Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent - Heb 9:11-15

 

   Lent 5

                                                                                                            Heb 9:11-15

                                                                                                            3/22/26

 

            I have told Joe Musolino and Chris Atlee, the seminary students from our congregation, that they will make mistakes as they conduct the Divine Service.  It just happens.  You get tired. You lose your concentration. Or for reasons that you can’t even explain, you will do something wrong. So, I have skipped the Prayer of the Church, and then had to be reminded that yes, we do need to pray this morning. Or in my all time favorite, I was in the midst of Words of Institution and was about to pick up the chalice and speak our Lord’s words over the wine – only to realize that I had failed to fill it.

            Now congregation members understand that pastors make mistakes. As long as they know your goal is to conduct the Divine Service in a reverent manner – and they see that you’re not afraid to laugh at yourself after the fact – they will overlook these things.

            Pastors should feel the need to conduct the liturgy in a reverent and competent manner. It’s no small thing to come into the presence of the holy God. But our experience of this is quite different from what Israel’s priests encountered at the tabernacle. In Leviticus chapter ten we read, “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”

            Nadab and Abihu took the fire from a source other than altar for burnt offering. And they learned that the holy God is a consuming fire. If there was pressure to follow Yahweh’s directions for priests, how much more there was for the high priest who once a year entered the Holy of Holies and carried out the rites of the Day of Atonement before the Ark of the Covenant. This was a setting where if a man entered at any other time he would die. And on the Day of Atonement, being in presence of the Ark – Yahweh’s throne in the midst of Israel – meant doing things correctly was a matter of life and death.

            In our epistle lesson this morning, the writer to the Hebrews emphasizes how Jesus Christ has done something even greater than that of the Old Testament high priests. Jesus entered into the heavenly presence of God as he offered himself once and for all as the sacrifice for our sin.

            The writer to the Hebrews emphasizes again and again that as the fulfillment of God’s Word, Jesus Christ is something greater than what existed in the Old Testament. In this section of the letter he has been talking about the arrangement of the tabernacle. The first two thirds was the Holy Place. This is where the incense altar was located – the one where Zechariah was serving when Gabriel appeared to him.

            The last third was the Holy of Holies. This was the location of the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could enter before the Ark.  He could only do it on the Day of Atonement, and he could only do so after making an offering first for his own sins, and then for the people.

            In Exodus Yahweh commanded Israel to make a tabernacle so that he could dwell in their midst. The design for the tabernacle was not left up to them. Instead God directed, “Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” We learn that this pattern here on earth was reflection of the heavenly reality before God. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that it was “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.”

            Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ was superior as a high priest in four different ways. First, Jesus Christ was the holy One. We learn in chapter seven, “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”

            Jesus Christ had no sin because he is the Son of God. The letter begins with words that strain human language as it expresses the fact that the Son is God, and yet distinct from the Father. We learn, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

            This holy and mighty Son of God entered our world and became man. He took on our humanity. Hebrews says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things.” But Christ’s humanity was what God created us to be – without sin. And then he lived perfectly according to God’s will. Hebrews tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus has walked in our shoes and knows what it is like to face temptation and hardship. And so the writer to the Hebrews concludes, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

            The second way that Jesus is a superior high priest is that he entered into the heavenly presence of God himself. Hebrews describes Christ’s death on the cross as the event in which he came before God and offered a sacrifice. The high priests of the Old Testament entered the Holy of Holies. But this was only a copy made with hands of the heavenly reality.  We learn in our text, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places.”

            On Good Friday, Jesus came before God himself. Just after our text we learn, “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”

            And this brings us to the third way that Christ is superior: He did this once and for all. Our text says that, “he entered once for all into the holy places.” And just after our text Hebrews goes on to say, “Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

            Hebrews begins by saying, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” The incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Christ means that it is the last days. His saving work means that it is the end of the ages – it is the end times. God’s end time salvation has arrived, and we look for its consummation when Christ returns in glory.

