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)
Septuagesima Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5
In Christ Jesus, who calls us to take up our cross and follow after Him, running the race of faith, until by His grace He brings us across the finish line, dear fellow redeemed:
In today’s reading, the apostle Paul brings in some history of God’s chosen people Israel. They had multiplied greatly over their more than four hundred years in Egypt. Over the course of that time, they had gone from being honored guests in the land to being enslaved. Now God had brought them out of slavery, and the people followed Moses out of Egypt and into the wilderness.
As they traveled, “the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light” (Exo. 13:21). This made it abundantly clear to them that the LORD was with them. Then they came up to the Red Sea. Everything seemed to be going well until they saw the Egyptian army coming toward them in full force. There was nowhere to run or hide.
The people immediately complained to Moses that they would have rather stayed in slavery than die in the wilderness. Moses reassured them that the LORD who brought them out of Egypt would guard and keep them. He said, “Fear not, 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” (Exo. 14:13-14).
What happened next? The LORD told Moses to stretch his staff over the sea to divide it, so the people could cross over on dry ground. While a wind divided the sea that night, the LORD moved His pillar of cloud and fire between His people Israel and the Egyptian army to protect His people. Then the Israelites walked through the sea with water on each side of them. Once the Israelites reached the other side, God allowed the Egyptian army to chase after them, and when they did, He caused the water to crash down and destroy them.
As the people moved forward through the wilderness, the LORD provided them manna for bread and quail from the sky for meat. In desolate places with no water, He even caused water to spill out of a rock! He provided for and blessed His people every step of the way. Paul said that the One who blessed them in these ways was Christ, the eternal Son of God.
How could the people doubt God’s love for them after all He had done? Why would they look anywhere else for guidance and help? But they did. Paul states the sobering truth, “with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” Where did they go wrong? Paul describes those things, too, just after today’s reading. He said that they became idolaters, chasing after the riches and pleasures of the world (1Co. 10:7). They indulged in sexual immorality, ignoring God’s institution of marriage, with twenty-three thousand falling in a single day (v. 8). They put Christ to the test by their complaining, grumbling, and rejection of His promises (vv. 9-10).
So why was Paul compelled to give this history lesson? “Now these things took place as examples for us,” he wrote; “they were written down for our instruction” (vv. 6,11). Paul was writing to a Christian congregation in Corinth that was struggling with the same temptations to idolatry, sexual immorality, and unfaithfulness. And we know that the same temptations face us now in our time. As the Preacher in Ecclesiastes says, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecc. 1:9).
But are we willing to learn from the past? Are we willing to learn from what God has recorded in the Scriptures? Or do we take comfort in thinking that we’re really no worse than the people who went before us, and we are probably a little bit better? The reason that Paul used the language he did—“all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink”—was to tell us that when we see the Israelites, we should see ourselves.
We are baptized in Christ, and we partake of the food and drink of His body and blood. Would we give up all these blessings and embrace our sin instead, like the Israelites did? The answer of all of us here would be, “Absolutely not! We wouldn’t give up what Jesus has done for us for anything in the world!”
But then Paul would challenge us: “Do your words and actions prove this priority? Do you run the course of this life with your eyes always on the prize? Do you exercise self-control and discipline with your body, so that things like sexual sin, drunkenness, and gluttony will not disqualify you in other people’s estimation?” Those are hard questions. But they underscore an important point: The Christian faith is not for the lazy, for the self-secure, for the prideful, or for those who are just looking for a nice community organization.
Being a Christian requires sacrifice. It means sacrificing our sinful desires and selfish plans out of love for God and our neighbor. It means not looking for approval from the world. It means enduring criticism and possibly persecution for holding to the truth. It means sacrificing our pride, both acknowledging and admitting our many sins, for which we deserve God’s wrath and punishment.
When we take these things to heart, we can’t help but think we haven’t run the race so well. Our mind and heart cleansed in the waters of Baptism have often been employed in unholy pursuits. Our mouth which has held the holy body and blood of Jesus has often been used for hurtful words, gossip, and lies. When we have managed some self-discipline and self-control, then it was easy for us to look down on other Christians who were not as disciplined. Then we were like the workers in the vineyard who took their eyes off the promise, and instead focused on the weaknesses and inadequacies of the workers around them.
And yet, the race hasn’t ended. Our time isn’t up. The Master of the vineyard hasn’t called us forward to receive our wages. We are still here. We are still running. The call to repentance is a call for today and every day. But not just repentance. We are also called to faith in God’s grace. He knows who He has working for Him. He knows us far better than an employer knows his employees, or than a parent knows his child. He knows the stains on our past, and the weaknesses that hinder us from giving our all for Him. And He still says (and tells us again and again), “I forgive you.”
This is how the psalmist describes His enduring grace toward us: “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:10-12). That means our sin and guilt do not hold us back or weigh us down as we run the race we are called to run and carry out the work we are called to do. Those burdens have been lifted off our shoulders by our merciful God.
But our sin and guilt were not just set aside, thrown in the dumpster, or stuffed in a box in God’s garage. Our sin and guilt were put on God’s only Son. They were given over to Him for Him to carry and to take all the way across the finish line. That was a hard race to run, harder than we can imagine. Though He was perfect and did no wrong, He was ignored by the selfish, rejected by the prideful, and abused by the wicked. All the jealousy, all the anger and hatred, all the anguish and pain of the world were taken out on Jesus, as though He were the problem and not us sinners.
And He willingly went forward, carrying all of our sin, suffering unjustly. He kept His eyes on the prize. But what could He possibly gain by His innocent suffering and death? The prize He had His eyes on was your salvation. He ran that terrible race and did that awful work of suffering for you. The author of Hebrews writes that “for the joy that was set before him—the joy of redeeming sinners—[he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:2).
Because He has won the victory for us over sin and death, the same author writes, “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus” (vv. 1-2a). Where do we find our motivation, our strength to go forward and run the race? We find it in Christ, the same Christ who blessed the wandering people of Israel with His protection and care, the same Christ who blessed the Corinthian congregation with His presence in Word and Sacrament, the same Christ who still visits us now with His blessings of grace.
He does not want us to be lost. He does not want us to be overcome by our sin and overthrown in the wilderness of this world. He wants us to endure through the temptations and trials of this life and to finish our race in faith. He does not leave us to run the race alone. Like the pillar of cloud and fire, He protects us on all sides and leads us forward. He comes beside us encouraging and comforting us through His Word when the race is most difficult, and He is ready to receive us into His eternal kingdom when our race in this life comes to an end.
