Category: Sermon Page

Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 27, 2022

“A Prodigal Son, a Prodigal Father, and a Pharisaical Brother” (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)

In our text today from Luke 15, the scribes and Pharisees are tut-tutting Jesus because he was hanging around with tax collectors and other obvious sinners. And he was not only welcoming them, Jesus was even having meals with them, table fellowship. “This man receives sinners and eats with them,” the scribes and Pharisees grumble–not even using Jesus’ name, just calling him “this man,” with a sneer in their voice.

Yeah, this was too much for these pious and respectable religious leaders. They figured a true servant of God would not associate with those lousy lowdown sinners. So Jesus figures he needs to teach the scribes and Pharisees a lesson or two about how God operates, what God’s plan is. And so he tells them a story. It’s the parable of “A Prodigal Son, a Prodigal Father, and a Pharisaical Brother.”

The story begins: “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.” Look at how disrespectful this son is! He wants his share of the inheritance, and he wants it now! He can’t wait until the appropriate time, which would be after his father’s death, but that could be years from now. No, he wants it now! It’s like he’s saying, “I wish you were dead, Dad!” But amazingly, the father gives it to him.

And what does the young man do with his share of the inheritance? “Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.” He leaves home, disgracing his father in front of the town. He goes off to a far country. He’s far from home, both in terms of distance and his mindset. The young man squanders all his wealth in reckless living. That’s why he’s called the “prodigal” son. “Prodigal” means “wasteful,” lavish,” “extravagant.”

“And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.” This young man has been very unwise. Now that he’s wasted all his resources, this is when he really needs them. “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.” From living high on the hog, now he is living down among the hogs! He’s reduced to feeding pigs, which would be especially humiliating for a Jew. “And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.” This boy is hitting rock bottom. He’s bottoming out and beginning to recognize his folly in leaving home.

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ The young man comes to his senses. And he’s come up with a plan. He will go back home and confess to his father that he has sinned against heaven and against him, and that he’s no longer worthy to be called his son. So far, so good. He’s right in what he says. But that next part, “Treat me as one of your hired servants”: Does he really think a work-it-off scheme can atone for how terribly he has done wrong?

How about you? Do you recognize how foolishly you have lived over the years, in the dumb ways you’ve acted in your life? The many ways you’ve gone astray from the right way to live before God and man? Do you see how you have wasted the gifts that your heavenly Father has given you? If so, come on home!

That’s what the prodigal son does. “And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” This is truly an amazing father! And here, as Jesus does in many of his parables, he stretches reality a bit to make a point. For what human father would be standing at his door every day, for months on end, looking out and waiting for his son to return? But that’s what God does. And what self-respecting ancient Middle-Eastern father would run out to greet a son who had humiliated him so? You just don’t do that! But this father does. And you can feel the emotion in the father’s heart as he embraces his son, falls on his neck, and kisses him! What a picture of God’s grace and mercy and compassion toward us prodigal sinners!

Now the returning son starts in with his prepared speech: “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” But now watch what happens! Before the son gets to the “let me work it off as a hired servant” part of his speech, the father cuts him off!

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” You see, the father doesn’t want another servant. He wants his son back! No work-it-off scheme necessary! And now that he’s got his son back, it’s time to celebrate! And here’s why I call this father the “prodigal” father: because he’s so extravagant, so lavish, in the welcome-home celebration he calls for. A robe and a ring, to restore the young man to full sonship. And a Grade-A fattened calf for the celebratory meal! Dad is pulling out all the stops to welcome his lost son home!

Friends, this is how our heavenly Father is toward us. He’s lavish, extravagant–“prodigal,” if you will–in how warmly he welcomes us. In your baptism, God has clothed you with the robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness. He forgives your sins and restores you and reassures you that you are his own dear child. He holds a celebratory meal for you here in the Lord’s Supper, in which you receive a foretaste of the feast to come in heaven. And in this meal, we feast on, not a fattened calf, but the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. God loved us so much that he sent his only Son–the one faithful Son, Jesus Christ–to live and die for us, to be the sacrifice to atone for all of our wasteful, runaway, rebellious misdeeds. What a loving, lavish, extravagant God we have!

