Lent 5

Lent 5 – April 6^th and 7^th, 2019 – John 8:42-59

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason that you do not hear them is that you are not of God. And thus Christ Jesus throws down the gauntlet before the scribes and the pharisees. All of Chapter 8 in John is describing discussions Jesus has in Jerusalem, discussions where He proclaims the truth about sin and mercy, and people don't like it. So Jesus calls a spade a spade. You don't listen to God's Word because you are not of God, because you don't trust God, because you hate God.

These proud people try to fight back against Jesus. The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” That sounds a bit too formal for us – here is what they are saying. “I knew it! I knew it! This guy's a (insert racial slur of your choice) and possessed! He's crazy!” That's why we aren't listening to you Jesus, you are trash and nuts – we will dehumanize You and belittle you as an excuse to ignore You. Ponder that for a moment. The Pharisees use language designed to treat Jesus as less than human, when He is in fact both True God and True man, the best human being who ever lived. But do you hear how far gone these people criticizing Jesus are? They are completely caught and wrapped up in trying to fight off Jesus and His Word in anyway possible.

And I could go over the argument blow by blow – but let's cut to the chase. Why? Why are these people so adamant that they must tear down Jesus? It's all a matter of trust. Remember from two weeks ago – When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted. The armor in which he trusted. There were many things that the Jewish people of Christ's day trusted in. The Pharisees trusted in their piety – and Jesus pokes holes in that. The Scribes trusted in their knowledge – and Jesus pokes holes in that. The Saducees trusted in how sophisticated they were, the Priests in the glory of the Temple – and over and over Jesus pokes holes in that. But there was one thing, one fall back that all the Jewish people trusted in. You'll hear it in a moment.

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death.” What a great promise from Jesus. Anyone who clings to His Word, who hears and listens to Jesus will not see death! You aren't going to see death or the grave – you die and today you are with Me in Paradise – that's what Jesus is here to do! Fantastic! And yet – what is the response to this wondrous promise? “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, 'If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste death.' Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do You make Yourself out to be?” Did you hear it? Where do they flee to, what's the thing they they all have in common? Abraham. Their heritage. When push comes to shove, and when their standing, their reputation is at stake, what is their fall back position? Abraham. Abraham is our father. Abraham is awesome, so we win because he's our father. My dad can beat up your dad. (If there's anything more stupid to say to the Son of God than “my dad can beat up Your Dad” I can't think of it right now.) That was their pride, that was what they trusted in. They turned their lineage, they turned Abraham into an idol. And how dare You assert, Jesus, that You are greater than Abraham. How dare You say that You are greater than our idol.

And they missed the point. They missed the point completely. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad. Abraham wasn't focused on how great he was. He knew how weak he was. Abraham looked towards the LORD, looked towards the coming of the Messiah to rescue him, to rescue his son Isaac. Of course Abraham saw the day of Christ – Abraham heard it when the LORD Jesus said, “don't kill Isaac – I'll provide a substitute.” Abraham saw it when he looked up and there was a ram caught in the thicket – a placeholder until the LORD Himself would become Man and be the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and puts an end to all sacrifices and destroys death and redeems us all. Jesus is the One who saved Abraham, who saved Isaac – if Abraham didn't hear the word of God telling him to stop, Isaac would have died and none of you blowhards would have been born! It's not about how great Abraham is, or how great any sinful human being is, it is about how great and rich God is to save through the Messiah, and that's what you've forgotten.

Bah, you've seen Abraham? Of course, because I AM. I AM the LORD. Abraham is my friend, and I blessed Him greatly. And at that, they determine to kill Him. How dare Jesus say that He is God, that He is better than their chosen idol. They have to kill Him – it's either Jesus or their idol, one has to go – and so Jesus has to go.

This lesson, my friends, was not written so we would be able to look at those people then and say, “Oh, how silly they are.” No, it was written to warn us, to silence our complaints, to keep us from ignoring the Word as they did. So, I will ask the question – when push comes to shove, when you are attacked or belittled, when you get called on something – how do you respond? If someone launches a devastating attack upon you in an argument, what's your go-to defense? There's a ton of possibilities – pshaw, don't they know how hard I work? I do more than them. I've been a member here longer than them. I've been a Lutheran all my life. My kids are better than theirs, I mean have you seen how lousy they turned out? Don't they see how successful I am – who are they to talk? On and on the list could go. So think about it, when someone pokes you about something that you've done wrong, and you know it, you know that they're on point, that they've hit a sore spot, how do you hit back? How do you belittle them and elevate yourself?

Because you know what that response is? That's your armor in which your sinful flesh trusts. That's your idol.

We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things – but when push comes to shove what do you want to trust? What card do you play? What is the trump that you think will carry the day? That's your idol. And really, if you think about the fights and arguments we get into, they really are just a battle of our idols against each other. My idol is this, so I bang her over the head with it, and her idol is that, and so she whacks me with that – back and forth, smashing our idols into each other.

And the saddest part – a lot of times our idols aren't bad. We idolize our good works – well, your works are a gift to you from God. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. They are a gift from God, yet we turn them into an idol. I've been a Christian all my life – well, that's a gift from God, yet we turn that into an idol. My family, my possessions, all those things – again, gifts from God. These are first article gifts – the things listed off in the meaning of the first article of the Creed – He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. All gifts from God... and instead of simply receiving them as gifts, we weaponize them and use them to bash our neighbor.

But the real danger is when we want to use them against God. When we want to use these gifts as an excuse to ignore God and His Word. When we trust in these gifts instead of the One who gave them. The most dangerous idol isn't something that is bad – if something is outright evil and wicked it will come back to bite you. Eventually, hopefully with those you'll hit bottom. But the worst idol, the most dangerous one is the best thing about ourselves, the richest and most wonderful blessings given to us by God that we then turn against Him. It was a fantastic blessing to be a Jew, to be a child of Abraham – yet they turned that against Jesus and used it as an excuse to ignore Him. Likewise, Satan will tempt you to use to best gifts you have received from God as an excuse to ignore God, to pretend that you don't really need a Savior. After all – don't you see all the nice things I do, and I've been a good member here for a while, and see all my stuff and my success.

Sorry folks. Those blessings don't say a thing about you. You are and remain a sinful, selfish human being. And the wages of sin is death. And you can't get out of it. He who dies with the most toys... still dies. But this is where God Almighty, in His wondrous mercy acts. Those temporal blessings – those really are about Him – He chooses to give them to you without any merit or worth in you, simply because He delights in giving. But more than just temporal blessings – the Father sends the Son to the cross, so that father Abraham would not see his son Isaac die. Jesus goes to the cross because sin means there must be death, your sin means there must be death, no matter how much we want to pretend that this isn't the case it is – and so Jesus says, “I will go to the cross, and I will die – and all who keep hearing My Words will hear Christ the Crucified proclaimed – and they will have life.” You, you have and you will have life in Christ – because by His Word and Spirit He takes away the armor you trust in and fixes your eyes upon Himself. You are of God, His own child, Baptized, called, enlightened, redeemed, and sanctified. And in Christ, you live, and you receive every blessing of both body and soul, now and forever.

And the time is come. Next week – Palm Sunday – the triumphal entry, and then the Passion of our LORD, the true triumph over our sin, over Satan, over death itself. And all of this is done for your good, to be a blessing to you, a blessing greater than all the other wonderful blessings God freely gives. And why? Because Jesus loves you, and He loves forgiving you. And He always will. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +