Pentecost XXII (Proper 24 B) [Mark 10:35-45] (21-Oct-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today we read that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to [Jesus] and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Imagine someone comes to you and says, “Could you do me a really big favour?” You would probably be a bit suspicious, and say, “Well, it depends what it is!” You might remember how King Herod really put himself in a corner when he promised his wife’s daughter whatever she wanted—she ended up asking for John the Baptist’s head to be cut off!

This is what happens in our reading, with James and John coming to Jesus. They ask him: Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Was it wrong of them to come to Jesus and say this? I think they are also embarrassed about what they are asking too. They ask him: Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. They want a promotion, they want honour, they want esteem, they want something special, something glorious. And maybe they know that what they are asking for is a bit rude or presumptuous.

But also, isn’t this often how we want to pray to Jesus? We go to him, and we say: Jesus, I want you to do for me whatever I ask of you. And after all, Jesus says: Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Don’t you wish that you had such a strong and firm faith that just goes to Jesus whenever you need something and tells him exactly what you need or want? 

Let’s read what happens. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?” And they said to him, “We are able.”

When we read about Jesus and his disciples, we notice that the 12 apostles were given a particularly privileged position. Also, on a number of occasions, Jesus singles out Peter, James and John: for example, when he went up on the mountain and was transfigured and started shining with heavenly light. Also, sometimes Peter was singled out, and often stepped forward and spoke on behalf of the other apostles. Peter also preached the first Christian sermon on the day of Pentecost. And so, here are these two others, James and John, two brothers, and know that Jesus has given them special privileges. They are two of the twelve apostles. They have often been invited by Jesus to be part of his inner circle together with Peter. But perhaps they are also a little bit jealous of Peter, and don’t want to be outdone by him.

And so they ask Jesus for a special privilege of their own choosing. They ask him: Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory. There are a few things that they don’t really understand. They haven’t gone up to Jerusalem yet. Palm Sunday hasn’t happened yet. Jesus hasn’t sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane yet. He hasn’t been betrayed by Judas yet. He hasn’t been crucified yet. And so perhaps James and John think that Jesus is going to take his throne in Jerusalem as a political figure, as the rightful king of the Jews, and overthrow Herod and the Roman—just like we have seen our Australian prime-ministers continually overthrown. And when it all happens in this glorious way, as they imagine it, they would like a special part in it. They want to be part of Jesus’ cabinet—they want to walk down the red carpet with him, and to flank him on either side at all his press conferences. But that’s not the way it’s going to be.

This passage also teaches us something very special about prayer. We see in the Gospels that Jesus often teaches his disciples to ask for whatever they want. And here, we see an exact example of two disciples going to Jesus and asking him for whatever they want. But what we have to realise is that when we do this, we should also be prepared for Jesus to teach us something that we never expected and that we didn’t know before. You see, Jesus is not a genie in a magic lamp, who just pops out and gives us three wishes. We are not his masters, and he is not our slave. The kingdom of God is a wonderful, glorious thing, and Jesus is the king, but this kingdom and this king work in ways that are often completely beyond our expectations or comprehension.

And so, later on when the other ten disciples hear about what James and John asked of Jesus, we read: When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. They were angry, and thought: Who do they think they are, asking such a thing? But Jesus doesn’t go about things like that. He doesn’t get angry with them, but he gently explains things to them, and shows them their mistake. He says to them: You do not know what you are asking. So often when we pray to Jesus and ask him for things, we don’t really know what we’re asking. We make all kinds of mistakes in prayer, and we blubber and stammer around. But when we pray, remember that we always pray in the name of Jesus. This means that when we speak to our heavenly Father, everything goes through Jesus, like a master newspaper editor. He’s like a school-teacher who takes out his red pen, a red pen that is filled with his blood, and he edits everything, so that all our prayers are cleaned up and tidied up like rough drafts, and washed completely clean by Jesus. Jesus always knows what he is asking, he always knows what we need, even if we don’t know what we’re asking. When Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer, he says: Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

And so Jesus says to James and John: You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? And they said, “We are able”. What is Jesus talking about here? In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus prays in bitter agony just before he is arrested, he prays a prayer: Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Jesus prays: Remove this cup from me. Here in our reading today, Jesus asks James and John: Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? What do you think Jesus is talking about when he talks about this cup? He’s talking about his cross, his bitter suffering, his death, his floggings, his whippings, his outward suffering, his internal suffering, everything that Jesus undergoes on Good Friday. That’s the glory of Jesus—that’s the wonderful glory that Jesus undergoes and makes atonement for every single sin that ever even been imagined for even a split second in the entire history of the world. James and John want to sit at his right hand and at his left. But when Jesus goes to the cross, who is at his right and at his left? Two criminals who are also being crucified. Is this what the two disciples are prepared for? Jesus says: Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?

Jesus also says: Or are you able to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? Jesus, we know, was baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. And when he went to John, John wanted to be baptised by Jesus instead. But Jesus said to him: Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness. John was baptising sinners, and the only people who are sinners can be baptised. So why was Jesus being baptised? He was baptised not because he was a sinner, but because in all of his sinlessness, he took upon himself all of our sin so that he could die for it. And at that very moment, where Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke from heaven: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. And so what Jesus begins at his baptism, is finished on the cross. Before Jesus died, he said: It is finished. It’s as if he said, “my baptism is finished”. My anointing by the Holy Spirit in the Jordan was all for this purpose. In Luke 12, we read: I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how great is my distressed until it is accomplished! Jesus once again is speaking of his cross, and his suffering. And so Jesus says to James and John: Are you able to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?

Yes, it’s true. James and John didn’t really know what they were asking. We often don’t know what we’re asking, and so we don’t often understand the answers to our prayers when Jesus actually does answer them. When Jesus washes his disciples’ feet he says to them: What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. This is such a wonderful word of comfort when we don’t understand why Jesus doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want. But also, we read in Romans: The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Just as Jesus edits our prayers with the red pen of his blood, so also the Holy Spirit takes over in our prayers, and asks the prayers through our groans and sighs of which God alone understands the meaning, even if we don’t. All this shows us what a great mystery prayer is—St Paul says: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Our heavenly Father knows what is best for us so much better than we could ever imagine. It’s the same as when Jesus says in John 16: You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. There’s a wonderful hymn on prayer which says: More is lavished by Thy bounteous hand That I can ask or seek or understand.

And so, back to our reading: Jesus asks the disciples this profound question. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Are you able to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? And they say: We are able. Wow! What a thing to say? Do they even understand what they are committing themselves to?