            Christ has offered the sacrifice once and for all. This means that there is no other saving sacrifice to be offered – especially not his. Jesus alone has offered it, and no one else can do this. Christ is the subject of all the verbs here. There is absolutely no way to include us – to include the Church – in the action of offering up Christ as a sacrifice. The Roman Catholic understanding of the Sacrament of the Altar as a sacrifice offered by man contradicts all of this as it makes the same tired old move of trying to take Gospel and turn it into Law. It tries to take what God has done for us in Christ and turn it into something that we do.

            And the final way that Christ is superior is one that runs through all of these.  Our text says, “he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” The Old Testament high priest offered sacrifices of animals, and used the blood for himself and the people. Instead, Jesus offered himself as the sacrifice. He shed his own blood.

            This is the point Hebrews makes in our text: “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

            Everything the New Testament says is based on what God has revealed about himself in the Old Testament. God really is the holy God. Sinners who sin evoke his wrath and judgment. They cannot exist in fellowship with him and instead receive eternal damnation. The world may not want to hear this kind of talk. It may not sound “caring and inclusive.” But it is true. It is God’s revelation about himself in his inspired and inerrant word.

            However, the holy God has judged your sin.  He did it in Christ. Hebrews says, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” His sacrifice has won forgiveness for you. We learn, “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

            This is the good news of the Gospel. Because of Jesus Christ you now have a holy standing before God. You are saint. And the good news extends even further because Jesus Christ’s death as a sacrifice was not the end of his saving work. Hebrews says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” Christ passed through death, but in his resurrection on Easter he overcame it. The Lord who was raised from the dead will raise and renew your body on the Last Day to be like his.

            So what does this mean for us? Hebrews tells us as it says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

            Because of the sacrifice of Jesus and his resurrection, he is the new and living way by which we have are able to enter into God’s presence. Christ is the great high priest who has conquered death and intercedes for us. He is the victorious ascended Lord. Hebrews says, “Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.”

            Because of this draw we near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We do so knowing that our sins have been washed away in the water of Holy Baptism. We draw near knowing that in Christ have been made holy and “because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

            And so Hebrews urges, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” We live in fallen world – a valley of sorrow. We face challenges as we believe in Jesus Christ in this world. Hebrews tells us to continue in the confession of our hope in Christ, because he who has promised is faithful.

            As I have mentioned recently, the Christian life is not one of the individual in isolation. Instead it is lived in the unity of faith that joins us together, and so the life of faith means that we live it in relationship with each other.  Hebrews adds, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

            We seek to remind and prompt one another to live in Christ. It is our shared goal to live lives of love – actions that support others and put their needs first. We bolster one another in doing the good works that God has given us to do in our different vocations. Our gathering for the Divine Service feeds us with Christ’s Means of Grace. But it does something else as well. It brings together so that we can encourage one another.

            We encourage one another because we are living in the end times that began in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We live knowing that the day is drawing near when our Lord will return. Christ who entered this world to be the sacrifice for our sins will return to give us a share in the resurrection that he has begun.  As the writer to the Hebrews says later in this chapter, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

Sermon for the fourth mid-week Lent service - Table of Duties: To Parents; To Children

 

Mid-Lent 4

                                                                                      To Parents;

To Children

                                                                                       3/18/26

 

            If you are an adult in general, and in particular a parent, you may have been waiting for us to finally arrive at the topic in the Table of Duties that we take up tonight: To Parents and To Children.  Certainly here we have the Fourth Commandment before us, and we talk about how children are to be obedient to their parents.

            However, if you are an adult you may be in for a surprise.  The Table of Duties are set up so that those groups that have authority and responsibility to act as God’s agent are listed first.  The whole point of vocation is that God puts us in stations in life – in callings – in which he uses us to enact his will and care for our neighbor.  The vocations are not about us. They are about God and our neighbor. They are about service as we follow in the example of our Lord who gave himself on the cross as he served us.

            Under “To Parents” we find listed Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children.” The first thing Paul says is that parents are not to act in ways that make their children angry.  Now to be sure, the apostle is not talking about the response parents may get when they tell a child to clean their room.  Instead he speaks about those times when we act in ways that are not motivated by love.  He speaks about those occasions when parents do the right thing in ways that we know are not really necessary and are sure to upset our child.  He speaks about those times when in frustration or anger we do things in the knowledge that it will anger our child – and we enjoy this.

