Luke 19:28-40

And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

In our text there are those who are saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”

But not everyone is saying it. Not everyone is pleased to call Jesus King.

Pharisees are in the crowd as well—those ones who are always looking to their own righteousness as what makes them fit for God’s kingdom. To the shouts of “Blessed is the King…” they respond to Jesus: “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” They don’t want Jesus to be talked about with the same terminology that would be used to talk about the Messiah or Christ—the one God was sending as the savior.

Prior to our text in the same chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus had met Zacchaeus the tax collector who’d repented of his sins and even demonstrated it in pledging to make amends, and to whom Jesus pronounced forgiveness. Isn’t the Lord who does that, seen clearly in our lessons for today?

The Old Testament prophet Zechariah exhorts God’s people to rejoice and to shout aloud about this King Who comes to them righteous and having salvation, humble, speaking peace to the nations. Joy is the result of His rule. The people have everything good to look forward to, including the mercy that Jesus exhibits in His dealing with Zacchaeus.

St. Paul, in the epistle lesson, talks about the great humility of this King. He says that though He is in every way God, His objective in coming into this world, into human flesh, was to serve us—to put everything that would have happened to us because of our sins on Himself, to be brought as low as it’s possible to be brought. One of our Lenten hymns, “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” talks about the stunning visual of Jesus on the cross with Him groaning, with hands raised to wound Him and all the rest of it. But then he ends the verse saying, But the deepest stroke that pierced Him was the stroke that Justice gave—Justice capitalized, meaning it’s God that gave the deepest stroke. It’s talking about the kind of suffering that can’t really be shown in a movie; it’s what Jesus is describing when He says, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He’s suffering hell for us when He says that.

That’s the serving-humility of this one that rides into Jerusalem in our text. It isn’t usually the way of a king; but it is of this one. It is of this one that you see kindly, mercifully dealing with the repentant sinner, Zacchaeus. He forgives him and welcomes him into God’s kingdom. It’s a beautiful moment that demonstrates why it’s so appropriate for people to shout, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

But we said not everyone is shouting that.

Going back in Luke’s Gospel again for a moment, that part about Zacchaeus: Pharisees who are there, grumble that Jesus is associating with this sinful man (Luke 19:5-7)—again, because they feel they themselves aren’t that (or, at least not so much that God would be concerned about it). They’re elevating themselves above someone who would be called a sinner.

After the brief account with Zacchaeus, Jesus had told the parable of the Ten Minas, about a nobleman going on a trip to a far country. When he came back, he’d be a king. Calling ten of his servants, [the parable goes] he gave [each of] them ten minas, [a certain amount of money that could be invested] and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ But it says that his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us (Luke 19:13-14).’

That’s kind of like what’s happening in our Palm Sunday text, right? Pharisees are telling Jesus to stop letting these people call Him king (and really they mean, stop letting them call Him Messiah or Christ [because, that’s what “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” means to them]). And as an expression of the inevitability of it (It’s going to happen; Jesus is the eternal King), He responds, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Of course, in the parable, the man returns as king, and its interesting what they find in him. In rejecting him, they’ve chosen badly. And the end isn’t good for them because they made themselves this one’s enemies. But before they’re dealt with in this way, we get a glimpse of what they could have had. The man returns ready to reward them for their faithfulness. He isn’t the monster they’ve made him out to be. He says to the ones who’ve been faithful with what he has given, Well done, good and faithful servant.

Isn’t it clear from the things we’ve looked at, that that’s the kind of King this Jesus is? His disposition toward you is generous and merciful and loving. He deals with you according to the reality of your situation (a reality the Pharisees in our text aren’t willing to accept). Zacchaeus was though. He’d taken a long hard look at himself and realized that the perfection that God requires could never be found in him.

He wanted the exchange that God offers in His Son. He wanted to trade his sinfulness, his guilt for Christ’s righteousness.

Don’t you want the same, dear sinner? You aren’t in any different a situation, are you? You have guilt like Zacchaeus had. You have that thing you’ve said to someone in the past that you keep thinking of, and that you wish desperately you’d never said (or did that you wish you’d never done). If you’re a parent, you wish you’d been more faithful in it, more patient, more attentive, more forgiving. As a child of your parents, you wish you’d been more respectful, more obedient, more empathetic. Don’t you want, like Zacchaeus, to trade everything about you that’s fallen short of God’s glory, that you regret so desperately, in return for Christ’s righteousness? That’s the trade that this humble King is offering. It’s worth being excited about, like those people were on Palm Sunday.

A number of times I have pointed your attention to this quote from Martin Luther, the priest from about 500 years ago that our church body is named after:

Therefore, my dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say: ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am Your sin. You have taken upon Yourself what is mine and have given to me what is Yours. You have taken upon Yourself what You were not and have given to me what I was not.’ Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners. On this account he descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners. Meditate on this love of his and you will see his sweet consolation.”

Dear friends, shout with the Palm Sunday shouters: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Shout it because you know who this King is, that He is the one sent from heaven to make you righteous. He is the one so humble as to die for you on a cross. He is the one so merciful as to hear your heartfelt confession and respond with forgiveness. You have sins for which you’re guilty—even of Pharisaical self-righteousness that has sought to elevate yourself above other sinners, above being known as a sinner;

Jesus has no such guilt of His own. We sing in the Lenten Hymn, O Dearest Jesus, these words: “Of what great crime hast Thou to make confession; what dark transgression?” The answer is none. No crime, no transgression. He has only perfect righteousness (including perfect humility) that has been put in the place of your guilt. That’s why we say, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! God is at peace with you now, because of this humble servant King who has come, making payment for your sins. You are forgiven in Him. God be praised. Amen.

Text: St. Matthew 22:41-46

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

You’re here this morning because you trust in God’s grace as offered to you in the substitutionary death of the Christ, Who rose from death victorious—with your sins paid for, and in Whom you know that you will rise to life eternal. That’s why you’re here this morning, because you believe this.

But it isn’t your nature to believe this. Jesus illustrates it in His parable of the Wedding Feast (it’s earlier in the same chapter as our text). Certain ones reject a king’s gracious invitation. They simply don’t want it; they have other priorities. Another in the parable appears to want it, but he wants it on his own terms, and ends up offending the host and getting tossed out. And, of course, that’s what happens with a lot of people when it comes to God’s kingdom; they’re either completely uninterested (again, the way of our nature), or they’re interested as long as it can be their way. Again, the nature.

Jesus’ audience in our text are the ones He’s illustrating in the parable. They’ve been opposing Him at every turn—these Pharisees and Sadducees (Jewish leaders of sorts). Right after He tells the parable they take turns trying to trick Him with questions they think He won’t be able to answer about paying taxes to Caesar, the Resurrection of the dead, which of the Law’s commands is the greatest. They hope He’ll look silly, and prove Himself to be just an ordinary man (and even a liar about who He’s been presenting Himself to be). Instead He has answered all of the questions indisputably. Even these very knowledgable Pharisees and Sadducees are no match for Him.

So, for these same men, Jesus has a question of His own in our text for this morning: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” In asking the question, Jesus isn’t talking about anything that’s foreign to them. When they say that He’s David’s son, they’re giving an answer that’s very common among Jews. They’re awaiting one God is sending to help them, and they know that He will be David’s descendant.

Many have thought Jesus is that one Who is being sent, based on what He’s been doing and authoritatively teaching. Two sets of blind men have called Him Son of David, when they are asking for His mercy and healing—the crowd present with the second pair as well (Matthew 9:27; 20:30-31). A crowd amazed at Him having healed a demon-oppressed man has called him the same (Matt. 12:23). A Canaanite woman with a demon-oppressed daughter, too (Matt. 15:22). The Palm Sunday crowds, and specifically the children who were present also call Him that (Matt. 21:9, 15).

Jesus isn’t even asking His audience in our text, whether or not they think He’s the Christ; He’s just asking whose son the Christ is (according to Scripture, He means). And again, their answer isn’t a surprising answer; it’s what Jesus had been anticipating, that He’s David’s Son. And it’s correct, though it’s only part of the answer.

Jesus wants to give them the rest of the answer.

They correctly know the Christ as David’s descendant. He wants them to recognize from Scripture, that the Christ is the eternal Son of God as well as David’s descendant in human flesh (and also to know why that’s important).

Him being also the eternal Son of God is very important. It means

His purpose is more significant than people have been thinking. It isn’t merely to help them with difficulties they might be having in this world (though He cares about those things too, as He has demonstrated repeatedly in His ministry). His even greater purpose, is to make payment for them, to secure forgiveness and eternal life.

They can’t do it themselves; they need Him to do it for them. So, again, that detail of the Christ being also the eternal Son of God amounts to a lot. The people can’t be saved from their sins if it isn’t the case.

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That’s what God said to Abram in our Old Testament lesson. In Abram they’d be blessed because Abram’s descendant would be Messiah or Christ. The families of the earth would be blessed through His sacrificial death that makes payment for their sins. He’s the Lamb without blemish talked about in our Epistle lesson (it’s what all the sacrificing of animals in Old Testament worship was about), He’s the sacrifice, as well as the High Priest of the good things that have come. He’s the One Who makes atonement for sins with His own blood (the blood of goats and calves had stood in for it before; a priest had stood in for Him—now He’s here).

This issue of the Christ being God’s eternal Son comes up in our Gospel lesson too, in Jesus’ implication of Himself as being before Abraham. They ridicule the idea in the lesson, saying, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” The same idea is expressed in John the Baptist’s statement, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me (though Jesus had been born after John, in terms of the flesh; He’s before John because He is God’s eternal Son—John 1:30).’ Of course, at the beginning of the Apostle John’s gospel he speaks of the Christ, saying, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Again, he’s saying the Christ is the eternal Son of God. The angel Gabriel referred to Him that way when he appeared to Mary, announcing that she would be the Savior’s mother. Though Jesus would be her son according to the flesh, the angel called Him Son of the Most High, and Son of God (Luke 1:26-38).

In giving His audience the rest of the answer about whose Son the Christ is, Jesus asks a follow up question: “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

Of course, that passage from the Psalms is another one that demonstrates Christ’s divinity—the fact of His being God’s eternal Son as well as David’s descendant in human flesh. David calls this descendant of his, LORD. There are two natures in Christ: divine and human. He’s God and He’s man. Our text is another one of the texts that demonstrates it.

And, of course, this is difficult for his audience to grasp. It says no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

They’ve been left with something puzzling.

If the purpose of the one God is sending is to make them righteous before Him, it means (like we said earlier), that they can’t do that for themselves.

They can’t impress God with their lives, they can’t stand before Him in the judgment and say, remember all those good and important things I did; wasn’t that great? If they could, what would be the purpose of God sending His own Son to die (which He’s just demonstrated the Christ to be)?

