Midweek Lent 4 – Matthew Lehne homily
Texts: Genesis 3:17-18, St. John 19:1-6
In Christ Jesus, who was crowned with sin so that we may be crowned with glory, dear fellow redeemed:
Working the ground is not an easy task. Whether you are growing crops or flowers, there are seemingly countless things that can go wrong, chief among them being thorns and thistles growing up with them. No matter how hard you try to prevent them from growing, they somehow always do, and if you don’t catch them in time, they could end up killing your crops or your flowers. This, like all other hardships you experience in life, is a consequence of sin.
Adam’s sin affected all creation. God said that because Adam disobeyed his command, the ground was cursed. Now Adam would labor in pain, and the ground would bring forth thorns and thistles. But even this, God used for Adam’s good. The thorns and thistles were a reminder to Adam of his sin and of his need for a Savior.
We can see examples of this being true today. When people feel safe and secure, they don’t see a need to go to church and hear the comforting words of our Lord. As a result, church attendance is low. But when there are times of hardship and people no longer feel the safety and security that they once felt, church attendance suddenly goes up. It is through the thorns and thistles of hardship that we realize our need for a Savior and turn to him in repentance. This is why God placed a curse on the ground, saying to Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field” (Genesis 3:17–18). It was for mankind’s benefit that the ground was cursed, just as it was for mankind’s benefit that God sent a Savior to deliver us from the curse of sin.
The thorns and thistles would be a reminder to Adam and his descendants of their sin that corrupted the world. We see this corruption in the thorns and thistles that we experience in our daily lives. We feel the pain of fear when those around us cause us to question our safety. We feel the pain of betrayal when those who we thought we could trust reveal our secrets or abandon us for their own personal gain. We feel the pain of weakness when we get sick. We feel the pain of loss when our loved ones are taken from us. We feel the pain of our own sins when our consciences prick at us. All of this pain is too much for us to bear on our own, but there is one man who took all of our pain and bore it by himself: Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Jesus already knew what it was like to feel pain. He felt the pain of hunger when he fasted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. He felt the pain of loss when his friends John the Baptizer and Lazarus died. He felt the pain of betrayal when Judas handed him over to the religious authorities, when his disciples abandoned him after his arrest, and when Peter denied him three times in the courtyard. And now he was experiencing the pain of mocking and beating at the hands of the soldiers and would soon be experiencing the pain of death and hell on the cross. Jesus, your Savior, felt all that pain for you and endured it all for your salvation.
As the soldiers were mocking and beating Jesus, they happened to find some thorns, the divine reminder of our need for a Savior, and twisted them into a crown and put them on the head of the Savior. On some coins, emperors were represented with a laurel wreath encircling their heads. So, since they heard it said that Jesus was the King of the Jews, the soldiers thought that this would be a fitting way to mock him even more. This man who was their so-called King was now made to look absolutely ridiculous.
As the soldiers continued to beat him, the crown of thorns was pressed into Jesus’ head, causing him even more pain. That pain that Jesus experienced was your pain. The pain that pressed into Jesus’ head was the pain that you experience from those around you and from the guilt of your own sins. He wore all your thorns and thistles on his head and carried them all the way to the cross. There, all of the thorns and thistles of life, along with the pain that they cause you, were put to death with him. On that cross, Jesus put an end to the curse of sin.
Before going all the way to that cross, Pontius Pilate first paraded Jesus out in front of the crowd, having been thoroughly tortured and humiliated, and said, “Behold the man” (John 19:5)! Pilate did not realize the full implication of what he was saying. There stood not just any man, but the man, the man who was your divine substitute, your atoning sacrifice. Jesus stood there and took all of the pain and the suffering, all of the mocking and beating, that you rightfully deserve for your sins. He took all of it so that you would not have to take it.
The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “For if many died through one man’s trespass [that is, Adam’s trespass], much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. . . . For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:15, 19). It was because of one man, Adam, that sin entered the world. Adam disobeyed God, and because of that disobedience, we all disobey God as well, for we all inherited Adam’s sin. But one man undid all that. Jesus obeyed his Father in every way and stood in our place to bear the curse of sin and to receive the punishment for sin that we rightfully deserve. It is because of that one man’s atoning sacrifice that our sins have been forgiven; it is because of that one man that God’s grace is freely given to us; and it is because of that one man that the gates of heaven have been opened to us.
When we enter heaven, we will get to experience the same ease of work that Adam and Eve briefly got to experience in the Garden of Eden. In heaven, there will be no thorns or thistles that cause us pain, neither in the ground nor in our lives. All of the pain that we experience in this life, all the fear, all the betrayal, all the weakness, all the loss, all the sin, will never be experienced again because the curse of sin that caused that pain has been put to death with our Savior. We eagerly await that day when we get to experience the joys of heaven, but until that day comes, we wait, just as all creation waits for Jesus’ return. As Romans 8:20–21 says, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him [that is God] who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” On the Last Day, the ground will return to its former glory, when God creates a new heaven and a new earth. At that time, our bodies will be glorified as well. Our glorified bodies will never again experience the thorns and thistles of sin, which our divine substitute wore on his own head as a crown and put to death with him on the cross for us. Because Jesus wore our crown of thorns on his head, a crown of glory is now ours, a crown of glory that will never fade away.
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 “Ecce Homo” by Antonio Ciseri, 1871)
The Third Sunday in Lent – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Luke 11:14-28
In Christ Jesus, who guards your heart from every one of Satan’s attacks, dear fellow redeemed:
The people were amazed! Jesus had just cast out a demon that was making a man mute, and now that man could speak! Jesus was not just another prophet; he was a prophet who had power, enough power to cast out demons! “Can this be the Son of David?” the people asked (Matthew 12:23). But not everyone was amazed. The scribes and the Pharisees rejected the idea that Jesus was the Son of David. So, when they heard the people asking this about him, they tried to come up with a way to discredit him. They couldn’t say that Jesus was faking it, because the miracles that he was doing were undeniable. So, they had to come up with another reason for why he could do what he did. And if they didn’t want to say that his power was coming from God, then that only left them with one other option. “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the price of demons,” they said. In their attempt to discredit Jesus, the scribes and the Pharisees had blasphemed him.
The scribes and the Pharisees may not have seen anything wrong with their accusation when they made it, but Jesus was easily able to poke holes in it. He said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” (verses 17–18). The demons were doing the work of Satan, work that Satan hoped would allow his kingdom to grow by adding more souls to it. If Jesus was in league with Satan, then having Jesus cast out his own demons would be self-destructive, and his kingdom would meet its end as a result.
If the coach of a sports team wanted his team to win the championship, then he would obviously want his team to win games. So, if the coach went to one of the rival teams and made a deal with them that every time their teams played each other, the rival team would win, you would think that the coach was crazy. After all, the coach could never hope to lead his team to a championship victory by losing. So, why would Satan do essentially the same thing?
The reality is that Satan is not welcoming attacks from Jesus; he is actively guarding against them. Jesus described Satan as a strong man who is trying to keep the goods in his palace safe, those goods being the hearts of every unbeliever. Satan wants every person to be a part of his kingdom. So, he guards their hearts with his full set of armor, which is every devilish trick that he has in his playbook.
