Palm Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Numbers 21:4-9
In Christ Jesus, whose saving work was foretold by the prophets and depicted among the peoples at many times and in many ways, dear fellow redeemed:
If you had to guess what verse in the Bible is the most popular one, you would probably say John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It is an awesome verse. It clearly states that we are saved from our sin and death by faith in the Son of God. But did you know that the context leading up to this verse includes a reference to the bronze serpent that Moses made?
John 3:14-15 says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Then the famous passage follows. By this reference to today’s account from Numbers 21, our Lord is teaching us how to read the Old Testament. We read the Old Testament not just for historical purposes and not just for lessons about what we should and should not do. We read the Old Testament as a book about God keeping His promises, including His chief promise to send a Savior for sinners.
We certainly find sinners in today’s reading. Once again, the Israelites became impatient. Once again, they grumbled and complained. They took God’s gifts for granted and wished they could go back to Egypt where they recalled being so happy and healthy. It is obvious the devil had “pulled the wool over their eyes.” The people needed to be brought out of their spiritual sleep. They needed to be reminded who the LORD was and what He was doing for them.
But being made aware of our wickedness and weakness is not a pleasant experience. It certainly wasn’t for the Israelites. The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people. We don’t know exactly what made the serpents “fiery.” Perhaps it was their appearance. Perhaps it was the type of pain people felt when they were bitten. It was a terrifying experience that claimed the lives of many people.
It also woke the people up. They came to Moses in humility and repentance, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us.” They realized their sin the hard way. Instead of trusting God and obeying His will, they broke His holy Law and faced the consequences.
We can also think of many times that we learned about sin “the hard way.” We decided to do what we knew was wrong. We thought we could get away with it, or we thought it was worth the risk, but that sin came back to bite us hard. Some sins have temporary consequences, but other sins have deeper consequences that can last our entire life and negatively impact others even after we are gone.
The sin we have inherited from Adam is like the bite of a poisonous serpent. The poison works its way further and further in, and if no treatment is applied, it leads to death. The Book of James outlines the progression of sin: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (Jam. 1:14-15). This is not just about physical death which touches all people. This is about eternal death in hell which is received by all who remain in their sin and refuse to repent.
It was a gift from God that the people afflicted by the fiery serpents repented. Not everyone feels sorry for sin. Many boast how there is nothing about their life they would change. “I did it my way,” they say, as though that is something admirable. So we see that God was mercifully leading the Israelites out of their sin and unbelief and back to Him in faith. They went to God’s servant Moses, admitted their wrong, and begged him to intercede for them. Moses prayed to the LORD, and the LORD listened to his prayer. He said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
Now this seems a little odd. Why would God tell Moses to put on a pole an image of the very animal that was killing them? And how could the lifeless image of a serpent save the people from the bite of actual serpents? This was a test of faith. The power to save the people was not in a piece of metal on a pole. The power to save the people was in the promise God attached to the image. He said, “and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Would the people trust God’s Word now?
We are faced with a similar test when we look at God’s Sacraments. Many people—even many Christians—reject the Sacraments as external things, as empty rituals, that have no real effect on our faith. They say it is little more than getting water splashed on you, than eating bread and drinking wine. We receive no benefit if we look at the Sacraments in this way and just go through the motions because we feel like we should. But if we listen to what our Lord says about them, if we recognize that the power of the Sacraments is in His Word, and we trust the promise He attaches to these visible means, then we receive great benefit.
The Israelites may have tried to apply medicinal remedies of their own making to their family members and friends who had been bitten. Maybe they tried to chase the snakes away. But their efforts all failed. People kept dying. They could not save themselves. Only God could rescue them. He directed Moses to lift up the bronze serpent on a pole, and the people who trusted His promise were spared. “[I]f a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”
So when the devil with his temptations slithers toward you, when sin sinks its fangs into you, when its poison works its way through you, what can you do? You can’t save yourself. You don’t have the power to neutralize your sins or keep their poison from spreading. You can’t heal the wounds inflicted by your sin or outrun the consequences of what you have done. There is only one remedy, only one antidote for sin—“as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (Joh. 3:14).
The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, had to be lifted up. It was absolutely necessary. The antidote for sin’s poison had to come from God to us. He sent healing and salvation to us by giving His Son to suffer and die in our place. That is our focus in this holiest of weeks beginning with our Lord’s humble entry into Jerusalem.
He was welcomed as a king on Palm Sunday, but the true nature of His kingdom would not be clear until He was wearing a crown of thorns on Friday. His throne was not covered in gold. It was splattered in the holy blood that oozed from His wounds. His throne was that rough, wooden cross that lifted Him up for all eyes to see. Many looked at Him in unbelief; they ridiculed and blasphemed Him.
Even for them, Jesus willingly suffered. Even for you. He carried your sins to the cross. He felt their painful bite and their burning poison. He did not grumble or complain. He did not ask His Father why He sent Him from heaven to die in the wilderness of the world. He accepted the punishing wrath of God and endured the eternal torments of hell, so you would not die but live.
Sin filled you with death, but Jesus fills you with life. He counteracts the effects of all your sins, including the ones that caused deep wounds and piercing pain in you and others. By giving up His holy life in payment for sin, He won forgiveness and salvation for you. He brings the fruits of His victory to you right now through His Word and Sacraments. Through these means, He imparts the medicine of life. You hear His promises spoken to you, you eat His body and drink His blood with faith in what He says, and His power works through you to heal, comfort, and strengthen you.
Whether you feel healthy and strong in your spiritual life or under attack and weak, you keep your eyes always on the Son of Man who was lifted up to save you. If you tried to measure your faith by how well you are doing or how much you have accomplished, you would be applying the Law as a remedy to your sinfulness. But the Law cannot save you. One of our great Lutheran hymns puts it well:
The law reveals the guilt of sin,
And makes men conscience-stricken;
The gospel then doth enter in,
The sin-sick soul to quicken.
Come to the cross, loop up and live!
The law no peace to thee doth give,
Nor can its deeds bring comfort. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #227, v. 9)
You look to Jesus for comfort. His Father sent Him to fulfill the promise of the ages by suffering and dying in your place. Like the whole creation that eagerly waits for the blossoming and new life of spring, the entire Old Testament anticipates the coming of the Savior. Jesus said to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (Joh. 5:39).
The bronze serpent on a pole was a picture of what Jesus would do on the cross. Like the Israelites who looked up with faith in the LORD’s promise, you also by faith Come to the Cross, Look Up and Live! In Jesus, you have life for today, life for this Holy Week, and life forevermore. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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(picture from “Crucifixion, Seen from the Cross,” by James Tissot, c. 1890)
Midweek Lent 5 – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 26:62-68
In Christ Jesus, “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13), dear fellow redeemed:
Holy Week was filled with prophecies from Jesus. Some of them were fulfilled in a matter of days, some after a number of years, and some have not been fulfilled yet. In our midweek services, we have heard Jesus’ prophecy that Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed (Mat. 24:1-2). That happened about forty years later in the year A. D. 70 when the Romans overtook the city. We heard Jesus predict His crucifixion (26:1-2), His burial (26:6-13), the desertion of His disciples, and Peter’s denials (26:31-35). Those were all fulfilled by the end of that week.
There are many other Holy Week prophecies by Jesus that we have not considered. During Holy Week, He spoke extensively about the end times. He described what His followers would have to endure as the end approached, and He encouraged them to stay awake and alert for His coming. He described His return in glory and His sitting on the throne of judgment on the last day (chs. 24-25).
