Lent 3 Midweek Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“The Suffering Servant of Zion”

Text: Lamentations 3; Hebrews 5:7-10; Mark 15:16-20, 27-34

The first two chapters of Lamentations have been dark chapters. Judah and Jerusalem have fallen. What was before so majestic now lies in ruins. Even the Temple and God’s altar are no more. All this because God’s people would not listen; they would not repent. And so instead of mercy there is anger; instead of forgiveness there is destruction. It is not what God wanted. He wanted His people only to turn to Him and trust Him; but they would not. And so He allows them to be defeated in battle, hauled off as prisoners of war, and suffer a great destruction, to this end: that with nothing earthly left to rely on, they will turn back to Him.

But in all this it was not only Judah which suffered - today we hear in chapter 3 that God’s servant, Jeremiah, also suffered greatly. Though he was God’s servant and simply speaking the word of the Lord, Jeremiah speaks of being afflicted and living in darkness, of those who lie in wait to ambush and attack him, of being an object of ridicule and scorn, and of fear and great tribulation. And this for 40 years. He often wanted to quit and give it all up, but could not. He questioned God, but was told only to speak what he had been given to speak; to fulfill his prophetic vocation.

Jeremiah reminds us that being a Christian and fulfilling our Christian vocations in this world and life is often not easy. We are afflicted by our own sin and the sins of others. We will endure the attacks and assaults of satan, the allurements of the world, and the urges of our own sinful nature. God will discipline and at times may seem very far away and as if He doesn’t care. We see death and destruction, God’s truth challenged, and at times it may seem as if the evil is winning - around us and even in us. We see how weak and helpless we are in so many ways. Like Jeremiah. 

And yet in the midst of this bleak picture, Jeremiah speaks wonderful words of hope! Words of Gospel. Words that make this chapter of Lamentations the heart and center of the book. He says:

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!

My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

     they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”  . . .

For the Lord will not cast off forever,

but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
     according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.

Think about those verses for a moment and note how astounding they are! Jeremiah said: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Looking at the devastation that had just wiped out Judah, it certainly seemed like the Lord’s love for His people had ceased. His mercies never come to an end. Looking at the rubble that used to be the Temple, the place of prayer and forgiveness, it certainly seemed like that mercy had come to an end. They are new every morning. But every morning Jeremiah woke up he saw nothing new - only smoldering fires and cries of grief. 

But Jeremiah can speak these words because they are not words of sight but words of faith. That as God has been, so He will be. That as He has promised, so He will do. The Lord does not change, as we so often do. Great is His faithfulness. Therefore, Jeremiah says, I will hope in Him. I will trust in Him. I am confident in Him.

And Jeremiah was right. Not just because God did not cast off Judah forever, but did bring them back to their land and enabled them to rebuild city and Temple. But even more than that, because God in His steadfast love sent His Son to be the Suffering Servant for the sin of the world. Jeremiah may have been a suffering servant speaking the word of the Lord for Judah’s sake, but Jesus was the suffering servant who was the Word of God in the flesh, come for the life of the world. Come not just to call us to repentance, but to be the source of our life and faith and hope.

And so as we heard from Hebrews and Mark, Jesus was the one who interceded and prayed for us. Jesus is the one who suffered for us. Jesus is the one who was ridiculed and mocked for us. Jesus is the one who was abused and reviled for us. Jesus is the one who took our place in the darkness and was forsaken by His Father for us. Jesus is the one who bore the wrath of God against sin for us, and who died for us. Jesus is, therefore, the source of eternal salvation for us. The high priest after the order of Melchizedek - which means a high priest who will be so forever. And so Jesus does Jeremiah one better - Jeremiah called the people back in repentance and to be reconciled with God; Jesus came to be our reconciliation with God.

And so, like Jeremiah, we have hope. A strong and confident trust born not of wishful thinking or pious wishes, but born from the cross. The cross which shows you how great the love of God for you. How great His mercy. How great His forgiveness. That if He cast off, it will not be forever. If He cause grief, He will have compassion. If He afflict, it is in love, not anger. For His anger against your sin is done and gone. All of it poured out on Jesus on the cross. And so what remains for you is His steadfast love, His forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life.

