Lenten Midweek II:
“From the Father’s Heart”[1]
March 16, 2022
Text: John 12:27-36; LSB 556:4
“The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified… Father, glorify your name”
(John 12:23, 28; ESV). But our Lord’s
glory is not what we think. Our Lord’s
glory is not to be found in the adulation of the Palm Sunday crowds. It is not in riches or fame or spectacular
display of power. It is not His
elevation to a kingly throne. It is His
elevation on the cross. It is the crown
of thorns. It is Pilate’s declaration
that Jesus of Nazareth is the King of the Jews.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to
myself” (v. 32). Behold, the
crucifix, the lifting up of the King of kings, and Lord of lords. For this purpose, our Lord has come to this hour
(v. 27).
This
hour. This is the divinely
appointed time the Father has had in mind from all eternity. God beheld our wretched state even before it
came to be, “Before the world’s foundation” (LSB 556:4), from eternity. And “mindful of His mercies great,” He
planned to do something about that wretchedness, He planned for our salvation. The cross is no afterthought with God. The Incarnation of our Lord Jesus, His
innocent suffering and death for our sin, was no Plan B. The story of our salvation does not begin in
the Garden of Eden with the fall into sin, but from eternity, in the eternal
heart of God.
Before
the creation of time, before sin entered the world as a reality in the
transgression of our first parents, our Triune God, in His eternal counsel, determined
that the Father would send the Son to be our Redeemer. Of course, it was never God’s will that we
fall into sin. But it is His eternal
will to save us from sin and damnation, and to bring us into His eternal
Communion. And so God, in Christ, has
chosen us from all eternity to be His own, by His own redeeming action.
St.
Paul writes about this in Ephesians, Chapter 1.
Note, as I read this, the emphasis on God’s eternally electing us to be
His own in Christ. God “chose us in him,”
Christ, “before the foundation of the world” (v. 4)… “In love he predestined
us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ” (vv. 4-5)… “In
him we have redemption through his blood” (v. 7)… “making known to us
the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ”
(v. 9)… “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of
his will” (v. 11).
Here
we have the doctrine of Election, which is that God has eternally chosen us (and
this is very important) in Christ, and never apart from Christ, to be
His very own children who inherit the Kingdom.
This is not to say anything about eternally electing those who are lost
to damnation. That is not the teaching
of the Scriptures, and you must not attempt to resolve the apparent paradox
that God eternally chooses those who are being saved, but does not eternally
choose for damnation those who are lost.
Leave that with God, who is infinitely wiser than you can ever be. Simply take comfort in the fact that your salvation
rests totally and alone in God who has chosen you in Christ and redeemed you by
His blood. And this has always been His
plan, from eternity.
God
turns to you a Father’s heart. He does
not choose the easy part. He gives His
dearest treasure (LSB 556:4). How often do
we say of a good earthly father, that he would do anything for the welfare of
his children, give anything for their protection, that he is always there to help
them, provide for them, and guide and counsel them? So God is to us in Christ His Son. In fact, what does He do? He gives His very Son, Jesus Christ, into
death on the cross, to save us from our sins and make us His own children. We actually get our idea of what it is to be
a good earthly father from God, our perfect heavenly Father. God defines fatherhood and what it
means to be a father.
Now,
many of us, growing up, when we had misbehaved, heard those dreaded words from
our mothers, “Wait until your father gets home.” (Incidentally, we should grieve for the many
children these days who never hear those words, because there is no father in
the picture to come home. It happens for
many reasons, but the situation is always tragic. Children do need fathers.) But what was it about those words that
inspired fear and trembling in our hearts?
For most of us, it wasn’t that Dad spanked harder (although he did) or
was less compassionate in meeting out punishment. It was our conscience. This is that serious that Dad has to
get involved. I’ve disappointed
him. Yes, we all know that one, too… the
worst part is when he says, “I’m so disappointed in you.” I’ve merited his disappointment. I’ve merited his anger. I deserve what I have coming. I am ashamed.
The
conscience of the sinner has the same thoughts about God, only on a grander
scale. The question becomes, “How is God
toward me?” And apart from Christ and
the revelation of His saving Gospel, we simply speculate. Perhaps we despair in our sins. God will never forgive me. I’m destined to hell. God must hate me. He must be my enemy. Surely He is out to get me.
Or,
we presume upon our eternal election, and rest in carnal security. Since God has chosen me, and since He has
promised to forgive all my sins, I may as well go on sinning. He’ll save me in the end, after all, so I’ll
go my own way, away from Him, and He’ll wink at me and shrug His shoulders in
understanding, because He wants me to be happy, whatever I may do.
Or, even worse, I’m
not that bad. I mostly follow God’s Law,
and I’m getting better and better at it all the time. I have a good heart and good intentions. I do the things I am supposed to do, and don’t
do the things that are naughty. God will
have to save me now, because I’m just that good.
To
hell with all such speculation. When we
want to know the Father’s disposition toward us, we must not look into our own
chaotic and sin-filled hearts. If we are
to know the Father’s disposition toward us, we must behold it in Christ. We must hear it in the Gospel and Absolution,
the preaching of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection for our
forgiveness and justification. We must
stare into the profound depths or our Baptism wherein we are crucified and
buried with Christ, and raised to new life in Him, where God writes upon us His
own Name and declares us His true children.
We must taste and see that the Lord is good when we eat and drink the
fruits of His cross, Christ’s true Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrament. If you want to see the Father’s heart, look
upon Jesus. See Him lifted up on the
cross. There He is drawing you to
Himself. There is the picture of your
election unto salvation. There He
accomplishes it and brings it to completion.
There is the end of your sin, the end of God’s wrath, the “It is
finished” (John 19:30) of the Law’s demands and condemnation. There is the Father’s love for you and for
the world, that whoever believes in Him, whoever trusts in this One who hangs
upon the cross, will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). On the cross, there is no speculation. There is only the flesh and blood reality of
God’s great love for you, and of your redemption.
And
this is His glory. The glory of the
Father. The glory of Jesus. For this is the fulfillment of God’s eternal
counsel and will to save us in Christ.
And it is revealed to us in the Gospel.
Luther
confesses this in the Large Catechism, in his explanation of the Apostle’s
Creed: “For here in all three articles God has revealed Himself and opened the
deepest abyss of His fatherly heart and His pure, inexpressible love [Ephesians
3:18-19]. He has created us for this
very reason, that He might redeem and sanctify us. In addition to giving and imparting to us
everything in heaven and upon earth, He has even given to us His Son and the
Holy Spirit, who brings us to Himself [Romans 8:14, 32]. For (as explained above} we could never grasp
the knowledge of the Father’s grace and favor except through the Lord Christ. Jesus is a mirror of the fatherly heart [John
14:9; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3], outside of whom we see nothing but an
angry and terrible Judge.”[2]
Here
on the cross, you behold God’s heart laid open, broken and bleeding for your
salvation. God did not choose the easy
part, but gave His dearest treasure, Christ, His Son. When the Law condemns you, when your
conscience troubles you, when you know the guilt and shame of your sin, and you
wonder how God is toward you… do not speculate! Look at Jesus on the cross. That is how He is toward you. He loves you that much. He forgives you all your sins. He chooses you to be His own. He is your Father. And you are His dear child. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] This year’s theme, much of the
material, and the outline for this sermon are taken from John T. Pless, “Dear
Christians, One and All, Rejoice!” https://www.1517.org/articles/dear-christians-one-and-all-rejoice-lent-series-introduction
[2] LC II:64-66, McCain, p. 406.
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