But Jesus then says: The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Jesus says to James and John that they will drink the cup and they will receive his baptism. We also receive the wonderful gift of Holy Baptism as Christians, and in the Lord’s Supper, we drink the wonderful cup of blessing, the blood of Christ. The baptism of Jesus and the cup of Jesus are wonderful blessings that are given to us from heaven. All our sins have been poured out on Jesus in baptism, and when he drank that cup of the cross right down to the dregs. But all of his righteousness and purity and forgiveness is given back to us in baptism, and in the cup of the Lord’s Supper. He takes what didn’t belong to him, and he gives to us what didn’t belong to us. And so we have this wonderful exchange—he takes our sin, and he gives us his forgiveness and righteousness. All Christians receive this baptism and this cup. But these gifts also point us to a reality that we Christians are citizens of heaven in such a way that the world doesn’t recognise us anymore. And so just as Jesus was spat out by the world, we Christians are also spat out. Each of us have a special measure of suffering that Jesus puts upon us, not to curse us, but for our blessing, to take us away from the things of this world, and to point us to the kingdom of heaven. James was beheaded in Jerusalem, and John was tortured in Rome and then exiled to one of the Greek islands, called Patmos. This was the cross they were called to bear for the sake of Jesus’ kingdom. We should also not be afraid to bear whatever Jesus would have us bear. Sometimes, we pray that Jesus would take some suffering away from us. St Paul writes: To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So be encouraged, be strengthened by Jesus, our Lord, and let him make his power perfect in you, even if you are struggling, and feel so weak. Remember Jesus’ words: What I am doing now you do not understand, but afterwards you will understand.

Jesus says: The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. What does Jesus mean here, when he says, “it is not mine to grant”? Can’t Jesus do anything he wants? Well, yes and no. We say: Nothing is impossible with God. But is it possible for God to sin? No, because it would be completely against his nature and his character. Can God make 1 + 1 = 3? No, because 1 + 1 = 2. That’s the way it is. Jesus is not saying that he can’t do something—it’s just that what they ask for is not for them.

And so, we read: When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

In some sense, James and John wanted to establish a kind of hierarchy. They weren’t content with being apostles, they wanted to be super-apostles. And this then begs the question? Should we have any order or hierarchy in the church? Should we have pastors, for example? Well, of course, we should have pastors, because the bible actually speaks about them. In 1 Peter, Peter speaks about all Christians as being members of a royal priesthood. But also, in the same letter, he tells pastors to shepherd the flock of God that is among you. But pastors are not to rule like a king. They are to serve people, and not simply to serve people’s whims, but to serve them with the word of God. But there is no place in the church for the kind of leadership that says: I’m in charge, therefore you need to shut up and do what I say. Peter says: Exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Sometimes, in the church, some people think that all the problems would be solved if we had more people to exercise authority, more bishops, or even a pope. But this isn’t the way Jesus rules. He says: But it shall not be so among you. He rules through his word alone, not through human authority. He rules, not by setting himself up on an earthly throne, but by sacrificing his life. He says: Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And this wonderful way in which Jesus gave his life as a priceless ransom, and continually serves his people as our Good Shepherd with his word and sacraments is the heart and centre of Christianity. So let’s thank him for this! Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for coming to serve your people as our wonderful host today, and for giving your life as a ransom for many. Send us the Holy Spirit, and teach us to be bold in prayer, and not to be afraid to learn from you whatever you would teach us. Amen.

Easter VI B [John 15:9-17] (6-May-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today our Gospel reading comes from John chapter 15, and this particular chapter is part of a sermon that Jesus gives to his disciples on Maundy Thursday evening, on the night when Jesus was betrayed. Maundy Thursday is a very special day in the church calendar, and it is the day before Jesus died, which is Good Friday. So Jesus had had the Lord’s Supper with his disciples, he had washed his disciples feet, and then in chapters 14, 15 and 16 of John, we read where Jesus gives a powerful sermon, a farewell speech, before he goes out to the Garden of Gethsemane. Also he gives this sermon to his disciples after Judas had left the room to go to the high priests to organise Jesus’ arrest later that night. This message was not for Judas, but for the other eleven disciples.

So at the beginning of chapter 13 of John we read about where Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, and he prophesies and predicts that Judas is going to betray him, and Judas leaves. We also read where Jesus says: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. This is a very well-known verse. Jesus also foretells that Peter will deny him three times. And then in chapters 14, 15 and 16 we read this sermon of Jesus, where he says: In my Father’s house are many rooms… I am the way, the truth and the life…Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you… There are so many memorable verses in this sermon. Also in chapter 17, Jesus prays a wonderful prayer, often called the “High Priestly Prayer.”

Our reading from today comes from chapter 15, in the middle of this Maundy Thursday sermon. Jesus says: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. We see God the Father here cutting off and removing the dead wood on the vine, but also he prunes the good branches so that they bear more fruit. But also we see that Jesus is the vine. All the members of Christ’s church, his family, his bride, are so intimately connected to him that the same juices that flow through him flow through his disciples. And sometimes as Christians we suffer tremendously, and we ask God why this is happening. But God is not cutting us off, but pruning us.

Jesus says: Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Here Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the way that he will be with them, and dwell with them and in them, and will be so intimately connected with them in everything that they do. It is not just Jesus’ teaching or his doctrine or his power that is with them, but himself! He says: Apart from me you can do nothing. Jesus will be with them all the way.

Then Jesus says: If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Everything that turns away from this vine is thrown away. Everything comes from remaining in Christ and his word. Jesus says: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you. Jesus and his words go together. When we have Christ and his word, then our prayers are wonderfully answered. Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. But none of this is for our glory, but for the Father’s glory. Jesus says: By this my Father is glorified.

Now we come to our reading for today, which says: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. Jesus speaks here about Christian love. This wonderful love reaches from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to us. And Jesus says: Abide in my love. Jesus has been talking about how we are connected to him like branches on a vine. Love is a fruit of faith. St Paul even calls love a fruit of the Spirit, in fact, he lists it as the first of many fruits. So when we saved by faith, and this faith then looks to Christ and our neighbours, faith produces the fruit of love, friendship, and fellowship.

