The Gospel Is Always Winning - Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter 2022

Second Sunday of Easter, Quasimodo Geniti
April 24^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
The Gospel Is Always Winning

 Christ is Risen.  He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! 

Christ is risen, and so the Gospel always wins.  And the Gospel is always winning. 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have the victory, today, and forever and ever, Amen. 

   Shall I just end there?  I have said it all, haven’t I?  The Gospel, the Good News of Jesus’ sinner-saving death and resurrection always wins, and it is always winning.  We receive, know, rejoice and rest in this victory, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit binds us to our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who has redeemed us by His precious blood, in order to present us spotless and beautiful, a people worthy of the Father’s favor, forever and ever, Amen. 

Why say more?

   Thomas, the teacher of human nature, helps us understand why I need to say more, doesn’t he?  The faith which looks to Christ for forgiveness and eternal victory is a mighty thing.  But faith in Jesus does not come to us sinners naturally, or easily. 

   Thomas had seen all the miracles, heard all the teaching.  He shared a bond with the other disciples, the kind of bond that only comes through shared experience and suffering, a bond of the deepest kind.  But Thomas cannot believe his friends.  The agony of watching Jesus’ suffering and death had seared Thomas’s eyes, so much so that not even the proclamation of the Resurrection from the mouths of his closest friends could pierce the veil of doubt that covered his heart. 

   Maybe Thomas demanded to see and touch, in order to protect himself.  Thomas might have been afraid to believe the good news, this Gospel the other 10 disciples spoke to him, because he had already suffered such disappointment.  “I can’t go through that again.”  Like a young man who has given his heart, only to be jilted and made a fool by the girl he thought would be his life-long love, maybe Thomas was too much afraid of another bitter disappointment to risk hoping again.    

In response, Jesus does two amazing things. 

   First, our Lord gives Thomas exactly what he needs in order to stop doubting and believe.  The Resurrected Jesus comes to Thomas, and offers him his body to see, and to touch.  “It’s true Thomas, I have risen from the dead.  Here, put your hand in my side, touch the wound.  Stop doubting, and believe this Gospel.”  As Jesus does for Thomas, He does for all, giving us just what we need to believe. 

   And if that were not enough, Jesus makes an even more remarkable promise to us.  Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.  Jesus is talking about us.  He also means all the Old Testament saints, from Adam to Abraham right down to Zechariah and Elizabeth, none of whom were blessed to see God’s finished plan.  And yet by God’s grace they believed and were saved by the promises of salvation that echo throughout the Torah of Moses, and the Psalms and the Prophets. 

  And, for you, today, Jesus by implication makes a wonderful promise.  He promises that later, in the years and centuries to come, others would believe the Good News.  Many, many more would believe, even though they would not be blessed like Thomas and the other Apostles, not blessed to witness the Resurrection.  However feeble our faith may seem from time to time, we are blessed, because the object and source and power of our faith is the Risen Lord Jesus. 

And so, the Gospel always wins, and is always winning. 

   So, do you feel like a winner?  It’s so easy to fall into the pandemic of “down-in-the-mouth” disease that has been sweeping through western Christianity for the last 50 years.  It seems like only yesterday when Christian ideas and leaders and institutions predominated and guided the course of our society.  Now, I think that perhaps we see history through rose colored glasses.  But in any case, Christianity is not so prestigious now.  Not so much at all. 

   But the Gospel is always winning, so there must be more to the story.  And there is. 

   One of Satan’s most successful tactics against the Church is to entice us to tie our future and our self-image to worldly prestige.  How tragically ironic that we, who have been redeemed, claimed and called beloved by Almighty God should worry about how earthly powers and influencers see us.  Unless the world is converted to true faith in Christ, it is going to Hell, it is doomed.  We are called to be the Spirit’s mouthpieces, to call sinners out of the world, with the Gospel. 

   But again and again, the Church, that is to say, we, are tempted.  We say, “Why not get cozy with the world, won’t that help the Church grow?  Why not soften, just a bit, our commitment to Scriptural truth? Won’t that make us more attractive?  We certainly would never compromise on fundamental issues.  But a little flexibility here and there could really help us reach more people, couldn’t it?” 