So the party is underway. The celebration has begun. But what of the father’s other son, the older one? “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in.”

The prodigal son was lost when he ran off far from home. But this other son, the older one–he was lost all the while he stayed at home! He just doesn’t get it! He should be rejoicing that his brother is back. He should be joining his father in the big celebration. But he isn’t. He’s standing outside. He’s being resentful toward his brother. And he’s being rude toward his father by refusing to come in.

So what does the father do? He comes out to this jerk of a son. “His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’”

Mr. Self-Righteous, this older son is. And rude and disrespectful, too. He doesn’t even address his father as “Father.” He just jumps to an angry “Look!” “Look, I’ve been slaving away for you all these years.” See, he just doesn’t get it. He’s thinking he’s been working as a slave, not a son. “And what have I got out of this deal? Not much. But here this son of yours. . . .” Notice, he doesn’t even acknowledge his brother as his brother. He’s just “this son of yours.”

But the father is kind and patient even to this disrespectful older son: “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” What an amazing father! To this rude son who won’t even call him “Father,” he calls him “son.” And to this older brother who dismisses his younger brother as “this son of yours,” the father reminds him that he’s “this your brother.”

And now do you see why I call this parable the story of “A Prodigal Son, a Prodigal Father, and a Pharisaical Brother”? Because the older brother in the story is acting like the Pharisees, who are standing right there in front of Jesus. Jesus is welcoming repentant sinners back home, but the Pharisees are grumbling like the older brother. They should be rejoicing and joining the party, but instead they’re standing outside, refusing to come in.

Friends, it’s Jesus who is doing the amazing thing here. Like the prodigal, extravagant father in the story, Jesus is welcoming lost sinners back home. “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” The Pharisees meant it as a harsh criticism. You and I–we know it to be our life and our greatest joy: This man, Jesus, receives sinners and eats with them! That’s us! Welcome home, brothers and sisters!

Third Sunday in Lent
March 20, 2022

“The Blood of the Galileans” (Luke 13:1-9)

Whenever there’s a terrible tragedy in the news–a bombing that kills women and children in Ukraine, the police officer shot and killed in Bonne Terre on Thursday, a tornado that levels a town–people search for answers. They’re perplexed. They don’t understand. “Why?” they ask. “Why did this awful thing happen?” And they look for someone to blame. They blame the perpetrator, if it’s a crime. Sometimes they blame the victim, thinking they must have had it coming to them. Sometimes they blame God, who let this evil thing happen. Those are the standard reactions people have these days. But this is nothing new. Back in Jesus’ day, people speculated about why terrible tragedies occur. We see that in today’s text on “The Blood of the Galileans.”

In our text, some people are telling Jesus about a terrible tragedy that was in the news. It involved people from Galilee, which is where Jesus was from, so they figure this would be of interest to him–especially since those Galileans were killed in Jerusalem, and now Jesus is traveling that way. Plus, Jesus, being a man of religious insight and known for speaking his mind–well, people would want to get his take on the story.

And it was an intriguing story, with lots of theological and political overtones. Our text begins: “There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” Now that’s pretty awful! We don’t have any other information on this incident, but what happened was this: Some Galileans had traveled to Jerusalem for the holy days. And they went to the temple.

The nation at that time was ruled by the Romans, and in Judea, the Romans had put in as governor a man by the name of Pontius Pilate. Pilate’s job was to keep order there, especially in Jerusalem, the most important city of the Jews, whose population would increase dramatically during the holy days. Pilate would be on the lookout for anyone who might stir up trouble. And he would not be averse to using force to put down any suspected insurrection. The Romans did not mess around.

Well, for some reason Pilate had reason to suspect those Galilean pilgrims worshiping at the temple. So he sent in his troops, right into the temple courtyard, where those Jews were offering up their sacrifices. Pilate’s men struck them down and killed them. The blood of those slain pilgrims was mixed in with the blood of their animal sacrifices.

This was an extremely horrific act in the eyes of the Jews. For the pagan Romans to desecrate the sacred temple grounds, to go into an area where Gentiles were not allowed, to defile the holy sacrifices, to slaughter Jews doing their religious duty–this was just outrageous! A brutal and horrible death!

So now the “why” questions arise. Why did this evil deed happen? But instead of just directing their wrath against the Romans, the people talking to Jesus thought those Galileans themselves must have had it coming to them. Their brutal death was some sort of divine karma for sins they must have committed.

Jesus addresses what they were thinking. He says: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you.” Then Jesus takes it a step further. He brings up another news story: “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you.”

The people talking to Jesus saw those deaths, and they concluded it was a form of divine justice. God let those people be struck down because of some sin they had committed. But to automatically draw that conclusion, Jesus says, twice, “No, I tell you.”

What about those Galileans struck down by Pilate? What about those Jerusalemites buried under the tower of Siloam? What about people in our day who die sudden, tragic deaths? We too ask our questions, trying to make sense of it all. We too like to find someone to blame. For some of these stories, there is someone pretty obvious to blame, the perpetrator.

But the attributing of blame is a tricky business. In some cases, you can almost draw a line between certain behavior and a terrible result. A guy builds a meth lab, it blows up, the guy is killed–pretty clear connection. But in other cases, there may not be any immediate consequences to bad behavior. A rich pornographer may live a long healthy life and face no consequences. But then, a sudden illness can strike down a young wife and mother. The “karma” makes no sense. The “fault lines” are not so clear. Divine payback is hard to read. Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?

So the next natural question is this: Why did God allow this to happen? That’s the favorite question of our age. People want to blame God. They want to put God on trial. “I can’t believe in a God who would allow this to happen!” And then fill in the blank with whatever the latest terrible thing in the news is. A natural disaster, a child’s death–as though any of these things were something new or unusual–you always hear the same complaint, “I can’t believe in a God who would let this happen!” As though any death were not a bad thing! What about a God who allows billions of deaths to happen, over thousands of years? Pretty much everybody and everything on earth is going to die. Where is God in any of this?

Whether we blame God, blame the victim, or blame the perpetrator–we like to assign blame and cluck our tongues in every direction but one. And that is, by looking at ourselves. We don’t like to do that. So that’s where Jesus directs our attention when we’re tempted to ask, “What about those Galileans?” or “What about the tower of Siloam?” Jesus answers us and says: “What about you? Are you any better they were?”

And so, Jesus says, twice, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” In other words, take these examples of sudden, violent death as a warning. If death is based on people being sinners, then you yourselves should take heed. You too are sinners. If it’s a matter of divine justice, then you ought to be concerned about how you will fare in God’s courtroom. You see, it’s not God who is on trial, it’s you! How do you stack up, when measured against God’s law? You see, in the comparison game, it’s not you versus other people; it’s you versus God’s law! And that’s a game you cannot win. “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Instead of making ourselves feel better by looking down our noses at the bad people; instead of trying to keep God’s judgment at arm’s length, out there–instead, Jesus does us the favor of calling us to repent. That’s a good thing. Jesus wants each one of us to see our own sinfulness and to turn from it, before it’s too late.

“Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” But God does not want us to perish. That’s why he calls us to repent! “Turn from your sins and live!” God calls to us today. And it won’t be because you were so sorry and you’re trying so hard to do better. That won’t cut it. No, to repent means to turn from looking inside yourself for an answer and instead looking to God for the answer he gives you. And that answer is Jesus Christ himself. He is where you turn when you repent. You turn from self to Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth–he is the answer to our questions. This Galilean–Jesus, who is traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem for the holy days, for the Passover–Jesus is going right into Pilate’s lair in Jerusalem. And there Jesus of Nazareth will be the Galilean whose blood Pilate will mingle with his sacrifice. Indeed, Jesus’ blood will be the sacrifice! The perfect sacrifice for all our sins–this is what Jesus will offer. His holy blood will cleanse us from all our sins. Jesus, the only one with no sins of his own for which he should die–Jesus will take all our sins and pay the final sacrifice for them.

