Lenten Midweek III
“Out of Egypt:
Through the Water”[1]
March 7, 2018
Text: Ex. 14:13-31; Mark 1:9-13
Water. It is the elixir of life. It is a torrent of destruction. Our bodies are 60-80% water depending on body
type. We need water to live. The human body can survive up to three weeks
without food, but only three to five days without water. The crops need water, but just the right
amount of water. Not enough water and
they will die. Too much water will kill
them. Farmers know better than any of us
how to pray, and what it is to live by faith.
Their livelihood depends on water.
Water puts out fires. It also
floods. Water quenches thirst. It also drowns. Water is the stuff of life and death.
And
as it is in this temporal world, so much the more is it in the things of
God. “What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should
by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil
desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in
righteousness and purity forever.”[2] Water is the stuff of eternal life and
death. The water included in God’s
command and combined with God’s Word results in the daily death of the sinful
nature by contrition, that is, sorrow over sin, and repentance, that is, a
turning from it, and the daily resurrection of the new creation in Christ by
faith in Him. Baptism is a onetime
washing with eternal, daily significance.
I was baptized, yes, at a
specific point in time, but better, I am
baptized, now and forever, and my Christian life is a life lived from the font.
The
motif is all over the Scriptures. In the
beginning, the Spirit is hovering over the waters, bringing life to
creation. But then there is sin, and
God repents of all that He has made. He
destroys all life by means of the Flood… all life, that is, except for Noah and
his wife and his three sons and their wives and the animals collected on the
ark. By means of water, the world is put
to death, yet by means of water, the faithful remnant is saved alive.
The
Hebrews in Egypt were to throw their baby boys in the Nile, Pharaoh’s futile
attempt at preventing the promised deliverer.
Yet Moses’ mother follows the letter of the law, but not the
spirit. She puts her baby boy in the
Nile, but in a basket (literally an “ark”!), from which Pharaoh’s sister draws
him and raises him as her own. Water
brings death to the sons of Israel, yet water saves alive Moses, who will save
his whole nation.
It is
Moses who leads the people out of slavery in Egypt, yet very quickly Egypt
pursues. The Israelites are caught. On one side is Pharaoh’s army, on the other,
the Red Sea. Moses, incidentally even
before he knows what God will do, speaks the Promise: “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD… The LORD will
fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Ex. 14:13-14; ESV). The Angel of the LORD in the pillar of cloud
and fire, the LORD Himself, the pre-incarnate Christ comes between Israel and
her enemies. And all night the LORD
drives the waters back by a strong east wind.
The children of Israel cross over the Red Sea on dry land. St. Paul says they were baptized into Moses
in the cloud and the sea (1 Cor. 10:2).
The Egyptians pursued, but the waters crashed in upon them, drowning
them at the bottom of the sea. Life and
death. Life to God’s people. Death to those who hate God and His
people.
It
happens again forty years later, when Israel crosses the Jordan. This time they cross from the wilderness, the
place of emptiness and death, to the Promised Land, the place of abundant life. Many years after that, Elijah, too, passes
over the Jordan on dry ground, as he is taken up into heaven by the chariots of
fire. Crossing over the water, he is
delivered to eternal life with God in heaven.
It happens to Naaman when he washes seven times in the Jordan at
Elisha’s command. The living death of
leprosy is washed from his skin. He is
clean and whole and smooth as a newborn baby.
And
so we come to our Lord standing there in the Jordan, being baptized by
John. The heavens are torn asunder, the
Spirit descends as a dove, and the voice of the Father declares that Jesus is
His beloved Son, with whom He is well pleased.
As you know, Jesus is baptized into us, into our sin and death, so that
we are baptized at the font into His righteousness and life. His Baptism seals His destiny. For Him, the water is the death of the
cross. For us, the water is the life of
His resurrection. In holy Baptism, we
die with Christ. Old Adam is crucified,
drowned. In holy Baptism, we live with
Christ. Christ Himself is our life,
which is hidden with Christ in God, but will be revealed for all to see on that
Day. “St. Paul writes in Romans chapter
six: ‘We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life.’ (Rom. 6:4).”
We live it now in daily repentance and faith. We will live it then in risen bodies like
unto His risen body, forever, in the new heavens and the new earth.
And
so, by means of water, our Lord leads us out of exile to sin and death into His
eternal Kingdom. He leads us through the
Red Sea of Baptism, and our enemies are dead in the water. Sins forgiven. Rescued from death and the devil. Eternal salvation for all who believe this,
as the Words and Promises of God declare.
“Whoever believes and is baptized
will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16;
ESV).
Now,
you may say, “This is all wonderful, but I sure don’t feel free and alive and delivered from my enemies. In fact, I feel like I’m drowning.” It
is true, this life and new birth that has been given you from above in your
Baptism is a hidden reality. That which
the eyes can see appears to be anything but life and new birth and
freedom. The old evil foe would have you
believe your eyes and your emotions over against the ears into which God has
spoken His Word and faith. He will
whisper his lies, and your fallen flesh will be all too willing to listen and
believe it. But tonight you will sing a
hymn during Communion, which our children know by heart, and you really should
memorize, too. For you will sing,
“Satan, hear this proclamation: I am baptized into Christ! Drop your ugly accusation, I am not so soon
enticed. Now that to the font I’ve
traveled, All your might has come unraveled, And, against your tyranny, God, my
Lord, unites with me!” (LSB 594:3). You
will tell off sin. You will tell off the
devil. You will tell off death
itself. These enemies can no longer
enslave you. They have no claim on you anymore. Jesus made you His own in the water. Your enemies are vanquished. They are dead. You have crossed over to life, you live. God’s own child, I gladly say it. Forgiven, righteous, redeemed, restored. Delivered in the water. You are baptized! In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
(+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] The theme and structure of
this sermon are from Jeffery Pulse, Return
from Exile: A Lenten Journey (St. Louis: Concordia, 2017).
[2] Catechism quotes from Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis:
Concordia, 1986).
Fourth Sunday in
Lent (B)
March 11, 2018
Text: John 3:14-21
It
sounded ridiculous. It was contrary to
all reason. It was contrary to God’s own
Commandment. Moses was to make a graven
image, an image of a serpent out of bronze, and lift it up on a pole. And anyone bitten by one of the fiery
serpents God had sent among the people, could look at that bronze serpent, look
at the disgusting graven image of their death, and they would live. The serpents, as we know, were sent as a
consequence of the people speaking against God, and against their pastor, the
one given to speak for God, Moses (just remember that next time you have a
complaint!). It is no accident that the
form of their chastisement was a serpent.
The point must not be lost on us.
In speaking against God and rejecting His Word and the life He has given,
the people were committing the same sin Adam and Eve committed in the
Garden. As our first parents were led by
the serpent, the devil, to reject God and His Word and the life He had given
them in Eden, they died. And so the
people, bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness. They died.
The word for “fiery” in Hebrew is seraphim,
the same word used to describe one particular rank of holy angels. Were the serpents fiery because they were
shiny like the angels of God? Or because
the poison burned its way through the body as it killed you? Hard to say.
But there was no anti-venom. Just
the image on the pole. Look there and
you will live.
Jesus
says this whole business is actually about Him!
“As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes
in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15; ESV). The serpent on the pole is what we call in
theology a “type.” It is an event
prophecy, an Old Testament reality foreshadowing a New Testament reality, the
“antitype,” the fulfillment of the type.
And how does our Lord Jesus fulfill the type of the serpent on the
pole? He is lifted up on the cross, the
image of our death and condemnation for sin.
And every one of us, mortally bitten by the serpent, the old evil foe,
and dead in our trespasses and sins… Every one of us, when we look upon Christ
crucified and believe and know that His death is our forgiveness and salvation,
we are healed and we live. This is why
the gradual that we sing between the Old Testament and Epistle is so important,
because you have it ingrained in your mind now: “[O come, let us fix our eyes on] Jesus, the founder and perfecter of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb.
