Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent - Oculi - Lk 11:24-28

 

Lent 3

                                                                                      Lk 11:24-28

                                                                                      3/23/25

 

          “China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that’s just a fact.”  China’s foreign minister made this statement to his counterpart from Singapore at a meeting of Asian nations in 2010.  The Chinese foreign minister was asserting that China could do what it wanted, and that other nations didn’t have any choice in the matter.

          China is a big country and it has a huge population.  In this century its economy has grown at a remarkable pace, and its industrial output makes it a world leader.  China has spent an incredible amount of money on its military, and it now possesses the largest navy in the world. 

          China is a strong country, and in the South China Sea it has done what it wants.  While a number of different nations lay claim to the water and islands in this area, China has asserted that it controls them and that no one else can sail there.  It has occupied a number of these islands, such as the Spratly Islands which are 800 miles south of mainland China.  Really nothing more than reefs, China has expanded the size of these islands by dredging and adding sand.  It has turned them into military bases with airfields, anti-aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles.

          The Chinese navy and coast guard employ dangerous tactics to harass other nations that sail in this area.  Their ships have collided with the ships of other nations, and the Chinese coast guard has blasted ships with water cannons. China is stronger than the other countries of the region, and so it does what it wants.  The problem is that there is another strong country that is concerned about this strategic area – the United States.  The U.S. is now rapidly trying to build up its capabilities in order to deter China from every trying to prove it is stronger through military conflict.

          In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus describes how a stronger man overpowers his opponent and does what he wants. We learn that Jesus is the stronger man, because the reign of God is present in him.  He has overcome Satan, sin, and death in order to free us to be the children of God.

          We learn in our text that Jesus was casting out a demon who caused a man to be mute.  When the demon had been cast out, the man was able to speak.  The people who witnessed this marveled at what Jesus had done.

          However, some did not react in wonder and amazement.  Instead, they said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”  Beelzebul was another name for the devil that was used by Jews.  These people were saying that Jesus was able to cast out demons because he was in fact in league with the devil.  He was on the devil’s side.

          In addition to this, others kept asking for Jesus to give them a sign from heaven.  They did this in order to test the Lord.  He had just cast out a demon, and yet somehow this wasn’t proof for them. They demanded something more.

          Our Lord knew what they were doing.  He knew their thoughts and so he said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.”  Jesus pointed out the absurdity of their claim. If Jesus was allied with Satan in casting out demons, then Satan would be fighting against himself!  He would be working to overthrow his own kingdom.  Satan is evil, but he is no fool, and he would never do this.

          Those who opposed Jesus had claimed that he was casting out demons by being in league with Satan. Christ had refuted this claim.  And now he went on to state what was really happening. He said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” 

          Jesus’ words draw upon our Old Testament lesson this morning. God had sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh with the message that he must allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. God had worked through them to turn the Nile into blood, and to cause frogs to come upon the land.  However, Pharaoh’s magicians had been able to replicate these actions through their magic arts – through their use of the demonic.

          Then God had used Moses and Aaron to bring gnats upon the land.  Pharoah’s magicians attempted to do this, but failed.  Confronted by this power that outstripped them, they said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” 

          Jesus declared that he was casting out demons by the finger of God – by the power of Yahweh who had rescued Israel from slavery in the exodus.  And since Jesus was acting with the power of God, it meant one thing: the kingdom of God had come upon them.  The kingdom of God - the reign of God that was overcoming Satan – was present in the person of Jesus.

          Our Lord then explained what was happening. He said, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.”  A strong man can defend his possessions.  But when someone stronger comes along, he is overpowered and losses them. The devil is spiritually powerful.  But now, Jesus Christ, the stronger One was present.  He was overcoming the devil and taking from him those he held in his power.