So then, Jesus audience has some soul searching to do. They have the Christ in their presence. He has been doing all of the things the prophets said the Christ would do. Others have seen it, and acknowledged it. Jesus says to them on another occasion, as recorded in John’s gospel: Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

But if they’re to believe He’s here to save them, then they can’t save themselves. But again, it’s our nature to think we can.

The one in the parable who insists on taking part in the wedding feast according to his own terms represents every self-righteous person; he represents every person who says, Oh, yeah, Lord, I want your kingdom; I just have my own way of getting there. Thanks but no thanks on Your Son. Maybe others need what You’re offering there, but not me. I’ll make do in my own way.

It’s so tempting to think that our going to heaven will be in some way based on our own goodness. You’ve caught yourself thinking that way, haven’t you? It’s your nature to do so. It’s your nature to be concerned in some moments about whether your life will have been good enough to get into heaven, and to be defiant in others, thinking something like: it better be good enough for God! Look how good it is—especially compared to other people!

Jesus wants His audience to see that the Christ isn’t just someone who is coming to help them in this world, or to help them along in getting themselves to heaven. He is God’s eternal Son sent to redeem them. They’re going to have to let Him save them entirely. Nothing about them is going to contribute in the matter. Either they will put it entirely in His hands, or they will perish in their sins.

Put it entirely in His hands, dear sinner?! God’s eternal Son has done for you what you couldn’t do for yourself. He’s the only one qualified for the job. He doesn’t have a sinful nature. There isn’t any self-righteousness in Him like there is in you and me. He God has provided Him as the solution to your sinfulness that would have condemned you to death and hell. There isn’t anything for you to worry about, if He is the one in charge of your salvation.

You’re here this morning because you trust in God’s grace as offered to you in the substitutionary death of the Christ, Who rose from death victorious—with your sins paid for (with your forgiveness secured), and in Whom you know that you will rise to life eternal. That’s why you’re here this morning, because you believe this. God has given it to you through Baptism, and through His Word. He supports it for you this morning through preaching and through the Supper. Having it from Him on His terms is the most blessed thing that could ever be. God be praised. Amen.

St. Matthew 13:54-58

Coming to His hometown [Jesus] taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And He did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews devotes a chapter to recounting the faith of believers of the past. He talks about Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah (without time, he says, to go into several others); he does it for the purpose of encouraging present believers with accounts of these past believers’ lives. Knowing they believed and were faithful to the LORD uplifts those who walk the same road (that is sometimes difficult).

In that same spirit, then, we consider this morning, Joseph’s life. Today, March 19, is the day when Joseph is traditionally remembered (We’re talking about Joseph who was placed by the LORD into the vocation of father to Jesus the Savior, during His childhood in this world).

The position was hardly glamorous. The way the angel talked to Mary about the father of the child to be born to her was essentially to say there wouldn’t be one in the natural sense; that what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20).

Now, we know that this was a gracious thing on God’s part. It was the way to solve the problem of our sin; that the perfect Son of God be born into human flesh [not inheriting like we do, therefore, the sinful nature that comes through the union of sinful human parents]—He did it so that He could live perfectly in our place, and then die as the sufficient sacrifice for our sins.

But because it was to happen this way, Joseph had to learn that his betrothed was with child; and this, as St. Matthew puts it: before they [before he and Mary] came together. Matthew tells us that Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. Now, that word resolved is interesting. It indicates that there was careful thought about it, maybe over some time, right? We’re not told how long Joseph considered these things before coming to that conclusion (a very loving conclusion, by the way; one that would spare Mary the worst of what could result from such a thing). Just having these things to consider for a time must have been difficult though. Of course, an angel’s visit brought God’s purpose to light, making it clear to Joseph that marrying her as planned was the right thing.

The Bible doesn’t really comment on any whispering throughout the community over Mary’s pregnancy that evidently preceded their marriage; but it isn’t hard to imagine that Joseph endured some of that as well (Mary too, of course). Again, the position was hardly glamorous.

In addition, Joseph wasn’t by any means a wealthy man. He was a tradesman—a carpenter (as mentioned in our text). It’s noted in the Christmas season text about Jesus’ presentation in the Temple (the one in which Simeon and Anna are present), that Joseph offered the poorer person’s sacrifice of two turtle doves or a pair of pigeons for those who couldn’t afford a lamb (Luke 2:24). Wealth wasn’t part of caring for God’s Son in human flesh.

In the only other texts in which Joseph is even mentioned, he’s burdened with a great amount of concern in his role as “father” of this child. After the visit of the magi, (who’d also made their visit known to Herod), the angel returns in a dream to tell Joseph that he must take the family and flee to Egypt. They’re in danger. In fact, in an effort to kill Jesus (just after the family’s narrow escape), Herod kills all the male children in the whole region around Bethlehem who are possibly Jesus’ age.

Finally, Joseph is namelessly mentioned along with Mary under the term His parents a couple of times in the account of the twelve-year-old Jesus at the Temple. After they have inadvertently left without Him, and then found Him after three days of searching, Mary mentions Joseph, saying, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”

Isn’t it also evidently the case in our text, that when the locals get a glimpse of what Jesus is doing among them now, the comment that comes out seems to kind of diminish Joseph’s importance; they say, Isn’t this the carpenter's son? Jesus goes on to comment on a prophet not being honored in his hometown. Hardly glamorous.

