Monday, April 26, 2021
Sunday, April 18, 2021
Third Sunday of Easter
Third Sunday of
Easter (B)
April 18, 2021
Text: Luke 24:36-49
Alleluia!
Christ is risen! He is risen,
indeed! Alleluia!
Then
“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (Luke
24:38; ESV).
Jesus
Christ is risen from the dead. Let that
sink in. That means Jesus wins. Satan loses. Jesus died.
The serpent crushed our Lord’s heel.
But Jesus is risen. The serpent’s
head is crushed. Jesus died. Death swallowed Him up. But Jesus is risen. He burst a hole through death’s belly. Jesus died.
Such are the wages for our sin.
But Jesus is risen. Our Lord paid
sin’s wages in full.
Now,
what trouble is there that doesn’t have its source in Satan, or isn’t a symptom
of death, or isn’t a result of your sin, or some combination of all three? Do you get the point? Alleluia!
Christ is risen! He is risen,
indeed! Alleluia! And you are baptized into that victory, and
you eat and drink that very reality, and the fulness of all of this is preached
into your ears. So what’s the matter
with you?! Whatever troubles you, or
causes you to doubt, has been done to death in Jesus’ crucifixion. And the antidote to all your troubles and
doubts is risen from the dead in the flesh of Jesus. Rejoice.
But
we are worried and troubled about many things, and we do still have our doubts,
don’t we? Like the disciples in the
Upper Room on Easter evening. We, too,
have abandoned Jesus when following Him was too dangerous. We, too, have denied Him by our words and
actions for the sake of staying safe. We
have had hopes and dreams for Him that were never His plan; political
ambitions, material prosperity, earthly freedom and sovereignty, glory and
honor. And when our Lord did not deliver…
when instead He delivered the holy cross… we were disappointed, and we lost
hope. We have had in mind the things of
men, rather than the things of God. We
have had in mind, chiefly, ourselves and our own security, comfort, and
promotion. So when we realize Jesus is
standing among us, just like the disciples in our Holy Gospel, we, too, are
startled and frightened, as though Jesus is a ghost, a phantom, a demon out to
get us.
But
what does Jesus say when He comes into the midst of our fears, troubles, and
doubts? Shalom. “Peace to you!” (v. 36). This is St. Luke’s account of the occasion we
heard about last week from St. John (John 20:19-31). Do you remember what the word Shalom
means? Peace with God. Sins forgiven. Restoration.
Wholeness, healing, prosperity, tranquility, and overall wellbeing. Which is to say, Life. Life, real and eternal, in Christ, who died
for all of our fears and denials and sins, and who is risen from the dead. See my wounds, He says. Go ahead, touch them. I’m no ghost, and I’m not out to get
you. Do you really think, after going
through what I went through for you, that I’m here to kill you now? Come on, guys! Peace.
Shalom. And He shows them His
hands and His feet. Remember, this is
all for your forgiveness. And, by
the way, when He shows them His crucifixion wounds, don’t let it be lost in
translation what He says to them. He
says, not just “it is I myself” (v. 39; ESV), but “I AM… Myself”
(Krenz translation). YHWH, your LORD,
your gracious God incarnate, who has accomplished your salvation. Here I AM, flesh and bones, the very Body
that was crucified, risen and living and… eating? Yes, “Have you anything here to eat?”
(Luke 24:41; ESV). And they give Him a
piece of broiled fish. And while this
certainly shows them He is a real, live, fleshy human being… Ghost’s don’t
eat!... let it not be lost on us that, once again, here is Jesus, feasting with
a bunch of sinners. Remember how I
used to do this with tax collectors and prostitutes, thus embodying the mercy
of God for sinners and initiating Communion with them? Well, here I am doing it with you.
We’d
love to be there. And we are! Because that is what Jesus is doing, here and
now, from this Altar. Gathered together
as we are, troubles, doubts, and fears, real sinners with real sins. And here is Jesus, standing among us, the
very Body crucified for us, the very Blood poured out for our sins; the very
Body risen and living for us, the very Blood that courses through His living
veins. He announces Peace to us, Shalom,
the Holy Absolution. And then He
feasts with us, embodying the mercy of God for sinners and initiating Communion
with them. He did it for tax collectors
and prostitutes and doubting Apostles and disciples. Well, here He is doing it for us.
And
in spite of all appearances to your fallen, earthly eyes, you see this reality
with your ears. This is what I said! “These are my words that I spoke to you
while I was still with you” (v. 44).
And this is just what all the Scriptures, on every page, say, “everything
written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms,”
all these are fulfilled in Me, by My suffering, death, and resurrection! He opens our minds to understand these
Scriptures. He must open our minds,
otherwise we’ll never see it. He does it
by sending the Promise of His Father upon us, the Holy Spirit, that we may know
and believe. “Thus it is written”
(v. 46). This has been His plan all
along. His death is His victory, and the
proof is His resurrection life.
Now,
give this some thought. Examine your own
life, your mind, and your heart. What is
it that troubles you and leads you to doubt?
