Friday, March 16, 2018

Lenten Midweek III/ Fourth Sunday in Lent



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.

No comments:

Post a Comment