Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent - Judica - Jn 8:46-59

 

           Lent 5

                                                                                                            Jn 8:46-59

                                                                                                            4/6/2025

 

            “You are a bastard.  You are a Samaritan.  You are demon possessed.”  That’s what the Jews say to Jesus in the course of the conversation in which our text occurs.  Needless to say, the conversation does not go well.  And we find that at the end our text, they take up stones to throw at Jesus.

            The surprising thing, is that the people with whom Jesus engages in this conversation have been described as people who believed in Jesus. However, as the Lord continues to talk with them, these individuals turn on him.  They do so because Jesus tells them the truth about themselves.  They do so because Jesus tells them the truth about himself. They reject Jesus. But in our Lord’s words we find the promise of eternal life.

            Jesus began by saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The Pharisees challenged Jesus, by saying that he was making claims about himself – that he was bearing witness about himself. But Jesus responded that he was not alone in his work.  He said, “I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” When the Pharisees asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” The Pharisees did not know Jesus – they did not believe in him – and so they did not know the Father.

            The Pharisees had rejected Jesus.  But not all did. We learn, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”  Our Lord urged them to abide in his word – to remain in his word.  He called them to continue to walk in faith for in this way they would know the truth that sets them free.

            However, this indicated that currently they were not free.  The Jews who believed in Jesus took offense at this. They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

            The Jews were confident in the fact that they descended from Abraham.  They believed that they had a special status before God because of this.  This pride had become something that blinded them to their true spiritual condition.  Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

            Jesus said that they were slaves to sin, and that only he – the Son – could set them free.  The Lord’s words had exposed their true condition, and now they had turned against Jesus.  He 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.”

            Jesus had mentioned two different fathers.  And so the Jews responded, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father--even God.” They called Jesus a bastard, and claimed that God was their father.  However, Jesus responded, "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.”

            God the Father had sent Jesus.  These Jews were rejecting Jesus. And our Lord explained exactly why this was.  He said,  “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.” God was not their father.  Instead, the devil was.  And so Jesus says in our text, “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.”

            In this conversation, Jesus sets forth the fundamental problem of the human condition.  It is slavery to sin.  Sin cuts us off from God.  And our Lord’s words also teach us about the spiritual condition into which all people are conceived and born.  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 – brings forth more fallen sinful nature.  All people are conceived and born with the devil as their father – the devil is their Lord.

            This is not what people want to hear.  It is certainly not what these Jews wanted to hear.  They answered, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” They accused Jesus of being a demon possessed Samaritan.  From one Jew to another, it’s hard to get more derogatory than that.

            However, Jesus rejected their charge.  He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”  This was too much.  Jesus’ assertion sounded absurd.  The Jews said to him, “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 was promising that he was the means by which a person can have eternal life – a life that death cannot end.  This was something greater than what Abraham or the prophets had been able to give. After all, they themselves had died.

            In our text, Jesus goes on to say, “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.”  Jesus said that his Father is God.  He declared that he knows God in a way they did not.  He knew God the Father, and kept his word.

            Then Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” This too sounded absurd. The Jews replied, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”  Then Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” “I am” resonated with the statements by Yahweh about himself in the book of Isaiah. When God called Moses at the burning bush and sent him to Israel to bring them rescue, Moses asked what he should say if the Israelites wanted to know the name of the God who had sent him.  God told him, “I AM WHO I AM,” and added, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 

            Jesus had said that God was his Father.  Now he asserted that he himself was God.  The Jews knew full well what he meant. We learn at the end of our text, “So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”

            Who do you make yourself out to be?  Jesus tells us that he knows God the Father.  He keeps the Father’s word.  He is glorified by the Father. And he is God. 

Jesus’ description of himself reflects the truth that is expressed in the first verse of this Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We learn that the Word – the Son – is with God and is God.  He is distinct from God the Father – there is the Father and there is the Son. And yet like the Father, he is God. And as we learn about the nature of the Holy Trinity, John then tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

In our text, Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God withdraws from those opposed to him.  He does so because he was in the world to keep the Father’s word.  He was here to be glorified by the Father in his time and his way.

At the beginning of Holy Week Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Earlier in this chapter Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

            Jesus, the Son of God, was here to keep the Father’s word.  He was here to do the things that are pleasing to him.  He was here to be lifted up on the cross in order to free us from sin. He was here to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  It was in his death that he was glorified by the Father, for it was in this way that Jesus freed us from the slavery of sin.

            During Holy Week Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  Jesus was lifted up on the cross in death.  And then on the third day God raised him from dead.

            Earlier in this chapter Jesus said, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”  Jesus told the disciples that he would return to the Father who had sent him. Our risen Lord has now ascended, and has sent forth the Spirit from the Father.

            You are no longer a slave of sin.  And you are no longer a son or daughter of the devil.  He is no longer your lord.  He is not because in Holy Baptism you were born again of water and the Spirit.  You are children of God because you were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Now you are of God, and so you hear the words of God.

            You hear the words of God with faith and understanding. And the Spirit works in you through those words to act in love.  The Father loved you in this way, that he gave his Son for you.  Jesus, the Son, loved you by giving himself into the suffering and death of the cross.  Now, you share this love with those around you.  Jesus said at the Last Supper: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

            In our text this morning, Jesus tells us the truth about ourselves apart from him. We are slaves of sin. We are sons and daughters of the devil. But he also tells us the truth about himself.  He is God – the Son of God in the flesh.  He was lifted up on the cross to free us from sin. As the risen Lord he has sent forth the Spirit who has given us new birth in baptism.  Now, we believe and trust in him confident that we have life that will never end. For Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

 

           

 

 

Sermon for the fourth mid-week Lent service - "Who receives this Sacrament worthily?"

