Midweek Lent Service 5: Audio Sermon (16-Mar-2016)

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Midweek Lent Service 5 [Mark 15:1-5; John 18:28-38a] (16-Mar-2016)

This sermon was preached at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Magill, 7.30pm.

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

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

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.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, bless all of us with your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

In trying to finding about Jesus’ life and his suffering and death, we have four books in the bible where the history is recorded: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In our mid-week sermons during Lent this year, I haven’t been sticking to one particular account of Jesus’ suffering, but I have been going back and forth between the different gospels.

Today, some people don’t think this is the right thing to do, but that we should just stick to one gospel and go with just that. It is said that we should let each of the individual writers of the New Testament speak by themselves, and let their unique voice come through. And I must agree, there is a lot of benefit in doing that. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all have their unique features. And so, sometimes trying to bring the four gospels together, and harmonise them is frowned upon, because it breaks up the flow of each of the four writers.

But we have to be careful about this, because we have to realise that there is another author that is at work in the Gospels, apart from the four evangelists, and that is the Holy Spirit. St Peter writes in his second letter: No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Each of the four evangelists—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—were all carried along by the Holy Spirit, or as Paul writes to Timothy, what they wrote was breathed out by God, or inspired by God.

But also, in that same chapter, St Peter says something else about these writings. He says: We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Each of the evangelists were writing down what they and the apostles actually saw and experienced. They weren’t writing down myths and stories, but they were eyewitnesses of [Christ’s] majesty. So it’s important to read each version of the events, but it’s also important to draw them all together, since there is one voice of the Holy Spirit inspiring them all, and there is one unified history of the events that actually happened. And that’s the most important thing: that everything that we’re talking about actually happened. St Paul writes: If Christ were not raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. And also he says: If Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Also, we can say, if Christ had not actually suffered, died, and endured what he did for us, then our preaching is in vain, your faith is in vain and you are still in your sins. What a wonderful thing it is then, that the events that we are reading about tonight did actually happen, which means our preaching has power and a point, your faith is real and is precious in the sight of God, and you are not still in your sins, but they are completely and totally washed away and forgiven.

So let’s come to our readings for tonight. Tonight we’ve read both from Mark 15 and John 18. Let’s go through the gospels, and get the series of events.

First, at the beginning of Matthew 27, we read: When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. We read a couple weeks ago about how the high priest tore his robes and accused Jesus of blasphemy, and then the Jewish council declared: He is worthy of death. So if they already decided this, why did they now need to take counsel against Jesus to put him to death? Well, the reason is given in the next verse, where it says: And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

Now, if they wanted to put him to death, why didn’t they do it themselves? Why did they need to bring him to Pilate? Well, you see, Rome had invaded Judea and the whole region around that area. We notice in the background all throughout Jesus’ life that the Romans are constantly there. We don’t see this in earlier times, like during the life of Abraham, or King David—the Romans weren’t a significant empire back then. So when Jesus was born, we read that Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem because the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, wanted to take a census. We also see during the life of Jesus all kinds of Roman characters: Romans soldiers ask John the Baptist how they should live, we read about Romans centurions asking Jesus questions and asking him for miracles, and also we read about many people, like the apostle and evangelist Matthew, who wrote the first gospel in the New Testament, and also the little man Zacchaeus, who were tax-collectors, who collected tax not for the Jewish nation but for Rome. Even when Jesus is on the cross, a centurion is there and says: Truly this man was the Son of God.

So we can see that in the life of Jesus the Romans are constantly there in the background. However, when Romans invaded particular countries, one of the things that they would do to control the people was to take away their right to give a death sentence. If a particular nation’s leaders, whether it was in Judea, or Lebanon, or Syria, or wherever, wanted to put a person to death, they had to take them to the Roman governor. And so this is what happens in our reading. The Jewish leaders take counsel to put Jesus to death, and so instead of being accused of murder by the Romans, they tried to work out how they could manipulate the politics and have it done officially. So they take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor for that region. Here Jesus takes upon himself all the sins of dodgy, crooked politics, of cooked up conspiracies, whether it be in government, in the workplace, in the church, or wherever, and he takes it all with him to the cross. He suffers it, and he pays the price for it.

We also read in the Gospel of John: They themselves [that is, the Jewish priests and elders] did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. Now, Jesus and his disciples had already eaten the Passover, but there was also a festival of Unleavened Bread that was going during this whole time. The Jewish people did not enter into the house of Gentile people, but kept them separate, but still, they are happy to make use of Pilate for their purposes, but they stay outside.

Next Thursday night, Maundy Thursday, is a special day in the church calendar where we remember Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. And instead of celebrating the Passover each year, like the Jews, we Christians now celebrate it every Sunday, or as Jesus says, as often as you drink it. There’s no set time. Instead of eating lamb of bread with herbs like the Jewish people, Jesus has given something new to the Passover—he invites us to take bread and wine, to bless it, and receive his body and blood. Jesus himself is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Instead of painting blood of a lamb on our doorposts, like the Jews did in Egypt, we drink Christ’s blood into our own bodies, and paint his blood on the doorposts of our hearts and minds and souls. You might like to go through Exodus 12 where it gives the regulations for the Passover, and see how each of them is fulfilled and transformed in the Lord’s Supper. St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5: Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So here we see the Jews bringing Jesus to Pilate, but staying outside to keep themselves holy. But it’s not Pilate’s house that makes a person unholy, it’s what comes out of people’s hearts. Jesus says: What comes out of a person is what defiles him. And what’s coming out of their hearts here? A hatred for God’s only Son. In fact, we would want to go into Pilate’s house to make ourselves holy, because Jesus is in there. And instead of being in the Jewish temple, where the curtain is torn in two, wouldn’t we rather be at the foot of the cross where Jesus is, and let his blood drop down on our heads? That’s the place to find holiness, not with these priests and elders, who think they are so respectable. It says in Hebrews: Jesus suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. There let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach that he endured. So let’s not stay here with the priests and elders and respectable who don’t want to go inside Pilate’s dirty house, let’s go wherever Jesus is to be found, whether it’s in a palace or a mud hut or wherever there are people who listen to the voice of their good shepherd. There is no dirtiness where Jesus is, all sin and filth is paid for and scrubbed away—only purity and cleanness and holiness. And through the forgiveness of sins, Jesus gives us his own cleanness, his own purity, not because we are clean and pure, but because he is. He covers up our dirtiness, with the white clean robes of his righteousness and purity.