What it is that startles you and causes you to fear, even and especially
in the presence of Jesus? Is it some
besetting sin, a habit you just can’t break, or a bad situation you just can’t
seem to make right? Is it guilt from the
past, the accusations of the devil and your own conscience, that keep you up at
night? Perhaps you are worried about
your job, your security, your future.
Maybe your marriage is troubled, or you are worried about your children,
or your grandchildren, and the path they’ve taken away from our Lord, and away
from His Church. Perhaps a loved one is
seriously ill, or has died, and you grieve, or maybe it is your own health. We are all anxious about the state of our
nation and our world these days, politics, pandemic, wars and rumors of wars,
cultural deterioration, cancellation, and societal decay. And we all know that it isn’t safe these days
to be a Christian, and it will be increasingly dangerous as time marches
on. These troubles and doubts are real,
and the brokenness and pain they cause should never be trivialized. But so also the death of Jesus Christ on the
cross for you is very real, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ for
you is very real, to be the end of all these things that hinder your
Communion with God, and to be the great setting right of all that is wrong. All of these troubles are caused by Satan,
sin, and death. And these are precisely
the enemies our Lord has conquered by His cross and resurrection.
So
in all your troubles, doubts, and fears, come here to the Lord’s House, and to
Lord’s Table. Because here your risen
Lord Jesus stands among you and speaks His Shalom, and gives you to
touch and taste His wounds, the beautiful scars of His risen and glorified
Body, the trophies of His victory. And here
He breathes His Spirit into you, and puts His resurrection life into your
mouth, into your body, to strengthen you to confront these very issues in your
life, in repentance, in faith, with His Word, knowing that all your sins and
failures are forgiven, and you have eternal life. And so, in every circumstance, to confess Him
with joy, and without fear, and to be His mouth and hands in the world, bringing
His redemption and restoration (His Shalom) to every place and
relationship in which you find yourself.
For your Lord Jesus is making all things new (Rev. 21:5). And He has swallowed up death forever (Is.
25:8).
Which
reminds me, what is going on with that piece of broiled fish? To be sure, it is proof that He is risen from
the dead, bodily, and not a ghost, for He eats food, as only a body can do. But also consider this: The great sign of our
Lord’s death and resurrection is the sign of the Prophet Jonah. Jonah is swallowed by a big fish, a type of
Jesus’ death and burial. But here the
risen Lord swallows the fish! Do you get
the point? And in the Supper, you
swallow Jesus. Jesus swallowed death. You swallow Life! And do you know what that means? As He is risen, so He will raise you. Bodily.
Eternally. To eat and drink with
Him in the wholeness of His Shalom.
So
“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Jesus wins. Satan loses. Your sins are forgiven, hell is defeated, and
death has no more claim over you. Thus
it is written, and the Apostles are witnesses of these things. Repent, therefore, and believe the good
news. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Shalom! In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, April 11, 2021
Second Sunday of Easter
Second Sunday of
Easter (B)
April 11, 2021
Text: John 20:19-31
Alleluia!
Christ is risen! He is risen,
indeed! Alleluia!
When
the risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared in the midst of His disciples that Easter
evening, (not, incidentally, sneaking in through a back door or a window, but
revealing Himself as He stood among them, which is where He always
is… in the midst of His disciples)…
When He appeared in their midst, He immediately preached, in one word,
the earthshaking, cosmos-altering, eternal result of His resurrection from the
dead: “Peace.” Εἰρήνη in Greek,
but we really should do it in Hebrew, as Jesus almost undoubtedly spoke the
liturgical word to His beloved friends, to His Church, as they were huddled
together in fear behind locked doors: שָׁלוֹם. Shalom… “Peace be with you” (John
20:19; ESV). And then, that they may see
the flesh and blood reality of this Shalom, He showed them His hands and
His side, as though to say, “See, it really is me. Here is the evidence of your peace. I was crucified. Here are my mortal wounds. But now I am risen. I live, and I stand among you now, with my risen
and living Body.” And then as they
rejoice upon seeing the Lord, He says it again, Shalom, peace… “Peace
be with you” (v. 21).
Shalom
is a Hebrew word with which the Jews regularly greet one another, hello or
goodbye. It means “peace,” to be sure,
but the meaning is so much broader than that, and in no sense superficial. Nor is it only sentimental, a wish
that you feel peace in your heart.
It is rather the objective conferral of peace, and a declaration of
blessing from God; in particular, the concrete reality of the Aaronic
benediction (Numb. 6:24-26). The LORD’s
blessing and keeping you, His making His face (which is to say, Jesus) shine on
you and be gracious to you, His lifting up His countenance upon you, His
placing His three-fold Name on you (the LORD, the LORD, the LORD), results in
the giving of His Peace, His Shalom, to you. And this is the cross shaped reality that you
now have peace (Shalom) with God, and
therefore peace (Shalom) with one another. And, as a result, God enacts Shalom within
you concretely, body and soul. That is,
He grants you wholeness, health, prosperity, tranquility, and overall
general welfare, all of which are aspects of that one word, Shalom.