We keep our eyes on Him. And even when our focus is not as sharp as it should be, He is always looking with mercy upon us. The gracious countenance of the LORD is always turned toward you, to bless you and keep you, to shine upon you, and to give you peace.
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 “Jesus Traveling” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
Good Friday – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: Hebrews 10:26-31
When we see Jesus hanging on the cross, suffering in anguish, how could we ever doubt these words? “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” When we hear Him cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” we know how horrifying the wrath of God is.
God hates sin. He put His imprint of perfection on the world and everything in it. He made man in His own holy image. His creation was never meant to know sin, pain, and death. When His work was complete, He declared all of it to be “very good.”
And then one of His chief angels rebelled against Him and enticed the first man and woman to do the same. “[S]in came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Fallen mankind deserved to die. We had perfection, and we threw it away. The holy God was perfectly justified to damn us all to hell.
But that is not what He did. He looked down on this fallen world and had compassion. And this is how He showed His love: He sent His only-begotten Son (Joh. 3:16). The Son of God took on flesh, so that He could give up His holy life as a sacrifice for all sin. It was no mistake that He was hanging on the cross. He was exactly where His heavenly Father wanted Him to be.
Jesus was being punished by God the Father for all sin. He felt the vengeance of God for every big and little sin, for every intentional and unintentional sin, for every setting aside of the law of Moses for whatever reason. You and I do not grasp how serious our sins are and how very far away we are from the holiness of God. But Jesus knew. He felt God’s wrath for each and every sin until the total price had been paid.
Does this not touch your heart? Can you sit there unmoved? Jesus suffered and died for the sins of every person in human history. He suffered and died for you. Many in the world do not care. They have heard about the death of Jesus, but it does not affect them. “Maybe He deserved it,” they think. Or they joke that only the really bad people needed Jesus to do this for them. But they are doing just fine without Him.
Our text says, “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” When you see what Jesus did for you on this day, you cannot remain comfortable with sin. Sin and the death it brings leave dark, ugly stains on everything. Look at all the pain it caused the perfect Jesus.
We cannot hold onto Jesus and our sin. We cannot be faithful to the Word and the world. “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” If we embrace our sin, we reject Jesus’ sacrifice. If we continue in our sin and spurn the Son of God, then we will fall into the wrathful hands of the living God. And that is a fearful thing.
But “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jo. 1:9). God the Father forgives our sins because Jesus poured out His blood to wash them all away. He presented His face for beating, His back for flogging, His head for thorns, and His feet and hands for the nails.
Those gracious hands—hands that created; hands that fed; hands that healed; hands that blessed. He opened those hands to receive the cold spikes. He opened those hands to take all that is wrong in the world and bring us back together with God.
Those hands still open, but no longer to receive suffering. They open to distribute blessings, the blessings won by the death of our merciful Lord. He poured those blessings over you at the font. He covers you with them through His Word. He feeds you with them at the Communion rail.
To all who repent of their sins and put their trust in Him—to you and me—, Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (Joh. 10:28). You do not have to fear the wrath of the living God. Because of what your crucified Savior did for you, “the hands of the living God” now guard you, comfort you, and lead you on the way to His heavenly kingdom.
We pray: O Lord Jesus Christ,
Wide open are Thy hands,
Paying with more than gold
The awful debt of guilty men,
Forever and of old.
Ah, let me grasp those hands,
That we may never part,
And let the power of their blood
Sustain my fainting heart. Amen.
(Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #265, vv. 1-2)
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(picture from Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald, c. 1510)
Midweek Lent – Vicar Anderson homily
Text: St. Matthew 27:45-49
In the hours before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion He told the disciples that they would be offended and stumble because of Him. (Matthew 26:31) Jesus said, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” (John 16:32)
Jesus’ disciples claimed they would never leave Him and yet they all failed Him in His greatest hour of need. The going got tough and His closest followers took off. The disciples betrayed Him, His opponents were winning and His enemies were killing Him. Christ was alone.
The disciples left Jesus’ side after they witnessed Him be surrounded by temple guards and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. It would be foolish to think we would have been any more faithful. We too haven’t always remembered and trusted Christ’s Words. We’ve had thoughts like, ‘He’s not who He says He is, what He promises is far too good to be true,’ or at times we think our sins are too great and are beyond the Lord’s ability to forgive. We think He won’t help us because we have been far too wicked and are too far-gone. We abandon the Lord because our sinful flesh and the devil convince us He has abandoned us.
There on the cross Jesus hung, abandoned by those who once loyally and boldly followed Him. We know of nothing recorded in Scripture that shows anyone coming to His aid or rescue. In fact the only person who speaks up to defend Jesus is the repentant criminal hanging next to Him. In the first three words from the cross Jesus prayed for His enemies; turned and forgave the guilty criminal next to Him and provided earthly care for those most dear to Him. Though no one came to His aid, Jesus remained our lifeline. The perfect Son of God continued to freely give forgiveness and life to His beloved children.
Then a tremendous shift takes place and from twelve o’clock to three in the afternoon darkness unfolded over all the land. Being mid-day the sun would have been at its highest and brightest. Christ’s crucifixion took place during the feast of the Passover, which was celebrated during the period of a full moon making an eclipse impossible. God the Father specifically brought this darkness for the judgment that was taking place on Calvary.
Now Jesus physical, mental, and spiritual anguish was met with the pain of eternal death, complete separation from His gracious Father. An earthly abandonment by His closest friends now met a far greater heavenly abandonment. God the Father turned His face away from Christ and no longer smiled upon Him. One theologian wrote, “the frowns of heaven were upon the Son of God.” (Lenski) Here judgment and the eternal wrath of God settled in and pressed down hard upon Jesus.
This forsakenness is far greater and significant than we can fully grasp. Jesus cries at the highest point of His suffering, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me,” (Matthew 27:46). In those dark three hours the righteous Son of God became sin and a curse and for three brutal hours His Father left Him completely alone. (Galatians 3:13) St. Paul writes, “For our sake God the Father made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21) By taking your sins and my sins the lamb without blemish was made sin in the hours of His sacrifice.
Our Lord Jesus felt far more than the, injuries, shame and insults of the people, He felt the door of grace being shut on Him for all eternity. (Kretzmann) When God looked at His Son on the cross He saw the sin of the entire world and justly punished Christ for it. Jesus experienced hell for us, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48).
