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)
The First Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Exodus 14:5-31
In Christ Jesus, our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble, so that we have no need to fear (Psa. 46:1-2), dear fellow redeemed:
By all appearances, the Israelites were in big trouble. They had just marched out of Egypt carrying the wealth of the land with them after the Egyptians freely gave them whatever they asked for (Exo. 12:35-36). Egypt’s economy was in a shambles after the ten plagues the LORD sent. Every firstborn Egyptian son was dead. And the Pharaoh realized that the slaves who might rebuild the economy were kicking up dust on their way out of town. In great wrath (and because the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart), he and his army quickly set off in hot pursuit of the Israelites.
What could the Israelites do without proper weapons, without military training, and with so many vulnerable people in the company? Pharaoh and his charioteers were getting closer and closer. Soon they would be overtaken! In this moment of tremendous fear, they took out their anxiety on Moses. Why had he brought them out to die in the wilderness? Why couldn’t he have just left them in Egypt? It would be better to be slaves in Egypt than to die out here!
We can understand their reaction. They were thinking logically. Pharaoh’s army was much more powerful than they were. They could not stand against him or try to fight him. They had no chance. All very logical. But they were forgetting something. It wasn’t Pharaoh and his army against them. It was Pharaoh and his army against God! The LORD had already shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was far superior to Pharaoh. He had brought ten plagues on the land of Egypt, and there was nothing Pharaoh could do about it. The LORD could have sent a hundred plagues, and no one could have stopped Him.
We fall into the same kind of thinking as the Israelites. We imagine that when we face challenges, it’s up to us to find the strength inside ourselves to stand firm. It could be relationship problems with a family member or friend. It could be a health issue like a cancer diagnosis. It could be trouble at school or work or in the community. “Somehow, someway,” we think, “I have to dig deep and find a way out of this mess. I can’t count on anyone but myself.”
We try the same approach with strong temptations to sin. We might be tempted to take someone else’s work or possessions and pass them off as our own. We might be tempted to lie to avoid having to answer for our wrongs. We might be tempted to consume drinks or drugs that we know will harm us. We might be tempted to view images and videos online that we know we shouldn’t.
When those temptations come, how well does it work to grit your teeth, clench your fists, and shout your defiance into the darkness? “Take your best shot! I’m too strong for you! You can’t beat me! You picked the wrong target!” As soon as you are done shouting, the desire to sin will still be in your mind. The tug o’ war will keep happening. The devil will keep trying to draw you toward your destruction. He will tell you that you will never have rest until you do whatever it is you desire to do. But when you give in, you don’t find relief, you don’t find satisfaction. You find guilt, a gnawing, bitter guilt.
Guilt is a heavy burden. It’s so heavy, we look for ways to get rid of it. One of those ways is trying to pass the blame for the sin we committed. Moses became the target for the people of Israel. “It’s your fault! You led us out in the wilderness. You led us right into this trap. There’s nowhere to go!” Repentance never crossed their minds or their lips. And so we might blame a bad boss as the reason our stealing was justified, or another person’s bad deed as the reason we were compelled to lie, or an uncaring spouse for why we looked elsewhere to fulfill our needs.
Perhaps in some way, these justifications might make our conscience less sharp and therefore the burden of guilt less heavy. But however we came to the sin, we are the ones who did it. We are the ones who chose to do or say or think what God said we should not. In the big picture, in the grand accounting of it all, it is obvious that we have fallen far short of the righteousness that God has called us to. In our weakness, we have given in to many temptations. We have committed many sins.
If the Israelites were afraid of Pharaoh’s army on one side and the Red Sea on the other, we are in even worse shape. We have the devil, the world, and our own flesh facing us on one side with weapons poised to strike, and on the other side we look behind us into the deep pit of death. “Fear not,” Moses said to the people, “stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
“The Lord Will Fight for You.” That’s the key! We are stuck in the middle of a battle, a battle which on our own, we can’t win. We don’t have all the answers. We are not equal to the seasoned fighters who oppose us. But the LORD, our LORD, is more than their equal. Like David facing Goliath, He may have appeared overmatched in His state of humiliation on earth. But like David overcoming Goliath, Jesus won a complete victory.
Even in the Holy Gospel for today, it looked like Jesus was vulnerable. He was very hungry after forty days and nights of fasting. The devil seemed to make a good case from Scripture why Jesus should throw Himself down from the temple. The devil flexed his muscles by offering Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” All Jesus had to do was bow down and worship him. He could bypass all the suffering, all the pain, all the trouble for saving sinners. He would have instant rest and relief if only He would acknowledge the devil’s authority (Mat. 4:1-11).
Jesus stood firm against these temptations. He wouldn’t budge. Where we would have easily caved to the pressure, He did not. Hebrews 4:15 says that “in every respect [He] has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” He stayed strong for you. He resisted every temptation for you. He maintained a perfectly clear conscience, so He could credit you with His righteousness and holiness.
He gave this gift to you when He called you to the waters of Baptism. He brought you freedom from sin and eternal life and salvation through those waters. He baptized you into Him through those waters. The Israelites passing through the Red Sea is a picture of your Baptism. Just as a new people emerged from the sea no longer enslaved, with their captors destroyed, so the new man of faith was raised up in you through holy Baptism, and your old Adam was drowned.
If the Israelites doubted God’s commitment to them before, they could hardly doubt it now as they walked over dry land with walls of water on either side of them. This was their Baptism, as 1 Corinthians 10 says, “our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (vv. 1-2). But they did doubt God’s commitment again, many times. This is why St. Paul adds, “with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (v. 5).
Just because you are baptized does not mean that you will always remember what Baptism means and take comfort in it. Baptism means that the Almighty God of heaven and earth has claimed you for His own. He committed Himself to your care and salvation. He promised to guide you and comfort you and strengthen you through His Word and Sacraments. He promised to fight your battles for you, stand against all your enemies, and deliver you from every evil.
Going your own way and relying on your own strength is to step away from these baptismal protections. It is like picking up a little stick and charging at the whole Egyptian army by yourself. Or loading up your pockets with bars of gold and silver before jumping into the Red Sea in an attempt to swim to safety. Moses told the self-centered Israelites that the LORD would fight for them. All he asked of them was this: “you have only to be silent.”
The same goes for you. “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Being silent means not shouting boastful words into the darkness. Being silent means stopping your words of self-justification. Being silent means quietly repenting of your sins each and every day. Being silent means listening to the LORD’s strong word, hearing His promises, and trusting that He can take on any enemy that threatens you.
He certainly can. It appeared that the Israelites were doomed. But by the end of the day, they were singing and dancing while the Egyptians washed up dead on the seashore. You may feel at times like you are without hope, but the LORD makes a way through the trouble just as He opened a path for His people through the Red Sea. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For Thou art with me” (Psa. 23:4).
The LORD is with you. When the devil attacks you and fires temptations at you, that is your reminder that you need the LORD to guard and protect you. You need to hear Him speak His powerful Word into the darkness that threatens you. He will not back down from the devil. He will never abandon you. He will fight for you.
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 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
Ash Wednesday – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 6:16-21
In Christ Jesus, who served us in all humility, so His perfect righteousness would be credited to us by faith, dear fellow redeemed:
Today we observe Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the beginning of the penitential season of Lent. Lent is forty days long not counting Sundays to tie in with Jesus’ forty days and nights in the wilderness. Over those forty days, He fasted and was tempted by the devil as He prepared for His public work. We walk with Jesus through these forty days, hearing His Word, receiving His strength, and dedicating all we do to Him.
But the devil is actively tempting us just as he tempted Jesus, and we are not as resilient as our Savior. We are weak. We are prone to sin. We have often fallen for the devil’s temptations. We have followed the lead of our first father Adam, who knew God’s command but chose to reject it. This is why when ashes are applied to the foreheads of the baptized on Ash Wednesday, it is accompanied by the LORD’s word to Adam and all sinners, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19).
Dust and ashes are often paired together. When Abraham prayed for the people of Sodom and continued to lower the number of believers for which God would spare the city, he said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27). Job described himself as having become “like dust and ashes” in the depths of his suffering (Job 30:19). We hear the same phrase in our hymns: “Though I lie in dust and ashes” (246:4), “Though dust and ashes in Thy sight” (382:1), “See, I but ashes am and dust” (320:6).
This is a confession that apart from God, we have no life in us. Apart from God, we have nothing to look forward to but death and our bodies turning to dust. That is why it is strange that we spend any time boasting about our own greatness. But we do—all of us do. Jesus calls it out in today’s reading from His “Sermon on the Mount.” He points to our tendency to want others to see when we are making sacrifices, when we are doing something good.
He says, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.” Fasting is a sacrifice. It is going without food for a period of time. It makes the stomach growl. A person may start to feel weak. Why would anyone ever put himself through this?
In one of his Catechism sections on the Sacrament of the Altar, Martin Luther wrote, “Fasting and bodily preparation are indeed a fine outward training.” The reason that God’s people have fasted throughout history is so that they would be reminded of their weakness, and also so that they would prepare themselves to receive the gifts of God through His Word and Sacraments. The fasting that is most common among Lutherans today is fasting in preparation for the Lord’s Supper. As we feel physical hunger, it reminds us of our need for the greatest food there is—our Lord’s body and blood.
But imagine if someone were fasting, and he or she posted regular updates on social media to let everyone know that “I’m fasting today,” and “It’s really hard to do.” That is the hypocrisy Jesus points out, that something that is supposed to be done in secret out of love for God is done in public out of love for man’s approval. This could apply to any part of our life: going to school, doing our job, taking care of our families, helping others. Do we do these things for recognition? Or do we do them out of thankfulness to God for giving us the opportunities and giving us the skills and the strength to do them?
The approval and praise of the world and whatever riches or possessions we might gain in this life are only temporary. It will all slip through our fingers one day. Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” We may certainly enjoy what we have on earth. God has given many blessings to us for our own needs and for the good of others. We are stewards of these things, and we want to manage them well.
But we must not put our trust in them or let them become the primary focus of our life. “Instead,” says Jesus, “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” And what are those treasures in heaven that you are to lay up? They are all the gifts you have by faith in Jesus: everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness; perfect love, joy, and peace; fullness of life and light.
You have all these things now, but you cannot see them or experience them fully until you are delivered from this sinful life. While you are here, God has prepared wonderful works for you to do to the glory of His name. He has given you important tasks in your callings as a member of your family, as a member of the church, as an employee, and as a neighbor in your community. He sees all the good things you do in these callings. He sees the sacrifices you make. He sees the hardships you endure. He sees the many ways you show love to others, whether or not you are recognized for that love or thanked for it.
You do these things for your Father who is in heaven. “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” This is not a reward for earning His grace. It is the reward of faith, which is always active in bearing fruit. Your faith was a gift from God to you, and so are the good works you carry out in His name.
And when you have not been so good, when you have looked for praise from others, when you pursued the world’s treasure as the best treasure, then you can join Abraham and Job in their words of repentance and faith, “I am nothing but dust and ashes. Apart from You, I am lost. But in You, I have all I need.” This connection between repentance and faith comes through beautifully in the hymns I mentioned before:
Though I lie in dust and ashes
Faith’s assurance brightly flashes:
Baptism has the strength divine
To make life immortal mine. (246:4)
Though dust and ashes in Thy sight,
We may, we must draw near. (382:1)
Lord, I believe, dear Lord, I trust;
Help for faith’s weakness give me!
See, I but ashes am and dust;
Ne’er of Your Word deprive me!