But
what all too quickly became a pious wish for mere temporal peace and
welfare in that Old Testament time of type and shadow of the good
things to come, the risen Jesus here unpacks for us in all its Easter
fulness. For this Shalom is not
simply the hope that you are well, and that all goes well for you in the
coming days. It is a Shalom that
is fulfilled and complete in Jesus Christ, risen from the dead; a Shalom
in which we already partake as those baptized into Christ, forgiven of our
sins, and who feast on God’s Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world;
and a Shalom we will know in all its fulness when Christ comes again and
raises us from the dead, whole, healthy, prosperous, tranquil, and in every
sense of the word, well.
Shalom
is Jesus, crucified, risen, and present in the midst of His disciples. Shalom is what Jesus sends out on the
lips of His Apostles and Christian preachers, and in the confession of every
Christian baptized into Christ. Shalom
is the breath of New Creation as Jesus breathes His Holy Spirit into you (and
you know the double-entendre there, spirit, wind, and breath all being
the same word in Greek [πνεῦμα], and the same word in Hebrew [רוּחַ]). Shalom, in its most elementary form,
is simply this: The forgiveness of sins.
The Holy Absolution. Jesus
bestows Shalom on His disciples by appearing in their midst and
announcing that He is at peace with them, that He does not hold their sins
against them, including their sins of deserting Him, of Peter denying Him, of
their failure to believe His Promise that these things must happen, that He
would be rejected by the Chief Priests and elders and scribes, suffer and die,
and on the Third Day rise again. In
other words, He forgives their sins. He
casts out their fear, that great anti- Shalom, because in Him there is
now no condemnation. And that means the
end of death, and the very tyranny of the devil.
Thus
this Shalom, as it breaks into this fallen creation in the flesh of
Jesus, has very real consequences for the health and welfare of humanity, body
and soul. Jesus demonstrates this
throughout His earthly ministry. He
grants wholeness and health. He opens
the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf.
He loosens the tongues of the mute and makes the lame to walk. He heals withered hands and cleanses lepers
and raises the dead to life. And He
prospers His people, which is not to say that He showers them with riches, but
He provides for them. Manna in the
wilderness. Our daily bread. Feeding thousands on a few loaves and
fish. Everyone satisfied. The Lord will take care of His people. And He grants them tranquility. He casts out demons and preaches the Good
News to the poor. Objective peace: “Take
heart, my son; your sins are forgiven” (Matt. 8:2). You have peace with God, who no longer holds
your sins against you; and therefore, as a result, you have peace with your
brothers and sisters in God’s Kingdom, and you can be a peacemaker in the world. And subjective peace: Knowing that this is
the case, let not your heart be troubled.
What do you have to worry about?
God is for you, and not against you. All this will turn out well in the End.
That’s
right, these things are a glimpse of the reality of Shalom in all its
fulness on the Last Day, when the risen Christ comes again in glory, and raises
us from the dead. For all those Jesus
healed and raised in His earthly ministry had to get sick and die again. Their temporal relief was just that: temporal. But on that Day, it will be Shalom
everlasting. And until that Day, it is
the continuous partaking of Shalom in Absolution and the preaching of
the Gospel, in the continual return to our Baptism into Christ, in Jesus’
bodily presence in our midst, hidden under bread and wine. For finally, the risen Lord Jesus is our Shalom
Incarnate. To be with Him is to have Shalom. Jesus
is our flesh and blood Peace. So maybe
this is a pretty good word with which to greet one another. To speak the Shalom of God upon
another is to declare that you are at peace with them for Christ’s sake,
because God is at peace with us for Christ’s sake, and eternal life awaits all of
us who believe in Him for Christ’s sake.
To greet another with God’s Shalom, is to greet them with Christ.
Now,
like Thomas, we may think that only seeing the risen Jesus for ourselves
can bring us true peace. Thomas did not
believe the testimony of the Apostles, which is a grievous sin. But the Lord had mercy upon him, as He does
upon us in all our doubts and sins. And
once again, the ever-present Lord Jesus visibly stood among His disciples and
announced His Shalom, “Peace be with you” (John 20:26). “I forgive you your doubt, Thomas. Now, go ahead. Poke around in my wounds. Take a good, long look, and be no longer
disbelieving, but believing. Because you
are my Apostle, my eyewitness, you receive a gift that most people will not
receive. You get to see me with your
own eyes before my glorious return.
But blessed are those who do not see, and yet they believe. Because they hear your testimony. They hear the apostolic preaching and the
Holy Absolution. They receive the
Scriptures, which are written that they may believe that I am the Christ, the
Son of God, and that by believing, they may have life and Shalom in my
Name.”
You
do not see. You hear. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through
the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). But
then, by hearing, the eyes of faith are opened to what your fleshly eyes cannot
see. For example, do you really think it
is by accident that we enjoy better health, greater prosperity, unprecedented
overall wellness and human freedom, since the resurrection of Christ,
than anyone could have dreamed of before?
Can you imagine these things happening before the advent of our Lord,
His ministry, His death, His resurrection?
Or apart from His Body, the Church?
These things are all embodied in Christ, who heals what is broken, fills
what is empty, and looses from all that binds.
These are signs of the Shalom to come, and the Shalom
we already have in the risen Christ Jesus.