12:2). It’s a beautiful little summary
verse of our text this morning. Look to
Jesus who was lifted up on the cross for you.
He is the founder and perfecter of your faith. And He is risen and lives and reigns at the
right hand of God the Father Almighty.
He is your Savior from sin and death.
This
is the God who sent the serpents to bite His people in the wilderness. In spite of all appearances, He is not a God
of wrath, but a God of love and mercy.
The serpents were the just punishment of unbelief and sin. But with the wages of sin, God sends the way
of salvation. The serpent on the
pole. The Son of Man lifted up. “For
God so loved the world,” loved the world thusly, in this manner, “that
he gave his only[-begotten] Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The Father did not send the Son into the world to condemn it, to destroy
it, kill every last one of us and send us to hell. No, He sent His Son to save the world, save
you and me and all people, by being nailed to the cross and lifted up, the very
image of our sin and death and condemnation.
And all we have to do is look to Him there, on the cross, beaten and
bloodied for us, which is to say, believe in Him, and we live. And St. Paul says in our Epistle that such
looking, such believing, such faith is not even our work! It is God’s work for us! “For
by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing…”
You didn’t create this faith within yourself. You didn’t decide to follow Jesus. You didn’t choose Jesus… “it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Jesus chose you. The Holy Spirit turns your eyes to Jesus,
fixes them on your crucified Savior, gives you the faith to believe in Jesus
Christ as a free gift of His grace.
And
the way He does this is so ridiculous and contrary to all reason. He does it through the Word! He does it through preaching and
Scripture. And He does it in the visible
Word of Baptism and Supper. These are
the means to which the Spirit graciously attaches Himself so that we always
know where to find Him. Like the serpent
on the pole. The Hebrews knew just where
to look to be healed. As ridiculous as
it may sound, just look at that bronze serpent, and you will live. Now, of course, you had to believe that Word,
that Promise from God, if you were to do it.
If you just dismissed it as quackery, you wouldn’t look. The looking is faith. And so you.
The Spirit gives you the Promise.
Look to Jesus. Fix your eyes on
Him. And believing that Promise, that is
what you do. And you are healed. You are not condemned. You have eternal life. You live.
This
is why we have crucifixes. (Oh boy,
here’s where Pastor talks about all that Catholic stuff… blah, blah,
blah!) First of all, remember what I’ve
so often told you. Don’t let Rome have
all the fun. Whatever is good in Rome,
we retain as our own. We are the
catholics. We are not Roman Catholics, but in reality, in
terms of our doctrine, we’re the real catholics. Catholic just means “according to the whole,”
the whole doctrine of Christ, preached and believed by the Church of all times
and places. And there are many things
Roman Catholics do that we also do, like pray, read the Scriptures, be baptized
and absolved, and receive the Lord’s Supper.
Boy, maybe we shouldn’t do those things because they’re too
Catholic… That was sarcasm for those of
you in Rio Linda.
“But
Pastor, I have an empty cross, because I worship a risen Jesus!” You’ve said it. You know you have. Let’s be honest. Somebody somewhere along the way told you
wrong. It’s not their fault. Somebody told them wrong. Let’s all just take a deep breath and think
about this for a minute. For one thing,
if you tell me the cross ought to be empty because Jesus is no longer dead, I’m
coming to your house at Christmas time, and I better find an empty manger,
because Jesus is no longer a baby asleep on the hay. He’s a grownup now. Of course, it would be ridiculous to have a
manger scene with no Jesus just because He isn’t a baby anymore. The manger scene is a picture that aids our
faith and devotion, reminding us that God the Son, the Second Person of the
Holy Trinity, took on our flesh and was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of
the Virgin Mary, laid into a manger, because there was no room for Him in the
inn. The crucifix reminds us that that
precious little baby grew up into a man who really suffered and really died for
us and for our salvation.
Now,
you can have crosses without the corpus, the body of Jesus, if you want. But this is important, and I want to put this
myth to bed once and for all. There
really is no such thing as an empty cross.