This promise of a Saviour Jeremiah saw from afar and it is what enabled him to speak such words and have such faith. And so too for you and me. We live in a world of sin, sadness, and death. The Lenten season especially reminds us of this reality. But we do not despair, but repent. And our Lord is merciful and gracious and abounding in steadfast love. He is lavish with His forgiveness and His blessings, and pours them out upon you. You have His promise. And great is His faithfulness.

In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Congregation at Prayer

For the Week of Lent 3  (March 12-17, 2012)

Invocation: In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Speak the Apostles’ Creed.

Verse: John 3:14-15 – “And 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.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #571  “God Loved the World So That He Gave”

Hymns for Wednesday Vespers: 613, 809, 433

Hymns for next Sunday: 423, 571, 625, 702, 425, 561

Readings for the Week: [The Scriptures for Monday-Wednesday are the Scriptures for Wednesday Lenten Vespers. The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the readings for this coming Sunday.]

Monday:  Lamentations 3

“Great is your faithfulness,” Jeremiah proclaims. How can this true even in difficult times? How do you know for sure?

Tuesday:  Hebrews 5:7-10

What do these verses say about Jesus? His suffering? His faith? His work for you?

Wednesday:  Mark 15:16-20, 27-34

How was Jesus mocked? Why?

Thursday:  Numbers 21:4-9

Why was the serpent on a pole good news for the people of Israel? Why is it good news for us today?

Friday:  Ephesians 2:1-10

Why did God act in our behalf? What do we then do?

Saturday:  John 3:14-21

Jesus did not come to condemn - why not? What did Jesus therefore come to do? How?

The Catechism: Baptism: How can water do such great things? [Part 2] Certainly not just water, but  . . . a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in Titus, chapter three: “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.” [Titus 3:5-8]

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s continued provision and faith for the tornado victims in the Midwest.

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregational vice president, Gene Veith.

+ the Lutheran Church of Australia, for God’s blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for the Siberian Lutheran Mission Society.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Lent 3 Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“A New Temple, A New Life”

Text: John 2:13-22; Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

We see a very different side of Jesus in the Holy Gospel for today. A side of Him that we are, perhaps, not used to and maybe, not altogether comfortable with. For today, He is not the [Christmas] babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, but a man overturning tables and scattering money. Today, He is not the Epiphany Jesus who dines with tax collectors and sinners, loves wayward disciples, and warmly touches untouchable lepers, but is chasing men and animals from the Temple. Today, He is not the Jesus on the receiving end of the whip, but on the giving end.

But even so, this is not a different Jesus, nor Jesus acting out of character. This is Jesus still acting, same as always, in love and compassion. Jesus acting in love to care for His Bride, the Church, with a love that cannot stand idly by, but must act. A love that in its zeal is all consuming. A love for His Father and for you.

John and the other disciples remembered the Psalm which spoke of this: “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” We also sang that in the Introit today. But realize that it wasn’t the house, the Temple building itself, that was so important. God had been satisfied with a traveling tent, the Tabernacle, for His house and never asked for another to be built. Rather, it was what took place at the Temple that was so important. It was the place of the shedding of blood. It was the place where God and man were reconciled. It was where sin was dealt with and forgiveness given. A place of faith in the promises of God. A place where God gifted His people with Himself.

But that’s exactly what wasn’t being taken seriously anymore. Things in the Temple had been turned upside down long before Jesus got there that day. For God’s house, which was supposed to be a house of prayer, a house of faith and forgiveness, a house of holiness, had been turned into a house of trade. Oh, it had all probably started out with good intentions – providing sacrificial animals for traveling pilgrims who couldn’t bring them themselves – but had taken on a life of its own, and turned into doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Christ’s Bride, His Church, His people, weren’t being taken care of anymore. Forgiveness had been turned into business, and God’s love and grace had been reduced to a transaction.

Now there’s an important truth it would be well for us to learn and remember from what developed at the Temple in Jesus’ day - that what you do affects what you believe. Or, to put that in a more theological way, doctrine (what you believe) and practice (what you do) go together. So when you start conducting business in the Temple (practice) you soon begin to think of God in business terms (doctrine). When you start buying animals, you may soon start to think in terms of buying forgiveness. And while everything may look good and right and upstanding on the outside (what you do), on the inside, in the heart (what you believe), everything is wrong.

