You thought He was God. You’re ‘you shall have no other Gods before me’ God. Him you feared. Him you loved. Him you trusted. For you, there was no other God than the man Jesus. Luther teaches us: “To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by ‘god.’ To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in Him from the heart.” You believed in Jesus, you trusted Him. You believed that He was who He said He was, that He truly was the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. You believed that the one God of Israel had taken human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. He said words that only God could say, forgiving sins, rebuking storms, commanding demons to depart and the dead to rise. He did things that only God could do, multiplying loaves, walking on water, casting out disease and opening the eyes of the blind. You were amazed, astonished, even afraid of the great events you witnessed. He healed a paralytic and forgave his sins, shocking everyone. He stilled the storm, and you asked one another, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” Astonishment is hardly adequate to describe your reaction when Jairus’ dead daughter was brought back to life, and when He was transfigured on the mountain, showing forth His glory, you cowered on the ground in fear. Could He really be who He said He was? You certainly thought so—you were convinced He was God.
But then He started a new sermon series about going to Jerusalem. He had a ‘Jerusalem fixation,’ Jerusalem on the brain. He was obsessed with Jerusalem. This seemed strange for a person who cared little for the powers and principalities of this world, but you were even more shocked to hear what He planned to do there. Three times He boldly and defiantly preached that He was going to Jerusalem to be handed over, arrested, beaten, spit upon, and ridiculed. He wouldn’t quit preaching that in Jerusalem He would be condemned, flogged, and killed, that in Jerusalem He would meet a humiliating end. He said something, too, about rising again after three days, but you were too alarmed to pay much attention. You were terrified by His words. These things just don’t happen to Messiahs; they don’t happen to God. You thought, you hoped, that He would get over it, that this Jerusalem obsession was simply a fad, like almost every other sermon series, that He would soon get back to teaching the children and healing disease.
But you were wrong. He was serious—dead serious. And now He is just dead. Betrayed, just like He said. Condemned, just like He said. Crucified, just like He said. What good is a dead Jesus? You thought He was the Son of God, God Himself in the flesh, and now He is laying in a tomb. You saw His side pierced by the spear, you saw them take the corpse down. You watched as they laid Him in a new tomb, unstained by death no more. The one you trusted as your God is now dead. Where does that leave you? Once again, Luther teaches: “It is the trust and faith of the heart, nothing else, that make both God and an idol. If your faith and confidence are of the right kind, then your God is the true God. If, on the other hand, your trust is false, if it is misdirected, then you do not have the true God.” This is much worse than simply losing a good friend. You trusted Jesus as your God, and if He is dead, then you must have had the wrong God; you are an idolater. You have lied about God; if Jesus lays in the tomb, then you, of all people, are most to be pitied. That is why you cower in fear: what good is a dead Jesus? Can you fear, love, and trust in Him anymore? Can you!?
Three days later, a few brave women, who cared for Jesus while He lived, set out to care for Him in His death. What they find is as shocking as a man walking on water or a few loaves and fish feeding five thousand people. “And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.” The stone—rolled back! The tomb—empty! Nothing is as you expected it to be; you are terrified, astonished, looking for an explanation, and fortunately, this young man, this angel, has one. “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” Look, see the empty place as the first eyewitnesses, and then go from here, for a Christian should not remain in a place where Christ is not; and the one place Christ will never be again is this tomb. He has risen! “Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.” Just as He told you. Can it be? You remember long-forgotten promises, the declaration that just as He would certainly suffer and die, so also He would certainly rise. Nothing has shocked you more. “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
Fear. Trembling. Astonishment. You are overwhelmed to the point of silence by the shocking events of this morning. But as you leave the tomb with mouth firmly shut, you are haunted by the command of the angel. “Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.” Will you tell the disciples? Will you tell Peter? Will you go to Galilee to meet your risen Lord? You’re a bit reluctant, aren’t you? Of course you are; you have a guilty conscience. You know what you have done, what you have failed to do, and now you are a bit hesitant to meet the glorified, risen Jesus. You claimed that Jesus was your God, that the First Commandment applied to Him: “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” But have you feared Jesus above all things? Have you loved Jesus above all things? Have you trusted Jesus above all things? You know that you haven’t.
With Judas, you have betrayed Jesus, handing Him over for a bag of money, or your car, or your sports team. With Peter, you have denied Jesus, failing to confess Him when the world called on you to speak, hiding or watering down your Christian faith to fit in with friends, co-workers, or relatives. With the disciples, you have abandoned Jesus, leaving Him high and dry when the cross came into view, shrinking away from the suffering, ridicule, and persecution that comes from bearing His Name. What do you expect to find in Galilee? The same Jesus you betrayed, denied, and abandoned, the same Jesus you claimed as your God but failed to fear, love, and trust above all things. What will He have for you? You expect nothing but payback, retribution, and divine judgment, summed up in one word: death. What else do you deserve?
But Jesus has not risen from the dead to give you what you deserve. Listen again to the message of the angel. “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” Do not be alarmed, do not be afraid. The time for fear is over. Why? The tomb is empty, He is not here. Christ is risen, and all fear of God’s wrath has ended. Christ is risen, and He gives you not what you deserve, but what He won for you. Christ is risen, and He meets you not as an angry judge, but as your loving Savior. Do not be alarmed. Jesus is the crucified One, the One who bore all sin to the cross: Judas’ betrayal and yours, Peter’s denial and yours, the disciples’ abandonment and yours. Every violation of every commandment that we have examined this Lenten season was paid for by the shed blood of Jesus. He suffers and dies in your place, and He rises in your place.
His ‘Jerusalem fixation’ was for your forgiveness, your life, your salvation. He was obsessed with the cross, because there He would die bearing your sin; He took them with Himself into death. And your sins are left behind in the grave; by raising Him up, God declares that the penalty has been paid, He will not demand their price from you. Christ is risen, and you are forgiven. Christ is risen, and His victory is yours. “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth.” Look into the tomb, examine every empty nook and cranny, fill your heart with joy at its barrenness. Your Redeemer lives, and as His grave stands empty, as the stone is rolled away, so your grave too will be vacated when He returns to stand upon the earth.
“And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? You are defeated, triumphed over, conquered. You tried to take Jesus, you swallowed Him up, but you swallowed your own destruction. For our Lord has burst your gullet and you are destroyed; we lay the saints into the ground not in defeat, but in anticipation of victory. You could not hold Him; you will not hold us. His grave is empty; He is not here, for He has risen. He is the God of the living and the dead, and all who believe in Him will live, even though they die. Not one will you snatch out of His hands, we belong to Him forever. You have lost.
The crucified and risen Jesus is our God, the one true God. Your defeat is our victory. He died for us and He lives for us as our God, pouring out His forgiveness, life, and salvation. He is not our opponent, our enemy any longer; He does not seek vengeance, but He rose to speak words of forgiveness. He has risen, as He said, and every promise is true. He has risen, as He said, and we can trust the Absolution. He has risen, as He said, and He gives His very Body and Blood for the forgiveness of our sins in the Supper. He has risen, as He said, and all who are baptized into His Name will be raised up on the Last Day. You have lost, O death, and this day and every day, we will cry out, proclaiming His victory which is our victory:
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Amen.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Good Friday (Second Commandment; Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9)
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon this Good Friday comes from the fourth and fifth chapters of the letter to the Hebrews. Dear friends in Christ: the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is preceded, in every Gospel, with prayer. Fervent prayer. Desperate prayer. Sweat-like-blood prayer. The history of the world is approaching its climax, the decisive moment is coming, the next hours will determine the eternal fate of humanity, and Jesus, true God and true man, will not embark on His great task before He prays. He is the obedient Son of His Father, the One who fulfills every word, every command of the Lord, including the command, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Jesus places Himself into the hands of His Father; that is what prayer is: handing our troubles, our worries and our needs, over to the only One who can fulfill them. The life of prayer is a life of dependence upon the God who gives every good gift. This is what God’s Name is for: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”
Jesus calls upon the Name of the Father in this hour of trouble, clinging to the promise that He will be heard. While still in the upper room, with the cup of suffering staring Him in the face, Jesus prays first for you. That is His task, His vocation, for He is our great High Priest and the calling of a high priest is to intercede for those entrusted to him, to stand between God and the people, holding up the people before their Lord in prayer. He prays that you would be preserved in the faith that He has given you in trial and tribulation, that you would be one with the body of believers, just as you are one with the Holy Trinity. “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” He prays that the disciples would take the message of the Gospel out into a hostile world, that this message would be passed down from generation to generation until it sounds forth in your ears. In His hour of need, Jesus is thinking of you, He is praying for you. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” He is true man, and thus able to sympathize with your weaknesses; He knows the enemy you face, the trials that will come. He knows them because He is about to face them Himself.
From the upper room Jesus travels to the Garden of Gethsemane; and in this place, like another garden so long ago, Satan dwells. The cup of suffering is held before His eyes; the Father’s command is to drink it down to the dregs. Satan’s forked tongue keeps spinning lies and half-truths. Glory without the cross; all the riches and power of this world are contrasted with the awful horror that Judas’ betrayal will bring. Jesus tells His disciples: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” The weight of the world’s sin, the horror of the cup, bears down upon His shoulders. In desperation, Jesus cries out: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” He begs for the cup to pass from Him; let it be done some other way, any other way. But Jesus is the obedient Son; He casts His prayer on the Lord and leaves it to His Father’s will. He knows that His Father will vindicate Him. “In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.”