   No.  The problem is, once the Church gives up some of Christ’s teaching to gain worldly prestige, we get addicted to worldly prestige.  It is then so easy, without even thinking, to let that prestige become our most precious treasure.  And then, when the favor of the world starts slipping through our fingers, as it always does, then we panic.  Because we feel like, instead of winning, suddenly we are losing.  We feel like we are losing our certainty, our honor, our security, our nation, our future.  All of these feelings are fruit of not looking to Christ for our every good.     

   Because, come what may, Christ cannot lose; after all, He is the Lord of the Universe. 

   Now, it is certainly true that He rules the universe in a strange way, constantly hiding His glory and His power under things that appear foolish, shameful, and weak. 

·       Jesus calls us to a commitment to a 2,000 year old book, regardless of our culture’s confident rejection of the Bible, a rejection based on modern scientistic dogma, and “enlightened” social mores. 

·       Jesus calls us to believe that a bit of water and a few words can rescue a sinner and open the gates of heaven. 

·       Then there’s the foolish idea that it is good to suffer for the sake of the Truth. 

·       Or the crazy notion that a tiny meal of a bit of dry bread and a sip of cheap wine is the most important and powerful thing that takes place on earth. 

·       And, of course, there is Jesus’ call to believe the words of a foolish sinner, who says he forgives sins in Christ’s stead. 

   All of these upside-down ideas flow from the central Truth that Thomas needed to see and touch to believe.  The excruciating and unjust crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth appeared to be the final victory of hate, the most pitiful defeat of the naïve forces for good.  But, the Truth is, the Gospel is, that the Cross of Jesus is the very revelation of love, the love of God, poured out for all.  Even more, the Cross is the consummation of God’s greatest victory, the defanging and eternal defeat of sin, death and the devil, a victory won by Jesus, for you, and for the whole world. 

   The God who creates with His voice, the God who can turn a valley of dry bones into a flesh and blood army of redeemed sinners, the God who raised Jesus from the dead, this God is speaking to you, bearing witness to the Truth of the Gospel. 

   Yes indeed, while Christ has ascended out of our sight, He has not left Himself without a witness, three Witnesses in fact.  The Spirit, the Water and the Blood.  The Holy Spirit, sent by Christ to enlighten His Apostles, is still present and active in this broken world.     

   The Spirit enlivened and inspired the Apostles, so that through them He might build His Church, through the proclamation of the ever-winning Gospel.  And the Spirit is still building today. 

   The Spirit builds with water.  Water, combined with God’s Name, bears witness to Christ’s victory, washing sins away and sealing the baptized into the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, making saints out of sinners and victors out of losers. 

   The Spirit builds with blood.  Blood, which flowed from the side of Jesus, and from His many other wounds, blood flowing to wash away all your sin.  The Blood that fills you with Christ, and washes your robes white again.  The Blood of Jesus, that covers all sin. 

   The Spirit, the Water and the Blood.  These three bear witness.   They speak for Jesus on earth today.  And, like the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, these three Witnesses agree, perfectly, eternally, and winningly, for you.  And so even when it seems just the opposite, in fact, especially when it seems the opposite, the Truth is, the Gospel is winning, all the time.          

   In a few minutes we will pray the Collect, the Prayer of the Day for this Quasimodo Geniti Sunday.  We will ask God to “grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God.” 

   Now, since the Gospel is always winning, doing that should be pretty easy, right?  And yet, we pray this prayer because we know how we struggle.  To our shame, confessing in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God all too often seems like an insurmountable task, one we don’t really want to take up.  If it weren’t a problem for us, we wouldn’t need to pray this prayer. 

   But do not lose heart.  The answer is right here, close at hand.  The solution is not that you should resolve to do better, or that you should finally get serious about living and speaking like a Christian.  That you live according to God’s Commandments and speak of Christ, this is God’s desire.  But you resolving to do it won’t make it happen. 

   No, the answer is in our Introit, in that funny Latin name for this Sunday:  Quasimodo Geniti, “like newborn infants.”  Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word.   St. Peter instructs all of us:  For the rest of your life, like a newborn infant craves the life-giving milk of her mother, so you should crave the Word of God, the voice of the Spirit.  For by His Word, God will make us into the confident confessors that He desires, believers who in life and conversation confess Jesus as God and Lord.   