You were once a part of Satan’s kingdom. From the moment that you were conceived, you were by nature sinful, which made you an enemy of God. Because of your sinful nature, you hated God and wanted to remain a part of Satan’s kingdom. And you saw being a part of the kingdom of God as foolishness. But God’s love was more powerful than your hate. He didn’t want you to remain his enemy. God wanted you to be a part of his kingdom. So, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, to attack Satan’s kingdom and rescue you from it. Jesus did so by leaving his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, and coming down to Earth as a man. On Earth, Jesus challenged Satan on his own battlefield and won. Satan used every devilish trick that he had in his playbook, but none of them worked against Jesus. Satan thought that your heart was safe from Jesus because of his strength, but no matter how strong Satan was, Jesus was stronger. Jesus used his strength to “[attack] him and [overcome] him, [and to take] away his armor in which he trusted” (verse 22). And with Satan disarmed, Jesus cast Satan out of your heart.
Because Jesus has cast Satan out of your heart, you are like the people whom Jesus cast demons out of. You used to be possessed by Satan, and when you were, your heart was like a house that wasn’t taken care of: it was a big mess and was falling apart. The devil is the master of chaos. But after Jesus forced Satan out, the Holy Spirit moved in. Through the preaching of the Word and the administering of the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit changed your heart so that you no longer hated God but loved God. The Holy Spirit fixed up your heart so that it was no longer falling apart, and he cleaned it up so that it was presentable to God the Father. Now, when God the Father looks at your heart, all he sees is the new heart that Jesus won for you by his perfect life and his innocent death on the cross, a heart that now belongs to him.
But just because your heart now belongs to God does not mean that you can let your guard down. Even though Satan has lost the battle, the war is far from over, and he isn’t willing to give up on you yet. As the apostle Peter says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The apostle Paul also writes, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). When you are overly confident in yourself and think that you could never fall, like the scribes and the Pharisees thought of themselves, you leave yourself vulnerable to attacks from your enemy. Satan is constantly looking for an opportunity to strike at your heart and claim it for his own once again. He doesn’t want you to love God. He wants you to hate God and become his enemy again, and one of the ways that he tries to accomplish this is by convincing you to blaspheme God, like the scribes and the Pharisees did.
But we would never actually blaspheme God, right? We love God. We pray to him; worship him. We would never blaspheme him. So, we don’t need to worry about blasphemy. Unfortunately, it’s easier to blaspheme God than we may think. According to our Catechism, blasphemy is “[d]eliberate mockery, scorn, and disrespect” (Luther’s Small Catechism and Explanation, 275). There may be times when we are surrounded by people who are mocking God. In that moment, we might be tempted to laugh along with them so as not to cause any trouble for ourselves. That is deliberately mocking God. There may be times when we are going through a difficult time and God doesn’t seem to be listening to our prayers to deliver us from our suffering. In that moment, we might be tempted to become angry with God, which could lead us to deliberately scorning him. There may be times when we use God’s name to curse someone or something. That is deliberately disrespecting God’s name. It truly is all too easy for us to blaspheme God, and if we do, we are in danger of letting Satan back into our hearts.
Even though Satan is always waiting for the perfect moment to strike at your heart, you don’t need to fear him, because he already lost. You no longer belong to him. You belong to God. And because you belong to God, God is now the one who guards your heart by giving you his full armor. As the apostle Paul writes, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:11–13). With God’s help, you remain vigilant, so that you are always ready for an attack from Satan. And when Satan does attack you, you rely on the full armor that God has given you. That full armor is put to good use when you put your confidence and trust in Jesus who fights for you by continuously coming to you through his Word and Sacraments.
In the book of Hebrews, it says that the Word of God is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). And you know that the Word of God works against Satan, because Jesus used it to fend off Satan’s attacks when he was tempted by him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11). But the Word is not just a weapon that God uses against Satan. God also uses his Word to comfort you. Through his Word, you hear that Jesus has delivered you from your enemies: sin, death, and the devil. Jesus put your sin to death with him on the cross. He defeated death by his resurrection from the dead. And because he has brought his blessings to you through his Word and Sacraments, the devil no longer has a hold on your heart. This means that you will not face eternal punishment in hell, for you are no longer a part of Satan’s kingdom. Rather, you will get to spend all eternity in heaven, for God has made you a part of his kingdom through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
In the waters of baptism, the filth of sin that stained your heart and marked you as a citizen of Satan’s kingdom was washed away. Your heart has been made clean. Through baptism, you have the comfort that your sins have been forgiven and that you are a child of God, an heir of his kingdom. But baptism is not the only Sacrament that God uses to bring you comfort. He also brings you comfort through the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
In Holy Communion, Jesus gives you his true body and blood in the bread and the wine. When you come to his table and eat his body and drink his blood, you receive the forgiveness of sins that he won for you by the shedding of his blood. And when you leave his table, you depart in peace, having the comfort of his forgiveness. Through the preaching of his Word and the administering of his Sacraments, God truly does guard your heart and fight your battles, giving you the comfort that you are safe with him.
Satan may be strong, but God is stronger. No matter how devastating the attacks that Satan throws at you are, they are no match for God’s defenses. You don’t need to fear the attacks of Satan, because God guards your heart, and no one, not even Satan, “is able to snatch [you] out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29).
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 “Exorcism” woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
Midweek Lent 3 – Pr. Faugstad homily
Texts: Genesis 3:16,19, St. Luke 22:39-44
In Christ Jesus, who drank the cup of suffering to the very bottom, so we would be freed from the heavy burden of our sins, dear fellow redeemed:
When you go to work, whether in your home, at school, at your job, or in your community, do you think in terms of “get to” or “have to”? Is your work a blessing or a burden? In the beginning before the fall into sin, it was always “get to.” After the LORD God planted a garden in Eden filled with “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Gen. 2:9), He put Adam in the garden “to work it and keep it” (v. 15). We might think of a perfect life as one in which we wouldn’t have to work. But Adam worked. He joyfully tended the plants in the Garden of Eden. Work was not a result of the fall into sin; work was a gift from God to man.
And it still is. Work gives us an outlet for our energy. It gives us an opportunity to apply our skills and abilities. It gives us purpose and a way to “make a living.” Work is a gift from God. But we don’t get to work like Adam did. We don’t know what it is like to work with a perfect attitude and perfect abilities in a perfect world. We do our work with a sinful nature in a sinful world.
In the first reading for today, the LORD told Eve and Adam what the sin they had brought into the world would do to their work. Eve was destined for motherhood ever since God told her and her husband, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (1:28). But what would have been a glistening crown on her head—the bearing of children to populate the earth—now would also be a cross for her to bear. “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing,” said the LORD; “in pain you shall bring forth children.”
This is a unique burden for women, because only biological women can carry and bear children. Only women have a womb in which a fertilized egg can be implanted and grow. Only women have a body which can change and stretch to carry another person inside. Only women feel the pain and pressure of a child growing bigger and bigger month after month. Only women understand the anguish of bringing forth a child into the world.
Why would any woman go through this and endure this process that permanently changes how she is? The LORD said, “Your desire shall be for your husband.” It wasn’t as though Eve did not care for Adam before the fall. But her needs and his needs were so perfectly matched that one did not think about what the other needed. In their perfect love for one another, they only thought about what they could give each other.
Now that had changed. Woman’s desire would be for man. She would need his love. She would need his protection. She would need him to provide for her while she carried and nursed their children. And these things that she would need from man, he would never perfectly supply. In this vulnerable state, she would also understand the final part of the curse of sin, that her husband would “rule over” her.
This language shocks us. Outside the Church, this language offends people. There are plenty of women who say, “I care nothing about men. No man rules over me!” And yet there is both a physical and a psychological reality that women need men. God made man and woman interdependent when He formed Eve from Adam’s rib, and this interdependence has not changed. What has changed is that the relationship between the sexes is not perfect. It is strained by sin.
And Adam would have his own crosses to bear. The work that he had previously enjoyed and taken great pleasure in, which had always produced bountifully, now would be full of trouble and hardship. The LORD said, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” He would have to work for his food; it wouldn’t come easy anymore.