            Parents have been placed by God to act in his stead. They are God’s instrument by which he provides for the physical needs and well being of children. They are also the ones who instill God’s will and ordering of life.  Parents teach God’s ordering reflected in the Ten Commandments. They restrain wrongdoing and guide behavior.  As Proverbs says, “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” 

            Generally speaking, parents understand this.  However, what they often fail to grasp is that this is not even their most important job.  Instead, Paul expresses this when he says that parents are to “bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”  Certainly this includes the moral discipline I just mentioned – the Ten Commandments.  But in these, it is the First Commandment that is foundational to all the rest. And along with this God then lists his name and his word in the Second and Third Commandments.

            This word that we are to teach children is not just Law.  More importantly, it is Gospel.  God emphasized the need to teach children his word in the Old Testament.  He told Israel, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”  The very first of those words said this: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”  

            All of God’s word in the Old Testament can only be understood in the light of his saving action in the Exodus – the very thing the Passover celebrated and caused Israel to remember.  And in the same way, all of God’s word in the New Testament era can only be understood in light of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection that has saved us from sin, death and the devil.  It was God’s plan that Jesus the Christ would die at the time of the Passover, because the Passover lamb pointed forward to Jesus.  Just as the blood of the lamb caused God’s judgment to pass over the Israelites, so also Jesus’ blood shed on the cross causes God’s judgment against our sin to pass over us.  Just as God acted in the exodus to free Israel from slavery, so also God acted in Jesus to redeem us from sin.

            Your most important job as a parent is to teach your child the Christian faith.  It is to teach them about Jesus Christ and his Means of Grace.  It is to teach them God’s Word.  Martin Luther strongly emphasized this in the Large Catechism.  He wrote: “Instead, they should keep in mind that they owe obedience to God, and that, above all, they should earnestly and faithfully discharge the duties of their office, not only to provide for the material support of their children, servants, subjects, etc., but especially to bring them up to the praise and honor of God. Therefore do not imagine that the parental office is a matter of your pleasure and whim. It is a strict commandment and injunction of God, who holds you accountable for it.

            Parents show great interest in the academic education of their children.  They expend tremendous time and energy in the sports and other activities of their kids.  But how much effort do you invest in bringing up your children “in the training and instruction of the Lord”?  Do you model for your children that on Sunday we attend the Divine Service. Do you read Scripture with your children? Do you pray with your children?  Do you review the teaching of the Small Catechism as the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to the household? And if not, then I ask you the question: “What are you going to do after tonight to change that?”

            Under “To Children” the Small Catechism lists the previous three verses from Ephesians where the apostle Paul writes: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and your mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise – ‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’”

            Now kids, God is very clear: You are to obey your parents.  They are the ones God has put over you in his place.  They are his representatives.  Obviously you are to love them.  But you also need to honor them.  Martin Luther said, “Honor requires us not only to address them affectionately and with high esteem, but above all to show by our actions, both of heart and body, that we respect them very highly, and that next to God we give them the very highest place.”

            Your parents aren’t perfect.  You may find that they have embarrassing quirks.  But that never changes the fact that God gave them to you. They are the ones through whom God cares for all your needs.  In a thousand ways that you will never fully understand until you are a parent they have put you ahead of themselves.

            In Ephesians the apostle Paul emphasizes the fact that God has attached a promise to the Fourth Commandment – “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”  God promises that obeying parents brings blessing. Sometimes, living according to the way God has set up his creation seems like the harder way.  But in the end it is always the best way because it is the way God intended for things to work.

             Certainly, children are to obey parents because it is right and it brings blessings – because it does things in keeping with the way God ordered creation and set it up to work.  But ultimately, that is not the most important reason.  It is not the reason that the season of Lent calls to mind as we get closer to Holy Week.

                Instead, Paul expresses it when he says “Children, obey your parents in the Lord.”  “In the Lord” means that you are someone for whom Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead.  You are someone who has been buried with Christ in baptism, and now you walk in the newness of life provided by the Holy Spirit.  You are someone who has been served and helped by Jesus, and so now you seek to serve and help those around you.  And the first people Jesus wants you to serve and help are your mom and dad.