Jesus of Nazareth was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Do you think that this Galilean was a worse sinner than all of us, because he suffered in this way? Well, in a strange sense, he was! Jesus became the worst sinner in the world, the worst one who ever lived, when he bore the world’s sin on the cross in our place. “For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The divine judgment fell on Christ, so that it would not fall on us.

Friends, the good news today is that there is no more divine judgment to come crashing down on you! Your sins are forgiven! If bad things happen to you–and they will, you will die someday–it won’t be because God is condemning you and sending you to hell. No, because of Christ’s all-availing sacrifice, you and I will rise from under the rubble of death; we will rise to live with Christ forever. The blood of this one Galilean has atoned for your sin and gained for you life everlasting!

Second Sunday in Lent
March 13, 2022

“Jesus Is Determined–and Compassionate” (Luke 13:31-35)

Two things that we see about Jesus in our text today: 1) He is determined, and 2) He is compassionate. And that combination is the very best news for you. Let’s take a look now, under the theme, “Jesus Is Determined–and Compassionate.”

First of all, Jesus is determined. He’s determined to finish what he started. Nothing or no one can scare him off, not the Pharisees, not Herod the tetrarch of Galilee. Our text begins: “At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’” Now what’s that all about?

OK, so Jesus has been busy for some time now with his ministry in Galilee: preaching. teaching, healing the sick, casting out demons, gathering disciples. Jesus has been attracting big crowds and gaining a lot of attention. But all the while, he’s also been making some enemies. That includes the Pharisees. Jesus has exposed the Pharisees as hypocrites. They wanted to look good in front of men, but their hearts were far from God. Jesus has called them out on their sins, and they don’t like it. Jesus was exposing their pride and hypocrisy. So those Pharisees had reason to want Jesus out of their hair.

The other party mentioned here is Herod. There are a number of Herods in the New Testament. This one is Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee–the same Herod who had had John the Baptist put to death. Now the Pharisees tell Jesus, “Herod wants to kill you.” This raises some questions: Did Herod really want to kill Jesus, or were the Pharisees just trying to scare Jesus out of their territory? Or maybe Herod wanted to get Jesus out of Galilee, and that’s why he fed this rumor to the Pharisees. We don’t know. Our text doesn’t tell us.

In any case, one thing is clear: Jesus is not going to be intimidated or thrown off course. You can hear the determination in his voice when he says: “Go and tell that fox,” referring to Herod, “‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’”

Jesus is not going to run away or be scared into changing his timetable just because of a threat. He’s got a little more work to do here in Galilee, and then it will be on to Jerusalem. Jesus is in charge of his own schedule. “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.”

And his course will take him to Jerusalem: “Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” Wow, that sounds like a strange reason to go someplace. In order to perish? But that’s what his mission is: a journey to Jerusalem, to be rejected and killed. Jesus knows what he’s getting into, and still he goes. That’s how determined he is.

And we’ve seen this before. Think of when Jesus was tempted by the devil. One of the temptations was for Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple, land unhurt, and win the acclaim of the crowds. But that’s not how Jesus will accomplish his goal. Nor when the mockers at the cross say, “Come down from the cross and we will believe in you.” Jesus will resist that temptation, too. That’s not how he will reach his goal.

Jesus predicted how he will reach it: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” This will happen in Jerusalem. This is how the mission will play out.

Or again, at Jesus’ transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about “his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Jerusalem–that’s where Jesus will finish his course. And he is determined to go there. Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem, knowing that rejection and suffering and death await him there. He is determined. He’s locked in. There’s no stopping him. There’s no diverting him from finishing his course. Jesus has a clear sense of purpose. That’s what we’re seeing today in our text. Jesus is a man on a mission.

But why? Why is Jesus so determined, when he knows that suffering awaits him in Jerusalem? Why? Because he came to do the will of his Father, and this is the Father’s plan for the salvation of the world. And Jesus is doing this for you. You have sins that need to be atoned for, and you can’t do that yourself. You have death hanging over your head, and you don’t have power to change that.

But Jesus can, and he does. He has a goal to reach. He has a mission to fulfill. His mission is to save sinful mankind. His mission is to save you. The Son of God will shed his holy blood on the cross, for you, and this is the only thing that can atone for your sins. This is what will lift the shroud of death from off of you, as evidenced by Christ’s resurrection. This is the course that Jesus will finish in Jerusalem. He’s got his face set for there. And there’s no stopping him until he reaches his goal.

We see how determined Jesus is. And we see how compassionate he is. What a kind, loving Savior, that he would do this for you! That he would willingly undergo suffering and death for you! “Nevertheless,” he says, “I must go on my way.” And that way is the way of the cross. Determination and compassion meet perfectly in Christ.

Hear the compassion in Jesus’ voice, as his heart aches for the city that will reject him and kill him: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” Of all cities, Jerusalem should have been the one to welcome the Messiah. Jerusalem had every advantage. How many times God had sent prophets to her. But how many times Jerusalem rejected those prophets. And now God is sending his own Son, but they will reject him also.

And with that ultimate rejection, God’s ultimate judgment would fall on Jerusalem. Forty years later, after rejecting their Messiah and putting him to death, Jerusalem would fall at the hands of the Romans in A.D. 70. The temple would be destroyed, leveled, never to be rebuilt, down to this very day. “Behold, your house is forsaken.”

But judgment is not God’s primary will. His primary or proper will is to save. As Jesus says, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” Jesus wanted to gather the people of Jerusalem to himself, to take them under the shelter of his wings. This is grace and compassion! But God’s grace is not irresistible. Jerusalem said no. “And you would not!” You were not willing, Jerusalem!

People today are still saying no to God and his grace and forgiveness and salvation. They say: “No thank you, Jesus, I don’t think I need a Savior. I don’t think I’m that bad of a person. I’ll be fine on my own.” What foolishness, what stupidity, what utter blindness! But that’s what Jerusalem was saying, and it is still what people are saying today when they reject Jesus, when they think they don’t need him.

So many people in our community, maybe even in your own family–so many in our nation and world are self-secure. They become hardened in their unbelief. They think they don’t need Jesus and what he freely gives. Therefore they don’t think they need Christ’s church, where the good news of salvation in Christ is proclaimed. But know this: All those who think they don’t need Jesus–they’re wrong, dead wrong. There’s no hope for them, apart from Christ. He is the one and only Savior that God has for this world, for all men, in all places. There is no other.

So how is it with you? Will you be gathered in? Or will you try to go it on your own? Do you think you have what it takes to atone for your sins and overcome death? Good luck with that. Instead, dear friends, look to Jesus. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” He is determined to save you. He longs to gather you under his wings. Determination and compassion meet perfectly in Christ.

First Sunday in Lent
March 6, 2022

“Tempted” (Luke 4:1-13)

“Tempted”: Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. But was the problem so much in what he was being tempted with or more in the timing of the temptations? Let’s find out. And as we do, you will see a faithful Savior, who is just the right one for you.

Jesus has just been baptized in the Jordan River. At his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, and the Father’s voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Now Jesus is about to start his public ministry. But first he is led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus is tempted by the devil in a wilderness. Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil in a garden. They failed. Man fell into sin. And this sinful nature has been passed down from generation to generation, down to you and me today. And with sin, death fell upon the human race. Can this one representative man, Jesus, the second Adam–can he succeed where all the rest of us have failed? If death and the devil are to be defeated, Jesus must overcome the temptations that you and I so often surrender to.

Jesus was tempted by the devil for forty days. Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years. They too failed. They groused and grumbled. The children of Israel did not overcome temptation. And many of them fell in the wilderness as a result. Now here is Jesus, in a way, Israel reduced to one. Will he overcome where Israel failed? If there’s going to be a new people of God, Jesus must lead the way.