          Our Gospel lesson this morning teaches us that our world is a setting of spiritual conflict.  There is a battle – a war that is going on. You won’t read about it in news services online. You won’t hear about it, neither on NBC, CBS, and ABC, nor on CNN and Fox.  The secular world is oblivious to the reality because it is spiritually blind, and is controlled by a power it doesn’t even believe exists.

          This conflict is between God who created all things, and the devil.  Created in the image of God and for fellowship with him, Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil and fell into sin.  They lost the image of God, and instead became sinners who brought forth more sinners.  All of humanity became sinners under the power of the devil.  We were conceived and born as people who were slaves of Satan.  We belonged to him and were going to receive the destruction that awaits him on the Last Day.

          However, in his love God did not leave us to this slavery and destruction.  Instead, he sent his Son into the world as Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  Anointed by the Spirit at his baptism, Jesus was the presence of the kingdom of God – the reign of God – that was overcoming Satan, sin, and death.

          Jesus demonstrated that he was the presence of God’s reign by casting out demons. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and made the lame walk as he overcame all of the ways that sin has marred physical life.

          Sin is the power by which the devil possesses people and separates them from God.  Jesus was in the world to bring God’s reign by freeing us from sin – by winning forgiveness for us.  His great action to do this was not one of might and power.  Instead, he the sinless One, offered himself in death on the cross. He received the judgment against our sin.

          Sin brings death.  Jesus was the presence of God’s reign that brought forgiveness.  He was also the presence of God’s reign overcoming death itself.  On the third day God raised Jesus from the dead through the work of the Spirit. In his resurrection Christ has begun the bodily life that will never die – the life that will be ours when he returns in glory.

          Christ is now the risen and ascended Lord.  But as the Lord exalted to the right hand of the Father, he poured forth the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  Now, through work of the Spirit he calls people to faith through his word and baptism.  The kingdom of God – the reign of God – continues to be present and at work.

          You have been rescued from the devil’s power.  In the water of baptism you were born again through the work of the Spirit.    You are a new creation in Christ. You are a saint in God’s eyes – a holy one – on account of Christ.

          Now Jesus is your Lord.  And in this battle between God and Satan, there is no middle ground.  Jesus says in our text, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” You are with Jesus, and so you are different from the world around you that is controlled by the devil. When wronged, you do not bear a grudge and seek payback, but instead you forgive.  When you see others who need help, you do not ignore them, but instead you provide assistance and support. 

          Jesus Christ has brought God’s reign to you.  He has freed you from the devil’s power, and made you a child of God.  But the devil is no quitter.  He is a fierce and tenacious opponent.  He wants to regain control over you.  As the apostle Peter warned: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

          In order to remain a child of God, we must continue to receive God’s saving reign.  The Spirit of Christ who called us to faith and gave us new spiritual life continues to be present and at work in the Means of Grace.  When we read God’s word during the week at home; when we hear it read and proclaimed here in the Divine Service, the Spirit nourishes and sustains us in faith.

          We come to receive the Sacrament of the Altar, for here Christ is present as he gives us his true body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  As we heard on Wednesday night at the Lent service, Christ gives the Sacrament to us as food for the soul for it nourishes and strengthens the new man.  It is food and sustenance by which our faith is refreshed and strengthened so that it does not succumb in the struggle against sin and unbelief, but instead becomes stronger.

          You have received God’s saving reign in Christ.  You no longer belong to the devil.  Instead, Jesus is your Lord.  You have a salvation that death cannot take from you, because to die is to be with Christ and he will raise up your body on the Last Day.

          But in your life there are people for whom this is not true.  They are under the devil’s power, and they don’t even know it.  They are sinners who are trapped in sin, and have no forgiveness before God. They will face God’s eternal judgment on the Last Day.

          You are the one by whom God’s saving reign can come to them. You have the Gospel – you know that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all, and rose from the dead.  When you speak this Gospel word to them, the Holy Spirit works to create faith.  The reign of God in Christ is present to free them from Satan and sin. We cannot control how this word is received. But because it is the Gospel of the risen Lord we know that his words continue to be true each time we tell people about Jesus: “the kingdom of God has come upon you.” 