So now we read about where Jesus is accused by the chief priests to Pilate. First of all, we read in John that Pilate does the proper and right thing and asks them for their accusation. He says: What accusation do you bring against this man? At first, we read in John that the Jews were a bit annoyed by being addressed like this. They say: If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you. They want Pilate simply to accept their authority on the matter. And also, they don’t need Pilate deciding for them what is right and what is wrong. They already think of themselves as the moral guardians of society, and don’t think that they are answerable to anyone, let alone a Roman! But of course, we know, that this man was not doing evil! Perhaps the priest and elders felt as though their plans to put Jesus to death that they had talked about that morning were being hindered and foiled.

But in Luke we also read, that they must also have brought some actual accusations to Pilate. We read: We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Well the first thing is a lie: they see we found this man misleading our nation. Jesus would only be misleading people, if he were not telling them the truth. But Jesus is telling them the truth, so he is not misleading them, but he’s leading them to heaven. Jesus doesn’t says: I am a liar who is, who is leading you to death and hell, but he says: I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. He is leading people on the narrow way that leads to life, not the broad way that leads to death. So the second thing they say is also a lie that Jesus was forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar. Jesus never said that, but when he was asked about this, he took a coin in his hand, showed them the picture of Caesar on the back and said, Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. If Caesar wants his money back, give it to him. But God wants your very selves, your very lives, your bodies, your souls as a holy and acceptable sacrifice to him: so also, give to God what is God’s. Everything we have has always belonged to God. But the third thing they say is true that Jesus was saying that he himself is Christ, a king. However, even though it’s true, the Jewish people didn’t believe him, and they accused him of lying. But in actual fact, he is the Christ, he is a king. He is our prophet, our priest and our king.

So in John we read that Pilate wasn’t interested in dealing with tha matter. So he says: Take himself yourselves and judge him by your own law. The problem with this is that Jesus is actually their judge, and he will judge the whole world by God’s law. So the people reveal the real reason why they have brought him, not because of justice and fairness and because they wanted to observe the law, but they say: It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. When they say, it is not lawful, they were allowed to put someone to death for various reasons given in the law of Moses. But it was the Romans who had brought in this restriction on them—so the Jews essentially say to Pilate: We’ve done our job, but we need you to do the rest. But do you see the catch in what they say. They don’t say: it is not lawful for us to give a person a fair trial, they say it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.

They’ve already got the whole thing cooked up! They don’t need Pilate to give a fair trial, they just want Pilate do what they want and to put him to death.

So John writes: The Jews said to [Pilate], “it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. And then he adds: This was to fulfil the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. Now, we all know that people can die in all kinds of way: sickness, accident, or whatever, but also they can be killed, and put to death. Jesus already says in advance that he is not just going to die of old age, or have an accident, but he is going to be put to death, he is going to be executed. And not only is he going to be executed, but Jesus prophesied in advance that he knows the exact way in which he will be executed. Now through history there have been all kinds of ways that people have been executed, and mostly different countries used one way of executing people at a particular time. So sometimes there were firing squads, or in some states in America today, there are lethal injections or previously, the electric chair. In Saudi Arabia today, there are beheadings. This was also done in merry England with King Henry’s wives. Also, at the time of the French revolution, there was the guillotine, and then in different countries, sometimes people were hanged. It was common among Jews to stone a person to death, and this actually happened with Stephen, which we read about in Acts 7. In fact, in John 8, when we read that Jesus said that he already existed before Abraham, it says: They picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

This is not the right time for Jesus to die, and so he doesn’t allow it. But also it’s not the right method. Even we read earlier, when Jesus preached in his hometown in Nazareth, that the people tried to throw him off a cliff. But this also wasn’t the right time for Jesus to die, or the right method. In Matthew 20, we read a very clear prophecy where Jesus says: See, we are going to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day. Do you see here how Jesus clearly says that he will be crucified! And crucifixion was something that Jews didn’t do—this was a Roman thing, and was a particularly cruel method of execution reserved for rebels, for people who were trying to sit people up against Roman rule.

And so, we see that the Jews hand Jesus over to the Romans, and that Jesus had already prophesied this in advance. Now, it’s not as if anyone there, whether it was the priests or Pilate, or whoever, was forced to do what they did. The fact that Jesus prophesies it, doesn’t mean that God had them all on a string like a puppet. However, they all had a sinful nature, sinful flesh. They were created by God in his image, just like all of us, but because of sin, the devil has so corrupted everything about us, that we are unable to do anything good, unless God works it. And so, God works something good here—it’s just like with Joseph and his brothers. They dumped Joseph in a pit and sold him off to Egypt, but God raised him up to be a prince in Egypt. Joseph says: You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. In the same way, even though crucifixion is a bad thing, and it is the evil hearts of people that invented this cruelty and contrived that Jesus should be killed in this way, Jesus himself, as our true God, was working all of this for good, fulfilling his own prophesy, and taking on the sin of the whole world and paying the price and atoning for it.