They are signs, just as the miracles were signs. Now, these signs may be taken away from us at
any time, and if they are, we well deserve it.
For we have mistaken the signs for the real thing, and instead of
thanking God for the gift of these signs, and trusting Him for His true Shalom,
we believe that we are making a true heaven on earth by our own effort, our own
ingenuity, and our own brilliance. It
would serve us right if God destroyed all of that in a moment, because it has
become our idol. But let it not be so
with you. See the signs for what they
are. Gifts of God’s grace. To be received with thanksgiving and enjoyed. To be looked beyond in faith for the full
reality to be revealed in the coming of Jesus Christ.
And
that is why the true medicine you need is right here. Here you are, gathered together, with all
your sins and fears. And here Jesus
reveals His presence in your midst under bread and wine on the Altar. And what does He say to you when He thus
reveals Himself? “The peace of the Lord
be with you always.” “Shalom. Your sins are forgiven. You are healed from all that ails you. I am making you whole. I am giving you life.” And so He does. And so you confess: My Lord, and my God. For He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
And He is present, here and now, for you. Shalom. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, April 5, 2021
The Resurrection of Our Lord
The Resurrection
of Our Lord
“Return to the
LORD: Return and See”[1]
April 4, 2021
Text: Mark 16:1-8
Alleluia!
Christ is risen! He is risen,
indeed! Alleluia!
What
the women saw in the wee hours of that first day of the week, when the
sun had only just risen… scared them!
They had already come with great anxiety. Who will roll away the stone for us? For the stone is very large. The tomb is insurmountable. But when they arrived, they saw that
the stone had already been rolled back.
Strange for a tomb sealed only the day before yesterday. And upon entering the tomb, expecting, as we
all would, to see a corpse, they see instead a young man sitting
on the right side, dressed in a white robe.
In other words, they see an angel. And now they are really scared. Alarmed, Mark says, as humans always
are when they see angels. What the women
see is a world turned upside down: A burst-open tomb, a living being
where there should be a dead one, and the Body of their loved One, whom they’d
come to anoint properly for burial, missing from the grave.
But
the women do not have eyes to see… until the young man preaches to
them. Do not be alarmed! Always angels have to say something along
these lines when they appear to people.
Don’t be afraid, Mary. Do not
fear, Joseph. Fear not, shepherds, for
I’ve come to bring you good news of great joy.
I’ve come to preach the Gospel to you!
A Savior has been born, Christ, the Lord. And so now to the women, do not be alarmed,
for something has happened that will cast out fear forever. You are seeking a Jesus who was
crucified, dead, and buried. But the
Creed will never again end there.
“He has risen; he is not here.
See the place where they laid him” (Mark 16:6; ESV). The young man in the white robe preaches the
death and resurrection of Jesus to the women!
And hearing the preaching, they are given eyes to see!
And
then they are given a message. Go and
tell his disciples and Peter… Tell them what? He is going before you to Galilee. You will see Him, just as He told you. Wait, what? One can only imagine how the minds of these
dear women must have struggled to catch up to the Gospel truth proclaimed into
their ears and set before their eyes. If
He is not here in the grave… If He is going ahead into Galilee, to meet His
disciples… If we will see Him… Then it must be true, what the young man
said. It must be true, what Jesus
has been preaching all along.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
But they run away from the tomb, seized with trembling and astonishment,
and afraid to say anything to anyone, because, well… You can understand, can’t
you? Can we really believe our eyes and
our ears? And if this is true… and, it’s
true!... the whole world has been turned upside down.
This
is why it is so important, what St. Paul writes in our Epistle (1 Cor.
15:1-11). Paul preaches a Christ who has
died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and has been raised on the
Third Day in accordance with the Scriptures.
And this is not a pious myth, like the ancient Greek stories of
old. Nor is it a figment of the women’s,
or the disciples’, imagination, as though in their grief, they are unable to
cope with reality. Nor is it that Jesus
lived on in their hearts, like we so often say of Grandma, or another loved one
who has died… which is really just to say, they are dead, and we miss them. Nor is it some sort of spiritual resurrection
like the Gnostics, and liberal American pseudo-Christians, would claim, whereby
Jesus overcame the bondage of His physical body, to arise spiritually in His
true form. When Paul preaches (and when
we preach) that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, that means bodily. And it is an overwhelmingly well-attested
fact. People saw Him. Touched Him. Ate with Him. He ate. He showed His crucifixion wounds. People poked around in them. And the point is, they saw. There were eyewitnesses. They had seen Him dead. Now they saw Him alive! Cephas (Peter). The Twelve.
More than five hundred brothers at one time, and Paul is very careful to
make the point that, though a few of them have fallen asleep (in other words,
they died… but they, too, will rise), most of them are still alive and well at
the time of this writing, so you can go ask them about it. They’ll tell you. Then to James, the Lord’s brother. Then to all the Apostles. And finally, on the Damascus road, to Paul himself,
turning this zealous persecutor of the Church into the great Apostle to the
Gentiles. Most of these people died
gruesome deaths simply for believing and confessing the truth: Jesus Christ
is risen from the dead. And all of
them suffered for it. For they knew what
they had seen. They'd been given eyes
to see. And they were sustained
by the preaching. They’d been given ears
to hear.