 

 Mid-Lent 4

                                                Who receives this

 Sacrament worthily?

 4/2/25

 

          “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”  This is what the apostle Paul says about the reception of the Sacrament of the Altar as he writes to the Corinthians.  Paul says that the Sacrament must be received “worthily” – it must be received in a way that is fitting and proper. To fail to do so is to become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

          Paul is addressing this topic because there were problems at the Corinthian celebration of the Sacrament.  The Corinthians were acting in a way that did not recognize the significance of Christ’s true body and blood. We will speak about those specific circumstances next week as we consider how the Sacrament unites us as the Body of Christ.

          Tonight we focus on what Paul says about receiving the Sacrament.  We confess that the Sacrament is the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine.  Jesus gives us his body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.  We receive into our body, the true body and blood of Christ.

          This is no minor thing.  It is the body and blood of the incarnate Son of God. And so Paul says, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”  Paul says that a person must examine himself. The reason for this is that a person eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not discern that it is the body of Christ.

          The apostle describes the nature of the way this was taking place at Corinth.  He says, “That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.”  In the Sacrament, the true body and blood of Christ is received into the individual, and Paul says that this has bodily consequences.  This is no mere bread and wine. It is not just a symbol that that makes us think about something.

          Paul’s words lead us to ask the fourth question in the Small Catechism: “Who receives this sacrament worthily?” The answer given to this question begins by saying, “Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training.” 

In the history of the Church, people have engaged in several practices as they prepared to receive the Sacrament.  The most common has been fasting, as the reception of the Sacrament was the way in which the fast was ended.  Another has been sexual abstinence in preparation to receive the Sacrament.

The Small Catechism says that fasting and bodily preparation are fine outward training.  God created us as body and soul in a unity, and bodily preparation such as this focuses the individual on what he or she is going to receive.  However, the Small Catechism goes on to say, “But that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words ‘for you’ require all hearts to believe.”

After the initial definition of what the Sacrament is, all three subsequent questions return to the same words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  Martin Luther focuses on these words because they summarize the Sacrament.  It is the true body of Christ that was given in death on the cross. It is the true blood of Christ shed as he died on the cross.  This was done to win the forgiveness of sins.  This was done for you, and now it is given to you in the Sacrament.

Luther said, “This Sacrament is the Gospel.” The Gospel is the good news that God sent his Son into the world. Paul told the Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” In the Sacrament, the incarnate Son of God is present in his true body and blood.  He gives it to us to eat and drink.

Before he entered Jerusalem, Jesus told the apostles, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In this season of Lent we are preparing to remember what happened when Jesus went to the Jerusalem for the final time.  Jesus redeemed us from sin – he freed us – as he gave his life in death on the cross. His body was nailed to the cross and his blood was shed as he received the judgment against our sin.

Yet Holy Week leads us to Easter, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  On that first day of the week the angels said to the women at the empty tomb, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.”  Jesus demonstrated that he had won victory over death as he was seen by the apostles.

The crucified and risen Lord has given us the Sacrament.  We must eat and drink the Sacrament worthily, so that we do not become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  In order receive it worthily the apostle says, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

About what are we to examine ourselves? We find this in the words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  First, we recognize that we receive the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  In order to receive forgiveness, we must repent. We must confess our sin.  As David says in Psalm 32, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.”  Our examination leads us to consider how sin is present in our life, and to confess this sin to God.

Second, we examine ourselves to see that we recognize and believe what the Sacrament is, and what it does.  Paul told the Corinthians, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” We discern the body as we believe that the Sacrament is the true body and blood of Jesus Christ.  We receive worthily when we believe it is the true body and blood of Christ through which we receive forgiveness.

The Sacrament of the Altar is the precious gift of the Lord.  It is a central blessing in the life of the Church.  But Scripture teaches us that it is possible to receive the Sacrament unworthily.  One can become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  A person can eat and drink to judgment. 

The Church does not want this to happen. And so we as the Church, and specifically pastors in the Office of the Ministry, must take responsibility for who is admitted to the Sacrament of the Altar. This practice is called closed communion.  It has been the practice of the Church throughout her history.

Those who do not repent of sin cannot receive the Sacrament, since it is only for repentant sinners who want forgiveness.  Individuals who live in unrepentant sin – who refuse to turn away from their sin – cannot receive the Sacrament until they do repent.

Those who do not believe that the Sacrament of the Altar is the true body and blood of Christ cannot receive the Sacrament.  We recall that it is Christ’s word that causes the bread and wine to be his body and blood.  Christ says it is, and this is true no matter whether a person believes it or not.  To receive the Sacrament while not believing it is the body and blood of Christ is to be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  It is to eat and drink to judgment. And so those who deny the body and blood of Christ cannot receive the Sacrament – and this for their own good.  At the same time, this does not yet exhaust what needs to be said about the practice of closed communion.  And so there will be more to say next week as we consider the corporate nature of the Sacrament of the Altar.

Who receives this sacrament worthily?  That person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  We examine ourselves as we repent and confess our sin for which we need forgiveness.  We examine ourselves as we discern – as we recognize and confess – that the Sacrament is the true body and blood of Christ given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sin. For in this way we receive the Sacrament as the blessing from Christ that gives forgiveness, life, and salvation.