In the peak moments of Jesus’ suffering He cried, “My God, My God.” Jesus exemplified the very essence of faith by truly being forsaken by God and yet still solely depended on Him to save Him. Jesus remained faithful to God at all times even in the midst of hell. No person can fully grasp the depth of what Christ was experiencing in those moments. In mercy God has spared us from fully understanding the reality of what took place in those three hours upon the cross. The closest we can come to understanding this moment on the cross is with the help of Psalm 22.
“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death” (Psalm 22: 14–15). The darkness of that day alone would have been enough to make us shudder in fear and sorrow, but that is nothing compared to the darkness Jesus felt in his soul!
God withdrew His countenance from Jesus. God no longer caused His face to shine upon Him. (Numbers 6:22–27) At Jesus’ greatest point of need He was forsaken, so that by His abandonment He would come to your aid. The Father declared Jesus guilty on account of all your sins and damned Him to hell to justify you and forgive you. Jesus cried out and received no answer so that now when you cry out you are answered each and every time. (1 John 3:22) Christ Jesus was overcoming rejection, condemnation and eternal destruction for you.
This dreadful forsakenness of Christ is great news for all sinners. The gospel rings out in Christ’s loud cry, “My God My God why have you forsaken me?” By Jesus’ cry you know that you are liberated from all of your wrongdoing because He endured hell on the cross in your place. God cannot and will not abandon you because of what His beloved Son endured. God the Father’s countenance shines upon you, the warmth of His smile guides you every day of your life. You are declared righteous on account of Jesus. He has suffered the judgment and wrath of God for you.
There is no doubt that you and I will face hardships in this life, but no matter how bad they get you have the assurance it is only temporary. Jesus took eternal pain, suffering, and sadness so that you would never have to. You will never be cut off from God because in Christ God was reconciling you to himself, not counting your trespasses against you. (2 Corinthians 5:19) Your relationship with God is repaired by the work of your Savior.
The righteous Christ became your sin so that your sin would become His righteousness. Jesus took care of you on the cross and still takes care of you today. His love extends forever and comes to you now. Christ Jesus overcame the world, the fires of hell and the devil so that now you can have eternal life with Him in heaven.
The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
Man forfeited his life and is acquitted;
God is committed.
(Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary; 292 v. 5)
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 Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald, c. 1510)
Ash Wednesday – Vicar Anderson sermon
Text: St. Luke 23:32-34
In Christ Jesus, who laid all your sin on His shoulders, bearing there crushing weight and forgiving them on the cross, dear fellow redeemed:
In the Old Testament God instructed the people of Israel how they were cleansed from their sin. The priest Aaron would take two goats, one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. This occurred once a year on the Day of Atonement. The first goat would be slaughtered and placed on an altar as a burnt offering to show the payment for sin was flesh and blood, which needed to be sacrificed to God.
Then Aaron would lay his hands upon the second goat, referred to as the scapegoat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions and all their sins. (Leviticus 16:21) Then the goat would be driven out from the city and into the wilderness and as far away as possible. These sacrificial practices pointed forward to the entire work of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who would take all their sins and pay for them with His own precious blood. (John 1:29)
Our text takes place not long after the accused Jesus was brought before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Pilate had determined that Jesus was innocent and washed his hands of the matter, but he didn’t step in and stop this injustice. Instead he delivered Jesus over to the people and they seized Him and drove Him out of Jerusalem with the weight of the cross on His back.
Some of the people were ignorant to what was happening. Some soldiers ignorantly believed that Jesus was just another guilty criminal, and thought this was just another day’s work of nailing criminals to a cross and guarding them until they died. Knowingly or unknowingly, these soldiers were guilty of putting Jesus, the Son of God on the cross. They personally saw to it that He was nailed, lifted up and killed.
It wasn’t just the sins of government and religious leaders, soldier’s and the people witnessing His crucifixion that nailed Jesus to the cross; it was all our sins. We may think we are off the hook for killing Jesus but none of us are free from the guilt of crucifying the Lord. All of our sins caused Jesus suffering, pain and death. A sin is a sin whether it was done intentionally or without our knowledge. Humans are so frail and weak we sin without intending to and many sins we don’t even remember committing. Whether it was something we said or did we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
All of our vicious actions and evil thoughts were laid upon the innocent Christ, the scapegoat, who took our sins and carried them to Calvary. Jesus suffered the punishment for everything we have said and done that is against what God commands. We sentenced Him to death and we are the executioners.
God the Holy Spirit has revealed to us our sinful condition and the truth about who Christ is. (1 Corinthians 2:9) This truth that is now in us is what brings us to repentance acknowledging our mortality and sins. If we live a life without repentance we reject Christ’s forgiveness, but as the apostle John writes, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
His Word of truth has shown us what our sins deserve and how we should despise our sin, but it has also revealed where we should look for our help. We look to our Savior hanging on the cross. There He bore the weight of your sins and the countless sins of every person that has and will walk this earth. Jesus Christ was your substitute who suffered the penalty of sin and death instead of you.
Those around the cross jeered at Him saying, “He saved others; let Him save himself, if He is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”(Luke 23:35–36). In their blind unbelief they didn’t recognize the Messiah; they didn’t know Jesus. They didn’t see how He was freely laying down His life for sinners, His enemies, people deserving God’s eternal wrath.
Jesus certainly had the power to save Himself but in obedience did what He came to do. He willingly, with perfect love gave up His life for you. This is why Jesus can ask His Father for your forgiveness and also why this is a tremendous comfort to all sinners. (Eph. 1:7) As the nails tore into the flesh of Jesus’ hands and feet in the midst of suffering the agony of hell, He only thought of you. When you feel the burden of your sin, hear Christ’s petition from the cross. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34).
Many who heard Him say these words didn’t understand what He was doing, but you do. By faith brought to you by the Holy Spirit in holy Baptism you know that Christ was forgiving you.
Jesus forgives the sins you don’t remember committing and the weakness of your humanity. He forgives your sins of ignorance and stupidity; the things that happen in life and you scratch your head and wonder why you are such a failure. Jesus’ forgiveness is for you even when you forget to ask for it.
His forgiveness is not dependent on your repentance; it is dependent on something far more perfect and pure. You have the assurance of forgiveness because of His true body given and His true blood shed. (Matthew 26:26–29) You are forgiven because Jesus died for sinners and not perfect human beings. St. Paul writes, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Jesus’ tender and caring words are applied to you each and every time you slip up. His comforting words of absolution on the cross keep washing over you and are never exhausted. You are forgiven for all the times you hurt someone even for the times you seek revenge because the One who saved you never hurt anyone nor sought revenge.
St. Peter writes, “when he was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten.” Jesus thought well of everyone, even those who beat and killed Him. His pure and holy love replaces all the times your love has failed.
Jesus doesn’t struggle to forgive or forget sins like you and I do. Instead He points His Father to His once for all atoning sacrifice on the altar of the cross and says, “Father, Forgive them” (Luke 23:34) I have paid for all of these; their debt is wiped clean. Jesus Christ bore your grief and carried your sorrows; He was stricken, smitten and afflicted for you. (Isaiah 53)
God the Father has forgiven you; Christ was raised from the dead for your justification and now the life He won is yours through faith in Him. (Romans 4:25) All of the burdens of your sin were laid upon Jesus and He has removed them as far away as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12) Even though your sin put Him on the cross, He willingly suffered to win your forgiveness.
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 Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald, c. 1510)
Quinquagesima Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
In Christ Jesus, whose incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection are proof of God’s eternal love for mankind, dear fellow redeemed:
“Love” is one of the deepest words we have, but it is also one of the cheapest. The word “love” is used to describe one’s affection and commitment to a spouse, and it is used to describe one’s affinity for chocolate. We might say we “love” a sports team, a song, or a certain food, but we don’t mean it in the same way as the love we have for our family. So what does the word actually mean?
We learn about love in today’s reading from 1 Corinthians. The Holy Spirit guided St. Paul to write specifically about agape love. The ancient Greeks had a number of words for “love,” including philia (brotherly love), eros (romantic love), and storge (love within a family). But the highest form of love is agape love, which is compassionate, sacrificial love. This is the love that God wants us to have toward one another. And it is the kind of love He has toward us.
We have nothing good to offer—nothing meaningful to share—if we do not have love. Paul wrote that even if he could speak in the language of the angels or had perfect understanding and knowledge or gave up everything he had, but those things were not coupled with love, then they are worthless. He states very clearly that godly love will never be motivated by selfishness; it will not be focused inward. It will be outward, focused on those around us.
But this godly love does not come naturally to us. What comes naturally to us are the behaviors that Paul lists as the opposite of love, things like envy, boastfulness, arrogance, rudeness, and self-centeredness. This is often what we see in society from those who claim to be pursuing the path of love. Their notion of “love” is more about self-fulfillment than self-sacrifice. For them, “love” is the thing they feel when they are doing what they want to do. And they expect that kind of love to be supported no matter how unhealthy or destructive it may be.
But we do not approve of alcoholism simply because a person loves to drink, or robbery because someone loves the thrill of taking what isn’t theirs, or pornography because a person loves the high it gives them. As Paul wrote, love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” Love and truth go together. There is no love apart from truth, and no truth apart from love, because both love and truth come from God.
God is the source of all that is good, and love is certainly good. That’s why the devil works so hard to corrupt it. He does not want us to be patient and kind, generous and forgiving, humble and gracious. He wants us to give in to “the desires of the flesh,” which are “against the Spirit” (Gal. 5:17). He wants us to turn our love inward, to put ourselves first. The devil wants us to become angry with God when He does not give us what we want. And he wants us to demand love from others on our terms and to treat them badly if they don’t. In other words, the devil wants us to ignore the Ten Commandments.
God has put each Commandment in place to protect love. He teaches us what it means to love Him and to love our neighbor. We love Him by giving Him the glory He deserves, honoring His name, and hearing His Word. We love our neighbor by respecting authority, defending life, upholding marriage, and so on. To make it even clearer for us, God summarizes the Ten Commandments in these two statements: “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Due. 6:5). And, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). This is agape love; it is love directed outward. On our own, we are not capable of this love. We cannot and do not love like we should.
The newly married couple learns this very quickly. On their wedding day, they look at each other with stars in their eyes and promise to love each other “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,” until death parts them. They may even choose today’s text to be read at their wedding: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.” “That’s how I will love you,” they promise. But it isn’t long before that feeling changes, before troubles come, before the loving bride and bridegroom start to snap at and criticize one another.
No matter what our best intentions are, we find ourselves failing at love. So we tell ourselves that we will do better, we will try harder. But we keep failing. We fail because love does not come from inside us. Love comes from God. There is no love apart from Him. If there were no God, if everything came about as the result of a big bang and billions of years of evolution, there would be no love. There is no love where the central principle is the “survival of the fittest.”
But there is a God, and He is a God of love. Some people reject God because of this statement. “If He is a God of love,” they say, “then why does He sit back and watch so many horrible things happen in the world? Why doesn’t He end all the suffering?” But God does not just sit back and watch, and He did bring an end to suffering—just not in the way they want. God’s love is realized not by all our temporal problems disappearing, but by His answer for our eternal problems—our sin and the punishment in hell that we deserve.
This is where God’s love shines brighter than any love we could imagine. The Apostle John writes: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1Jo. 4:9-10). This is how God came to fight for our sinful souls. He brought love to the battle against Satan, sin, and death.
The enemy wasn’t expecting that. They know nothing about love. That’s what makes it the perfect weapon. The powers of darkness have no answer for it. God’s love is stronger than hatred, stronger than all evil. God rescued us with love. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (Joh. 3:16). This is agape love—compassionate, sacrificial love.
God the Father sent His Son to save us, to give His life in our place. And His Son willingly accepted the task. This is how much God loves us! It is easy to love those who love us. But it is supremely difficult to love those who hate us. In fact, this is impossible for us to do on our own. But God is perfect, so His love is perfect too. His love for us is not dependent on our love for Him. He loves us because He is love.
What else could move God’s Son to be born a Man, so that He might humble Himself and make Himself a Servant of all? What else could bring Him to patiently endure all the hatred, indignity, and scorn, to become the target of violence, abuse, and punishment? He did all this because of love, love for you, love for your eternal soul. One of our hymns says: “Love caused Thy incarnation, / Love brought Thee down to me; / Thy thirst for my salvation / Procured my liberty. / O love beyond all telling, / That led Thee to embrace, / In love all love excelling, / Our lost and fallen race!” (The Lutheran Hymnal #58, v. 4).