   God in His in His bounteous grace chooses to create and sustain the universe through His Word.  He also chooses to rebuke sin and doubt and create faith and confidence, through His Word.  First and last, whether we have prestige in the society, or whether in the eyes of the world we are a marginalized bunch of kooks, Christ maintains His Church through the speaking, reading, praying and singing of His True Word.  That Word preaches Christ crucified and resurrected, for the salvation of sinners, yesterday, today, and forever and ever. Amen. 

   The Gospel is always winning.  Hear the Gospel, and receive Christ’s victory, for you, Amen.   

Through Mary's Eyes, Sermon for the Resurrection of Our Lord

The Resurrection of Our + Lord
April 17^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Through Mary’s Eyes
John 20:1-18, 1 Corinthians 15, Isaiah 25:6-9

Christ is Risen!  (He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia.)  

   Lord, I believe.  Help Thou my unbelief. (Mark 9:24).  What was a desperate cry from the father of a demon possessed boy in Mark chapter 9, “Lord, I believe.  Help Thou my unbelief” is also the proper daily prayer of Christian living.  And, with Mary Magdalene this morning, we see this writ large. 

   As we have done with various characters of John’s Gospel since Ash Wednesday, this morning we
will seek to see Jesus Christ through Mary Magdalene’s eyes.  And her eyes needed help to see the Truth, just like ours. 

   It’s not easy for us to believe.  As much as we rejoice to celebrate the Resurrection this morning, we all sometimes struggle with doubt.  And all the more as the world, and especially the educational institutions and the media all around us, disregard, deny and mock the central linchpin truth of the Christian faith.  For our faith stands or falls on the fact that Jesus Christ, on the third day after He died on a Roman cross, rose from the dead, revealing Himself to be the Savior, the font and source of free forgiveness for sins, and the Head of the New Testament People of God, destined to live with Him in glory, forever and ever.  

   Through Mary’s eyes.  Magdalene means “from Magdala,” her village in Israel.  We don’t know much more about her back story, not even exactly where Magdala was.  But we can ask one question to help us see through Mary’s eyes:  What is it like to have seven demons cast out from you?  To see through Mary’s eyes, we need at least to consider what it would be like to be demon possessed, and then have Jesus set us free.  This is what Jesus did for Mary, (Luke 8:2).  Unsurprisingly, she then became a devoted follower and supporter of the miracle worker from Nazareth.  If you have suffered deeply in the darkness, and then the light of Christ sets you free, you will likely seek to stay close to that light.  Which Mary did, even when the darkness closed in around Jesus on Good Friday.  

   Mary’s seven-fold exorcism presents another faith problem for us.  Do we really believe in demon possession, today?  With all that science has revealed, shouldn’t we leave this primitive idea behind?   Well, it is no doubt a good strategy for Satan and his minions to leave us “advanced” people alone, to leave us suspecting they don’t exist.  Because it is a short journey from discarding the Biblical witness about demons to accepting an entirely materialistic and scientistic world view.  Which denies the existence of demons, and angels, and in the end, of God Himself.  Lord, save us from our “advanced” wisdom. 

   Back to Mary’s eyes.  Mary was a particularly unfortunate victim of spiritual warfare, and Jesus set her free.  This singular experience led her to devote all her time, energy and resources to her Savior.  On the first Easter morning, Mary calls Jesus Rabonni, or Teacher, which makes sense, since as a close follower of Christ, she would have heard Him do a lot of teaching.  She witnessed miracles, great acts of mercy, heard the Good News of the Kingdom again and again, from the very mouth of the King.  These things kept Mary close to Jesus.  Unlike most of the disciples, she was brave enough to be at the Cross.  And of course, with some of the other faithful women, Mary went early on Sunday morning, after the Sabbath was ended, to properly honor Jesus’ body, hastily buried on Friday evening.     

    From Mary’s experience and example, we can draw a number of fundamental truths about the Christian faith. 

 

First, God in Christ saves us; we contribute nothing.  The fancy term for this is “divine monergism.”  Salvation is not a joint project.  As St. Paul says in Ephesians 2, we were all once dead in our trespasses and sins, but God has made us alive again, in Christ.  Dead people don’t do anything.  Certainly a person suffering under the possession of seven demons does not set herself free.  For all that Mary did in response to being rescued, it is clear that she was saved by Jesus.  She did not contribute, but rather simply received. 