He spoke again about His return to judge the living and the dead when He was brought before the high priest Caiaphas and the members of the Jewish Council. This happened in the early morning hours of Friday after Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. His disciple Matthew records the fact that the high priest and the members of the Council “were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death” (26:59).
In order for a charge to be considered, it had to come from at least two independent witnesses. But when people are telling lies, it is very difficult to get their false testimony to line up. That’s what happened in this sham trial. And no matter what lies were told about Him, Jesus stood there in silence. He was not there to defend Himself; “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7).
Caiaphas could see that the attempt to pin a lie on Jesus was not working. So he pulled something different from his bag of tricks. He would put Jesus under oath. This would force Jesus to either deny that He was the Christ which would disappoint all the people. Or He would identify Himself as the Christ and be charged with blasphemy for presenting Himself as God. Caiaphas said, “I adjure You by the living God, tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.”
To his fellow religious leaders, Caiaphas seemed very powerful in this moment, and Jesus looked very small. There Jesus stood with hands tied, no disciples to defend Him, and no crowds to protect Him. All those gathered around Jesus were feeling very confident. They had Jesus right where they wanted Him. Soon they would be done with Him; soon He would be dead. But how would Jesus respond to Caiaphas’ pointed question about who He was?
Jesus said to him, “You have said so”—“I am” (Mar. 14:62). Then He added these words which should have made every member of the Council shake in his sandals, “But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The leaders acted like they only heard the first part of what Jesus said. He had told them under oath that He was “the Christ, the Son of God,” and that’s all they needed to hear. They accused Him of blasphemy and called for His death.
If they had truly been listening to what Jesus said, they might have realized that His prophecy about the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven sounded a lot like what the prophet Daniel wrote: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him” (7:13). This was an Old Testament prophecy about the work of the Messiah, who would carry out the will of His Father by suffering, dying, and rising again. Then He would return to the Father in glory as true God and true Man and reign over an everlasting kingdom (v. 14).
This is the reign Jesus now informed the high priest about. He told Caiaphas that He would be seated at the right hand of Power—a fitting way to describe God the Father who is almighty. Jesus appeared to be powerless in that human court, but He made it known that there is an authority far above anything we have here. Caiaphas and all the influential men around him were nothing compared to the power of God. They may have looked impressive on earth, but a little bug might feel important, too, until a heavy boot lands on him.
The heavy boot for the religious leaders was the pricking of their conscience as they condemned an innocent man. It was Jesus’ words of love for them as the soldiers nailed Him to the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luk. 23:34). It was His tender care for His mother and for the thief hanging next to Him. That heavy boot was His willful death and the earthquake that followed it. It was the tearing of the temple curtain in two. It was the report from the guards that an angel had rolled away the stone from the tomb, and Jesus wasn’t there!
We do not know how many of these religious leaders later repented of their sinful actions. Some of them must have, since three thousand Jews were baptized on Pentecost and their number quickly increased to five thousand and more. But no doubt others of them did not repent. They were glad to be rid of Jesus. Now they didn’t have to listen to His embarrassing and infuriating criticisms anymore. They could go back to the way things were before He came on the scene.
But when they finally faced the time of their death, they learned just how wrong they were. They learned that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). They learned that apart from Jesus, there is no hope of eternal life. And on the last day, they will see with their own eyes what Jesus prophesied the day of His death, “you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” All eyes will see Jesus come in glory on the last day. Unbelievers will wish they could hide from His presence. Believers will welcome His coming with joy.
These words of Jesus were not just meant for the religious leaders at His trial. They were meant for us and all people. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. He is in the position of all power and authority, where He rules over the whole creation and bestows His blessings on the church. We must not forget this fact. When in our pride we act like the religious leaders eager for the world’s glory, and in our faithlessness act like Jesus is weak, then we need to repent and throw ourselves at the feet of Him who conquered death itself.
He died on that cross for you. No human authority made Him do it. He willingly went there out of love for you. He wanted to save you. He wants you to know that your sins are forgiven through the shedding of His blood, and that a place in heaven is prepared for you by His grace. He will come again in glory on the clouds of heaven. That will be the great day of vindication for all who trust in Him. That will be the great day when every prophecy Jesus made will finally be counted as fulfilled. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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(picture from Jesus on trial by José de Madrazo y Agudo, 1803)
The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Exodus 34:29-35
In Christ Jesus, “who make[s] His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you” (Num. 6:25), dear fellow redeemed:
I imagine you have heard the proverb: “Bad company corrupts good character.” The apostle Paul quotes it in his First Letter to the Corinthians (15:33). The opposite is also true: “Good company promotes good character.” But good company can also be painful for us when we are doing or saying things that are not good. You may have had the experience of criticizing or making fun of someone, only to have a friend or acquaintance defend that person and speak well of him. That can make you feel pretty small as you become aware of your own pettiness and your failure to uphold the Eighth Commandment.
When this happens, there are typically two responses. You might admire your friend, react with humility, and be thankful that he or she spoke up. That would be “good company promoting good character.” But you might also get angry and accuse that person of being self-righteous. You might even put some distance between the two of you and choose the company of friends who will not question you like this. That would be “bad company corrupting good character.”
We see something like this going on in today’s account of Moses coming down the mountain with a shining face. The people knew why his face was shining; “he had been talking with God.” They also saw “the two tablets of the testimony in his hand,” just like the first set he broke when he found them worshipping the golden calf. And instead of approaching Moses with humility, they ran from his presence and kept their distance from him.
Moses’ shining face reminded them how unholy they were, how much they had fallen short of the glory of God. They weren’t even seeing God’s glory directly; this was a reflection of His glory, and it was still too much! But Moses called the leaders of the people to come near. He recognized their fear; he spoke gently with them. The scene is similar to when Joseph revealed his identity to his eleven brothers in Egypt. He had the power to harm them after they had sold him as a slave many years earlier. But instead he called them to come near and embraced them (Gen. 45:4,14-15); “he comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (50:21).
Moses had been chosen by God as an intermediary between Him and the people. No one but Moses could go up on Mount Sinai when God descended in a cloud to talk with him. We are told that the LORD spoke with Moses “as a man speaks to his friend” (Exo. 33:11). God gave His holy commands to Moses, and Moses gave them to the people. After Moses finished speaking God’s Word to them, he would put on a veil to cover his shining face. But when He returned to the LORD’s presence, he removed the veil and kept the veil off until He had conveyed to the people what God had said.
Moses had some privilege and power as the mediator. Nobody else had this close communication with God, and whatever Moses said, the people accepted as God’s truth. His constantly shining face reminded them how different his station was than theirs. But Moses was still a sinner like them. The holy Law of God applied to him as well, and it condemned him whenever he followed his own sinful will. So Moses was a mediator with flaws and limitations. He had no power to make God do anything. He had no power within himself to save the people.
A different mediator was needed for that, and today’s Epistle from the Book of Hebrews tells us about Him. But to understand what Hebrews is saying, we need to understand the ceremonial laws about worship in Old Testament times along with the responsibilities of the priests. God gave instructions to Moses how he was to construct a tabernacle or movable tent for the worship of the LORD. The tabernacle had two main sections: the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. These areas were separated by a thick veil.
Behind the veil in the Most Holy Place, the Ark of the Covenant was set. Three things were put inside the ark: a golden urn holding some manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the tablets of the Law that Moses brought down the mountain (Heb. 9:4). On the lid of the ark, God directed Moses to put a “mercy seat.”
Only once a year, the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, and only after he had washed and put on holy garments and been consecrated for the work. He sprinkled the blood of a bull and a goat on the mercy seat to make atonement for Israel’s sin before God. This blood sprinkled on the mercy seat covered over the Law of God which was stored below it. The high priest was directed to perform this ritual every year because the people continued to break the holy Law of God (Lev. 16).
Today’s Epistle brings this practice forward to the time of Christ. It says, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” As the high priest brought blood into the Most Holy Place to make atonement each year, so Jesus presented His own blood before God in heaven once and for all.
This shows us that the tabernacle that Moses built and later the temple in Jerusalem that followed the same design were patterned after heaven. And the work of the high priest each year with the sprinkling of blood pointed forward to Jesus’ atoning sacrifice and the shedding of His blood for the redemption of all sinners. This is an “eternal redemption,” sufficient for all time, because no common blood was offered before God. Jesus offered His own holy blood for our cleansing.
The author to the Hebrews writes that His blood “[purifies] our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (9:14). “Dead works” are all the works we have done in our sin—our lack of love for others, our self-centered behavior, our giving way to bad habits and choosing bad company. They are dead works, which mean they don’t work. They destroy everything. These dead works clutter up our conscience; they weigh on us like a heavy burden.
Jesus’ holy blood washes away these sinful works; it cleans them out of us as though they were never there in the first place. His blood cancels the debt we owe to God for breaking His Law. Jesus paid for our sins. He made atonement for them. No matter what bad things you have done or said, God neither sees nor remembers them anymore. He forgives you all of them.
He has washed these sins out of you and freed your conscience, so that you can serve Him. That is the great liberating effect of Jesus’ atonement and the absolution He announces to you. His forgiveness of your sins means you get to move forward. You don’t have to continue to dwell on your transgressions in the past. You go forward in His grace, ready each day to serve Him by serving your neighbor.
You are free to serve the living God. That sounds very different than serving God because you are afraid of Him, afraid that He will destroy you in His anger if you mess up. That is the message of the old covenant, of God’s holy Law. But there is another covenant, the covenant of God’s promise. This is the promise that God the Father made to send His only Son to keep the Law for us and die for our sins. Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
If we read the old covenant apart from Christ, it is like reading it with a veil covering it, a veil like the one Moses wore over his shining face. Apart from Christ, we don’t see the Law clearly and how it applies to us. But as St. Paul writes, “when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” (2Co. 3:16). Then we have freedom, freedom through the knowledge of our forgiveness, freedom to approach God for mercy and grace.
This was underscored by the amazing thing that happened when Jesus took His last breath on the cross. Right at that moment, the thick veil in the temple (thick as a person’s hand!) that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place tore in two, from top to bottom (Mat. 27:51, Mar. 15:38, Luk. 23:45). What was veiled, was now opened. What was formerly restricted, was now freely accessible. The hymnwriter explains what that means for us:
Jesus, in Thy cross are centered
All the marvels of Thy grace;
Thou, my Savior, once hast entered
Through Thy blood the holy place:
Thy sacrifice holy there wrought my redemption,
From Satan’s dominion I now have exemption;
The way is now free to the Father’s high throne,
Where I may approach Him, in Thy name alone.
(Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary 182, v. 8)
This is what our perfect Mediator, our holy High Priest, has done for us. He offered Himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, which gives us continuous access to the Father’s throne of grace. He imparts this grace to us through His holy means of grace. As we hear His Word and partake of His Sacraments, we receive His heavenly gifts. His holiness covers us, His life fills us, His light shines through us.
As awesome as it would have been to converse with God on the mountain like Moses did, we have everything that Moses had and more. He looked ahead to the fulfillment of God’s promises. We see them fulfilled. The Old Testament laws and rituals, the detailed requirements for daily life, the constant emphasis on holiness—all of these anticipated the coming of the Holy One, our Lord Jesus Christ. All those things were “a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col. 2:17).
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 of tabernacle in wilderness by William Dickes, 1815-1892)
Midweek Lent 2 – Pr. Abraham Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 26:31-35
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
Jesus had made prophecies about his suffering and death. He had explained to his disciples what he would endure and the evil that would be brought against him. After Jesus had instituted the Supper of his body and blood he was with his disciples on the Mount of Olives and he now foretold what would happen to them, which would fulfill the words of the prophet Zechariah, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7). Judas would betray Jesus into the hands of the religious leaders and be struck. In fear for their own lives, Jesus’ disciples, his own flock, would scatter and desert their Lord and Shepherd.
This was just too much for Peter to believe. He wouldn’t and couldn’t listen to Jesus’ words. Peter turns and looks Jesus in the eyes and says, “You’re wrong, Jesus. You don’t have to worry about me. I won’t leave you. Even if everyone else leaves you, I will stand by your side. I will never fall away.” Peter contradicts Jesus and makes his own prediction. Yet, Jesus tells Peter that not only would he leave Jesus, but he would deny him three times that very night before the rooster crows. Then Peter makes his bold confession, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!”
There is no doubt Peter meant what he said, but Jesus knew, that instead of dying, Peter would lie and deny to save his own life. Contrary to his grand words, Peter would completely disown his Lord and Master, not by silence, but by three loud and forceful declarations.
This account is important for all of us to ponder. We learn here how dangerous it is to presume and to rely on our own strength. Peter was so confident in himself that he believed he could never fall. “I will never fall away… I will never deny you!” Yet, instead of making promises that he could not keep, Peter should have been praying to God to be with him and not let him sink. But he relied on his own strength. And so, he fell.
Like someone who has eyes bigger than their stomachs, we often think we are stronger than we really are. Even as we hear about Peter’s fall we are tempted to think, “I can’t believe he did that” or “I would never do that.” When we hear that after being accused of being one of Jesus’ disciples a third time, Peter began to curse and swear that he did not know Jesus, we are shocked to learn that the Lord witnessed this denial. Scripture records, “And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times” (Luke 22:60–61). Right as Peter was frantically denying knowing Jesus, Jesus happened to be led through the courtyard. It’s hard to imagine the remorse and shame that Peter must have felt after he denied Jesus. We are told, “And he went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62).
It would be a terrible thing to deny Jesus like Peter did. Yet, wouldn’t it be even worse, if Peter showed no regret or sorrow? Wouldn’t it have been even more shameful for Peter to act as if it really was not a big deal? Wouldn’t it have been more alarming if Peter acted as if he hadn’t done anything “that bad” when he saw the resurrected Christ?
Every sin that we commit is a denial of Christ. And our sin is never hidden from God—he sees everything. He knows the sinful thoughts that run through our minds and hears every careless word we speak. He sees us when we damage or take something that doesn’t belong to us. He sees us when speak poorly of our neighbor. He sees us when we fail to stand up for what is right and confess the truth. He sees us when we join in with the crowds and seek comfort by the fires of this sinful world. But how often do we act like our sins are not sins and a denial of Christ?
Perhaps the only greater sin than denying Christ is when we deny that we sin against him and deny how serious our sin is. There is no such thing as a small sin. The hymn verse reminds us (ELH 297:3),
Ye who think of sin but lightly
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.
We can’t save ourselves from our sin nor do we have the strength to keep ourselves in the faith. Our lesson shows this with the example of Peter. Yet, this lesson isn’t as much about Peter as it is about what Christ suffered for our sakes. As Peter denied Jesus, Jesus was redeeming Peter and all people. He was abandoned so that we wouldn’t have to be. Jesus suffered what we truly deserve so that we wouldn’t have to. He is the innocent Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.