So Jesus goes out into the wilderness to meet the devil’s temptations head on. But notice what sort of temptations he is tempted with. Are these things really so bad in themselves?

Take the first temptation, for example. Jesus had eaten nothing during the forty days, so naturally he was hungry. Thus the devil comes with the first temptation: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” A food temptation had worked with Adam and Eve: They liked the look of the fruit on the tree. A food temptation had worked with ancient Israel: They were always grumbling about the manna menu. So the devil figures he’ll try it again. “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

Now think about it. Is there anything inherently wrong with Jesus turning a stone into bread? Jesus is the Son of God, after all. The Father had just said that at Jesus’ baptism: “You are my beloved Son.” And what sort of father, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? And it’s not like Jesus couldn’t do this thing. As the Son of God, he was there in the beginning, active in the creation of the heavens and the earth. He is the one “by whom all things were made,” including all the stones in the wilderness and the wheat in the field. It would be no problem for Jesus to make bread out of a stone. No big deal.

In fact, Jesus will do something like that later in his ministry, on an even more spectacular level. He will feed 5,000 from just five loaves and two fish, with twelve baskets left over. Here it’s just a matter of turning one little stone into bread. What’s the problem?

And Jesus is so hungry. Doesn’t he deserve to get something to eat? What would be the harm in that? Who is more entitled to have, not just a piece of bread, but an entire feast held in his honor? And Christ will have a great heavenly banquet, the marriage feast of the Lamb in his kingdom, which has no end. Jesus is worthy of feasting not fasting. So why begrudge him some food here after forty days of going without? What would be so wrong? “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

But Jesus has more important things on his mind than filling his belly. Jesus answers the devil, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” The bread can wait for another time. Right now, Jesus is on a mission from God. Here at the outset of his ministry, Jesus denies his own desires in order to do the will of his Father. That’s what he’ll need to do at the conclusion of his ministry, when he says, “Not my will but thine be done.” Completing this fast will be a good preparation for that. So Jesus turns away this first temptation.

Now a second temptation: “And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’”

Of course, worshiping the devil at any time would be wrong in and of itself. But for Jesus to have all the kingdoms of this world, all this authority and their glory–what would be wrong with that? Isn’t Jesus entitled? He is the Son of God. Why not receive all that glory? The angel Gabriel had said about Jesus: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And later on, Jesus himself will say, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” All authority. So what’s wrong with Jesus claiming that power and glory now?

But this is not the time. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, not as the world reckons power or glory. And Jesus’ kingdom, his authority and glory, will not be won by taking shortcuts. His kingdom will mean a crown of thorns and a sign on a cross that says, “The King of the Jews.” So Jesus answers the devil, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” Second temptation, overcome.

Now the third. The devil takes Jesus to Jerusalem. They go up and stand on the pinnacle of the temple. The devil says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

Again with the “If you are the Son of God.” But it’s not like the devil is denying that Jesus is the Son of God. No, it’s more like, “Since you are the Son of God, do something to prove it.” You deserve God’s protection and his guardian angels. Surely God would not let you, his beloved Son, see any harm! Go ahead, Jesus, take a leap of faith! Take God up on his promises! “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.”

But the devil’s temptation–to take a shortcut, to take the easy way out–will not work with Jesus. He replies, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And the devil’s line will not work later, either. When Jesus starts talking about going to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed, Peter objects, “No, no, Lord, that should never happen to you.” But Jesus recognizes this sort of temptation and rebukes Peter accordingly: “Get behind me, Satan!” Likewise, the mockers at the cross will echo the devil’s words when they say, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” But at that time also, Jesus will resist the temptation to take the easy way out.

It’s all about the timing. There will come a time when the Father does vindicate his Son, by raising him from the dead. But that time is not yet. There will come a time when Jesus does receive an everlasting kingdom and all authority and glory. But that time is not yet. There will come a time for joyous feasting at the great heavenly banquet. But that time has not yet come. First, Jesus has a job to do. And he will stick to the task. No shortcuts. No easy way out. No using his divine power to serve himself. “For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” That is what Jesus is all about. And it will mean a journey to Jerusalem and the way of the cross. Jesus now is setting out on that journey. And he will not be taken off course.