Faith comes by hearing.  Mary, weeping outside the tomb, cannot see Jesus.  She believes He is dead, His project is ruined.  On top of the horror of the crucifixion is added the newly discovered travesty that someone has taken His body.  She is overwhelmed.  It isn’t so important whether Mary couldn’t recognize Jesus because of the tears in her eyes, or for the veil over her heart.  Either way, she was lost in despair, until Christ Jesus called her name.  “Mary.”  Hearing the voice of the resurrected Jesus snatched her out of darkness and brought her into God’s marvelous light, even brighter than when Jesus cast out her demons three years earlier.     

Faith alone saves, but faith is never alone.  Faith always springs forth in good works.  True faith in Christ necessarily leads the Christian to do good works.  In a prelude to the main event, Mary responded to being set free from her demons by following and providing for Jesus in His ministry.  And Mary responded to Jesus, once she heard His voice and believed that He had risen from the dead. 

   As Mary demonstrated outside the tomb, true faith looks to and clings to the Resurrected One, God in the flesh, the Savior of sinners and Source of eternal life.  And this connection with Jesus fills the believer with the desire and energy to do the things He gives us to do.  In Mary’s immediate case, to run to the Eleven and share the Good News with them. 

It hurts to be saved.  Maybe you lack a dramatic conversion experience.  Maybe you don’t remember a time when you weren’t a Christian.  God be praised.  Even still, salvation is not painless.  Mary was brought very low by the Cross and the Empty Tomb, before Jesus called her to new life.  The Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus was frightening and shameful, as he was confronted with the reality that he was an enemy of God, persecuting His Church. 

   Even after the Holy Spirit makes us Christians, we still face pain.  Sometimes there is pain from without, ridicule and rejection from the world, or even persecution.  But always in this Christian life on earth, there is pain from within.  For we Christians are still sinners.  And that’s not o.k.  Repentance for the sin that still clings to us is a necessary part of our daily lives.  Lord, I believe.  Help Thou my unbelief.  Being brought to repentance, being confronted by the Holy Spirit with the foolishness, ugliness and seriousness of our own sin is never pleasant.  But God’s intent with repentance is to open our ears to the forgiving voice of Jesus, once again.  So the pain is worth it, every time.    

Sometimes we are just going through the motions.  Sometimes, our hearts, minds and wills are all in line with our faith, and that’s great.  But sometimes we’re just going through the motions.  In a sense, the women going to the tomb Sunday morning were just going through the motions, doing the habitual things that a Jew always did when someone died.  And that is o.k.  Indeed, the human life rests upon a foundation of habits.  God built routine into everything, from the beginning. 

   Evening and morning, each day follows a pattern that shapes our living.  Seven days of Creation led to a seven-day week, with six for working and one for rest and worship.  The year is divided into seasons, each with its unique character, needs and blessings.  Israel was given a series of annual feasts, to accentuate their weekly worship. 

   And so also in the New Testament Church, we live from the repetition of the traditions of God.  As Jesus teaches us, we rise and pray our way through our day, until we commend all things into His hands and close our eyes in sleep.  We gather week by week around His Word, to receive forgiveness and strength for living.  Preaching, Baptism, Supper, Mercy.  These are the traditions of Christ, which make and keep us alive. 

   Around these we are free to carefully add our own faithful traditions, which help us along, and confess the truth of Christ.  Our traditions must never displace or contradict God’s traditions.  But if they are faithful, they can be of great value, both practically and spiritually.  Like the burial customs of the Jews.  They were not given by Moses, but they were good and right and in keeping with God’s love for humanity, and the bodies He created for us.  

   Maybe today you are just going through the motions.  Maybe your habit is to go to church on Sunday, without thinking very much about it, and so you are here today.  Or perhaps you are what another Mary, Maria my first church secretary, liked to call a “Cheester.”  Your habit is to go to Church on Christmas and Easter, and not much more.  Or maybe your habit is to make nice when visiting your parents or grandparents, and so going through this motion brought you here today. 