Jesus knew that his disciples would abandon him. He knew all that he would endure. Yet, none of the suffering that would come his way deterred him from his mission to save our souls. In fact, this is why Scripture exhorts us to look to Jesus, “The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus went forward with “joy,” because he was setting out to accomplish our salvation—the salvation of even those who have denied and sinned against him.
After Peter denied Jesus and saw him, he went out and wept bitterly. He realized the magnitude of what he had done. He knew Jesus’ warning that anyone who denies him, he would also deny before his Father in heaven. Nevertheless, Peter did not despair because he also remembered the words which the Lord had often spoke—that he had come into this world to call poor sinners to repentance. Christ would go before Peter in Galilee and restore him to himself. Peter had this promise. Later, Peter would confess Christ three times, just as he had denied him three times (John 21). Jesus forgave Peter and would even use him to boldly proclaim this forgiveness to others!
Paul writes, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). The account of Peter gives us hope. There is no sin beyond forgiveness. There is nothing that you have done or failed to do, that cannot be forgiven and healed. Our sins may be great, but Jesus is greater than our sins. When the Holy Spirit shows you your sin through the Law, don’t run from God but to him. When you see what Jesus suffered, you should realize that there is no sin that he did not pay for. You don’t have to die for him, because he died for you. Your sins are forgiven. You have been reconciled with God. None of us are part of God’s family because we have earned it. We are all members by God’s grace. Jesus is a friend and Savior of sinners. He welcomes those who confess their sins and believe in him.
When Peter trusted in his own strength, he fell. Yet, through this experience he learned to put his confidence in God alone. As he later wrote, “You are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (I Peter 1:5). Just as Peter was kept in the faith through Christ’s prayer and help, so too are we kept in the faith through Christ’s help. This is why we gather as Christians around the means of grace, God’s word and sacraments, because these are the means through which Christ forgives us, strengthens us, and keeps us in the one true faith. Jesus promises, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27–28). Amen.
(picture from “The Second Denial of Saint Peter” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The Fourth Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Exodus 16:1-3, 11-21
In Christ Jesus, the better Bread than manna or good health or great wealth, whom we feast on by faith for eternal salvation, dear fellow redeemed:
We have all had the experience of living day to day with regard to our health. We were dealing with an illness or a pain that forced us to take it one day at a time. Perhaps we have been day to day with a job, not knowing if we would be coming back the next day. But I’m guessing that most of us here have never had to live day to day with regard to food. We either had food in the fridge or pantry, or we had the means to be able to get more. In this way, we possibly haven’t felt the desperation that people throughout history have felt when they are hungry and have no ready source of food.
The Israelite people were hungry, and as far as they could see, there was no food available for the estimated hundreds of thousands in the assembly. Hunger makes it difficult to think clearly. This may be why the people sounded so positive about their time as slaves in Egypt, remembering when they “sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full.” Hunger also causes irritation. The hungrier the people got, the more they grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
But when we are experiencing some trial or test, it is a clear indication that God wants to teach us something. What He wanted to teach the Israelites in the wilderness is that even if they could not see a way out of the problem they faced, He would provide for them. That is exactly what He had promised to do. Hadn’t He brought them safely out of Egypt? Hadn’t He brought them through the Red Sea? Why would He forsake them now and leave them to die in the wilderness?
He told Moses to tell them, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.” The meat came in the form of quail which essentially fell right into their hands that evening. The bread came with the morning dew. When the dew went away, “a fine, flake-like thing” was left. When the people saw it, they asked, “What is it?”—in Hebrew, “Man hu?” which became the name manna.
It was bread from the LORD, bread from heaven. And there was an abundance of it. The people were directed to gather an omer of it for each person, which was about two quarts in volume. Once the people had gotten what they needed, the manna still on the ground melted away with the sun. The people were to collect it every day—God sent it without fail. When they tried to save some from one day to the next, “it bred worms and stank.”
The message was clear: the LORD would provide their daily bread. They literally lived day to day with regard to their food. They had no other source to draw from. They had to rely on the LORD if they wanted to live. This is a lesson that Jesus emphasized to His disciples when they asked Him how to pray. Out of the seven petitions He taught them, only one of them had to do with their earthly needs: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Mat. 6:11, Luk. 11:3).
Notice the right-now focus of the petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus does not teach us to wring our hands over how our bank accounts look or how our investments are doing, worrying about whether we will have enough for the future. He teaches us to pray for and to trust that our heavenly Father will provide each day what we need for our life.
I don’t know about you, but I like to plan a little more than that. I’m already thinking about and saving for the future—a future, I might add, that I’m not even sure I will live to see. That’s part of the reason God warns us about getting too caught up in our plans. We don’t determine our future; He does. We don’t get to choose the number of our days; He does.
That is not to say we should spend or give away everything we have today since God will take care of us tomorrow. We want to manage well what He gives us. We don’t want to be reckless or wasteful. But the Lord’s message is clear. We do not need to be anxious about what we will eat or drink or wear, because “[our] heavenly Father knows that [we] need them all,” and “all these things will be added to [us]” (Mat. 6:32,33).
God will give us daily bread; He will give us everything we need for this life. That is His promise. But what we want and what we need are not the same. You might be convinced that you need a certain amount of money stashed away, or that you need a certain job promotion, or that you need a certain level of health to enjoy life. But those are actually wants. God knows what you need. That is why you pray, “if it is Your will,” whenever you ask the Lord for something He has not specifically promised to give you. It is not that God is stingy; it’s that He loves you too much to give you everything you want.
The reality is that we would never think we had enough. We would look at our Father in heaven as little more than a perpetual ATM, and we would act like spoiled children. That’s what we see in the Holy Gospel for today from the five thousand men whom Jesus fed in a remote area (Joh. 6:1-15). They no doubt heard that Jesus started with five barley loaves and two fish. They saw how that small amount of food multiplied, and every man had as much as he wanted. They saw the fragments gathered up which filled twelve baskets.
“This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” they said (v. 14). They were thinking of the prophecy of Moses that a Prophet like him would come from among the Israelites (Deu. 18:15). They connected the manna that came when Moses was ruler to the bread Jesus now provided in a miraculous way. It all lined up. What better ruler could they hope for than Jesus? He could give them whatever and as much as they wanted!
But Jesus was not about to become their “bread king.” When the people located Him the next day, they asked if He might do for them what Moses did for the Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus replied, “my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (vv. 32-33). The people were still thinking about earthly bread, earthly riches, earthly glory.
“I am the bread of life,” said Jesus. “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (vv. 48-50). Jesus was teaching the people about spiritual things, holy things, eternal things. He was teaching them about faith, salvation, and everlasting life. He said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (v. 51).
The people wanted their physical needs met by Jesus. He had something better to give them—His own life. Jesus knew that we have a much more serious problem than where to get our next meal. We face a spiritual starvation that cannot be satisfied by any of our own efforts or works. On our own, we are doomed to death and eternal punishment. So God the Father sent His Son to save us.
His mission was much bigger than feeding the hungry. His mission was perfectly fulfilling the Law of God in our place, including the command to trust God for all our needs. Then He gave up His perfect life to atone for all our sins. Jesus died on the cross to pay for our grumbling, our greed, our self-gratification. All our sins—whatever they may be—are washed away by His holy blood.
After calling Himself “the living bread,” Jesus told the people they must feed on His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life (v. 54). He was talking about faith, that they must put their trust for salvation only in Him. You feast on this “bread from heaven,” this “bread of life,” by hearing the holy and life-giving Word of Jesus, by returning to your Baptism through His Word of forgiveness, by eating and drinking His body and blood in the Holy Supper He instituted.
These are the ways that your spiritual hunger is addressed. These are the ways that the Holy Spirit increases your faith, so that you worry less about the unknown tomorrows and focus more on the blessed todays. Not only will you continue to receive the daily bread that you need for this life, but you can be certain that the Bread of Heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ, will never leave you hungry, never leave you lacking in your spiritual needs.
In your deep hunger for love, your deep hunger for peace, your deep hunger for life, He comes to you still. He gives you His forgiveness, He covers you in His righteousness, and He fills you with His grace. He is the Bread you need most, the Bread you feed on for eternal life.
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 Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
Midweek Lent 3 – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 26:6-13
In Christ Jesus, who was anointed to be our Substitute, our Savior, dear fellow redeemed:
Today’s reading introduces us to a woman at a house in Bethany, where Jesus was the honored guest at a meal. She is not named in Matthew’s Gospel or in the parallel account from the Gospel of Mark (14:3-9). But she is named in the Gospel of John (12:1-8). This woman was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. The three siblings lived in Bethany, and they were in a festive mood. Jesus had recently come to see them four days too late after Lazarus had died. But Jesus promptly called Lazarus out of his tomb alive and well. This formerly dead man was now reclining at the same table as Jesus.
Mary approached Jesus carrying “an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment.” The ointment was made of scented oil from a spikenard plant, and it was of the highest quality. In the parallel accounts, we hear the disciples’ estimate that the flask of oil was worth three hundred denarii which was about one year’s wages. It’s difficult to imagine spending one year’s wages on a bottle of perfume or cologne or any kind of oil. Could it be that Mary had purchased it for the burial of her brother, but never had the opportunity to use it?
Now she brought it to Jesus, the Savior of her brother and of the world, and she poured it over His head. St. John tells us she poured some on His feet also and wiped His feet with her hair (12:3). As the fragrance of the ointment filled the house, the disciples “caught wind” of what was going on. They recognized how costly the product was, and they criticized Mary with Judas Iscariot leading the charge: “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”
They seemed to have a good argument. After all, Mary could have just used some of the ointment. And besides, Jesus hadn’t asked her for this. Perhaps He was even annoyed by it. Those thoughts were put to rest when Jesus stepped up boldly in her defense. He gave several reasons why they should not trouble Mary. First, she had done a beautiful thing to Him, an act of love and devotion from the heart. Second, they always had the poor with them, but they would not always have Jesus. Third, she had done this to prepare Jesus’ body for burial.
It’s hard to say if Mary thought she was preparing Jesus for burial. I expect that the last thing she wanted was for her Lord to die and be buried. But Jesus gave this as the rationale for her faithful act. He was going to die. He had told this to His disciples multiple times. The fact that Jesus brought it up at this time was a sign that His death was quickly approaching.
Matthew records the anointing of Jesus just before his account of Jesus eating the Passover meal with His disciples and instituting His Supper on the Thursday of Holy Week. But it is clear that the placement of this account is topical instead of chronological. Just before he writes about the anointing of Jesus, he mentions the chief priests and the elders plotting to arrest Jesus and kill Him. Then he tells of Mary anointing Jesus and being criticized for it, especially by Judas. Then Matthew reports that Judas went to the chief priests and asked what they would give him if he betrayed Jesus to them. Matthew makes it clear that Mary’s so-called “wasteful” anointing of Jesus was a catalyst for greedy Judas to plan how to betray Jesus.
The anointing of Jesus actually happened the day before Palm Sunday (Joh. 12:1) as a preview of what was coming that week. Jesus was anointed for His burial and then made His way from Bethany to Jerusalem where He would be crucified. How long did the fragrance of the ointment linger on Jesus? Almost certainly through the next day when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Then likely into Monday when He cleared the temple of the buyers and sellers. Perhaps all through the week, this scent could have been detected in Jesus’ hair.
Could the fragrance have gotten stronger again when Jesus sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, or when the crown of thorns brought out blood from multiple wounds in His head? Could Joseph and Nicodemus smell the fragrance when they brought His lifeless body down from the cross? Yes, this ointment was applied in advance for His burial. Jesus had to die. There was no other way. He had to go to the cross to save you. He had to be laid in a dark tomb with the entrance sealed.
The unbelieving world operates as though Jesus is still dead. Millions upon millions go through their day and conduct their business with no thought about Jesus’ sacrifice for them and no expectation of His return. To the unbelieving world, any devotion to Jesus in time, treasures, and talents is wasteful.
“You’re wasting your money if you give it to the church!” they say. “Don’t you know how often church funds have been misused for personal gain? Much better to give it to the people who actually need it, like the poor.” “You’re wasting your time by listening to the words of a God you have never seen. And if Christians are supposed to have a better life, there are an awful lot of hypocritical and miserable Christians.” “Why spend the best years of your life denying what you really want to do because some old book says you should? Why limit yourself? You only live once.”
These criticisms have an effect on us. I’m guessing that most if not all of you have had the experience of people looking at you funny when you tell them you go to church—if not outright ridiculing you for doing so—and with the pressure on, you acted like church was not really so important to you. Possibly you have thought that your life would be easier or more enjoyable if you weren’t a Christian. Maybe you have wondered if you have gotten as much out of Christianity as you have put into it, and the question came to mind, “Is this all just a waste?”
If anyone had reason to ask that, it was Jesus as He felt the whip tear at His back, the thorns cut into His skull, and the nails pierce His hands and feet. But His suffering was much worse than that. He carried the weight of the whole world’s sin on Himself. He suffered the eternal punishments of hell for wrongs He never committed. He felt forsaken by the very Father who sent Him to do this work.
But Jesus did not consider this a waste. He did not consider pouring out His holy blood for your sins a waste. He willingly, purposely, wholeheartedly did this for you. He did not waver. He did not turn back. He did not shrink from this terrible task that only He could do, and that He had to do alone.
He doesn’t hold His suffering and death against you. In fact, He is constantly making note of the beautiful things you do for Him. What things are these? Whatever you do in faith out of love for those around you, He counts as having been done for Him (Mat. 25:40). He regards it in the same way as the great gift Mary gave Him for His burial.
“Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” And so it is. Jesus’ prophecy is fulfilled today and every time we hear this Gospel. We are still hearing about Mary’s beautiful act of devotion. Her faithful gift and Jesus’ response to it points us to His saving work, that He was crucified, died, and was buried to win for us eternal life. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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(picture from stained glass at Bethany Lutheran College of Mary, Jesus, and Martha)
The Third Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Exodus 32:1-14
In Christ Jesus, who attacked and overcame the devil, so that we whom the devil once claimed are now free to thank, praise, serve, and obey the only true God, dear fellow redeemed:
When we think about the attributes or characteristics of God, we often think of the three omnis: omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Or we think about how He is just, holy, merciful, and gracious. One of the characteristics that probably doesn’t come to mind is that God is jealous. We often think of jealousy in negative terms, describing someone who is envious or suspicious without any real reason to be so. But there is also a positive side to jealousy.
We learn about this positive side in the Catechism from the Conclusion to the Commandments, where God’s own words are quoted: “I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
We use these words as the Conclusion to the Commandments, but the LORD actually spoke them after the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exo. 20:3). He made it clear in this context that His people should not make any carved images of anything in heaven or on earth, and that they should not bow down to them or serve them. The people of Israel heard these words from Moses. Everything was plainly stated. And they answered with one voice, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do” (24:3).
Now just a short time later while Moses was meeting with God on Mount Sinai, the people grew restless. They came to Moses’ older brother Aaron, whom Moses had left in charge while he was away. “Up,” they said to Aaron, “make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” It seems that Aaron felt a mixture of pressure and pride. He could see that the people were restless, and that concerned him. He also recognized he was in a position of influence.
He thought he could steer the people in a better direction; he could compromise to keep the peace. He gathered their gold jewelry and fashioned it into a golden calf, just the kind of “graven image” that God had condemned. And when the people praised the idol as the “gods… who brought [them] up out of the land of Egypt,” Aaron tried to bring the LORD back into it. He declared “a feast to the LORD” on the next day.
But the people did not have the LORD in mind. They got up early the next day, offered sacrifices to the golden calf, ate and drank, and “rose up to play.” St. Paul told the Christians in Corinth what kind of “play” the Israelites were up to. He wrote, “We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day” (1Co. 10:8). Twenty-three thousand fell into sexual sin, rejecting God’s institution of marriage, an institution as old as creation itself. And many more joined them in disobeying God’s Commandments and ignoring His promises. They chose the ways of the world, the desires of their flesh, and the lordship of the devil.
How would God respond? He told Moses that the people had “corrupted themselves.” They had “turned aside quickly” from the way He commanded them. “Now therefore let Me alone,” He said, “that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” If God did not care about His people, He wouldn’t have reacted like this. His anger was a sign of His commitment toward them. He had chosen this people. He had led them out of slavery in Egypt. He had brought them through the Red Sea and provided for them in the wilderness.
The LORD looks upon you with the same devotion and care. He gave you life through your parents; He knitted you together in your mother’s womb (Psa. 139:13). He brought you to the waters of Baptism where He adopted you as His own child and put His name on you. He delivered you from your slavery to sin, devil, and death. And He continues to provide you nourishment through His Word and Sacraments as you journey through the wilderness of this world.
If He were indifferent about how you live your life or about what happens to you, He would not have done all the things for you that He has done. Your Father in heaven certainly would not have sent His Son to suffer and die for you if He did not care for you and all sinners. But just as He was jealous for Adam and Eve when the devil brought them over to his side, and just as He was jealous for the Israelites, so He is jealous for you.
This is a proper jealousy. It’s the kind of jealousy a husband or father might feel when bad actors and bad influences are trying to break up his marriage or family. It’s a jealousy that fights for what another has no right to have. The LORD was jealous for His people. He was their God who had redeemed them. The gods the Egyptians worshiped had no power to stop Him. He alone was God. Any other gods were figments of human imagination fueled by the temptations of the devil.
Could this have been made any clearer to the Israelites, when Moses tossed their golden god in the fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the people drink it (32:20)? This was the god that brought them out of Egypt, the god that now made its way through their insides and was expelled?!? The same goes for the idols we set up in our lives: the pursuit of riches, possessions, and pleasures, of power, influence, and fame, of entertainment and excitement. Those might satisfy you for a while, but what good can they do when the day is far spent, when the sand in the hourglass keeps falling, when the time you have left is diminishing?
But the devil is well-experienced at trickery and deceit. He is always whispering in your ear: “Wouldn’t you like to have more? Don’t you deserve more? Why waste your life following the rules? Loosen up! Live a little! What’s so wrong with wanting to be happy? Pay attention to your feelings! Follow your heart! Only you know what’s best for yourself.” That’s what the devil did to the Israelites, and it nearly got them destroyed by the LORD.
It was only because of Moses’ intercession for the people that the LORD relented. Moses said to the LORD, “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” Moses pointed to God’s promise, and God’s anger was averted.
When you have behaved like the Israelites and have fallen for the devil’s temptations and committed sins against God’s holy Law, you might also wonder if you will escape God’s wrath. You took the wrong path. You followed false gods. You denied the LORD who made you, who purchased and won you, who chose you. As much as you wish you could, you can’t go back and change what you have done. Does the LORD really forgive you?
The way to answer that question is to ask a few more questions: Did God the Father send His Son to take on your flesh? Did Jesus suffer and die on the cross for the whole world’s sins? Did He rise in victory over death on the third day? If the answer to those questions is “yes,” which is exactly what the Bible teaches, then the LORD really does forgive you all your sins. Jesus made atonement for each and every one through His suffering and death.
And now since His ascension, He is “at the right hand of God,” where He “indeed is interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34). He is the Prophet like Moses, whom Moses said would come (Deu. 18:15), and Jesus intercedes for us like Moses did for the Israelites. When the Father sees us falling into sin and living contrary to His will, Jesus is constantly reminding the Father of His completed work. “I paid for that sin, and that sin, and that sin,” says Jesus. So the Father relents from the punishment we deserve. He does what Jesus’ death and resurrection require: He forgives us.
That does not mean, of course, that we are free to keep chasing after idols. God is jealous for our fear, love, and trust. “I am the LORD; that is my name” He says; “my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isa. 42:8). He deserves our love, our devotion, our worship—our entire life. Whenever and wherever we have not given these things, we must repent. We must admit that we have not been and done what He chose us and called us to do.
Then we also take comfort that our God, the only true God, is good, kind, and patient toward us. Shortly after sparing His people Israel from destruction, He described His characteristics to Moses which are still true of Him today. He said about Himself: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exo. 34:6-7). That is the God you have—a jealous God, jealous for your faith and salvation.
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 Golden Calf” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
Midweek Lent 2 – Pr. Abraham Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 26:1-2
William Miller predicted that Christ’s second coming would be on April 18, 1844. After that date passed, a disciple of Miller predicted October 22, 1844. Charles Russell, a Jehovah Witness, predicted that Christ would return in 1874. A Russian Mennonite, Claas Epp predicted that Christ would return on March 8, 1889. These are names of people that you have probably never heard of. Why? Because they join a long list of many other people who have predicted things about Christ and other events, which never came true.
These people are examples of modern-day false prophets. Yet, false prophets are nothing new to our times. The Lord even had to warn the people of Israel about false prophets who claimed to have revelations and prophecies from God. The Lord gave criterion to identify true and false prophets. A true prophet was someone who may be enabled by the Lord to perform great miracles. Also important, was that everything a prophet speaks would be in alignment with God’s Word (Deut. 13:1–5). Yet, one of the most obvious marks of a true prophet was that their prophecies came true. If a prophet’s words didn’t come true, clearly, they were not from God. Deuteronomy 18:22 states, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
Jesus was the greatest of all prophets. He is the one whom Moses foretold, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15). In our Lenten series this year, we are looking at some of the prophecies made by Christ during Holy Week. Tonight, our Savior foretells that he would be delivered for crucifixion.
During his earthly ministry Jesus was transparent to his disciples about his purpose and work. Yet, in the last year of his ministry, and especially the week before his crucifixion, we see his discussions with his disciples becoming more and more clear about how and where he would accomplish our salvation. In the Gospel of Matthew alone, Jesus had already foretold of his suffering and death to his disciples three times (Matthew 16:21–23,17:22–23, 20:17–19). He would go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, and on the third day he would rise. He would be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes who would condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified.
Jesus had foretold where and how he would die. In our lesson, Jesus foretells when he would be crucified, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Jesus is speaking fact. Jesus is saying to his disciples, “You know after two days the Passover is coming. Just as certainly as this, I will be handed over to be crucified.”
Here Jesus is indicating more than a prediction and more than supernatural knowledge. This was an act of determining, or fixing, the time of his death. Jesus is demonstrating his authority over all things. Regardless of any plans of the Jewish leaders, it would be as he directs—Thursday night and Friday, and no other time. Jesus’ words were making reality.
What’s hard for us to wrap our heads around is that Jesus was in control. He speaks as if it already happened, because what God determines will come to pass. Jesus showed his power by this prediction, a prediction in which he will be made powerless. He is showing his authority by fixing the time of his suffering, a time where he would submit himself under the authority of a kangaroo court and Pontius Pilate. With this prophecy Jesus is showing his power and authority over time. He is in control. Yet, it’s a paradox, what he causes to be, will make him look powerless, weak, and destroyed.
Jesus was not only a true prophet in the sense that his word came true. He showed his power and control over all things by fixing the exact time of his crucifixion. If you had the same power as Jesus, to not only know the future, but be in control of your future, how would you use it? I’m willing to wager that if we had the power over our future, we certainly would not be planning our own demise. We would not plan our own suffering and humiliation, and a horrible death which was saved for only the worst type of criminals. Instead, we would make a future where we would have peace, relaxation, and glory—where we wouldn’t face hardship, sorrow, or shame. We would want to avoid all pain. If we had this power, we would obviously want to make ourselves as happy as possible.
But not Jesus. He gave up his power and glory in heaven when he humbled himself to be born of a virgin. He gave up the peace of heaven to live an innocent life where he was rejected by his own people, wrongly convicted, beaten, mocked, and crucified. What could drive Jesus to do all this? If Jesus had the power to change his future, why on earth would he choose this path?
Because if he didn’t, it would be you convicted, beaten, mocked, and cast to hell for all eternity. We so often think very little about our sins. You don’t think your selfishness is that sinful, don’t I deserve better? You think your hatred of your neighbor is justified. You think your desire for more and more and more isn’t greed, but healthy ambition. You think your lust which you hold in your heart for someone who is not our spouse isn’t that bad. But any sin, no matter how small we might tell ourselves it is, deserves hell. Scripture says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10).
Christ chose the path of the cross because he loves you. Because he wanted to save you from what you deserve. He gladly received what he did not deserve, so that you could receive forgiveness and his undeserved kindness. God is love and in Christ we see God’s love. Scripture says, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:9–10).
In our lesson, Jesus prophesied when he would be crucified. When we hear this prediction, we should realize Christ’s love for us. His death was no accident or coincidence. It was all part of his plan to save you. Not only did all of Jesus’ prophecies come to be, but Jesus also fulfilled all the prophecies about himself. “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed… And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53).
Jesus showed himself to be a true prophet because his word came to be, which means you can trust his word. His word which says, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37); “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28); “Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2); “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25); “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).
Jesus is the greatest of all prophets. Even now as our resurrected Lord, he continues to carry out his prophetic office by sending preachers to preach his word. So that men, women, and children sitting in pews in Iowa 2,000 years later and over 6,000 miles from his empty tomb, might learn about their Savior. The names of false prophets come and go. But our Savior’s name will forever be. His name is Jesus, “because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Amen.
(picture from “Jesus Discourses with His Disciples” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The Second Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Exodus 17:1-16
In Christ Jesus, who refreshes us as we travel through the wilderness with the living water of His Word and the nourishment of His holy body and blood, dear fellow redeemed:
It is a common phenomenon to view the past more positively than we view the present, and to view the past more positively than we actually experienced it. Psychologists suggest the term “rosy retrospection” for this. It is looking into the past with rose-colored glasses and wishing we could go back to a time when we had so few troubles and cares. But what we are doing with this “rosy retrospection” is minimizing our struggles in the past while magnifying our struggles in the present.
We find the Israelites doing the same thing, and they were not even looking back that far. Had they forgotten how poorly they were treated as slaves? How they were forced to work harder and harder with fewer resources? How Pharaoh commanded them to drown their baby boys in the Nile River? Had they forgotten how the LORD spared their lives by the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, and how He led them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea on dry ground?
As soon as they faced trials in the wilderness, they immediately started to complain. In their hunger, they recalled how they “sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full” in the land of Egypt (Exo. 16:3). When they were thirsty, they thought of the abundance of water at the Nile River and grumbled against Moses, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” Would they have really preferred to return as slaves in Egypt than to be with the LORD in the wilderness?
But that was the root of the problem—they were not convinced the LORD was actually with them. That is the question they kept asking one another: “Is the LORD among us or not?” It’s shocking that they would wonder this. Hadn’t they seen the LORD leading them in a pillar of cloud and fire, and the walls of water on either side of them as they passed through the Red Sea? Hadn’t they seen the entire army of Egypt dead on the seashore? How could they doubt the LORD?
They doubted Him because they assumed that if He were really with them, they wouldn’t have to go without food; they wouldn’t have to go without water. All their needs would be provided for—if He were really with them. Thoughts like these have crossed our minds too: “If You are really with me, LORD, why don’t You make my pain go away? Why don’t You heal me or my loved one? Why don’t You remove these troubles or obstacles, so I can serve You better?”
The crosses we have to carry in this life are tremendous tests of our faith. In the midst of our struggles, we wonder why the all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present God doesn’t remove those crosses. If He can, then why doesn’t He? We learn something about this in the Holy Gospel for today (Mat. 15:21-28).
A Canaanite woman came to Jesus begging Him to have mercy on her demon-oppressed daughter. At first, Jesus did not answer her. But she didn’t give up; she took her request to Jesus’ disciples. They became so annoyed by her persistence that they now begged Jesus to send her away. Still He did nothing. So she knelt right in front of Him—she wouldn’t be denied. Jesus said to her, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” And she replied, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Acknowledging her great faith, Jesus granted her request and instantly healed her daughter.
Why did Jesus act like this? Why did He prolong the suffering of this woman and her daughter? Why did He treat her almost like an enemy? The answer is not that “even Jesus gets annoyed or impatient sometimes.” The answer is that the trial Jesus put this woman through was for one purpose only: to strengthen her faith in Him. But how can God expect to draw us closer when we feel like He is pushing us away?
Think about how parents might play with their children. A mother might hide a piece of cookie from her toddler or keep moving it just out of his reach. The toddler protests, but he doesn’t give up. He keeps reaching and tries harder until he grabs it. Or a father might wrestle with his kids and act like their enemy, only to gather them into a big bear hug in the end. In the same way, God might make us work at something difficult or wrestle with some hardship, so that we learn to cling to Him and trust His promises.
That is what He wanted the Israelites to do. It was no mistake that the LORD led them to Rephidim where there was no water. This hardship was an opportunity for the people to prove their love for Him, to demonstrate their holy fear of Him, to show that they would trust His providence and care. They did not pass this test, but the LORD still had mercy on His people. He would provide more opportunities along the way for them to exercise their faith.
In this case, He ordered Moses to take his staff, with which he had struck the Nile and turned it to blood, and which he used to part the Red Sea. He told Moses to strike a rock, and water would come out of it. Moses did, and it did, and the people had plenty to drink. If God could do this, if He could make water flow out of a rock in the desert, what can’t He do for us in our time of need? We might not see a way out of our troubles. We might feel hopeless about a situation ever improving. But nothing is impossible for God.