And this is good news for you, my friends. For you have a Savior who has overcome all the temptations of the devil. Jesus has defeated your foe for you. You and I have yielded to temptation and sinned many times. We fall for the devil’s lies: “You deserve it. You should get what you want. Have it now.” Yes, we are weak, but Jesus is strong. He stays true to the course. In Christ, you have a Savior who is completely faithful, utterly reliable, strong to save, totally committed to your salvation. That’s why he turns down the bread and the glory and the protection. He will not be deterred from going to the cross for you.

For Jesus, glory is coming, but it will come through suffering. Jesus will suffer and die for the sins of the world, for your sins and mine. And that is his greatest glory. The glory comes through the cross. “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Yes, it was necessary, and Jesus knows this. From the temptation in the wilderness to the cross in Jerusalem, Jesus knows what his mission is.

The things Jesus was tempted with–sustenance, all authority, vindication by his Father–these were not inherently wrong for him to receive. But it was a matter of the timing. Jesus knew what time it was. It was time to forego the glory, in order to go to the cross. And because he did, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Sunday, February 27, 2022

“At the Transfiguration: Moses, a Mountain, and an Exodus” (Luke 9:28-36)

Today is the Transfiguration of Our Lord. It’s the last Sunday of the Epiphany season before we enter Lent this week on Ash Wednesday. Our text is Luke’s account of the Transfiguration. In all three accounts, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see Jesus transfigured, on a mountain, standing with Moses and Elijah, talking with them. Only in Luke, though, do we find out what they were talking about. And so our theme this morning: “At the Transfiguration: Moses, a Mountain, and an Exodus.”

Moses? A mountain? An exodus? Our text leads us to reflect on these things. First of all, Moses himself shows up, some 1400 years after he died. God must have brought him back for this event for a reason. So we look back on the life of Moses to see what the significance might be. Second, the transfiguration of Christ is literally a “mountaintop experience.” And when we think about the life of Moses, we recall that he also had a number of mountaintop experiences. But this third thing, about an “exodus”–where do we get that? Well, it’s there. You just don’t see it at first glance. More on that later.

Let’s start with the person of Moses. Moses is, arguably, the most important person in the Old Testament. Abraham, David, Elijah–you could make a case for them, but you would not go wrong in saying that Moses is the key figure in Israel’s history: Moses was the great deliverer, the great lawgiver, the great prophet. “And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”

But here at the Transfiguration, there is one greater than Moses. Here is Jesus Christ, receiving the greater glory. The reading from Hebrews puts it like this: “For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. . . . Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son.” You see, Moses’ role was to point ahead to Jesus, to prophesy, in word and deed, of the good things to come in Christ. Moses received the word of God from the Lord himself and spoke it to the people. Jesus does that in an even greater way, more directly, and with an even greater message. As St. John says: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” Jesus is the very Son of God, and when you see and hear him, he is making God known in the ultimate way. All of God’s grace, all of God’s truth, is wrapped up in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Moses had told the people of Israel: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers–it is to him you shall listen.” That prophecy of a prophet like Moses is fulfilled in Jesus. The Father’s voice from the cloud echoes this prophecy and tells the disciples why Jesus receives the greater glory. He says: “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” Then the disciples look up, and they no longer see Moses and Elijah. They see Jesus alone.

Then there’s the matter of being transfigured, of having your appearance changed. When Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and came down from the mountain, his face was shining from being with God. But Jesus is God himself, the Son of God in the flesh–hidden in lowliness, but now at the Transfiguration, revealed in glory. So Jesus’ whole appearance is shining with an even more glorious light. “The appearance of his face was altered,” transfigured, “and his clothing became dazzling white.”

Moses points ahead to Jesus, but in such a way that the prophecy yields to the fulfillment, the lesser gives way to the greater, the servant gladly gives all glory to the Son.