We
wish we could see it, what they saw.
Lord Jesus, just let me see You. Just a little glimpse of Your
resurrection Body, and the scars of my redemption. That would be enough. But then I’m reminded of our Lord’s reaction
to poor Philip, who said something very similar: Lord, show us the
Father. That will be enough for us… “Have I been with you so long, and you
still do not know me, Philip?” (John 14:9).
It is true, we don’t get to meet up with Jesus in Galilee, to see
Him with these still-fallen eyes. Or
behind closed doors in the Upper Room, to poke around in His wounds with
Thomas. Or by the Sea of Tiberius, to
breakfast on His smoked fish recipe with Him.
Let’s be honest… He doesn’t even knock us on our… backsides… with a
blazing appearance on the roadside. And
we’re probably actually thankful that one hasn’t happened, though He does have
a penchant for knocking us down when we’re on the wrong road, thank God. He calls us to repentance.
But
what do we see? A man (not very
young, anymore, but a man) sent by God, clothed in white, proclaiming good news
of great joy. Do not be alarmed. All fear is cast out. Because this Jesus, who was crucified
for you, for the forgiveness of your sins, is no longer in the grave. The impregnable tomb has burst open. The stone is rolled away. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. Bodily.
Just as He said. Go and tell
everybody. He is going before you into
heaven. And He is the firstfruits of
the Resurrection. There you will see
Him. Finally. These fallen, dead eyes, healed. What your ears have heard, these eyes will
see… what is already the reality.
It will be as Job said: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the
last he will 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” (Job
19:25-26). Christ is risen from the
dead, bodily. And on that Day He
will raise us, bodily. To live, bodily,
with Him forever.
We
live for that Day. And what a Day it
will be. We don’t yet know, entirely,
what it will be like. But as St. John
writes, “we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall
see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). But
of all people, the Prophet Isaiah gives us a pretty good picture of that Day
(25:6-9), and he, writing in the Old Testament, several hundred years before
Jesus was born. It will be a Feast. And not just for the Jews. Not just for the nation of Israel. But for all peoples. Even for Gentiles, like those to whom Paul
preached, and like most, if not all of us, gathered together in this
place. And it will be rich food, and
well-aged wine; meat full of marrow, prime marbled cuts, with wine well-refined. And we know from the wedding in Cana, it will
be the very best, and it will not run out.
And all that now casts a pall over us, this veil that blocks our sight,
He will swallow up. And that includes
death forever. And He will clear our
eyes. He will wipe away all our tears,
taking away all sadness and sorrow and pain.
And the reproach we’ve suffered here, the guilt of our sins, the world’s
mockery, the devil’s accusations… that will be at an end. All will know the truth. They will see it for themselves, that Jesus
Christ is risen from the dead, that He lives, and he reigns. And what I find, perhaps, most moving, is
what we will say on that Day: This is our God. We knew it!
We’ve waited for Him to come and save us. And now, look. This is YHWH (and we’ll be pointing to
the flesh and blood Man on the throne of His Father). This is the LORD. We have waited for Him. And here He is, our dear Savior. Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.
That
Day is coming. It is coming soon. We can be certain of it, because the young
man preached, and the women saw, the eyewitnesses testified, even unto death,
and these things are written that you may believe. In the meantime, here is a foretaste of the
Feast to come. Here you can poke around
in the risen Lord’s wounds. Eat
them. Drink them. It is all true. Alleluia!
Christ is risen! He is risen,
indeed! Alleluia! And here He is. Come and see. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] The theme and many of the ideas for
this sermon are from Eric Longman, Return to the Lord: Resources for
Lent-Easter Preaching and Worship (St. Louis: Concordia, 2020).
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Friday, April 2, 2021
Good Friday
Good Friday:
“Return to the LORD: Return to Truth”[1]
April 2, 2021
Text: John 19
“What is truth?” Pilate cynically asks
(John 18:38; ESV). And the answer would,
in a very short time, be hanging on the cross.
The
truth is, this man is the King of the Jews, and Pilate finds no guilt in
Him. But the pressure is great, and the
threat of riot is very real. Pilate
wishes to release Him, but the Jews demand Barabbas instead. As the Church sings, “A murderer they save,
The Prince of Life they slay” (LSB 430:5).
The
truth is, Pilate has an innocent man flogged with a cat-o’-nine-tails, hoping
to gain the sympathies of the crowd for Jesus.
The truth is, the soldiers sadistically punish Him, weaving together a
crown of thorns and pressing it into His brow, clothing Him in royal purple and
striking Him as they offer mock obeisance.
“Behold
the man!” Pilate declares (John 19:5), as he brings the pitiful spectacle
before the crowd. But the truth is, this
crowd has no pity. “‘Crucify!’ Is all their breath, And for His death They
thirst and cry” (LSB 430:3). “We have
a law,” they exclaim, “and according to that law he ought to die because
he has made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7).