Now if love is produced from faith, it’s also very important that faith is right. When we speak about faith, we don’t put our trust in ourselves or in the things in our sinful human hearts; we put our trust in the pure, clear word of God. Faith clings to the word, just as Jesus says: If you abide in me and my words abide in you… So when we turn our backs on the truth of God’s word, love also dries up, and we end up with tremendous fighting in the church. St Paul wrote a wonderful chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13, where it says: Love is patient and kind, and all that kind of thing. We often read this passage at weddings. But in the middle of that chapter it says: Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Also, there’s another wonderful passage about love in 1 John 4, where it says: God is love. Perfect love casts our fear. But at the beginning of the chapter it says: Test the spirits to see whether they are from God. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Do you see how John here talks about truth and then he goes on to talk about love? Also St Paul says in Ephesians, not simply to speak with love, but to speak the truth in love. I mention these things because today often when we talk about love, people often say that speaking the truth even when people don’t want to hear it is loveless. No—it’s not loveless at all! As Christians we should strive to believe the same thing, live the same way, and help each other in doing this—all on the basis of God’s word. We see all throughout the New Testament about how the apostles stood very firmly together, in unity and peace, being of one mind and one heart, speaking the truth with the very voice of the Holy Spirit. It is the same oneness and unity of mind and heart around the word of Christ that we should also strive together for, which draws us together in love.

And so we read in our reading how Jesus says: If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. By faith we are grafted on and united to Christ, like branches on a vine. And branches bear fruit. Each day we learn what it means to love. Jesus tells us to keep his commandments, and to do good works, not because the good works save us, but because this is simply what branches on a vine do. A wheel doesn’t spin so that it can become round. The fact that it is round is the reason why it spins. So we don’t love in order to be grafted into the vine, but because we are grafted in, we then start to bear the fruit of love.

Jesus then says: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Jesus is the bringer of joy. Now many people in the world seem happy enough, and don’t look to Jesus at all for joy. Sometimes these people are even happier than most Christians. But it is short-lived. Something happens in their life that they don’t expect, and everything is wrecked, and they don’t understand why. Jesus was sometimes very sorrowful and sad, especially when he went to the cross. But he had sadness first and joy later. So like Jesus, we have sadness and suffering first, and then eternal joy which Jesus promises us comes afterwards. Jesus shares with his people not just any joy, but his own joy: that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

So Jesus says: This is my commandment, that you love another as I have loved you. Jesus has loved us, by dying on the cross, and saving us completely freely, without any contribution from us. And we see here that Jesus commandment to love one another comes from the wonderful way in which he has loved us. He loves us even though we don’t deserve it and we have really treated him terribly, and so also even when we hurt each other and treat each other badly, Jesus calls us to love one another, to model and picture that love which he has shown us. Sometimes this love is very difficult for us, but it is this kind of love that Jesus shows to us all the time, and which is continually pumped into us because we are his branches connected to him, the vine.

Now, Jesus goes on to show exactly what this kind of love looks like. He says: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Jesus’ love is not just a sentimental, emotional, soppy love, like from a love story on some kind of soap opera. Jesus is not a man of feelings and sentiments and warm fuzzies, but he is a man of action. He speaks the truth, and then he acts upon it. And what is this wonderful act of love that he has done for us? He laid down his life for us. Jesus says: The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Here he says: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Jesus sees what needs to be done for us, and he does it.

But Jesus doesn’t die for his friends, for people who already love him. St Paul says: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When Jesus dies, then he makes us his friends, even though we were his enemies. So he says: You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. In ancient times, a friend of a king was like a member of his cabinet, or inner circle. A servant is just told to do something without thinking. But Jesus tells his apostles everything, and the apostles then preached and wrote it out for our benefit.

Jesus’ friends are the people to whom he has told everything. All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. When the apostle Paul was preaching once, he said: I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Jesus didn’t shrink from telling everything to the apostles, and Paul and the other apostles didn’t shrink from passing everything on from Jesus. Even in the church, we continually pass everything on. Jesus says: teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. In the church, we pass on everything—the law and the gospel—the things we should do and not do, and the things we should believe. We are Jesus’ friends, and we learn his teaching and his doctrine, we grow in love, and we tell it to others. And this is how Christian friendship grows: we talk about everything there is to know in the Scriptures, just as Jesus told his disciples everything from God the Father’s own heart and mouth.

Jesus says: You are my friends if you do what I command you. We often hear this as meaning that we are only Jesus’ friends when we do good works. If our good works are not perfect as Jesus commands us, then we are not his friends. But Jesus has also commanded us to pray: Forgive us our sins. We also do his commandments not when we simply follow his laws, but also when in all of our failures we continually bring our sins to him and receive his forgiveness. Jesus also commands us to believe the good news, and we are his friends when in all our sinfulness, we believe these pure words of forgiveness which he speaks to us.

And so Jesus says: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you. When we think about making friends, we often think about choosing friends. Some Christians often think that they became a Christian by choosing to follow Jesus. There’s even an old song: “I have decided to follow Jesus”! But it is not us who have chosen to follow Jesus, it is Jesus who chose us to follow him. Even with the apostles, we read about how Jesus went to them and said: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men! He chose them, and so also through his word and holy baptism, Jesus also chose you to be his disciple and to follow him.

As Jesus’ friends, we learn and talk about all his words in the Scripture—he has hidden no secrets from us. Jesus chose and appointed these disciples, and he has chosen and appointed you, not to accomplish nothing, but to bear fruit, and fruit that will last, that will remain, that will abide. As soon as you and I are taken out of the picture, the living words of Jesus and the Holy Spirit will continue. The Holy Spirit will continue to work long after we have died. We human beings won’t last, but the fruit that has been produced from Jesus the vine will continue to abide until the very last days of this world.

Jesus says: So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you. As we learn Christ’s word and grow in Christian love, we also grow in prayer. Prayer is also a fruit of faith—when we in faith see our own need and look to God, then our faith produces the fruit of prayer. Jesus says: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you. We might look at many prayers we have asked, and they seem to be unanswered, even some of those prayers that we have asked from such a state of desperation and helplessness and despair. God was our only help, and even then he didn’t seem to help.

But Jesus and the Father know what we need so much better than we do. Little children ask their parents for such ridiculous things like trains and aeroplanes and pet ponies. We are such little children when it comes to prayer. We stumble and stammer, and God knows what we need. And he will give us whatever we need to serve him in his kingdom. His ways are often above our ways, and we don’t understand why he gives someone something and doesn’t give someone something else. But we simply ask in Jesus’ name, and if it glorifies that holy name of Jesus, God will give it to us. He gives us so much that we so often don’t notice or even thank him for. The most wonderful thing he gives us is the precious gift of making us friends of his own son, and grafting us onto this vine, so that we may produce wonderful rich fruit.