And yet, as is the case in a lot of ways with the LORD, things aren’t quite the way they seem. This is the LORD Who regularly says, The kingdom of heaven is like… and then proceeds to describe a situation that is opposite of what people would think. With the LORD the last is first and first last. Suffering Lazarus ends up in the paradise of God’s kingdom. Most importantly, the One being crucified is really saving all sinners.

So then, it isn’t such a surprise that the LORD hides tremendously important work behind the facade of Joseph’s unglamorous life. He hides it behind a man of modest means who fears God, and who loves deeply his wife, and the child whose care he has undertaken—moving them out of harm’s way when necessary, searching anxiously when he believes the child has been lost, following the LORD’s direction all along the way. For someone whose life is so unglamorous, the LORD has made a tremendous amount of it, hasn’t he?

What a lesson in this time in which one of the biggest causes of peoples’ dissatisfaction with their lives is in comparing themselves with others’ social media postings. People of various ages look at lives apparently more glamorous than their own, and think, What am I doing wrong? Why am I this, when they’re that! It can even become a sinful dissatisfaction with what God has provided, can’t it? Behind it can really be the person saying, Why hasn’t God given me (whatever it is that looks so great  about those other people’s lives)? Why am I so ordinary? Why do I have so little? Why do such difficult things seem to keep happening to me? You’ve felt like this, haven’t you? We convince ourselves that this sort of dissatisfaction isn’t sin, that it’s sort of our right to feel this way. But it really can become sin, can’t it? No doubt, sometimes it has for you.

When we highlight the lives of these saints—these believers of the past, it’s important that we remember that it’s the things God is doing through their lives that we’re really highlighting.

The Bible doesn’t indicate to us that Joseph (or Mary, for that matter) were any less sinful than anyone else. In fact Jesus is including Joseph in His rebuke in the Temple, when He says, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” Joseph isn’t just another sort of social-media-like person that we look at and say, why can’t I be more like him? Wouldn’t be any reason for us to observe his life today if that were the case.

Instead, we look at his life to see God’s great blessing in it and through it. Everything we’ve said about him paints kind of an ordinary picture; and yet, through this ordinary person God brings about extraordinary accomplishment. Through the unremarkable day to day life Joseph provides, the world’s Savior grows up in this man’s house, healthy and protected, all His needs met. The LORD hides tremendously important work behind the facade of Joseph’s unglamorous life.

The same can be said for the life of every believer. When the writer to the Hebrews is talking about those believers of old, he, too, isn’t talking about some kind of “super believers”. He’s emphasizing what their faith was in.

These all died in faith [he says], not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth (11:13).

Their faith was in God’s grace, and that it was coming through the One Who’d been promised—Messiah. The writer talks about a few specific believers’ lives, but then goes on to mention in general a lot more, about whom he says:

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth (11:35-38).

Talk about unglamorous lives. And yet, they were so valuable to the LORD, that they’re mentioned in the Bible as though they were VIP’s. He was accomplishing important things through them, even though it sure didn’t look like it on the surface. Many times it sure didn’t feel like it to them either, no doubt.

You are equally important to Him. He does His work in and through your life too. You are His witness in this world who reflects Him in your vocation every day of your life, no matter how unglamorous or even unimportant you might think it is. Yours is a life that was redeemed by the Savior. As Paul says, you were bought with a price (1 Cor. 7:23). Furthermore, you were Baptized—brought into God’s family, given faith to know Him according to His grace and mercy. You know the essence of God’s grace toward you, that Jesus, who desired at all times only what the Father willed, has made payment for your desires that were beyond that, and for every other sin. Behind the facade of your unglamorous life God accomplishes great things. His love is in you, that goes out to others. He hears your prayers. Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, grant Your mercy and grace to Your people in their many and various callings. As you did for Your servant Joseph, give them patience, and strengthen them in their Christian vocation of witness to the world and of service to their neighbor in Christ’s name; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

—Appropriated from Lutheran Service Book, p.311.

St. John 12:20-32

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be [not killed, not crucified, but…] glorified.“—Jesus says. Glorified. Now, killed, crucified; those are bad things. But, glorified—that’s a good thing! He’s about…to be killed though. And He knows it. That’s why He’s here, according to an eternal plan. He’s talking here, about what St. Paul refers to in our epistle lesson when he says that Christ, gave himself up for us. That’s what this is about. Ironically, that’s what Jesus means in our text by glorified—that the hour has come for Him to be…crucified, and thereby, glorified.

Isn’t it interesting He talks about it that way! We would tend to think, how could being killed (crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross, drenched with the spit of his enemies, stained with his own blood, parched, bruised, pierced)—how could that in any sense be called glorified? Jesus knows it isn’t going to look like something that could be called that. He knows his disciples are going to have a hard time seeing it that way. His rich words in this text certainly give us perspective on what His death means.

Also, though, they give perspective on what this life means for you. The theme for this morning (printed on the bulletin cover in the midst of this Lenten season): Triumph Over Satan.

Only, a lot times in this life it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a triumph happening, does it?

Blessed are those who mourn; blessed are the poor in spirit; the meek; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; who are reviled and have all kinds of evil said about them for Jesus’ sake

—those things Jesus lays out in the Beatitudes as the way of those who follow Him; not apparently a lot of glory being talked about there, right? Rather, the words might inspire a lot of longing for Christ’s return and the end of this.

