In our Gospel reading for this morning, we’re introduced to a man named Nicodemus. We’re told that Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews. He comes to Jesus at night on account of the miracles Jesus has been performing. It would seem likely that some of them he’d seen himself, and certainly a man in his position would have heard from others about even more. Having seen these amazing things, Nicodemus comes to find out even more.
I think we all understand Nicodemus’ actions here. I remember back in 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were making their charge toward the single-season home run record. Everywhere you looked, there were Big Mac and Sammy. They were on the news, they were in the newspapers, their faces were on magazine covers…they were two men doing something amazing, and America couldn’t get enough. The attention and interest was so great that people would come to the stadium two hours before the game started just to watch them take batting practice. Fans and journalists alike were itching to know the secrets to their incredible success. How did they prepare themselves? What were their workouts like? How were they able to do what they were doing?
People who played the stock market knew that it was a volatile, risky venture. Even the best and savviest of investors could hit a rough patch. But not Bernie Madoff. For years he could boast a steady, consistent success rate that made him a legend. The more success he had, the more people wanted to entrust their money to him. What was his secret? What made him so amazingly, almost unbelievably successful at what he did?
Of course, in time it turned out that those things, like so many incredible, unbelievable stories before turned out to be less than they were made out to be. Eventually McGwire admitted that steroids helped create the Paul Bunyan physique that helped him crush baseballs at a record rate. Bernie Madoff was caught running the largest ponzi scheme the financial world had ever seen, all his supposed brilliance exposed as a con and a pile of lies.
In his responses to Jesus, it’s clear that while Nicodemus says that he knows Jesus must have come from God, his mind is still firmly stuck on the things and ways of the world. It would appear that in coming to meet Jesus, Nicodemus has come to Jesus to find evidence as to whether or not this miracle man is too good to be true. Perhaps he isn’t quite what he seems, and is yet another false prophet. Another skilled con man using the name of God to make his name and fortune. Though he acknowledges Jesus as coming from God, he seems either unwilling or incapable of understanding Jesus’ words in a spiritual manner. Nicodemus saw the signs, but life-giving faith eluded him. He saw the signs, but he altogether missed the point.
Showing posts with label Lent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lent. Show all posts
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Thursday, April 1, 2010
The Taste Test (Amos 8:11-14)
In Atlanta resides the World of Coke. As you’d imagine, it’s essentially a propaganda museum for all things Coke. Still, there are worse ways to avoid the suffocating heat of an Atlanta summer than learning about the history of one of America’s iconic brands. Especially because near the exit they have a room where you can taste-test dozens of the different products Coke sells around the world. Some are wonderful. Some…not so much. One drink for your taste-testing pleasure is called “Beverly,” and is reportedly sold in Italy. During your time at there, you hear this beverage mentioned specifically more than once. So of course, you’re intrigued. You take your little plastic cup, press the dispenser, and get ready to sip. And then…. Well, according to one reviewer with a particular gift for description, “it's as if you'd crushed a thousand Imodium AD caplets, made them into a paste, and painted your tongue with it. The bitterness seeps into parts of your throat where taste buds should not exist, but somehow do. The museum staff falls all over themselves laughing at you, and then they get a mop.” Yet as awful as that drink is, and I can assure you, it is truly awful…I’m still grateful that I wasn’t party to the taste test conducted by one gourmet cook.
It happened at an elegant reception near Denver. The hostess had just graduated from a gourmet cooking course and decided it was time to put her skills to the ultimate test. She prepared plenty of fancy-looking hors d’oeurves for her guests. Delicate little crackers served with wedges of imported cheese, bacon chips, olives, and pimento. And to top them off, a small dollop of dog food . Yep. She was serving up hors d’oeurves a la Alpo. After doctoring up those foul, miserable morsels, she put them on a couple of silver trays and sent them out to make the rounds. With a sly grin she watched them all disappear into the hands and into the mouths of her unsuspecting party guests. She noticed that one man in particular just couldn’t get enough. When the truth was finally revealed, the hostess was probably lucky to escape without him barking and biting her on the leg as punishment for her deception! More likely though, was that he and the other guests found themselves famished and longing for real food. Food that is sweet and good.
Amos also knows about people hungering for real food and finding none. Back in chapter 4, he had preached the coming of famine and drought in the land. A time when the natural world would be under destruction, and the people would struggle to find food. But now in chapter 8, Amos again speaks of a coming famine. But this time it will not be a famine of the land. It will not be a drought in terms of lacking rain or good soil. Instead, it is going to be a famine of the Word of God. The Word of God which they have rejected time and time again is going to be removed from them entirely. This was their punishment for filling the temple with idols. For turning away from God and toward the gods of the nations around them. For ignoring God’s commands to provide for the poor and widowed, and instead oppressing and mocking them. For treating God’s holy days and holy places as excuses to get drunk and stuff themselves on the fattened calves.
As punishment for their sinful and unrepentant ways, for their steady diet of foreign gods and their own pride, God’s Word would be taken away from them. And as their plight gets worse…as they suffer more and more at the hands of their enemies…as they reach their moment of deepest need, they will finally seek out the Almighty God and find that he has no word for them. Amos says that they shall wander from sea to see, running to and fro in a frantic and desperate search...but they will find nothing. For their sin, they will face hunger and thirst for the refreshing and nourishing Word of God, but will find no satisfaction.
Why do you and I experience a famine of God’s word? Why are there times when God seems to be distant and silent? Just like Amos’ audience, it is because of our diet. For breakfast, half a grapefruit, whole wheat toast with no butter, skim milk, coffee black. For lunch, four ounces of lean broiled skinless chicken breast, steamed broccoli, green tea, and one Oreo cookie. For a mid-afternoon snack…the rest of the package of Oreo cookies, washed down with a large mint-chocolate chip milkshake. For dinner, an order of cheesy bread, a large sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese pizza, a bottomless glass of soda, and for desert, double-chocolate fudge cheesecake!
Oh, we try, don’t we? We try to stay on a spiritual diet of God’s word that brings vigor and health and strength and power. We try to stick to those things that are good for us. That help build us up in our faith. Morning prayer and devotion. Daily time set-aside to spend in Scripture. But then we slip. One Oreo cookie. One crumb of coveting. One piece of pornography. One juicy piece of gossip. One choice profanity…and then the rest of the package of Oreos. We just can’t get enough. And it’s killing us!
The enemy thrusts this junk food before us on silver trays and with a sly grin watches it all disappear. Filled to the brim with his miserable morsels our desire to regularly study God’s word becomes a chore. The plans to start every morning in private devotion quickly go by the wayside. The encouragement to memorize, learn, and defend God’s Word becomes a burden. Our eagerness to trust, believe, love, and live out His Word becomes a bore. Our passion for daily prayer fades to the point that we can barely mutter a quick word of thanks before eating a meal at home. We increasingly lose interest in the things connected to our faith until the point that it can risk being neglected entirely. Just like the lima beans your mom spooned onto your plate when you were a kid.
And the result is a famine in the hearing of God’s Word.
So God decided to serve up one more Word. One more nourishing word of hope and comfort for all people. He would offer to the world THE Word. His Son, Jesus. As a Man his appetite is defined in Hebrews 2:9, “But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Talk about a taste test! This was it for all time! Jesus tasted the evil curse and punishment called death. The soldiers mocked and taunted him with their cheap wine. Sweat and blood ran side by side down Jesus’ cheeks. But there was more. The most dreadful, awful, bitter cup He had to drink was the cup of the Father’s wrath. The cup of wrath that was filled with the bitter punishment for each and every single sin that you and I and everyone else who has ever lived has committed. And he drank in every…last…drop. He just couldn’t get enough. And it killed him.
Yet Jesus didn’t simply taste the bitterness of death. He chewed it up. He swallowed it down. And He spit it back out! In 1 Corinthians 15 St. Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah when he writes “Death has been swallowed up in victory!”
Through the sacrificial, saving work of Christ on the cross, death has been swallowed up! This means that our famine and hunger has ended. The feast is here! It was Luther who pounded the table at Marburg and spoke from Latin, “hoc est corpum meam.” That is he quoted Jesus’ statement at the Last Supper, “This is my body.”
The forgiveness and love and mercy and salvation that was accomplished at Calvary is now present in the bread and wine by the power of the word. By Jesus own words we are called to gather together and receive His real body and real blood at this table as we partake of His Holy Supper. Here at His table he offers us the saving, nourishing food of His grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Here in the bread and wine, we join with him in a foretaste of the feast that will never end.
The famine is ended. The feast is here! Come. Taste and see. The Lord is good.
-Pastor L
It happened at an elegant reception near Denver. The hostess had just graduated from a gourmet cooking course and decided it was time to put her skills to the ultimate test. She prepared plenty of fancy-looking hors d’oeurves for her guests. Delicate little crackers served with wedges of imported cheese, bacon chips, olives, and pimento. And to top them off, a small dollop of dog food . Yep. She was serving up hors d’oeurves a la Alpo. After doctoring up those foul, miserable morsels, she put them on a couple of silver trays and sent them out to make the rounds. With a sly grin she watched them all disappear into the hands and into the mouths of her unsuspecting party guests. She noticed that one man in particular just couldn’t get enough. When the truth was finally revealed, the hostess was probably lucky to escape without him barking and biting her on the leg as punishment for her deception! More likely though, was that he and the other guests found themselves famished and longing for real food. Food that is sweet and good.
Amos also knows about people hungering for real food and finding none. Back in chapter 4, he had preached the coming of famine and drought in the land. A time when the natural world would be under destruction, and the people would struggle to find food. But now in chapter 8, Amos again speaks of a coming famine. But this time it will not be a famine of the land. It will not be a drought in terms of lacking rain or good soil. Instead, it is going to be a famine of the Word of God. The Word of God which they have rejected time and time again is going to be removed from them entirely. This was their punishment for filling the temple with idols. For turning away from God and toward the gods of the nations around them. For ignoring God’s commands to provide for the poor and widowed, and instead oppressing and mocking them. For treating God’s holy days and holy places as excuses to get drunk and stuff themselves on the fattened calves.