Pilate
is afraid at this assertion, and continues interrogating the Accused. He is looking for an out. It is an impossible dilemma. Execute this blameless man, a gross
miscarriage of justice, or face the ire and potential violence of the mob.
But
Jesus is no help. He gives no
answer. “Don’t You know who I am? Don’t You know who You’re talking to, Jesus?! I have the authority to save You, or kill You” But the truth is, Pilate would have no
authority at all, unless it were given him from above.
And
the truth is, in spite of all appearances, Jesus is in absolute control of this
situation. For His will is one with the
Father’s, and it is the divine will that Jesus suffer and die for the
sins of the world, and in so doing, win for Himself a Kingdom.
The
next charge seals the deal. “If you
release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend” (v. 12). To be a “Friend of Caesar” is a technical
term and title of honor. It means you
are considered a loyal supporter of the Emperor, and even his advisor. But to rule in favor of an imperial rival,
well… that is treason. “Everyone who
makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
Ergo, Jesus opposes Caesar, and if you, Pilate, let Jesus off the
hook, then you oppose Caesar. And
we’ll tell him so! But as for us, we
faithful Jews… “We have no king but Caesar” (v. 15).
But
it is a lie! They don’t mean that, and
they know it. And Pilate knows it. The truth is, the Jews had never acknowledged
Caesar as the rightful king. They were
looking for a Davidic King to free them from Roman rule and restore the Kingdom
to Israel. But when that King’s swollen
and bloodshot eyes are staring them right in the face, offering them an even
greater freedom, a freedom from the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil, they
perceive Him as a threat… a threat to their power and position, their autonomy,
and their self-generated sanctity. So
they turn to the earthly powers as though they’d been loyal sons of the Empire
all along. And Pilate’s hand is
forced. He delivers Jesus over to them
to be crucified.
What
happens next is the penultimate event in all of world history. Our Lord carries His own cross to The Place
of a Skull, where the soldiers nail Him to the wood, and raise Him up between
two criminals. It appears as though the
Romans are carrying out “just another routine execution, of another common
peasant mongrel, in another backwards region of Roman conquest, in the middle
of nowhere.” The soldiers did it all the
time. The hills surrounding Jerusalem
were routinely littered with crosses and corpses. But the truth is, this is not just an
execution. It is a coronation. Jesus is ascending His throne. He wears a crown, and Pilate has written the
truth above His sacred, wounded head: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the
Jews” (v. 19). Many of you wear this
sign on your t-shirt, or post it on your bumper, the initials “INRI.” You’re quoting Pontius Pilate in Latin:
“Ieusus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum.”
The
soldiers divide His garments, a part for each man. But His tunic is seamless, a valuable
specimen, so they cast lots to preserve it in one piece, to fulfill their
greed. But the truth is, this fulfills
the Scripture, which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my
clothing they cast lots” (v. 24; Ps. 22:18). And this is an important point. What is happening here in the crucifixion of
Jesus is not by accident. It is
written. It was all prophesied long
ago. This is the culmination of the Law
and the Prophets. It is God’s eternal
plan.
And
the truth is, Jesus is really in the driver’s seat throughout. Not the Jews.
Not the chief priests. Not
Pilate, or the soldiers, and certainly not Caesar. See how King Jesus, in the throes of His
agony, provides for His mother and His beloved disciple. A son to care for St. Mary. A mother for St. John. “God setteth the solitary in families”
(Ps. 68:6; KJV). And by His suffering
and death, He sets you in this Family, the Family of His Father, with brothers
and sisters and a place at the Table, God’s own child, a Church to call
home. The truth is, you’d be utterly
alone in the outer darkness of hell, were it not for gracious King Jesus, who
has taken you in, to be His very own.
Now,
knowing that all was now finished, His suffering complete, Jesus said, to
fulfill the Scriptures, “I thirst” (John 19:28; ESV). They try to relieve Him with a sponge of sour
wine… “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour
wine to drink,” Jesus prays in the Psalm (Ps. 69:21)… but it isn’t just
that His mouth is dry, though assuredly He is physically and spiritually
parched. Jesus hungers and thirsts for
your righteousness (Matt 5:6), and He will not be satisfied until He has poured
out His own righteousness upon you, that you may be justified, that is, counted
righteous for His sake. And the truth
is, that even as they lift the sponge up on a hyssop branch, the blood of God’s
Paschal Lamb is painted on the door posts and lintels of the cross, and on the
hearts of all who believe in Him, thus shielding you from the angel of
death.
And
then the declaration: “‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up
his spirit” (John 19:30). He declares
that the goal has been reached, that God’s wrath has been exhausted, that He has
made full atonement for the sin of the world.
And He bows His head, and He gives up His spirit. He has the authority to lay down His
life, and the truth is, He has authority to take it up again
(10:18).
But
then, the truth is, that should have been your cross and your death. For it was your sin for which He was
condemned. You are Barabbas. Jesus takes your place. He suffers your hell. He sheds His blood for you. He dies for you. And He does all of this willingly. The truth is, this is God’s eternal
will. “O wondrous Love, what have You
done! The Father offers up His Son,
Desiring our salvation” (LSB 438:3). The
truth is, His death saves you. And by
dying for you, He becomes your King. And
your old master, the serpent? His skull
has been ground to dust.