Case in point: the day before Jesus said what He says in our text, He’d been at the home of Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, and who was present with Jesus on the occasion. St. John tells us that a large crowd had gathered to see Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, because they’d heard about the miracle. A miracle like that is glorious, right? But here’s what it becomes in this world: we’re told that then, the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well [as Jesus], because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus (John 12:10-11). Persecuted for righteousness’ sake.

So, even Jesus’ friends are in an uncomfortable situation in this world. You know it, because you keep adhering to the written words of God, who says in that Word, I the Lord do not change (Malachi 3:6). The world does—significantly—but God and the truth of His Word remain. So does the burden of clinging to it in opposition to the world.

True believers in the time leading up to the Babylonian Captivity of Israel felt the same burden. Those preaching God’s Word were steamrolled by a society that had gone away from it. God’s true prophets were killed one by one as the people surrounded themselves with false prophets willing to say what they wanted to hear.

So, again: even Jesus’ friends are in an uncomfortable situation in this world. No doubt, you wonder when you’re going to be confronted for holding to the Bible’s teaching. You wonder when someone is going to make plans to do to you what the chief priests were planning to do to Lazarus. Maybe it’s hard to imagine it’s going to get that bad any time soon. But Jesus’ words, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are brought into sharper focus in what He goes on to say to His disciples:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake (Matthew 24:9).

Another time He said to them:

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God (John 16:2).

Doesn’t it sometimes feel to you, like God has been holding back the rushing waters; but that they’re making continual progress in chipping away at the dam, so that eventually you’ll find yourself overwhelmed. You’ll be surrounded in this world by Jesus’ enemies who also consider you to be their enemy, and who think silencing you or eliminating you would be in the interest of the greater good (that’s how the chief priests were thinking about Lazarus).

Jesus says something a little strange in our text, about hating this life. You might have caught that earlier. Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. By hating his life He doesn’t mean sitting around wishing it were different. Fact is: there are a lot of things to love about this life, right? He’s talking about choosing or preferring this life over the eternal life that God is offering in His Word.

It’s like a rich young man coming to Jesus one time, wondering how to inherit eternal life, and him going away disheartened when he learned it meant he had to prefer that life he’s seeking, over his wealth, he had to be willing even to give up his wealth in order to have it if that were necessary (Mark 10:21-22).

Of course, wealth is only one of the things a person might choose in this life over God and His kingdom. Being willing to abandon what God says in order to be loved by the world is perhaps the greatest temptation a believer faces, isn’t it? Then, all the burden goes away…for now. The pressure comes off. No more opposition. No more poor in spirit. No more persecuted for righteousness’ sake. No more reviled. No more having all kinds of evil said about them for Jesus’ sake. Hasn’t that thought crossed your mind a time or two, how comfortable it could all get if adhering to God’s Word were no longer an issue? Maybe sometimes you’ve already gone there.

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” And, of course, it’s interesting because the glory doesn’t even really look like a victory. He illustrates it this way in our text: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. It falls to the ground and dies. So, it seems like the end of it, seems like nothing will ever come of it; but with it having died, new life, then, comes of it.

Jesus is comparing that, to what’s about to happen to Him. Nothing good will happen for sinners if He goes on living without dying. They’ll be alone—apart from God, apart from His grace, held entirely accountable for their sins, condemned to face the wages of sin, eternal death (Romans 6:23). Even though He’s being killed, even though it looks like nothing more will come of it, in dying, He brings about life for every sinner. He brings it about by paying the price every sinner owes, so that, forgiven, they rise to eternal life. That’s the triumph over Satan that our bulletin cover is talking about.

That’s why Jesus, even as He says, “Now is my soul troubled,” will not ask the Father to save Him from this hour. He’ll be handling a burden so heavy, that later in the Garden He will say, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will”. He’ll be suffering a punishment so severe, that on the cross He'll say, Why have you forsaken Me?

But here, in our text, before the worst of the suffering is happening, we see in Jesus’ words, that it’s very clear to Him what He has to do.

What is He here for, if not to die like this, if not to make atonement for your sins, and for all the worlds’ sins?

So, when Jesus says, Father, glorify your name, He means, bring about what happens as the result of My dying. Bring about the bearing of much fruit, bring about the life that comes only from my death—new life for those who are, and who otherwise remain, dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).

A lot of times in this life it doesn’t seem like there is much of a triumph happening. Your spiritual enemies, the devil and the world cause you so much grief and concern. You’re overwhelmed by it sometimes, right? You wonder how it’ll all end up. Does your story have a glorious ending? By the way, your own flesh is the third of those enemies we were talking about. It doubts, it wonders, it struggles. It even falters sometimes. How could there be glory at the end of it all?

There is; Jesus says it in our text. His followers will be where He is. His followers will be honored by the Father. In being lifted up from the earth [lifted up to the cross, He means], He draws all people to Himself. The non-doubter Who is there, punished for all of your doubts, draws you to Himself. The One Who isn’t in need of any forgiveness pays there, so that you have forgiveness—from every sin.

It’s ironic. The hour of His crucifixion is the hour in which He is glorified. In His death is your life eternal; because everything needed in order for you to be with God is accomplished. The poor in spirit is blessed. The one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness is blessed. God be praised. Amen.

Matthew 12:38-42

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

Last week in our Gospel lesson, Satan (who was tempting Jesus for forty days in the wilderness) wanted Him to demonstrate that He was really the Son of God. That’s what someone who isn’t acting as one of God’s people, isn’t apparently one of Jesus’ followers, does. Someone who isn’t exhibiting that he or she is being led by the Holy Spirit does that.