           

         

 

Second mid-week Lent sermon - What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?

 

Mid-Lent 2                                        

What is the benefit of

this eating and drinking?

3/19/25

 

 

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”  That’s what Paul told the Corinthians immediately after he quoted the Words of Institution that he had handed on to them.  The apostle says that each celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar is a proclamation of Jesus Christ’s death until he comes.

While it is the risen and exalted Lord who gives us his true body and blood in the Sacrament, there can be no denying that it focuses our attention on the death of Jesus.  The Lord says it is his “body given for you.”  It is his “blood shed for you.” The body to which Jesus refers is his body that hung on the cross. The blood is his blood that was shed as he died on the cross.

The words “for you” tell us that this death was for your benefit.  As they approached Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve apostles aside and said: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Christ’s death on the cross was purpose of his ministry.  He went to the cross because as Paul told the Romans, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  He offered himself there as the sacrifice for our sin.  He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Peter wrote that we have been ransomed “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Jesus Christ offered himself in death as the sacrifice that has won forgiveness for us.  He did this once for all time.  The writer to the Hebrews says, “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  There is no other sacrifice to be made, and so the Sacrament is not a sacrifice that the Church offers to God.  This would take the Gospel gift and turn it into Law.  It would take God’s action that gives forgiveness, and turn it into something we do. 

The forgiveness of sins was won on the cross. But as Martin Luther noted, forgiveness is not given out there. We can’t go back there and then.  Instead, God gives to us the forgiveness that Christ has won, here and now.  In the Sacrament he does this through the located means of bread and wine.  He uses bread and wine to give us his true body and blood.  He does this here at the altar as the Sacrament is celebrated. We know exactly where and how God gives forgiveness to us.

In explaining the benefit of the Sacrament, the Small Catechism says, “These words, ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,’ show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words.”  In the Sacrament, Jesus gives the very body that was given into death on the cross. He gives the very blood that was shed in death on the cross.  He gives the very price that he paid to win forgiveness.

He leaves no doubt that this forgiveness is for you, for he places it into your mouth.  He deals with you as an individual.  You receive the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And in this action Christ provides the comfort and assurance that your sins are forgiven.

In the Words of Institution, Jesus says “this cup is the new testament in my blood.”  The Greek word translated here as “testament” more commonly means “covenant” in biblical language. When God brought Israel into the covenant with him, Moses took the blood from the sacrifices and sprinkled it on the people. He said, “Behold, the blood of the covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” By this action, he indicated that Israel had been taken into the covenant with God.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”

He spoke of how in the future, God would make a new covenant with Israel.  Jesus established this new covenant by his death and resurrection. Yet this covenant is not only with Israel. Instead, it includes all people who believe in Christ.  In the Sacrament, Jesus gives us the cup which is the new covenant in his blood.  Jesus gives us his blood and so encourages us with the fact that we are included in the new covenant. We are part of God’s people, and so God’s word in Jeremiah is true for us: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The Small Catechism states that in the Sacrament we receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, for as it goes on to explain, “where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”  This life and salvation is something that is both now and not yet.  It is something we already have now in Christ, and something that we will receive in its completeness when Jesus Christ returns on the Last Day.

The Sacrament is food for the new man.  As we face the ongoing struggle against sin and the old Adam within us, Jesus uses the Sacrament of the Altar to nourish the new man who was created in us by the work of the Spirit in baptism.  The Large Catechism says: “Therefore, it is appropriately called food for the soul, for it nourishes and strengthens the new man.  For in the first instance, we are born anew through baptism.  However, our human flesh and blood, as I have said, have not lost their old skin.  There are so many hindrances and attacks of the devil and the world that we often grow worry and faint and at times even stumble.  Therefore the Lord’s Supper is given as a daily food and sustenance so that our faith may be refreshed and strengthened and that it may not succumb in the struggle but become stronger.”