You are saved because of His love. Your sins are forgiven because of His love. Eternal life is yours because of His love. You now stand holy and pure before Him because of His love. All the love that you have failed to show toward God and neighbor, His love covers over. Everything that you have failed to do according to God’s Holy Law, Jesus has fulfilled for you. This perfect fulfillment of His Law of love is credited to you by faith, faith alone. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,” writes St. Paul (Rom. 10:4).
But Jesus is not just love for you. The power of His love for you produces love in you. His Word and Sacraments awaken in you the desire to love. He moves you to love others as He has loved you. When you hear His Gospel words of love and eat and drink His body and blood which He so lovingly gives you, His love is planted in you and grows in you. He produces through you the kind of love that Paul describes, the love that is self-sacrificing, not self-serving.
And when you love in that way, with agape love toward God and neighbor, all the glory is His. This love is not from you, it is from God. The love you show your family members, your friends, your neighbors—all of it is a gift from the God who “is love” (1Jo. 4:8,16).
Everything that Paul writes about love in today’s text that we have failed to carry out, the Lord has done out of love for sinners: “[He] is patient and kind; [He] does not envy or boast; [He] is not arrogant or rude. [He] does not [seek to serve Himself]; [He] is not irritable or resentful; [He] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [He] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” God is love, and He loves 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 “Healing the Blind Near Jericho” by a Netherlands artist in the 1470s)
The Second Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 John 3:13-18
In Christ Jesus, who lived a perfect life of love on our behalf, and who continues to inspire and work that love among us, dear fellow redeemed:
The home should be a place of love, kindness, and joy, but it isn’t always so. The people who make up a family are sinners, and sinners like to have things their way. You may remember thinking that you “just can’t live” with that annoying sibling anymore or with those unfair parents. You may have even said to one of them those three terrible, powerful words, “I hate you!” You probably regretted saying that later on and were glad to hear the even more powerful words, “I forgive you! I love you!”
Hatred has no place in the Christian home or in the Christian congregation. Hatred is the aim of the devil. He is eager to incite division, conflict, violence, abuse, and self-centeredness. We see these things raging all around us. God calls His people to do the opposite of these things. He calls us to be “kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another” (Eph. 4:32). The Letter to the Galatians outlines “the fruit of the Spirit” in the life of the Christian, the fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (5:22-23).
But our lives as Christians don’t always look so fruitful. Just like the unbelievers of the world, we Christians are guilty of sinful stubbornness, hatred, and selfishness. In the broader Christian church, the world is right to point an accusing finger at us. Look at the rampant abuse of power and trust by ministers who are supposed to serve with love and humility. Look at all the congregations that are torn apart by petty disputes among its members. Unbelievers see these things and walk the other way.
But let’s bring it closer to home. Is there anything that visitors might see or hear among us to make them question if we really believe what we say we do? Would they detect that we accept people who are like us while looking down on those who are not? Would they hear us speak harshly or engage in gossip about others? Would they get a warm welcome or a cold shoulder? Would they find humility among us or pride? Cooperation or division?
I suppose they would find a mixture of all these things. We are not perfect. We are just as sinful as any who might walk through those doors. But we must never become comfortable in that sin. Instead of tucking our sin away, trying to cover it up, we expose it to the light of God’s Word. That is no easy thing. It is not fun to have our sins uncovered. It is easy enough to shine the light on the sins of other people. But when that light shines on us, we want to hide our wrongs.
The apostle John writes, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” When we hear “brother,” we think “male sibling.” But here the term is not used for our biological family. It is used for our spiritual family. We are all “brothers,” because we are “all sons of God, through faith” as the Bible says (Gal. 3:26). Through faith, we join Jesus in His position as the Father’s only Son, which means that all the honor and glory the Father bestows on His exalted Son is also given to us.
In this way, every believer in Jesus is totally equal: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). We are equally redeemed by God, equally forgiven, equally treasured. Since He loves us this way without distinctions, this is how we should love one another. By our willing and cheerful love toward each other, we show that “we have passed out of death into life.” We are not lost in the devil’s darkness. We are not consumed by hatred. We love as God has loved us.
When one Christian does not love another Christian, this is not justifiable in God’s sight. That does not stop us from trying to justify it. Like the guests in the Holy Gospel for today who had all kinds of excuses why they couldn’t attend the master’s banquet (Luk. 14:16-24), we make excuses for why we don’t have to love our brothers in Christ. Our lack of love sounds like this:
- “How could I possibly love her after what she did to me?”
- “I won’t apologize to him unless he apologizes to me first!”
- “She always has to get her way!”
- “He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”
- “Things would be a lot better around here if they were gone.”
- “I’m not sorry for them—they got what they deserved!”
- “We’ve always done it this way, and if they don’t like it, they can leave!”
- “If they don’t go along with what I think, then I’ll just stop coming!”
These are not statements of love. They are statements of selfishness and pride. If those sins are not exposed to the light, it is only a short step to anger, resentment, and hatred. In God’s view, hatred is murder, and “no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” So there must be repentance—a heartfelt recognition of your own failings, a real sorrow over sin. It is easier to see the sins in others, but God’s Law uncovers the sins in your own heart. You are no better than they are, and you may even be worse.
The only one who is justified in holding sins against others is God. He has done wrong to no one. He is perfect. He has the right to condemn us to eternal punishment in hell for breaking His holy Law. But God does not rain His terrors upon us and smash us with the hammer of His justice. He loves us. “God is love” (1Jo. 4:16). God loved the world in this way, “that he gave his only Son” (Joh. 3:16). He gave His only Son to be our ultimate brother.
If God has given you a brother in your family, what are the qualities you like about him? Is he a good listener? Does he often have your back? Is he thoughtful? Funny? Is he someone you can always count on? But along with all the good qualities, I’m sure there are things you do not like about your brother. Maybe he is too stubborn, or he is not assertive enough. Maybe he makes some boneheaded decisions. Maybe he let you down when you were really counting on him.
Jesus is the ultimate brother. He has never failed you, never been too busy for you. You’ve never had to wonder whether He had your best interests in mind. But He has done more than “be there for you.” Every time you disobeyed God’s commands and sinned against Him, Jesus took the fall for you. When the Law like a strict classroom teacher asks, “Who did that? Tell me right now or everyone gets punished!” Jesus raised His hand and said, “I did.”
When you spoke harshly about someone or spread gossip to harm their reputation, Jesus said, “It was Me.” When you became angry and wished harm on another, Jesus said, “I did that.” When you made excuses for why someone in need was not worthy of love, Jesus said, “Put the blame on Me.” When you did not get what you wanted, and you hardened your heart against those God has given you to love, Jesus said, “I’m the guilty one. Take it out on Me.”
