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March 18,
2020
Text: Mark 14:26-31, 66-72
Peter,
how could you botch this? You, who
boasted that you would never fall away, never deny the Lord, that you would
follow Jesus to death, if necessary. You
had confessed Him! “You are the
Christ” (Mark 8:29; ESV), you declared boldly, on behalf of your brother
Apostles. But then you tried to dissuade
your Lord from suffering, being rejected and killed, going the way of death and
resurrection. “Get behind me, Satan!”
He had to say then, “For you are not setting your mind on the things of God,
but on the things of man” (v. 33).
Now confronted by a little servant girl warming herself by the fire, you
lose every ounce of courage. You deny
that you even know Him, not once, not twice, but three times! There is even a rooster crowing his sermon in
the midst of it all, calling you to repentance, but you call down curses upon
yourself, swearing to God that you do not know the Man. Your eyes betray you, wild with fear. Your accent gives you away. You are a Galilean. Surely a Christ follower! The rooster crows again, and this time the
Lord’s Word hits its mark. Right between
the eyes. You break down and weep
bitterly.
It
is easy, of course, to beat up on Peter.
But what of you? You, also, have
seen the great salvation of the Lord, His saving deeds, forgiveness, life, and
salvation by His death and resurrection for you. Like Peter, you've heard His gracious Words,
you’ve received His saving and healing renewal, born anew by water and the
Word, baptized into Christ. Like Peter,
you’ve been there, at the Supper, where Jesus gives you His body, His blood,
given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins. And you’ve made your boasts. Even if I have to die with you! Never, never, will I deny you.
But
you do. You do deny Him. Every time you insist on your own way. Every time you neglect or mistreat a precious
human being for whom Christ died. Every
time you recklessly throw yourself into the lustful passions of your flesh,
disregarding what Christ has said in His Word, not treating your neighbor’s
body, your own body, as holy, created by God, redeemed by Christ, who was
crucified in the flesh for you, who is risen, bodily, for you. Anytime, like Peter, you’ve failed to speak
when you should speak, you’ve denied Him.
Anytime you’ve been afraid of the cost of confessing, ashamed of your
Lord and His Words, you’ve denied Him.
Anytime
you fear, love, and trust in anyone or anything more than Him, you deny Jesus. You deny Him in favor of other gods, your
idols. If there is one thing this
pandemic is doing for us, it is exposing our idols. What do you fear more than the Lord your
God? What do you think can overpower His
love and care for you? What do you love
more than the Lord your God? What
things, what people, do you think it is your job to protect, because the Lord
cannot possibly handle it on His own, without your help? What do you trust more than the Lord your
God? We pray for our doctors and nurses
and healthcare workers. We pray for our
government, for the scientific community and researchers, and we pray that
media will keep us informed so that we can be responsible and cautious. But you know what all of those entities have
in common? They are not God. They are not your Savior. Repent.
Fear, love, and trust in God alone.
He is your only help and salvation.
Through Christ. He will deliver
you from this pandemic, one way or another, either by keeping you safe from it,
or by healing you… here and now through medicine, or there and then, on the Day
of Resurrection. The medicine you need
more than anything is that which is delivered by Christ in the preaching of His
Word and in the Holy Sacraments. Your
sins, your idolatry, your denials, are forgiven you for Jesus’ sake, in the
Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.
Our
Lord Jesus, the Son of God, was fully man, and I’ll bet He was scared when He
stood before Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin, Pontius Pilate. He knew where this would lead. “Crucify Him!” called out the bloodthirsty
crowd, and He knew that soon the wood would be laid upon His shoulder for the
slow and agonizing march toward Calvary.
He knew the nails would pierce Him.
He knew He would be lifted up, naked and bleeding, shamed and mocked by
the bystanders, crucified between two criminals. He knew the Father would turn His back: “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). He did not deserve any of this. Sinless.
Holy. That is what He is. It was in His power, you know, to not do
this, to not suffer this, to leave us in our sin and condemnation. So why does He do it?
He
will not deny the Father, whose will is to save you, and to save you in this
way.
He
will not deny you. His own will is to
save you, and to save you in this way.
By paying the price for your sins, the price of your redemption, the
sacrifice of atonement, His blood, His suffering, His death. He takes up His cross to make you His
own. It is in that way that He is
for you, as Peter confesses, the Christ.
Jesus
died for you. But He didn’t stay
dead. He is risen. Bodily.
And He lives and He reigns for you.
Remember that when you’re scared of this virus. Remember that when you’re scared of your sin
and your guilt. Remember that when
you’re scared of anything else in the whole world. Jesus lives, and Jesus reigns. This is all in His hands. The very hands that were pierced for
you. The very hands He showed His
disciples to prove to them that He is risen and alive.
The
way to resurrection is only through death.
The way to Easter is only through Good Friday. We will get through this, not because we are
strong, but because Jesus is strong, because Jesus is risen from the dead. Resurrection is the end result of all of
this. Now, hard times, yes. But keep your eyes on Jesus. He who is risen will raise you. The Lord has given us quite a Lent. But imagine the joy we’ll all have when we
finally gather together for the great Easter celebration, however and whenever
that is.
Peter
denied His Lord and wept bitter tears of repentance. You have denied your Lord, and your eyes weep
in sorrow, too. Remember what Jesus did
for Peter on the lakeshore after He was risen from the dead (John 21:15-19). “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Three times the question. Three times the answer. Three times the charge: “Feed my lambs…
Tend my sheep… Feed my sheep.” Three
denials. Three-fold restoration. Sins forgiven. Then the call: “Follow me.”
To
follow Jesus means to take up your cross and go where He goes. Peter would stretch out his hands and another
would dress him and carry him where he did not want to go. Our Lord told him this to indicate what kind
of death Peter was to suffer to glorify God: Crucifixion, like his Lord. You now have to suffer this pandemic and
isolation and the fallout in our nation and our world. Or cancer, or arthritis, or sacrificial care
for a loved one, or persecution for confessing Jesus, or whatever it is. We all have crosses. Right now a particular cross of the whole
Christian Church is how to be faithful to our members, caring for them with
Word and Sacrament ministry and confessing Christ to the world, without
endangering them or being irresponsible, and continuing to honor the
governmental authorities without compromising our responsibility to
preach. We don’t know exactly how to do
this. We’re doing the best we can, but
is it right? I don’t know.
I
only know Jesus and His forgiveness if we’re wrong, and His mercy for all our
denials and sins. He forgives us, He
restores us, He enlivens us, and He emboldens us, to take up our cross and
follow. To walk in faith. To confess Him boldly. To die in His Name, and so to live eternally. We know exactly where He is taking us. Through the valley of the shadow and out the
other side. Through the cross and
suffering to resurrection and eternal life.
Beloved, eyes on Jesus. Only on
Jesus. On we go, in the Name of Jesus. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
(+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] The theme and many of the ideas in
this sermon are taken from Eyes on Jesus (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019).
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