Lent 5

 

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

    Boy, Jesus just seems... mean to our ears today, doesn't He? I mean, aren't you a little bit taken aback at the vigor with which Jesus argues? Isn't Jesus supposed to be kind and loving, isn't He supposed to be nice and make me feel good? Part of the problem with hearing a text like this is we are Americans, which means we all live in a consumerist culture, where we are surrounded by salesmen and liars. So much of our world is driven by advertisements and PR firms, mastering the art of the deal. And, of course, if you are in sales, you do what you have to do to close the deal. As the old movie line goes – put that coffee down, coffee's for closers only. Do whatever you have to do to make the sale. And so, we as Americans are simply used to people selling us things – trying to win us over, trying to make us purchase something, choose brand X over brand Y. The customer is always right, right? Of course the problem with sales is that they aren't always the most truthful. The fast food burger in my bag at the drive thru just never quite looks like the one on the billboard. So often the gadget might be the latest, but the greatest is a stretch. Tin fiddles, lemons, pieces of junk. But we're used to it, we buy, we consume, and if the truth gets massaged or mangled a little bit on the way, so be it.

    But the problem for us today isn't just false advertising out there. We can end up importing this approach to how we view Church. There have been countless fads for how to market the church through the decades – movements to make it relevant or hit felt needs, attempts to make it more exciting or “extreme”. I think the hipster pastors are finally falling out of vogue, but I'm sure there will be some new sales trend for the church coming down the pike. And with all of them, if the truth is stretched or skirted around or twisted a bit, so be it – as long as it packs people in, as long as it closes the religious deal, it's good. If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. Come on, preacher, tell me what I want to hear!

    That's not what Jesus does. Jesus isn't interested in sales, manipulation, anything like that. His focus is on something else – the truth. And the fact is quite often we can't handle the truth. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. People are terrified of the truth. We're not used to it, we're used to the comfortable, enticing lie – and we like those lies. We like living in our denial. But Jesus doesn't come to play up those lies; He comes to rescue us from them. Just prior to our text, our Lord said “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Free. Sound great, but it's freed from our sin, our delusions, the things we are stuck in. God's truth doesn't sell us anything, rather it confronts us, and it attacks and shakes us. Because it deals with the blunt truth and we don't like it.

    You see, God’s Law is an unpleasant thing. You want an example of God’s Law being unpleasant – look at our Old Testament lesson. Hear what God commands Abraham to do – Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering. . . . That’s a statement of Law right there. Isaac is going to die. And he deserves death. Abraham can’t argue against it – Abraham knows that he himself hasn’t done anything to earn this child –Abraham was old, so was Sarah, they shouldn’t have even ever gotten Isaac, and if God wants Isaac back… well, Abraham can’t gainsay God here. If God wants Isaac dead, well, that’s the wages of sin.

    That’s hard. That is hard to bear – that is a harsh truth. We don’t like that truth. Think about how much work and effort people will put into justifying themselves, into escaping the blame for something – even when there is no punishment, even when admitting that you’ve done wrong only might mean that someone doesn’t think as well of you for a few days. We will duck and dance – it’s not my fault. Oh, how we will try to sell that false image of ourselves! And what about when something doesn’t go right in our life - We will get angry and rail – how can you do this to me God! This is not proper customer service, I demand to talk to a manager! I don’t deserve this. Eh, that’s not true. Your toil in this life is nothing – you deserve death. Apart from God rescuing you, you're toast. That’s what the truth is, that what God says in His Word. That’s what gets the Pharisees in our Gosepl lesson so steamed at Jesus.