Your Baptism, Supper, and Your Word
My comfort here below afford;
Here lies my heart’s true treasure. (320:6)
Our treasure lies in our Lord’s Word and Sacraments. This is a gift that keeps giving day after day, year after year, until we are delivered from dust and ashes here to feast and to rejoice in His eternal kingdom.
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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(woodcut of the poor, the blind, and the lame being invited to the banquet from the 1880 edition of The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation)
Good Friday – Pr. Faugstad homily
Texts: Genesis 3:14-15,20, St. Matthew 27:45-46
The very same statement can be a blessing for one and a curse for another. That’s how it was when the LORD confronted the devil in the Garden of Eden. The devil had successfully tempted the man and woman to disobey God. They were now hiding from God with him. They were on his side.
But the LORD God said, “No! You cannot have them; they are not yours. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring.” The woman and her Offspring would be opposed to the devil, hostile to him. They would not remain in his clutches; they would not continue to be wound up tightly in his coils.
And then God said the thing that really troubled the devil. It was bad enough that he would be cursed more than all livestock and beasts, that he would crawl on his belly and eat dust, and that he would not have mankind fully in his control. And then God told him that the woman’s Offspring “shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
The serpent would get his head stomped on by one of those humans he had just overcome. And the damage inflicted on his conqueror would only be a bruise on his heel. The devil was destined to lose, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. God made a promise, and His promises cannot be broken.
The first man and woman believed this promise. We see it in the name Adam chose for his wife. He called her “Eve,” a name that means “life.” She could have been called the “bearer of death,” since she had listened to the serpent, and because her children would die just as she would. But she was called Eve, “because she was the mother of all living.” The serpent-crusher, the Savior, would come from her. He would bring life to the dying.
But Eve was not given the privilege of bearing this Child. God’s promise would wait, generation after generation, century after century, thousands of years passing by, until God sent His angel to the woman Mary of Nazareth to tell her that she was the one.
It is her Offspring, it is her Son, hanging on the cross that first Good Friday, a day which looked anything but “good.” The only perfect man who had walked the earth since the fall into sin was now pinned to a cross. This is how the world esteemed Him. This is the honor that was shown Him—nailed to a tree to die.
He was put on the cross at 9:00 in the morning. At 12:00 noon, the sky went dark, and the darkness hung over the land for the next three hours—what is typically the brightest part of the day.
Jesus was in great anguish. He was suffering the eternal fires of hell in that darkness. He was paying for the first sin of that fateful day in the Garden of Eden, and for all the sins committed from that time forward. He was suffering hell for your selfish actions, your false words, your wicked thoughts. He felt God’s wrath for every single sin, whether large or small.
Under this burning wrath, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” We cannot imagine it. We cannot comprehend it. But we can see how the innocent Christ was suffering what we deserved. We can see what the wages of our sin added up to. Beholding Jesus in this great anguish, we see the price of our redemption.
The very same act—His crucifixion—was curse for Him and blessing for you. The Son of God willingly accepted this curse. He willingly took your place, so He could take your punishment. This is how the devil’s grip would be broken. This is how his lying mouth would be shut up. This is how his head would be crushed.
Our Lord Jesus had to die, in order to cancel the curse brought into the world by Adam and Eve, the curse that consigned us all to hell. Galatians 3 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (v. 13).
Christ’s crucifixion looks like defeat, but it is victory. The devil seems to win, but he utterly loses. Death appears to succeed, but it is conquered once and for all. Jesus died for you, to save you.
This is the promise God made long ago in Eden. This is why Adam named his wife Eve. This is why Mary said to the angel, “let it be to me according to your word” (Luk. 1:38). This is why Jesus prayed to His heavenly Father, “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luk. 22:42), and willingly went to the cross.
The devil knew this was coming, but he didn’t know when. He knows now. And so do you. Seeing Jesus on the cross, you see God’s Promise Kept.
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(picture from Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald, c. 1510)
Maundy Thursday – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. John 13:1-15
In Christ Jesus, who cleansed you by his selfless love, dear fellow redeemed:
The time had finally come. Jesus knew what was about to happen. In only a few short hours, he would be betrayed by one of his own disciples and arrested by the religious authorities in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then, after being questioned, mocked, and tortured, he would be sentenced to death on a cross, one of the worst ways for a person to die, even though he had done nothing wrong. On that cross, he would bear the burden of the entire world’s sin as if it were his own and face the punishment for all of it. This would be the final Passover meal that Jesus would eat with his disciples before he would be sacrificed as the ultimate Passover Lamb.
If you knew that you were about to face the ultimate suffering, surely you would be dreading what was about to happen and, if it were possible, would be thinking of ways that you could escape it. But Jesus wasn’t thinking about himself or the pain that he was about to endure. He was instead thinking about “his own who were in the world” (verse 1), whom he loved to the end, to the fullest extent. These people were not only his disciples, but were also, as Jesus describes in John 17:20, “those who will believe in [him] through their word,” that is, the gospel that would be preached by the disciples. In his final hours, Jesus was thinking about you. His disciples, on the other hand, were thinking about something much different.
In the gospel according to St. Luke, we hear that “[a] dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest” (Luke 22:24). This is not the first time that the disciples had this dispute. The last time they did, Jesus called a child to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3–4). But it appears that the lesson did not sink in. So, this time, Jesus said to them, “[L]et the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:26–28).
The Jews, including the disciples, thought that the Messiah was going to be an earthly king who would free them from the Romans, but Jesus did not come down from his throne in heaven to be an earthly king. He came down to earth to be a servant. In our Epistle lesson for Palm Sunday, we heard that Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6–7). We also hear in the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark that “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). Now, Jesus was not only going to show his disciples through his actions that he came to be a servant, but he was also going to give them an example for how they were expected to act. He got up from the table, took off his outer garments and laid them aside, wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet.