That danger is still very real for us today as well. In the church, and in our lives. It is very dangerous to think that I can live however I want and as long as I believe the right thing, I’ll be okay. Because if you live as if God did not matter and as if you mattered most, you know what will happen? Pretty soon God will not matter. If you live as if the people around you don’t matter, pretty soon they won’t. What we do affects what we believe. That’s why the church has always been careful with her liturgy and practices - what we do here, affects what we believe in here, in our hearts.

And the opposite is true also: what we believe will affect what we do. Because what lives in your head and in your heart will work itself out in your actions. Our liturgy and our lives not only affect what we believe, they also reflect what we believe. And so if we believe Christ is truly present here in His house, we will act like it. And if Christ matters to us in our lives, we will live like it.

But when you take a look - at your life and at your heart - what do you see? What does you self-examination show? Maybe you and I haven’t been selling animals in the Temple lately, but have we been bargaining with God in different ways? Confessing one truth but living another? Negotiating with Him to try to hang onto some of our pet sins? Trying to deal with Him by doing some good deeds to make up for our bad deeds? Do we perhaps try to manage our relationship with God instead of letting God’s love have His way with us? 

So maybe we need a little Lenten turning over of the tables in our hearts, and a driving out of the beasts of sin that have settled in and made themselves at home in us. Yes, we need the love and compassion of a God that will not let us go our own way; that will not let us stay in our sin and die. We need the love and compassion of a God that gives the Law, the Ten Commandments, to reveal the stench of our sin in order to cleanse the tainted temples of our hearts. We need the love and compassion of a God that cuts in order to heal; that kills in order to make alive. We need the love and compassion of a God that caused Him to send His Son into our sin-filled world. We need the love and compassion of a God that consumes Jesus with zeal for the Temple, because He is consumed with zeal for you. We need the love and compassion of a God that will drive us to repentance.

And thank God we have such a God! Who is completely consumed with you; with your forgiveness and reconciliation. Who cares about everything – even the details of your life. Who cares about how you live. Who cares about the things you do. Who cares when He sees you wandering away. Who cares when He sees you hurting yourself in things that may seem harmless to you. Who cares so much . . . and maybe, in the opinion of some, cares too much. Like when He steps in to do something about it. 

But it is that very stepping in that not only works in our hearts and lives to drive us to repentance, but that has provided for us a new Temple. A new Temple that has taken the place of the old one. A new Temple that isn’t anchored in Jerusalem. A new place where God dwells with His people in human flesh and blood. And so a new place where God and man are brought back together again; where forgiveness takes place. The new Temple of which Jesus said, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 

And it was. For that dwelling of God, destroyed on the cross, was raised up three days later, which means that while the other Temple, the old stone Temple, is long gone, the new flesh and bone Temple of Jesus is still with us. And will always be with us. With us in love and compassion. To care, forgive, teach, lead, heal, speak, cleanse, wash, and feed. Here to care for His Bride, His Church. Still completely consumed by love for you.

That is the Jesus who walked into the Temple that Passover in Jerusalem. The Lamb of God who rendered all other sacrificial lambs obsolete. The One upon whom the whip of hate and scorn lashed down. The One who redeemed us not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death (Small Catechism, explanation of the Second Article). 

And so the One consumed with us is consumed by our sin on the cross – and yet He is not consumed, but risen and now lives to give forgiveness. And the One consumed with us is consumed by our death in His death – and yet He is not consumed, but risen and now lives to give life. And the One consumed with us is now consumed by us, as He gives us here His body to eat and His blood to drink – and yet He is not consumed, but risen and now lives in us. His life into our life and our life into His life. All to one end: that we might live with Him forever. That as He dwells with us here in our home, we too might dwell with Him there in His home. 

