Lenten Midweek II
March 15, 2017
“Dear Christians,
One and All Rejoice: From the Father’s Heart”[1]
Text: John 12:27-36; LSB 556:4
God
had seen our wretched state before the world’s foundation, before the
beginning, before the first tick of the clock inaugurated time and
history. He knew what would happen. He did not will it to happen this way.
God does not will sin, and He
did not will the fall of humanity in
the Garden. But He foreknew it. And He foreknew your sin, your wretched
state. And from all eternity He was determined
to do something about it, for from all eternity you have been in His
heart. God so loved the world, God so
loved you, that He did not choose the easy part. He gave His dearest treasure. He sent His Son. Jesus came to bear your sin. Jesus came to suffer your punishment, that
God “might be just and the justifier
of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26; ESV). Jesus came to die.
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I
say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this
hour” (John 12:27). For this purpose I have come to this
hour. What hour does He speak of in
our Gospel? The hour in the Gospels is the
divinely appointed time when the Son of Man is sacrificed for our sins. Jesus came for this purpose, to be lifted up
on the cross and die for the sins of the world.
And this isn’t just some Plan B because things went tragically wrong in
Eden. This has been God’s plan from all
eternity. It has always been in His
heart to redeem you in a manner most costly to Himself, the blood and death of
His Son. And in this way, Jesus’ prayer
is answered, that the Father’s Name be glorified, the Name Jesus bears and
reveals to us, that God is our Father who loves us and longs to be reconciled
to us by the forgiveness of sins. And in
this way also the Father’s Name is glorified, for in the lifting up of the Son
on the cross, the Judgment of this world is complete, being poured out on
Christ; the ruler of this world (Satan) is cast out; and our Savior draws all
men unto Himself.
Jesus
is the answer to the question, “How is God toward me?” Is He a God of wrath, justly angered by my sins,
poised to cast me into the abyss of hell?
Or is He a God of mercy, determined to win my salvation and bestow on me
His eternal Kingdom? In Jesus, we know
the heart of God. If you ever wonder
what God thinks of you, how He is disposed toward you, look on a crucifix. Consider the man, beaten and bloody and dead,
nailed there to the wood. Remember that
this dead man is none other than God, the eternally-begotten Son of the Father,
become flesh for this very purpose, so that He could die. For you.
Look at the wounds. His sacred
head encircled with thorns for your sinful thoughts, your fantasies, your
premeditation and nostalgia for sin. His
hands pierced with nails for your iniquitous actions, His feet likewise impaled
to atone for your feet which have carried you places you should not be. Look upon His side, thrust through with a
spear. See the water and the blood
poured out for you. A crucifix is a
helpful piece of jewelry or décor. It
helps you meditate on your Lord’s Passion.
It keeps Christ crucified before your eyes. How is God toward you? Here you have your answer. He is the God who sacrifices His own Son to
save you and make you His own. He turns
to you a father’s heart, the heart He has had for you from eternity. God loves you, and He will not forsake
you.
In
addition to our hymn, Luther writes of the Father’s heart toward us in the Large Catechism. In his discussion on the Creed he writes,
“For here in all three articles God has revealed Himself and opened the deepest
abyss of His fatherly heart and His pure, inexpressible love [Ephesians
3:18-19]. He has created us for this
very reason, that He might redeem and sanctify us. In addition to giving and imparting to us
everything in heaven and upon earth, He has given to us His Son and the Holy
Spirit, who brings us to Himself [Romans 8:14, 32]. For… we could never grasp the knowledge of
the Father’s grace and favor except through the Lord Christ. Jesus is a mirror of the fatherly heart [John
14:9; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3], outside of whom we see nothing but an
angry and terrible Judge.”[2]
Jesus is a mirror of the fatherly
heart. On the cross you see the
heart of God, “laid open, broken and bleeding for you” (Pless). All God’s just wrath over your sin is poured
out there, on God’s Son, lifted up on the cross. All God’s tender love for you is poured out
here where the risen Jesus speaks into your ears and heart and feeds you His
true body and blood. In Baptism you are
made God’s child. The Spirit opens your
lips to pray, “Our Father”… God in heaven hears and answers for Jesus’
sake. Again, Luther writes in the Large Catechism, “whenever a godly Christian
prays, ‘Dear Father, let Your will be done’ [see Matthew 6:10], God speaks from
on high and says, ‘Yes, dear child, is shall be so, in spite of the devil and
all the world.’”[3] So, how is God toward you? He is your Father, and you are His
child. The proof of it is Christ
crucified for you. In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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