No White Stallion, No Golden Lion, But a Gray Donkey for Jesus

Palm Sunday

March 29, 2015

Mark 11:1-11

No White Stallion, No Golden Lion, But a Gray Donkey for Jesus

In the name of the Father and of † the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

So now it is time. Jesus is about to enter into Jerusalem for the final days before He is crucified for us. And the way in which He enters the city gates reveals much about who He is and how He chooses to save us.

On the one hand, He reveals that He is true God when He sends two of His disciples ahead to go get His ride. He knows where the colt is, that no one has ever ridden on its back, and that when they are challenged, their answer, "The Lord needs to borrow the animal," would satisfy them. How did He know all that? He's God and indeed He knew what that donkey had eaten that morning and who its mother was and even knew its lineage going all the back to Noah's ark. So yeah, He knew.

On the other hand, a donkey? Really? Why that animal? Last week I heard that an NFL football player rode into his birthday party on a camel. That's a good choice. That's unexpected and flashy and exotic. Maybe you get a donkey for a kid's birthday party petting zoo. But for a grown up? Never. Not unless they're a rock star or it's an over-the-top theme party for a pro football player.

We have lots of expectations for different kinds of people. How they should talk. How they should carry themselves. What kind of ride they should have. We have expectations for Jesus, too.

Why not a majestic white stallion for Jesus? Why not a fearsome golden lion? Because He didn't come to destroy or to intimidate. He didn't come to use His power. He came to seek and to save the lost by lowering Himself from heaven down to the Virgin's womb. Then He lowered Himself by being born among donkeys and cows and goats. Why not the womb of a queen? Why not at least a royal horse stable?

Throughout His life He lowered Himself further by preaching only the cross and by teaching death that in the end drove away all His followers. Finally He lowered Himself into the grave by being raised up on a cross.

He lowered Himself for you.

The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:11-12)

But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Mark 10:31)

And so Paul explains why Jesus didn't choose a stallion or lion, but a plain young donkey.

He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:8-9)

Jesus didn't ride into Jerusalem to start a war or revolution. He rides in with crowds screaming His name. Yet when He gets to the Temple, He turned around and left the city. He willingly does this, knowing that in a few days, the crowds would be screaming His name again to deadly purpose.

Jesus rides a donkey because that is where He wants to be found: in lowliness that never lives up to our earthly expectations, in lowliness that lifts us up beyond our most hopeful expectations.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Amen. Amen.

Our Gloriously Grainy God

 Fifth Sunday in Lent

March 22, 2015

John 12:24

Our Gloriously Grainy God

†

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Even though the trade Jesus learned from His guardian Joseph was carpentry, Jesus knew about farms and dirt and seeds. Remember this story He told?

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. (Luke 8:5-8)

Of course, Jesus' love and familiarity with seeds and seed-bearing plants isn't surprising; He created them all and makes them grow. He knows the precise location of every seed on planet Earth.

Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches." (Luke 13:18-19)

In the first parable, Jesus describes how He sends pastors to preach the Seed, that is, the Word, to sinners. In the second parable, He describes how His Words that appear weak to the world actually create and sustain saving faith.

So did you catch the parable that Jesus told today? It isn't long; just a sentence or two.

I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24)

Right now farmers and gardeners are thinking about planting seeds. But when Jesus spoke these words, it was harvest time. But His story draws us to think about both planting and harvesting. He points us to the source of life and how His death produces our life.

For example, you have old packets of seeds in your house. You meant to plant them, but haven't gotten around to it. This year you will and the living seeds that were sleepily sitting in the envelope will finally die in the dirt, but then create new life for you to enjoy.

Jesus is like a grain of seed. Unless Jesus dies, He cannot create new life. Like a weak-looking mustard seed, Jesus' death on the cross also looks weak. But we trust His cross as the very place where He plants everlasting glory and strength. This is the reason He came into the world: to die at just the right hour, so that many lives are saved, including yours.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Amen.

The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 15, 2015

John 3:14-15

The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

†

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

It's a coincidence, but it's interesting to note that the books of Genesis and John, which both start, "In the beginning," also share a discussion of snakes in each of their third chapters.

So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel." (Genesis 3:14-15)

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)

Snakes and trees have a lot to do with God's way of saving us from ourselves. The Lord told Adam and Eve not to eat from a certain tree; they sinned and ate the fruit. Then the Lord asked them what happened and they lied to their all-knowing Father. And yet because of His mercy, He curses the devil's snake with destruction and in the same breath promises salvation to Adam's sinful children, us.

Years later, the stubborn children of Abraham are in the wilderness. The Lord had delivered them from Egypt, and they still complained. Just before the snakes came, He had given them a total victory over a foreign army and they still complained like spoiled children,

"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" (Numbers 21:5)

They complained that there was no food. Then they complained that the food was bad. In response to their unfaithfulness, the Lord sent poisonous snakes into their desert camp and many died. Only then did the people repent and turn back to the Lord and ask for salvation from the snakes. So the Lord had Moses make a tall stick with a bronze snake on top. Anyone who was bitten by a real snake could look to that bronze snake and live. Yet it wasn't the ritual of looking that saved; it wasn't magic. What saved them was trust in the promise of the Lord. To put it another way, it wasn't their activity of moving their heads that saved; instead, the Word of the Lord saved them.

Later on the Israelites would sin and rebel in even greater ways and would be punished again. Psalm 78 offers insight on the unfaithful Israelites and their faithful God.

They ate till they had more than enough, for [God] had given them what they craved. But before they turned from the food they craved, even while it was still in their mouths, God's anger rose against them; He put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel. In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of His wonders, they did not believe. So He ended their days in futility and their years in terror. Whenever God slew them, they would seek Him; they eagerly turned to Him again. They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. But then they would flatter Him with their mouths, lying to Him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to Him, they were not faithful to His covenant. Yet He was merciful; He forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. (Psalm 78:29-38a)

We look at Israel and we are astonished at how stubborn and foolish they were. Then we must quickly look back at ourselves and see the same stubbornness and foolishness. Since God isn't visibly leading us through a desert with fire and cloud and a prophet named Moses, our sins don't look so big in comparison. But they are still big.

We eat more than our fill and then complain about the consequences of our gluttony. We don't eat enough and then worry that our appearance isn't changing fast enough. We have so much good food and we rush through it while watching our screens and tapping on our tablets, all the while missing out on the chance to break bread and spend time with our family, the souls that Christ has placed into our lives.

We are spiritual gluttons, too. We sit through the preaching of our sins, knowing that sooner or later (but hopefully sooner) the preacher will run out of steam and start making nice again and will tell us that Jesus still loves us. (And I will.) But our stubborn hearts that sleep through the preaching of God's holy demands that show us our sinfulness will just as surely learn to sleep through the preaching of God's merciful salvation that shows us Jesus.

Jesus proclaimed that the Son of Man must be lifted up. The Son of Man was a special name that Jesus used for Himself. He used it to emphasize His unity with us in our human weakness and mortality.

The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, came to die. He would be lifted up on the cross, which has a double meaning. He's lifted up high, so that He received the ridicule of the world. Look at the divine King of the Christians! How weak He is! Yet this is precisely how He saves His people—He traded His life over to Death as a ransom to set us free from Death. So He is lifted up in shame, yet this shame is His glory and ours. His Friday is black, yet Good.

Like God's people in the desert, we are dying, not from snakes, but from sin. And like the Israelites of the Old Testament Exodus, we Israelites of the New Testament also look to a tree and who is upon it: we look to the cross and see Jesus. His water and blood wash us clean.

In the beginning was God and His Word, now we have the Word of God, and in the end we be lifted up with Him into everlasting life.

Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Amen.

Zeal for Your House Will Consume Me

Third Sunday in Lent

March 8, 2015

John 2:17

Zeal for Your House Will Consume Me

†

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

When you come to church, you find Jesus. In His house, in His Word, in His Sacraments, this is where He chooses to be found by hungry souls and how to feed them with living bread. After feeding the 5,000 in John 6, Jesus said,

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. . . . I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in Him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. (John 6:51, 53-57)

Although there were no Baptisms or Communion in the Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem, the same essential Divine Service was received by the God's people through His Word. And this explains Jesus' correct anger against those who were at best distracting and at worst destroying true trust in God.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father's house into a market!" His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for Your house will consume Me." (John 2:13-17)

Jesus drove out with correct and righteous anger those who serving their love of money, instead of receiving the will of His Father. The Temple was His Father's house and so is our church because this is where God's voice of mercy is heard. Other voices in God's houses of prayer that pull us away from His gracious cross and Sacraments must be driven away. And we do the same with ourselves. St. Paul asked,

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Jesus bought us with His precious blood and His innocent suffering and death on the cross. And so we honor God by receiving forgiveness that pours out on us from His cross that we taste and see that the Lord is good, coming to us through Word and Sacraments. This is where He wants us to enjoy His real presence. He doesn't want you to look for Him in your good works. He doesn't want you to look for Him in your offerings of money at church. He doesn't want you to look for Him in how often you come to church.

We see our businesslike attitude in how we turn coming to church into a negotiation with Jesus. Too often we go when it's convenient, instead of coming like the hungry beggars to eat. Or we go home satisfied that Jesus got something from us since we came to church (and maybe we gave Him some money) and everybody should be happy about that. This is horse-trading with Jesus; this is trying to buy Jesus off like trying to buy off a screaming kid with plastic and sugar. It works on kids, but it really doesn't, and it doesn't work on Jesus.

Dearly beloved, don't trust your business skills when you deal with God; you'll only come out bankrupt. Jesus doesn't need your stuff, your money, your good behavior, or your attendance. He just wants you; He just wants you to receive His gifts of word and blood and body. He zealously desires you to receive His mercy, and this is where you receive Him. This is how He comes to you every Sunday in His Father's house and every day in yours. He comes to you because He is the Temple that was destroyed by us. But He is also the Temple that was raised up on third day.

Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Amen.

No Cross, No Christian

Second Sunday in Lent

March 1, 2015

Mark 8:34

No Cross, No Christian

†

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

There is only one cross that saves you, forgives you. It is the cross of Christ, and by "the cross of Christ" we mean that unique work that Jesus alone finished on that cross outside of Jerusalem a long time ago. His work was to die, to give up His life as a ransom for many, for you. Luther wrote about Jesus' cross work in the Catechism:

He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature,

purchased and won me from all sins,

from death and from the power of the devil,

not with gold or silver,

but with His holy, precious blood

and with His innocent suffering and death.

And His saving cross has led you into a life of following Him. You began to follow Jesus when He baptized with His pastor and through Word and water were forgiven in the Personal names of one true God: Father, Son, Spirit. Baptized babies, kids, and grown-ups follow Jesus through Sacrament-channeled Spirit-given faith.

But Jesus adds another aspect to following Him. And it really isn't an addition, but a deeper understanding of what it means to be His disciples, that is, baptized souls that follow Him.

Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." (Mark 8:34)

First of all, the crosses that Jesus sends to those who follow Him are results of His unique carrying of His cross, the only cross that saves. Our crosses don't save us. But it right and true to say the following: no Christian, no cross; no cross, no Christian. It is like saying, "No faith, no believer." Both our crosses and our faith are things that are given to us, because of the cross of Christ.

So we receive our crosses as a necessary consequence of our walk with Jesus. It is the cross that marks the Christian as a Christian. So Jesus said:

"If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38)

Those who are ashamed of Christ and the cross in this life, will see Jesus ashamed of them at the last judgment. As it has been well said:

"Not a single soul who follows Him should ever think that he will be able to hide cross-less in the crowd of cross-bearers and so escape its weight and pain. Not one Christian should imagine that he could meet Jesus on the Last Day without the sign of the cross." (Deutschlander, The Theology of the Cross, Milwaukee: Northwestern, 2008, page 3)

Our crosses are heavy and painful. If they weren't, they wouldn't be crosses. But crosses are just bad things that happen to you; unbelievers have rude kids and get diabetes and slide off the road into the ditch, too.

No, crosses come from the pain of denying our wants and needs and desires and putting ourselves under the will of Christ. What is His will: To receive Him and deny yourself.

And that's where the pain comes in. Ever had to take an Olaf away from a little kid? Ever have to ask your spouse to forgive you? Ever have to admit that your mom was right and you were wrong? It hurts. We want to get our own; Jesus says do it My way, the way of the cross. And His way is putting others first. His way is sacrificing for the needs of your family. Another definition for family is a bunch of people who don't deserve anything from you. (And that defintion is also true from everyone else in your family, too.) This is painful. Your crosses are painful. Yet this is exactly what Jesus calls you to do. He calls you to embrace your cross and to embrace it willingly. This is why St. Paul could write:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings. (Romans 5:1-3a)

Rejoice in your sufferings under the cross because this marks you as one who follows Jesus. When you suffer today, this isn't a sign that Jesus doesn't love you, but instead is a reminder of who you are. You follow Him who willingly embraced His painful cross for you. And He calls you to follow Him, not to save yourself, but because He already has.

Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Alleluia! Amen.

He Did Not Spare His Son from Temptation or Death

First Sunday in Lent

February 22, 2015

Mark 1:12-13

He Did Not Spare His Son from Temptation or Death

†

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

He had to walk for days to get there. He brought others along, but in the end He was alone. And when He got there, He must have dreaded what He was going to have to do. And even in those last hours He prayed that His heavenly Father would intervene and would stop everything and let Him go. But His Father said that He was His beloved Son and so Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, just as He said He would.

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took Peter, James and John along with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. . . . Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. "Abba, Father," He said, "everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14:32-33, 35-36)

It was the same and different for Abraham. He, too, walked for days to get to the place of sacrifice. He, too, must have dreaded what he was going to have to do. And in those last hours he must have hoped that his heavenly Father would intervene and would stop everything and let them go. And He did. He sent His Son—the angel of the Lord—to stop Abraham's knife. Abraham's son Isaac was spared.