And God did. God took out all His righteous anger against sin on His Son. That is why the Lord came down from heaven to be our brother in the flesh. Jesus came to suffer and die for all the wrongs we had done, as though He were the one who did them. He let Himself be condemned and despised in everyone’s place, so He could save all. Because of His sacrifice, we are no longer destined for eternal punishment but for eternal life. That is love! “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us.”
Since He has redeemed us from our hatred and our failure to love, we are now free to love in His name. We are part of His holy body by faith. Our life is hidden in His. So we don’t have to find the motivation and the strength for love inside ourselves. The gap may be too wide between us and another brother. We don’t know how we could possibly bring ourselves to reconcile. But where love is lacking in us, it is not lacking in our Savior.
We find love for others in His love for us and for them. He has died for each of our sins. Jesus has removed the division between us and the Father, and He wants to remove the divisions between us and our brothers. This requires humility and repentance and sacrifice, not just on the part of those opposed to us, but on our part. The Holy Spirit works these things in us through His Word.
He shows us how little we deserve from God, but how incredibly much He has given. He guides us to bring our frustrations and grievances before our dear Father’s throne. He brings us healing and peace through Him who sacrificed everything for us out of love. As Jesus “laid down His life for us,” the Holy Spirit now leads us to “lay down our lives for the brothers.” He leads us to share the abundant goods we have been given with a “brother in need.” He leads us to love not only “in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
We are not bound together with our brothers by our own love. Our love for each other comes from Jesus. Through His holy Word and Sacraments, He fills us again and again with His love, so we have ample love to share with one another. “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity” (Psa. 133:1), when We Abide Together in Jesus’ Love.
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)
The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Hebrews 9:11-15
In Christ Jesus, who offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and who still intercedes for us before His Father in heaven, dear fellow redeemed:
You have probably talked with people who pin their troubles and failures in life on one thing. They just can’t get past that one thing or let it go. Maybe it is regret that they turned right instead of left when the road ahead branched in two directions. Maybe they are filled with bitterness toward someone who wronged them many years ago. Maybe they think that if they had just stayed with that special individual or pursued that job opportunity, their life would have been much happier and more prosperous.
I suppose the same thoughts have crossed our minds. We think how it would be now if we could just go back and change one thing. The movie It’s a Wonderful Life plays off that idea. The main character gets the chance to see how things would have been different if he had followed his original plan and not stayed in his hometown. He realizes in the end that he didn’t have it so bad after all. But we don’t have that benefit. We can’t see how our lives would be without those decisions and experiences. So it is easy to dwell on the past, to live with regret, to carry the burdens of bad choices and sinful actions. What we wouldn’t give for a clear conscience!
Well, what would you give? What would you give if you could wipe away the bad memories and the bad decisions? If the stain on your past is bad enough, maybe you would give anything to remove it. You would go broke if it would undo the wrong. You might even endure intense physical pain if it could deliver you a clear conscience.
You don’t know what a blessing a clear conscience is until your conscience is troubled. It’s like how we are currently wishing we could go about our normal business with no threat of a fast-spreading virus. We wish we could visit family members and friends. We wish we could go back to church! The things we easily took for granted before are much more valuable to us now. That’s how it is with the conscience. You don’t think much about it until it accuses you, weighs down on you like a heavy burden.
But that doesn’t make the conscience bad. It is very important to have a functioning conscience. In fact, our eternal fate depends on it. The conscience functions properly as long as it is guided by God’s law. So when a person feels guilt for doing harm to his neighbor through actions or words, his conscience is working properly. The conscience is doing what God intends when any breaking of the Commandments in our thoughts, words, or deeds registers in our mind and heart. We want our conscience to do this, but it is hardly pleasant.
In Psalms 31 and 32, David described the heavy burden of a guilty conscience: “Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away” (31:9-10). “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer” (32:3-4). It is no fun to have a guilty conscience. The pressure it applies is intense. But the conscience can be unburdened. And you and I can move beyond the regrets of the past.
The author of the Book of Hebrews explains how. He describes the Old Testament sacrifices which were offered by a priest on behalf of the people. At God’s command, the priest purified all things—including himself—with animal blood, with the blood of goats and lambs and calves and bulls. But no amount of sacrifices could cleanse the people from all their sin. How could the offering of earthly things for sin prevail before the God of heaven?
This is why God sent a Lamb from heaven to earth. He sent His eternally-begotten Son, true God with Him and the Holy Spirit. He sent Him to be at the same time a perfect High Priest and a perfect Sacrifice. As High Priest, Jesus “entered… into the holy places.” The temple with the Holy Place and Most Holy Place was still standing at that time, but Jesus did not enter those places. He entered the holy places of heaven “by means of his own blood.”
Jesus was a Lamb “without blemish.” He had perfectly followed His Father’s will. He had nothing to be ashamed of, no past transgressions that caused Him regret. Even while He was wrongly accused, beaten, and sent to the cross, He maintained a pure conscience. He let these unjust things happen to Him out of love for us. The cross was the altar on which He was sacrificed for our sin. That is where the holy Lamb of God was pierced and blood flowed from His wounds.
The author of Hebrews tells us that by His death, Jesus redeemed us from our transgressions committed under God’s law. His death means that all our sins which bother our conscience and make us feel guilty—even wrongs committed long ago—are completely atoned for. His blood has made full satisfaction for all our sins.
But hearing those words may not immediately unburden your conscience, especially if you have been carrying a load of guilt for a long time. You know that God does not look at those sins anymore, but you do. You can’t clear out the memory of the wrong, the hurt that was caused, the damage that was done. Can you ever hope to have a clear conscience again?
Let’s go back to today’s text. It says that God’s Son took on flesh, so that He could offer Himself in our place. It says that “by means of His own blood,” He secured “an eternal redemption.” With His saving work complete, He returned to “the holy places” of heaven. There He sits at the right hand of His Father as “the mediator of a new covenant.”
A mediator is a go-between, an arbitrator. This person equally represents two sides which are divided. Our sin separated us from God, but Jesus our Mediator brought us back together. He is the perfect Mediator because He is both God and Man. As the inspired letter to Timothy states: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time” (1Ti. 2:5-6).
Jesus continues to function as our Mediator even now. When we sin, He points His Father to the blood He shed on our behalf. “I poured out My blood for that sin, and that sin, and that sin,” He says. “My blood cleanses them from all sin” (1Jo. 1:7). That includes the sins of your past, the ones you still feel guilty about, the ones you would give anything to undo.