This life and salvation that is ours will reach its consummation when Jesus Christ returns on the Last Day.  Paul told the Corinthians that in the Sacrament we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. And each celebration of the Sacrament is an action by Christ that points forward to this.

In the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus Christ comes bodily into our midst.  It is the true body and blood of Christ, the Son of God, that is present. We acknowledge this fact when we sing, “Holy, holy, holy” in the Sanctus - the song of the angels that Isaiah heard when he was in God’s presence.  We sing “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” – the same words spoken by the crowds on Palm Sunday – because Jesus is coming to us in his body and blood. And after the consecration we sing “Lamb of God You take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us” in the Agnus Dei as we praise Christ who has come to us in this miraculous way.

The coming of Christ in the Sacrament attests to the fact that the Lord will return in glory on the Last day.  And in the Sacrament we receive encouragement about the life and salvation that will be ours when he does.

The Old Testament describes God’s future salvation as a feast. Isaiah says, “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” Jesus says, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus is the bridegroom for his bride, the Church, and the future salvation is called the marriage feast of the Lamb.

In the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus hosts us at his supper – the Lord’s Supper.  Here we receive a foretaste of the feast to come.  As we pray in one of the post-communion Collects: “Gracious God, our heavenly Father, You have given us a foretaste of the feast to come in the Holy Supper of Your Son’s body and blood.  Keep us firm in the true faith throughout our days of pilgrimage that, on the day of His coming, we may, together with all Your saints, celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end.”

            When Christ returns in glory on the Last Day he will raise and transform our bodies to be like his own.  Paul told the Philippians, "we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” In the Sacrament Jesus gives us the assurance that our bodies will be raised.  The risen Lord gives his body and blood into our bodies.  Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

            In the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus gives us his true body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.  He takes what he won on the cross and delivers it to each one of us as we receive his body and blood in our mouth.  Through this gift he gives us forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation.  This life and salvation is something that we already have now.  And in the Sacrament Christ encourages us with the assurance that we will receive the consummation of that life and salvation when he returns in glory on the Last Day.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for Second Sunday in Lent - Reminiscere - 1 Thess 4:1-7

 

          Lent 2

                                                                                                1 Thess 4:1-7

                                                                                                3/16/25

 

            The movie “Anora” won five Oscars this month, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director.  It tells the story of a woman who works at a strip club.  She becomes involved with a rich man, before ultimately his family forces him to abandon her.

            Now, I have not seen “Anora,” nor do I have any intention of doing so.  But multiple reliable sources have described how much of “Anora” is soft-core porn. The movie begins with the scene of topless women as they drape themselves all over male buyers.

            In accepting her award for Best Actress, Mikey Madison said, “I just want to recognize and honor the sex worker community. Yes, I will continue to support and be an ally.  All of the incredible people, the women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community has been one of the highlights of this incredible experience.”

            I doubt that any of you have seen “Anora” – very few people have. In fact, it is one of the lowest grossing Best Picture winners in history, having only made sixteen million dollars in the U.S. But the very fact that it was nominated, much less won an Oscar, shows what our culture is promoting.

            We live in a world that has almost no limits in the use of sex.  People believe they are free to have sex with whomever they choose. It is considered laughable that it should limited to marriage. Sex is for hook ups. Sex is part of dating. Sex is part of people living together. Sex is for two men. Sex is for two women.  Television and movies are awash in sexual imagery that was once unthinkable.  And the unlimited access to pornography online has made it a significant part of our culture.

            This situation is something that is new – it has arisen in the last seventy five years.  But on the other hand, it is nothing new. It is very similar to the first century world in which the apostle Paul lived.  In our text this morning, he provides us with instruction from the Lord about how we are to live in this world.

