Lent 5
Jn
8:46-59
3/21/21
The
decision to become a Lutheran pastor was not exactly an unusual one for someone
in my family. My uncle was a Lutheran
pastor and missionary. Both of my
grandfathers were Lutheran pastors and then seminary professors. My great grandfather was a Lutheran
pastor. My great great grandfather and
great great great grandfather were Lutheran pastors and seminary professors –
in fact half of the quad at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis is named after
them. My other great great great
grandfather was a Lutheran pastor who was sent from Germany to minister in the
United States.
This is
certainly a rich heritage for which I am thankful. At the same time, I have seen during my life
in the Church that this kind of heritage can be a bad thing. When everyone in the family has always been
Lutheran, it can give rise to a kind of “cultural Lutheranism” – the comforting
assumption that your history gives you a connection with the Church no matter
whether you are really all that serious about practicing the faith. So if you
show up to church at Christmas and Easter - and perhaps when there is a family
baptism or confirmation – then you have everything covered.
Worse yet,
when tied to one particular congregation the fact that everyone in my family
has always been a member of this congregation can turn the congregation into an
idol. The congregation can become a kind
of club which exists to continue the existence of the club just as it is,
instead of being about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so when there is the
possibility of people of a different background coming to church, this is
viewed as a threat to the status quo, instead of a wonderful opportunity to
bring more people to Christ’s Means of Grace.
In the
Gospel lesson this morning, we hear the end of a confrontation between Jesus and
some fellow Jews. They are living in the
heritage of being Abraham’s descendants.
Yet they are allowing this heritage to be an idol that prevents them
from seeing what God is doing in his Son, Jesus Christ.
Throughout
this chapter, the topic of “father” continues to appear as source of
debate. Earlier, Jesus had said, “I am the one who bears
witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” This led the Jews to ask, “Where is your
Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you
knew me, you would know my Father also.”
The Jews were not listening to
Jesus, and in our text the Lord explains that there is a very simple
explanation for this. He says, “Whoever is of God hears the words of
God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” The Jews were not of God. Instead, they had their own ideas about how
God worked, and these were all based in their heritage as the descendants of Abraham.
Because of who Jesus is, he was the presence of the One
who fulfilled God’s promises to Abraham, and yet was far greater than the patriarch. Jesus said, “You are from below; I am from above. You
are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that
you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he
you will die in your sins.”
The problem that confronts every
person is sin. Even if we only recognize it in part, we know that we do not
love God as we should. We know that we
love ourselves more than our neighbor.
Jesus announced that he was the answer to sin. He 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.” The Jews
objected, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to
anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered
them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a
slave to sin.”
Our Lord announced that apart from
him, every person is a slave because every person commits sin. Yet he added, “So if the Son sets you free,
you will be free indeed.” The Son of God – the Word – became flesh in order to
free us from sin. Yet in order to
receive this forgiveness, two things must happen. First, we must admit that we
are sinners. We must confess the sin that is present in our lives. And second,
we can only receive this forgiveness in the way that God has chosen to give it
to us. We must believe in Jesus Christ,
crucified and risen from the dead.
The Jews who confronted Jesus were
unwilling to believe in him. They were
secure in their own heritage. It had become an idol to them and so they
rejected what God was doing in Christ. Jesus said, “I know that you are
offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no
place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what
you have heard from your father.”
The Jews replied to Jesus: “Abraham
is our father.” But Jesus pointed out
that if they were really Abraham’s children, they would not be trying to kill
Jesus, a man who had told them the truth that he had heard from God. Instead, by their actions, they were showing
who their true father was. Jesus said, “If God were your
Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I
came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand
what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of
your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.”
There was a time when the devil was
your father. As descendants of Adam, you
were conceived and born as sinful, fallen people. Jesus told Nicodemus, “That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The flesh, fallen sinful nature, gives birth
to more flesh – more fallen sinful nature. Left to ourselves, we were trapped
in a cycle of sinfulness that we were powerless to break.
But God broke through this by
sending his Son into the world to die on the cross and rise from the dead. He is the Lamb of God who has taken away the
sins of the world. As the risen and
ascended Lord, he has sent forth the Spirit.
Now, you have been born again of water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism.
You are a forgiven child of God who believes in Jesus Christ.
In our text, the Jews are certainly
not children of God. Jesus says, “If I tell the truth,
why do you not believe me?
Whoever
is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is
that you are not of God.” Their
response was, “Are we not right
in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” First, they accused Jesus of not being part
of God’s people. Then, they said he was demon possessed!
Jesus replied, “Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it,
and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my
word, he will never see death.” To
keep Jesus’ word is first, to believe in Jesus.
Our Lord said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life.”
Second, to keep Jesus’ word is to
live in ways that has taught us by his words and deeds. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved
me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my
Father's commandments and abide in his love.” The sacrifice of Christ for us
becomes the model and pattern for the way we live in relation to others.
Because Jesus is the risen Lord, we
know that his words in our text are true: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone
keeps my word, he will never see death.” When Jesus said this his
opponents responded, “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?”
Jesus knew exactly who he was and what
he had come to do. He answered, “If I
glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies
me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’
But you
have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I
would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.”
During the season of Lent we are
preparing to remember that Jesus kept the Father’s word all the way to the
cross. He did this to take away the sin
of the world – to take away your sin. And then on the third day he rose from
the dead. He has defeated death and
reigns forever as the exalted Lord.
Jesus did this as the fulfillment of
all of God’s promises that he had spoken in the Old Testament. In our text Jesus says, “Your father
Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was
glad.” This prompted the Jews to object, “You are not yet fifty years old, and
have you seen Abraham?” Jesus replied to them, “Truly, truly, I say
to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
This last statement affirms what
John has said in the prologue of the Gospel about the Son of God: “In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” As true God, Jesus is “I am”, he is
Yahweh. But he is God who become flesh
in the incarnation in order free us from sin and death through his cross and
resurrection. He is the Son who carried
out the will of the Father, and has now called you to faith through the work of
the Spirit so that you will never see death.
Your life with God will continue even if you die, and our risen Lord
will raise your body from the dead on the Last Day.
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