God
put our Lord into the deep sleep of death, and from His side formed for Him a
Bride. One of the soldiers pierced Him
with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water (John 19:34). Baptized into this sacred Fountain, you are
born anew. Drinking from this eternal
Spring, your sins are forgiven, and new life flows through your veins.
“What
is truth?” The truth is not a what,
but a Who. The truth is Jesus. “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except
through me” (John 14:6). And you
will know this truth on the Third Day, when the penultimate event in all of
world history gives way to the ultimate.
And not only will you know the truth, the truth will set you free
(8:32). In the Name of the Father, and
of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
[1] The theme and many of the ideas for
this sermon are from Eric Longman, Return to the Lord: Resources for
Lent-Easter Preaching and Worship (St. Louis: Concordia, 2020).
Maundy Thursday
Here is a manuscript version of the sermon:
Maundy Thursday:
“Return to the LORD: Return to the Table”[1]
April 1, 2021
Text: Mark 14:12-26
In the Holy Communion, God creates a
union that is cross-shaped. We can think
of this Communion as both vertical Communion with God, and horizontal Communion
with our fellow Christians. That is, it is
as we pray so often in Luther’s post-Communion collect: With this salutary gift, God strengthens us
“in faith toward You and in fervent love toward one another” (LSB 201). Now, it is critical to understand that in
both directions, it is God who creates the Communion, not us. It is the Lord’s Supper, after all, not
ours. Communion is not or our
making. Communion is not our work.
We
do not create Communion with God by our good work of attending the Sacrament,
as though we’re doing Him a favor by merely gracing Him with our presence, or,
as we commonly think, doing our Sunday morning duty and getting credit for putting
in the time. That is the Roman idea of ex
opera operato, of the work being worked, getting credit for the mere
outward act, even apart from faith in Christ, or the gifts He imparts in this
Sacrament. And we certainly must guard
against the idea that we create this Communion by our Sacrifice of the Mass, by
our repeatedly offering up to God the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
in order to propitiate Him for our sins.
That gets the direction of the giving precisely backwards. Instead of God giving us the gift, we’d be
giving a gift to God. That would make
the Lord’s Supper our work for God rather than His for us, and it would rob our
Lord’s death on the cross of its proper honor as the once for all atoning
sacrifice for our sins.
So
also, God creates our horizontal Communion with our fellow Christians. We do not create that Communion, for example,
by being open and affirming of any and every idea someone has, or lifestyle
they want to live, or by sweeping doctrinal differences under the rug, or opening
up the Altar to anyone and everyone, regardless of what they believe they are
receiving, and why they are receiving it.
The Communion of the Church is not one big group hug or feelings of affection
toward one another. This would be to
base the Communion of the Church, at best, on superficial social acceptance and
sentimentality; at worst, on deliberate disregard of God’s Word and our
neighbor’s welfare, and dismissive dishonesty about our differences.
The
question is, what is God uniting us around? Bread and wine? A mere symbol? Or His true Body and Blood, hidden under
bread and wine, because He says so in His Word?
And why is it we receive what we receive? Is it simply to commemorate Him, and to call
to mind His death and resurrection? Does
it depend on our faith heroically stretching up to heaven to receive the Lord’s
salvation somewhere up there? Or
is it heaven come down to us poor sinners (who are incapable of
stretching anywhere), Jesus handing over the goods, the Lord Himself present to
impart all His saving benefits of forgiveness, life, and salvation as He feeds
us with His crucified and risen Body and Blood?
As
it happens, we don’t have to wonder.
Both Jesus and St. Paul answer the question. What is this bread? “(T)his is my body,” Jesus says (Mark
14:22; ESV). What is this wine? “This is my blood of the covenant,”
Jesus says (v. 24). And St. Paul
underscores the point that the cup of blessing that we bless, that is, the cup
we consecrate with the Lord’s own Words in the Supper, is a participation (κοινωνία,
communion) in the Blood of Christ.
We share in it. We partake
of it as we drink it. And the bread that
we break, he says, is a participation (κοινωνία, communion) in the Body
of Christ. We share in it. We partake of it as we eat it.
And
it is not these things because of some indelible character stamped on the
clergyman whereby he is given the mystical ability to confect the Sacrament. Nor is it these things because of your
faith’s ability to reach up really high, where Jesus is, and claim it for
yourself. It is these things because Jesus
says so. The Word makes the thing
what it is. The Body of Christ. The Blood of Christ. The Holy Communion.
And
it is this Body and Blood that unite us to God, and to our fellow believers in
Christ. Because this is the Body and
Blood of God Himself, the eternal Son of the Father, who is incarnate, who has
taken on our flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He is a flesh and blood God. It is this very Body given into death on the
cross for our sins. It is this very
Blood shed on the cross for our sins. It
is the Body and the Blood now risen from the dead, and living, and reigning,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And
He puts that Body and Blood into us. So
that the Body and Blood crucified for our sins imparts the forgiveness He won
for us. So that the Body and Blood now
risen from the dead becomes one with us and gives us new life. Therefore, being forgiven of all our sins, we
are able to forgive one another, break bread with one another, and live
together in peace and unity, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us
our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
So
the sin that separates us from God, and from one another, has been done to
death by Jesus, who died for us on the cross.