            Paul had preached the Gospel to the Thessalonians on his second missionary journey. We learn from Acts that Jewish opposition to the Gospel forced Paul to leave Thessalonica much sooner than he had wished. The apostle was concerned about how this young church was doing. 

Paul had sent Timothy to visit them. Now his assistant had returned and brought good news.  Paul says in the previous chapter: “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you-- for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.”

Paul had preached the Gospel to the Thessalonians, and it had changed their lives. The apostle describes in the first chapter, “how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”  In the next chapter Paul writes: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”

In both chapters Paul refers to God’s wrath. The wrath of God is not something our world – and even many Christians – want to talk about.  Instead, the world only wants to know about God’s love – a “love” that really ends up being an affirmation to be and do what they want.

But God’s Word is clear in teaching that our life and world has been ordered according to God’s will – a will that is expressed in his law.  To transgress this will – to break this law – is sin.

God is the holy God in whose presence sinners cannot exist.  Sin evokes God’s wrath – his judgement.  Paul told the Colossians, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”  The wrath of God is coming.  It will be revealed in the judgment of the Last Day. The apostle 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.”

We know that we are sinners who sin. But by his death on the cross, Jesus rescued us from God’s wrath. He has given us salvation in the forgiveness of sins. And this salvation includes rescue from death, because God raised Jesus from the dead.  The risen Lord has ascended, and as Paul told the Thessalonians, we await God’s Son from heaven.  Jesus Christ will return in glory on the Last Day to raise our bodies from the dead.  For us, the Last Day will not be a day of wrath and judgment.  Instead, it will be the day when God will declare us justified – not guilty – because of Christ.

In our text, Paul talks about how we live because of this.  He begins our text by saying: “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”

Paul had passed on to the Thessalonians instruction about how they were to live in a way that pleased God.  He reminded them that he had given this instruction through the Lord Jesus – that this teaching was authoritative for the Church.  The apostle says that they should seek to live in this way more and more.

What is this way? The apostle writes: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”

God’s will for us is that we live in holy ways – ways that are true to his will.  His will is that we keep away from sexual immorality – that we control our bodies in holiness and honor.  Paul contrasts this with the “Gentiles” – those who don’t know God. They live in lustful passion that rejects God.

In our text, Paul reminds the Thessalonians that this is a matter of great importance.  He adds that this is so, “because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.” Paul reminds them that, “God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” To reject the apostle’s teaching is to reject God – the One who gives the Holy Spirit. It is to reject the life of faith, and to return to the life of unbelief – the life of those who don’t know God.

Paul judged that there was a need to write these words to the Thessalonians.  It is likely a subject in which they were having struggles.  It’s not surprising that they did.  The first century Greco-Roman world assumed that men had sex with their slaves.  The use of prostitutes was considered entirely normal and ordinary.  In fact, the Roman government provided brothels for the poor.  Older men had sex with young men and boys, and there was the practice of homosexuality.  Pornography – graphic depiction of sex acts – was common in the decorations on walls and objects.

The apostle had taught the Thessalonians the truth about sex that God had revealed to Israel, and now, to his Church.  God had created man as male and female.  A husband was joined to his wife in the one flesh union of marriage.  This sexual union of husband and wife was intended to produce children. Sexual intercourse was only to take place within marriage.  Any form of sex outside of marriage was porneia – from which we get the word pornography.  It was sexual immorality.  And as Jesus had taught, to look upon a person other than one’s spouse with lustful intent was sinful.

The Thessalonians were learning what it meant to live in a way that was completely different from the world around them.  Paul was encouraging them to live in this way that pleased God more and more.  This way of living is nothing new to you. It is the teaching of the Sixth Commandment.  It is what you have been taught in the Church.  But now you are being called to live in ways that are completely different from the world around you.

We do this in the recognition that God’s ways are good for us – they are a blessing.  God is the one who created sex. His will – his law – tells us how he ordered it.  When we use it in his ways, it is a blessing.  Within marriage it binds husband and wife together in true intimacy.  In the giving of one to another it produces life – a child that will then be cared for as God intended it in the setting of family.