In Matthew, Mark and Luke, we read about a short version of the conversation that Pilate has with Jesus. We read where Pilate picks up the only accusation of the Jews that was true, that Jesus was saying that he was the Christ, a king. Pilate says: Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus says: You have said so. It’s as if Jesus says, “You said it.” It’s one thing for Jesus to say he is the king of the Jews, but what about you? Who does Pontius Pilate say that Jesus is? Who do you say Jesus is?

At the same time, we read that just as Jesus was silent when they were accusing him in the Jewish council, he also remains silent when the Jewish people accuse him before Pilate. Pilate must have been wondering: why doesn’t Jesus defend himself? Well, how you defend yourself against such hatred as that? But Jesus want to die for you, so he doesn’t try and wriggle out of this. This is his sacrifice—here he sacrifices his right to reply. Pilate says: Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Now in the Gospel of John, we have longer version of what Jesus and Pilate talk about. We read: Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”

Jesus has already made his testimony before the Jewish people. He doesn’t need Pilate to repeat things again. But Jesus is not interested in formalities, he is interested in souls and people’s consciences. You might remember when Jesus said to the disciples: Who do people say that I am? But then later he says: But who do you say that I am? This is important for us as Christians: Jesus asks this question directly to us individually. Who do you say that I am? And the same goes for Pilate here. Pilate asks a question, but Jesus won’t let him ask a question on other people’s behalf. Who’s asking? You or them?

So Pilate is a bit affronted by this. He says: Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?

Jesus now makes a wonderful confession of faith. He says: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.

We see this already happen back in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus is arrested and Peter pulls out a knife and cuts someone’s ear off. But Jesus says to Peter, “Put back your sword.” It’s not the time for this. It’s time for me to go now. But also, Jesus is telling Peter, this is not how my kingdom works. My kingdom works with the sacrifice of its king, and this is what’s happening now. Of course, when Jesus is arrested, we might ask why not only the disciples did nothing, but why didn’t the angels come down and stop it, why didn’t the ground open up and swallow these people up who were treating Jesus like this? No—Jesus held them all back, and said: Get behind me! I am going to the cross, and that cross will be the most precious thing on earth. For the rest of history, the world will keep spinning, but the cross will stand still.

And so, Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom which grows and expands by its citizens being joined to Christ’s suffering, and being persecuted by the world. And there have been more Christian martyrdoms in the last century than the rest of history put together. For example: think of St Stephen. He prayed when he was stoned to death, Do not hold this sin against them. Now it so turned out that Paul was there, Jesus answered Stephen’s prayer and didn’t hold Paul’s sins against him, and came and called him when he was on the road to Damascus. Then Paul went and wrote the most wonderful books in the New Testament about that very topic: why our sins are not held against us. This is how the kingdom of God works. It starts with a group of angry people gnashing their teeth at a faithful Christian and killing him off. And this is God’s victory over death!

We might look at the church today and see in our country a significant decline in attendances. It’s not just here at Magill church, but all over the country, Christians are weeping and lamenting over this. But before we start trying to work out all kinds of worldly methods of how to get backsides on seats and money on the plate, let’s remember for a moment: we are still here, and Jesus has still put us here for a reason. Jesus kingdom does not run like a business. Jesus says: My kingdom is not of this world. Jesus is the Lord of the harvest, and Christians today need to rediscover that they have been given the royal, noble task of coming before their king and praying for souls. Remember it is not us who does the converting, even if we might give the most faithful witness and testimony. It is the Holy Spirit who does this work, and so we should ask for his guidance and his help how to make us useful in our community as evangelists today. It might even involve quite some suffering on our part, but this is how Christ’s kingdom works—not through glory, but through the cross.

I once read about an old pastor reflecting on church history: apparently in the year 1800, the church was experiencing very hard times in Europe. The church looked like an old barren woman, and that her child-bearing years were over. And yet, there were faithful Christians who were praying on bended knee daily for the course of history to turn around. The pastor who was reflecting on this said: maybe it was the prayers of those faithful Christians in those years that enabled the 1800s to be one of the greatest centuries of mission for the church. Some of the last frontiers of the world were reached for the first time. What’s in store for our next century? We should also remember today that Jesus is still with us to the end of the age. And he says: My kingdom is not of this world.

But then Pilate says to him: So you are a king? Jesus then gives another wonderful testimony: 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. Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

And here we see Jesus speaking right into our times again. Everything that Jesus did, his birth, his suffering and death, his resurrection, was for one purpose—to bear witness to the truth. Jesus says: I am the way and the truth and the life. And here he says: Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Satan and lies go together: he is the father of lies. But Jesus and truth go together—Jesus is the truth.

Pilate rejects the truth. He says: What is truth? Is there really such thing as truth? This is the world which we live in today. Nobody believes that there is such a thing as truth—only what works. If it feels good, do it. What’s true for you is not necessarily true for me. And so the crucifixion of Jesus begins all over again! No—this is our first prayer: that we would have a hunger for truth. Because a hunger for truth is a hunger for Jesus, even if we don’t know it yet. But when we do know it, then this hunger is called faith. We trust Jesus and his word that it is true. And Jesus prays to his Father before he dies: Sanctify them in the truth, Lord. Your word is truth. And then, in our prayers for souls, we pray that they would also have a hunger for truth and come to a knowledge of the truth. One of the most wonderful passages about prayer and about conversion is where Paul says to Timothy that God that prayers for all people is good, and it pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

So in conclusion for this sermon tonight, and for our Lent series this year, let’s praise our Saviour Jesus Christ for everything that he endured for us. What we have read about over these last few weeks is true, and is written for the salvation of our souls. Jesus Christ had suffered, died and rose again for me and for you. Thank you, Jesus.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, we thank for everything that you endured in your suffering and death, and for coming to bear witness to the truth. Send us your Holy Spirit that we may be people of the truth and listen to your voice. Amen.