Since the Jews wore sandals when they traveled at that time, traveling on the dusty roads would cause their feet to get dirty. But washing feet was not a task that just anyone did. This was considered menial work that was reserved for the lowest of servants. Because the disciples thought so highly of themselves, none of them thought to volunteer to wash the feet of the others. But now that Jesus, the greatest among them, was willingly washing their feet without complaint, they all felt guilty that they had not been the ones to volunteer.
You might not argue that you are the greatest, like the disciples did, but there are times when you think that you are better than others or you think that a certain task is beneath you. You may not be perfect, but at least you’re better than the person who actively lives in sin, despite the warnings that are given to them by you or others, or the person who refuses to go to church, even though they are perfectly able to do so. There are also many important tasks that you are in charge of. So, why should you be expected to do even more when you’re already doing so much? Why can’t other people be found to do those tasks? It’s really easy to start thinking in these ways, but when you think in these ways, you are putting yourself, your wants and desires, before others and their needs.
This is not the example that Jesus gave us to follow. By washing the feet of his disciples, by willingly taking on the task that was reserved for the lowliest of servants, Jesus was teaching his disciples and us that we are to humble ourselves in loving service to others. But it’s clear from how often we fail to do that and only think of ourselves that it’s impossible for us to serve like Jesus served. Fortunately for us, Jesus perfectly humbled himself in loving service to others for us.
Jesus’ entire earthly ministry was spent in loving service to others. He fed people who were hungry, healed people who were sick, cast out demons from people who were possessed, and even raised people back to life who had died. Jesus was not performing these miracles because he was trying to make himself look good or because he was trying to get something out of those he was helping. He was performing these miracles because he loved the people of the world and wanted to help them. And Jesus showed how much he truly loved all sinners when he willingly laid down his own life for them.
Jesus’ willing sacrifice was the ultimate example of his loving service to others. Because of his great love for us, Jesus took all of our sins on himself and carried them all the way to the cross. He bore the burden of our sins as he hung on the cross and paid the price for every single one of them. When Jesus died on the cross, all of our sins died with him, because he bore them as though they were his own and made atonement for them.
Peter did not yet understand why Jesus was washing his feet or what Jesus was going to have to do to save him and the world. So, when Jesus came to wash his feet, Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet” (verse 8). But Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (verse 8). Jesus was not saying that Peter needed to have his feet washed if he wanted to have a share of Jesus’ eternal inheritance in heaven. He was saying that Peter, as well as all of us, need to be spiritually cleansed by him if we want to have a share in his eternal inheritance.
All of us who believe in Jesus have already been spiritually cleansed by him. But, just like a person who needs to keep washing his dirty feet, we also need to keep returning to Jesus for forgiveness since we continue to sin every day of our lives. One of the ways that we receive this forgiveness is in the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus would soon institute Holy Communion after he finished washing his disciples’ feet. In that supper, you receive Jesus’ true body and blood in the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus instituted Holy Communion, he was looking forward to the sacrifice he would soon make as the Passover Lamb on the cross, shedding his blood for you. Now that his sacrifice has been made, when you partake in the Lord’s Supper, you look back on the sacrifice that he made for you, and the forgiveness that he won by his sacrifice is brought to you in the present. As you leave the Lord’s table, you have the comfort of Jesus’ forgiveness and the assurance that you will one day feast with him in his eternal kingdom.
You may not be able to perfectly follow Jesus’ example of loving service, but through the faith that the Holy Spirit has given you through the Word and the Sacraments, he has changed your heart so that you desire to follow Jesus’ example. And when you fall short, you return to the Lord’s table to receive his forgiveness, which he freely gives to you. It is because of Jesus’ selfless love that you receive his forgiveness. It is because of Jesus’ selfless love that you are cleansed. Amen.
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(picture from painting by Giotto di Bondone, c. 1267-1337)
Palm Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Philippians 2:5-11
In Christ Jesus, who came to be crowned and clothed in our sin and shame in order to obtain eternal salvation for us, dear fellow redeemed:
We don’t know how many people witnessed Jesus’ coming to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The apostle John mentions “the large crowd” that had come to celebrate the Passover there (Joh. 12:12). The apostle Matthew describes “the crowds that went before [Jesus] and that followed him” (Mat. 21:9). The people made such a commotion with their scattering of cloaks and palm branches on the road and with their singing and shouting that “the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’” (v. 10).
What a good question! “Who is this?” Some of His followers viewed Him as a great Teacher, one who taught the Scriptures with authority. Some viewed Him as a great worker of miracles, including many who knew He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Some, like the religious leaders, viewed Him as an imposter and blasphemer, an enemy who had to be eliminated. A great many in the crowd were convinced He was the Messiah, “the Son of David” (Mat. 21:9), “the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luk. 19:38), “even the King of Israel” (Joh. 12:13). But they didn’t have it quite clear what this Messiah would come to do.
Jesus’ disciples were there—Peter, James, John, and all the rest—, no doubt walking near Him as He rode forward on the donkey. Probably His good friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary were there watching with nervous anticipation. What was going to happen next? We are not specifically told that Jesus’ mother Mary was present, but I expect that she was also in the crowd watching. What did she think?
I’m not sure that her first thought was, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” I imagine her first thought may have been, “That is my son.” Did she look upon His arrival with pride, as so many shouted His praises? Did she look on in fear, knowing that many wanted Jesus dead? Perhaps she thought back to that unexpected visit of the angel, when she was just a young woman betrothed to Joseph. “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” said the angel (Luk. 1:28). “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus” (v. 31).
The angel told her what this special Child would do: “[T]he Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (v. 33). For a long time, the Church has celebrated this Annunciation, this announcement, the day of our Lord’s incarnation, on March 25th, which falls on Monday of Holy Week this year.