And that was always the plan. That when the new Temple came to Jerusalem, the old Temple would pass away. That is why, as St. Paul wrote, we preach Christ crucified. Not a God we can deal with or manage. Not a God who puts up with us. Not a God who is content to let us go our own ways, to define our own truth, who winks at our indiscretions, or who cuts us a little slack. No. But a God who cares. Who put His love into action, and still does. Who came to cleanse us from our sin and redeem us as His own. For He is a God who could not stand idly by, and who still can’t. But in love and compassion, comes to us. That you now be His Temple. His Temple cleansed in forgiveness, raised to a new life, and in which and through which He lives and works for the life of the world. May God bestow on us such grace.

In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lent 2 Midweek Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“The Felling of Majestic Zion”

Text: Lamentations 2; Hebrews 4:14-16; Luke 23:39-43

Jeremiah’s description of the destruction of Judah continues in Lamentations chapter 2, but this time in more detail. And it becomes clear just how great this fall was. Judah had been so majestic, so great in splendor; Jerusalem, as we heard, had been called “the perfection of beauty” and “the joy of all the earth” (v. 15). No more. Their fall was complete, the destruction total. What was before admired was now pitied. What had before struck awe in the hearts of men, now caused them to vomit and wretch. Think of the destruction in the Midwest from the tornadoes of last week - the complete and utter devastation, wiping out entire towns. That’s what Jeremiah was now looking at. That’s all that was left of once majestic Zion.

But it was, in fact, even worse than that. For, Jeremiah says, not only was the nation of Judah conquered and the city of Jerusalem destroyed, but God had “laid in ruins his meeting place . . . had scorned his altar, and disowned his sanctuary” (v. 6-7). Or in other words, the Temple was no more. The place where God had promised to be for His people, the place where they could come with sacrifices and return to the Lord in repentance, the only place God had given for this . . . was gone. Which meant, it seemed, there was no way back. No way back to God. No place for sacrifice and repentance. No place for hope. It seemed as if God really had left, once and for all. Now, instead of having the cloud of God’s glorious presence, Zion was under the cloud of sin, death, and destruction. With no way out.

And so Jeremiah finally wonders: What words of comfort are left after this? Who can heal this - this ruin as vast as the sea (v. 13)? Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy. That’s all he’s got. There is nothing else to turn to, nothing else to rely on; only this to cling to: that the Lord is merciful. Even when He disciplines, even when He doesn’t seem merciful at all. The Lord is merciful. He doesn’t just act mercifully from time to time - He is merciful, all the time. So: Lord, have mercy. The cry of faith. The cry of poor, wretched sinners. The cry of those completely dependent on the Lord. The cry God was waiting for.

That was the cry missing from the altar and the Temple. Sacrifices were being made, but they were thoughtless and careless, mechanical and faithless, and so useless. God didn’t need the animals or the blood - the people did. But they were just going through the motions - doing but not believing; offering but not repenting. So the Lord, in mercy and acting mercifully, helped them see their need by taking away everything. Everything they relied on, everything they turned to, everything they knew - so they would know only Him, so they would turn only to Him, so they would rely only on Him. It was a hard and tough love.

And, honestly, the kind of mercy and love we often need, too. When we find ourselves just going through the motions, or doing the right things for the wrong reasons, or living our lives quite apart and separate from faith and hope and love. Will a loving and merciful God and Father allow us to continue on such a path to eternal destruction, or will He discipline? Destroying now so that we live forever? So that we, too, cry out in faith: Lord, have mercy! The cry of poor, wretched sinners. The cry of those completely dependent on the Lord. For that is what we are.

And the Lord is merciful. He would bring His people back from their captivity, and they would rebuild the city and altar and Temple - although not back to its former majesty. For God had another altar and Temple in mind - far more glorious than had ever been before. A Temple not made with hands, and an altar not made of stone, but of two pieces of wood in the shape of a cross. And there He would show how great His mercy, as His only-begotten Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, hung in the darkness, under the cloud of wrath and destruction against the sin of the world. Here is the atonement for the sin of the world, and the place of mercy for all people that will never be taken away. Here is the once and for all answer to the prayer: Lord, have mercy. Here is the mercy of the Lord for you. Here is His forgiveness for you, His life for you, His salvation for you.

So as the author of Hebrews wrote, since we have a great and eternal High Priest who has done this for us, we do not despair, but can approach the throne of grace with confidence, to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Every need, no matter what it is. He knows our weaknesses, He knows our temptations, and He is merciful. And so to our cry, Lord, have mercy . . . He did, He does, and He will.