Jesus stands at the end of His wrestling match with the Father’s will having conquered all of Satan’s temptations. He has overcome and will resolutely drink the cup; He will boldly go to the cross. His life of prayer will sustain Him to the very end; He will live by faith, totally and completely dependent upon the Father’s will and the Father’s promise. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Trusting in His Father’s promise, He will fulfill the Father’s will. The high priests appointed from among men interceded for the people by offering up bulls and goats; Jesus, the great High Priest, offers up Himself. Isaiah sings: “He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” He bore the sin of many; He bore the sin of all, and He makes intercession by His own blood for the transgressors, for you and me. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to His own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Your sin. My sin. Every last sin, committed against every last commandment. All placed upon Christ; their deserved punishment given to Him to drink. And He does drink, down to the dregs. He does the Father’s will trusting in the Father’s promise.
The Father did hear His Jesus’ cries; He did vindicate His Son. “He was heard because of His reverence.” Jesus’ reverence, His total dependence on the Father, was vindicated three days later. Jesus is the great High Priest “who has passed through the heavens;” He has passed through death itself and emerged again on the other side alive and victorious. The Father’s will was fulfilled this night with His sacrificial suffering and death; the Father’s promise was fulfilled three days later. He lives, even though He died, and He lives to continue His high priestly work, interceding for you and me before His Father’s throne for eternity.
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” He is the source, the origin, the basis of your salvation. By His shed blood you are declared ‘not guilty’ in the courtroom of God’s justice. His blood pleads for your innocence, His blood pleads for your release, His blood pleads for life in the place of death. Jesus lives, and He lives to make intercession for you on the basis of His shed blood. He was obedient, completely dependent upon His Father’s will and promise, and that obedience is counted as yours through His gracious intercession. Jesus still prays for you! When you fall into sin, Jesus is interceding for you, placing His blood, His death, His righteousness before His Father’s eyes. We have an advocate with the Father; Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. His intercession is your forgiveness; His intercession is your salvation, because His intercession is rooted in His shed blood. His death, His resurrection suffice in God’s courtroom; your high priest, your advocate, your Savior, is the One who hung on a cross for you. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The throne of God’s grace is opened to you; you have access to your Father through the shed blood of His Son. You can boldly, with the confidence found in your redemption by Christ, draw near to the throne of grace, receiving the very gifts of heaven in this place: the pardoning Word of forgiveness, the washing of the water with the Word and the bread and wine which are His Body and Blood. You will boldly draw near to the throne of grace on the Last Day, for you wear the baptismal robes of Christ’s own righteousness. And you even now draw near with confidence to the throne of grace in prayer. The shed blood of Jesus gives you boldness and confidence to fulfill the Second Commandment. Because of Jesus, you can boldly call upon the Holy Name of your God in every trouble of this life, casting your cares on the Lord, trusting His will, knowing that He will vindicate you—if not in this life, then in the life to come. Because of Jesus, you can praise and give thanks to Him for all that He has given to you, especially for the cross and empty tomb, the death and resurrection of your Savior. You are heard because Jesus was heard; because He was vindicated, so you too will be. You are heard not because you are worthy, but because He is, and He died, and He lives, to intercede for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Jesus calls upon the Name of the Father in this hour of trouble, clinging to the promise that He will be heard. While still in the upper room, with the cup of suffering staring Him in the face, Jesus prays first for you. That is His task, His vocation, for He is our great High Priest and the calling of a high priest is to intercede for those entrusted to him, to stand between God and the people, holding up the people before their Lord in prayer. He prays that you would be preserved in the faith that He has given you in trial and tribulation, that you would be one with the body of believers, just as you are one with the Holy Trinity. “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” He prays that the disciples would take the message of the Gospel out into a hostile world, that this message would be passed down from generation to generation until it sounds forth in your ears. In His hour of need, Jesus is thinking of you, He is praying for you. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” He is true man, and thus able to sympathize with your weaknesses; He knows the enemy you face, the trials that will come. He knows them because He is about to face them Himself.
From the upper room Jesus travels to the Garden of Gethsemane; and in this place, like another garden so long ago, Satan dwells. The cup of suffering is held before His eyes; the Father’s command is to drink it down to the dregs. Satan’s forked tongue keeps spinning lies and half-truths. Glory without the cross; all the riches and power of this world are contrasted with the awful horror that Judas’ betrayal will bring. Jesus tells His disciples: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” The weight of the world’s sin, the horror of the cup, bears down upon His shoulders. In desperation, Jesus cries out: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” He begs for the cup to pass from Him; let it be done some other way, any other way. But Jesus is the obedient Son; He casts His prayer on the Lord and leaves it to His Father’s will. He knows that His Father will vindicate Him. “In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.”
Jesus stands at the end of His wrestling match with the Father’s will having conquered all of Satan’s temptations. He has overcome and will resolutely drink the cup; He will boldly go to the cross. His life of prayer will sustain Him to the very end; He will live by faith, totally and completely dependent upon the Father’s will and the Father’s promise. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Trusting in His Father’s promise, He will fulfill the Father’s will. The high priests appointed from among men interceded for the people by offering up bulls and goats; Jesus, the great High Priest, offers up Himself. Isaiah sings: “He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” He bore the sin of many; He bore the sin of all, and He makes intercession by His own blood for the transgressors, for you and me. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to His own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Your sin. My sin. Every last sin, committed against every last commandment. All placed upon Christ; their deserved punishment given to Him to drink. And He does drink, down to the dregs. He does the Father’s will trusting in the Father’s promise.
The Father did hear His Jesus’ cries; He did vindicate His Son. “He was heard because of His reverence.” Jesus’ reverence, His total dependence on the Father, was vindicated three days later. Jesus is the great High Priest “who has passed through the heavens;” He has passed through death itself and emerged again on the other side alive and victorious. The Father’s will was fulfilled this night with His sacrificial suffering and death; the Father’s promise was fulfilled three days later. He lives, even though He died, and He lives to continue His high priestly work, interceding for you and me before His Father’s throne for eternity.
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” He is the source, the origin, the basis of your salvation. By His shed blood you are declared ‘not guilty’ in the courtroom of God’s justice. His blood pleads for your innocence, His blood pleads for your release, His blood pleads for life in the place of death. Jesus lives, and He lives to make intercession for you on the basis of His shed blood. He was obedient, completely dependent upon His Father’s will and promise, and that obedience is counted as yours through His gracious intercession. Jesus still prays for you! When you fall into sin, Jesus is interceding for you, placing His blood, His death, His righteousness before His Father’s eyes. We have an advocate with the Father; Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. His intercession is your forgiveness; His intercession is your salvation, because His intercession is rooted in His shed blood. His death, His resurrection suffice in God’s courtroom; your high priest, your advocate, your Savior, is the One who hung on a cross for you. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The throne of God’s grace is opened to you; you have access to your Father through the shed blood of His Son. You can boldly, with the confidence found in your redemption by Christ, draw near to the throne of grace, receiving the very gifts of heaven in this place: the pardoning Word of forgiveness, the washing of the water with the Word and the bread and wine which are His Body and Blood. You will boldly draw near to the throne of grace on the Last Day, for you wear the baptismal robes of Christ’s own righteousness. And you even now draw near with confidence to the throne of grace in prayer. The shed blood of Jesus gives you boldness and confidence to fulfill the Second Commandment. Because of Jesus, you can boldly call upon the Holy Name of your God in every trouble of this life, casting your cares on the Lord, trusting His will, knowing that He will vindicate you—if not in this life, then in the life to come. Because of Jesus, you can praise and give thanks to Him for all that He has given to you, especially for the cross and empty tomb, the death and resurrection of your Savior. You are heard because Jesus was heard; because He was vindicated, so you too will be. You are heard not because you are worthy, but because He is, and He died, and He lives, to intercede for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Holy Tuesday (Jeremiah 11:18-20)
“O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon this Holy Tuesday comes from the Old Testament lesson read a few moments ago from the eleventh chapter of the prophet Jeremiah. Dear friends in Christ: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? We scheme, we conspire, we plan. We set out to arrange things to our own advantage, we connive to get what we want. We think we’re so clever. We think we can make our plans apart from God, out of His sight. We actually believe that the schemes of the darkness, hidden from prying eyes, are hidden from God as well. “Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray Him.” Men plot against other men, they plot against God; hiding their thoughts in darkness, hoping to operate behind their Creator’s back. Fools! God knows the hearts of men; He knows their plans. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? God knows the conspiracies that form in the darkness, the plots that arrange themselves against His throne and His people, as the prophet confesses: “The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds.”
God knows that the plans of men are evil; He sees and knows all. He sees and knows that brother betrays brother, and a mother her daughter, that all betray all. He knows that in this sinful world, friendship and the bonds of family are no barriers to the schemes of darkness. “Here comes this dreamer,” the brothers of Joseph said. “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” We cannot be betrayed unless there is first trust. We cannot betray others unless we have some intimate connection with them. “I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter,” Jeremiah laments, a domesticated lamb, a trusting lamb. He trusted, and he was betrayed. We trust, and we are betrayed. Others trust us, and we betray them. Confidences are broken, rumors are started, money is taken, affairs spring up, marriages shatter, friendships are destroyed. Those we trusted the deepest hurt us the most. On those closest to us we inflict the greatest pain. “And when [Judas] came, he went up to Him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ And he kissed Him. And they laid hands on Him and seized Him.” The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, enlisting His most intimate companions against Him.