Now as Jesus came to Jerusalem, the purpose of His incarnation would become clear. Mary may have wondered if this was the moment the angel had spoken about. Was Jesus about to sit on the throne in Jerusalem and rule over the people of Israel? But she couldn’t forget the words of Simeon when she and Joseph brought Jesus to Jerusalem for the first time forty days after His birth. Simeon said to her, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also)” (Luk. 2:34-35).
Before the week of that Palm Sunday had ended, Mary would feel the sword piercing her soul. The praises of the crowds would turn to jeers. The hope of Jesus’ followers would become despair. Jesus would be nailed to the cross. Life would give way to death. What a shame! What a tremendous loss! The disciples who unknowingly talked with Jesus after His resurrection told Him with sadness, “[W]e had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luk. 24:21).
And of course that is exactly what Jesus had accomplished! Jesus had to be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes to be condemned to death. He had to be delivered over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified (Mat. 20:18-19). He told His disciples that these things would happen. They had to be so!
This was exactly God’s plan. This is how Satan’s head would be crushed and his works would be destroyed (Gen. 3:15, 1Jo. 3:8). This is how the wages of sin would be paid, and death overcome (Rom. 6:23). God the Father would send His Son to take “the form of a servant” and be “born in the likeness of men,” as today’s Epistle says. And His Son would willingly humble Himself “by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
On Palm Sunday, it looked like a king was coming to Jerusalem, a powerful prophet, a conqueror. Jesus was those things, but you can hardly tell it five days later. You will hear about this at our services on Friday, how He was beaten, thorns driven into His skull, flogged, blood dripping from too many wounds to count, nailed to a cross with criminals on either side, crying out in anguish.
The question each of us needs to ask ourselves is: Do I really want to be associated with this person? The world of our day mocks Him, just like the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman soldiers who were gathered around His cross. The way of Christ, a life lived according to His Word, is viewed as outdated, too restrictive, even by some as hateful. “What can Jesus do for you that you can’t do for yourself?” they ask. “How can Jesus guide you through present challenges, when He lived so long ago?”
“If you want to be successful,” they say, “you won’t get there by trusting in Jesus or being like Jesus.” And the world is right about that. If you want success and praise from the world, you probably won’t get it by putting the Word of God first in your life, by taking up the cross of scorn and suffering in the world and following after Jesus. Do you really want this trouble? Do you want to be mocked and pushed aside and persecuted? Do you want to be hated like He was?
And if we are answering honestly, we will say, “Not really. I don’t want that trouble. I don’t want to be left out. I don’t want to suffer.” That’s why we have compromised when we should have confessed the truth. That’s why we have hidden when we should have stood our ground. That’s why we have remained silent when people around us by their sinful words and sinful actions mocked our Lord and His holy Word. We weren’t willing to humble ourselves like Jesus did or give our lives in service to God and our neighbors like He did.
But take a good look at Him. Watch Jesus coming down the road to Jerusalem. There He goes into the city, into the lion’s den, onward to His death. What courage He showed! What strength of purpose! What love for His Father and for you! He went forward humbly in obedience to His Father’s will. The merciful God wanted to save you. He wanted your sin to be atoned for. He wanted your eternal life to be secured.
This Jesus, who went to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, is not ashamed of you. He is not angry that He had to pay for your sins. He is not bitter that He had to die your death. He knows all your weaknesses. He knows how poorly you have represented His name. And He forgives all your transgressions. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him—on Jesus Christ—the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6).
The Man riding into Jerusalem was no typical teacher, prophet, miracle worker, or king. He was all those things and so much more. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Ruler over heaven and earth, the Conqueror of sin, devil, and death. The world calls Him a “has-been” (if it acknowledges that He ever was). But what does the world have to chirp about? Greed? Lies? War? Death? Every promise made by the world fails, and must fail.
The promises of Jesus never fail. He is the Lord of life. Not only did He humbly and willingly pay for your sins, but He gladly meets you here through His Word and Sacraments. With the same purpose and love that brought Him to Jerusalem, He comes here to forgive you, encourage you, strengthen you. He comes to change your heart and mind, so that you are equipped and prepared to love as He loved and to suffer as He suffered.
We welcome Him here in the same way that the crowds welcomed Him to Jerusalem: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” We know who this is. It is Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior. We know His name that God the Father has bestowed on Him, “the name that is above every name.” The name of Jesus describes what He did for us—He saved us!
We honor His name in church by bowing our heads each week in repentance and by humbly trusting in His promise of grace and forgiveness. With cleansed and thankful hearts, we “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And outside of church, we honor His name by speaking His Word of truth and living our lives according to it.
We do want to be associated with this person. He redeemed us from our sin and death, and He lives to bless and keep us as members of His everlasting kingdom.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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(picture from “The Procession in the Streets of Jerusalem” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
Midweek Lent 6 – Pr. Faugstad homily
Texts: Genesis 3:22-24, St. Luke 23:39-43
In Christ Jesus, who has prepared a glorious home for you in heaven, dear fellow redeemed:
“You don’t know what you have till it’s gone.” We hear people talk that way about their carefree childhood, about the jobs they left for better opportunities that weren’t actually better, about the days before so many health concerns and doctor visits, about loved ones who die and leave a bigger gap than expected. “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone.”
But nobody felt the pain of loss more sharply or deeply than Adam and Eve. They had every good thing they could ever want. They had perfection. They had blissful communion with their Creator God who loved them. And the devil convinced them that they should desire something more, that they should have their eyes opened, so they could “be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5).
Ignoring the tree of life for the moment, they reached for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when they ate, “the eyes of both were opened” (v. 7), just as the devil said they would be. Now man and woman knew the difference between good and evil, but this knowledge came at a tremendous cost. Now they knew the difference, because they were no longer good, enjoying all things in perfection. Now they were filled with sin and separated from the God who made them.