And if you reject God’s ordering and use sex outside marriage you bring hardship and difficulties to your life.  Sex hinders a person’s ability to evaluate whether the other person is a good choice for a mate. Add in living together and it becomes worse still, with an increased likelihood of divorce.  It leads to children born outside of marriage, and all the challenges that entails for parents and child.  Adultery destroys marriages and families.  The use of pornography rewires the brain in ways that prevent individuals from being able to function sexually in the way for which they were created.

God has called you as his own. He has made you holy through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  You have been born again of water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism, and so are a new creation in Christ.  The Spirit who has given us this life now leads and enables us to walk in God’s ways.

In our text, the apostle Paul gives us words that we need to hear.  He calls us back to the teaching of the Lord that we have already heard as he says, “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”

            The will of God for us is our sanctification – that we live in holy ways – in his ways.  This is true for all areas of life, but in our text Paul focuses on one area that is foundational for the way God created us.  He created us a male and female. He created us for sexual union in marriage.  He created us to have children and to raise them in the setting of family.

This now runs counter to almost everything the world has to say about the use of sex.  But the world’s way is a perversion of God’s gift that leads to harm and hardship.  God’s way yields blessings as we live in Christ.

  

 

      

 

First mid-week Lent sermon - What is the Sacrament of the Altar?

 

     Mid Lent 1

                                                What is the Sacrament

     of the Altar?

     Where is this written?

 

            In the early 50’s A.D., St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’”

            Paul reminded the Corinthians about the words he had received, and had passed on to them.  They were the words by which Jesus Christ had instituted the Sacrament of the Altar.  The introduction to those words noted that Jesus had done this “on the night when he was betrayed.” The words indicated that Jesus had done this at a meal.

            The Words of Institution locate Jesus’ action at the Last Supper with his disciples.  This was a Passover meal – a meal by which Israel remembered how God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt.  The blood of the lamb slain, and now eaten in the meal, had marked the houses of the Israelites.  God’s judgment had passed over the Israelites as he killed the first born males of the Egyptians.

            Jesus spoke these words because he was about to be the fulfillment of the Passover lamb.  He would die on the cross on Good Friday.  His blood would be shed to win forgiveness for us. And because of the shedding of his blood, God’s judgment against our sins now passes over us.  Yet Jesus did not just die.  On Easter he rose from the dead as he had told his disciples.  Christ is now the ascended and exalted Lord at God’s right hand.

            At that meal, Jesus took bread and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to the disciples as he said, “Take eat, this is my body.” In the same way later in the supper he took a cup of wine gave thanks over it and said, “Drink of it all of you, this is my blood.”

            Jesus said that he was giving his body and blood to his disciples to eat and drink.  Now if you or I said this, the hearer would immediately have to begin trying to figure out what this means. After all, bread is bread, and wine is wine.  It can’t be the body and blood of a person.

            However, the One who was speaking these words was the Lord Jesus – the One who is true God and true man. He was the One who had shown he has the power to raise the dead, heal diseases, and still storms.  He has the power to do with words what no one else can. 

            Eat the body of Jesus. Drink the blood of Jesus.  Christ’s words remain challenging today.  Yet we must recognize that they were utterly shocking to the Jewish disciples.  God had forbidden Israel to drink or eat blood in any way.  Yet now Jesus was saying that he was giving them his blood to drink. The shocking nature of these words leads us to understand that Jesus was doing something completely new – something that had never happened before.

            Jesus says that he is giving you his body and blood in the Sacrament.  These words are clear and unambiguous.  One can only deny this by saying that Jesus couldn’t or wouldn’t do this. The former is a denial of the power of the Son of God. The latter contradicts the Incarnation itself and the located means by which God dealt with his people in the Old Testament through the tabernacle and the sacrifices.