Midweek Lent Service 4: Audio Sermon (9-March-2016)

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Midweek Lent Service 4 [Matthew 27:1-10] (9-Mar-2016)

This sermon was preached at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Magill, 7.30pm.

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

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

And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, bless all of us with your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

In our reading tonight we read about Judas. The main event that we read about is that once Jesus has been carried off, and led away to Pontius Pilate, Judas regrets what he has done in betraying Jesus, and tries to convince the chief priests and elders to take the money back. He then throws it all back into the temple, and goes out and hangs himself.

Now, there’s actually quite a lot in common with what happens in our reading tonight, with Judas, and what happened in our reading from last week, where we read about Peter’s denial. Here we have two men, both of whom are Jesus’ disciples, both of whom are one the twelve apostles whom Jesus chose and sent out as his representatives and missionaries. Peter denies Jesus, and Judas betrays Jesus.

Now what’s actually the difference between these two things? Both of these men saw that Jesus was under pressure, and was being rejected by the Jewish council. And, both of these men were filled with fear, as they realised that because they had also spent so much time with Jesus, they could also get themselves into deep trouble too. Peter was questioned by simple people, maidservants who just happened to be standing around, and yet, instead of saying, “Yes, I do know Jesus”, he said, “I do not know the man”.

Judas, on the other hand, never pretended not to know Jesus. He never denied Jesus like Peter. He never said, “I do not know the man”. But instead he said, “Yes, I do know him, and I can show you how to get him.” He had gone right into the lions’ den, and made an arrangement with the priests about how they could go to Jesus’ favourite place of prayer and capture him.

One thing that strikes me between Peter and Judas is that both of these men commit a sin against Jesus, and both of them lament their sin. We read that Peter went out and wept bitterly. Maybe Judas’s remorse about what he had done was even greater. We read: He departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Both of these men regret what they have done. And I don’t about you, but in my experience in life, both in myself and in being a pastor to other people, there’s a very fine line between weeping bitterly and pondering suicide. When I served as a pastor in Gippsland, I served as a hospital chaplain, and I used to go regularly to visit people in the mental health ward. Many people there wept bitterly and many people contemplated taking their own life, and a lot of the time there wasn’t much difference between the problems that these people had.

And yet, what the bible says about Judas is a harsh sentence, and yet, Peter goes on to become a wonderful apostle—he preaches the first sermon on the day of Pentecost, he wrote two letters which we have in the New Testament which are full of wonderful Christian comfort. Even we read that Peter had to convene everyone together after Jesus ascended into heaven to choose another apostle to replace Judas.

So the difference between Peter and Judas is very important for us as Christians, because we sin so often, and we come to terms with our sin, and we realise that we have done wrong, what do we do? Do we weep bitterly, or do we completely give up on life altogether? Surely, you know from your own experience that weeping bitterly and the temptation to give up on life altogether are very closely related. So when we do sin, then we can often look into our own hearts and say, “Well, maybe I’m going to way of Judas, and there’s nothing that I can do about it.” People think: what a wonderful thing it is to be a Christian. And we might think about those words where we look forward to the time when Jesus will say to us: Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. But then people see all their sin weighing down on them, and they think well maybe God is sending me to hell, and there’s nothing that I can do about it.

Listen, this is not the case. Listen to these words from Romans 15: Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Do you see? What kinds of things are found in the Scripture? Instruction and encouragement. If you read the bible, and then come to a conclusion where you have no encouragement and no hope, then you are reading it wrong. The devil doesn’t want you know your sin—and when you despair at your sin and don’t know where to turn, then look at the example of Peter and how Jesus promised to pray for him and reached out to him at the resurrection. Simon, Simon, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter himself later on in his first letter says: Be soberminded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Maybe when Peter wrote this he had Judas and himself in mind. He knew just how close he was to being devoured by the roaring lion, the devil. And yet, he says: Resist him, firm in your faith. Now this is the thing that Peter had, and Judas didn’t. Both of these men we contrite, they regretted what they had done, both of these men were sorrow and sorrowful about it. But it’s not feeling sorrow about your sin that makes you a Christian—it’s faith. Resist [the devil], firm in your faith. The warning that we see in Judas is that we must beware of lamenting our sin without faith. Judas had lost his faith, but Peter remembered the words of Jesus that the rooster would crow after he had denied him three times. Jesus had also prophesied to Peter: After I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.

So the same goes for us. We know that we are sinners. We will always sin right until our dying breath. And our whole life is one where we continually realise this, and we come back Sunday after Sunday and say: I, a poor helpless sinner, confess to you all my sins and repent of all the evil I have done. Sometimes in our life we are going to feel these words more sharply than others. Even St Paul said: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. Judas knew that he was a sinner, but he didn’t know that Christ Jesus came into the world to save them. Do you see this difference?

So we read in Revelation where an angel says: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He doesn’t say, “be remorseful unto death”, but “be faithful”. Now—I have to be very careful I’m not misunderstood. There is so Christian faith if we don’t recognise and lament our sin. If we want the forgiveness of sins, we have to recognise that we are sinners. Jesus died for no one except sinners. But we are not saved by recognising our sin—plenty of people recognise that they are rotten people, but have no hope. And so, we read in Ephesians: By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Now, we might still think: but my faith is so weak. My faith might not be as strong as Peter’s, but my faith is weak like Judas. Maybe people think: I want to believe and be a stronger believer, but I just can’t seem to.