You know what happened next. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves to hide their shame. They hid from God with the devil. They played the blame game. Today’s reading indicates that they may have also thought they could fix what they had broken, that they could undo what they had done. If they had corrupted all things by eating from the one tree God told them to leave alone, perhaps they could make everything right again by taking fruit from the other special tree God had planted in the garden, the tree of life.
We can hardly criticize their idea. On a human level, it makes sense. When we mess up, our first thought is usually not to throw ourselves at the mercy of another and beg forgiveness. Our first thought is often, “How can I hide this or fix this, so I can avoid having to fess up to it?” So if we break something, we might try to hide it or quietly repair it and hope no one notices. Or if we hurt someone, we might try to win them back with extra sweet words or with gifts.
Sometimes we might succeed in getting ourselves out of trouble. But sometimes our efforts to avoid responsibility or blame only make things worse. The LORD God shut the door on Adam and Eve fixing things on their own. He would not let them eat from the tree of life anymore. We don’t know what would have happened if they did. Could the curse of sin have been reversed? Would they perhaps have been doomed to live forever in their sin?
It was not for them to try to undo what they had done. They had sinned, and for that sin they deserved to die. But the LORD had mercy on them. He promised to send His only-begotten Son to be born of a woman, so that He could crush Satan’s head and destroy his power over sinners. They could not save themselves; God would save them.
So the LORD drove them out of the beautiful Garden of Eden, a paradise on earth, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. He posted a guard at the garden’s entrance, the cherubim—angelic beings with “a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” The cherubim did their job as long as the garden remained, probably until the waters of the flood destroyed it.
No one on earth tasted the fruit of the tree of life after the fall into sin. Just as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden before the fall, now the tree of life was forbidden after the fall. The first man and woman did not know how good they had it until it was gone. But even though they could no longer eat the delicious fruit of the tree of life, they could cling to the sweet promise of salvation that God had made.
We hear how that promise was fulfilled in our second reading. Jesus is hanging naked on the cross bearing Adam and Eve’s shame and the shame of all who descended from them. As Jesus suffers there through no fault or crime of His own, the religious leaders mock Him, the people passing by jeer at Him, the soldiers laugh at Him. And if that weren’t bad enough, even the criminals hanging on either side of Him railed at Him (Mat. 27:44). “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
But then one of them began to see things differently. He heard Jesus pray for forgiveness for those who tortured Him. He saw how patiently He took the abuse, how His eyes were filled not with hatred but with love. The criminal also knew that his own death was fast approaching. There was no getting out of this one, no escape, no last minute pardon from the governor. He rebuked the mocking of his fellow criminal. “Don’t you understand that we deserve this! We are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
The repentant criminal was done making excuses. He was done blaming others. He knew his sin. Through teeth clenched in pain, he breathed out, “Jesus! Jesus, remember me!” “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” If the religious leaders heard this, they would have turned their jeers toward him. “Kingdom! What kingdom? Is this thorn-crowned loser your king? What can He do for you?” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Imagine if Adam was this criminal hanging next to Jesus. No more excuses; no more attempts to fix things. Entrusting his life to his Savior Jesus even as death approached. Imagine if that criminal were you. “I have sinned! I deserve death. I deserve hell. Jesus, remember me.” Jesus’ words are for Adam and for you and for all sinners who repent of their sins, “You will be with Me in Paradise!”
The gate that God closed in Eden now stands open in heaven. The way that was barred to the tree of life is barred no more. Jesus took the sentence of condemnation for sin in your place. He paid your debt to God. He was declared guilty, so you would be declared righteous. His blood cleanses you from all your sin. St. Paul writes, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17).
By faith in Jesus, you will not die but live. By faith in Jesus, you will not be kept outside the gates of heaven; you will be ushered in. And what will you see when you enter heaven? One of the few descriptions of heaven is in the Book of Revelation, where the apostle John writes, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month” (22:1-2). So in heaven we will get to eat from the tree of life, a tree producing twelve kinds of fruit! John continues that even the leaves of this tree have beneficial qualities, leaves “for the healing of the nations.”
With our sinful minds and mortal flesh, we cannot comprehend or appreciate how wonderful the Paradise of heaven will be. Just as it is true in this life that “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone,” so it is true of our future eternal life, that “You won’t know what you will have till you’re there.” God’s kingdom is beyond anything we can know here. The criminal learned this. He died in tremendous pain, but then his soul was taken to the bright light and glory of his Lord.
So it will be for you. You will leave the wretchedness of this world behind and will enter the gates of Paradise. Washed in Jesus’ blood and covered in His righteousness, no cherubim or flaming sword will keep you out. “Blessed are those who wash their robes,” writes John, “so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates” (v. 14). Thanks be to God. Amen.
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(picture from “The Crucifixion” by Giambattista Tiepolo [1696-1770] at the Saint Louis Art Museum)
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)
Midweek Lent 5 – Pr. Abraham Faugstad homily
Texts: Genesis 3:7,21, St. John 19:23-24
In Christ, who for our sakes was stripped in shame that we might be clothed with the garments of salvation, dear fellow redeemed.
Why do we wear clothes? While we might be inclined to attribute clothing to modest Norwegian sensibilities, we know that isn’t quite true. People all around the world wear clothes. Clothing does not just have to do with the climate either. In both hot and cold climates people wear clothes. It’s rather interesting that humans are the only creatures in the world that wear clothes. So why do we wear clothes?
To understand why we wear clothes we have to go all the way back to the garden of Eden. The serpent tempted Eve by saying that by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would become like God. Adam and Eve saw that the forbidden fruit was pleasant to the eyes, and they ate. They thought that they knew what was better for them than God did. As a result, they brought sin, death, and destruction to the entire human race. As soon as they sinned, Scripture tells us that their eyes were opened, “and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7).