The opposite is the case with you. In Baptism (or through the hearing of God’s Word) the Spirit made you well aware of who your Savior is, and without any need of Him demonstrating it through some sign (It’s demonstrated in His Word!). Your faith in it, is living and active. It moves you to come here on a morning like this, and confess your sins, and hear the absolution of God’s grace extended to you in Christ your Savior. It moves you to want to gather with other believers like these, to hear the Word that strengthens, sing hymns of faith, receive the Supper that nourishes like no other meal ever could—this food and drink that are joined mysteriously with Christ’s true body and blood for the remission of your sins!

One of the things that comes up a lot in the accounts of Jesus’ ministry is the questions of who really are God’s people, and what it is that makes one that.

As far as Jesus’ disciples are concerned, the woman who comes to Him in our Gospel lesson doesn’t fit the bill. She isn’t even Jewish, like them; she’s a Canaanite woman—a Gentile. Her daughter is being possessed by a demon (Wonder what she did in order to bring that about!—they were probably whispering to each other). Good people aren’t possessed by demons (they were probably thinking to themselves). When she asks for their help, they’re begging Jesus to get rid of her.

Jonah had thought similarly about the Ninevites, to whom God had sent him to deliver His message of repentance (Jesus mentions them in our text). They too, weren’t even Jewish. They were Gentiles, and had a horrible reputation. In the LORD’s sending of Jonah, He said: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Of course, Jonah, who couldn’t even believe God was sending him there, made up his mind not to under any circumstances go there (didn’t work out that way for him).

Again, those questions: Who really are God’s people; and What it is that makes one that?

Jesus mentions the queen of the South in our text too—another who wasn’t even a Jew. What’s remarkable about her, and about the Ninevites (Jonah’s audience), is that both who weren’t God’s people according to blood, weren’t among the covenant people of Israel, heard His message and humbled themselves before Him. The queen of Sheba came and sought out the wisdom of God’s prophet Solomon. The Ninevites repented at hearing Jonah’s message.

That text from Jonah’s third chapter says, The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” And at their repentance, the LORD who had sent His prophet to say, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”—relented, and did not send the disaster of which He’d warned. The people’s humility before Him is what God was seeking. That that’s what He wants from all people is evident in His words through the prophet Isaiah:

But this is the one to whom I will look:
    he who is humble and contrite in spirit
    and trembles at my word (66:2).

Jesus is seeing something other than that in our text. The men He is speaking to, want Him to demonstrate that He is really the Son of God. Their case is a little different from Satan’s in last week’s Gospel lesson that we talked about, in that Satan knows Jesus is the Son of God, and was challenging Him to prove it so that He would choose some self-serving avenue aside from God’s will (Of course, Jesus proved that He couldn’t be made to do that). The scribes and Pharisees in our text simply don’t believe. They have known the words of the prophets, heard Jesus’ own preaching seen many signs from Him, but in the face of clear evidence, have refused to humble themselves before God, before His Messiah. Instead, they were envious of Him. They didn’t like that people were gathering with Him (instead of them), and they were proud, they imagined themselves their own saviors.

When the apostle Stephen is about to be stoned by people like these to whom Jesus is speaking in our text (recorded in the book of Acts), he says these words that would apply also to Jesus’ audience: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

So, these who are God’s covenant people according blood demonstrate that they really aren’t His people when it comes to inheriting His kingdom. They aren’t humble before Him as He requires.

On the other hand, look at the Gentile woman in our Gospel lesson. She comes to Jesus for His help. She knows He’s the one who can help her. Jesus has been demonstrating it all over the place. He cares about people, and He can do amazing things to help them. She even calls Him Son of David; so she knows (even though she isn’t a Jew) the Scriptures that have foretold Jesus’ coming. She calls Him by the Name the Savior is to be called by. And she is so sure that Jesus will help her, that she pushes past His disciples’ resistance. She keeps asking until they finally make Jesus aware of this irritation they are currently enduring from this Canaanite woman.

And at first He seems to be going along with them on it. He challenges her to keep on—even if it seems for a moment like Jesus isn’t the one she’s read about, the one she’s heard about, the one she knows. So, in response to His statement about it not [being] right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs, she says the thing that indicates true humility before God: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” She’ll take whatever mercy God is willing to give. What other help will she have? To Whom else is there to go? She has humbled herself before God by hearing His Word and believing it. You can tell she believes it because she has come for help to the One God has provided.

There was a faculty meeting this past Friday. To open the meeting Principal Dale read the Monday evening prayer from p.168 in the front portion of the hymnbook (there are prayers there for every morning and evening of the week, by the way). One line in the prayer says, “Let me always draw near to You with a broken heart.” It refers to one of the Psalms: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (51:17). “Let me always draw near to You with a broken heart.” That’s what God always wants from you. He wants there never to be any other agenda than coming before Him humbly to receive His mercy for your sins.

But isn’t it true, that the last thing your nature wants is to humble itself before anyone. The world is very cooperative in this. “You don’t have to humble yourself before anyone!“ Your nature wants to be the Pharisee, that even looks at God’s own Son, and says, “Who are you again? Ah, could we see a little evidence of this? Because last time I looked there’re a lot of things about this life that I wish were different. I don’t have enough of anything I want. Isn’t that the way of your nature, to lack humility, to lack contentment with what God has given, to insist on your own way, to accuse God of shorting you in some way, to be proud and unapologetic to the One Who requires a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, to be a Pharisee who insists that God prove Himself to you? The end of all that is God’s forsaking.