There is nothing you can do to make up for those sins. So many people try. They try to bury sin deep. But it always seems to find its way back to the surface. They try to cancel out the bad by doing good. But there is no winning that game, and they know it. Some even hurt themselves or withdraw from others in the hope that by punishing themselves, they can right a wrong. But none of those things work. They all fail.
There is only one path to a clear conscience, and that is Christ. He took your place. He claimed your sin as His own. He offered Himself as the target for your iniquities and misdeeds. He let His Father pour out His righteous wrath against Him. He paid in anguish, suffering, and death for every sin that you and I and the whole world have done.
He shed His blood on the cross to “purify our conscience.” When He died, we are told that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two” (Mat. 27:51, Mar. 15:38, Luk. 23:45). This was the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. The tearing of this curtain showed that all people now had access to God’s throne of grace through Jesus’ blood. This includes you. You have access to God’s never-changing grace by faith in Jesus. He purifies your conscience from “dead works,” from all those attempts to make things right on your own. Only He can grant forgiveness and peace, and that is what He wants you to have.
Your Baptism is a clear testimony of this. Your Baptism was “an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1Pe. 3:21). Baptism delivered you a cleansed and purified conscience because it joined you to Jesus, whose righteousness is perfect (Heb. 10:22). And in the Lord’s Supper, He continues to bring cleansing for the sins you have committed and repented of, by giving you His body and blood to eat and drink.
So What Would You Give for a Clear Conscience? You don’t need to give anything. Jesus gave Himself for you. His holy blood cleanses you—including your troubled conscience—from all sin. In Jesus, and only in Him, you have a bright future. The road behind you may be covered in darkness and regrets and what-ifs. But the road ahead is illuminated by the light of God’s Word. Jesus leads you forward on this path toward your life’s end. Then He will take you into heaven. There you will not remember your record of sin, and you will live with a pure heart and a clear conscience for all eternity.
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 is from the altarpiece in Weimar by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1555)
Midweek Lent – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: Exodus 29:38-46
In Christ Jesus, who “loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2), dear fellow redeemed:
Besides the annual Passover celebration that God commanded His people to observe, He also instituted the practice of daily sacrifices in the tabernacle. This happened after the Israelites had been led out of slavery in Egypt and set up camp near Mt. Sinai. God gave Moses instructions for building a portable tabernacle where He would be present to bless the people. He also called Moses’ brother Aaron to serve as a priest along with his sons.
The first part of Exodus chapter 29 describes the consecration of these priests. It was not just a matter of Moses asking them to repeat certain words after him followed by a handshake. The consecration process was quite elaborate. Aaron and his sons had to be washed with water and clothed in clean vestments. Then a bull was brought, they laid their hands on its head, and it was slaughtered for a sin offering. Next they laid their hands on the head of a ram. It was slaughtered, its blood was thrown against the sides of the altar, and the parts of the ram were placed on the altar for a burnt offering.
Then they laid their hands on the head of another ram, which was also slaughtered. Its blood was put “on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet” (v. 20). This blood covered them from head to toe, so that they were ready to hear the Word of God (ear), handle the holy things of God (hands), and walk on the holy ground before God (toes). The rest of the blood was thrown on the altar and sprinkled on the garments of the priests.
There were even more requirements besides these. But this much shows the prominent place of blood in cleansing sinful men. Aaron and his sons could not come before God by their own personal preparations. They had no resources to make themselves holy. It was the LORD who set them apart for His holy work, and He used animal blood to do it. Why animal blood? He later explained through Moses that “the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life” (Lev. 17:14). The un-holiness of mankind required the shedding of blood. The life of one could only be redeemed through the death of another.
Once Aaron and his sons had been consecrated for the LORD’s work, they were commanded to offer two lambs as sacrifices each day. This is described in today’s text. Each lamb was a year old. One was offered in the morning and the other at twilight. Like waking up to the smell of a fresh-cooked breakfast or coming home to a dinner hot out of the oven, these sacrifices were “a pleasing aroma” to the LORD.
The word “pleasing” in Hebrew can also be translated as “soothing” or even “tranquilizing.” It is the word used to describe Noah’s burnt offering after the flood waters had receded and the ark had settled on dry ground. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma of the sacrifice and said, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Gen. 8:21-22). The offerings of a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the evening had the same effect. It was a soothing aroma to God. It was evidence that His people were humbly keeping His Word.
We are taught to practice something similar as we return to our Baptism each day by repentance and faith. In teaching about the meaning of Baptism, Martin Luther writes: “Such baptizing with water means that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts; and that a new man daily come forth and arise, who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever” (Small Catechism).
One way to remind yourself of this daily return to Baptism is to confess your sins and give thanks for forgiveness as you wash your face or take a shower at the beginning of the day. The same goes for the end of the day as you put on fresh clothes and wash before bed. The hymnwriter Paul Gerhardt wrote about this practice in one of his evening hymns: “To rest my body hasteth, / Aside its garments casteth, / Types of mortality; / These I put off and ponder / How Christ shall give me yonder / A robe of glorious majesty” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #569, v. 4).
The LORD is pleased with our daily practice of repenting and clinging to His promises, just as He was pleased with those twice a day sacrifices. As long as the people continued in His Word, He promised to be present in the tabernacle and to “dwell among the people of Israel” and “be their God.” He came to share His holiness with them and bless them.
This same merciful God still draws near to bless us. He does not come to only one location like the tabernacle or temple in Old Testament times. He comes to every place where His holy Word is heard or read or even meditated upon in the heart or mind. Through His Word, He applies the cleansing blood of Jesus to our whole person from head to toe—our sinful mind, heart, hands, and feet. Our un-holiness required the shedding of Jesus’ holy blood. Our lives could be redeemed only through the loss of His. He took all our sins on Himself and suffered our death, and in exchange He gives us His holiness and eternal life.
By His presence through the Word, the LORD strengthens our faith to endure through good and bad times. Like the people of Israel journeying through the wilderness, we often feel vulnerable and afraid. We wonder what the future will hold for us, especially in times like these. But God does not abandon His people. He dwells among us, protects us, and comforts us through His powerful Word. He is the LORD our God, “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exo. 34:6). Thanks be to Him! Amen.