All those sins are forgiven. And
the proof of it is the Sacrifice of Atonement that we are given to eat and drink
in this Sacrament. And the new life and
right spirit we need to live now in faith toward God and fervent love toward
one another is likewise imparted in the eating and drinking of the risen Body
and Blood of Jesus. In feeding us the
fruits of His cross, He creates the cross shaped Communion we enjoy in the
Church, Communion with God, Communion with one another.
But
I can already hear one objection arising in your mind. If it is God who creates this Communion, both
with Himself, and with our brothers and sisters in Christ, why do we practice
closed Communion. It feels like we are
being exclusive, particularly of other Christians whom we confess to be
believers in Christ and children of God.
Actually, your concern is noble.
If the purpose of closed Communion were to keep the Communion Table
pure, so that we don’t soil ourselves with the unclean or the otherwise
inadequate, we’d be no better than the Pharisees who couldn’t bear to see Jesus
dining with tax collectors and sinners.
And if we were honest, we’d have to end up excluding ourselves. Because we are the tax collectors and
sinners.
The
Church is not a club, never mind an exclusive one. There is no one we don’t want in this
Communion. The purpose of closed
Communion is actually not to keep people out.
It is to bring them in by the proper, God-given way. It is to protect them from the dire
consequences of playing around with very powerful, Holy Things they don’t yet
understand, or about which they maintain false beliefs. In other words, it is done in fervent
love. It is to take seriously St. Paul’s
warning that “anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats
and drinks judgment on himself,” and that “That is why many of you are
weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:29-30). He doesn’t deny that they are Christians and
that they will go to heaven when they die.
He says that eating and drinking without discerning the body,
without knowing and believing what it is that the Lord here gives us, is dangerous
spiritually and physically.
So
what is the solution to that?
Instruction. We make this too
complicated. Closed Communion is
actually quite simple. We simply ask
that before you commune, you take an instruction class with the pastor. And if you agree with what he teaches, you
join the congregation and come to Communion.
And if you don’t agree with what he teaches, why would you want to go to
Communion here? Communion is, after all,
a confession of unity with this Church, that you believe what this
Church believes, teaches, and confesses.
Where there are disagreements, by the way, between this and other
Christian Church-bodies, we shouldn’t just say, “Oh well!” and jump into Altar
and Pulpit Fellowship (that is, Communion) together. We should work toward agreement on the basis
of God’s Word, and pray that God gives us unity, for He alone can. Communion is always the goal. Always.
And if we don’t reach that goal in this world, we know it will be our
reality in heaven. And in the meantime,
we love one another, we pray for one another, we rejoice in the faith we do
hold in common, even as we discuss our differences honestly, and we wait upon
the Lord to deliver us from all division.
For He alone creates the Communion of the Church.
And
yes, it is also true that another facet of closed Communion is that those who
refuse to repent of their sins are denied Communion until they repent. This is not because they are worse sinners
than those who commune, or even than the pastor distributing the Communion. Not at all.
It is rather because of their refusal to repent. It would be dangerous for them to come to
Communion while refusing to acknowledge and confess their sins. It is the loving exercise of Church
discipline, the exercise of the binding key the Lord has given His Church, as
in “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven” (Matt. 16:19;
18:18). This is the Law. The unrepentant are bound in their sins, but always
with this goal: That they come to repentance, that they come back to faith in
Jesus, that they be loosed, absolved, forgiven, and restored to the Holy
Communion. This is the Gospel. The Lord must do this. He must work in their hearts, by means
of His Spirit, in His Word. But this is
important, because it is a matter of eternal life and death.
The
truth is, all who come to Communion (and that means you) are sinners. And if they come in repentance for their
sins, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to receive His Body and His Blood for
the forgiveness of their sins, this is the Lord’s doing, by His Spirit, in His
Word. By His cross, the Lord Jesus
creates the cross-shaped Holy Communion of faith toward God, and fervent love
toward one another. Sins forgiven, what
is broken is restored. It is not
something we do. It is all Him. It is all His gift, to be received as He
gives it. He gives it by His Word, which
makes the thing what it is. Heaven comes
down. Our Lord hands over the goods, the
fruits of His cross, His true Body under the bread, His true Blood under the
wine, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. When you eat and drink this Supper, you eat
and drink Jesus Christ. By it, He forgives
your sins, and gives you eternal life, in Communion with Him, and with the
whole Church of God in Christ Jesus.
“May
God bestow on us His grace and favor That we follow Christ our Savior And live
together here in love and union Nor despise this blest Communion! O Lord, have mercy! Let not Thy good Spirit forsake us; Grant
that heav’nly minded He make us; Give Thy Church, Lord, to see Days of peace
and unity: O Lord, have mercy!” (LSB 617:3).
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] The theme for this sermon is from
Eric Longman, Return to the Lord: Resources for Lent-Easter Preaching and
Worship (St. Louis: Concordia, 2020).