And that work would take its toll. The very ground that God had shaped him out of, the very ground that he plowed, planted, and picked for his food, that same ground would become his grave. “[F]or you are dust,” God said, “and to dust you shall return.” This is true for every man. Whether a man is a poor farmer or makes it on the Forbes 500 list, whether he has many healthy years or many sick ones, whether he is considered a success or a failure—every man dies. That’s what he gets for his hard work, for his heavy toil, for the sweat of his face.
Women wear themselves out and spend themselves in childbearing and family life. Men wear themselves out and spend themselves in working to get ahead, in trying to do something that lasts. But what does it accomplish? What is it all for? King Solomon, the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, said, “I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (2:11).
King Solomon was right. The fall into sin turned beautiful things ugly, blessings into burdens, and joys into sorrows. If all we knew was life in this world—we live, we work, we die—that would indeed be “vanity.” It would be futile, worthless, empty. If all we are focused on is what we do, what we want to accomplish, what serves ourselves—that is vanity.
But God the Father did something to change the course of our vain existence. He planted His perfect Son in the womb of a poor woman. She did not ask for this, but she accepted it as the will of God. She told the angel who conveyed this startling message, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luk. 1:38).
Now we see her Son Jesus enter a garden. Like the first Adam who worked in the Garden of Eden, this Son of Man went to work in the Garden of Gethsemane. But He brought no shovel, hoe, or rake. What He brought with Him was your sin. He brought your sin of failing to honor your father and your mother. He brought your sin of fighting with your siblings, or of losing patience with your children and neglecting to teach them what is good. He brought your sin of not honoring and respecting your husband. He brought your sin of not showing love and making sacrifices for your wife.
Every sin that you have committed in your home, at school, at your job, and in your community, Jesus carried with Him into the garden. It was a heavy load. He pleaded with His disciples to keep watch with Him, but they slept. He pleaded with His Father to remove the cup of suffering from Him if He was willing. And while an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him, there was no other way. Jesus had to do the horrible work of suffering God’s wrath for the sins of Adam and Eve and for all their descendants including you and me.
“And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Adam deserved to do his work “by the sweat of his face,” because of the sin he brought into the world. We deserve the same hardships in our work, because we also have sinned. Jesus did not deserve this suffering; He committed no sin. Why should He be in such agony?
It was for His bride. It was to cleanse her who was unclean. It was to present her “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). You are this bride as a member of His holy Church. Jesus went through all the anguish of this suffering for your sake. He willingly took your trespasses on Himself.
Those great drops of bloody sweat falling from His face to the ground—those were for you. He shed His blood to wash away your sin, so that you could see your work differently, so you could see the people around you differently—so you could see them as He sees you.
Because of His suffering for sin in your place, the good work that He has prepared for you to do is not a burdensome “have to.” Your work is a blessed “get to” for the glory of His name. Amen.
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(picture from Redeemer Lutheran Church altar painting)
The Second Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7
In Christ Jesus, who calls us to live not for ourselves, but to live through Him and for Him, dear fellow redeemed:
When the Apostle Paul traveled through parts of Asia and Europe on his three missionary journeys, he visited cities and towns that were mostly pagan in their culture. Paul visited some Jewish synagogues in these places, but much of his work was conducted among the pagan Gentiles. These people were polytheistic—they worshiped many gods. And although they had the moral law of the true God imprinted on their hearts, they promoted and engaged in many things that God calls evil.
One of the major problems Paul encountered was a porneia problem. He found it in Rome, he found it in Corinth, he found it in Galatia, he found it in Ephesus, he found it in Colossae, he found it in Thessalonica. We know he found it in these places because he wrote letters to the Christian congregations warning them about this.
The porneia problem that Paul wrote to them about includes every kind of unchastity, prostitution, and fornication. Our word “pornography” is related to this word. In today’s reading, porneia is translated as “sexual immorality,” which encompasses any sexual activity outside the boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman.
Paul wrote that it is God’s will “that you abstain from sexual immorality.” This is a completely different message than the one we hear from society and the one our children and grandchildren are taught in public schools. We almost never hear about abstinence any more. What we hear about now is primarily two things: “always use protection” and “make sure there is consent.” These are seen as the most important standards—protection and consent.
The messaging is that protection equals safety. But what these false prophets in our society will not tell you is that sex is never “safe.” It involves the most intimate parts of a person—not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Sex always has consequences. Not all those consequences are bad, but sex is nothing to enter into lightly or casually. And if “consent” is all that is needed for sexual activity, then we are looking at a future where marriage and family as we know it will no longer exist, or it will be found only on the fringes among small groups of people.
In many respects, the permissive culture of today is a lot like the culture Paul encountered. If Paul were here today, how would he address these issues? He would say today what he said two thousand years ago, “that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.” And, “that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” He would tell us to live as Jesus taught us to live, that the way we live should look different than the way non-Christians live.
But why focus on this porneia problem in particular? What about the people who lie and cheat, what about murderers and thieves, what about the rich and the greedy who care nothing for the poor? Paul wrote plenty about these sins too. But to think that sexual sin between consenting individuals is not as bad as sins that cause harm to others is not right. In fact, the Bible describes sexual sin as causing the deepest kind of harm. 1 Corinthians 6 says, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (v. 18).
These are hard words. It is hard for me to say them, and it may be hard for you to hear them. We think of friends who are living in sin, or siblings or children or grandchildren. What can we say to them? We don’t want to offend them! But where will your closest loved ones hear the truth if they don’t hear it from you? You can send them to the pastor and pray that the meeting goes well. What happens if they don’t like what they hear? Then things may be peaceful with you, but not so peaceful with the church.
Sometimes we feel like we can’t speak up about these things because of the stains on our own past. If we warn others about sins that we freely pursued ourselves, doesn’t that make us hypocrites? The reality is this: not one of us here is unstained by sin. That puts us all in the same boat. Maybe we have not acted on all our sinful desires, but we have had the sinful desires. Jesus says that looking at someone with lustful intent is committing adultery in the heart (Mat. 5:28).
Every single one of us has sinned. Every single one of us deserves to feel the wrath of God for our sin. Every single one of us deserves to suffer in hell eternally. None of us should think we are better because we have not committed the outward sins that others have. Just as dangerous as pursuing unrighteous activities, is taking pride in our self-righteousness.
The right approach is illustrated for us by the Gentile woman in today’s Gospel reading (Mat. 15:21-28). She was not “like the Gentiles who do not know God,” who are called out in today’s Epistle lesson. It is clear that this woman had a firm faith in God the Father and in Jesus as His Son in the flesh. She came to Jesus with a problem—her daughter was severely oppressed by a demon. But she did not come with reasons why Jesus should help her. She did not say, “I am a good woman,” or “I do nice things for my neighbors,” or “everyone agrees that I don’t deserve this trouble.”
She simply said this, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.” Receiving mercy has nothing to do with having the right qualities or being deserving. Mercy has to come from outside us, from someone who is not obligated to do what we want. And for a while, it seemed like Jesus did not want to help the woman. First He ignored her. Then He told His disciples that He was sent “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then when the woman knelt down right in front of Him begging for mercy, He said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Maybe that is how you feel when thinking about your sins, as no better than a mangy dog. You might feel a lot of guilt for what you have done in your past, things you would be ashamed for others to know. How can you expect mercy and forgiveness from God, when you have broken His Law?