Listen—you are not saved by strong faith, you are saved by faith. If it were only people who were strong in faith that were saved, then St Paul should have said: You have been saved through strength, not faith! The important thing about faith is not you who believe, but who you believe in, Jesus Christ, and he is the strong one who makes your faith strong. If you go up to Cooper Pedy and find a nice opal, the opal is still valuable whether a football player with massive biceps and big muscly hands is holding it or a weak tiny little baby is holding it. The opal is still an opal. Whether you have big muscly football player faith, or baby faith—Jesus, our precious opal, is the one that saves us. Jesus is our priceless treasure, as the old hymn says. We have been baptised, so that whether our faith is strong or weak, we can look to the word that was spoken to us on that day and the water that was poured out on us, and we can say: That was God’s work. Jesus is the one who baptised me. And if the devil wants to pester me, he can just rack off and take it up with Jesus. When the devil attacks your faith, it’s as if you’re person who works in a call centre for a big company. When the devil rings you up, you just say to the devil: How can I direct your call? If you want to make a complaint, you’ll have to take it up with the manager—I’m just answering the phone. And let me tell you, Mr Devil, Jesus, my manager, is a lot more powerful that your sorry backside!

Also, St Paul says in Philippians 2: It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. When we have faith, this is God who has worked it in us. But when sigh and think, I wish I had a stronger faith, then we remember that God works in us both to will and to work. Our faith is only as strong as we wish it would be. When we will, when we wish, when we desire to have faith, that is also faith, because God has worked that desire, that will in you—He works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

But let’s go back to Judas. Actually, one thing before we go back to Judas—let’s talk about suicide for a moment. The fifth commandment says: You shall not murder. And that includes killing your neighbour or yourself. Suicide is a sin. But at the same time, there is nowhere in the bible where it is specifically spelled out that people who suicide automatically go to hell. But then people think: if we sin, we need to repent. But if you suicide, then you can’t repent afterwards, because you’re dead. Well, if that’s the way we think, then baptism, and absolution, and the Lord’s Supper would have no power at all. Do you think when you are baptised, that it’s only for my sins of action in the past? I was baptised as a child—the only sins of action I committed back then were annoying my mum at night. Do you think that Jesus didn’t die for all the times in the future when I would continue to annoy my mum, when I was 5 years old, 10, 15, 20, 25 years old? Or what about the Lord’s Supper, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do you think that it’s only powerful backwards? What happens if you have an argument in the car on the way home from church? Do you think that all of a sudden the blood of Christ has switched off its wonderful power? No—the forgiveness of sins works into the past and into the future. We can tell the devil—get lost! I received Christ’s body and blood on Sunday, given and shed for me for the forgiveness of sins, and you can’t accuse me!

Some of you may have a friend who took their own life. When I was a teenager, at an age when I was thinking about becoming a pastor, a Catholic priest from St Ignatius Church in Norwood doused himself with petrol and set himself alight. It shook me up for years, and has always been a warning to me that even the ministry is not immune to experiencing darkness. But there’s a difference between losing the faith, and a time where the devil overcomes a person to such an extent that they do something like that. If you get robbed by a mugger, is it your fault? So, we know suicide is a sin, and we Christians preach against it and say it’s wrong. But there is also something more powerful than sin, and that is Jesus’ suffering and blood and death, and the forgiveness of sins.

Now, back to Judas. I think sometimes I feel a bit sorry for Judas, as if he has been a bit hard done by. Many Christians throughout history have been like this too. In preparation for this sermon, I read about Judas from a commentary from a 10^th century Bulgarian writer, called Theophylactus. Theophylactus was from Ohrid, which is in modern-day Macedonia, in former Yugoslavia. He was a well-respected biblical commentator, and he was well known to the Luther and the Lutheran reformers, and is even quoted in the Book of Concord.

However, he writes: But when Judas saw that Jesus was already condemned and already sentenced to die, he repented that the affair had not turned out as he had planned. Whereupon he hanged himself thinking to [go ahead] of Jesus into [hell] and there to plead for his own salvation. Nevertheless, know that while he did put his neck into the noose and hanged himself from a tree, the tree bent and he survived, as God wanted to save his life, either so that he could repent, or to make an example of him and to shame him… And he goes on. Some writers seem to want to put the best spin on Judas, to say that he really was a nice guy, but he just mucked up a bit at the end.

But I don’t know if this is what the bible really says about him. In fact, the bible never says that about anyone. God created us all in his image, but we are all completely thoroughly corrupted by Satan. We all deserve to be like Judas, but if we end up like Peter, it is all because of grace.

And so, let’s go through and see what the bible does say about Judas. A year or so, before Jesus died, he elected his twelve apostles. And in Matthew, Mark and Luke, these twelve apostles are all named. In all three gospels, the last apostle to be named is Judas. All three gospels call him Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him, or in Luke, who became a traitor. And nevertheless, like all of the other disciples, Jesus sent them out to preach and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. In Luke we read that before he chose these twelve disciples, Jesus went out to [a] mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles.

How come Jesus chose Judas even after praying all night about it? We might say that Judas later changed became a hypocrite, but the bible doesn’t really spell this out. He might have been a hypocrite right from the beginning, when Jesus called him. In John 6, we read where Jesus says: “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” And John says: He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

So why did Jesus do this? Well, first of all, it was prophesied long ago that Jesus would be betrayed. But also, Jesus wants to teach a special lesson. The outward things that belong to ministry are not actually all that difficult. People might joke that pastor’s only work one hour a week! I am often embarrassed when people thank me for conducting a baptism or a funeral—and I often say to them: All I did was read things out of a book! A pastor could easily get by and not do much, download their sermons off the internet, and go and spend all week drinking tea and eating scones. And yet, we read in Acts 6, that the apostles wanted to dedicate themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The hard, hard work of the ministry, to bring the people continually before God in prayer, and to study the word and to apply it to people and to teach it, is a task that most people, even in the congregation, never see. And so it often goes unnoticed and unrewarded from a human point of view. But our Father who sees in secret will reward this kind of work. I remember someone one said that the best thing a pastor can do is go into his room, shut the door, and pray, and then let the whole world think that he is incompetent!

