Christocentricity: Everything Always Centered-on Christ Crucified - Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany

4^th Sunday after Epiphany
January 29^th, Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Christocentricity:  Everything Always Centered-on Christ Crucified

     Christocentricity.  That’s a five-dollar word if I’ve ever heard one.  Christocentricity.  Shouldn’t use big fancy words in a sermon, I’ve been told, although this one is kinda fun to say: Christocentricity.  Big word.  But not that hard to figure out, and really important.  Eternally important, actually. 

     You probably already understand it.  ‘Christo-’, well,
the ‘i’ is short rather than long, but ‘Christo’ must have to do with Christ, no?  Correct.  And ‘-centricity,’ that must mean centered-on, right?  Yep.  Christocentricity means centered on Christ Jesus.  Pretty simple.  Simple, but profound.  Because this word describes all reality.  Certainly the reality of Scripture.  But even more, the reality of all blessed living, the reality of history, the reality of reality, of the “I AM” and all the “It is-es,” ever since Creation, now today, and forever and ever, Amen.    

     Everything centers on Jesus.  Light shines and gravity keeps you grounded, 
electricity flows and living things grow, because of Jesus, and His love for you and all humanity.  To be sure, the Father and the Holy Spirit come with Jesus.  Indeed, They rejoice to connect to you through Him.  And of course, this centrality of Jesus is hidden in this world.  It is revealed to humble hearts, and rejected by self-assured elites.  We know better now, proclaim the proud and the great, people need to leave this God superstition behind. 

     But despite the hatred and resistance of so many centers of human power and wisdom, the Church of Christ lives on, and the Gospel is still the story of stories, that never goes away, that will never go silent, because Jesus will be Jesus, forever.  Christ is the center and the motor of all that matters, for He reveals God and His truth to us, the truth that creates reality.  The truth which is declared quite clearly in our readings this morning. 

     Christ Jesus says in John and Luke that all of Scripture speaks of Him, and we see this in Psalm 1, which provides us with our Introit this morning.  Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.  Without downplaying the truth that we are called to live like this blessed man, we also know clearly, from our lives and from the Bible, that Psalm 1 can only be truly spoken of Jesus.  Similarly, the end of our reading from Micah is Christocentric, because only Jesus the eternal Son of God made flesh has perfectly done justice, loved kindness and walked humbly with His God. 

     Jesus in the Beatitudes, those strange blessings with which He starts the Sermon on the Mount, is not explicitly speaking of Himself.  And He is certainly teaching, His disciples then and us today, what Christian life should look like.  But Christ’s self-description becomes obvious when we compare these Beatitudes with the rest of His story, as we remember that Christ was blessed as He mourned, weeping outside the tomb of Lazarus, and as He showed mercy to countless sick and oppressed people.  The Blessed One poured out the poverty of His spirit in the Garden of Gethsemane, contemplating the suffering of the next day.  Jesus, the powerful miracle worker, chose blessed meekness, refusing to respond to the slaps and spit, blows and insults that rained down on Him from Pharisees, Priests and Roman soldiers.  His blessed hunger and thirst for our righteousness was so strong that He endured utter persecution, and punishment, finally suffering the rejection of His Father, to pay our debt.  And by this, Jesus is the Peacemaker, the one who has made peace between sinners and God His Father. 

    And so we see that Christocentricity has its own center, which is the Cross, the  heart of the heart of the matter, which St. Paul makes abundantly clear to the Corinthians.  The Word of the Cross, the folly of Christ crucified, is a scandal of weakness for law-loving Jews, and foolishness to world-wise Gentiles.  The Cross is always rejected and ridiculed by self-important people.  But God’s foolishness is true wisdom, and God’s weakness is true power, the center of God’s loving plan of salvation.  And so without the Cross, you have not Christ.  And if you have not Christ, there is no true strength or wisdom. 

     But, for those weak fools who embrace the Cross by faith, Christocentricity delivers all things, today, and forever and ever.  For in the Wisdom of the Cross we guilty, unholy and enslaved sinners find a voice to boast, in righteousness, holiness and redemption from slavery, all received as free gifts, through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  

     We boast in the historicity of Christocentricity, in the blessed fact revealed to those who devote themselves to the Bible.  Those immersed in the Word learn that the whole narrative, which is to say all of history, is about Jesus.  The whole narrative, from the Creation in Genesis on to Micah and Malachi, drives toward Christ and Him crucified, the Center of all things.  And the story from the Incarnation, from the first Christmas onward, flows from the blood that ran down that blessed tree. 

     We can and should marvel and boast in the historicity of Christ as the center of all things. 

   Sadly, as we live in the Word, as the Holy Spirit’s Truth rings in our ears and fills our heart, it also collides with the reality of our lives.  And in this collision we gain grim clarity about the necessity of Christocentricity.  The call to holy living fills the first Psalm, and the instruction of Micah that we are to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly before our God.  The LORD places very real expectations on His people, here and in hundreds of other verses, expectations which make our need obvious.  Honest self-examination always reveals how we fail, how badly we need the fruit of the Cross, every day. 

     Yet even here, in the pursuit of the sanctified life, the life of love and good works to which we are all called, Christocentricity still reigns.  Because Jesus doesn’t abandon us to fend for ourselves in holy living.  Good thing, too, because that would be a disaster.  No, Jesus has bound Himself to you and me and every baptized person.  He is always with you.  And so, when you find yourself failing, ignoring your calling to walk in the way of righteousness, when you see sin and desire it, Jesus is with you.  He taps you on the shoulder and asks:  What are we doing here?  How did you end up on the edge of a cliff of an angry outburst?  Why have you given your eyes over to peruse the temptations of the world?  Why are you about to take that pill that you no longer need for your physical pain, or drink that drink that will make you lose control?  Why are you following along the path of the wicked, following the crowds on the wide easy road to sin, sorrow and condemnation?  Jesus gets your attention however He must, and says: “Let’s get out of here.  Now!” 

     You are torn.  Your old Adam, the sinful nature that continues within you, is pulling hard.  Know for certain, dear Christians, that the feeling of resentment towards God for His warnings and corrections is coming from your sinful nature. 

    Look to Him who calls you back from the edge.  Look to Jesus, and focus on the hand that reaches out to pull you back from the precipice of unbridled sin.  See that hand, which still bears the mark of the nails, and flee to Him.      

     Knowing our need for Christocentricity, our ongoing need for God’s personalized warnings against sin in our daily lives, this bitter need leads you back to the gift of Christocentricity.  For the very thing you need most, repentance from sin and a renewed connection to Jesus, this is the very thing that Christ most loves to give to you. 

   This is the daily, blessed reality of Christocentricity, of understanding that the true Center of all things is Christ.  Knowing this, you also begin to understand the blessing of centering your heart, mind, activity and devotion on the reality of Jesus, every day.  For Jesus lives, to forgive and to bless.  Center yourself on Him, and He will forgive you, restore you, and re-center your life on truth, beauty, blessing, and peace, today and forever. 

     That you would not center your life on Christ Jesus is a demonic temptation.  To this the world and our own sinful flesh constantly call us, sometimes hiding their temptation under otherwise good things.  Demons whisper things like: “Doing fun things with your family is just as important and just as Godly as coming to Church.” 

   “No, it is not,” says Jesus.  “But I will bless your family fun, by first blessing you by my Word and Sacrament.”  Christ with His love pulls you in, to give you life.  Satan and his minions pull you out, the centrifugal force of antichrist, trying to pull you away from your Savior, and into death. 

     Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Center of Faith.  Be wise to the lies of the world and your own sinfulness.  Repent, and return to the Center.  Put yourself and your loved ones in close proximity to Christ.  Come to His altar.  Fill your ears and your days with His Word.  Be amongst His people.  Seek Him where He has promised to be found, and His Wisdom and Power will guard and keep you. 

     Your closeness to the One who is the Center of everything will also change your life.  Christocentric living will fill you with love and energy to find blessing in strange ways, especially in the midst of difficulty.  And Jesus will bless you to be a blessing, to be merciful, in a world that desperately needs mercy, to proclaim the peace of God, which passes all understanding, and saves sinners, the peace of God which will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, your Center, your Lord, today, and unto life everlasting, Amen.