Immediately, they felt their shame and nakedness. They were now afraid of God. They knew they had no right to stand in the presence of a holy and just God. They tried to hide themselves among the trees of the Garden and they made themselves loincloths of leaves to cover their sinfulness. Humanity made the first clothes to try to cover their sin. Every suit of clothes, every clothing store, and every clothing display is a witness of the fall into sin.
Adam and Eve clothed themselves with leaves to cover their shame. Yet, we know what happens when leaves are plucked. They dry up and break into pieces rather quickly. How silly it must have looked for our first parents to attempt to cover themselves up with something that clearly would not last.
But isn’t this what we all try to do? We don’t want others to see our sin, so we try to cover it up. Some try to cover and clothe themselves by blaming others. It’s as old as Adam who blamed Eve and she who in turn blamed the serpent. We see this in our own lives. It’s easy for us to blame our problems or actions on someone else rather than taking personal responsibility.
Yet, perhaps the main way people try to cover up their sin today is through human work righteousness. Our consciences accuse us for what we have done wrong, so people try to make up for it by doing good things. People think God is keeping records of our rights and wrongs, and as long as our rights outweigh the wrongs, we are alright. Ask the average person how he expects to have peace with God in the afterlife and the usual answers you will get is, “I’ve tried to live a good life so I think God will accept me and take me into heaven.”
No matter how we try to cover ourselves and our sin, they are all feeble and foolish attempts. All the leaves of our own righteousness dry up as Adam and Eve’s did before God’s demand, “Be perfect as I the Lord your God am perfect” (Matthew 5:48). God isn’t impressed by our best efforts or good intentions—he demands perfect holiness. When we look at our own lives, we see that we have never perfectly kept God’s Law—our heart is filled with hatred, lust, jealousy, and greed. Scripture tells us that even our righteous works are like filthy rags in the sight of God, which cannot save us (Isaiah 64:6).
God knew that Adam and Eve’s leaf clothing would never work. The leaves would crumble and dry up. Therefore, the Lord made for Adam and Eve tunics of animal skin and clothed them. We could never stand before God with our own man-made clothing; only God can provide the proper clothing for man.
“And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” By the shedding of blood and death, the Lord covered Adam and Eve. From this we see two important things—first, God must cover us. God provides the proper clothing. We can’t cover our sins and shame. Second, it required sacrifice and death so that God could cover our sins. The covering of sins is pictured in all the Old Testament sacrifices which pointed to the once and for all sacrifice and covering on the cross.
The clothing of Adam and Eve reminded them of the danger of sinning, to repent continually, and to put their hope of forgiveness and life in the promised Seed of the woman. They looked with hope to the one who would crush Satan’s head and free us by the bondage of sin and provide the covering needed to stand before God. The One born of the virgin called Emmanuel, God with us.
Our Lord Jesus provided a garment for us, which alone is pleasing to God, by offering up his life in our place. The Son of God became man, leaving his glory and majesty on high to come to our rescue. Jesus was the only righteous person to ever live, but he humbled himself, by taking on our shame. Ever since God first clothed Adam and Eve, it has been shameful to be disrobed in public. Our dear Lord Jesus was stripped in shame so that we would never have to be.
When we see Jesus mocked, beaten, and stripped in shame, we can feel a sense of anger and sadness over his mistreatment. Yet, we must realize that Jesus was not just there because of Pontius Pilate or the soldiers who mocked and stripped him. Jesus was there because of you. We deserve to be punished, publicly shamed, and abandoned by God. But here Jesus stood in the place of sinners—of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Isaac, and you and me.
“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… the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5–6). God kept his promise. Jesus fulfilled what the Scriptures foretold, even to the most minute detail of the soldiers dividing his garments and casting lots for his tunic, all to assure you that your sin and shame have been covered by his blood. Jesus offered himself up so that we might be holy and righteous before God. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).
Scripture writes, “For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). Your robe has been made white through the blood of the Lamb. The righteousness of Jesus, God’s own Son, is the only covering that can clothe the nakedness of the sinner. Because of Jesus, God no longer sees your sins—his holiness is counted as your own.
Paul explains how God has clothed you with the beautiful garment of Christ personally, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26–27). By faith in Jesus, worked in us and promised to us in the waters of holy Baptism, we are clothed with the garment of Christ. Clothes fit for heaven itself!
Our sinful flesh will always try to cover our sin with man-made coverings, but these cannot save us and will leave us in shame on judgement day. Why do we wear clothes? They remind us of the fall into sin and serve as a reminder of our own sinfulness and need to be covered before God. At the same time your clothes are an assurance of your salvation. You have been covered by God with the garment of forgiveness obtained by Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. Your sins are forgiven. There will be no shame for those who are clothed with Christ’s righteousness, but eternal joy and peace. God grant us faith to hold dear to this priceless clothing freely given to us,
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness,
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
’Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head. Amen.
ELH 432:1
(picture from “Cristo Crucificado” by Diego Velázquez, 1632)
The Fourth Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Galatians 4:21-5:1
In Christ Jesus, through whom we have “obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Rom. 5:2), dear fellow redeemed:
Both this week and next, you are going to hear a bit about Abraham, and how he relates to Jesus and to you. Abraham is one of the most prominent characters in the Old Testament. Christians, Muslims, and Jews all claim Abraham as a spiritual father. But as you would expect, they do not all claim him in the same way.
Christians claim him as a father of faith, whose heirs we are because we believe the promise of salvation as he did. Muslims celebrate Abraham’s righteous life and say that their own prophet Muhammed descended from Abraham’s son Ishmael. Jews make the most of their physical descent from the line of Abraham through his son Isaac. These distinctions are some of the very things Paul is addressing in his Epistle to the Galatians.
But first, a little background about Abraham. When he was seventy-five years old, God called him and his wife Sarai to leave his father’s household and go to the land of Canaan. When they arrived, the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Gen. 12:7). But to this point, they had had no children. Ten years passed, and eighty-five-year-old Abram was getting anxious. The LORD brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them…. So shall your offspring be” (15:5). And Abram believed the promise.