And so let’s thank Jesus for this wonderful message that he gives us today. Let’s thank him for the wonderful words of forgiveness that he continually speaks to us, because of his death on the cross. We thank you for the way in which he comes and dwells with us and in us, and connects us so intimately to himself like branches on a vine. And we pray in his name that we may continually learn his word, learn his perfect sacrificial love, and ask him to use us in his kingdom in whatever way he sees fit. Jesus says: By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Amen.

Dear Jesus, our true vine, use us, your branches, to bear fruit, and fruit that will abide. Let your Father be glorified in us, so that we may bear much fruit not to our glory, but to his glory. Into your hands, dear Jesus, we commend our bodies, our souls, our minds and our spirits. Amen.

Good Friday [Hebrews 10:19-20] (30-Mar-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

In the Old Testament in Leviticus chapter 16, we read about the Day of Atonement. In Hebrew, the Jewish people even today call it “Yom Kippur.”

And on this Good Friday, I want you to picture in your minds the Jewish ritual of this occasion. In the second half of the book of Exodus, God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle. The tabernacle was a tent, which the people of Israel—the Jewish people—carried around with them from Mt Sinai and into the land of Canaan. The tabernacle was the place of worship for the people of Israel, and God commanded them to make all kinds of offerings and sacrifices there at different times. Later on, when King Solomon ruled Israel, the tabernacle was replaced by a temple. During the time of Jesus, this first temple had been destroyed and had been replaced by a second temple. The second temple was destroyed 40 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and to this day has never been rebuilt.

Now picture the tabernacle (the tent) in your mind: the whole thing is a rectangle shape. It is about 45 metres by 22.5 metres. If you draw an imaginary line through the middle of the rectangle you would have 2 squares, 22.5 metres by 22.5 metres. In Hebrew, they would have said 50 cubits by 50 cubits.

If you were to walk in the front, in the middle of the first square area, there was a large altar: the altar of burnt offering. This is the place where they burnt the various animals that had to be offered there.

In the other square area, there was the tabernacle itself, the tent of meeting. This was a small narrow rectangle tent. Inside it had two parts, the first part was called the Holy Place, where there was the Altar of Incense.

You might remember at Christmas time, when John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, was on duty in the temple and saw the Angel Gabriel he was standing at the Altar of Incense. The Altar of Incense was inside the Holy Place.

But then, if you imagine walking into the tent, where the Holy Place is, at the back you would see a curtain, and behind this curtain was a place called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. Inside the Most Holy Place was the Ark of Covenant, which is the box that the Jewish people carried with them from the wilderness into the promised land. On top of the Ark of the Covenant there was carved cherubim—that is, angels with their wings outstretched and touching, one cherub on either side of the Ark of the Covenant. On top of the Ark of Covenant, between the two cherubim was the area which was called the mercy seat.

Can you picture all this? Let’s walk outside and come back in again. You come through the front of the tent, and in the middle of the open courtyard is the Altar of Burnt Offering. In front of you, is the Tabernacle itself. If you went through into the Tabernacle you would see the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. Behind the Altar of Incense was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place. In the middle of the Most Holy Place was the Ark of the Covenant, which had the carved cherubim with their touching wings, and on top of the Ark of the Covenant was the mercy seat.

Of course, as any old Israelite, you would never have been allowed to have a pleasant stroll around the Tabernacle, a guided tour just as I’m trying to get you to imagine. Only the priests were allowed to enter the Holy Place.

But now I want to describe for you the Day of Atonement, or “Yom Kippur”, in Hebrew.

The Day of Atonement was a particularly special day and a particularly special Jewish festival. The High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place. This was the only day of the year, when anyone was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place, and the only person who was allowed to go in was the High Priest.

The first thing he would do would be to take two animals, a bull and a ram. Then he would have to put on special clothes, which he would only wear on this one day of the year. He would put on a linen robe, and linen underwear, with a linen sash, and a linen turban on his head. He had to wash his body with water and put them on.

Now, after he had the bull and the ram, and put on the special clothes, he would also take two goats.

Now he was all prepared for the next part.

He would then bring forward the bull—it was going to be offered for himself and his family.  Then he would take the two goats and put them at the entrance of the tent. Now one goat would be chosen for the Lord, and one goat would be chosen for Azazel. Azazel means a demon, for the devil, for Satan.

Now, he would kill the bull as an offering for the sin of himself and his family. He would then have to take a pan full of hot coals from the altar and put incense on it and take them behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place would be covered in thick smoke so that the Ark, the priest –and also God – was hidden from anyone’s sight. Then he had to take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on top of the mercy seat once, and then he would sprinkle it seven times with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the floor.

So after he had done this with the bull’s blood, he would then go and do the same thing with the goat that was set apart for the Lord. The goat was for the Israelites, and for their sins. The priest would kill the goat, and then take the blood and sprinkle it on top of the mercy seat and then in front of the mercy seat seven times. The reason for doing this was the cleanse the people from their sins.

Now, when the High Priest does all this, he would come out into the Holy Place to the Altar of Incense. Here he would put the bulls blood on the four horns (the four corners) of the altar, and seven times on the floor. Then he would do the same with the goats blood: on the four horns of the altar and seven times on the floor.

Now after this, the priest would then come out of the Holy Place and mix the bull’s blood and the goat’s blood together and put it on the horns of the Altar of Burnt Offering. Then he would also have to sprinkle the blood on it seven times. The reason for doing this was to clean the altar and make the altar clean from the sin of the people. So you can see that the priest goes into the Holy of Holies to make atonement, then he goes to the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place, and then he brings the blood out to clean the Altar of Burnt Offering. The holiness of God comes out and then makes everything clean.

Altogether there was 49 sprinklings of blood, which is very significant, because 49 is 7 times 7, which is a special number.

Then after this, he would take the live goat and he would put his hands on the goat’s head and he would confess all the sins of the people over it. The High Priest would confess the sins of the people as if their sins were his own sins, and he was place these sins on the goat. Then a man would take the goat away into a remote place in the wilderness somewhere.

Now, after the goat had been sent away, then the High Priest would have to go into the tent of meeting and take off his linen vestments and leave them there. Then he would have to wash his whole body with water somewhere in there and put on his regular vestments that he would normally wear. Then he would make the normal burnt offering on the altar of burnt offering and sacrifice the ram.

You see how the Altar had to be cleaned first through the blood, and then the High Priest would offer the burnt offering. Also, after this, the bodies of the bull and the goat which were killed for the atonement in the Holy of Holies had to be carried out and burnt outside the camp.

You can see how the atonement is made in the Holy of Holies, and then the priest goes out to the Holy Place, and then to the Altar of Burnt Offering and everything becomes clean. The altar is made clean through the blood, and the dead animals are taken outside to a faraway place outside the camp.