But glory be to God, that He forsook in your place His own Son, Who was humble even to the point of death on a cross. Since there was never a time when He failed to humble Himself, His blood makes payment for every failure of yours. Since He was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, your death is now an entrance to eternal life. Your sins are forgiven. You have come to the right place to receive the help that you need. What other help will you have? To Whom else is there to go? You have humbled yourself before God by hearing His Word and believing it. You have come for help to the One God has provided. Praise be to God. Amen.

John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

God went to the first people, who’d sinned (according to our Old Testament lesson), and said, “What is this that you have done?” Shortly thereafter, He declared that a Savior would be coming, Who would fix what had been broken.

Isn’t that what happens in a place like this every single week? God comes to you in His Word and says, “What is this that you have done?” Convicted, you, as a sort of modern Adam and Eve, confess your sins (we presume that after they got through making excuses, they did too), and you hear the pastor say that a Savior has fixed what you have broken. He has turned the accusation you owned onto Himself, so that God was saying to Him now, “What is this that you have done?”—and He was made to face your consequences.

God’s House exists for that purpose, for the purpose of Him confronting you with your sins, you confessing them, and Him declaring to you again the grace that He has provided in the substitutionary death of the Savior, Jesus. The end of it all is that your Spirit-given faith endures unto eternal life with Him in heaven. God’s House exists for that purpose.

So, when Jesus arrives at the Jerusalem Temple for Passover and finds what He finds, He is overcome with righteous zeal to put right the wrong that He sees.

It occurs to Him immediately, that the impression one gets at the scene in God’s House is not that it is the place in which God confronts sinners, they repent, and they receive His grace, but rather that it is a house of trade. Whatever necessary selling of sacrificial animals to far-off travelers may have formerly been done has more recently given way to an atmosphere unbecoming of God’s House. It doesn’t appear to exist for its original purpose anymore. God’s House doesn’t appear anymore to exist for the purpose of God speaking necessary words to sinners.

To bring that situation about is the devil’s purpose. His purpose is to prevent people hearing God speaking necessary words to them.

Think of how he does that in our Old Testament lesson. He goes to the ones to whom God’s has already spoken, and he works to undo what God has done, he works to deceive. He implies that it would be naive to think God’s perspective is the only perspective, that the peoples’ own truth isn’t just as legitimate, just as wise, to be valued just as much.

We might imagine the situation in our text came about in the same sort of way. Travelers to Jerusalem for feasts like the Passover had been burdened with trying bring sacrificial animals with them on their long journeys. A solution had been conceived by some well-meaning congregant, that animals be made available for that purpose near the Temple (presumably at a respectable distance so as not to overshadow the true purpose of God’s House, OF COURSE!). But at some point in time, not overshadowing the true purpose of God’s House became less important than the convenience of being closer (perhaps also than the prospect of making even more money in the endeavor).

We can imagine the thought process. Do you really think being a little closer to the actual Temple is going cause such a problem? I mean, what are we even doing subjecting ourselves to this inconvenience? We’re trying to provide a service here! (Others around say, yeah, yeah, that makes sense, yeah. We gotta get closer.).

So, having set things up, now, in such a way that those entering the Temple must enter through the area of the sellers, at some point someone says, Would it be any problem, you think, if we were to put signs all around the area, directing people to each of the specific spots where things are being offered for sale (probably also with prices on them)? I mean, it’s going to be a whole lot less distracting for worshipers if they don’t have to work so hard to find what they need. Their minds are going to be so much more focused on the worship. So, now there are market-like signs all around.

Having moved the buying and selling area immediately in front of the Temple, and having put advertising everywhere, someone says, You know what would make this even more convenient for weary travelers?—connected restaurant. They gotta eat, right?! What kind of people are we, letting them worship on an empty stomach. That’s not neighborly! (Others around are saying, No, no; you’re right, you’re right. Gotta have a restaurant).

Pretty soon this perhaps initially well-meaning service of providing travelers to Jerusalem with necessary sacrificial animals in the vicinity of the Temple is now a market blocking the Temple, distracting weary travelers from the very purpose of God’s House, which is Him confronting them with their sins, them confessing them, and Him declaring to them His grace in the Savior. The devil has succeeded in turning God’s House into a house of trade. Sellers and buyers together have lost what God has intended for them have in His House.

That’s what Jesus’ righteous zeal in our text all about. It’s about the very purpose of God’s House being lost as peoples’ reasoning related to it has replaced their desire to receive from God what He wants them to have.

Their sin of elevating their reason over God’s Word feels very close to home, doesn’t it? Hasn’t it also been your sin sometimes to justify things you know are wrong, to find a way to massage it so that once you’re done making a case for the wrong, it actually comes out sounding like right! It actually comes out sounding (this thing that comes into conflict with God’s Law) like the only righteous thing to do. You have given in to the same temptation as your first parents, haven’t you?  You have let the devil talk you into putting aside what God has said in favor of what you really prefer. You are your first parents’ child. Your confession earlier was right on the money when you said you have justly deserved God’s temporal and eternal punishment.

Having clarified for the people the purpose of God’s House as the place at which He speaks to us, Jesus speaks again the critical message. He talks about His purpose for being here. To those who are determined not to believe, it is obstructed from their view in a sign, like a Temple entrance obstructed with a market. They are unable to see through it, to grasp what He is saying to them about Himself.