Just after God provided water for the Israelites, we are told that the Amalekites came to fight against them. This was another tremendous test. The Israelites had no military training. They were not prepared for this. But the LORD fought for them. Moses went up on a hill and raised his staff. As long as his staff was held high, Israel prevailed. When his arms grew weary, Aaron and Hur stood on either side of him and held up his arms. So the Israelites with Joshua in command won the victory.
No one expected a rag-tag company of slaves to march out of Egypt and prevail in battle. No one expected water to come out of a rock, enough for perhaps hundreds of thousands of people and their livestock besides. If we have learned anything from the Bible or from human history, it is that we can expect the unexpected from God.
Nowhere is this more evident than God the Father sending His Son to take on human flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit. Did the Father send Him in anger to destroy the world? No! He sent His Son to save the world of sinners by offering up His holy life in the place of every transgressor. Jesus willingly suffered and died for your sins, including your doubts about His faithfulness to you, your impatience in suffering, and your failure to trust what He promises. Jesus shed His blood to wash all this away and to open heaven to you through the forgiveness of your sins. That was unexpected!
Today’s reading includes some comforting pictures of Jesus’ suffering and death for us. Moses’ outstretched arms that brought victory to the Israelites is a picture of Jesus’ outstretched arms on the cross by which He brought us victory over sin, death, and the devil. The staff Moses used to strike the rock causing water to gush out is a picture of the spear plunged into Jesus’ side after His death that caused blood and water to gush out.
St. Paul makes this connection to Christ even clearer. He says that the Israelites “drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ” (1Co. 10:4). Yes, the LORD was certainly with them in the wilderness, even the One who many years later would pay the penalty for their sins of grumbling, quarreling, doubts, and denial.
The LORD knows our sins just as plainly as theirs. He hears our “It isn’t fair!” our “I don’t deserve this!” our “Where are You? Why won’t You help?” And in response, we hear Jesus say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Then, “I thirst.” And, “It is finished.” Jesus took all your sins, your troubles, your sorrows on Himself. He accepted the eternal punishment of hell for you and felt its terrible fire, so much so that He longed for just one drop of water to cool His tongue.
He felt this thirst for you, so you would evermore drink from His grace. Jesus said, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Joh. 4:14). This is what we have in His holy Word and Sacraments. Through these means, we have here ample food and drink for our journey through the wilderness.
So when we are tempted to ask, “Is the Lord among Us or Not?” we can remember the Lord’s mercy and grace toward us in the past, which continue to cover us in the present, and which will lead us into the future. There is no need for “rosy retrospection” with God because everything is rosy when it is cleansed by and covered in the blood of Jesus, our Rock and our Redeemer.
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)
Midweek Lent 1 – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 24:1-2
In Christ Jesus, the stone rejected by the builders, which has become the cornerstone of God’s holy house, dear fellow redeemed:
If someone told you that all the buildings in Cresco or New Hampton were going to be dismantled down to their foundations, you would have a hard time believing it. Even if you had no reason to doubt the source of the information, it would be hard to imagine what chain of events would bring about this complete destruction.
The disciples of Jesus were likewise shocked when Jesus told them that the magnificent temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed. Some estimate that the stones of the temple were as large as 37 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 12 feet high (The Lutheran Study Bible, CPH, note for Mark 13:1). The stones were decorated with gold which dazzled in the sunlight. “What wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” said the disciples (Mar. 13:1).
The original and most beautiful temple in Jerusalem was completed by King Solomon in the mid-900s B. C. This stood until around 587 when the Babylonians destroyed it and took the people of Judah into captivity. About seventy years later, a less ornate temple was built again after the Jews were allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem. This temple remained until King Herod enhanced and expanded it shortly before the birth of Christ.
This temple was a source of great national pride. It gave the Jews the assurance that God must be pleased with them. After all, they made the daily sacrifices that God commanded. They prayed in the temple. They kept the festivals and feasts. But just before today’s reading, Jesus stood up in the temple and said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate” (Mat. 23:37-38).
He followed this up by telling His disciples privately, “You see all these [buildings], do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” The temple would be utterly destroyed, and not just the temple, but the entire city of Jerusalem. This happened about forty years later in the year A. D. 70, when the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem after an extended siege and laid waste to the city.
The well-fortified city walls did not save the people. The shining temple in the center of the city did not save them. God wanted to save them, but they rejected the salvation He sent. On His way to Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week, Jesus wept over the city, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes” (Luk. 19:42). At that time also, He had predicted the destruction of the city, that one stone would not be left upon another. Why would this happen? “Because,” said Jesus, “you did not know the time of your visitation” (v. 44). So many of the people had rejected their Lord of life.
The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple serve as a warning for us that the things which may seem most solid and immovable on this earth also have an expiration date. The powerful countries, officials, and businesses will pass away. The great cities will fall. Our possessions, no matter how valuable; our bank accounts, no matter how full; our homes, no matter how well-built, will one day fall apart, be emptied, and come crashing down.
But there is a deeper lesson here. The people in Jerusalem were trusting in their work for God instead of His work for them. This can happen to us as well. We can quietly compare ourselves with others and feel prideful, saying with the boastful Pharisee, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men” (Luk. 18:11). Or we can think that our attendance at church and our regular offerings are pleasing to Him, even if our heart is not really in it.
But God does not want empty actions. He wants repentance and faith. David put it this way in his penitential psalm: “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psa. 51:16-17). That is why Jesus wept over the city—He saw very little repentance and faith among His people who had the Holy Scriptures. They had the truth of God and rejected it.
None of the impressive and beautiful things created by our hands can measure up to the glory of God. None of our works, none of our achievements, none of our abilities can secure for us the favor of our Lord. Only Jesus could do this. Only He could lay the foundation and set the cornerstone for a holy temple that would never fall. Only He could establish a spiritual house for the offering of “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1Pe. 2:5).
Our “spiritual sacrifices,” our prayers, our good works, our acts of Christian love, are “acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” They are acceptable to God because we do them in faith. We know we cannot earn His favor by what we do. We know that we already have favor with Him because of what Jesus did for us. Jesus is “the stone that the builders rejected [which] has become the cornerstone” (Psa. 118:22). He is the Rock on which the Church is built. We stand firmly on Him.
Jesus could not be thrown down. He could not be destroyed. He is the Son of God, through whom all things were created. He is the Lord of life. After the first time that Jesus cleared the temple of all who bought and sold in it, the Jewish leaders asked Him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They thought He was talking about the temple building itself and ridiculed Him. But Jesus was speaking about His body (Joh. 2:18-21). He would soon die on the cross for all sin, and then He would rise again on the third day. That temple could not be destroyed.
The temple building in Jerusalem was impressive, but it was nothing but an empty structure, a desolate house, without the Lord’s gracious presence. The same is true for our churches. If we no longer focus on Jesus, if we no longer receive His gifts through the Word and Sacraments with repentance and faith, then we have rendered these beautiful structures meaningless. If our confidence as Christians is in a building, then we are no different than the Jews in Jesus’ day who trusted a building more than the Son of God incarnate.
We know that everything we see on earth will one day be gone. Even our bodies will fail and return to dust. But as St. Paul writes, “we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2Co. 5:1). We have a home with God above, a temple that will never be destroyed. By His grace, we will enter His holy household, where we will live in perfect peace and joy for all eternity. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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(picture from “Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem” by David Roberts, 1850)