Listen again to the woman, “Yes, Lord. As You say, it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. I don’t deserve the children’s bread. I am a Gentile, not an Israelite. I don’t deserve anything good from You. But I trust in You. I trust that You are good and faithful and true. I will gladly be called a dog, if only You will give me some crumbs of Your grace. For dogs are always happy to “eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
This is what Jesus calls a great faith. It was not that the woman was better than others, or that she had sinned less. It was that she put all her confidence and trust in the mercy and grace of God. That is what we do with our own guilty conscience. We bring our sins before God in repentance and leave it to Him to wash us clean.
He promises to do this. Jesus went to the cross with all our sins, including our sins of living contrary to His will, and our sins of failing to warn others of the same temptations. Jesus died for these sins. He did have mercy upon us. Because of what Jesus has done, God the Father forgives us every stain and blemish on our record, and He sees us as though we have never done, said, or thought anything wrong.
To confirm us and strengthen us in this forgiveness and righteousness of His Son, He invites us to partake of the holy means of grace. Through the Word and Sacraments, Jesus comes to us to cleanse us from our sin and apply His holiness to us. He takes from us what is ours—our sin and guilt—and He gives us what is His.
This is how we are sanctified. We are drawn closer to our holy Savior Jesus by the power and work of the Holy Spirit and are strengthened in the faith to both say and do what is right. But the less we prioritize our Lord’s Word and Sacraments, the more we are drawn to the ways of the world, and the harder it is to see our own sin.
We must never forget how weak we are. Whatever immorality and impurity we see around us is rooted in our own heart. Jesus makes this clear. He says, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Mat. 15:19-20). And His holy blood and righteousness applied through the Word, these are what sanctify a person.
Jesus suffered and died for you to make you His own. He is not ashamed to know your past. He forgives all this sin, and He calls you to join Him in His kingdom of holiness when your short time on this earth comes to an end. Whatever may be said about who you were, through Jesus you are God’s holy and beloved child. As St. Paul wrote in another letter, though you may have once engaged in many unrighteous things, “you were washed [baptized], you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co. 6:11).
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 15 century French Gothic manuscript painting)
Midweek Lent 2 – Pr. Abraham Faugstad homily
Texts: Genesis 3:8-13, St. Luke 23:32-34
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
King Solomon wrote, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Wise words from a wise man. Although we have had over 7,000 years, we have not improved Adam’s argument for why we sin. As soon as there was sin, there was blame and accusation. “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate.” No personal responsibility. No regret. No remorse. Just blame. Surely, “There is nothing new under the sun.”
Adam’s response is shocking. Here we see the audacity and shameful boldness sin creates, even attacking God. The woman “whom you gave” me, she caused me to sin. Adam was clearly in no position to pass the blame. The Lord had commanded him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord had placed him as the spiritual leader of his household including teaching and defending his wife, but he failed. While it is easy for us to see how absurd it was for Adam to blame anyone one but himself, it is often more difficult to see it in ourselves.
If you have a pulse, you understand the impulse to blame others. A spouse says in a marriage confrontation, “If you wouldn’t have done that or been more considerate, I wouldn’t have done that to hurt you.” A child says to his parent, “I wouldn’t have done that if you would have listened to me!” A neighbor complains, “I wouldn’t have done that if you would just pick up your own leaves!” A politician blames the members of the other party, the citizen blames the politician… No personal responsibility. No regret. No remorse. Adam blamed the woman whom God gave him; Eve blamed the serpent, and the blame game has continued ever since. “There is nothing new under the sun.”
When we try to show someone they are wrong, we may, even unconsciously, feel a boost in our pride. We often have secret motives. But that is not how God works. When God shows us our sins, he does it to save us. Consider the tender and fatherly way the Lord called out to Adam after they had sinned: “Where are you?” No harsh words. No attack. A simple question, giving Adam the opportunity to come forward to confess. We see this same patience from Jesus on the cross when he prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He was not just praying for the soldiers or the two criminals who mocked him. Jesus was praying for all people—for those who don’t recognize their sin, who fail to see the consequences that their sin deserves. God wants us to repent.
The Lenten season is a time for repentance. By nature, we try to justify our behaviors and sin. We might blame it on someone or something else and think that it is okay. The Greek word for repentance literally means, “think differently afterwards.” God causes us to see the truth, to think differently about our sins, by using the mirror of the Law. When you look in the mirror, who do you see? Yourself. God shows us that we have sinned against God. He sees all your sins, do you? Or do you choose to only see the sins of others?
John writes, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8). Last week we heard the sobering words the Lord spoke to Adam after he sinned, “Dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). With these words we are reminded and acknowledging that we are sinners and the wages of sin is death.
Yet, God doesn’t show us our sin to push us down and leave us in despair. He shows us our sin to lead us to Jesus. We learn in the Catechism that Confession, has two parts. First, we confess our sins. Then, “We receive absolution, or forgiveness, from the pastor or confessor as from God himself, and in no way doubt, but firmly believe that our sins are thereby forgiven before God in heaven.”
At the very moment God shows us the severity of our sin, he shows us his love. The fact that it took the only begotten Son of God to pay for our sins, shows us how terrible and hopeless we were on our own. Yet, when we see Jesus on the cross, we also see the love of God—that he would suffer and die for you and me. He doesn’t blame us, he prays for us, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Consider this—at the very worst time in history, God attested his love for us. Adam and Eve fell into sin. Sin ruined creation and brought death—Adam even blames God. But what does God do? He promises the Seed of the woman, who will crush Satan’s head. What love! Jesus, the very Son of God, is beaten, mocked, and crucified. But what does he do? He prays for us. He prays for our forgiveness, showing that is exactly what he was accomplishing with his death. What love!
There should be no doubt that our sins are forgiven. Jesus accomplished it all on the cross—it is finished. Yet, as the devil tempted Eve, he still tempts us—“Did God really say that?” Do you really think he is going to forgive you after what you’ve done? When the devil tempts us into sin, he tries to make it seem like no big deal. Yet, after we sin or are near death, he attacks us—he accuses and blames us so that we might despair and lose hope.
This is why Lent is so important. While some Christians feel uncomfortable during Lent, we all need to meditate on it. Certainly, it reminds us about the seriousness of our sin. Yet, even more importantly it points us to Jesus who has paid for our sins. The season of Lent gives us the greatest ammunition against the devil’s attacks to doubt God’s forgiveness. Jesus lived for you. He suffered for your sins. When he was on the cross, did he blame you for putting him there? No. He uses his last words to pray for us and our forgiveness. The only innocent man to ever live, pled guilty for you. You are now free. Your sins are forgiven. God the Father declares you innocent for Jesus’ sake!
Permit me to quote at length, an excerpt from Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians. Here he gives us advice on what we should do, when the devil accuses us of our sins:
“When the devil accuses us and says, ‘You are a sinner and therefore damned,’ we should answer, ‘Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.’ ‘No,’ says the devil, ‘you will be damned.’ And I reply, ‘No, for I fly to Christ, who gave himself for my sins. Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by setting forth the greatness of my sins and try to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt and blasphemy against God. On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners. . . . As often as you object that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins. So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably.’”
You are a sinner, but you are a sinner for whom Christ died. He has taken the blame—all your guilt, your sin, every careless thought and word—to the cross. You can repent with hope. Hope of forgiveness. Hope for this life and the life to come. You are dust, but from the dust you shall arise… “And shall meet Him in the skies, death itself is transitory, I shall lift my head in glory.” Amen.
(picture from “Crucifixion, Seen from the Cross,” by James Tissot, c. 1890)
The First Sunday in Lent – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Matthew 4:1-11
In Christ Jesus, who resisted every temptation for our sake, dear fellow redeemed:
There are many times throughout our lives when we are given tasks that are seemingly impossible. In school, a teacher might give us a test that seems to have too much information on it to remember. Or at work, we might find ourselves having to do a task that seems too big to finish by the time it’s supposed to be. But no matter what these seemingly impossible tasks are, we are usually able to find a way to accomplish them.