                You do this by obeying them – by doing the things they tell you to do and by not doing the things you aren’t supposed to do.  You do this by doing these things without being asked and without complaining. Because when you do this you cannot begin to understand how much you are helping them.  You are making their life better and supporting them.

                And an important fact about the Fourth Commandment is that we don’t outgrow it. In an era when people live longer than ever, many adults find themselves in the situation where they must care for and look out for their parents. We keep the Fourth Commandment by taking on this responsibility, even when it involves inconvenience and sacrifice on our part.  We put their needs ahead of our own, just as they did for us when we were children.  We do so in the knowledge that we are the means by which God cares for them.

                When we consider the Fourth Commandment we find that at every age we live our lives “in the Lord.”  We live as those who through baptism have shared in Jesus’ saving death.  We have been born again through water and the Spirit so that we now live our lives in Christ.  We live according to the words that Jesus spoke before entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent - Jn 6:1-15

 

   Lent 4

                                                                                                            Jn 6:1-15

                                                                                                            3/15/26

 

            “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.”  This statement just shows up in our text this morning. In the previous chapter, Jesus had been in Jerusalem. But in the first verse of the Gospel lesson we learn that he is no longer there.  Instead we are told, “After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.”  Our Lord was once again back in the north at the Sea of Galilee.

            We learn that a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that Christ was doing on the sick.  Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. That’s when John announces, “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.”

            Jesus isn’t in Jerusalem for the Passover as he was in chapter two. So John isn’t saying this to explain where Jesus is at. Instead he goes out of his way to announce that these events took place as the Passover was approaching. This information shapes our understanding of the way the people react to Jesus. More importantly, they inform the way that we understand Jesus’ miracle and what he says afterwards.

            The Passover was the remembrance of how God had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. Yahweh commanded the Israelites to select a lamb and kill it. They marked their houses with the blood of the lamb, then then ate it in a meal with unleavened bread.

            God told them that he would pass through Egypt that night and would kill all the firstborn in the land. But he promised, “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” He commanded that in the future Israel would continue to celebrate the Passover meal – they would kill and eat the Passover lamb – in remembrance of God’s rescue.

            God delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery as he had promised. The Passover became an annual remembrance and celebration of God’s saving action. By the time of Jesus, what had been Israel was now under Roman rule in both direct and indirect forms. The Passover became an occasion that made people hope that God would once again act to rescue them from foreign domination. Because of this it was a highly charged and dangerous time, and the Roman governor brought extra troops to Jerusalem. This is the reason that Pontius Pilate was in city when Jesus was crucified.

            We learn in our text that when Jesus lifted up his eyes he saw a large crowd that was coming to him. He asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” The wording in our text emphasizes the source of the bread. John tells us that Jesus said this to test Philip because he already knew what he was going to do.

            Our Lord’s words in John’s Gospel point in the direction of the source, for it would be Jesus. But Philip’s answer instead focused on the prohibitive cost. He answered, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” A denarius was a day’s wage. Philip was saying that a large sum of money would scarcely provide the crowd with a small amount.” He was thinking in terms of the challenge, and not the Lord Jesus who was present with them.

            Andrew reported on what they did have. He said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”  And then Jesus went to work. He had the people sit down in the grass. It was a crowd of five thousand men, not counting women and children.

Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. He did so with the fish as well, as much as they wanted.  The bread and fish never ran out. In fact when everyone had eaten their fill Christ told the disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”  When they did so, they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers.

The great crowd was following Jesus because they had seen the signs that he was doing – the miracles as he healed the sick. At the end of our text, John tells us, “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!’” It was the time of the Passover when the Jews thought about God’s rescue in the past, and how they hoped he would do it again. This miracle made the people think that Jesus was a prophet figure of God’s end time salvation. He was the One would deliver them from Roman rule.

The Lord knew what they were thinking.  He perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king. But our Lord had not entered the world to be this kind of Savior. And so Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

“Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.” John is telling us to think about this miracle in light of the Passover. This comes out in the discussion that follows in the rest of this chapter.