At the same time, it seems that Sarai was struggling. She was now seventy-five years old. If she hadn’t conceived a child to this point, how could she possibly have one now? She decided to give her female servant Hagar to Abram. If they conceived, she would consider the child of her servant as her own. Hagar did conceive, and she bore a son, Ishmael. Sarai wasn’t as pleased as she thought she would be. And this is not how God’s promise was fulfilled.
God promised a child through Abram and Sarai, and He was going to bring it about, contrary to every expectation, contrary to all human reason. So more years passed. Abram was now ninety-nine and Sarai was ten years behind him. The LORD appeared again to Abram and told him his name would now be Abraham, “for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations,” said the LORD. “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you” (Gen. 17:5-6). Sarai would become Sarah, “and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her” (v. 16).
And it happened. By that time the next year, 90-year-old Sarah and 100-year-old Abraham were holding their newborn son Isaac. He was their son, but they could not take credit for him. They knew this was pure gift from the Lord God. Abraham’s child with Hagar came from human planning. Abraham’s child with Sarah came from God’s promise.
Now here comes Paul’s question to the Galatians: Did you come to the saving faith through human effort or through divine promise? Earlier in his letter, he asked the question this way, “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” (Gal. 3:2). If their answer was “by hearing with faith,” then he had another question, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (v. 3).
The problem was that the Galatians were listening to false teachers, who told them that faith in Jesus was a good start. But unless they now followed the Old Testament rules and regulations, they could not be right with God. So were they saved by faith in what Jesus accomplished for them, or by their own efforts, or by some mixture of the two? That’s a very important question.
I think a great number of Christians today believe it is a mixture of the two—Jesus had to do His part, and we have to do ours if we hope to be saved. But that is not what we teach in the Lutheran Church, and it isn’t what St. Paul taught either. As soon as we start to trust in ourselves—even a little bit—for our salvation, we lose sight of what Jesus accomplished for us. This can happen very easily.
We can look at the bad things happening around us, the sins that so many commit right out in the open. We are rightfully alarmed and offended by these things. But there is often another thought that accompanies our concern, something like: “I would never do something like that!” or “If only others were more like me.” And then we don’t sound so different than the Pharisee with his self-righteous prayer: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men” (Luk. 18:11).
There is a difficult balance here. Of course we want to do what is good. That is what God demands of us in His Law. We should avoid temptations to sin. We should do nice things for the people around us. We should constantly strive to think, say, and do things better than we have done them in the past. But if we make progress, and if we succeed, we should remember where the power comes from to do these things, and we should remember who deserves the glory.
No matter how well we do in our own view or in the estimation of others, it is not even close to what God requires to get into His kingdom. That is the big misconception among so many Christians today. They think that God’s holiness is not so out of reach, and our works are not so far from perfection. That is not what the Lord’s prophet said. He said, “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isa. 64:6). Or the psalmist, who wrote that the LORD looks down from heaven to see if there are any righteous. And what does He find? “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Psa. 14:3).
However bad the people around us appear to be, it is pure pride to think that we are better. We are not better. We have the same corrupt heart. The devil wants you to think that you are better. He wants you to take refuge in your own righteousness. He wants you to quietly judge everyone around you and never point the holy Law at your own heart. Jesus does the opposite. He sharpens the Law. He says that maybe you haven’t murdered, but have you held a grudge? Maybe you haven’t committed adultery, but have you looked at someone with lust? Or maybe you have treated your friends well, but what about your enemies?
Remaining in slavery is thinking that we can be right with God through our keeping of His Law. That makes us children of Mt. Sinai, the mountain where God gave His Commandments. But that was a terrifying place to be. The mountain was wrapped in a thick cloud with thunder and lightning and the sound of a very loud trumpet blast. Then the LORD descended on it in fire, and smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain shook (Exo. 19:16-18).
The people who think they can work their way to heaven will one day have to stand before the holy God in all His power. Then they will see how well the glory of their work matches up with His glory. It will be like comparing a child’s scribbles with the work of a master artist, or really much worse.
We cannot find our comfort and confidence through the Law. We can only find it by traveling to another mountain, the mountain of Jerusalem, Mount Zion. Abraham went there long before the holy city was established, and he brought along his son Isaac, the son of promise. God had told Abraham to offer Isaac on a mountain as a burnt offering (Gen. 22:2). As troubling as this was, Abraham obeyed. He carried the fire and knife, and Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice. “[B]ut where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” asked Isaac (v. 7). “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (v. 8).
Isaac did not die that day. God stopped Abraham just before he dropped the knife, and He provided a ram for a burnt offering instead. Some two thousand years later, Jesus the only Son of God carried His own burden of wood to the same mountaintop. There, the Lamb of God was sacrificed on the altar of the cross. There, His blood was shed to wash all the sin of all the world away.
That includes your sin, the guilt you feel for doing so little of what God’s holy Law requires, and the guilt you feel for thinking you have accomplished great things on your own. Jesus took every bit of your unrighteousness on Himself to atone for it, and in exchange He gives you every bit of His perfect righteousness. That is His promise to you by faith in Him.
You are indeed set free from your former slavery to sin, devil, and death. You don’t have to keep a record of your wrongs any more than you have to keep a record of your rights. Jesus is your righteousness. He is your life. To Him, you are no servant or slave that He might push around or give away as He pleases. He has joined Himself to you in order to give you the full inheritance of the heavenly Father.
Yes, you are no longer a child of slavery. You have been born again as a child of promise. The Lord did this for you. There is nothing you have to do to set yourself free. He won you this freedom. “Stand firm therefore,” writes St. Paul—firm in the faith, firm in Christ your Savior.
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 Abraham viewing the stars from 1919 Bible primer book by Augustana Book Concern)