Now, it’s taken me a long time to describe all this, and you might be scratching your head wondering what all this has to do with Good Friday.

On the day that Jesus died, as soon as he had breathed out his last breath on the cross, we read that the curtain of the temple was torn in two. In the past, the High Priest could only enter into God’s presence once a year and with very strict conditions. Now the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is presented before the Holy of Holies, and Jesus opens up the curtain for us to enter into God’s presence. You can see in our churches today, there is no curtain in front of the altar. We all come and enter into the sanctuary and receive Christ’s body and blood.

Jesus’ blood has been sprinkled on the mercy seat, not on earth in the temple, or in the tabernacle, but before God’s own throne in heaven. Jesus’ blood makes atonement for all our sins and gives us full access into God’s presence. We don’t come into God’s presence because we are pure, but we enter into God’s presence because of the blood of Jesus Christ, which he shed for us on Good Friday.

The High Priest only entered in once a year, but now we are all made priests through the blood of Christ, and we enter into God’s presence with the blood of Christ shed for our sins, and we offer our prayers to God. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he brought his holy and precious body and blood with him and stands there as the one perfect sacrifice for all sin. There is no need to atone for our sins once a year, but on Good Friday atonement was made for every day to come.

And just as Jesus goes into the Father’s presence, so he is always coming out of the Father’s presence to make everything clean, offering us his gifts of baptism, washing us pure from all condemnation, and giving us the gifts of his body and blood to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper. And he gives these things and applies them to us.

Jesus death tore the curtain in two. His atonement, his death, his sacrifice, ripped through the curtain and cleanses us of all sin. Jesus is true God and true man. Because he is a man he has blood, and because he is true God that blood has divine power to make us clean not just outside but inside of us: our hearts, our minds, our souls, our consciences. And we go and we enter through a new and living way through the curtain. We enter into a new and living way into the Father’s presence through the holy and precious blood of Jesus.

All our sin and condemnation is laid on Jesus. Jesus absorbs it just like the goat. He went out into the wilderness with Satan, and he won the victory over the devil. All the sins of the world are placed on Jesus just as if they were his own sins and he dies for them. And just like the bull and the other goat, Jesus was carried out of the city and burnt on the cross. He endured all the fire of God’s anger against sin and all the fire of his love for the world, and was made a perfect burnt offering for us. And when he had done it all and when he had made his atonement, he said, “It is finished.”

So Good Friday brings an end to the Jewish Day of Atonement. We have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus.

Hebrews 13 says: The bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.

So on this Good Friday, let’s praise our Lord Jesus Christ for his perfect sacrifice made once and for all. Let’s praise him for the atonement for our sins which he made with his own blood. Let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, because on this day, on this Good Friday, the perfect blood of Jesus—true God and true man—was shed for you, so that you can enter into the Holy Places of heaven, and walk into the heavenly Jerusalem with him. Just as he said to the thief next to him, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, we praise you for your sacrifice, for your offering, for your atonement which you made for us with your blood and with your own body and life. Forgive us and purify our hearts with this same blood, and give us the confidence to enter into the Holy Place of heaven. Send us your Holy Spirit from the Father’s throne, and make us holy together with you. Amen.

Mid-week Lent Service V [Luke 23:26-31] (21-Mar-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 5.30pm.

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

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.

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.

Tonight in our last midweek Lent sermon for this year, we reflect on the event where Jesus was led to place of his death. In our sermon tonight we are going to reflect on three things.

I.                   The fact that Jesus was led out to be crucified, carrying his cross.

II.                 The fact that Simon of Cyrene was called upon to help him.

III.              Jesus addresses a group of women who were following him.

So let’s look at the first part, where:

I.                   Jesus was led out to be crucified, carrying his own cross.

In Matthew and Mark, we are told: When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Throughout the events of the last day, Jesus had been clothed three times: once by Herod, once by the soldiers when they mocked him, and then before he was led away. Herod clothed him in “splendid clothing”, possibly a white garment, or something brightly coloured. The soldiers clothed him in a purple robe, and now they clothe him with his own clothes.

In some sense, these three different clothes remind us of different things: the white garment from Herod reminds us of the white clothing that priests would wear in the temple, and their splendid clothing, with jewels and gold thread. This reminds us that Jesus is our priest, in fact our high priest, who constantly prays for us before God the Father. He is a priest who is able to sympathise with us in our weakness, and was tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. The purple robe reminds us that Jesus is a king, since purple is the colour that kings wear. He is the King of glory; the King of kings and Lord of lords. But then lastly, before he is led out, they put his own clothes back on him. These are his simply humble clothes that he normally wore. This reminds us of the fact that Jesus is a prophet, and just like all the prophets, he wore no fancy clothes, but was poor and lowly. Remember the encouragement that Jesus gives to his disciples about their persecution. He says: So they did to the prophets who were before you.

These three things, that Jesus is priest, king and prophet, is what it means that he is the Messiah, or the Christ. Messiah (in Hebrew) or Christ (in Greek) mean that he is anointed. The people who were anointed with oil in the Old Testament were prophets, priests or kings. Jesus is all three, and he is not simply anointed with oil, but with the Holy Spirit at his baptism, and declared by God to be his beloved Son, with whom he is well pleased. This is the same Jesus who is going to the cross.

In John’s Gospel we are told that Jesus carried his own cross. This was to add to the shaming of Jesus as he walked to place of his execution. This was a piece of wood that was going to sustain the weight of a grown man: it was no twig.

And we are reminded in this picture of Jesus carrying his own cross that he is the Lamb of God who carries the sins of the world. He is carrying a heavy load, and he carries it for us. In Isaiah 53 we read that the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

On one hand, we see the fact that it is us and our sin that has laid this on him. On the other hand, we also see that we have a wonderful Saviour, Jesus, who carries it, and takes it off our shoulders and takes it upon his own.

In Deuteronomy, we also read that the wood of the cross was a curse from God. It says: Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. St Paul says about this in Galatians: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”. Jesus removes all curses from us, by taking this curse upon his own shoulders, which we see here as he carries his own cross. He takes the curse, but he gives us all the blessings of his kingdom.

This brings us now to the second part of our reading, where:

II.                 Simon of Cyrene was called upon to help Jesus carry the cross.

In John’s Gospel we are told that Jesus carries his own cross. In Matthew, Mark and Luke we are told that Simon carried it. Of course, there’s no reason to believe that both didn’t happen. Also, it is also quite likely that Jesus began to carry his own cross, but because he had been so weakened by his scourging, he needed some help.

Now, we don’t know much about this man Simon, except that he was Cyrene, and Mark tells us that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus. In Romans 16, we read at the end of the letter where Paul is passing on various greetings to various people. He says: Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. If Mark mentioned Alexander and Rufus, it is probably likely that many people knew who these people were, and it seems that in Romans here, there was a man called Rufus and his mother who were particularly close to Paul, and had looked after him. Simon of Cyrene probably became a Christian himself and raised his family as Christians too.

We read that he was from Cyrene. Cyrene was a city, founded by the Ancient Greeks, on the North African coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Today, this region is part of modern day Libya. Simon is a long way from his home. On the day of Pentecost, we read that there were people from Cyrene there, amongst all kinds of other people. We read where the people say: Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappodocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Romes, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our tongues the mighty works of God.

Simon was not the only person from this part of the world who was in Jerusalem, and yet he was most certainly a foreigner. We read in Luke: And as they led [Jesus] away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.

We have here a wonderful picture here of the words which Jesus had said to his disciples earlier: Take up your cross and follow me. It’s strange: on one hand, Simon doesn’t have any choice about the matter. He is forced to carry it. And also, it is not his cross—it belongs to Jesus, and Jesus is the one who is going to die on it.

This gives us a wonderful picture of our own Christian lives. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow me. He lets us carry his cross for a little while, so that something sinful in us can be put to death. But Jesus doesn’t make us pay for our sins, and atone for them—that is his job. Sometimes we feel in our lives that we have been carrying an incredible burden, which has been laid on us for a time. Often we carry things around with us that are actually not for us to carry—we have decided to carry them, whereas Jesus is the one who carries them. For example, sometimes people that we love might not act and behave in a way that we would like. And we take upon ourselves the task of changing them, or even converting them to the faith. Now, we can talk to people, encourage them, warn them, teach them, but we can’t change their hearts—that is Jesus’ job, and the Holy Spirit’s job. What a wonderful thing it is when we realise this, and we can say to Jesus: “Jesus, I realise now that I cannot carry this burden. I ask that you would take this burden away from me, and take it upon yourself.”

In 1 Corinthians 10, we read something about bearing temptations. St Paul writes: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. It’s strange—even Jesus is given the help that he needs to bear the weight of the cross. Simon only carries the cross for a time, and then it is no longer his any more. But Paul writes that God provides the way of escape. When we are burdened by some sin or troubles, we should be encouraged by the fact that God will provide the way of escape. But we often think that escaping means that we don’t have to bear it any more. Actually, it says: He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. He provided the way of escape, not so that we don’t need to endure it, but so that we can endure it. He provides the way of escape through the temptation. He leads us through it, not around it. And the wonderful thing about this is that God lays these things on us as long as they are of some benefit to our soul. And when we realise this, there is then a great joy in being able to bear the cross for as long as God would have us bear it. We know that in just a little while that Jesus will demonstrate his power and glory by showing us how he died on that same cross. St Peter writes: Be sober-minded; 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. But now listen to what he says: 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.

Also, there is that wonderful passage in Matthew where Jesus says: Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He doesn’t say that he will remove the load immediately, or straight-away, or when we think that we need it. But he does promise us rest. And he promises us rest in a very strange way. He says: Take my yoke upon you. You have carried your burden for long enough. Now carry mine for a while, follow me, and I will show you where this road ends up. It ends at Golgotha, at Calvary, where I die for your sins, and make full payment for them, and where I win you for myself. He says: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. We find rest for our souls, knowing that the cross we bear belongs to him, and he is just lending it to us for a while for our training and our blessing. The loads we carry are heavy and burdensome, but to follow Jesus and carry his cross is a much easier weight. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What a wonderful privilege it is to walk with Jesus and carry his cross!

The other important thing about Simon carrying Jesus’ cross, is that he was forced to carry his cross. Sometimes in our Christian lives, the people outside of the church force Christians to suffer for some part of the Christian faith that we would rather not have to. At first, it is painful. We might have preferred to suffer for some other reason, but Jesus chooses the issues for us that we have to wrestle with. And as he trains us, and as we endure with him, we realise that Jesus was even more gracious and merciful than we could have ever have imagined. He draws us further away from the corrupt and sinful world, and closer to him and his way of thinking. He trains us to think like him, as St Paul writes to the Philippians: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. This is what is says in Hebrews 13: Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. A chapter earlier we also read: For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

The last part of our sermon has to do with where:

III.              Jesus addresses a group of women who were following him.

This is what we read: And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

We read that there was a large group of people, mostly women—and Jesus addresses the women—who were mourning and grieving over Jesus. They felt sorry for him for what was about to happen to him.

But Jesus says to them: Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. Jesus is saying: Don’t feel sorry for me, because I am going to do a wonderful thing now that is going to change everything as we know it. I am going to go and win the forgiveness of sins.

Previously, the Jewish people had divided the world up into two categories: themselves, and the Gentiles. But they had seen it all as an external kingdom. They were looking forward for a Messiah who was going to be a political figure, a great world leader who was going to suppress all their enemies. But now, Jesus is telling them: No—my kingdom is not of this world. The true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. I am going to establish a new kingdom now, I am going to be enthroned. The old older of things is finished, now there will be a new kingdom with a new kind of worship. This will be a kingdom of word and sacrament—of preaching, baptism and the Lord’s Supper—it will be a kingdom of the forgiveness of sins.

The world will now be divided into the sheep and the goats. There are those who trust and follow Jesus, and there are those who reject him. Anyone can weep for Jesus, but Jesus tells these women to weep for themselves and their own children. Weep over your own sins. And weep over the fact that your children will be sinners with you. But rejoice in what I am now accomplishing.

Jesus says: For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ What Jesus is saying here is that there is going to be a judgment over the world, and even in Jerusalem. Jerusalem will end, and the world will end. And it will be preferable to wish that their children had not been brought into the world than to see them have to endure it. It will be preferable to want to be swallowed up by hills and mountains than to be face to face with that judgment of God.

Jesus says: For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? What does this mean? Jesus has been walking around and teaching and healing, and it has been a wonderful time, where many people have been called to follow him. It has been a day of salvation. It is a time when the wood is green, and leaves and fruits can grow. When Jesus calls us to repentance and faith, we should not put it off until later. We should take his hand when he reaches it out to us. But Jesus speaks of a time later when it will be too late, when the wood is dry. It is like the parable of the 10 virgins, where the five foolish virgins have missed their chance, and the doors are shut, and the bridegroom says: Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.