There are crosses without the corpus, and I have a few myself. But always, and in every case, the cross is a
reminder that Christ died for you. And
that is why we decorate our churches and our home with them, whether crucifixes
or not, and we even wear them around our neck, next to our heart. That we may always be reminded. Jesus died for me. Yes, He is risen for me… that is incredible
Good News and our entire faith depends on that.
But the resurrection depends on His dying. You don’t have a risen Jesus unless you first
have a dead one. And in that way, the
crucifix is just as much a reminder of His resurrection as the “empty” cross.
There
is also this: If Jesus is on the cross, there is no room for you. Remember that this is supposed to be your
death, your condemnation. But God so
loved you, He gave His only-begotten Son into your death in your place. Because Jesus is on the cross, you are not.[1]
But
isn’t the crucifix a graven image? And
didn’t we just have a reading against that last week? Yes, it is, and yes, we did have the reading
of the Ten Commandments last week (Ex. 20).
By the way, your manger scene is a graven image as well. And you probably gave your children and
grandchildren picture bibles… Bibles full of graven images. And you may carry graven images with you in
your wallet. In any case, you have them
hanging all over your home. Look again
at what God says about images in the Ten Commandments. “You
shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything… You
shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous
God…” (Ex. 20:4-5). He does not
prohibit images, He prohibits making images to worship. He’s outlawing idolatry. This is commentary on the First Commandment,
“You shall have no other gods before me”
(v. 3). Now, if you are tempted by the
crucifix to worship the image over and above the man the image depicts, then by
all means, don’t have crucifixes. Many
generations after Israel came into the Promised Land, King Hezekiah of Judah
had to break the bronze serpent in pieces because the people had begun to
worship it, contrary to the purpose for which the LORD gave it (2 Kings
18:4). So if you are denying Jesus and
worshiping the little metal figure attached to the wood, then yes, you’re
breaking the Commandment. But if the
crucifix is aiding you in your worship and devotion, your meditation on Christ
and His suffering and death for you… if it helps you focus on your prayers, and
if it reminds you of how precious you are to God, then it is a tremendous gift
from God. It is like the bronze serpent
was to the Hebrews in the wilderness. It
is a lifeline. Luther says that “images
for memorial and witness, such as crucifixes and images of saints, are to be
tolerated… And they are not only to be tolerated, but for the sake of the
memorial and the witness they are praiseworthy and honorable.”[2] Of the crucifix, in particular, Luther says,
“whether I will or not, when I hear of Christ, an image of a man hanging on a
cross takes form in my heart, just as the reflection of my face naturally
appears in water when I look into it. If
it is not a sin but good to have the image of Christ in my heart, why should it
be a sin to have it in my eyes?”[3] Indeed, God does not prohibit crucifixes or
manger scenes or picture bibles or family photos in the First Commandment. In fact, insofar as these aid and encourage
your worship of the one true God, they are a fulfillment of the First
Commandment.
“But
Pastor, I just don’t like crucifixes.”
Well, at least now you’re being honest.
Christ crucified is always an offense to our fallen and sinful
flesh. Crucifixes are a matter of
Christian freedom. You don’t have to
have one. But here is why I, and many
here today, love them. I wear mine
nearly every day around my neck and over my heart, and I have them all over my
walls at home, so that I am never without a reminder of Christ crucified for
me. And when I pray, I often pray with
my eyes focused on the crucified Lord Jesus, by whom I have access to my Father
in heaven. And I cling to this crucifix
whenever I am pleading with God on your behalf or for some need or in some
crisis, when my sins weigh me down, when I am sad, when I give thanks, when I
rejoice, or whenever I need Christ, which is always. I feel the shape of His incarnation and death
in my hand and the image is burned into my eyes. Christ for me. Christ for you. Christ for the world. Christ crucified. Christ risen from the dead. Look upon Him always, beloved. Look upon Him, you who are mortally bitten by
sin. Look upon Him and be healed. Look upon Him and live. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
(+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Thanks to Katie Schuermann
for this illustration, The Harvest Raise
(St. Louis: Concordia, 2017) p. 291.
[2] LW 40:91.
[3] LW 40:99-100.
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