They seek His destruction; their plotting, their scheming has as its goal the silencing of Jesus, once and for all. Jeremiah laments, “I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.’” They seek to cut off the fruitful tree, to take their axes to its roots. Their goal is death, to permanently put an end to God’s Word going forth from his lips. They even intend to erase his memory from the minds of men. Total destruction is planned for God’s prophet; slaughtered like an animal, cut down like a tree. Jeremiah did not know the plots that formed against Him, but God did, and Jesus, God in the flesh, knew His betrayer and tried to call him to repentance at the Supper. “One of you will betray me,” is an accusation but also a plea. Judas thought that he could hide, that his plots and schemes were shrouded in darkness, but Jesus knew. We cannot escape the light of God’s Law; He knows the deeds you do in darkness, He knows your hidden plots, He knows how you have betrayed those closest to you in thought, word, and deed. God knows the hearts of men, and at the Supper, God in the flesh pulled back the veil on Judas’ evil scheming, shining the light of God’s Law on his sinful heart, desperately calling him to repentance. It is no good for Judas to hide, no good for you or me. God knows the hearts and minds of men, and He calls on us to repent.
Joseph’s brothers were driven to repentance; the harshness of his treatment showed the severity of God’s Law. But when they repented, Joseph said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” The evil plots of men were used in the hands of almighty God to bring about salvation for many. God does not only know the plans of men, He has His own plans. Men think they can plan apart from Him, but He will use their evil for His own purposes. Judas plotted to hand Jesus over into death; the Sanhedrin conspired to condemn an innocent man, but God will use their violence against His Son for the salvation of the world. He will vindicate His Son, and He will vindicate His sinful people, those who betray and those who are betrayed. Jeremiah cries out to the Lord, “O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.” The prophet hands His cause over to the Lord; He calls on His God to vindicate him. In the Garden, Jesus does the same: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
God’s will, His plan will be done despite the evil plans of men, indeed through their evil He will accomplish His purposes. For He will vindicate His Son, His obedient Son who has committed His cause into the hands of His Father. Like a gentle lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus will go to His death trusting in His Father’s will and the promised vindication to come. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” The plots of men will run their course; Jesus will be betrayed, falsely accused, and handed over to death, but God will use the evil of men for the good of mankind. The schemes of men take place in the darkness, but the dawn in coming, when the light of God’s glory will shine forth from an empty tomb. God knows the plots of men, He knows what they intend. They want to blot the memory of Jesus from the earth; but in putting Him to death, they are ensuring that His Name will never be forgotten, that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
For Jesus will be put to death; He will suffer the humiliation of the cross, but on the third day God raised His Son up in triumph over all of His enemies. Jesus lives, even though He died; the plots of men came to nothing—even death itself could not conquer the Son of God. He committed His cause to His Father, and when the Father vindicated Him, He vindicated, He justified the entire world, declaring sinners righteous. Jesus is the Lamb of God, the trusting, gentle Lamb of God who was lead to slaughter in the place of Judas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate, you and me. God does not slay you because He slaughtered the Lamb; His blood marks your door and death passes over. Jesus takes up your cause in the courtroom of God’s justice, and it is His shed blood that pleads on your behalf. When Saint John peers into heaven, He sees the Lamb of God, slaughtered for the sin of the world, seated on the throne, interceding for you and for me with His shed blood.
God knows the hearts of men; He knows your heart. He knows your sin, your betrayals; He knows the pain inflicted upon you by the betrayal of others. The harsh light of God’s Law has shown on your sinful heart; repent and commit your cause to Christ! Men meant evil against Him, but God meant it for good; His blood atones for all of your sin—you are forgiven! And as the Father vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the grave, so you too will be vindicated. Even though you die, even though your enemies seem to triumph over you, you are marked with the shed blood of the Lamb, and you will live even though you die, you will be vindicated at your resurrection as He was at His. He pleads for you before the very throne of God, holding His sacrifice before His Father, and God will hear His Son, the Lamb of God, your Savior. God knows all, and He knows that you are marked with blood of the Lamb, now and for eternity. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
God knows that the plans of men are evil; He sees and knows all. He sees and knows that brother betrays brother, and a mother her daughter, that all betray all. He knows that in this sinful world, friendship and the bonds of family are no barriers to the schemes of darkness. “Here comes this dreamer,” the brothers of Joseph said. “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” We cannot be betrayed unless there is first trust. We cannot betray others unless we have some intimate connection with them. “I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter,” Jeremiah laments, a domesticated lamb, a trusting lamb. He trusted, and he was betrayed. We trust, and we are betrayed. Others trust us, and we betray them. Confidences are broken, rumors are started, money is taken, affairs spring up, marriages shatter, friendships are destroyed. Those we trusted the deepest hurt us the most. On those closest to us we inflict the greatest pain. “And when [Judas] came, he went up to Him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ And he kissed Him. And they laid hands on Him and seized Him.” The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, enlisting His most intimate companions against Him.
They seek His destruction; their plotting, their scheming has as its goal the silencing of Jesus, once and for all. Jeremiah laments, “I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.’” They seek to cut off the fruitful tree, to take their axes to its roots. Their goal is death, to permanently put an end to God’s Word going forth from his lips. They even intend to erase his memory from the minds of men. Total destruction is planned for God’s prophet; slaughtered like an animal, cut down like a tree. Jeremiah did not know the plots that formed against Him, but God did, and Jesus, God in the flesh, knew His betrayer and tried to call him to repentance at the Supper. “One of you will betray me,” is an accusation but also a plea. Judas thought that he could hide, that his plots and schemes were shrouded in darkness, but Jesus knew. We cannot escape the light of God’s Law; He knows the deeds you do in darkness, He knows your hidden plots, He knows how you have betrayed those closest to you in thought, word, and deed. God knows the hearts of men, and at the Supper, God in the flesh pulled back the veil on Judas’ evil scheming, shining the light of God’s Law on his sinful heart, desperately calling him to repentance. It is no good for Judas to hide, no good for you or me. God knows the hearts and minds of men, and He calls on us to repent.
Joseph’s brothers were driven to repentance; the harshness of his treatment showed the severity of God’s Law. But when they repented, Joseph said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” The evil plots of men were used in the hands of almighty God to bring about salvation for many. God does not only know the plans of men, He has His own plans. Men think they can plan apart from Him, but He will use their evil for His own purposes. Judas plotted to hand Jesus over into death; the Sanhedrin conspired to condemn an innocent man, but God will use their violence against His Son for the salvation of the world. He will vindicate His Son, and He will vindicate His sinful people, those who betray and those who are betrayed. Jeremiah cries out to the Lord, “O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.” The prophet hands His cause over to the Lord; He calls on His God to vindicate him. In the Garden, Jesus does the same: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
God’s will, His plan will be done despite the evil plans of men, indeed through their evil He will accomplish His purposes. For He will vindicate His Son, His obedient Son who has committed His cause into the hands of His Father. Like a gentle lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus will go to His death trusting in His Father’s will and the promised vindication to come. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” The plots of men will run their course; Jesus will be betrayed, falsely accused, and handed over to death, but God will use the evil of men for the good of mankind. The schemes of men take place in the darkness, but the dawn in coming, when the light of God’s glory will shine forth from an empty tomb. God knows the plots of men, He knows what they intend. They want to blot the memory of Jesus from the earth; but in putting Him to death, they are ensuring that His Name will never be forgotten, that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
For Jesus will be put to death; He will suffer the humiliation of the cross, but on the third day God raised His Son up in triumph over all of His enemies. Jesus lives, even though He died; the plots of men came to nothing—even death itself could not conquer the Son of God. He committed His cause to His Father, and when the Father vindicated Him, He vindicated, He justified the entire world, declaring sinners righteous. Jesus is the Lamb of God, the trusting, gentle Lamb of God who was lead to slaughter in the place of Judas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate, you and me. God does not slay you because He slaughtered the Lamb; His blood marks your door and death passes over. Jesus takes up your cause in the courtroom of God’s justice, and it is His shed blood that pleads on your behalf. When Saint John peers into heaven, He sees the Lamb of God, slaughtered for the sin of the world, seated on the throne, interceding for you and for me with His shed blood.
God knows the hearts of men; He knows your heart. He knows your sin, your betrayals; He knows the pain inflicted upon you by the betrayal of others. The harsh light of God’s Law has shown on your sinful heart; repent and commit your cause to Christ! Men meant evil against Him, but God meant it for good; His blood atones for all of your sin—you are forgiven! And as the Father vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the grave, so you too will be vindicated. Even though you die, even though your enemies seem to triumph over you, you are marked with the shed blood of the Lamb, and you will live even though you die, you will be vindicated at your resurrection as He was at His. He pleads for you before the very throne of God, holding His sacrifice before His Father, and God will hear His Son, the Lamb of God, your Savior. God knows all, and He knows that you are marked with blood of the Lamb, now and for eternity. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1-9)
“Sometimes they strew His way and His sweet praises sing; resounding all the day Hosannas to their King. Then ‘Crucify!’ is all their breath, and for His death they thirst and cry.” Did they know what they were saying? Did the crowd on Palm Sunday, or the crowd on Good Friday, have any idea what their words meant? Jerusalem received her King with shouts of ‘Hosanna’ on Sunday, then cast Him out with shouts of ‘Crucify’ on Friday. Did they know what they were saying? No. They shouted almost without thinking, caught up in the moment, stirred up by others; they shouted without stopping to ponder the meaning of the words they spoke. They were caught up in events much greater than they could even comprehend, and like many others in the life of Jesus, they spoke the truth without realizing it. They didn’t understand that the joyful, expectant cry of ‘Hosanna’ pointed to the same reality as the hateful, angry cry of ‘Crucify,’ that the shouts of Friday were the only answer to the pleas of Sunday. The two crowds didn’t realize that they were calling for the same thing: Jesus hanging dead upon a cross.