Jesus had his own task that was seemingly impossible, and it was far more difficult than anything we have to face. He had to live a perfect life, which didn’t just mean keeping God’s law perfectly; it also meant resisting every temptation that the devil threw at him. This task wasn’t impossible for Jesus, because he is God, but what made it seemingly impossible was that no one can live a perfect life. But that was exactly why Jesus needed to resist every temptation in the first place, because we couldn’t. So, to accomplish this task, we hear in the beginning of our reading for today that “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (verse 1).
Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in that wilderness, and during that time, he fasted, not eating anything. It is at the end of these forty days and forty nights that we hear the first of the devil’s temptations. The devil said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (verse 3). On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with Jesus doing this. After all, God wants us to take care of our bodies. So, since Jesus hadn’t eaten for forty days and forty nights, what would be so wrong with miraculously turning stones into loaves of bread?
There are many temptations that the devil uses that sound perfectly innocent on the surface, but in reality, there is something sinister about them beneath the surface. In this case, the devil was trying to get Jesus to doubt God the Father. The devil was essentially saying, “God has led you out here into the wilderness and abandoned you. Since he hasn’t given you any food for the past forty days and forty nights, you clearly can’t trust him to provide for you. So, you should use your miraculous powers to provide for yourself.”
There are times when we can find ourselves wondering if God truly does provide for us. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31–33). But it is still easy for us to worry about not having enough money to feel completely secure or about the prices for everything continuing to go up. So, what does the devil say to us? He says, “You should rely on yourself to provide for your needs.” On the surface, this sounds harmless. After all, there’s nothing wrong with relying on your talents to get things done in and of itself. But in reality, what the devil is saying to us is, “God has said that he will provide for you, but if that were true, then why don’t you have all the money and food that you need? You clearly can’t trust God to provide for you, so you should stop trusting in him and rely only on yourself.”
Unfortunately, we all too easily fall for the devil’s temptation to doubt that God provides for us. But Jesus did not fall for this temptation. He responded to the devil by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (verse 4). Jesus trusted that his Father would provide him with everything that he needed, whether that was food or strength to carry out his mission to save you. When the devil finished tempting him and left him, God sent his angels to minister to Jesus, giving him what he needed to be sustained. And later, when Jesus prayed to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, “there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (Luke 22:43). And with that strength, Jesus endured the mocking from everyone around him; the suffering from the beatings, flogging, and crucifixion; all of the sins that you committed; and even hell itself for your sake. He endured them all so that all of the times that you put your trust in yourself instead of in God would be forgiven on the cross.
Jesus’ trust in God the Father remained unwavering. So, the devil decided to lean into that with his next temptation. He took Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone’” (verse 6). This time, the devil was essentially saying, “Prove that you trust completely in God and prove that God can truly be trusted by throwing yourself down from here. After all, doesn’t God promise to protect you from all harm in his Word?”
As Christians, this is a trick by the devil that we have to be extra careful of. He loves to use the faith that we have in God against us and twist our understanding of the Word. By doing so, he makes us doubt what the Bible says, as well as God himself. If something has gone wrong in our lives, such as a loved one getting sick, the devil says to us, “Didn’t God say that he would make all things work out for your good? You should make him prove it by demanding that he heal your loved one.” So, we end up saying prayers in which we wrongfully put God to the test, such as, “God, if you really love me, you will heal my loved one of his sickness.” Then, if things don’t work out like we wanted them to and our loved one either gets worse or ends up dying, the devil says to us, “God didn’t answer your prayers. How can God’s Word be true if he let this happen to you?”
The devil can easily twist God’s Word in a way that gets us to demand things of him that he never promised he would do and doubt him when those things don’t end up happening. But the devil didn’t fool Jesus. He knew that the devil was twisting the Word. So, Jesus responded by using the Word correctly. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:16, saying, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (verse 7). Jesus did not believe that the Father would do things for him that he never promised. He always believed that the Father’s will would be done. And the Father’s will was done when Jesus hung on the cross and died for your sins. As horrible as it was that Jesus had to die on the cross, God used it for your ultimate good. Through the sacrifice of his only begotten Son, the Father forgives you all your sins, including the times when you wrongly put him to the test or doubt him. And one day, you will get to enter the gates of heaven and be with God forever, which is the ultimate good that God can and will give you.
Once again, the devil had failed to lead Jesus into temptation, but he had one last trick up his sleeve. This time, “the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (verse 8). How the devil managed to do this, we do not know. We just know that he did, after which he said to Jesus, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (verse 9).
This temptation doesn’t seem to be as tricky as the other two. The first one sounded harmless, but it wasn’t. The second one appeared to be using God’s Word correctly, but it wasn’t. This one, by comparison, sounds like an easy temptation to resist. After all, the devil was telling Jesus to fall down and worship him. But this temptation was still just as tricky as the others.
The devil knew that Jesus had left his throne in heaven to live as a man, a man who was not only hated by his own people, but would also have to suffer and die if he wanted to sit on his throne again. So, the devil was offering him an easy way out. He was essentially saying, “This mission that you’re on will only bring you further pain and suffering. You don’t have to go through with this mission any longer. You can have your victory in the world right now. All you have to do is fall down and worship me.”
The devil attempts to lead us into temptation in similar ways. He knows the pain and suffering that we endure here on Earth. So, he promises to offer us a way out, while at the same time promising us things that we want. The devil says to us, “What has being a Christian done for you? Is your life truly any better off than everyone else’s? The only difference between you and them is that they get to do what they want, and you don’t. So, why not give up on being a Christian so you have the things that truly make you happy?” Temptations like these may not tell us to give up on being a Christian, but may simply say that it’s okay to pursue the things of this world that we want. But whenever we want to pursue something in this world over God, we are essentially saying that we don’t want to be Christian anymore. We may think that this is a temptation that we could easily resist, but it is a temptation that is just as tricky as the others that we face, because all too often, we would prefer to have the things of this world over the spiritual blessings that God gives us.
Thankfully, even though we all too easily give up on God, Jesus did not give up on his mission. Even though he knew that his mission would end with him suffering and dying on the cross for your sins, he continued with his mission anyway out of his great love for you. He loved you so much that he was willing to set aside his glory and lay down his life for you. Because Jesus did this for you, not only did he return to his throne in heaven, but he won you heaven as well, which is better than anything you could have in this world.
Sometimes it can be hard to believe that heaven is yours. After all, the devil has tempted you in every way that he possibly could, and you’ve failed to resist his temptations more times than you can count. You have failed to live a perfect life, and as punishment for your failure, you rightfully deserve to be thrown into the fires of hell for all eternity. But you have a Savior who understands your weaknesses and has lived a perfect life in your place. As Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus succeeded in every way that you failed. He resisted every temptation that the devil threw at him, not for his own sake, but for your sake. He resisted the devil’s temptations so that he could be your Savior and win your forgiveness. He won that forgiveness for you on the cross, and he brings that forgiveness to you through his Word and Sacraments. Even though it is impossible for you to live a perfect life, eternal life in heaven is yours because Jesus has accomplished the impossible 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, Midweek Lent 1 – Vicar Lehne homily
Texts: Genesis 3:1-6, St. Matthew 27:37-44
In Christ Jesus, who did not seek his own glory, but ours, dear fellow redeemed:
Everyone loves to receive glory for the things they do. Athletes show off in front of their fans when they make a good play. Actors and singers hope that they win awards for the work that they’ve done and even become upset if they think that they deserved to win an award but didn’t. We can even see this desire for receiving glory at the earliest stages of a person’s life. When a child does something good or impressive and those around them start to clap and cheer for them, you can see a smile spread across their face, and they may even try to replicate what they just did so that they will be cheered for again. Because of how much we love to receive glory, it’s no wonder that this desire is what the devil used to cause the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, to fall into sin.
Adam and Eve were the crown of God’s creation and were given the task to rule over his creation. There was only one thing that God told them not to do, which Eve repeated back to the devil, who was in the form of a serpent, when he first began his attempt to lead her into temptation, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die” (verse 3). By following this command, Adam and Eve gave glory to God. But Adam and Eve weren’t content with giving glory to God alone. They wanted glory for themselves too. So, when the devil said to Eve, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (verse 4–5), they fell for the devilish temptation and ate the forbidden fruit, thinking that doing so would give them the knowledge that would make them worthy of glory. But when they did, they didn’t become like God and receive glory like he had; they instead fell into sin, falling as far away from God as they could.
Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin entered the world and corrupted everything in it. That means we are deserving of God’s wrath and punishment, for we have inherited the sin of our first parents and have sinned throughout our lives. God has revealed to us in his Word the commands that he wants us to follow, which are summed up with the Ten Commandments. By following these commandments and resisting the temptations to disobey them, we give glory to God. But, just like our first parents, we want glory for ourselves and are often willing to disobey God to get it. We want to receive glory for the work that we do, for the talent that we display, for the words that we speak and sing, and in our quest to receive glory for these things, we don’t give a second thought to God or to the people that we have to ignore, push aside, and even sabotage to receive that glory that we think we rightfully deserve. By giving in to the devilish temptation to chase after glory, we don’t show love to God or our neighbors, which is what the law demands. So, while we think that we deserve glory for the things that we do, the things that we do actually make us deserve eternal punishment in the fires of hell.
While anything that we do can make us deserving of hell if it is done with sinful intent, no good thing that we do, regardless of the intent, can get us out of hell, which is why God promised to send us a Savior, Jesus Christ, a promise that he first made to Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit. The Son of God would not seek glory for himself but would humble himself by coming down from his throne in heaven and becoming a man. He would give his Father glory by resisting every temptation and by carrying out his will to go all the way to the cross, where he would die an innocent death on the cross in our place. On that cross, Jesus would crush the head of the serpent, the devil (Genesis 3:15), and save us from our sins.
But the devil wasn’t going down without a fight. While Jesus was suffering what we rightfully deserved on the cross, the devil tempted Jesus to seek glory for himself by abandoning his mission and miraculously coming down from the cross. Throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, it seemed as though everyone wanted to give him glory for the miracles that he was performing. In fact, after Jesus miraculously fed five thousand men, not counting women and children, with just five loaves of bread and two fish, the people wanted to force Jesus to become their king (John 6:15). But now, everyone seemed to be against him, wanting him to die. The chief priests, the scribes, the elders, the people who were passing by, and even the robbers who were being crucified with him were all mocking him. “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself” (verse 40)! “He saved others; he cannot save himself” (verse 42). “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (verse 40). “[L]et him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him” (verse 42). As the crowd said these things, it was as though the devil was right there along with them and saying these things to Jesus himself.
Jesus had the power to do as they said, and doing so would undoubtedly cause the people to want to give him glory again. Receiving glory for the miracles that you can do certainly sounds a lot better than suffering and dying for the sake of others while everyone mocks you, especially when you have done nothing to deserve any of it. So, we wouldn’t blame Jesus for coming down from the cross. In fact, it would probably be satisfying for us to hear and read, since all those people who got him put to death in the first place and were now mocking him would be proven wrong and humiliated. But if Jesus gave in to this devilish temptation, then we would be doomed.
If Jesus came down from the cross, you would still be a slave to your sin, you would still seek glory for only yourself, with no desire to seek repentance, and you would one day go to hell to pay the punishment for your sins for all eternity. But Jesus didn’t give in to the devil’s temptation. He remained on the cross so that you would be freed from your sins; so that, through faith in him, you would resist the devilish temptation to seek glory only for yourself; and so that you would one day go to heaven to live with him forever. Jesus remained on the cross because he loves you, and because Jesus did as his Father willed by remaining on the cross, he undid the sin of Adam, who went against his Father’s will.
But while Jesus has crushed the head of the serpent and has saved you from your sin by putting your sin to death with him on the cross, your old Adam, your sinful nature, doesn’t want to stay dead. It still wants you to receive glory for yourself no matter what you have to do to get it, and the devil works through that sinful nature to continue to tempt you. But through the faith that the Holy Spirit has given you, God leads you to repent of these sins and trust in the forgiveness he won for you. He gives you the strength to resist these devilish temptations and give him glory by doing so.
Even though God gives you that strength, there are still times when things seem helpless. But in those times, God points you to the glory of his Son dying for you on the cross. On the surface, there doesn’t appear to be any glory in someone dying a gruesome death on a cross. But it is what Jesus accomplished by his death on the cross that is glorious. On that cross, he paid the price for all your sins. On that cross, he won you the glory of heaven. You don’t need to earn any glory for yourself, because Jesus already earned all the glory 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 “The Temptation of Christ by the Devil” by Félix Joseph Barrias, 1822-1907)
Palm Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 21:1-9
In Christ Jesus, who gladly hears the praise from the mouths of us little children, dear fellow redeemed:
The Jews traveled to Jerusalem from all directions to prepare for the Passover. They arrived at least a week early, so they could take part in the purification rites before the feast (Joh. 11:55). As they connected with friends and family in the holy city, the topic of conversation in the homes, in the streets, and in the temple was Jesus—Jesus of Nazareth (v. 56).
Not long before this, maybe a few months, Jesus had gone to Bethany where His friend Lazarus had died and was buried. Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus got there, but Jesus called him out of the tomb, alive and well. Now Jesus returned to Bethany where he enjoyed a dinner with Lazarus and others on the Sabbath, on Saturday.
Word came to Jerusalem that Jesus was there, so large crowds came to see both Him and Lazarus, the formerly dead man walking (Joh. 12:9). By the time Sunday arrived, it is certain that all Jerusalem knew about the presence of Jesus. When they heard that He was coming to the city, they went out to meet Him, not just hundreds, not just thousands, but very likely tens of thousands!
They had come to welcome their King. They made a carpet of palm branches and cloaks. They cheered His arrival. They shouted His praises. They sang the words of an old song—perhaps a thousand years old—“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” The crowds on every side of Jesus were of all types—some old, some young; some darker-skinned, some lighter-skinned; some wealthy, some poor; men, women, and children.
We can picture ourselves in the crowd, watching Jesus go by, riding on a donkey. The sound was like a stadium filled with excited fans. “Hosanna! Here He comes! The One who has power over death! He is not afraid! Here comes the Conqueror! The King! Hosanna to the Son of David!” As you picture the people, I want you especially to find the children in the crowd. Some of them cling tightly to their parents’ legs as they watch Jesus come. Some are held in their mothers’ arms or sit on their fathers’ shoulders. Some of the older children dart around through the crowd or climb the trees to get a better look.
Some of them had probably seen Jesus before. They could have been part of the crowds of five thousand or four thousand who were miraculously fed from the small amount of loaves and fish. They could have been among those whom Jesus welcomed when the disciples wanted to shoo them away. “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them,” said Jesus, “‘for to such belongs the kingdom of God’…. And he took them in his arms and blessed them” (Mar. 10:14,16).
Whether they had seen Him before or not, the children would not forget this day. They would remember the great crowd and a humble Lord entering the city on Palm Sunday. We can tell what an impact this had on the children by the fact that they were still clustered around Him and singing His praises the next day.
Jesus spent the night of Palm Sunday back in Bethany (Mar. 11:11). When He returned to Jerusalem on Monday morning, His first order of business was to clear the temple of those who were buying and selling. They had turned the temple into a place for commerce instead of honoring it as a place of prayer. Wherever Jesus went that day, the children followed Him crying out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The chief priests and scribes were so bothered by this that they complained to Jesus: “Do you hear what these are saying?” And He said to them, “[H]ave you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise’?” (Mat. 21:16).
The children were doing what God had called them to do. They were telling the truth, and they were praising their Lord. Their faithfulness was a wonderful witness to everyone around them. The clear and faithful confession of children still has this effect among us. It strengthens us to hear the simple and honest words of children as they sing, “Jesus loves me! This I know, / For the Bible tells me so,” as they recite their Christmas program passages, and as they publicly confess their faith in front of church before their Confirmation day.
There are reciprocal blessings as we train our children in the Word of God. They benefit from our efforts by learning more about what God has done for them. And we benefit by hearing them repeat and confess what they have learned. The beauty of the children’s confession is that they haven’t learned to doubt what God tells them in His Word. They believe what the Bible says.
That changes as we get older. Then we want to question everything. We provide evidence from the difficulties in our lives that God must not love us as much as He says He does, or that He must not be as powerful as we thought. But what is actually happening is that the devil, the world, and our own flesh are tempting us to doubt the sure promises of God. God hasn’t changed, and neither has His Word. What changes is you and me. We decide that chasing riches, fame, and pleasure in the world is better than the eternal gifts of God. And if someone calls us out for living different than the Bible says, we often get mad at them. We embrace the sin and cast aside the Word.
Or we maintain a belief in Jesus, but we keep it mostly to ourselves. We don’t want people to think we are pushing our beliefs on them. We don’t want them to think we are weird. So we keep our mouths shut. We don’t warn our friends about their bad behavior. And we don’t share the hope we have of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus.
Little children don’t make these careful calculations. They say what they believe. Sometimes they even annoy their parents by pointing out when their parents do or say something wrong. Children are constantly watching, learning how to operate from those who care for them. That is quite the responsibility for adults! Our children are a reflection of us—both our bad and our good.
If we curse and swear, so will they. If we act selfishly, so will they. If we speak badly about others, so will they. If we prioritize almost everything else before the Word of God, so will they. But if we watch what we say, if we speak well of others, if we look to help those around us, if we “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mat. 6:33), they are likely to do the same. Your presence here today is almost certainly a reflection of the faithful example provided you by your parents or another influential Christian in your life. If we want the Church to continue, we can’t leave it to someone else to do. The responsibility is yours and mine.
Children are watching, and they are listening. Once the Jerusalem children learned who Jesus was, they kept singing His praises and sharing the good news. The important religious leaders—the smart guys, the men of influence—rejected Jesus. The children believed in Him. As much as we need to be an example to our children, Jesus wants us to learn from their example too. He says, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mar. 10:15). And, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 18:3).
That is our approach as we bow our heads and enter Holy Week again this year. Like the little children gathered around Jesus, we gather here to gladly hear and learn His holy Word and receive His blessed Sacraments. And we open our mouths to joyfully confess who He is and praise Him for His mercies.
We know why He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It was to win the victory over our sin and death. He knew what He would face. He knew that He would have to suffer both for those who rejoiced at His coming and for those who despised Him. He went to the cross to pay for all sin, to pour out His holy blood so all wrongs would be washed away.
He shed His blood to cleanse you of all the times in your life when you behaved childishly, when you were a poor example to those in your care, when you failed to speak the truth, and when you doubted God’s Word. God the Father does not see those sins on you anymore, because they were transferred to Jesus, and Jesus left them buried in the grave when He rose from the dead. The Holy Spirit connected you with Jesus’ death and resurrection when you were baptized. That is when you became a child of your heavenly Father. That is when he adopted you to be His own, now and forever.
Each week, you come back here to your Father’s house to hear this message. He speaks His promises through His Word, and you speak back to Him what you have heard. That’s what happens in our Sunday School classes, our Catechism classes, and the Divine Service every week. We learn to participate in the holy conversation that God initiated with us sinners.
It is a holy conversation that can only be appreciated by those who have been given ears to hear it. Unbelievers hear what we say, and many of them mock us and laugh at us, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Some of them even try to silence our voices, because they hate what we say. But whatever is said about us or to us, we can reply with all childlike honesty and innocence that we are only telling what we have been told.
This is how we praise our Lord and Savior. We say back to Him and share with others what He has given to us. There is no better way to honor and glorify His name. And our dear Father loves to hear this faithful confession from the mouths of His dear children. “The children sang their praises, / The simplest and the best” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #279, v. 1).
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 Procession in the Streets of Jerusalem” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
Midweek Lent – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 27:38-44
In Christ Jesus, the sinless One, who for our sake was made to be sin by His Father, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2Co. 5:21), dear fellow redeemed:
“If You are the Son of God.” Jesus had heard those words before. The devil said them when Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. Jesus had just begun His public work which would lead Him to His death outside Jerusalem. “If You are the Son of God,” the devil said, “why do You feel so hungry right now? Why not throw Yourself off the temple and let the angels catch You? Or maybe You aren’t the Son of God after all!” (Mat. 4:1-11).
Now as He hung on the cross, the same abusive words came at Jesus from all sides. “If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” “Save Yourself!” “Let God deliver You from this suffering, if He really thinks You are worth saving.” They mocked Him, speaking blasphemous words about Him. They jeered at Him, made fun of Him, laughed at Him.
Is that how you would treat someone who was fighting for your life? Would you verbally abuse the person trying to save you from a burning building, or the person who jumped in to defend you from an attacker? Would you laugh at him? Mock him? That’s what was happening at the cross. Jesus was hanging there out of love for the very people who spouted these hateful words at Him. He was there to save their souls, and they despised Him.
This didn’t surprise Jesus. The surprising thing is that the Jewish chief priests, scribes, and elders were so ignorant of the Scriptures they claimed to know. The very words they hurled at Jesus had been prophesied more than a thousand years before then. Listen for yourself to these words recorded by King David in Psalm 22 which clearly describe Jesus’ suffering on the cross: “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’” (vv. 6-8).
What the religious leaders said about Jesus at the cross is word-for-word what God said they would say. But they did not recognize it. They thought they were with God by being against Jesus. But they were with the devil. They were parroting the words of the “father of lies.” Through their mouths, the devil was tempting Jesus to give up His suffering, to abandon His mission.
“[L]et Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him,” they said. And why shouldn’t Jesus do this? Think of the powerful impact it would have. If all of a sudden the nails popped out, and Jesus floated down to the earth, how could the crowds deny who He was? But not even this would have convinced them. How many miracles had these people seen Him perform? Just a few weeks before this, they witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. In their mocking words, they even admitted He had done these things: “He saved others,” they said, but “He cannot save Himself.”
They thought His suffering on the cross was proof that He was not the Son of God. But in fact the opposite was true. Jesus stayed on the cross not because He had no power to save Himself. He stayed on the cross because it was the only way to save sinners. Jesus could agree with what they said, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself.” If He was going to save others, He could not save Himself. In order to save others, He had to die in their place.
Jesus’ cross is planted right in the middle of human history. On one side of Him stand all the people of Old Testament times, from Adam to John the Baptizer. On the other side of Him stand all the people of the New Testament, from the apostles to you and me and everyone who will come after us. We all look upon Jesus—one Man before billions, one Man against the world, the Holy One surrounded by sinners.