    Abraham trusted the Lord, though; Abraham knew that God’s Word was more than just a word of Law – but also a word of Gospel, a word of mercy. That’s why he’s bold to take Isaac, that’s why he tells the servants who stay behind that they both will come back down the mount – Abraham trusts in God’s mercy – God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. And we see that God does do so – a ram is given to take Isaac’s place. Imagine the joy that Abraham would have had at being stopped, at looking up and seeing the ram and knowing that his Isaac would live. That's a real gift, not some disposable piece of junk found on markdown. This is the joy that Christ speaks of in the Gospel – Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. Of course Abraham rejoiced – because God would spare Abraham’s son Isaac at the cost of His own Son, Christ Jesus. This is the heart of the Gospel – not that there are no consequences to sin, not that our sin doesn’t matter or doesn’t deserve death – but rather this – Christ Jesus has come and has born up the weight of sin in our place, that He suffers and dies for us upon the Cross, that with His death and resurrection He sets us free from sin and its burden. This is the great and wondrous word of the Gospel – this is what the Gospel truly is – that you are forgiven by God not on account of your works, not on account of your effort, but on account of the precious death and resurrection of Christ Jesus your Lord.

    And yet – the Pharisees in the text are still angry, still reject Christ after he explains this. People today still reject it. Why? Because the Gospel truth is this – that Jesus is your Savior. The Gospel makes sense only if you know and believe the Law. Jesus doesn’t get rid of the Law, He fulfills it to be your Savior. If Jesus is your Savior – it means that you need to be saved, it means that you sin, that you aren’t perfectly fine as you are, that you're not always the victim and sometimes some things actually are your fault. And Jesus isn't going to butter you up. You can’t preach the Gospel without preaching the Law first – because the two go hand in hand. And the people who try to ignore reality and God's Law will also have to reject the Gospel when they hear it. God's word reveals the truth that we are sinners and that we need Jesus, a Jesus who saves us, not a Jesus who placates us. So that's what Jesus does – He does whatever is required to win salvation and take on sin – even our sin, even the sin we like. And Jesus sticks to the truth; He won't hedge anything just to sell us on His plan. It's His way, not our way.

    So what do we make of all of this? We see that all too many people don’t like the truth of God’s Word. They don’t like the Law rightly preached – calling their sin what it is – sin, and pointing out that it is wrong and deserves punishment. They don’t like the Gospel either – the truth that God and God alone is our Savior, without any worth or merit in us. First, we need remember that this applies to us as well. It is not just people out there who do not like God’s truth – your own sinful flesh will rebel against it – we like to be catered to as well. That is why we have a focus on repentance, that is why we are to daily drown our old Adam and our desires and instead to be focused upon Christ. That is why we are to come here and hear preaching, hear absolution, receive Christ’s Body and Blood for our forgiveness and the strengthening of our faith – so that we ourselves don’t fall away.

    But also this. We are tempted, especially in this day and age, to soft sell God’s truth. To try and make it more appealing to sinful man, to accommodate people's sin, to play to “their truth” rather than God's truth. We are tempted to put what people want to hear over what God says. We are tempted to not be proclaimers of Christ Jesus, but rather peddlers of our own plans and programs. But let's be honest – that's not the way. Consider you yourself – you have been brought to faith and you have been kept in that faith by what – by God’s Word rightly preached and rightly taught. By the truth – the law in its sternness, the gospel in its sweetness. That’s the same thing the people who don’t believe right now need – the same thing your family and friends need as well. The truth is that they are in need of God’s love – to know that God richly loves them and offers them salvation and forgiveness – that this isn't a sales pitch with strings attached. Speak them the Word, over and over again, even if they don’t like it. That doesn’t mean be a jerk about it, but be honest and truthful, even when the truth is difficult and hard to hear, and the Holy Spirit will work faith when and where He wills. That’s why in the Scriptures we see Christ speak the truth. And He speaks it over and over again – and some never like it – but because our Lord preaches again and again – some do end up believing. Because the Apostles preach God’s Word in its truth, some do end up believing. Because faithful Christians, Pastors, parents, friends spoke God’s Word in truth and purity to you, you believe. God grant that we would speak God’s Word rightly, so that others might know what God’s truth is, so that the Holy Spirit might work, not through the plans we dream up, but that the Spirit might work through the Word which He places upon our lips.

    The world doesn't need another salesman. It doesn't need more deals or discounts. It needs to be rescued and delivered from the pervasive power of Satan, that runs lies and deceit and death and chaos all around us. And this is what Christ Jesus does, and He does so continually and faithfully in His Word and Sacraments. This is our hope, and it never changes. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +