Lenten Midweek IV
March 29, 2017
“Dear Christians,
One and All Rejoice: Your Ransom and Your Rescue”[1]
Text: John 14:15-27; LSB 556:7-8
“To
me He said: ‘Stay close to Me’” (LSB 556:7).
Stay close to Me. Stay close to
Jesus. And your heart need never be
troubled or afraid (John 14:27). How do
you stay close to Jesus? He tells you in
our Holy Gospel. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father
will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (v. 23; ESV). You stay close to Jesus by “keeping” His
Word. And that word, “keep,” is a word
that means so much more than simply “obey.”
It means “guard, observe, attend to carefully, treasure up, meditate
upon, take it to heart and put it into practice.” That is how you stay close to Jesus. In His speaking to you. In your hearing of Him. That is to say, you stay close to Jesus in
your daily Scripture reading and in Bible study, and especially here in the
Divine Service where His Word is publicly proclaimed and His Sacraments given
to you as physical manifestations of His Word.
And through this Word of Jesus, as through means, the Holy Spirit works
faith as He pleases in those who hear the Gospel. That is the other Promise Jesus makes in our
text. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with
you forever, even the Spirit of truth” (vv. 16-17). What will the Spirit do? “(H)e
will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to
you” (v. 26). The Spirit comes
through the Word and He keeps you in the Word, which is to say He keeps you
with Jesus. “In the same way He calls,
gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and
keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”[2]
This
is so important, because your enemy wants you back in his possession, enslaved
to sin, death, and hell. He’ll do
everything he can to separate you from Jesus’ Word, and so separate you from
Jesus. Forever. Because that’s the only way he can get back
at God for casting him out of His holy presence. The devil is condemned to hell for all
eternity, and he wants to take you with him.
To do that, He must divide you from the Lord Jesus. So he will tempt you to make other things
more important than hearing the Gospel and receiving the Lord’s Supper. The kids’ sports are more important. The weekend chores are more important. Sleeping in is more important. When else will I have time to golf? When else will I have time to fish? I don’t have any other time to relax. And it’s not like I haven’t heard it all
before. I know it. I believe it.
Isn’t that enough? Beloved, I
want you to learn to recognize the insidious hiss of the serpent when he
whispers his sweet nothings into your ear and your heart. You must call him what he is: a liar! You must tell him where to go: to hell! And then you must run to your pastor and
demand that he preach the Word to you, absolve your sins, give you the body and
blood of Jesus. Jesus keeps you safe
from your old master’s tricks. Stay
close to Jesus! He is your Rock and
Castle, your Mighty Fortress, your Protector and Savior.
He
won you from your former slavery by His suffering and death on your
behalf. He purchased you, redeemed you,
ransomed you from slavery, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious
blood. The corpse on the cross is the
banner of your victory. The empty tomb
and the risen Lord Christ are the declaration that the sum is sufficient. Your sins are forgiven. Atonement is made. Your debt to God is paid in full. You belong to Jesus, in His Kingdom, in His
life, forever. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Stay close to
Him. He will see you through. He strives and wrestles with the serpent for
your very soul, but the foe cannot divide you from Jesus. For He is yours and you are His. And where He is, you may remain. “I go
to prepare a place for you… And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may
be also” (John 14:2-3). He will take
you to Himself in heaven when you die.
On the Last Day He will raise you bodily from the dead, just as He is
risen bodily from the dead. You will
live with Him forever. Life will from
death the victory win, for His innocence has borne your sin. You are blest forever (LSB 556:8).
So
now you live each day of this life in the Word and Spirit of Jesus, that you
may stay close to Him. And understand
that the answer to all the trials and tribulations the devil and the world and
your own fallen flesh can throw at you, is the Word of Jesus Christ. When your conscience troubles you, you call
your pastor and ask him to absolve your sins in the stead and by the command of
Jesus. When you are downcast,
discouraged, depressed, you call your pastor and ask him speak the consoling
Word of Christ. When you are sick or in
the hospital, when you face a surgery, or when death draws near, you call your
pastor and ask him to come and preach to you and give you Jesus’ body and
blood. You do this, not because your
pastor is anything. He is not. I promise you, he will stumble through it all
like a bumbling fool. That’s okay. He’s not the important one. You need Jesus. You need to stay close to Jesus, to be in
Jesus where there is now no condemnation, where healing and life flow to you
through His gifts. Jesus’ Word is always
the answer. It applies our Lord’s blood
and death and resurrection to every circumstance. When your marriage is in trouble, you need
Jesus. Call your pastor. When you’ve made a mistake and now there are
consequences, you need Jesus. Call your
pastor. And so also, when God has given
a blessing, in times of joy and prosperity, you need Jesus. Call your pastor. All things are sanctified by the Word of God
and prayer (1 Tim. 4:5). Call your
pastor to bless your house. Call your
pastor to say a prayer of thanksgiving for your new job. Call your pastor to visit your new baby in
the hospital. And it should go without
saying, but call your pastor to have that baby baptized. Call your pastor, not because you need your
pastor, but because you need Jesus, who sent your pastor here for no other
reason than to bring you Jesus. Be in
Church every chance you get. Hear the
Word. Receive the Supper. Remember your Baptism. Be in the Word and prayer every day. Stay close to Jesus.
And
in this way, your heart need never be troubled or afraid. Do you still doubt? Come to the Supper. The proof of it all is Jesus’ blood, shed on
the cross for your ransom and rescue, poured out from the chalice, down your
throat, and through your veins for the forgiveness of all your sins. Jesus isn’t just close to you. He’s in you.
And you are in Him. In the Name of
the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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