The crowds may not understand what they are saying; they may be shouting without much thinking, but Jesus does nothing haphazardly. Every action, every word, is deliberate. The King has arranged everything; He has set forth His plans and He will carry them out, instructing His disciples: “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.” He will enter the city in triumph, but He will enter in humility. He will enter not at the head of an army, but leading a motley collection of out-of-work fishermen. He enters in accord with the Scriptures: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” His chariot is humility; this King comes to serve.
But the crowd responds as they would for any conquering hero; they react as you would expect a people long under foreign rule to react when their King returns to the city of kings. “The crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’” They call Him a King, their conquering hero; the Son of David come to take His rightful place on the throne. “Hosanna!” they shout, quoting the Psalms, which means: “Save us, please!” They seek salvation from this King, deliverance from oppression. This is God’s King, His instrument, the tool in the Lord’s hand to save them. What will He save them from? Foreign domination, poverty and oppression. He will deliver them politically, He will deliver them economically. How will He save them? Through armies and rebellion, or by the power of the finger of God, as in Egypt long ago. He will deliver them through a mighty display of temporal and divine strength.
This is their conquering King; the one who would fulfill all their prayers. As the Emmaus road disciples said, “We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.” Many who joined the throng that triumphant Sunday were no doubt shocked to wake up Friday to see that same King nailed to a cross. Another crowd, with another cry, had turned their hope to despair. “Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Let him be crucified!’” The crowd responds as they would to any common criminal or rabble-rouser, to one deserving of death. They cry out for His blood; they want to see Him suffer, and they will.
The crowds may not understand what they are saying; they may be shouting without much thinking, but Jesus does nothing haphazardly. Every action, every word, is deliberate. The King has arranged everything; He has set forth His plans and He will carry them out, as He spoke to His disciples: “I lay down my life for the sheep… No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” He, who has all power, who is God Himself in the flesh, departs the city as He entered it; in humility, with a crowd thronging around Him, crying out His Name. He departs to lay down His life willingly for the sheep. He departs to conquer, but not by military victory; He carries not a sword or shield but a cross. It is by being put to death that He will save; when the crowd cries out for His blood, they are crying out for the price of their salvation. And when they declare, “Let His blood be on us and on our children,” they are asking for the conversion of the nations. They do not know what they are saying. In Jesus, the cry ‘Hosanna’ is exactly the same as the cry ‘Crucify.’ And whether the crowd shouts in joy or in anger, He will answer their cries; Christ saves by being crucified.
That is the mystery of this Palm Sunday: the crowd that shouted ‘Hosanna’ and the crowd that shouted ‘Crucify’ were crying out for the same thing—Jesus dead upon a cross for the sin of the world. Jesus’ followers didn’t know what they were saying; they didn’t understand what kind of salvation Christ would bring, and they certainly were shocked to see how He would accomplish it. They were left, on Easter Sunday, saying in sorrow, “We had hoped that He was the One to redeem Israel.” The cries of ‘Hosanna’ seemed unfulfilled, unanswered as that day dawned. But ‘Hosanna’ and ‘Crucify’ mean the same thing; Christ saves by being crucified, and God proved it by raising His Son from the dead, triumphant over sin, death, and the power of the devil for you and your salvation.
It is this salvation for which we cry; it is for this salvation that we shout the Hosannas with the crowd on Palm Sunday. But do we truly know what we say? No. We shout almost without thinking, caught up in the moment, stirred up by others; we shout without stopping to ponder the meanings of the words we speak. Too often, we are, like the crowd, crying out for temporal deliverance by an unbloody Jesus. We would never choose suffering, for us or for Christ. We don’t understand the cost of salvation, because we underestimate our sin. We want deliverance from the symptoms without realizing the disease. But even in our more faithful moments we never fully understand the cross; these are mysteries so profound that even in heaven we will still marvel at them. Let us ponder these mysteries this Holy Week. Let us ponder how the crowd that shouted for His blood answered and fulfilled the cries of the crowd who acclaimed Him as King. Let us ponder the love of a Lord who despised the shame of the cross, going to suffering and death to free even those who nailed Him to the tree. Let us ponder the mystery of God suffering and dying in the place of sinful man, in your place and in mine. “What may I say? Heaven was His home but mine the tomb wherein He lay.” In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
The crowds may not understand what they are saying; they may be shouting without much thinking, but Jesus does nothing haphazardly. Every action, every word, is deliberate. The King has arranged everything; He has set forth His plans and He will carry them out, instructing His disciples: “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.” He will enter the city in triumph, but He will enter in humility. He will enter not at the head of an army, but leading a motley collection of out-of-work fishermen. He enters in accord with the Scriptures: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” His chariot is humility; this King comes to serve.
But the crowd responds as they would for any conquering hero; they react as you would expect a people long under foreign rule to react when their King returns to the city of kings. “The crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’” They call Him a King, their conquering hero; the Son of David come to take His rightful place on the throne. “Hosanna!” they shout, quoting the Psalms, which means: “Save us, please!” They seek salvation from this King, deliverance from oppression. This is God’s King, His instrument, the tool in the Lord’s hand to save them. What will He save them from? Foreign domination, poverty and oppression. He will deliver them politically, He will deliver them economically. How will He save them? Through armies and rebellion, or by the power of the finger of God, as in Egypt long ago. He will deliver them through a mighty display of temporal and divine strength.
This is their conquering King; the one who would fulfill all their prayers. As the Emmaus road disciples said, “We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.” Many who joined the throng that triumphant Sunday were no doubt shocked to wake up Friday to see that same King nailed to a cross. Another crowd, with another cry, had turned their hope to despair. “Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Let him be crucified!’” The crowd responds as they would to any common criminal or rabble-rouser, to one deserving of death. They cry out for His blood; they want to see Him suffer, and they will.
The crowds may not understand what they are saying; they may be shouting without much thinking, but Jesus does nothing haphazardly. Every action, every word, is deliberate. The King has arranged everything; He has set forth His plans and He will carry them out, as He spoke to His disciples: “I lay down my life for the sheep… No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” He, who has all power, who is God Himself in the flesh, departs the city as He entered it; in humility, with a crowd thronging around Him, crying out His Name. He departs to lay down His life willingly for the sheep. He departs to conquer, but not by military victory; He carries not a sword or shield but a cross. It is by being put to death that He will save; when the crowd cries out for His blood, they are crying out for the price of their salvation. And when they declare, “Let His blood be on us and on our children,” they are asking for the conversion of the nations. They do not know what they are saying. In Jesus, the cry ‘Hosanna’ is exactly the same as the cry ‘Crucify.’ And whether the crowd shouts in joy or in anger, He will answer their cries; Christ saves by being crucified.
That is the mystery of this Palm Sunday: the crowd that shouted ‘Hosanna’ and the crowd that shouted ‘Crucify’ were crying out for the same thing—Jesus dead upon a cross for the sin of the world. Jesus’ followers didn’t know what they were saying; they didn’t understand what kind of salvation Christ would bring, and they certainly were shocked to see how He would accomplish it. They were left, on Easter Sunday, saying in sorrow, “We had hoped that He was the One to redeem Israel.” The cries of ‘Hosanna’ seemed unfulfilled, unanswered as that day dawned. But ‘Hosanna’ and ‘Crucify’ mean the same thing; Christ saves by being crucified, and God proved it by raising His Son from the dead, triumphant over sin, death, and the power of the devil for you and your salvation.
It is this salvation for which we cry; it is for this salvation that we shout the Hosannas with the crowd on Palm Sunday. But do we truly know what we say? No. We shout almost without thinking, caught up in the moment, stirred up by others; we shout without stopping to ponder the meanings of the words we speak. Too often, we are, like the crowd, crying out for temporal deliverance by an unbloody Jesus. We would never choose suffering, for us or for Christ. We don’t understand the cost of salvation, because we underestimate our sin. We want deliverance from the symptoms without realizing the disease. But even in our more faithful moments we never fully understand the cross; these are mysteries so profound that even in heaven we will still marvel at them. Let us ponder these mysteries this Holy Week. Let us ponder how the crowd that shouted for His blood answered and fulfilled the cries of the crowd who acclaimed Him as King. Let us ponder the love of a Lord who despised the shame of the cross, going to suffering and death to free even those who nailed Him to the tree. Let us ponder the mystery of God suffering and dying in the place of sinful man, in your place and in mine. “What may I say? Heaven was His home but mine the tomb wherein He lay.” In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Lent Midweek 4 (Fifth Commandment; 2 Samuel 11)
“Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down and die.” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ. The text for our meditation tonight on the Fifth Commandment is the entirety of the eleventh chapter of 2 Samuel, the affair of David with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. Dear friends in Christ: the message was put in terms of comfort, comfort to a commander who had lost one of his best soldiers in a seeming tragedy, a foolish attack. “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another.’” These things happen in war, dear Joab; do not fret. The sword devours the mighty along with the weak. Stuff happens; you win some, you lose some. Keep on fighting, my honorable general, while I stay in Jerusalem and prepare to take my newest wife to bed. Oh, yes, she’s the widow of heroic Uriah, faithful Uriah, dead Uriah; out of my mercy I will comfort and provide for the widow of this great warrior. These things happen; the sword devours now one and now another. Someone had to pay the price for my sin, and Uriah was too stubbornly faithful to cover it up by performing his marital duty, and so he had to die. One night of pleasure could’ve spared his life, but he refused, and so the sword must devour, as it always does. Do not fret, dear Joab, the sword has done its duty.