And we saw this also in the verses from Luke when the thief on the cross turned to Jesus and prayed, Lord, have mercy. Oh, it’s true, we are not told he said those exact words, but I would say that is what he prayed; that is what is meant when he said in his weakness, in his sinfulness, in his utter helplessness and desperation: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” That’s all he had. He could do nothing else. But it is the cry our Lord was waiting for, and hoping for. The cry that is music to His ears. The cry that says: You are the merciful One who has come to have mercy and I need mercy! Lord, have mercy. And He does. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Those words are meant for you, too.

Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me . . .

O my Savior, help afford By Your Spirit and Your Word!

When my wayward heart would stray, Keep me in the narrow way;

Grace in time of need supply While I live and when I die. (LSB #611, v. 1, 5)

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness . . .

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace . . .

His oath, His covenant and blood Support me in the raging flood;

When every earthly prop gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. (LSB #575, vs. 1-3)

In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lent 2 Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“A New Life on A New Page”

Text: Mark 8:27-38 (Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 5:1-11)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Peter and the other eleven disciples had learned their lesson well . . . at least the first half. They knew who Jesus was. Peter confidently asserts “You are the Christ.” Matthew, in his Gospel, tells us Peter spoke even more, adding “the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16).” And the others nodded in agreement behind Peter. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, cleanse lepers, expel demons, teach with an authority never before heard or seen, command creation with His word and have it obey, and even raise the dead. There was no question to them who Jesus was. Others may not have realized this yet, thinking instead that Jesus was John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other Old Testament prophets come back to life. But they knew. Lesson learned. Midterm exam passed.

So now begins the second half of their education. They knew who Jesus was - they did not yet understand what He had come to do. All the miracles and teaching was great, but the greatest work was still to come. And [so Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Now, as 21st century Christians, I think it’s hard for us to appreciate just how utterly absurd and wrong that sounded to Peter and the others. Those are words we hear at least every Sunday; words that are embedded in our hearts and in our liturgy; words that are what the Christian faith is all about. But for Peter and the other eleven disciples, it would have been like when you’re on the internet and you click on a link that doesn’t exist; you get a page that pops up on your screen that says: “Page 404 error - that page does not exist.” Or if you’re not on the internet, it would be like dialing a telephone number and getting that annoying recorded message after those really annoying tones - “do-do-doot . . . I’m sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service.”

That’s what happened in the minds of the twelve when Jesus said these words about rejection and suffering and crucifixion - it was a link that didn’t exist; it was “do-do-doot . . . that number is not in service.” Their minds could not yet grasp that the Messiah who had come to save the world would do so by dying. That the Messiah who had come to save the world would not save Himself. That the Messiah who had come to save the world would be destroyed by the very people He had come to save. It just doesn’t make sense. 

And so Peter takes Jesus aside - isn’t that interesting? Peter does this privately - and he begins to rebuke Jesus. The student is correcting the teacher. Mark doesn’t tell us what he said, but again, Matthew has the details, telling us that Peter says, No Lord, this shall never happen to you (Matt 16:22). Some scholars think that Peter was actually speaking from faith here, that he was saying: Don’t worry! Your Father would never let something like that happen to His Son.  . . .  But it is usually not a good idea to correct the teacher! They know what they’re talking about. So Jesus now has to rebuke Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” 

Note well what Jesus is saying there: that page may not exist in your mind Peter, but it is the mind of God. In fact, not only would the Father not stop this, this is exactly why the Father sent His Son. And not only would the Father let it happen, the Father has a hand in it. For as the prophet Isaiah had proclaimed: the Messiah “would be stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God . . . and the Lord would lay on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4, 6).”

Peter and the others had a lot to learn.

This is how God would fulfill His promise to Abraham, to bless all nations through him, through his promised offspring. This was God, as St. Paul wrote, dying not for good or righteous people, but for sinners - even those who put Him on that cross. This is how God would reconcile the world to Himself; a world made perfect that had been plunged into sin, the perfect God would make holy again by being plunged into the very same sin, into its very deepest depths of suffering, death, and the grave. The justice and righteousness God demanded He Himself would provide, that in His resurrection the world be raised from sin and death to life again.