We should come to His defense. We should own our sins. We should admit our wrongs. But instead we join the chief priests, scribes, and elders. We spit insults at Jesus. We mock Him. We laugh at Him. That is what we have done by our life of sin. We put Jesus on the cross. We caused His suffering.
And He willingly accepted it. He obeyed His Father’s will to become the scapegoat for all us straying sheep, to become the “fall guy” for us fallen sinners. God the Father knew what He was sending His Son to do. He knew how terrible the anguish and affliction would be, how ruthlessly He would be treated by those He came to save. But He would not let the people of the world go to hell without contending for their souls. He would send His Son on a rescue mission to redeem them.
This was the Father’s will, and His Son submitted Himself to it. Isaiah writes that “it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief” (53:10). God the Father forsook His Son instead of forsaking you. Jesus suffered the torments of hell, crying out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” so you never would. He endured taunting, mockery, and laughter at the cross, so your ears would be spared these demonic words which echo constantly and eternally through hell. You deserved this suffering, but Jesus endured it for you.
Jesus is the true focus of our Lenten series—not His enemies. They were ignorant tools, manipulated by the devil, who was in turn manipulated by God to carry out His holy plan. It does us no good to vent our anger toward the Jews or the Romans for their treatment of Jesus. Jesus had to suffer and He had to die if you were going to be saved. He could not come down from that cross. He could not save Himself. He stayed there and suffered for your forgiveness, to win eternal life for you.
As the hymnwriter says:
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered
Was all for sinners’ gain:
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain:
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this, Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever!
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never,
Outlive my love for Thee. Amen.
(Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #335, vv. 4, 6)
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(picture from “Cristo Crucificado” by Diego Velázquez, 1632)
Midweek Lent – Pr. Abraham Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 27:24-26
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
In our lesson, we see Pontius Pilate standing before the crowd washing his hands in an attempt to free himself from the guilt of Jesus’ innocent blood. In the verses preceding this, we learn of Pilate’s intense internal struggle regarding Jesus. The chief priests and the elders hurled accusation after accusation against Jesus. While the accusations were false, Jesus remained silent. Pilate marveled at this. What kind of defendant doesn’t defend himself? Especially, someone who is so clearly innocent. Jesus remained silent, fulfilling the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.” The few words Jesus spoke were in reply to Pilate’s question, “Are You the King of the Jews,” to which Jesus simply answered, “It is as you say.”
Pilate looked for the opportunity to release Jesus. While Pilate was sitting in the judgement seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him” (Matthew 27:19). At the Passover feast the governor was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to the multitude. Pilate knew of Jesus’ popularity among the people and so he saw this as an opportunity to go around the religious leaders. What he didn’t know was that the people in the crowds had largely been brought in by Jesus’ enemies. And so, when he gave the options between releasing Jesus or Barabbas—a known criminal, the crowds yelled, “Barabbas!” But to Jesus they yelled, “Let him be crucified!” Pilate even asks, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they only cried out louder, “Crucify Him!” Pilate knew the Jews could bring down on him Caesar’s harsh disfavor. When he finally saw that he could not prevail, he gave in to the crowds. He would defend this just man no more.
I. The Curse
Pilate now stands before the crowd washing his hands and says to the crowd, “You see to it.” He put the guilt on them. And the crowd in their frenzied and mad state gladly accepted it: “His blood be on us and on our children.” As if saying, “If we are guilty, then let God punish us and our children.” But just as Pilate did not have the power to remove his guilt by his words and actions, neither did the crowds have power to accept or reject their guilt. However, they did echo Jesus’ own words against their wicked generation who rejected him. A punishment they would face within one generation, when Jerusalem was attacked by the Romans and the Temple destroyed, leaving thousands dead and enslaved.
A wicked and unjust sentence was given to Jesus. The account of our Lord’s Passion is sobering. We can become angry with the people and think, “I wouldn’t have crucified Jesus if I was there! I would have defended him!” But it’s not just those who were there that day that are guilty of Jesus’ innocent blood. No, we weren’t there when they mocked Jesus. No, we weren’t present in Pilate’s courtyard. And no, we didn’t scream for Jesus’ blood, but our sin led him there. Our lack of love towards God and toward one another make us just as guilty and accused as the words the crowds shouted.
Jesus was mocked, spit on, beaten, scourged, condemned, and crucified for the guilt of our sin. He carried the sins of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and all their descendants who have broken God’s Law. No one can claim innocence from his blood. Isaiah says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (53:6). We weren’t there like those who shouted in the crowd, but we are certainly not exempt from his blood. Your sin sent Jesus to the cross.
We should never consider our sin a small thing. The hymnist puts it well, “Ye who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great, here you see 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.” While our Lord’s suffering reminds us of the greatness of our sin, it more importantly points us to the mercy and compassion of our Savior who died for our sin. By God’s grace, we do not bear the responsibility of the crowd’s words, but the blessing.
II. The Blessing
With their words the crowds meant evil towards Jesus, but what they meant for evil, God meant for our good (Genesis 50:20). In fact, their words serve as a beautiful sermon and prayer. For it was by our Savior’s innocent blood shed on the cross that he paid for the sins of the world. By his blood our guilt is washed away. John writes, “the blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7). No matter how great our sin, how terrible our guilt, nor how often we have sinned—his blood is greater.
Jesus didn’t have to suffer. He didn’t have to face the false accusations, the taunts, the scourges, the nails, or the cross. But he did. The nails did not keep Jesus on the cross. It was his love for you. Our Lord knew that the only way that he could save us from the guilt of our sin was to be punished in our place. All the Old Testament sacrifices could not pay for sin, but they pointed to the Messiah, the Savior, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world.
God’s Law required payment for sin. It was necessary for sin to be atoned for. If God would have simply let sin go by without payment, he would be an unrighteous judge. But he didn’t. Instead, “God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And for this reason, believers can have certainty of their redemption because “you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:18–19).
There are countless people who agonize over their guilt. They attempt to ease their guilt through acts of devotion, charity, or other sacrifices. But we cannot satisfy our guilt. All our attempts to pay for our guilt are like a hamster running on a wheel. We will get nowhere. These acts are simply washing our hands, like Pilate. Maybe, you have found yourself struggling with guilt. Guilt over your sins against God, your friends and neighbors, spouse, or children. Perhaps, there are sins from your past that you cannot forget or sins you continue to fall for again and again.
We can’t wash our guilt away by what we do, but Jesus can, and he has! When the Apostle John gives his description of his vision of heaven in Revelation 7, where he sees great multitudes standing before the throne of the Lamb robed in white—there is only one reason that is mentioned for why they are there. They were those who had “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). Whoever believes in Jesus has had their sins washed away by the blood of the Lamb. There is no doubt about it! As Paul writes, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). And so, we can rightly pray, “His blood be on us!”
No one is beyond our Lord’s saving help—no sin is too great. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin! Even those who crucified Jesus were later urged by Peter to repent that their “sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). Jesus says, “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37).
Our sin surely sent Jesus to the cross, but he went willingly for you. It pleased God to do this because he loves you. Jesus was condemned that you might go free. Our dear Lord Jesus wants you to be so certain of his love for you, that he instituted Baptism, where he washes away your sins through the water and the Word. He instituted the Lord’s Supper, where you receive his shed body and blood for the remission of all your sins. You are covered by Jesus’ blood and that’s a good thing! Because that is your clothing for heaven.
By God’s grace, we can pray, “His blood be on us!” Amen!
(picture from “The Sacrificial Lamb” by Josefa de Ayala, 1630-1684)