And Jesus knows that the hard work of the ministry is invisible to the world. And the visible work is relatively easy—even Judas can do it. And yet, Jesus calls Judas to do it. Sometimes we end up with pastors in the church, or people in the church, who are real Judases. All they do is put on a show, but they never take a stand. It’s easy to be polite, but to love is something much harder, and something much more noble. It’s easy to give Jesus a kiss, but for what reason is the kiss given? In love or in betrayal?

And yet, when we have a pastor or a bishop or leader in the church who is a hypocrite, the words they speak are still God’s word, the baptisms they perform are still filled with the Holy Spirit even if they are not, the Lord’s Supper is still the body and blood of Christ, even if the pastor’s just going through the motions. When the church is given a person like this, then we are called to pray for them like any other pastor—the sheep may yet make a shepherd out of their wolf! And Jesus wants to teach this to the church of all times, by even allowing his betrayer to be an apostle for a while.

Now, when Jesus calls Judas a “devil”, it’s a bit like when St Paul says: He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. And when we are joined to the devil, and actively seek to do his work, then we become one spirit with the devil. Even Jesus calls Judas, a “devil”. Judas was still created in the image of God, but he actively and willingly unites himself to the devil’s work and his plans.

In our Gospel reading for this coming Sunday, we’re going to hear another thing about Judas, where Mary, Lazarus and Martha’s sister, pours expensive ointment on Jesus’ feet. We read: Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having change of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

You can see here a little insight into Judas’s inclinations. He had a lust for money, and of course, he even betrayed Jesus for money. We know from St Paul that the love of money is the root of all evil. Jesus himself says: You cannot love God and mammon. It happens all the time in the church—someone makes a generous donation to the church, and then what happens? It just gives cause for everyone to fight! How many examples we might look to today or all throughout church history where pastors and bishops and cushy church officials pad up their retirement funds from the church coffers, helping themselves to God’s money. The end of such people is that they betray their Lord once again. They sell their birthright for a bowl of soup

And so, with Judas, one sin leads to another. And he serves for us as a warning, to fight the good fight against our own sin, and our sinful flesh, before our hypocrisy is revealed to our shame. It’s easy to put on a show—but Jesus calls us not to put on a show, but to follow him. There are a few details about our text tonight that I’m still yet to cover, which we will pick up next week. But let’s leave it there for tonight.

But let’s conclude by saying that when we recognise our own sin within us, and when we despair of ourselves, this is a good thing. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us of our sin. Despair of yourself, but don’t despair of Christ. He has suffered and died for you, and now he is seated at God’s right hand and is waiting for you. He has prepared a place for you, and he will never let you go. Amen.

Dear Jesus, we are your baptised children, and we ask that you would be with us always to the end of the age. Teach us to know our sin, but also to know you, our wonderful Saviour. Amen.

Midweek Lent Service 3: Audio Sermon (2-Mar-2016)

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Midweek Lent Service 3 [Matthew 26:67-75] (2-Mar-2016)

This sermon was preached at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Magill, 7.30pm.

Click here for PDF version of sermon for printing.

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

Luke 22:61-62. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three time.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, bless all of us with your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

In our sermon tonight, we’re going to be dealing with two things: firstly, concerning the spitting and slaps and mockery that Jesus received after he was condemned to death, and then secondly, concerning Peter’s denial of Jesus.

Let’s start with the first part. We were reading last week about how Jesus was on trial before Caiaphas the high priest and the Jewish council, called the Sanhedrin. After making all kinds of attempts to gather together false testimonies, two witnesses come forward to accuse Jesus: This man said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.” Jesus is asked about this accusation, but remains quiet. After this, the high priest summons Jesus to testify with an oath whether he is the Christ, the Son of God. I adjure you, he says. It’s as if he gave him a bible, and required of him to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And Jesus gives the answer: I AM. You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

All the way through the Gospels, we see Jesus tell all kinds of people to keep quiet about their confession of faith. Even after Peter says that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus strictly charged the disciples to tell no one. But all of this was so that Jesus himself would testify to these things before the high priests himself, and let himself be condemned to death precisely for this reason. Jesus tells the truth about himself, and he is rejected, and condemned to death. We read in the beginning of the Gospel of John: He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. Here we can see Jesus standing before his own people, and his own people do not receive him. And so the high priest tears his robe, and the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, give to Jesus his death sentence for blasphemy.

And so tonight, just after all of this, we read: Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”

We have three things that are mentioned here: they spit, they strike him, and some slap him. Let’s think about each of these things separately. No one likes to be spat at: not only is it shameful and offensive, but it’s also dirty. Spit and phlegm can spread diseases, and such like. But we read about this in Isaiah 53: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Or as we read in the Gospel of Matthew, a slightly different translation of this: He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. So here we see the people projecting their dirty, filthy spit and phlegm into Jesus’ face.

Now, if it weren’t for sin, there wouldn’t be any disease. That’s not to say, that if a person is sick in a particular way, it is a result of a particular sin that they personally committed. But disease is something that never existed before the fall. It comes as a result of sin, and it comes about because we have a fallen, corrupt nature, that is weak and now is not just susceptible to temptation for our soul, but also for disease for our body.

Jesus’ body is completely free of disease. Just as he took on our flesh and was without sin, so also he took on our flesh without disease. But here in our reading, the people spit on Jesus, and Jesus here bears all the disease in the world, and dies for it. But he also takes on their sin, because when they spit on him, they do it because they hate him. This reminds us that in the next life, we will not only be completely free from sin, but completely free from disease and disability and corruption. The resurrection of the body in the next life is the complete and total healing of our bodies which we are looking forward to.