And if Jesus, the Saviour of the world, who has no sin, receives this kind of treatment, what kind of treatment do you think people deserve, like us who do have sin? Jesus turns the women’s eyes away from the glory of the city, away from the glory of Jerusalem, and towards him, who is the light of the world. It is not the world and people and politics and society and culture that saves us, but Christ alone. He is the green wood, everything else is dry. And when nations fall, cities are overthrown, cultures are eaten away, societies crumble, Jesus shows to us his victory over all of it—his cross, his death, his blood, his sacrifice.

Hebrews 13 says: Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world – grant us your peace. Amen.

Mid-week Lent Service IV [John 19:4-16] (14-Mar-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 5.30pm.

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

Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

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.

Tonight in our sermon we read about Pontius Pilate and his final dealings with the crowd before Jesus was lead off to be crucified. Last week, we read about where Jesus was scourged, and crowned with thorns, clothed with a purple robe, given a reed as a sceptre and mocked and spat upon. This week, we read mostly about Pontius Pilate, walking back and forth inside and outside his headquarters, speaking to the crowd and to Jesus, before he finally gives up and hands Jesus over to be crucified.

Our reading tonight is broken up into three parts:

I.                   Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd, and testifies to his innocence.

II.                 Pilate goes back inside with Jesus and asks him where he is from.

III.              Pilate takes Jesus outside again, trying to release him, but to no effect.

So let’s come to our first part, where:

I.                   Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd, and testifies to his innocence.

We read in John 19:4, where Pilate says to the crowd: See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.

Last week, we read about the terrible suffering that Jesus endured. We read so clearly now, that even though Pontius Pilate had had him whipped in one of the most horrendous punishments known to humanity, he still comes out afterwards and says: I find no guilt in him. So why did he have him flogged? Well, it was all politics: it was simply to appease the crowd. And Pilate had thought that maybe if he had Jesus flogged, that the crowd would have a sense of shame about it, and they would feel sorry for Jesus and agree to release him.

So Pilate says: See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. We read: So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

What a mess Jesus must have looked, after all that he gone through just then. Compare that wonderful time before the fall into sin, when God created woman and brought her to the man. We read: Then the man said: This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. What an amazing thing it was for the first man to see for the first time the first woman!

Now everything is reversed. This time God, through Pilate, presents his own Son to the crowd. The Jews were God’s chosen people, his bride. And now Jesus, their bridegroom is presented to them. Behold, the man! He is flesh of their flesh and bone of their bones. And yet, instead of receiving him with love and affection and devotion, as the first man received the first woman, they receive him with burning hatred, with not a drop of sympathy at all. We read: When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”

These words of Pilate — Behold, the man! — also remind us of what St Paul says in comparing Adam and Christ. He says: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. He also says: For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall be made alive. Here we have a comparison between Adam and Jesus. Adam sinned, Jesus dies for sin. Adam started off perfect and pure and strong and healthy and even immortal, and then ended up completely wretched because he chose sin. But then Jesus comes along, and he is true God, and he then becomes completely wretched and poor and hungry just like us when he becomes a man, not because he is a sinner, not because he chose to sin. But he chose to bear our sin, and to carry it. And now Pilate shows us what it looks like for a man to bear our sin: Behold, the man!

It will also be a wonderful thing when we appear before God’s throne, full of sin. There is nothing in us that is worthy of God accepting us or welcoming us into heaven. But we can say: Behold, the man! Don’t look at me and my sin, but look to Jesus and his atonement for sin. Look to Jesus and his purity. This is the man who has died for you and made himself your brother and your Saviour. Pilate says: Behold, the man! John the Baptist said: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

When the people called for his crucifixion again, we read that Pilate said: Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. Pilate here is almost throwing in the towel, so to speak. He is fed up with it all. He says to them that he finds no guilt in him. But on the other hand, he puts out a challenge to them: Take him yourselves and crucify him. It’s almost to say: I can’t come up with a reason to crucify him. So if you want to crucify him, you better have a good reason. I’ve exhausted the Roman law, so if you have a good reason to crucify him, I want to hear it.

                                         

So what do they say? They say: We have a law, and according to that law he ought to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God. Now the Jews had the law in the Ten Commandments about taking the Lord’s name in vain. And also we read the law in Leviticus: Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. Now the Jews here thought that because Jesus had said that he was the Son of God, that he was blaspheming the name of the LORD. But he would be blaspheming the Lord’s name if such a thing were not true. For example, if you or I said that we were to Son of God, it would be blasphemy, because it’s not true. But Jesus had not only testified with his mouth that he was the Son of God, but also through his works, and his wonderful healing and comforting miracles. It was true.

But there was a lie in what they said. Jesus had not made himself the Son of God. God himself had declared from heaven that he was His Son, at his baptism, and also at his transfiguration.

But this thing stabs Pontius Pilate in his conscience. You see, in Ancient Roman religion, the gods were super-human beings, as they often are in many pagan religions. And Roman people were open to the possibility of one of the gods coming down in human form. Caesar Augustus had actually called himself amongst other things Filius Dei, the son of a god. What the Jews said to Pilate here would have really made him tremble. “I know that he is innocent, but the Son of God, you say?” And so we read: When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.

Once again, Pontius Pilate’s grand plan to free Jesus through arousing sympathy for Jesus had backfired on him, he comes out in confidence, and he ends up in fear.

This brings us to the second part of our reading where:

II.                 Pilate goes back inside his headquarters to speak to Jesus.

We read: Pilate entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

Now Pilate is not asking him, “Where are you from?” just like we might say that to someone in the church narthex to someone, talking about what city or town they come from. Pilate already knows that: he knows that he is from Galilee. That’s why he had him sent off to King Herod. He is asking him something much deeper. And yet: Jesus gave him no answer.

This is like a young couple, who are in love, and thinking about getting married. They say to each other: I love you. And when they say this, they take a risk, and also commit themselves to each other. When Jesus says to Peter: Who do you say that I am? He says: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Peter knew where Jesus was from. He made a confession of faith.

But imagine the young couple, and one of them said, “Do you love me?” This question is not a commitment, but doubts whether they really do, and they want the other person to commit first. If you put yourself on the line first, then I’ll follow, but I won’t take the risk, and take the lead. This question could also carry underneath it a rebuke, as if to say: “Do you love me? You sure don’t act like it!”

And so, Pilate says to Jesus, “Where are you from?” He won’t make a confession of faith. He says to the crowd that he is innocent, but he won’t commit himself to Jesus. Jesus has already said enough to create faith in him. He had already said: My kingdom is not of this world. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Jesus already told Pilate that he came into the world from outside of it, from eternity, from the bosom of the Father. And so in answer to his question, Jesus remains silent.

This makes Pilate angry. He says: You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Pilate threatens Jesus here. It’s as if he says: Hey, speak to me, or I’ll crucify you just for that! This would be as if a world leader said to another world leader: Reply to my emails, or I’ll launch a nuclear bomb! Everyone knows just how silly this is. So Jesus does open his mouth, and doesn’t give his answer, but says: You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.

Jesus says something here about authority. We live in a society that doesn’t respect people in authority. Many students in schools don’t respect their teachers, citizens don’t often respect their politicians and leaders very highly, and we could give other examples. But God has actually created authority, and he has given it to the world as his blessing and as his gift. Now, there are plenty of people who abuse their authority, but the abuse of authority doesn’t make authority in and of itself a bad thing.

So God has created authority in the home, in marriage and in the family. He also has created authority in the church. And he also has created authority in the civil realm, in society, with leaders, police, armed forces, and so on.

It’s a wonderful privilege that God gives to us to pray for those who are under our authority, and to pray for those people who are in authority over us. St Paul writes in 1 Timothy: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Also, we read in Romans 13: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. St Peter also writes in his first letter: Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Pontius Pilate is a governor, just like Peter mentions here in his letter.

Have a think about our leaders, and world leaders. We might imagine some leaders that we like, and some we don’t like. For example, there’s the prime-minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull. Or the Queensland premier, Anastacia Palaszczuk. Or there’s our local members of parliament. Or then there’s the Queen, who is also the Queen of the Commonwealth of Australia. Whether we personally like these people or not, the fact is they have their authority from God, and God has placed them there. There is great wisdom is knowing what authority we have, and then to use it.

And so here we have Pontius Pilate, who is threatening to crucify Jesus for not opening his mouth. And Jesus says to him: You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. This means that when Pilate finally does give Jesus over to be crucified, it is God who has allowed it to happen. But also, if Pilate misuses his authority by sentencing an innocent man to death, it is a great sin. And Jesus says this to him: Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. Jesus says: If you crucify me, it will be a sin, and even a great sin. But those who have given me over to you, to manipulate you, and to use you, and to get what they want by pressing in on you, they have committed a greater sin. They are using God-given authority not to promote what is right and good, but in order to suit their own ends.

This now brings us to the third part of our reading tonight, where:

III.              Pilate brings Jesus outside again, and tries to release him, but to no avail.

We read: From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” This time, these words are addressed to Pilate. In effect, the Jews here are threatening Pilate, as if to say, If you don’t do what we want, we’ll put in a bad report about you to Caesar, and he won’t like that, will he, Mr Pilate? Pilate is now put in a difficult place. The crowd remind Pilate that he is not simply a man in authority over them, but he is a man under the authority of Caesar. What will Caesar think, they say, if you don’t put a rival king to death?

We read: So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. We can see here that this is Pilate’s last opportunity. He is going to sit in his official judgment seat. The judge is going to make his pronouncement. John also mentions the day and the time. It is the Day of Preparation—the next day is going to be the Sabbath, and time is running out. It is Friday at midday, and there are only so many hours left in the day. Later on in the chapter, we read that the Jews didn’t want to have bodies on the cross on the Sabbath, so they asked Pilate to break their legs and get the job over and done with. But here we are told specifically, that Pilate has ascended onto his judgment throne. As Peter says: He is a governor sent by God to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

And so mindful of this holy calling and duty that God has bestowed upon him, he says: Behold your King! We read: They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

Just as they chose to have Barabbas released—a murderer instead of their creator—so they also choose to have Caesar as their king, the Roman Emperor, who has taxed and oppressed them, and call for the death of the King of heaven, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the King of David, the Lion from the Tribe of Judah, the Son of David and the Son of God.

In Matthew’s Gospel we read: So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather than a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

Pilate tries to excuse himself by washing himself clean, in a little symbolic ritual, and declaring his innocence. But he is saying: Jesus is innocent, and I want to share in that innocence too. It’s you that are forcing me into this.

But then the Jews say something quite tremendous. They say: His blood be on us and on our children! It’s as if they are saying: “Don’t you worry, Pilate! You might have a bad conscience, but we don’t. We know he’s guilty. His blood can be on us and even on our children, but we know that we are right and that we have nothing to worry about. We know that we are innocent, and we know that he is guilty.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. They did not give him a fair trial. Pilate had tried to free Jesus, the crowd had simply pushed and pushed until their voices prevailed.

In some sense, they call upon themselves the guilt of Jesus’ death upon themselves, convinced that they are right and Jesus is wrong. However, those of us who believe that they were wrong and Jesus was right must really shudder at these words.

These words are very sensitive, especially in the way that they have been used in history. Sometimes, different people have developed a particular hatred for Jewish people, and this came to a particular head, when Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist party exterminated many, many Jews—together with many other unwanted people—in the holocaust at the time of WWII. Hatred towards to Jews was justified because they had called the guilt of Jesus’ death down upon them and upon their children.

And yet, we who are Gentiles, have been grafted in, through holy baptism, into God’s people. Both Jews and Gentiles are called to be part of God’s church on earth. And of course, Jewish people are so close to our faith, in that they have the Old Testament, and yet they are so far away in that they reject the New Testament, and Jesus as their Messiah. Jesus was a Jew, as were all the apostles, and all the writers of the bible. As St Paul writes: But if some of the branches [that is, some Jews] were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, [that is, Gentiles] were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you. The Jews were originally God’s chosen people, and now we have been made God’s chosen people together with them. Those Jews who reject Jesus as the Messiah are cut off, and need to be called to repentance and faith just like the rest of us. As long as Jews and Muslims in the Middle-East reject Jesus together they will always be fighting. Jesus calls both Jews and Muslims to him, to his cross, to his blood, to his peace which passes all understanding. Imagine what a joy it would be for Jews and Arabs if they had one common Saviour, Jesus Christ, having one common baptism, and could share in the Lord’s Supper together! This is not to say that Jesus’ peace is simply a political thing—not at all. However, Jesus says: Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. What a wonderful joy it must have been for that Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 to read prophet Isaiah—that prophet which he knew so well—and then to realise that it was talking about Jesus!

It should be a great prayer for us towards those of the Jewish race and of the Jewish faith that the blood of Jesus may be upon them and upon their children, not as a curse, but as a blessing. And this should also be our prayer about ourselves and our children, just as Peter said on the day of Pentecost: Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

Behold the man! Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world—have mercy on us! Amen.