And so Jesus must die. There was no other way.

And so Peter must learn to put his faith in this word, for this word is what his faith is given to believe. Not to make sense, not to add up, not to be what Peter thought or expected, but to believe. For you can say and believe a lot of things about Jesus, but if you don’t have the cross, you have not Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, but some other Jesus, who is no Saviour at all.

That’s why Jesus’ rebuke to Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” may at first blush seem a bit harsh, but this is the satanic doctrine - to have Jesus without the cross, and so have no Jesus at all. But faith clings to what it is given. Faith clings to the word, even when that word is the word of the cross. For there is no other way. To do anything else is to make the same mistake as Peter . . .

Which brings us to the rest of Jesus’ teaching, when He called the crowd of people to Himself, along with His disciples, and said to all of them: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”

Now, here is where you perhaps experienced a “Peter moment” - a “Page 404 error,” a “do-do-doot,” in your own mind! For Jesus’ cross is one thing; but a cross for me? To lose my life? And so we often do the Peter thing, and take Jesus aside and tell Him, “No Lord, this shall never happen to me.”

We do that, you know. When husbands won’t lay down their lives for their wives, and wives don’t submit to their husbands. When children don’t obey their parents. When parents exasperate their children. When rather than do what we’ve been given to do, we let our own sinful desires reign and rule in our hearts. We all do it. We try to save our lives, our own little kingdoms, and hang on to it as long as we can. Because that’s what we know. That’s the page we’re on.

But what Jesus is doing here - with Peter and the other disciples and the crowds and you and me - is giving us a new page; a new way of thinking; a new mind - the mind of our heavenly Father. We may think we know what this world and life are all about and how to get by and how to achieve success and happiness and maybe even fame . . . but where does it all end up? The grave. Steve Jobs is dead. President Reagan is dead. Whitney Houston is dead. Those people in the Midwest hit by the tornadoes this week, many are suddenly dead. And one day - unless Jesus comes back first - you and I will join them. So maybe the page we live on and our way of thinking isn’t so great. Maybe there’s a better way . . . a better page . . .

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”

And so as Peter and the others had to learn, so we have to learn: the cross is the way to life. True life. This is not just a call to suffer, it is a call to die. To delete that page in your mind that you’re currently living on, that makes sense to you, that you think is so great, and live on the page you are given by Christ. The page of the cross. That page that teaches us that we only begin to live when we die.

We only begin to live when we die . . . Wait, I know! “Do-do-doot!” “Page 404 error,” right? Well, maybe not. For you’ve been baptized, which means that you have died with Christ and been raised to a new life. You repent of your sins, which means to die to and put to death those old sinful urges and life and be raised to a new life in the forgiveness of your sins. You have, in fact, begun to live because you have died and been raised with Christ to a new life. A new life on a new page, where having been given a new life, made a child of God, given the Holy Spirit, and promised the kingdom of heaven, you can deny yourself because Christ has given you everything you need. You can deny yourself and lay down your life for others. You can deny yourself and follow your Saviour. You can live as He lived, love as He loved, and die as He died, confident that death is no longer the end. For death no longer has the last word - Jesus and His resurrection do.

That’s a life worth living. A life that will never end. It’s not easy! Your old sinful flesh will keep dragging you down; satan will keep tempting you to go back to your old sinful home page. And so our Lord comes to you today here in His Supper, to feed you with His Body and Blood, to feed you with His life and forgiveness, to strengthen and keep you firm in the faith. The faith that He has given you, the life that He has given you. That when He comes again in the glory of His Father with the holy angels, you will not be ashamed. You will not be ashamed of your sins, for they are forgiven. You will not be ashamed of Jesus, for He is your life. And He will not be ashamed of you, for you are His dearly beloved.

That’s a life worth living. 

That’s a death worth dying. 

That’s a Saviour worth believing.

In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lent 1 Midweek Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“The Misery of Fallen Zion”

Text: Lamentations 1; Hebrews 3:7-14; Luke 23:32-38

It has been quipped that the Lord gave us two ears but only one mouth for a reason! So that we will listen twice as much as we speak. For with God, listening is important. We need to hear His Word. We need to hear what He has to say to us. And so if Lent is about repenting, even more is it about listening. Listening to the Word of the Lord.

In the first chapter of the book of Lamentations, we hear that God’s people have now been completely conquered. The words of this first chapter painted a very dark and desperate picture. The Assyrians and Babylonians had come against them in battle and won. First the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and now the Babylonians had come in and conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Instead of living in the goodness of the Promised Land, God’s people were now prisoners of war.

Why? Beause they would not listen. Verse 18 said: “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word.”

This is not what God wanted. He sent the prophet Jeremiah to them, and Jeremiah called them to repentance for forty years! Sometimes they listened, sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes they made changes, but even when they did, things soon went right back to the way they had been before. Because they didn’t listen. They didn’t listen when God said trust me. They didn’t listen when God said I want to forgive you. They didn’t listen when God said those nations and false gods you are trusting in cannot help you. They didn’t listen. 

And without the Lord, they were no match for the Babylonians. And now, the Promised Land was no longer a land flowing with milk and honey, but a land flowing with blood and tears. In love - yes, in love - God let His people be defeated, that they might turn back to Him. For that is all God wanted. For His people to return to Him - to listen to His Word, repent of their sin, and hear His Word of forgiveness. Because the alternative is not just expulsion from the Promised Land of Canaan, but without His forgiveness, the alternative is exclusion from the Promised Land of heaven.

But that is not what God wants. And so to us He sends His Word, that we would return to Him, repent of our sin, and hear His Word of forgiveness. So if we have two ears and one mouth, let us first hear His call to repentance [ear], confess our sin [mouth], and then hear His word of forgiveness [ear].

And the people of Judah can be an example for us here. They show us that our sin is no small thing; that God takes sin seriously. Because it is serious. It may not always seem that way to us, but that is because sin prevents us from seeing rightly. It is God’s Word that teaches us the truth. If we listen.

The people of Judah didn’t. They trusted in other nations for their protection instead of God, who had promised to fight for them. They loved what they had instead of the One who gave it. And they feared not God, but the people and nations around them, and worried what they could do to them. And with this wrong fear, love, and trust, they forgot the One who was a Father to them, who led them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt, and who had wonderfully given them this land. They believed what they saw instead of what they heard. You and I know all too well how easy that is to do.

Judah needed a Saviour. Yes, they had always needed one. But especially now. The Temple was no more. Jerusalem was no more. Their nation was no more.

One of the early church fathers, a man by the name of Clement of Alexandria, writing about this chapter said: we too. We, too, he said, are sick with shameful lusts. We, too, gorge ourselves with reprehensible excesses. We, too, who follow our passions and impulses, instead of living soberly and steadily. We, too, need a Saviour. We are sick and need healing. We have wandered and need guiding. We are blind and need the light. We are thirsty and need the living water. We are dead and need life. We are sheep who need a Shepherd.

And we have one. We have One who took the place of sinful Judah under the wrath of God. That first chapter of Lamentations sounded pretty bad, but it was all that - and more - that our Saviour endured on the cross. For them, and for you. He was the One abandoned. The Prince who became a slave. The One with no one to comfort Him. Whose friends became His enemies. Who had no resting place, no place to lay His head. Who was afflicted for our transgressions. Who looked anything but majestic on the cross. Who was gloated over and mocked. Who became filthy - with our sins. Who looked so gory that people turned away. Who groaned and sorrowed. And then bowed His head in your death.

What we succumb to, the sin and weakness and temptation, He did not. And what He succumbed to - death - He did so that you may not. That though your body die, your soul will not. 

How do you know this?  . . .  Listen! In the last verse of Lamentations chapter one, Judah cried out for vengeance to those who did this to her; that they be dealt with the same way as her. But listen to what Jesus cries out: Father, forgive them. His blood cries out not for vengeance, but for mercy. Forgiveness for you. Mercy for you. Life for you.

And if there’s one word your Saviour wants you to hear this Lenten season, it is that one. His word of forgiveness. Judah would not listen; she would not repent. But this is the only word that really matters; the word that gives eternal life.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts . . .

Listen to your Saviour.

In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.