David understood one thing about Uriah; a man like him would never open a private note from the king to his general. The man was faithful, he was honorable, he could be counted upon to do his duty. He honored and exalted his vocation as a soldier. While David stays behind in Jerusalem, spying on and sleeping with the wife of one of his soldiers, Uriah will not be hindered from his duty. “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” He is a soldier; his duty, his vocation, is to serve and protect his fellow soldiers and the people who have sent him to fight. Even though he has shed more blood than most men, Uriah serves the Fifth Commandment. “You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.”
In bearing the sword, Uriah’s vocation serves the Fifth Commandment, for he fights to protect the people of Israel from harm. Luther writes in the Large Catechism: “Anger, reproof, and punishment are the prerogatives of God and His representatives, and they are to be exercised upon those who transgress this and the other commandments.” Uriah bears the sword as a representative of God in accordance with the Fourth Commandment, there to punish evil and protect the good, just like any police officer, soldier, or judge today. Saint Paul teaches us, “[The ruler] is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.” Uriah was not sinless, not perfect, he sinned in his vocation as we do in ours, but he was innocent of any crime; he served faithfully in his vocation. He had nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of as a soldier or as a husband.
David, on the other hand, had everything to hide. Where Uriah was faithful, he was faithless. He abandoned and brought to utter disgrace his vocation as king, as ruler of God’s covenant people. “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab…” but he didn’t send himself. In violation of his vocation, in violation of the Fourth Commandment, “David remained at Jerusalem.” From there, the sins quickly piled up. An evening stroll leads to lust, the violation of the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” then a violation of the Tenth, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,” and more violations of the Sixth. In one night of sin, unrepentant sin, the man who was after God’s heart has given his own heart to Satan. Make no mistake, dear friends in Christ: the Holy Spirit will not dwell in an unrepentant heart. But God would not let go of David so easily. “The woman conceived, and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant.’” His sins have consequences.
The earthly consequences of our sins should drive us to repentance, they should drive us to cry out to God for mercy. But so often they don’t. Like David, we cover sin with sin; we spiral deeper into depravity. Repentance is not our first thought; instead, when the harsh light of the Law shines on our darkness, we try to obscure the view with more darkness. David, the faithless king, tries to deceive faithful Uriah, and when that fails, he condemns an innocent man to death. The king, charged with protecting his people, puts to death one who is in his care; he perverts justice by punishing the innocent for his own sin. The Fifth Commandment is violated to cover over other sin, a pattern repeated all too often in our world. There is no difference between Uriah in the Old Testament and the child in the womb today; both are killed to cover up sins against the Sixth Commandment. We bully and attack others to exalt ourselves. The innocent are raged against, insulted and hated, not because they are wicked, but because we are.
Even the guilty are not to be murdered in thought, word, or deed. Jesus warns us: “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” The Fifth Commandment condemns physical violence against others, but also any words or acts that could lead to violence. Your neighbor’s body is sacred; what God has made is not to be the object of your rage, whether he ‘deserves it’ or not. “‘Vengeance is mine,’ says the Lord, ‘I will repay,” and He repays only through His appointed instruments.
Even inaction is condemned by this commandment. When Joab had opportunity to help and support his neighbor in every physical need, he refused to act, and Uriah perished. When we see our neighbor in need, the Fifth Commandment requires us to act. In fact, the very definition of a ‘neighbor’ is one who is in need. Luther writes: “If you send a person away naked when you could clothe him, you have let him freeze to death. If you see anyone suffer hunger and do not feed him, you have let him starve.” The Fifth Commandment will not let any of us escape; not only murder but hatred, not only murder but failure to act, leaves us condemned with faithless David.
Take heart, good Joab, David had said. “The sword devours now one and now another.” Yes it does, faithless David, and the sword of God’s judgment especially devours the unrepentant. “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” Nine months later—nine long months of unrepentance—David would finally see the sword poised over his own neck. From his own mouth would he speak his condemnation and yours: “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!” Nathan speaks to David what I this day speak to you and to myself: “You are the man!” As Uriah carried his own death sentence, so David declares his own penalty, and yours, and mine, and all who violate this commandment. You are the man, condemned by the Fifth Commandment; the light of God’s Law shines too brightly for you to cover your sin.
Uriah was not spared the penalty for David’s sin; the innocent died for the guilty. But David was spared; another innocent one stood in his place. “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin, you shall not die.’” The first offspring of Bathsheba’s womb would perish; once again the innocent would die in place of the guilty. But the womb of Uriah’s wife would produce another son, and through him the line of the Messiah would continue, the Messiah who would be born of a virgin to stand in the place of David and all who have been condemned by God’s stern word of Law.
Like Uriah, the Messiah who came from the line of Bathsheba was innocent of any crime. But Jesus was more than innocent, He was sinless. He fulfilled every vocation perfectly, He followed every command. And like Uriah, the innocent one would die in the place of the guilty. Jesus died for David’s sin, and He died for yours and mine. Where we sought revenge, He submitted to the blows of His enemies without complaint. Where we had hatred, He had love for a world that raged against Him. Where we failed to help, Jesus was the Good Samaritan who nursed our wounds. Where we even took human life, from the neighbor who sinned against us to the most innocent of human life in the womb, He pronounces His blood-bought forgiveness. Jesus Christ died so that I can this day say to all of you: You are the man! A man or woman like David, condemned by your sin but forgiven by Christ. “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” You shall not die eternally, for Jesus died in your place. You are forgiven, and through Jesus, you are pleasing to God. Take heart: The sword devoured Christ; it will not devour you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
David understood one thing about Uriah; a man like him would never open a private note from the king to his general. The man was faithful, he was honorable, he could be counted upon to do his duty. He honored and exalted his vocation as a soldier. While David stays behind in Jerusalem, spying on and sleeping with the wife of one of his soldiers, Uriah will not be hindered from his duty. “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” He is a soldier; his duty, his vocation, is to serve and protect his fellow soldiers and the people who have sent him to fight. Even though he has shed more blood than most men, Uriah serves the Fifth Commandment. “You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.”
In bearing the sword, Uriah’s vocation serves the Fifth Commandment, for he fights to protect the people of Israel from harm. Luther writes in the Large Catechism: “Anger, reproof, and punishment are the prerogatives of God and His representatives, and they are to be exercised upon those who transgress this and the other commandments.” Uriah bears the sword as a representative of God in accordance with the Fourth Commandment, there to punish evil and protect the good, just like any police officer, soldier, or judge today. Saint Paul teaches us, “[The ruler] is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.” Uriah was not sinless, not perfect, he sinned in his vocation as we do in ours, but he was innocent of any crime; he served faithfully in his vocation. He had nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of as a soldier or as a husband.
David, on the other hand, had everything to hide. Where Uriah was faithful, he was faithless. He abandoned and brought to utter disgrace his vocation as king, as ruler of God’s covenant people. “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab…” but he didn’t send himself. In violation of his vocation, in violation of the Fourth Commandment, “David remained at Jerusalem.” From there, the sins quickly piled up. An evening stroll leads to lust, the violation of the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” then a violation of the Tenth, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,” and more violations of the Sixth. In one night of sin, unrepentant sin, the man who was after God’s heart has given his own heart to Satan. Make no mistake, dear friends in Christ: the Holy Spirit will not dwell in an unrepentant heart. But God would not let go of David so easily. “The woman conceived, and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant.’” His sins have consequences.
The earthly consequences of our sins should drive us to repentance, they should drive us to cry out to God for mercy. But so often they don’t. Like David, we cover sin with sin; we spiral deeper into depravity. Repentance is not our first thought; instead, when the harsh light of the Law shines on our darkness, we try to obscure the view with more darkness. David, the faithless king, tries to deceive faithful Uriah, and when that fails, he condemns an innocent man to death. The king, charged with protecting his people, puts to death one who is in his care; he perverts justice by punishing the innocent for his own sin. The Fifth Commandment is violated to cover over other sin, a pattern repeated all too often in our world. There is no difference between Uriah in the Old Testament and the child in the womb today; both are killed to cover up sins against the Sixth Commandment. We bully and attack others to exalt ourselves. The innocent are raged against, insulted and hated, not because they are wicked, but because we are.
Even the guilty are not to be murdered in thought, word, or deed. Jesus warns us: “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” The Fifth Commandment condemns physical violence against others, but also any words or acts that could lead to violence. Your neighbor’s body is sacred; what God has made is not to be the object of your rage, whether he ‘deserves it’ or not. “‘Vengeance is mine,’ says the Lord, ‘I will repay,” and He repays only through His appointed instruments.