So first, there’s the person of Moses. And second, there’s the mountain. Moses had a number of mountaintop experiences. It seems he spends half his time on top of mountains, meeting with God. The Old Testament reading today has Moses on top of Mount Nebo, looking out over the Promised Land before he dies. But before that, of course, Moses met with God on Mount Sinai, where he received the Ten Commandments. And even before that, Moses was on a mountain when the Lord told him, from a burning bush, to go and lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. The Lord said: “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. . . . And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

You see, the children of Israel were trapped down in Egypt, groaning in bondage and slavery. The Egyptians were harsh taskmasters, and the Israelites were suffering there in a foreign land. But the Lord had made a promise with their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to settle the people of Israel in their own land, in freedom, in a land flowing with milk and honey. And the Lord always keeps his promises. So the Lord was making good on his promise. There would be an exodus out of Egypt–an “exodus,” literally, a “way out,” a “departure.” The Israelites would escape Egypt and be brought up to the Promised Land. And the Lord would do that through Moses. That’s what the Lord told Moses at the burning bush on the mountain. That was Moses’ mountaintop experience before the exodus.

Now, at the Transfiguration, God is doing it again, in an even greater way, with Jesus, on a mountain. This is the mountaintop experience before the exodus that Jesus is about to accomplish. Remember, I said earlier that the exodus is mentioned in our text today, only you don’t see it at first glance. Well, now let’s give it a second glance, and we will see it.

You don’t see an “exodus” in the English. But you do see it in the Greek. And only Luke has this, in the verse where he mentions what Moses and Elijah and Jesus were discussing: “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” “They spoke of his departure”: the word here for “departure” is the Greek word “exodus.” Moses and Elijah and Jesus were talking about Jesus’ exodus, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Because from this point on, Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem, where he will accomplish a new and even greater exodus for you and me.

You see, you and I were groaning under the bondage of slavery, slavery to sin and Satan. Satan, that old Pharaoh, is a harsh taskmaster. Afflictions are the chains that bind us. Oppression is the whip that lashes our back. Guilt, the burden that weighs us down. Death, the heavy load that drags us to the ground. And there is no way that we could free ourselves from that slavery. We had no way out.

But Jesus comes, and he is the leader of a new exodus, our escape from sin and death and the grave. Jesus tells old Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” But how Jesus will accomplish this exodus at Jerusalem–this is where the story takes an interesting twist.

What was it that led directly to the exodus from Egypt? It was the plague of the death of the firstborn. And that plague would have struck the homes of the Israelites, too, if the Lord had not provided the Passover lamb. The Israelites were told to sacrifice a lamb without spot or blemish and to spread its blood on the doorposts of their homes. The angel of death would see the blood and pass over that house. Their homes were spared. At the same time, the plague hitting Egypt was the tipping point that finally let the people of Israel go. They made their escape out of bondage and started heading toward the Promised Land.

All that is what is fulfilled in the new exodus that Jesus has accomplished at Jerusalem for you and me. He himself is the perfect Passover Lamb, by whose blood we are spared death. God sees Jesus’ blood, the holy precious blood he shed on the cross, and death passes over us. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, your sin and mine.

As a result, we are free. Satan, that old Pharaoh, is defeated. He no longer has any hold on us. Christ is our exodus. He is our way out, in his person, in his flesh. He leads us out of our bondage. He brings us out and leads us through the wilderness of this world, on our way to the Promised Land of heaven. Our exodus will result in the resurrection from the dead, eternal life with God and with his people, in joy and blessing forevermore.

My friends, all of this is being shown to us here in the Transfiguration of Our Lord. The Transfiguration was prefigured in Moses on his mountains and in the exodus he led. But that deliverance has been fulfilled in an even greater way in the new exodus that Jesus has accomplished. The Transfiguration of Our Lord is the mountaintop experience before the greatest exodus of all. The Son of God’s glory is shining forth, as he is about to go to Jerusalem to set us free.