The next day Jesus had gone to Capernaum. The crows sought him out there and he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”  Our Lord said they were seeking him because they wanted a free meal. Then he added, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

The crowd challenged Jesus as they said, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”  Jesus had just worked the sign of feeding more than five thousand people. But they asked for something more. They referred to the events of our Old Testament lesson in which Moses announced that God would give Israel manna.

But Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  When they asked him to give them this bread Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

            The Jews grumbled that Jesus said he was the bread that came down from heaven. After all, this was Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother they had known. So Jesus said to them, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

            Christ said he was the bread that gives life. He was the bread that had come down from heaven. And he said that the bread he would give for the life of the world was his flesh.

This word flesh is important for us in two ways. First, it is reminder in John’s Gospel about who Jesus is. In the first chapter we learn that Jesus is the Word. He is the second person of the Trinity who was with God in beginning, and is God. Then John 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.” Sent by the Father, the Son came down from heaven as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He became true man living our world, without ceasing to be true God, the Creator of the cosmos.

And second, it points us to the connection with the Passover. The Passover lamb was slain, and its blood was used to mark the houses of the Israelites. This blood caused God’s wrath to pass over the Israelites so that they were spared. And then the Israelites ate the lamb – they ate its flesh in the Passover meal.

You too were threatened by God’s wrath. Paul told the Ephesians and Colossians that because of sin, the wrath of God comes upon the son of disobedience. He told the Romans, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

In thought, word, and deed your sins against God and against your neighbor deserved God’s wrath and judgment. But God sent his Son into the world in order to save you. God gave him in order to rescue you from his wrath.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John’s Gospel makes quite clear what kind of lamb this was. It is the Passover lamb. When God instituted the Passover meal he told Moses, “It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.” On Good Friday when the soldiers were breaking the legs of the thieves on the cross so they would die quickly, they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead. So instead they plunged a spear into his side to make sure this was so. John says, “For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”

Jesus was the Passover lamb who died on the cross so that the wrath of God now passes over you. But Christ also said that he gave his flesh for the life of the world. Buried before sundown on Friday, Jesus rose from the dead on Easter.  By his resurrection he has defeated death and begun the resurrection life that will be ours. As Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Now we receive this forgiveness and life through faith in Christ. As Jesus says in this chapter, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  We have it by faith. And then our Lord gives us the means of his saving work that is to be the object of our faith as we trust his word and promise.

In this chapter Jesus says, “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”

Jesus is the true Passover lamb who offered himself on the cross. The Passover lamb of the Old Testament pointed forward to him. And at his last Passover meal with the disciples, on the night when he was betrayed, he transformed the meal into one that is done in remembrance of him.

Our Lord instituted the Sacrament of the Altar as he took bread and said, “Take and eat, this is my body.” He took a cup of wine and said, “Drink of it all of you, this is my blood.” The Lord who is still true God and true man works the miracle of giving his true body and blood. He was sacrificed on the cross so that so that God’s wrath passes over us. Here in the Sacrament he gives into your mouth the very body given into death and the very blood shed to accomplish this. He says that this saving work is true for you.

Through the body and blood of Christ you know that you have forgiveness.  And at the same time this is also the body and blood of the risen Lord.  In our text, John mentions that the Sea of Galilee was also known as the Sea of Tiberius.  The only other time this name occurs is in chapter twenty one when the seven disciples meet the risen Lord by the lake. Here again, Jesus feeds them with bread and fish.

In the Sacrament you receive the body and blood of the risen Lord into your body.  Through this gift the Christ provides the guarantee that your body will be raised and transformed to be like his. As our Lord said, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

“Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.”  Jesus’ miracle of feeding the crowed is a sign. It is a sign that reveals Jesus as the fulfillment of the Passover lamb. By his death he has caused the wrath of God against sin to pass over us. Through faith in Christ the crucified and risen Lord we have forgiveness and salvation. In the Sacrament Jesus feeds us with his true body and blood in order to deliver this. He provides the pledge that our bodies will be raised to be like his.