   We all have habits, some better, some worse.  We’d be lost without them.  It is wise for us to consider our habits and whether they are the best ones we could develop.  Because some habits can be truly wonderful, if going through their motions brings you to the Risen Christ.   Which is what God did for Mary.  She was distraught.  Weeping.  Without hope.  She only wanted to do the right thing with the body of Jesus, and even that had been taken away from her.  And then Jesus called her by name.  “Mary.” 

   God’s call for Mary is also His call for you.  Hear Jesus.  Be saved.  Confess your sins.  And know this truth:  in the Blood of Christ, shed on the Cross, your sins are forgiven.  In Christ there is eternal life, for you.  The proof is the Resurrection. 

   You still have doubts?  Dig into the story.  Consider the history of the Church, from that first Easter down to today.  Read the Gospels and the Book of Acts, and consider the fact that this message and Church are still going strong today, despite all the resistance and persecution of the world.  Most of all, hear the Word of Jesus.  Hear Him calling your name, just as He did for Mary. 

   Because Jesus Christ is Risen today, for you, Amen.    

The Gospel according to Pontius Pilate - Sermon for Good Friday

Sermon for Good Friday, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Witnesses to Christ - The Gospel According to Pontius Pilate

   The worthiness of a preacher ultimately depends on one thing: the faithfulness of his message.  While a Christian preacher should be a true believer, and a good example to the faithful, and could be eloquent in his speaking, neither the uprightness of his heart, nor the holiness of his life, nor the quality of his rhetoric mean much at all, unless his preaching is faithful to the truth of Christ.  With this strange truth in mind, this evening we will consider the message of Pontius Pilate. 

   Could it be that Pilate was a preacher of the Gospel?  A few ancient churches in North Africa hold the tradition that at some point after the Resurrection, Pontius Pilate, the governor of Jerusalem who sentenced Jesus to the cross, was converted to faith in the Nazarene.  I look forward to learning in heaven whether this tradition is true.  It is certainly possible.  What is also true are many of the words that Pilate spoke on Good Friday.  Pilate asked the right questions, and, regardless of how Pilate understood his own words, he made some very faithful declarations. 

Are you King of the Jews?  Pilate may have only been trying to sort out the specific allegation against Jesus.  Declaring oneself king in first century Israel, when the emperor Caesar demanded absolute loyalty, was a serious offense.  Pilate may have considered Jesus a minor lunatic, and not a real threat, a foolish pretender, even if the accusations of the Jews were true.  But against the broader backdrop of Biblical history, claiming to be the King of the Jews meant a lot.  Everything, really. 

   For King David had been promised a descendent, an anointed son, who would rule over Israel forever.  And this Anointed One, which in Hebrew is Messiah, would not just rule over Israel.  The Lord promised that this anointed Son of David would rule over the reunited tribes of Israel, and, also, over all the nations.  And not just for a good long time, but forever.  Even though Pilate didn’t understand, his preaching starts out with just the right question:  Are you the Messiah, the Savior King of Israel sent from God?  Many good sermons start with just such good questions.       

So, you are a king?  That Jesus is not interested in defending Himself against the accusations of the Jews amazes Pilate.  Their conversation leads Jesus to hint at the greater, cosmic scale of the situation: “My kingdom is not of this world.”  Pilate’s perspective remains very limited, disregarding or not grasping the significance of what Jesus says.  But Pilate does seem to think he is getting somewhere with the accused:  Ah, so you are a king? 

   But Jesus leads the conversation back to cosmic, eternal topics: “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” To cut Pilate a bit of slack, he was probably not expecting that morning to be drawn into a metaphysical and theological debate with this prisoner.  Jesus has all but explicitly declared that He came from Heaven to Earth, in order to preach a message of salvation to all those who have ears to hear.  Pilate responds with his most famous words.

What is truth?  Does this question reveal Pilate to be a hardened cynic, mocking our Lord?  Or is he a proto-postmodern, denying the very existence of truth?  Or is he perhaps starting to contemplate eternal things?  Hard to say.  But there is no avoiding the depth of the governor’s response to Jesus: “What is truth?”

   What is truth?  Jesus is the Truth.  The One who is the Word of God, made flesh, the Truth of God in human form is standing before Pilate, calmly facing the potential of death by crucifixion.  But Pilate doesn’t seem to see it, can’t understand it.  Not yet, anyway. 

   But you should.  Jesus is the Truth.  For us sinners, the Truth that matters comes down to one thing: one Man, who is the eternal Son of God, standing in the place we deserve, facing the condemnation and punishment that our sins have earned.  Hear His voice.  He is speaking truth to you, to save you, and to bless you.       

I find no guilt in Him.  Whether Pilate is a cynic or a seeker, he wants no part in the Jews’ plan to crucify Jesus.  And of course, his proclamation is faithful.  There is no guilt to find in Jesus.  On the one hand, Jesus’ innocence makes the Cross all the more bitter, the Law convicts us all the more, for we are the guilty ones.  We are guilty, and the only truly Innocent Man suffered such rejection by humanity, because of our sin. 

   And yet this tragedy also brings hope.  Jesus does not bear the inherited guilt of Adam, for His Father is God the Father, and His conception in the womb of Mary was an entirely unique miracle of the Holy Spirit.  The only person ever born without a sinful nature, Jesus is also the only Man ever to live his life entirely without sin.  He is innocent, without blemish, which makes Him fit to be a substitute, to be sacrificed for the sins of others.  Jesus could pay the debt for others, because He had no sin of His own to take care of.  And, since He is true God, the redemptive value of His sacrifice has no limit.  The blood of Jesus can cover all sin. 

Behold the Man!  Pilate is still trying to thread the needle between appeasing the Jewish leaders and avoiding the crucifixion of Jesus.  He has Jesus beaten, mocked, dressed in royal garb and a crown of thorns.  Then, hoping this will be enough, he presents Jesus to the mob once again:  Behold the Man!  And Pilate is right.  This is what true, perfect, godly humanity looks like, in the context of our sin shattered world. 

   A true man, along with protecting and caring for others in this life, above all seeks to bring his family and friends into a good relationship with Almighty God.  To be Godly, and lead others to the Source of Godliness, this is the first calling of every man.  And so Jesus, the True Man, the true and faithful Adam, would do whatever it takes to rescue his brothers and sisters from the doom that sin threatens.  Behold the Man!  Repent, and rejoice! 

Behold your King!  Pilate makes one last attempt to spare Jesus.  It may be that he sees the whole idea to be ludicrous, and by presenting the bleeding and shamed Jesus as king, he hopes to break through the envious rage of the mob.  But just like Behold the Man, Pilate again preaches profound truth.  For the true King of Israel has been seeking to save His people since they first turned away.  And now, the King’s mission is about to be finished. 

   We seek kings and presidents and governors who fit our conceptions: impressive, good looking strong men, or women, who promise and deliver a good life, now.  We are of course disappointed by our earthly kings and elected leaders, time and again.  But a true leader, a true King, is willing to sacrifice Himself for the good of His people.  And that true King is Jesus, the Suffering Servant, by whose wounds we are healed.  Behold your King! 

Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross.  “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.  You’ve seen this inscription, it’s usually included on the top of our crucifixes, that little banner with the initials that to us look like I N R I.   Along with Greek and Aramaic, Pilate wrote in Latin:  Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum.  Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.  Pilate has said it all, whether he believed it or not.  Jesus, the name which means the Lord Saves, is a man from Nazareth, who is also God come down from heaven.  And, although rejected by His own people, He is King of the Jews, indeed, King of the Nations, King of the Universe.  This is He who hung upon the Cross, and who sprang from the grave three days later.  And so we have hope, by the forgiveness of all our sins, and the new life that Jesus died, to win for all. 

   Perhaps the Holy Spirit was working on Pilate.  Certainly the Jewish leaders didn’t like the declaratory nature of what Pilate wrote.  They protested “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’”

“What I have written I have written.”  Pilate would have none of it.  Was the Truth that is Jesus beginning to soften his heart?  I hope so.  But regardless, his answer is splendid: “What I have written I have written.”

   Listen to Pilate, to this word at least.  Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, is Your King, Your Savior, Your Truth, Your God, Your Friend, forever and ever, Amen. 

Details: John the Beloved - Sermon for Holy Thursday

Sermon for Holy Thursday, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Witnesses to Christ – John the Beloved: Details

   The Apostle John has lots of labels:  Gospel writer.  The brother of James, those famous sons of Zebedee, also called the Sons of Thunder.  Perhaps John is best known as the Beloved, the Apostle whom Jesus loved.  John, along with his brother James and Simon Peter, were the inner circle of Jesus’ 12 disciples.  Again and again, Jesus included only these three at critical events, for example, the raising of daughter of Jairus, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and in the Garden of Gethsemane, while Christ prayed till He sweat blood.  Perhaps in part for this intimacy, John’s Gospel reads differently than Matthew, Mark and Luke.  Less chronological story, and more detail: long conversations, inner thoughts and specifics recorded to bring us inside Christ’s mission. 

   Being so close to a great project, knowing so much about a thing that is happening, is not altogether easy or even good.  As they say, you don’t really want to see your sausage being made.  Better to ignorantly enjoy your brat fresh off the barbie, rather than go into the factory and see exactly of what and how your sausage is made.  Knowing too much might make you lose your appetite.  Knowing all the inner workings of a great project might make you falter in your part of the mission. 

   It would not be surprising if now and then John felt like he was seeing too much, learning too many difficult-to-swallow details.  John refers to himself in his Gospel narrative as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”  That sounds like bragging, like pietistic arrogance: “I’m so special, Jesus really loves me.”  But that’s not what John is doing.  John was as close as anyone to the ministry of Jesus, not for any quality in John, but wholly by our Lord’s choice.  This closeness, along with his own struggles and failures, made it extremely clear to John how unworthy he was.  John knew how remarkable, astounding really, was the fact that Jesus loved him.  John isn’t saying that Jesus loved him more than others, but rather that it required exceptional levels of grace, forgiveness and patience to love him, sinner that he was.  And yet Jesus did love John. 

   John, like his fishing partner Peter, was not always a humble man.  Nor gracious.  When a Samaritan village didn’t receive Jesus, John with his brother asked if they should call down fire from heaven to destroy them.  Jesus rebuked them, for He came not to destroy lives, but to save them, (Luke 9:51-56).  John had a lot to learn.  And the more he learned about the Way that Jesus would love him, and the whole world, the more John’s humility grew.  John came to understand the depth of Christ’s love, for him and for all people.  This detailed knowledge changed John, forever. 

   But it wasn’t easy.  The details of the Way of Jesus are disturbing, especially when seen up close.  As John saw them, most especially on the night we commemorate here this evening, and the day after.

   On the night Jesus instituted the Holy Meal we will once again celebrate here tonight, John saw and heard a great deal.  From John 13 through 17, the Beloved Apostle fills five chapters of his Gospel with these details, the extended teaching of Jesus in the Upper Room.  “I am the Vine, and you are the branches.”  “An hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.”  “The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”  “I and the Father are One; if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”  John gives us these, and many more mysterious details.    

   Another detail of this evening tests the strength of the disciples’ faith that all things are
possible for God.  Because on this night, Jesus takes bread and wine, and declares them to be His Body and Blood, given and shed for the disciples to eat and drink.  What in the world is Jesus doing? 

   This particular detail had to be very confusing, and perhaps offensive.  Because Moses in the Torah had clearly and repeatedly prohibited as grave transgressions both human sacrifice and the drinking of any kind of blood from any animal, let alone human.  But now Jesus turns these prohibitions upside down, and says take, eat, my sacrificed Body.   Take, drink, my sacrificed Blood.  Eat and drink, not in sin, but for the forgiveness of sins. 

   Which had been the point all along.  Human sacrifice is sinful for us, and pointless, because no mere human being’s life can pay for the sins of another.  Yet we still struggle with this temptation today, sacrificing one life to supposedly help another.  Indeed, the killing of unborn children is held up as a critical part of women’s health and a crucial tool for allowing women to find fulfillment and happiness.  This deceitful message couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Abortion tears souls and families and societies apart, silently ruining lives, of unborn babies, and their parents and families, and whole nations. 