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(picture is “The Sacrificial Lamb” by Josefa de Ayala, 1630-1684)
The Second Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7
In Christ Jesus, “who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1Co. 1:30), dear fellow redeemed:
If you grew up in the same neighborhood with a person who later became famous, you would be proud that you knew him. If you were a relative of his, you would feel even more special. If you were his friend, you would enjoy certain benefits and have some influence in his life. But if you were a member of his family, you would have a share in his fame, his honor, and his success. The closer you were to him, the greater effect it would have on your life.
The same goes for our closeness to God. The closer we are to Him, the greater effect He has on our lives. But how do we get close to God? Some say that closeness to God is achieved through prayer; they never feel as close to Him as when they pray. Others think they can get close to God by living a good life. They hope that if they are good enough, God will be happy with them and bless them.
But in reality, there is nothing we can do to get ourselves closer to God. How could the unholy get closer by their own efforts to the Holy One? How could the impure and unclean enter the presence of Him who is and ever has been without sin? The unbelieving world seeks to bring God down to our level. The world supposes that if there is a God, He would generally support the personal decisions each of us makes. He is portrayed as a supportive god, a smiley god, a non-judgmental god. “He is a god I can relate to,” people think, “because he is a lot like me.”
That is not the God of the Bible. The true God does not approve of our sinful behavior. He wants us to turn from our sins and seek His forgiveness. This is clearly illustrated in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. If you are taking part in the two-year reading plan of the Bible that we started a couple months ago, you might be wading through Leviticus now. It doesn’t capture the attention like Genesis and Exodus do. Leviticus gives so many detailed rules and regulations that it’s hard to imagine living like the Israelites did. It seems like there was almost nothing they could do that would be considered clean in God’s sight.
And that was really the point. God wanted to impress on His people the difference between His holiness and their un-holiness. He wanted them to understand that they were not God. They were not free to do whatever their desires led them to do. Their only hope for salvation from sin and eternal life in heaven was through Him.
God emphasized this by the animal sacrifices He required for their sins. The people brought bulls, goats, and sheep for their sin offerings. These animals had to be without blemish. Whoever brought one laid his hand on the animal’s head before it was killed to signify the placing of his sins on the sacrifice. Then it was given as a burnt offering by the priests “to make atonement for him” (Lev. 1:4). The congregation of Israel was never done with sacrifices because it was never done with sin.
They were not holy enough to ascend to God, but the holy God was willing to come down to them. He settled in a cloud in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle above the mercy seat. A chosen priest could only enter the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement. The priest entered on behalf of the people bringing their sins, and he exited on behalf of God bringing His holiness. The LORD promised the people that in this way, “You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins” (Lev. 16:30).
So closeness to God was initiated by Him. The people confessed their un-holiness, and the holy God came to them with forgiveness and healing. As impressive as it would have been to see a cloud stretch down from the heavens and drop into the Most Holy Place, God had something greater planned. The Father would send down His holy Son, not hidden in a cloud but covered in our flesh. He came to offer Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for sin. No more slaughtering of animals for burnt offerings. No more sprinkling of blood on the LORD’s altar and on the mercy seat.
When Jesus breathed His last on the cross, the evangelists report that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Mat. 27:51, Mar. 15:38, Luk. 23:45). This was not the result of a natural phenomenon. God did it. He showed by the tearing of the curtain that holiness should not be sought from the LORD anymore in the Most Holy Place. Holiness would be found in the presence of His only Son, who by His death had destroyed death, atoned for sin, and crushed Satan’s head.
After His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples He would be with them always, to the end of the age (Mat. 28:20). That remained true even after He visibly ascended into heaven. He was still with them, but how could they be assured of His presence? Jesus told them and all believers after them exactly where He could be found. He could be found always in His Word and Sacraments.
These are the ways our Lord Jesus still draws near to us today. These are the ways He imparts His holiness to us who are unholy. Like the priest who entered the Most Holy Place bringing the people’s sins, so we bring our sins to the Lord both here in church and in our personal confession. And the Lord brings His holiness to us through His Word. This is how we are sanctified by God throughout our lives. This is how the Holy Spirit makes us holy. It is all done through His holy Word, and it is all done by Him.
But we can reject this sanctifying work. We can keep ourselves from His holiness by giving ourselves over to unholy pursuits. Paul mentions one of these unholy pursuits in today’s text: sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage. Our culture thinks that “committed” and “consensual” are the appropriate standards for sex. God says it is marriage between one man and one woman. That is the only place to exercise sexual passion in a God-pleasing way. St. Paul writes that the faithful should pursue “holiness and honor” in sexual matters. They should not operate “in the passion of lust like the Gentiles—unbelievers—who do not know God.”
There are other ways to reject the Lord’s sanctifying work beyond actively pursuing sin. One is to keep ourselves from the holy Word. It is to place a higher priority on any number of other things, whether that be family time or work or athletic competition or recreation. Those things are all good in their own way, but they are certainly not better than God’s presence through His Word. They are earthly things, temporary things. God’s Word imparts eternal things.
At the same time, it is possible to be in the presence of the Lord but still reject His holiness. We could be every Sunday church-goers, but we are simply going through the motions. We are not particularly troubled by our sins. We are not all that interested in changing our sinful habits. We feel like we are pretty holy already. The holy Lord is present here through His Word and Sacraments, but we can deny His work through our self-righteousness and pride.
So here we are, each of us aware of our own sins. By nature we are an unholy people. We have done the things God said we must not do, and we have not done the things we should have. But the Lord does not turn us sinners away. He comes still to wash our unclean hearts and minds. He comes to cleanse us from our sins of thought, word, and deed, whether those be sexual sins, sins of spiritual laziness, or sins of pride.
It does not matter how you have defiled yourself in the past. You have not committed a sin that God does not forgive. King David was an adulterer, a murderer, and a liar. The apostle Paul before his conversion worked for the imprisonment and murder of Christians. These men were forgiven of their sins, and so are you.
The Lord is not here to destroy you. He is here in grace to forgive you and bless you. He is not ashamed to meet you in your un-holiness. He is not ashamed to be associated with you. You are more than just an acquaintance of His, more than a distant relative, even more than His friend. You are God’s own child, and you share flesh and blood with Christ your Brother.
He does not wait for you to get yourself holy enough to come into His presence. That would never happen. He brings His holiness to you. He sanctifies you. The Holy Lord Sanctifies You through His Holy Word. The closer you are to Him because of His coming to you, the more you are changed and the more His work is done in 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 of the tabernacle of Israel)