in our walk with Christ.

So when it seems like we’re stuck in the same old, same old, what do we do? How can Lent help us out here?

Though Lent does have an emphasis on guilt and repentance it is for the very purpose of renewal and being spiritually uplifted. How this happens is through that very process of repentance.

And that’s one of the reasons why we go through Lent year after year. Repentance is something we need to go through day after day. Even if it seems like the same old, same old, what actually is occurring is the new.

Repentance is an actual dying. It is dying to the world and the sinful flesh. What springs forth is renewal, new life in Christ each day.

That’s the way it is with Christ. It is always the same but always new. Life in Christ may seem like the same old, same old, but it’s actually the same new, same new.

His love for you is always the same. His forgiveness is always the same. The blood He poured out on Calvary is the same blood given to you often in His Holy Supper.

With Christ it’s always the same. And that’s a good thing.