Even inaction is condemned by this commandment. When Joab had opportunity to help and support his neighbor in every physical need, he refused to act, and Uriah perished. When we see our neighbor in need, the Fifth Commandment requires us to act. In fact, the very definition of a ‘neighbor’ is one who is in need. Luther writes: “If you send a person away naked when you could clothe him, you have let him freeze to death. If you see anyone suffer hunger and do not feed him, you have let him starve.” The Fifth Commandment will not let any of us escape; not only murder but hatred, not only murder but failure to act, leaves us condemned with faithless David.
Take heart, good Joab, David had said. “The sword devours now one and now another.” Yes it does, faithless David, and the sword of God’s judgment especially devours the unrepentant. “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” Nine months later—nine long months of unrepentance—David would finally see the sword poised over his own neck. From his own mouth would he speak his condemnation and yours: “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!” Nathan speaks to David what I this day speak to you and to myself: “You are the man!” As Uriah carried his own death sentence, so David declares his own penalty, and yours, and mine, and all who violate this commandment. You are the man, condemned by the Fifth Commandment; the light of God’s Law shines too brightly for you to cover your sin.
Uriah was not spared the penalty for David’s sin; the innocent died for the guilty. But David was spared; another innocent one stood in his place. “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin, you shall not die.’” The first offspring of Bathsheba’s womb would perish; once again the innocent would die in place of the guilty. But the womb of Uriah’s wife would produce another son, and through him the line of the Messiah would continue, the Messiah who would be born of a virgin to stand in the place of David and all who have been condemned by God’s stern word of Law.
Like Uriah, the Messiah who came from the line of Bathsheba was innocent of any crime. But Jesus was more than innocent, He was sinless. He fulfilled every vocation perfectly, He followed every command. And like Uriah, the innocent one would die in the place of the guilty. Jesus died for David’s sin, and He died for yours and mine. Where we sought revenge, He submitted to the blows of His enemies without complaint. Where we had hatred, He had love for a world that raged against Him. Where we failed to help, Jesus was the Good Samaritan who nursed our wounds. Where we even took human life, from the neighbor who sinned against us to the most innocent of human life in the womb, He pronounces His blood-bought forgiveness. Jesus Christ died so that I can this day say to all of you: You are the man! A man or woman like David, condemned by your sin but forgiven by Christ. “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” You shall not die eternally, for Jesus died in your place. You are forgiven, and through Jesus, you are pleasing to God. Take heart: The sword devoured Christ; it will not devour you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Lent 3--Oculi (Luke 11:14-28)
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon this morning comes from the Gospel lesson read a few moments ago from the eleventh chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Luke. Dear friends in Christ: there is no neutrality between God and Satan. We think that we can compromise, that we can find some middle ground, that there is gray instead of black and white. But there is no gray when it comes to God and Satan; there is no neutral ground. The crowd understood this, better than we, with our wishy-washy, relativistic and subjective ways; they understood that either Jesus is serving God or He is serving Satan. He cannot be neutral. The crowd declares: “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” They understand what Jesus’ miracles mean. Such great power can only have two sources: God or Satan. They clearly think that it’s Satan; Jesus just happens to disagree. “If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” Satan isn’t such a fool as to work against himself. No, if the demons are being driven out, there is only one explanation: “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” There is no neutrality between God and Satan; and if it is God who is doing these works, pay attention, for Satan’s house is about to fall.
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.” Jesus comes to divide Satan’s house, to rob it, to plunder it, to bind our evil foe for eternity. When He is finished, Satan’s house will be laid waste, and his divided household will fall. Jesus comes as the stronger one to seize those in Satan’s house and take them out as plunder. Jesus comes to cast out demons with power of the finger of God. There is no neutrality between God and Satan. Either we belong to one, or we belong to the other. And from birth—indeed from our conception—we belonged to Satan. In the heart of every human being there is a throne. And if God doesn’t occupy that throne, then Satan will, and he does. There is no neutrality. We are creatures, we are not gods, we are always subordinate to another. You dwelt in bondage to Satan, with the evil one occupying the throne. You cannot control yourself; you live following Satan’s orders. All you can will, all you can do, is sin. Satan deceives you with his old evil words, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” He wants you to try to occupy that throne yourself, to determine good and evil according to your own thoughts and desires. But you cannot sit on your own throne, any more than a horse can ride on its own saddle. Satan knows that; he knows that when you try to sit on the throne, it is really he who is enthroned, who occupies the house of your heart, who holds you in his chains, as his plunder. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe.”
Satan’s goods are safe because he knows they aren’t going anywhere by themselves. You and I, deceived into thinking that we can sit on the throne of our heart, put the chains around ourselves; we are imprisoned, enslaved because we’ve bought the lie. Satan knows that he need not fear rebellion from inside the house. And he’s right; you and I are no threat to escape his bonds. Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay, death brooded darkly over me. Sin was my torment night and day; in sin my mother bore me. But daily deeper still I fell; my life became a living hell, so firmly sin possessed me.
Satan has nothing to fear from you and me; his house will not be divided from within. “But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.” Satan’s defeat did not come from us; it came from the outside, from an invader, a mighty warrior who is God Himself in the flesh, Jesus who is called the Christ. His royal power disguised He bore; a servant’s form, like mine, He wore to lead the devil captive. He came to do battle with the strong man in his own house, and all of Satan’s weapons, in which he trusted, proved powerless. The sword of temptation lay broken as Jesus triumphed over it in the wilderness. His mighty army of demons was cast out left and right by the power of the finger of God. And even his greatest weapon and ally, death itself, could not conquer Jesus. “Though he will shed my precious blood, me of my life bereaving, all this I suffer for your good; be steadfast and believing. Life will from death the victory win; my innocence shall bear your sin, and you are blest forever.” Satan put his trust in the armor and chains of death; he counted on them to defeat Christ our Lord. But when Jesus rose on Easter morning, He took Satan’s armor from him, transforming even death into the portal of life. And He takes the spoil, you and me, purchased and won not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.
Jesus plunders the strong man’s house, casting Satan from the thrones of human hearts. “Get behind me, Satan!” He cries out through the baptismal liturgy, “and make room for the Holy Ghost.” There is no neutrality between God and Satan. The throne within the human heart has room for only one occupant. And in the waters of baptism, the former occupant is cast out, driven away. Every baptism is an exorcism, a driving away of Satan from his place in our hearts, the breaking of the chains the held us fast. The stronger one does battle with the strong man, and in the end it is Satan who is chained, not Jesus, not you or me. God promised through Isaiah, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.” Christ went to battle for us during His life on this earth, through His bloody suffering and death, and His victorious resurrection. And in the waters of Baptism, He brings that victory to you and me, casting Satan from his throne, cleansing the house of our heart and setting things in order.
There is no neutrality between God and Satan. Either one or the other will occupy the throne in every human heart. In a world where demons roam, there are no empty houses. “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’” Satan cannot dwell where the baptismal waters are present. He must seek rest in ‘waterless places,’ in those locales where baptism isn’t spoken of or practiced, where the waters do not flow freely over sinners’ heads. But even there he finds no rest, and he returns to his former haunt.
There he finds a remarkable thing: the house is empty! “And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.” There is the appearance of order; the house has been decorated, cleaned up, it looks good on the outside. An older gentleman lives a good life, he is likable and honorable, he is held in high esteem by all. But the throne is empty; the house is in order, he was baptized long ago, but he has long since quit coming to worship more than a couple times a year, his bible collects dust, the name of God is only used in vain. Christ has been driven away through indifference and unbelief. A child is being raised according to all the accepted conventions; she is healthy, well-nourished, she is learning her numbers and letters, and she brings joy into the lives of family and friends. But the throne is empty; the house is in order, she has been brought to the font, but she has never seen the inside of the church since; her parents do not bring her to worship or Sunday School, there is no reading of Scripture or prayer at home. Christ has been driven away by the negligence of those who brought her to the font.