            Jesus declares that he is giving us his body and blood.  The words just say it.  And when we look elsewhere in Scripture we find the same thing.  Paul told the Corinthians, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”  The wine in the cup is a participation in the blood of Christ. The bread is a participation in the body of Christ. In the same manner, Paul went on to say, “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.”

            The words of Scripture just say it. And from the beginning, the Church believed it.  Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, wrote around 105 A.D. about heretics in his area: “They stay away from the Eucharist and prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins, which the Father raised up by His goodness.”

            For 1500 years the Church believed nothing other than what our Lord says – that he is giving us his body and blood. It was only in the sixteenth century that some Christians began to deny this.  They denied that our Lord was working a miracle, and maintained instead that the bread and wine is only a symbol – that it is nothing more than bread and wine that makes us think about something.  They made the absurd argument that Church had immediately gotten it completely wrong … and no one had noticed. They said the entire Church had been wrong for 1500 years until they had noticed that Jesus’ words don’t really mean what they say.

            Jesus held in his hands bread and wine.  Today, in the celebration of the Sacrament, we continue to use bread and wine.  All can see that it looks like bread and wine.  It tastes like bread and wine.  That is because it is bread and wine. The apostle Paul says so when he speaks of how Christians “eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

            Yet because of our Lord’s words it is not only bread and wine. It is bread and wine being used by Christ to give us his body and blood. The Small Catechism says that the Sacrament is “the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine.”  The preposition “under,” or as it sometimes said, “in, with, and under,” confesses the truth that Christ is using this bread and wine in a way that only he can.

            Yes it is bread and wine.  But that is not what makes it unique, and that is not where Christ sets our focus.  Instead he tell us that this bread and wine is his true body and blood.  Bread and wine. Body and blood. It is both at the same time. The Lutheran church uses the phrase “sacramental union” to describe the fact that bread and wine, and body and blood, are both present and received by us.

            How can bread and wine be the body and blood of the Christ at the same time?  This is the mystery of the Lord’s working in the Sacrament.  We can’t explain it, but from very early the Church used something in order to help her think about it - and that is Jesus Christ himself.  The incarnate Lord is true God and true man at the same time. As the divine and human natures are joined in the personal union of Christ, so the bread and wine, and body and blood of Christ are joined in the sacramental union.

            It is Christ’s word that causes his body and blood to be present.  Jesus’ words do what they say. The Large Catechism states, “And just as we said of baptism that it is not mere water, so we say here, too, that the sacrament is bread and wine, but not mere bread and wine such as is served at the table.  Rather, it is bread and wine set within God’s Word and bound to it.  It is the Word, I say, that makes this a sacrament and distinguishes it from ordinary bread and wine, so that it is called and truly is Christ’s body and blood.”

            Christ’s words spoken at the Last Supper did this.  And Christ’s words spoken today by the pastor continue to have the same power.  The speaking of these Words of Institution is called the consecration.  Before the consecration it is plain bread and wine on the altar.  After the consecration, it is the body and blood of Christ on the altar. The bread and wine do not cease to be present, but now it is the true body and blood of Christ under the bread and wine.

            It is Jesus’ words that cause his body and blood to be present in the Sacrament.  It is Christ’s action and not ours. This is important because it means that our Lord’s words cause the presence of his body and blood no matter whether you believe it or not.  Our faith receives the Sacrament as a blessing, but it is not reason that the body and blood are there.  This instead is entirely caused by Christ’s words.

            When the Lord instituted the Sacrament, he told the disciples to “take and eat.” He told them, “take and drink.”  The Sacrament is a meal – it was given for us to eat and drink. Our Lord did not institute it so that the body of Christ could be put on display, or so that it could be paraded around as it was in the medieval Corpus Christi procession.  Instead, the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord give it to his people to eat and drink.  He gives it as a great blessing and benefit.  But in order to speak of that, we will have to wait until next week.