Also, there is an occasion in Mark’s gospel where Jesus heals a man who is deaf and dumb, and Jesus touches this man’s tongue with his own spit. This is not something dirty, but is completely pure and perfect, like clean fresh water from a spring, because this is the Son of God, and everything he does brings healing. Or there is another occasion in the next chapter of Mark where there is a blind man and Jesus spits on his eyes.  Once again, it’s the same thing: Jesus has no disease in him, no dirtiness, no filthiness, and so this is something that cleanses the man and makes him see.

We might also think about the Lord’s Supper, where we receive Jesus’ body and blood. When we come to the Lord’s Supper, we remember the occasion where people spat upon this same body which we receive here, and how Jesus died for our sin. But we also bring to Jesus in the Lord’s Supper our physical needs. We bring him our sin and place it in his hands, and we also bring him our diseases, and our weakness, and our woes. So that’s why we go to people when they are in hospital and bring them the Lord’s Supper, for their healing. This is even spelled out quite specifically by St Paul in 1 Corinthians when he is teaching about the Lord’s Supper. Paul speaks about the possibility where people can receive the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, which means eating and drinking, without believing what the Lord’s Supper is (the body and blood of Christ) and believing what it’s for (for you and for the forgiveness of sins). If we go to the Lord’s Supper like pigs at a trough, without faith in it and in Jesus’ words about it, then St Paul says, he or she eats and drinks judgment on himself. And he says: That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. So also, in the same way, if we receive the Lord’s Supper in a good way, to our blessings, instead of judgment, we receive forgiveness, instead of being weak and ill, as St Paul says, we receive it for our strength and health. Instead of receiving it for death, we receive it for life. And Christ distributes health and healing when and where it pleases, not to benefit our sinful flesh, but when and where it benefits his kingdom.

So, in us is disease, in Christ is healing. One more thing, in light of the people spitting at Christ. Think about after Jesus rises from the dead, and he goes to his disciples and doesn’t spit on them, but he breathes on them. Now, normally, if we breathe on someone, it doesn’t smell good—it smells like our breakfast getting digested. But when Christ breathes upon them, there is no death in his body, no decay, no rotting, no corruption. Christ’s breath is like standing next to a waterfall and breathing in the fresh air. And so, when we spit at Christ: we say: Here you are, Jesus. Receive our spite, our malice, our anger, our angry spirits. And when Christ then breathes on his disciples, he says: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone their sins they are forgiven. We have spat our sin onto Christ well enough—and Christ then comes to us, we who are so completely undeserving, and he breathes out his Holy Spirit and his forgiveness. What a precious gift!

We also see in our reading tonight, how the people strike Jesus and slap him. This reminds me of something in the Old Testament. In the book of Leviticus, we read about the Day of Atonement, where the high priest once a year enters into the Most Holy Place in the temple (the Holy of Holies), and puts sprinkles blood on the Ark of the Covenant. (I remember very clearly Pastor Stuart Kleinig, who was a vicar here in the late 90s, I think, giving a very clear sermon about his on Good Friday in this church!) Anyway, part of the ceremonies that were to take place on that day involved a live goat, which is called the “scapegoat”. We use this term “scapegoat” to talk about someone who takes the blame for someone else, like in the recent drug scandals in the football and the rugby. So we read from Leviticus 16: When he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the head of a man who is in readiness. The boat shall bear all the iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

Now, we know full well, that Jesus by going on his way to the cross, is carrying out a Day of Atonement. It’s not a Day of Atonement once a year as in the Old Testament, but it’s a Day of Atonement, once for all time. And here in our reading, Jesus is in the presence of the high priests, and the Jewish council, and what happens: they strike him and they slap him. It’s just as if they are laying their hands on the scapegoat, putting all the sin of the world on this one man, and then he is sent out of the city to die. They, of course, don’t realise what they are doing, but Jesus does. And he bears with their cruelty and he accepts this laying on of hands.

Of course, we also read in the Gospels that children were brought to Jesus, and that he laid his hands on them and what? He blessed them. When the people lay their hands on Jesus, and strike him and slap him, they seek to curse him. But when Jesus lays his hands on us, and reaches out and touches us, he blesses us. This is what he does when he baptises us, he lays his hands on us and blesses us.

And so, we see in our reading, that people spit on Jesus, strike him and slap him. It’s our sin that is laid on Jesus here. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But then when Jesus breathes on us, and lays his hands upon us, it is for our blessing, our blessing, our blessing.

One more thing about this first part: We read that Jesus is mocked. We read even in Mark’s gospel that they blindfold him, and say: Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?

These people obviously don’t know what prophesy is. And many people today don’t know what prophesy is. In Deuteronomy 18, we read a wonderful prophesy about Jesus, where Moses says: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him that you shall listen. But just before this, Moses is talking about the practices of the nations that the people of Israel are going to drive out when they enter the Promised Land. Moses says: These nations, which you about to disposses, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.

Do you know the difference between a fortune-teller and a prophet? One is from the devil, and the other is from God. One the LORD your God has not allowed you to listen to, and the other he commands you to listen to. But anyone who has ever gone through and read the prophets in the Old Testament will know that there is much more to be found there than simply telling the future. And when God sought to tell his people about the future through a prophet, then this was a word that came from him for everyone’s benefit. But the devil also imitates this, but not for our eternal salvation, but only for this life—it’s a trick. This we call fortune-telling—palm-reading, tarot cards, mediums, psychics, horoscopes—all of this is forbidden by God. Now sometimes, we read in the bible about these things, and the fortune-tellers actually speak the truth. In the Book of Acts, there is a young girl with a spirit of divination and fortune-telling who speaks the truth about Paul and Silas, and says: These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation. She speaks the truth, and yet Paul still says: I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. He casts out the demon. So, we learn here, that sometimes fortune-telling seems to work, and says something that is true. Sometimes people read their star signs and it rings true. But the question we Christians need to ask ourselves is not, “does it work?”, but “what power is behind it?” We realise that when Jesus starts preaching in the synagogues, who is it that first recognises him, and speaks the truth about him? It’s the demons, and yet Jesus still rejects them, and casts them out.

And so, here in our reading tonight, Jesus is the wonderful prophet that the whole world has been waiting for. But he is blindfolded, slapped around, and asked to prophesy like it’s a game, as if Jesus is just another Mystic Meg, or some kind of cosmic palm-reader. We can see here the devil’s temptations in the wilderness: If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread. And so, the mockers are saying, “If you are really the Son of God, we can slap you, and you should be able to tell us who it was.”

Yes, he can. He knows every hair on every persons head, and not one sparrow falls to the ground without his knowledge. And yet, he will not play their games, and he will play ours either. And when all the world’s fun is over, the day of judgment will come, and then the games will cease. And Jesus will say: Now, I’ll tell you who slapped me. You all did. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But we also know that Christ died for only one kind of person in the world: sinners like you and me. And he has a wonderful inheritance prepared for us, many rooms in his father’s house, and he prophesies these things to us ahead of time, so that we can listen to him and believe him and trust him.

And so, in the second part of our reading, we read about Peter, where he denies Jesus three times. We read in John’s Gospel, that Peter was allowed into the high priest’s house by John himself. Peter had been given special access—he had friends in high places. Peter was also curious and wanted to know how things would pan out. And through this curiosity, Jesus actually uses him, because Jesus wants to send the apostles out into the world as witnesses to his life and his suffering and death. So Peter is given a special opportunity to witness Jesus’ trial here.

To most people who would have been there, this is a very simple thing that happens. Three people ask Peter if he knows Jesus, and Peter denies it three times. Most people wouldn’t have noticed too much else about what was going on. The first time, we read about a servant girl who says to him: You also were with Jesus the Galilean. She talks directly to him about it. But Peter says: I do not know what you mean. We read: When he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him. Maybe Peter thought that things were getting a bit too hot inside, so he wanted to go out through the entrance hall. But the girl says: This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. This time, Peter is not being spoken to, but accused to others. It’s as if she points to him, and calls out to anyone who can hear: This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. The pressure is on for Peter. He denies it with an oath: I do not know the man. I promise you, he says, I swear to God, I do not know the man. But the third time, someone says: Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you. It’s not enough simply to be with Jesus, but it’s a crime to talk like him. Sometimes in Australia, we can recognise someone from Sydney, Melbourne or Queensland, just by the way we talk. And then people from Adelaide go interstate, and we get asked if we’re English! The same thing happens to Peter here: he is accused, just because of the way he talks. Maybe when he made an oath before, he said: Truly, truly, I say to you, I do not know the man! People think: He’s talking just like Jesus. And now we read: He began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man. And immediately the rooster crowed.

And everyone else carries on as if nothing has happened. But not Peter and not Jesus. We read in the gospel of Luke that the Lord turned and looked at Peter. While all of this spitting and slapping and mockery is going on, Jesus has time to deal with his little sheep—and he turns and he looks. And we read: And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus: Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. In Mark’s Gospel, it says before the rooster crows twice. There was already another rooster crow earlier to warn Peter. But now, Peter is convicted of his sin. And he went out and wept bitterly.

You know, Peter is such a loveable character in the gospels. He often sticks his foot in things, he jumps in the lake without his shirt on and swims to Jesus, he wants Jesus not just to wash his feet but his hands and his head. Only minutes before he had said to Jesus: You shall never wash my feet.

And earlier in the gospels, Peter said: I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.

In our reading the people mock Jesus and ask him to prophesy. But when Peter denies Jesus, he knows that Jesus prophesy has come true: Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

There is a wonderful encouragement that Jesus says to Peter in Luke’s gospel: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

You can see that Satan enters into Peter only as far as Jesus permits. You might think of the book of Job, where Satan asks to pester Job. Jesus says to Peter: Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. Have you ever felt close to the devil’s sieve like this? But Jesus says: But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Peter realises that he has sinned, and weeps bitterly, not because of him, but because this is in answer to Jesus’ own prayers. Jesus also prays for us that our faith may not fail. And Jesus allows Peter to deny him for a reason. Firstly, so that Peter realises that Jesus has to go to the cross alone, by himself. And no one else, not even Peter, can atone for anyone’s sins. And only when Peter realises this, can he then be a great preacher of his Lord and Saviour, and a preacher of the forgiveness of sins. Jesus says to him: When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter denies Jesus, and Jesus prophesies it and allows it, not because Jesus is the one who causes sin. But Peter is a sinner, and sinners sin. But Jesus also wants to teach him sympathy and love for others who have fallen and need to hear about God’s grace. And so this whole denial happens so that Peter can go and strengthen the brothers. We are often allowed to be steeped into certain sins for years, sometimes completely unawares, and then when we repent, when we turn again, we can be of such tremendous use in Christ’s kingdom to help others with the same problem. Aren’t you strengthened by this? Don’t you realise that even the great Peter is a sinner just like you?

But he also need a Saviour, just like you. And so just as Peter denied Jesus three times, after the resurrection, Jesus goes to Peter and says three times: Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter says: Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus says to him: Feed my sheep. You know that I love you, even though I let you down. You know that I love you even though I wasn’t there when you needed me. You know that I love you even though I am a terribly hardened sinner and I just can’t seem to get any better. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, you know that we love you, and yet we have spat at you, and struck you, and mocked you with our own thoughts, words and actions. But we also know that you have prayed for us, that our faith may not fail. Turn us again, that we may be useful in your kingdom for strengthening others. Amen.