There is no neutrality between God and Satan; either one or the other will occupy the throne of the human heart. And if the house is left empty for Satan to return, woe to that house! “Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” Christ cast Satan from his throne, but if Jesus is cast out through laziness, indifference, or negligence, Satan is ready to return, and he returns with a vengeance. There no neutrality between God and Satan; a house divided against itself will not stand. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Woe to those who do not fill the cleansed houses of their own hearts or that of their children with Christ! They do not gather but scatter! Repent! Turn from Satan, take his assaults seriously and fill the empty house with Christ. It is only Christ that can release you and me from the bondage of sin and Satan, it is only Christ who, day after day, through Law and Gospel, can cleanse the house of the human heart and place Himself on its throne. Christ is the stronger one, who has defeated the strong man and plundered his house, and only He can keep that house clean. How does He do this? He works only through the Word. “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”
Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it, not in the sense of following the rules and never sinning; keeping the Word of God is instead a matter of faith, of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. It is that Word of forgiveness that drives out Satan day after day, that keeps Him from taking that throne again for himself. That is why the Church exists, that is why we proclaim from this pulpit God’s pure Word, why we give from this altar His Body and Blood. It is for no other reason than filling the hearts of the baptized with Christ that we teach Sunday School and offer Bible classes; it is the sole reason why this congregation has established and supports a school. The Word of Christ flows from this place into the hearts of the baptized, into your heart and mine, driving Satan away and placing Christ in His rightful place on the throne. This sanctuary is the place of divine combat, of spiritual warfare, for here the stronger one rules, and He has already overcome by His shed blood. He has conquered, Satan’s kingdom is divided, and it has fallen, never to rise again. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.” Jesus comes to divide Satan’s house, to rob it, to plunder it, to bind our evil foe for eternity. When He is finished, Satan’s house will be laid waste, and his divided household will fall. Jesus comes as the stronger one to seize those in Satan’s house and take them out as plunder. Jesus comes to cast out demons with power of the finger of God. There is no neutrality between God and Satan. Either we belong to one, or we belong to the other. And from birth—indeed from our conception—we belonged to Satan. In the heart of every human being there is a throne. And if God doesn’t occupy that throne, then Satan will, and he does. There is no neutrality. We are creatures, we are not gods, we are always subordinate to another. You dwelt in bondage to Satan, with the evil one occupying the throne. You cannot control yourself; you live following Satan’s orders. All you can will, all you can do, is sin. Satan deceives you with his old evil words, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” He wants you to try to occupy that throne yourself, to determine good and evil according to your own thoughts and desires. But you cannot sit on your own throne, any more than a horse can ride on its own saddle. Satan knows that; he knows that when you try to sit on the throne, it is really he who is enthroned, who occupies the house of your heart, who holds you in his chains, as his plunder. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe.”
Satan’s goods are safe because he knows they aren’t going anywhere by themselves. You and I, deceived into thinking that we can sit on the throne of our heart, put the chains around ourselves; we are imprisoned, enslaved because we’ve bought the lie. Satan knows that he need not fear rebellion from inside the house. And he’s right; you and I are no threat to escape his bonds. Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay, death brooded darkly over me. Sin was my torment night and day; in sin my mother bore me. But daily deeper still I fell; my life became a living hell, so firmly sin possessed me.
Satan has nothing to fear from you and me; his house will not be divided from within. “But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.” Satan’s defeat did not come from us; it came from the outside, from an invader, a mighty warrior who is God Himself in the flesh, Jesus who is called the Christ. His royal power disguised He bore; a servant’s form, like mine, He wore to lead the devil captive. He came to do battle with the strong man in his own house, and all of Satan’s weapons, in which he trusted, proved powerless. The sword of temptation lay broken as Jesus triumphed over it in the wilderness. His mighty army of demons was cast out left and right by the power of the finger of God. And even his greatest weapon and ally, death itself, could not conquer Jesus. “Though he will shed my precious blood, me of my life bereaving, all this I suffer for your good; be steadfast and believing. Life will from death the victory win; my innocence shall bear your sin, and you are blest forever.” Satan put his trust in the armor and chains of death; he counted on them to defeat Christ our Lord. But when Jesus rose on Easter morning, He took Satan’s armor from him, transforming even death into the portal of life. And He takes the spoil, you and me, purchased and won not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.
Jesus plunders the strong man’s house, casting Satan from the thrones of human hearts. “Get behind me, Satan!” He cries out through the baptismal liturgy, “and make room for the Holy Ghost.” There is no neutrality between God and Satan. The throne within the human heart has room for only one occupant. And in the waters of baptism, the former occupant is cast out, driven away. Every baptism is an exorcism, a driving away of Satan from his place in our hearts, the breaking of the chains the held us fast. The stronger one does battle with the strong man, and in the end it is Satan who is chained, not Jesus, not you or me. God promised through Isaiah, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.” Christ went to battle for us during His life on this earth, through His bloody suffering and death, and His victorious resurrection. And in the waters of Baptism, He brings that victory to you and me, casting Satan from his throne, cleansing the house of our heart and setting things in order.
There is no neutrality between God and Satan. Either one or the other will occupy the throne in every human heart. In a world where demons roam, there are no empty houses. “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’” Satan cannot dwell where the baptismal waters are present. He must seek rest in ‘waterless places,’ in those locales where baptism isn’t spoken of or practiced, where the waters do not flow freely over sinners’ heads. But even there he finds no rest, and he returns to his former haunt.
There he finds a remarkable thing: the house is empty! “And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.” There is the appearance of order; the house has been decorated, cleaned up, it looks good on the outside. An older gentleman lives a good life, he is likable and honorable, he is held in high esteem by all. But the throne is empty; the house is in order, he was baptized long ago, but he has long since quit coming to worship more than a couple times a year, his bible collects dust, the name of God is only used in vain. Christ has been driven away through indifference and unbelief. A child is being raised according to all the accepted conventions; she is healthy, well-nourished, she is learning her numbers and letters, and she brings joy into the lives of family and friends. But the throne is empty; the house is in order, she has been brought to the font, but she has never seen the inside of the church since; her parents do not bring her to worship or Sunday School, there is no reading of Scripture or prayer at home. Christ has been driven away by the negligence of those who brought her to the font.
There is no neutrality between God and Satan; either one or the other will occupy the throne of the human heart. And if the house is left empty for Satan to return, woe to that house! “Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” Christ cast Satan from his throne, but if Jesus is cast out through laziness, indifference, or negligence, Satan is ready to return, and he returns with a vengeance. There no neutrality between God and Satan; a house divided against itself will not stand. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Woe to those who do not fill the cleansed houses of their own hearts or that of their children with Christ! They do not gather but scatter! Repent! Turn from Satan, take his assaults seriously and fill the empty house with Christ. It is only Christ that can release you and me from the bondage of sin and Satan, it is only Christ who, day after day, through Law and Gospel, can cleanse the house of the human heart and place Himself on its throne. Christ is the stronger one, who has defeated the strong man and plundered his house, and only He can keep that house clean. How does He do this? He works only through the Word. “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”
Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it, not in the sense of following the rules and never sinning; keeping the Word of God is instead a matter of faith, of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. It is that Word of forgiveness that drives out Satan day after day, that keeps Him from taking that throne again for himself. That is why the Church exists, that is why we proclaim from this pulpit God’s pure Word, why we give from this altar His Body and Blood. It is for no other reason than filling the hearts of the baptized with Christ that we teach Sunday School and offer Bible classes; it is the sole reason why this congregation has established and supports a school. The Word of Christ flows from this place into the hearts of the baptized, into your heart and mine, driving Satan away and placing Christ in His rightful place on the throne. This sanctuary is the place of divine combat, of spiritual warfare, for here the stronger one rules, and He has already overcome by His shed blood. He has conquered, Satan’s kingdom is divided, and it has fallen, never to rise again. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Lenten Midweek 2: The Eighth Commandment (Matthew 26:59-61)
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon this evening comes from the twenty-sixth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, which reads as follows: “Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put Him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, ‘This man said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.”’” Dear friends in Christ, the courtroom is the home of the Eighth Commandment. There, among judges and juries, defendants and prosecutors, it rules. It is the task of those in authority to provide justice, to make sure that the truth wins out, that the guilty are punished, and the innocent freed. Only the truth should be told in court. No lies—not even little ones! No slander, no falsehood, no tall tales of any kind. A judge must be fearless; he must be consumed by the search for truth. And the witnesses must be the same; they must be upright and trustworthy, for the reputation of their neighbor is in their hands. That’s why, if you are a witness, you are required to swear a solemn oath; you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Serious stuff, especially if you happen to believe in the almighty God who gave the Eighth Commandment. The court wants to hear and determine the truth, nothing but the truth.
Surely, that is what the Sanhedrin wants to hear, right? They want to hear the truth about Jesus, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, correct? For the Eighth Commandment, though it rules our entire lives, especially governs the courtroom. These men have been charged with justice, and they will certainly make it their task to ensure that Jesus receives a fair hearing, right? Wrong! “Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony about Jesus that they might put Him to death.” Did you hear that? The Council is seeking out false witnesses! They want the liars, they want those who will willingly break the Eighth Commandment. Jesus will only receive the pretense of justice; He will be tried, but in the middle of the night, and with a crowd of false witnesses testifying against Him. The ones who know the Law subvert it; they want nothing to do with the truth. They lust for liars so that they can put Him to death.
It’s hard to believe that upstanding, ‘good religious people,’ those who pride themselves on their keeping of the Law, could subvert justice in this way. The authorities, those charged with administering justice, would do that—even to an innocent man? Sure, they would, without a second thought, for their hatred blinded them. And so would you. And so do you. Martin Luther teaches us the meaning of the Eighth Commandment: “We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” The courtroom is the Eighth Commandment’s natural home, but the thing is, this world is a courtroom, everyone is on trial.
And you are an expert in giving false witness. You bear false witness by lying about your friend, saying things you know aren’t true, intending to exalt yourself by bringing her down. You bear false witness by revealing secrets, betraying the trust of another by making what was private public. You bear false witness when you take someone’s sin not to him, but to the entire world. You bear false witness when you explain your neighbor’s action in the worst possible way. You destroy someone’s reputation from a safe distance with your I-Pad or Smartphone, seemingly isolated from the consequences. You don’t give them a fair hearing in the courtroom of this world; your goal is not the good of your neighbor, but his destruction. You see, the Eighth Commandment doesn’t only deal with telling lies, but also with how you use the truth. Even if what you say is true, if it hurts your neighbor’s reputation, you are called to silence. “Defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” Public sin should be reproved publically; the Eighth Commandment is not a shield for those living a publically sinful life or preaching false doctrine. But the private sins of your neighbor are to be taken to her privately, seeking repentance, not trumpeted before the world.