As punishment for their sinful and unrepentant ways, for their steady diet of foreign gods and their own pride, God’s Word would be taken away from them. And as their plight gets worse…as they suffer more and more at the hands of their enemies…as they reach their moment of deepest need, they will finally seek out the Almighty God and find that he has no word for them. Amos says that they shall wander from sea to see, running to and fro in a frantic and desperate search...but they will find nothing. For their sin, they will face hunger and thirst for the refreshing and nourishing Word of God, but will find no satisfaction.
Why do you and I experience a famine of God’s word? Why are there times when God seems to be distant and silent? Just like Amos’ audience, it is because of our diet. For breakfast, half a grapefruit, whole wheat toast with no butter, skim milk, coffee black. For lunch, four ounces of lean broiled skinless chicken breast, steamed broccoli, green tea, and one Oreo cookie. For a mid-afternoon snack…the rest of the package of Oreo cookies, washed down with a large mint-chocolate chip milkshake. For dinner, an order of cheesy bread, a large sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese pizza, a bottomless glass of soda, and for desert, double-chocolate fudge cheesecake!
Oh, we try, don’t we? We try to stay on a spiritual diet of God’s word that brings vigor and health and strength and power. We try to stick to those things that are good for us. That help build us up in our faith. Morning prayer and devotion. Daily time set-aside to spend in Scripture. But then we slip. One Oreo cookie. One crumb of coveting. One piece of pornography. One juicy piece of gossip. One choice profanity…and then the rest of the package of Oreos. We just can’t get enough. And it’s killing us!
The enemy thrusts this junk food before us on silver trays and with a sly grin watches it all disappear. Filled to the brim with his miserable morsels our desire to regularly study God’s word becomes a chore. The plans to start every morning in private devotion quickly go by the wayside. The encouragement to memorize, learn, and defend God’s Word becomes a burden. Our eagerness to trust, believe, love, and live out His Word becomes a bore. Our passion for daily prayer fades to the point that we can barely mutter a quick word of thanks before eating a meal at home. We increasingly lose interest in the things connected to our faith until the point that it can risk being neglected entirely. Just like the lima beans your mom spooned onto your plate when you were a kid.
And the result is a famine in the hearing of God’s Word.
So God decided to serve up one more Word. One more nourishing word of hope and comfort for all people. He would offer to the world THE Word. His Son, Jesus. As a Man his appetite is defined in Hebrews 2:9, “But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Talk about a taste test! This was it for all time! Jesus tasted the evil curse and punishment called death. The soldiers mocked and taunted him with their cheap wine. Sweat and blood ran side by side down Jesus’ cheeks. But there was more. The most dreadful, awful, bitter cup He had to drink was the cup of the Father’s wrath. The cup of wrath that was filled with the bitter punishment for each and every single sin that you and I and everyone else who has ever lived has committed. And he drank in every…last…drop. He just couldn’t get enough. And it killed him.
Yet Jesus didn’t simply taste the bitterness of death. He chewed it up. He swallowed it down. And He spit it back out! In 1 Corinthians 15 St. Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah when he writes “Death has been swallowed up in victory!”
Through the sacrificial, saving work of Christ on the cross, death has been swallowed up! This means that our famine and hunger has ended. The feast is here! It was Luther who pounded the table at Marburg and spoke from Latin, “hoc est corpum meam.” That is he quoted Jesus’ statement at the Last Supper, “This is my body.”
The forgiveness and love and mercy and salvation that was accomplished at Calvary is now present in the bread and wine by the power of the word. By Jesus own words we are called to gather together and receive His real body and real blood at this table as we partake of His Holy Supper. Here at His table he offers us the saving, nourishing food of His grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Here in the bread and wine, we join with him in a foretaste of the feast that will never end.
The famine is ended. The feast is here! Come. Taste and see. The Lord is good.
-Pastor L
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
“A Cross, Forgiveness, and Paradise” (Luke 23:1-56)
Grace, mercy, and peace be with you in the name of the Humble Servant who became a suffering Servant, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for our consideration is the gospel reading from Luke. May the Holy Spirit move us to ponder, in sincerity and truth, what Christ has accomplished for each one of us.
Paradise. A place of bliss, felicity, or delight. That’s the second definition in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. Paradise . . . people long for that place of bliss, that place of great happiness, where you encounter delight after delight. Commercials for the Sandals resorts . . . or the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas . . . present images that evoke the feelings and desires of many if not most to just escape and go to that carefree place without worries or wants. But how much does it cost?? What’s the price of paradise? I took my family on our 25th anniversary trip to Hawaii . . . and I can tell you that it cost a lot . . . of money.
But those kinds of getaways don’t last. The trip comes to an end . . . and the return to reality in this world can be quite a stark contrast. You come home from paradise to face again the challenges of everyday life, difficulties at work (and the work which piled up while you were gone), relationship struggles, parenting challenges . . . and even the credit card bills which must be paid from overspending the budget for that getaway to paradise. It makes you wonder, what would it cost if you could just live in paradise . . . indefinitely . . . if you never had to come back to the often harsh realities of this sin-broken world.
The answer to that question is before us in the gospel reading from Luke. For you see, our Lord Jesus Christ came to restore mankind to paradise . . . and the cost would be great indeed. But before you can understand what is cost to restore paradise, you have to know what caused Paradise to be lost. Paradise was lost way back in the Garden of Eden . . . when mankind fell into sin. And the Scriptures record: “So the Lord God banished mankind from the Garden of Eden.”
Sin is a serious matter . . . and sin was the reason mankind was banished from Paradise. Sin continued to cause such problems down through holy history . . . even to our own day. The sin of Moses kept him out of the promised land of Israel . . . after leading the people for 40 long years in the wilderness. The sin of King Saul led to the loss of his kingship . . . and worse than that, the taking away of God’s Holy Spirit. The sin of the people of Israel led them into exile in the foreign land of Babylon. And the sin of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus led to his suicide . . . and a losing of paradise for all eternity.
Because of the godly discipline of parents, the sin of children leads to the loss of privileges . . . or possessions, for at least a while . . . or even simply the loss of time in a time out. Because of the righteous acts of the government, a person’s sin can lead to incarceration and imprisonment. If the evil act is bad enough . . . it can even lead to a life sentence . . . or even place a person on death row.
Of course, sin also excludes in an unrighteous way: the awkward child who nobody will play with on the playground, the parent that is given the silent treatment by a child who is upset with the discipline, the person who harbors bitterness and anger towards another person . . . and refuses to have a relationship with them. Sin leads to banishment; sin leads to punishment; sin destroys relationships; and, ultimately, sin leads to death.
In the Scripture before us today . . . we see the worst of what sin can do . . . in the arraignment, trial, conviction, and execution by crucifixion of the sinless Son of God. False charges brought against Jesus . . . He’s subverting the nation . . . He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar . . . He stirs up the people with His teaching (as though He was leading some revolt) . . . He’s worthy of crucifixion.
The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, not once, not twice, but three times declares Jesus to be innocent. After the first time, Pilate sends Him to Herod . . . who wants to see a miracle. When Jesus does not comply, Herod and his soldiers ridicule and mock the sinless Son of God. And people join with Herod whenever they ridicule their spouse . . . whenever they mock and make fun of their fellow man . . . whenever a sibling picks on their brother or sister . . . as sin runs rampant in the world today.
After the second time of declaring Jesus’ innocence, Pilate unjustly has Him punished, hoping to appease the mob and prevent a riot. Jesus endured the forty minus one slashes of a Roman scourge, which consisted of two or three leather strips with pieces of bone or metal attached to rip the skin open. And as Jesus endured that, we find fulfillment of the mysterious prophecy of Isaiah, “the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Amazingly, in the midst of this horribly sinful series of events, God is working to restore and heal.
After the third time of appealing to the crowd proclaiming Jesus’ innocence and finding the worst criminal he could round up, Pilate offers the release of either Jesus or Barabbas, hoping the crowd will pick Jesus. But to the Roman governor’s amazement, they choose Barabbas and cry out for the crucifixion of the Christ. A murderer, a man whose evil acts had led him to death row . . . is released . . . and Jesus, the sinless Son of God is lead away to Golgotha. It’s so wrong, it’s so evil, it’s so unjust . . . it’s not the way it should be! But God is actually working out our salvation . . . for as the prophet Isaiah states elsewhere, “Your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord.”
And so Jesus was led out with two criminals . . . all three walking the way of sorrows to their death. Jesus holy body was laid on the cross as nails were hammered into His holy hands and feet. Again, words from Isaiah come to mind, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities . . . We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
My dear friends in Christ, do you believe that?? Do you believe that Almighty God laid on Jesus Christ the sins and iniquity of us all . . . and the whole human race. Oh, our minds can’t comprehend it . . . and we’ll never know the suffering Jesus endured not only in the physical pain of His body . . . but even more so, the spiritual pain of His soul in bearing the sins of the world. Yet, even more importantly, do you believe the words Jesus spoke from the cross? For amidst the ongoing mocking, ridicule, and taunting of the religious leaders and other passersby, Jesus spoke these words, “Father, Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Do you believe that through the suffering and agony of the cross of Christ, you are forgiven? That’s the crucial question! For you see, sin leads to banishment; sin leads to punishment; sin destroys relationships; and, ultimately, sin leads to death. But the forgiveness of Christ frees us from sin and its consequences . . . and restores us in our relationships . . . with God and others. The criminals crucified on either side of our Lord . . . they both had much sin to account for. One believed . . . the other did not. One confessed, “We are getting what our sins deserve . . . but this man has done nothing wrong.” And then that believing sinner made a final plea from Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.”
And Jesus responded, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Some time later that holy day, Jesus said, “It is finished” followed by “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” And paradise was restored for all eternity. That’s the cost, the cross of Jesus Christ, the gift of forgiveness, and through faith in Him, eternal paradise is yours. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
-Pastor Bender
Paradise. A place of bliss, felicity, or delight. That’s the second definition in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. Paradise . . . people long for that place of bliss, that place of great happiness, where you encounter delight after delight. Commercials for the Sandals resorts . . . or the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas . . . present images that evoke the feelings and desires of many if not most to just escape and go to that carefree place without worries or wants. But how much does it cost?? What’s the price of paradise? I took my family on our 25th anniversary trip to Hawaii . . . and I can tell you that it cost a lot . . . of money.
But those kinds of getaways don’t last. The trip comes to an end . . . and the return to reality in this world can be quite a stark contrast. You come home from paradise to face again the challenges of everyday life, difficulties at work (and the work which piled up while you were gone), relationship struggles, parenting challenges . . . and even the credit card bills which must be paid from overspending the budget for that getaway to paradise. It makes you wonder, what would it cost if you could just live in paradise . . . indefinitely . . . if you never had to come back to the often harsh realities of this sin-broken world.
The answer to that question is before us in the gospel reading from Luke. For you see, our Lord Jesus Christ came to restore mankind to paradise . . . and the cost would be great indeed. But before you can understand what is cost to restore paradise, you have to know what caused Paradise to be lost. Paradise was lost way back in the Garden of Eden . . . when mankind fell into sin. And the Scriptures record: “So the Lord God banished mankind from the Garden of Eden.”
Sin is a serious matter . . . and sin was the reason mankind was banished from Paradise. Sin continued to cause such problems down through holy history . . . even to our own day. The sin of Moses kept him out of the promised land of Israel . . . after leading the people for 40 long years in the wilderness. The sin of King Saul led to the loss of his kingship . . . and worse than that, the taking away of God’s Holy Spirit. The sin of the people of Israel led them into exile in the foreign land of Babylon. And the sin of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus led to his suicide . . . and a losing of paradise for all eternity.
Because of the godly discipline of parents, the sin of children leads to the loss of privileges . . . or possessions, for at least a while . . . or even simply the loss of time in a time out. Because of the righteous acts of the government, a person’s sin can lead to incarceration and imprisonment. If the evil act is bad enough . . . it can even lead to a life sentence . . . or even place a person on death row.
Of course, sin also excludes in an unrighteous way: the awkward child who nobody will play with on the playground, the parent that is given the silent treatment by a child who is upset with the discipline, the person who harbors bitterness and anger towards another person . . . and refuses to have a relationship with them. Sin leads to banishment; sin leads to punishment; sin destroys relationships; and, ultimately, sin leads to death.
In the Scripture before us today . . . we see the worst of what sin can do . . . in the arraignment, trial, conviction, and execution by crucifixion of the sinless Son of God. False charges brought against Jesus . . . He’s subverting the nation . . . He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar . . . He stirs up the people with His teaching (as though He was leading some revolt) . . . He’s worthy of crucifixion.
The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, not once, not twice, but three times declares Jesus to be innocent. After the first time, Pilate sends Him to Herod . . . who wants to see a miracle. When Jesus does not comply, Herod and his soldiers ridicule and mock the sinless Son of God. And people join with Herod whenever they ridicule their spouse . . . whenever they mock and make fun of their fellow man . . . whenever a sibling picks on their brother or sister . . . as sin runs rampant in the world today.
After the second time of declaring Jesus’ innocence, Pilate unjustly has Him punished, hoping to appease the mob and prevent a riot. Jesus endured the forty minus one slashes of a Roman scourge, which consisted of two or three leather strips with pieces of bone or metal attached to rip the skin open. And as Jesus endured that, we find fulfillment of the mysterious prophecy of Isaiah, “the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Amazingly, in the midst of this horribly sinful series of events, God is working to restore and heal.
After the third time of appealing to the crowd proclaiming Jesus’ innocence and finding the worst criminal he could round up, Pilate offers the release of either Jesus or Barabbas, hoping the crowd will pick Jesus. But to the Roman governor’s amazement, they choose Barabbas and cry out for the crucifixion of the Christ. A murderer, a man whose evil acts had led him to death row . . . is released . . . and Jesus, the sinless Son of God is lead away to Golgotha. It’s so wrong, it’s so evil, it’s so unjust . . . it’s not the way it should be! But God is actually working out our salvation . . . for as the prophet Isaiah states elsewhere, “Your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord.”
And so Jesus was led out with two criminals . . . all three walking the way of sorrows to their death. Jesus holy body was laid on the cross as nails were hammered into His holy hands and feet. Again, words from Isaiah come to mind, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities . . . We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
My dear friends in Christ, do you believe that?? Do you believe that Almighty God laid on Jesus Christ the sins and iniquity of us all . . . and the whole human race. Oh, our minds can’t comprehend it . . . and we’ll never know the suffering Jesus endured not only in the physical pain of His body . . . but even more so, the spiritual pain of His soul in bearing the sins of the world. Yet, even more importantly, do you believe the words Jesus spoke from the cross? For amidst the ongoing mocking, ridicule, and taunting of the religious leaders and other passersby, Jesus spoke these words, “Father, Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Do you believe that through the suffering and agony of the cross of Christ, you are forgiven? That’s the crucial question! For you see, sin leads to banishment; sin leads to punishment; sin destroys relationships; and, ultimately, sin leads to death. But the forgiveness of Christ frees us from sin and its consequences . . . and restores us in our relationships . . . with God and others. The criminals crucified on either side of our Lord . . . they both had much sin to account for. One believed . . . the other did not. One confessed, “We are getting what our sins deserve . . . but this man has done nothing wrong.” And then that believing sinner made a final plea from Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.”
And Jesus responded, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Some time later that holy day, Jesus said, “It is finished” followed by “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” And paradise was restored for all eternity. That’s the cost, the cross of Jesus Christ, the gift of forgiveness, and through faith in Him, eternal paradise is yours. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
-Pastor Bender
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Beware of Falling Rock! (Luke 20:17-18)
In the world of film, movies get classified under any number of genres. Broadly they generally get classified as comedy, drama, or documentary. But within each genre, you have any number of sub-genres; things like science-fiction, action-adventure, romantic comedy, and horror. One sub-genre that has a long history of being popular with movie-goers is the disaster movie. In these films, often given names like “Armageddon," “Doomsday,” or “Atomic Twister,” the primary plot line deals with some impending or ongoing disaster that may threaten the lives of a city, a nation, or even the world. These potential threats can range from rampaging hordes of zombies, to fleets of hostile alien invaders, to giant asteroids hurtling on a collision course with the earth. Often in these movies, initial warnings go unheeded, to disastrous and fatal ends.
While I trust that God will provide whatever protection is needed before an asteroid kills all life as we know it, Scripture does alert us to a danger that we would be foolish to take lightly.
It has become a commonly held view in our country that God, if he is acknowledged to exist at all, is too kind and gracious to condemn anyone to hell. That he’s a God who loves everyone equally, regardless of what they actually believe. The belief is that as long as you at least try to be a good person, as long as you don’t go out of your way to hurt people, you have nothing to worry about. But if we take Jesus’ words in Luke seriously, if we believe Jesus means what he says, he has a very definite, very real warning for all people.
There are a couple things we can take from this portion of Luke’s gospel. The first is that while there always has been and always will be opposition to the saving word of Jesus Christ, our salvation is complete and certain. We know this and can be sure of this because of the words Jesus himself quotes from Psalm 118. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
Though we won’t celebrate Palm Sunday until next week, Jesus spoke these words sometime early during Holy Week. As he did every time he went to Jerusalem, Jesus went to the temple to teach. And as they often did, the Pharisees and teachers of law followed, eager to find something they could use against Jesus in order to get rid of him. These were men who knew the Scriptures. They knew the books of Moses. They knew the words spoken by the prophets. They knew the prophecies about the promised Messiah. They heard what Jesus preached. They tested him on the Word of God, and found he knew it completely. They saw him give sight to the blind. They saw him make the lame walk. They saw him RAISE THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE…and they dismissed him. They looked him over, they examined him, and they rejected him. They rejected him for not meeting their standards. For not being what they wanted him to be. They had no use for what he came to preach, or what he came to be. And so they sought to have him killed.
Satan, the old evil foe, made every attempt to keep God’s promises from being fulfilled. He worked at every stop of the way to stop this one who had been come to defeat him for all time. It was his greatest desire to see Jesus scorned, rejected, and killed. At Golgotha, on the mountain of the skull…he saw his victory. He saw the people demand that Pilate crucify him. He saw the nails get driven into his hands. He watched the nails get pounded into his feet. He watched as his strength, and eventually his breath, gave out. He saw him die. And he rejoiced.
But despite all that Satan did to stop the promise from being fulfilled, despite what the rulers and the chief priests did to silence Jesus and his followers, despite it all “the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone” of our salvation. As St. Paul would write in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
This is the Gospel message for us in this text. That despite all opposition and rejection, our salvation has been completed in Christ. Satan succeeded in killing him, but the grave could not hold him. Death had no power over him. And in his conquering death, in his conquering and defeating the snarling, scheming, Satan…we are given life. Life and forgiveness are ours because they have been given to us as God’s gracious gift.
We live in a world that is increasingly opposed to Christ and the gospel. We live in a society that is increasingly opposed and dismissive of those who believe in the saving work of Christ. Satan seeks to assault us at every turn. He throws challenges and temptations at us every day. The powers of this world know our weaknesses, know those things that tempt us most, and they continually place them directly in front of us. Our own sinful natures work against us, telling us that “it’s not that bad.” Telling us “it can’t hurt to do just this once.”
But in the face of it all, Christ Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and life. He came and stood firm in the face of temptation when we were unable to. He was perfect and without sin, yet he bore our sins all the way to death on the cross. And when the Deceiver thought he had won, Jesus rose up from the grave to establish God’s eternal victory. It is God’s great paradox that it is in Christ’s being rejected and killed that he was able to become the cornerstone, the very foundation of our salvation.
This great reversal in verse 17 is the good news we have been given, and it is what we as God’s children gather each week to celebrate. But, I also said before that Jesus provides a warning. And that warning comes in verse 18. “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Jesus is the cornerstone, but he also says that some will fall on the stone. And that for others, the stone will fall on them. His words hear echo the prophet Isaiah who wrote “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” This shows us that some who hear the word, who hear the good news of Christ will take offense to it and reject it. Because God is both patient and gracious to all of his children, such people may have more than one opportunity to hear the Gospel. They may have more than one opportunity for that Word to be heard so that God’s gift of saving faith in Jesus might be worked in their hearts.
But, and this is a “but” that cannot be understated…when the stone falls upon someone, when the Law of God is finally leveled on the unbelieving or unrepentant sinner, that person is crushed. He is pulverized. He is condemned for all eternity. There is no clearer picture of divine condemnation than this. Our sinful natures want to ask the question of how many times a person may hear the Gospel and reject it while still having another opportunity to hear of God’s grace. And I’m going to say right now…that question is not only wrong to ask, but it’s a question motivated by sin and a desire to lessen the power, truth, and authority of God's Word.
The truth of the matter is, none of us know the day or the hour when our time on earth will come to an end. We have no say, no control over when Christ will return or when we will be standing in front of God, called to give an account for our lives. Jesus began his ministry by calling out “Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand.” As his ministry nears its end, he warns about the very real, very serious consequence of failing to heed his warning. Of rejecting him and his word.
When God calls his people to repent, when he calls his people to believe, he doesn’t say to do so at your convenience. He says to do it now. He says to do it before it is too late. He is a God of love. He is a God patience and mercy. But he is also a God who established his law, and expects his people to take it seriously.
None of us are exempt from this warning. In fact, in chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians Paul writes “Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” We are all sinful, and we all face temptations that could lead us astray each and every day. Indeed, the weight of God’s law does fall on all of us. When it falls on the unbeliever, he is crushed and doomed to the fires of hell. But for the believer, when we find ourselves being convicted of the law and stand before God in broken humility and repentance, he raises us back up. He creates us anew. He restores our souls. While in our sin we are broken, in his steadfast love we are made to be living stones in temple of God, which has Christ Jesus as its cornerstone.
Our God is patient and gracious, but he does not overlook unbelief. When we look to the broken and bleeding body of Jesus on the cross, we see just how seriously God takes sin. He took it so seriously that he provided us a Savior so that we might not face the punishment we truly deserve. He still takes our need for a Savior so seriously that He provides and proclaims His Gospel freely to all people, because he knows we could never hope to earn our salvation on our own merits.
Though we take no joy in it, if we take God and his Word seriously, we know that those who reject this gift, those who reject God’s Word and God’s grace that is freely given in Jesus have only themselves to blame when they receive eternal condemnation. And because we have received God’s grace in Jesus, we daily seek to turn away from every person and thing that would come between us and our Lord.
Next Sunday begins Holy Week. It is a week in which we remember all that Jesus endured so that we might have forgiveness and redemption. Because God has graciously given us the gift of saving faith in Christ, we rejoice that we are built on the foundation of Holy Scripture, with Christ as our Cornerstone of our faith. We seek to walk in faithfulness, giving thanks at all times for the forgiveness that is ours in Him. And we seek to reach out to those who are still apart from Him so that they may not be crushed, but be joined with us in being built on the one who came to be our salvation. Amen.
- Pastor Latzke
While I trust that God will provide whatever protection is needed before an asteroid kills all life as we know it, Scripture does alert us to a danger that we would be foolish to take lightly.
It has become a commonly held view in our country that God, if he is acknowledged to exist at all, is too kind and gracious to condemn anyone to hell. That he’s a God who loves everyone equally, regardless of what they actually believe. The belief is that as long as you at least try to be a good person, as long as you don’t go out of your way to hurt people, you have nothing to worry about. But if we take Jesus’ words in Luke seriously, if we believe Jesus means what he says, he has a very definite, very real warning for all people.
There are a couple things we can take from this portion of Luke’s gospel. The first is that while there always has been and always will be opposition to the saving word of Jesus Christ, our salvation is complete and certain. We know this and can be sure of this because of the words Jesus himself quotes from Psalm 118. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
Though we won’t celebrate Palm Sunday until next week, Jesus spoke these words sometime early during Holy Week. As he did every time he went to Jerusalem, Jesus went to the temple to teach. And as they often did, the Pharisees and teachers of law followed, eager to find something they could use against Jesus in order to get rid of him. These were men who knew the Scriptures. They knew the books of Moses. They knew the words spoken by the prophets. They knew the prophecies about the promised Messiah. They heard what Jesus preached. They tested him on the Word of God, and found he knew it completely. They saw him give sight to the blind. They saw him make the lame walk. They saw him RAISE THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE…and they dismissed him. They looked him over, they examined him, and they rejected him. They rejected him for not meeting their standards. For not being what they wanted him to be. They had no use for what he came to preach, or what he came to be. And so they sought to have him killed.
Satan, the old evil foe, made every attempt to keep God’s promises from being fulfilled. He worked at every stop of the way to stop this one who had been come to defeat him for all time. It was his greatest desire to see Jesus scorned, rejected, and killed. At Golgotha, on the mountain of the skull…he saw his victory. He saw the people demand that Pilate crucify him. He saw the nails get driven into his hands. He watched the nails get pounded into his feet. He watched as his strength, and eventually his breath, gave out. He saw him die. And he rejoiced.
But despite all that Satan did to stop the promise from being fulfilled, despite what the rulers and the chief priests did to silence Jesus and his followers, despite it all “the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone” of our salvation. As St. Paul would write in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
This is the Gospel message for us in this text. That despite all opposition and rejection, our salvation has been completed in Christ. Satan succeeded in killing him, but the grave could not hold him. Death had no power over him. And in his conquering death, in his conquering and defeating the snarling, scheming, Satan…we are given life. Life and forgiveness are ours because they have been given to us as God’s gracious gift.
We live in a world that is increasingly opposed to Christ and the gospel. We live in a society that is increasingly opposed and dismissive of those who believe in the saving work of Christ. Satan seeks to assault us at every turn. He throws challenges and temptations at us every day. The powers of this world know our weaknesses, know those things that tempt us most, and they continually place them directly in front of us. Our own sinful natures work against us, telling us that “it’s not that bad.” Telling us “it can’t hurt to do just this once.”
But in the face of it all, Christ Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and life. He came and stood firm in the face of temptation when we were unable to. He was perfect and without sin, yet he bore our sins all the way to death on the cross. And when the Deceiver thought he had won, Jesus rose up from the grave to establish God’s eternal victory. It is God’s great paradox that it is in Christ’s being rejected and killed that he was able to become the cornerstone, the very foundation of our salvation.
This great reversal in verse 17 is the good news we have been given, and it is what we as God’s children gather each week to celebrate. But, I also said before that Jesus provides a warning. And that warning comes in verse 18. “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Jesus is the cornerstone, but he also says that some will fall on the stone. And that for others, the stone will fall on them. His words hear echo the prophet Isaiah who wrote “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” This shows us that some who hear the word, who hear the good news of Christ will take offense to it and reject it. Because God is both patient and gracious to all of his children, such people may have more than one opportunity to hear the Gospel. They may have more than one opportunity for that Word to be heard so that God’s gift of saving faith in Jesus might be worked in their hearts.
But, and this is a “but” that cannot be understated…when the stone falls upon someone, when the Law of God is finally leveled on the unbelieving or unrepentant sinner, that person is crushed. He is pulverized. He is condemned for all eternity. There is no clearer picture of divine condemnation than this. Our sinful natures want to ask the question of how many times a person may hear the Gospel and reject it while still having another opportunity to hear of God’s grace. And I’m going to say right now…that question is not only wrong to ask, but it’s a question motivated by sin and a desire to lessen the power, truth, and authority of God's Word.
The truth of the matter is, none of us know the day or the hour when our time on earth will come to an end. We have no say, no control over when Christ will return or when we will be standing in front of God, called to give an account for our lives. Jesus began his ministry by calling out “Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand.” As his ministry nears its end, he warns about the very real, very serious consequence of failing to heed his warning. Of rejecting him and his word.
When God calls his people to repent, when he calls his people to believe, he doesn’t say to do so at your convenience. He says to do it now. He says to do it before it is too late. He is a God of love. He is a God patience and mercy. But he is also a God who established his law, and expects his people to take it seriously.
None of us are exempt from this warning. In fact, in chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians Paul writes “Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” We are all sinful, and we all face temptations that could lead us astray each and every day. Indeed, the weight of God’s law does fall on all of us. When it falls on the unbeliever, he is crushed and doomed to the fires of hell. But for the believer, when we find ourselves being convicted of the law and stand before God in broken humility and repentance, he raises us back up. He creates us anew. He restores our souls. While in our sin we are broken, in his steadfast love we are made to be living stones in temple of God, which has Christ Jesus as its cornerstone.
Our God is patient and gracious, but he does not overlook unbelief. When we look to the broken and bleeding body of Jesus on the cross, we see just how seriously God takes sin. He took it so seriously that he provided us a Savior so that we might not face the punishment we truly deserve. He still takes our need for a Savior so seriously that He provides and proclaims His Gospel freely to all people, because he knows we could never hope to earn our salvation on our own merits.
Though we take no joy in it, if we take God and his Word seriously, we know that those who reject this gift, those who reject God’s Word and God’s grace that is freely given in Jesus have only themselves to blame when they receive eternal condemnation. And because we have received God’s grace in Jesus, we daily seek to turn away from every person and thing that would come between us and our Lord.
Next Sunday begins Holy Week. It is a week in which we remember all that Jesus endured so that we might have forgiveness and redemption. Because God has graciously given us the gift of saving faith in Christ, we rejoice that we are built on the foundation of Holy Scripture, with Christ as our Cornerstone of our faith. We seek to walk in faithfulness, giving thanks at all times for the forgiveness that is ours in Him. And we seek to reach out to those who are still apart from Him so that they may not be crushed, but be joined with us in being built on the one who came to be our salvation. Amen.
- Pastor Latzke
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