   In the Bible, we hear of the testing of Abraham when God called him to sacrifice his only son Isaac.  This sacrifice would not have achieved any good purpose, and God never intended that Abraham should actually do it.  But this frightening episode did point to the final, infinitely valuable sacrifice, which God’s only Son, the eternal and divine Son Jesus Christ, would make, willingly, for the sins of the whole world.  Including the sins of those deceived and complicit in the lie of abortion and other forms of destroying life. 

    God through Moses teaches, and biology confirms, that the life of man and beast is in the blood.  Even more, the blood of the Man who is also God is filled with life.  Not just earthly life, but rather it is filled with the very Life of God, the life that flows from the great I AM, Yahweh, the Lord who is the source of all being and life. 

   God the I AM: that is Who sat at the head of the table in the Upper Room.   That is Who hung on the Cross, pouring out His lifeblood for us.  That is Who feeds us here, hiding His majesty, power, love and grace under simple bread and wine.  The blood of the Lamb, shed to wash clean our robes, returns us to innocence, and empowers us to live another day in this sinful world.   Christ feeds us with Himself, and then sends us out from His table as Christians, literally, “little christs,” anointed and restored to confess the Truth of Jesus in our lives every day, until that Day when Jesus takes us home. 

   These are bracing, mysterious details for John and the others to process.  But probably not as immediately difficult as that other spirit troubling detail of Holy Thursday.  “Truly, truly.”  “Amen, Amen,” says Jesus, “one of you will betray Me.”

   What?  One of us will betray you, Lord?  Who?  Which one?  Not me, Lord? 

   The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom He spoke. One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, (that is, John), was reclining at table close to Jesus.  So Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom He was speaking.  So John leaned back against Jesus, and asked, “Lord, who is it?”

   Jesus answered, “It is He to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.”  So when He had dipped the morsel, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.  When Judas ate the morsel of bread, immediately Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” (Let’s get this over with.)  Now, no one at the table, (no one at the table other than John, that is), knew why Jesus said this to him. So, Judas immediately went out. And it was night.

   It was night indeed.  The hour of the power of darkness had arrived.  A man who had spent three years living and learning and serving alongside Jesus became the agent of Satan, the worst traitor in history, who betrayed the Holy Son of God to the Jewish authorities, leading to His arrest, torture, crucifixion and death. 

   And this was God’s plan.  Without excusing the guilt of Judas, or the Jews and Romans, or the guilt of you and me, without overlooking how bad it all was, this was God’s plan all along.  A plan not to excuse sin, but rather the Plan of Salvation, made in eternity.  A plan to atone for our sin, to take it away from us wretched, weak humans, and lay it on the all-powerful shoulders of the Lamb of God.  In order that He destroy sin’s power to accuse us, forever. 

   Details.  Painful, frightening details.  John saw and heard them all, even standing at the Cross as the end drew near, receiving the charge to care for Jesus’ mother, Mary.  Then John heard the great cry, “It is finished.”  The final bitter detail, that turns out to be the heart of the Good News. 

   For there is now no more sacrifice for sin; it is finished.  God’s Son has made the once for all sacrifice.  One sacrifice, by the One God-Man, to atone for, to pay for, all the sin of all people.  Therefore, in Jesus Christ there is forgiveness and restoration for all people, even for those who drove the nails into Jesus’ flesh.  Even for those who have aborted babies or broken families or whatever other horrible thing you and I have done.  Full and free forgiveness, in Christ, for all people.  Believe it!  This glorious detail, revealed on the morning of the Third Day, is the life of the world. 

   Details.  We continue to hide so much about ourselves.  Our recurring failures.  Our thoughts that we try to control, but cannot.  Our sinful appetites and hurtful words and actions.  We do not want anyone to see our messy insides, the sins we cover up.  We try to hide them away, because we fear no one would ever want to be our friend, if they knew. 

   But God knows.  Jesus knows.  And yet He is still your Friend.  For He has already done all that is necessary to rescue you from yourself.  And to rescue you from the sinners around you who hurt you and drag you down.  And to rescue you from Satan, who wants nothing more than to distract you from this blessed Truth, that there now remains no sacrifice for sin that you must make.  Because Jesus has finished it.  His shed blood, His broken body, His gracious words of forgiveness and promise and consummation, these facts, these details are your rescue, your deliverance, your joy, and your Supper, tonight, and forever and ever, Amen.