The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. John 8:46-59

In Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who made you the children of God, dear fellow redeemed:

Looking up who your ancestors are can be really fun and interesting. You can find out that you are descended from a certain nationality, such as Germans, Norwegians, or Irish. You can even find out that you are the descendant of someone famous, such as a king or a well-known general. If you find out things like these, you can end up priding yourself on your ancestry. But how would you react to finding out that you were the descendant of someone infamous? In our reading for today, we find out how the Jews reacted to that news.

The Jews prided themselves on their ancestry. Not only could they all trace their family trees back to Abraham, but their bloodlines remained pure. None of them had married people from foreign nations, like the Samaritans had. Surely, because of this, they had a favorable status in the eyes of God the Father, making them not just children of Abraham but also children of God. But, while it was true that they were the physical descendants of Abraham, this did not actually mean anything to God. God does not look at our physical ancestry but at our spiritual ancestry, and spiritually, the Jews were not children of God, but children of the devil.

Jesus revealed this harsh truth to the Jews in the verses prior to our reading for today, and he revealed it to them very clearly. He said, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44). How could Jesus make a such a bold claim like that? Jesus explains, “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God” (verse 47).

Jesus spoke the words of God, and the words of God were the clear truth. In the verses prior to our reading, Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32). Why would anyone need to be set free? Because everyone is by nature sinful, which makes everyone a slave to sin and a child of the devil. As a result, the only thing we could do was continue to sin, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But God the Father did not want to leave us enslaved to sin and the devil and doomed to face eternal death. He wanted us to be his own dear children and live forever with him in heaven. So, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, into the world to break our chains and set us free from sin, death, and the devil. And by believing in him, that freedom becomes ours.

The Jews heard these words of God, but they did not believe them. In fact, they were upset and offended by them. Who was Jesus to say that they were slaves? Even though they were currently living under Roman rule, they claimed that they had never truly been slaves to anyone. Why? Because they could trace their ancestry back to a free man, Abraham, which meant that they were free in the eyes of God. So, the Jews decided to respond to Jesus by attacking his ancestry. They said to him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon” (verse 48)? Jesus was claiming that they were children of the devil? Well, two could play at that game! But the Jews weren’t just claiming that Jesus was actually the one who was a child of the devil. They were also claiming that he was not a pure descendent of Abraham, like they were. He was a mixed race, like the Samaritans were, and therefore, he did not deserve a place in the kingdom of God.

Like the Jews, we don’t like it when our sins are pointed out to us. Because of how much the truth of God’s Word can hurt us, there are times when we are tempted not to believe it. In those moments, we can react like the Jews, and refuse to accept that our sin could be controlling us. After all, we’re free people. We can make our own decisions, decisions that aren’t causing harm to anyone else, and we can choose to stop whenever we want. Besides, Jesus has already forgiven us all our sins. So, what’s the harm in committing a few more sins? This way of thinking might make sense to us in those moments. But in reality, we are just lying to ourselves, like the Jews were, so that we can convince ourselves that it’s okay to continue living in the sin that we love so much. And if we continue to lie to ourselves and refuse to listen to God’s Word, then we are attacking Jesus, like the Jews were. We may not be attacking Jesus’ ancestry, but in those moments, we are claiming that he has not spoken the truth. We are claiming that God is a liar, and what a dark claim to make that is.

Our sinful nature clouds us in darkness, and there’s no way for us to get out of that darkness on our own. Thankfully, Jesus provides us with the solution. He says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). We once wandered in the darkness, and if we stayed in that darkness, we would end up in the eternal darkness of hell. But unlike us, who refused to listen to God’s Word and keep it, Jesus kept his Father’s word perfectly. He was a light that cut through the darkness, a light that seemed to be put out when he was put to death on the cross. But death was not the end for Jesus. Early in the morning on the third day, he rose again from the dead. Jesus defeated death with his atoning death, and now, his light leads us out of the darkness that leads to eternal death in hell and into the light of eternal life in heaven.

The Jews stubbornly refused to believe the words that Jesus spoke. He revealed to the Jews that he would save the world from eternal death by saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (verse 51). Jesus had already made a lot of bold claims, but with this claim, it sounded as though he was claiming to be better than Abraham, the ancestor whom the Jews prided their connection to. After all, even Abraham died eventually. How could Jesus claim that everyone who believed in him would never experience death when the greatest man of all, Abraham, could not escape death?

In their unbelief, the Jews thought that Jesus was only speaking these words to bring himself honor and glory. But in reality, it was really the Jews who were doing that. They were seeking honor and glory through their pure ancestral connection to Abraham, which they thought would earn them a place in heaven. But they were completely missing the point. They did not need to be physically related to Abraham. They needed to have a faith like Abraham, a faith that allowed him to see the day of Jesus, which he rejoiced in. As Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4:3 say, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” The Jews may have been physical descendants of Abraham, but they were not living as descendants of Abraham, nor were they living as children of God. They were living as children of the devil.

We may not think that we’ve earned a place in God’s kingdom by being the descendants of someone famous, such as Abraham. But we can be tempted to rely on something else: our membership in our church. We’ve taken instruction classes. We’ve been confirmed as members. We’ve been baptized into the church. Surely all of that is enough to guarantee that we have a place in heaven, isn’t it? But what do we do as members of the church? Do we mean what we say when we repent of our sin in church, and do we recognize how much we need God’s grace, or are we just going to church because we think we are supposed to? Do we continue to stay in the Word outside of church, or do we only hear the Word when we go to church? We may say that we are Christians, but do we live like Christians, or do we continue to sin in our thoughts, words, and actions, despite knowing that what we are doing is wrong? If we do not make time to remain in the Word, and if we don’t repent of our sins, it won’t matter how many instruction classes we’ve taken, if we’ve been confirmed as a member of the church, or if we’ve been baptized into the church. What God looks at is the heart.

Thankfully, despite what the Jews thought, Jesus did not seek honor and glory for himself. He sought honor and glory for you. He followed God’s law to the letter, he only spoke the truth, and he never once dishonored God the Father. He carried out his Father’s will perfectly, even allowing himself to be mocked, tortured, and put to death on a cross. But, unlike when you try to glorify yourself, Jesus’ perfect obedience actually amounted to something. By living a perfect life, Jesus was the innocent sacrifice that was needed to pay the price for your sins. On the cross, he took your sins on himself, and in exchange, he gave you his perfect life, so that you appear perfect before God, your heavenly Father. Jesus was able to accomplish all of this because he is the eternal Son of God. As he confessed to the Jews, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (verse 58).

When the Jews heard Jesus confess that he is God, they were furious. Because they did not believe in him, they thought that Jesus was blaspheming. But through the faith that the Holy Spirit has given you, you know that Jesus spoke the truth. Knowing that Jesus is God is a great comfort for you. Because Jesus is God, you know that he was able to perfectly obey the words of his Father, in every place that you failed. Because Jesus is God, you know that his sacrifice was not for himself but for you. And because Jesus is God, you know that he is with you today and that he continues to give you the blessings that he won for you on the cross through the Word and Sacraments.

Who is your father? You could answer this question by naming your physical father, but when it comes to your soul, the only thing that matters is who your spiritual father is. Because you are by nature sinful, you once would have had to say that your father was the devil. But through the faith that the Holy Spirit has given you through the preaching of the Word and the administering of the Sacraments, faith that is like that of Abraham’s, you know that you are no longer a child of the devil. Because of the saving work of the eternal Son of God, because of the perfect life that he lived and the innocent death that he died on the cross, you know that you are a child of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from the altarpiece in Weimar by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1555)