Isaac was spared from death; Jesus was not. Why one and not the other? The answer for both was the Lord's great mercy: giving sinners the opposite of what we deserve. Life for sinful Isaac and Abraham and us; death for holy beloved Jesus.

Our dear Lord did not spare His Son from death because of His mercy. For the same reason He did not spare Him from temptation. The Letter to the Hebrews explains why the Father did not spare His Son from death or temptation.

Since the children [people of all ages] have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy Him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-18)

Jesus suffered in death and temptation to help us.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

He suffered and was tempted in every way to help us. And note the specific reason He helps us—so that we can stand before God's holy throne with confidence, so that we may receive mercy, so that we find grace to help us in our time of need.

When Abraham was facing the last hours of Isaac's life, he held onto to one thing that he had been given from heaven: the Lord's promise of life through the coming Savior. Whether Abraham lived or died, whether Isaac lived or died, whether we live or die, what matters is that Christ Jesus died and lives. He drank the cup of suffering His Father sent Him to drink. Repent and trust this good news!

Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Amen.

Peter, He Just Wants Us to Listen

Transfiguration

February 15, 2015

Mark 9:5-6

Peter, He Just Wants Us to Listen

†

In the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Mark leads into the account of the Transfiguration with a very specific dateline: "after six days." Six days after what? Going back a bit further you read that it was six days after Peter's confession of Christ:

Jesus and His disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way He asked them, "Who do people say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked, "But what about you? Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ. " (Mark 8:27-29)

The most important question in the world is Jesus' asking, "Who do you say I am?" And through the Word preached to Peter, Peter answered truthfully, "You are the Christ." With these words Peter confessed that he was a sinner and that Jesus is the Christ, the One anointed by God, to die for our sin.

By including this time stamp on the Transfiguration, it's hard not to contrast Peter's good confession of Christ with his off-the-cuff remarks on the mountain in front of a dazzling and terrifying Christ.

Peter's words earlier will contrast with his words on the mountain:

Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) (Mark 9:5-6)

Chad Bird's comments on Peter's interruption are worth pondering.

But in the middle of this breathtaking scene, what does Peter do? He starts jabbering, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” (Mark 9:5). Mark says, “Peter didn’t know what to answer” because they were terrified. In his version of the account, Luke gently adds that Peter “didn’t realize what he was saying,” (9:33). No kidding. Really, Peter, you want to build tents? You want to do something besides sit there and drink in every word? You want to turn your back on this phenomenal epiphany of Jesus’ glory to hunt down sticks and branches? You want to interrupt the conversation with Jesus and Moses and Elijah to tell them what you’d like to do for them? I have a better idea: hurry up and do nothing. That’s the most important thing you can do right now. It is indeed good for you to be here. So just be there, simply shut up and be there. (Chad Bird, 10 February 2015, "Sometimes God Wants Us to Shut Up", birdchadlouis.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/sometimes-god-wants-us-to-shut-up)

Peter's right about how good it was to be there, scared as he was. But like us, when confronted with things we don't understand, we often feel like we have to say something. And Peter says something.

But Jesus had not asked Peter to say anything. He just wanted him to use his ears and eyes. He never asked him to open his mouth. The words of Psalm 46 come quickly to mind.

Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

And here was God standing in front of him. James and John and Peter were standing, well, cowering before God in illuminated flesh. And later the eyewitness testimony of these three men would bring added proof and comfort to the disciples of Jesus.

Even in this glorious miracle Jesus did not do this for Himself, but for His people. If He had done this for Himself, Elijah and Moses wouldn't have spoken of His coming suffering and death (Luke fills in this information for us). They would of spoken of happier things. No, Moses and Elijah were sent by God to preach the Word one last time to Peter, James, and John.

And this is why Jesus' command to them wasn't strange when He ordered them to keep this to themselves until after His death and resurrection. He didn't want them spreading this visible proof around before His Passion. His glory wasn't why He wanted them to follow Him. His suffering was the reason He came down from heaven. His suffering was the cup He would drink in order to fulfill the justice He demanded for our evil deeds and selfish attitudes.

We remember this silence commanded by Christ to His disciples in a symbolic way when we restrain our Alleluias during the season of Lent. Christ is no less glorious during the forty days of Lent that begin this Wednesday. But for our benefit we direct our eyes and ears to listen to what He does for us. We are still for a while and keep our rejoicing muted during this time. Our joy is still here and filled to overflowing because of the answer to Jesus' most important question: "Who do you say I am?" Our Spirit-given trust our dear Father's answer: "This is My Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!" And in the promise of the Son our ears hear and receive what He does: "Through water and blood, I forgive you now and forever. Amen."

Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Alleluia! Amen.