For you see, false witness is dangerous. It takes a lifetime to build up a good reputation; only moments are necessary to destroy it. Words can wound, words can destroy; false witness can lead to the violation of numerous other commandments. We saw this last week when poor Naboth was falsely accused on the orders of the king and put to death. And tonight, it happens to Jesus. The false witnesses come against Him, one after the other, but something is wrong. They can’t agree. Even though no one defends His reputation or speaks well of Him, Jesus appears to be winning! But then two last witnesses come forward, and they decide to quote Jesus. They declare, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” This clinches it. They have quoted one of Jesus’ most provocative and confrontational sermons, the one where He appears not only to be not only a nut, but a dangerous nut, a terrorist, one who threatens buildings, and the most important building of all—the temple.
Despite this accusation, Jesus doesn’t protest. Why? He did preach this sermon! The false witnesses, desperately sought by the court, have actually spoken the truth! They preach Christ despite themselves, declaring before the whole court who Jesus is and what He has come to do. For Jesus isn’t speaking of Herod’s temple in Jerusalem; He is, as we are told in John chapter two, speaking about the temple of His body. His body is the new temple, the greater temple, the temple to replace Herod’s temple forever—this man, standing before them, is also true God, Immanuel, God with us. “In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” and so it is His body, His own flesh and blood that is God’s new temple; Jesus points not to brick and mortar, but to Himself.
And Jesus is no terrorist; His opponents have twisted His words, for He didn’t threaten to destroy anything when He first spoke these words. Instead, amidst the ruin of His wrath against the money-changers, Jesus calls on His opponents to “destroy this temple,” and He knows that they will. In fact, when these words are repeated in the darkness between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, the Sanhedrin will set this prophecy in motion. They will destroy the temple of His body; now that they have their conviction, gained by twisting His words, they send Him to Pilate for sentencing, and more false witness will be borne. Then, upon the cross, the temple of His body will be destroyed, thrown down; the false witness of many will end up in murder. The ruined temple will be laid in a tomb. But the false witnesses have spoken more truly than they know; three days later the temple will be rebuilt, Christ will rise, victorious over the false witness of His opponents, victorious even over death.
What the Sanhedrin meant for evil Jesus turned into good; they fulfilled His prophecy despite themselves. He went to the cross as the sacrifice for sin, bearing every violation of the Eighth Commandment, even the ones which sent Him there to die, and He rose in victory over their evil. Now Jesus speaks the truth about you: you, yes you, sinner, are forgiven. The courtroom is a place for truth, a place where the Eighth Commandment is to rule. In the courtroom of God’s justice, there is no way to put a good construction upon it; you are guilty, condemned for your callous and evil disregard for the reputations of others, along with all of your other sins. That is the truth. But there is another truth that is greater. God doesn’t count your sin against you anymore for the sake of His Son. That is the truth, and it is greater than any word of condemnation.
Now Jesus has only good things to say about you; He declares to the entire world: ‘Do you see these people? Yes, they are sinners, through and through. But they are my sinners—I died for them! I’ve forgiven them. I’ve put my name upon them when I washed them at the font. They are my holy ones!’ Jesus speaks well of you in the heavenly courtroom, freeing you to speak well of your neighbor in the courtroom of this world, to use your words to edify your neighbors, to build up your friends, to stand up for others and explain everything in the kindest way. And you are now free to tell the truth about Jesus, to confess that He is Lord, that His death and resurrection have brought you deliverance. You confess to yourself and to others that this Jesus is ‘for you’ for the forgiveness of your sins. That is His reputation, declared by the Church to the world: He is the Savior of sinners—even you, even me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Surely, that is what the Sanhedrin wants to hear, right? They want to hear the truth about Jesus, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, correct? For the Eighth Commandment, though it rules our entire lives, especially governs the courtroom. These men have been charged with justice, and they will certainly make it their task to ensure that Jesus receives a fair hearing, right? Wrong! “Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony about Jesus that they might put Him to death.” Did you hear that? The Council is seeking out false witnesses! They want the liars, they want those who will willingly break the Eighth Commandment. Jesus will only receive the pretense of justice; He will be tried, but in the middle of the night, and with a crowd of false witnesses testifying against Him. The ones who know the Law subvert it; they want nothing to do with the truth. They lust for liars so that they can put Him to death.
It’s hard to believe that upstanding, ‘good religious people,’ those who pride themselves on their keeping of the Law, could subvert justice in this way. The authorities, those charged with administering justice, would do that—even to an innocent man? Sure, they would, without a second thought, for their hatred blinded them. And so would you. And so do you. Martin Luther teaches us the meaning of the Eighth Commandment: “We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” The courtroom is the Eighth Commandment’s natural home, but the thing is, this world is a courtroom, everyone is on trial.
And you are an expert in giving false witness. You bear false witness by lying about your friend, saying things you know aren’t true, intending to exalt yourself by bringing her down. You bear false witness by revealing secrets, betraying the trust of another by making what was private public. You bear false witness when you take someone’s sin not to him, but to the entire world. You bear false witness when you explain your neighbor’s action in the worst possible way. You destroy someone’s reputation from a safe distance with your I-Pad or Smartphone, seemingly isolated from the consequences. You don’t give them a fair hearing in the courtroom of this world; your goal is not the good of your neighbor, but his destruction. You see, the Eighth Commandment doesn’t only deal with telling lies, but also with how you use the truth. Even if what you say is true, if it hurts your neighbor’s reputation, you are called to silence. “Defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” Public sin should be reproved publically; the Eighth Commandment is not a shield for those living a publically sinful life or preaching false doctrine. But the private sins of your neighbor are to be taken to her privately, seeking repentance, not trumpeted before the world.
For you see, false witness is dangerous. It takes a lifetime to build up a good reputation; only moments are necessary to destroy it. Words can wound, words can destroy; false witness can lead to the violation of numerous other commandments. We saw this last week when poor Naboth was falsely accused on the orders of the king and put to death. And tonight, it happens to Jesus. The false witnesses come against Him, one after the other, but something is wrong. They can’t agree. Even though no one defends His reputation or speaks well of Him, Jesus appears to be winning! But then two last witnesses come forward, and they decide to quote Jesus. They declare, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” This clinches it. They have quoted one of Jesus’ most provocative and confrontational sermons, the one where He appears not only to be not only a nut, but a dangerous nut, a terrorist, one who threatens buildings, and the most important building of all—the temple.
Despite this accusation, Jesus doesn’t protest. Why? He did preach this sermon! The false witnesses, desperately sought by the court, have actually spoken the truth! They preach Christ despite themselves, declaring before the whole court who Jesus is and what He has come to do. For Jesus isn’t speaking of Herod’s temple in Jerusalem; He is, as we are told in John chapter two, speaking about the temple of His body. His body is the new temple, the greater temple, the temple to replace Herod’s temple forever—this man, standing before them, is also true God, Immanuel, God with us. “In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” and so it is His body, His own flesh and blood that is God’s new temple; Jesus points not to brick and mortar, but to Himself.
And Jesus is no terrorist; His opponents have twisted His words, for He didn’t threaten to destroy anything when He first spoke these words. Instead, amidst the ruin of His wrath against the money-changers, Jesus calls on His opponents to “destroy this temple,” and He knows that they will. In fact, when these words are repeated in the darkness between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, the Sanhedrin will set this prophecy in motion. They will destroy the temple of His body; now that they have their conviction, gained by twisting His words, they send Him to Pilate for sentencing, and more false witness will be borne. Then, upon the cross, the temple of His body will be destroyed, thrown down; the false witness of many will end up in murder. The ruined temple will be laid in a tomb. But the false witnesses have spoken more truly than they know; three days later the temple will be rebuilt, Christ will rise, victorious over the false witness of His opponents, victorious even over death.
What the Sanhedrin meant for evil Jesus turned into good; they fulfilled His prophecy despite themselves. He went to the cross as the sacrifice for sin, bearing every violation of the Eighth Commandment, even the ones which sent Him there to die, and He rose in victory over their evil. Now Jesus speaks the truth about you: you, yes you, sinner, are forgiven. The courtroom is a place for truth, a place where the Eighth Commandment is to rule. In the courtroom of God’s justice, there is no way to put a good construction upon it; you are guilty, condemned for your callous and evil disregard for the reputations of others, along with all of your other sins. That is the truth. But there is another truth that is greater. God doesn’t count your sin against you anymore for the sake of His Son. That is the truth, and it is greater than any word of condemnation.
Now Jesus has only good things to say about you; He declares to the entire world: ‘Do you see these people? Yes, they are sinners, through and through. But they are my sinners—I died for them! I’ve forgiven them. I’ve put my name upon them when I washed them at the font. They are my holy ones!’ Jesus speaks well of you in the heavenly courtroom, freeing you to speak well of your neighbor in the courtroom of this world, to use your words to edify your neighbors, to build up your friends, to stand up for others and explain everything in the kindest way. And you are now free to tell the truth about Jesus, to confess that He is Lord, that His death and resurrection have brought you deliverance. You confess to yourself and to others that this Jesus is ‘for you’ for the forgiveness of your sins. That is His reputation, declared by the Church to the world: He is the Savior of sinners—even you, even me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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