Later, the disciples understand though. After Jesus has suffered and died, remained in the grave three days, and risen from death, they recognize that when He says here, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”, He is talking about His body. He is saying what God wants to say to people who come to His House: for sinners He has provided a Savior—His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. He has provided the One Who couldn’t be manipulated by the devil during forty days of temptation in the wilderness—couldn’t be made to imagine that whatever He could think up in his mind was wiser than what God has said. The only time God says to Him, “What is this that you have done?”—it’s because He has taken upon Himself what you have done. He has put Himself in your place for accusation, condemnation, termination. The temple of His body is destroyed as if He were the one out of all the people who put His own human reason over God’s Word.

So, in this place every single week, God comes to you in His Word and says, “What is this that you have done?” Convicted, you modern Adams and Eves confess your sins and hear the pastor say that a Savior has fixed what you have broken. He has turned the accusation you owned onto Himself, so that God has said to Him and not you, “What is this that you have done?”—and He has faced your consequences. He has bought your forgiveness. You are forgiven of every sin. God’s House has fulfilled its true purpose. Your faith is revived in order to endure unto eternal life. God be praised. Amen.

Psalm 51

My humble opinion about something as we begin this evening: I’ve never been a big fan of billboards on the highway that say some apparently clever message, and then attribute it to God as if He is some sort of stand up comedian.

“It’s a small world. I know; I made it.”—GOD. Or:

“Life is short. Eternity isn’t.—GOD.

Not my favorite thing—especially when it’s like that; when it’s making up something God didn’t really say, and then sticking His name on it.

Instead, what if we took the portion of our text that I want to focus on this evening and then after it write:—JESUS? So, it would go like this:

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.

Cast me not away from your presence,           
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.       

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,    
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

                          —JESUS

Might be a little bit shocking to hear that, right? Your immediate reaction might be, “How can those words be attributable to Jesus—the perfect Son of God, the one whose active and passive obedience made Him the perfect substitute for us, this one who in every respect has been tempted as we are [says the writer to the Hebrews], yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15)?” Those words we read are the words of the sinner (and Psalm-writer), David. They’re words we could claim as our own were we to sing them in worship, as our Old Testament era brothers and sisters evidently used to do. That would fit as something we could say. But how could they be Jesus’ words? How could it be appropriate to attribute them to Him like that?

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.

You certainly know your transgressions. You’ve seen them in the mirror of God’s Law, of His Ten Commandments. You have looked into that mirror and recognized that you have fallen short of what He has required. The smudge on your forehead is a visual representation of the spoken confession you made this evening.

Remember the pastor’s words: “Do you repent of your sins? Yes? You should repent,” like David who prayed for a contrite heart, like St. Peter who wept bitterly, like the others who are mentioned there.

In your confession from earlier, that, again, is visually represented with the smudged cross on your forehead (that’s why we do it, after all!), you said that because of your sins you justly deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment. Those aren’t words you say just to take up the time while you’re here in a service; they’re based in real events from your life. They’re based on your transgressions, on your sin that is ever before you.

You have sinned and done what is evil in God’s sight in the impatience you’ve demonstrated toward your neighbor, for instance, and the wicked and mean things you have thought about him as a result. Maybe it was your sibling or your spouse, or someone in line with you at the store, or in another vehicle on the road, another student in your classroom, a co-worker. Your transgressions and your sin were before you then, and they’re ever before you. There’s a lifetime of these things. As our text says, God is justified in His words, blameless in His judgment against you. You sang in the hymn just now:

I also and my sin

Wrought Thy deep affliction;

This indeed the cause hath been

Of Thy crucifixion.

[from Jesus, I Will Ponder Now]

It is right that you contritely in the Psalm beseech the LORD to cast you not away from His presence, to take not His Holy Spirit from you. Were He to do so, you would be in the place of the dammed. You would be where you deserve to be, but certainly not where you’d ever want to be. The smudged cross on your forehead is representative of it. Someone innocent before God would never appropriately wear such a thing. That’s the emblem that is placed on sinners; it’s on ones who could never stand before God and make a winning case for their own lives. That same cross was made on your head and heart at your Baptism.

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.

Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

                        —JESUS

But again… how can we justify such an attribution? How can we look at those words and consider Jesus to be the one saying them? Well, we look into the Holy Scriptures, and digest what it says about our Savior; that’s how.

He’s the one Who had to come to be known for having committed your crimes.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted (Isaiah 53:4).

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Gal. 3:13).

So then, it isn’t so far-fetched for Him to be the one saying:

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.

He’s the one Who, experiencing the anguish of it all, said in the Garden of Gethsemane:

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will (Matt. 26:39).” And:

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me (Matt. 27:46)?”

So then, it isn’t so far-fetched for Him to be the one saying:

Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

You’ll be especially expressing this when you sing in the closing hymn this evening:

Thyself to scorn didst offer.

All sins Thou borest for us

He’s the one about Whom it is written:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand (Isaiah 53:10)

The prophet comments on the end of it all; the glorification of the Christ now having made full satisfaction for all sins, the LORD’s will—of sinners redeemed (Christ’s spiritual offspring).

So then, it isn’t so far-fetched for Him to be the one saying:

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

On this evening on which you wear ashes on your forehead, and on which you might ask, just how serious are my sins anyway? The answer is that saving you required the perfect God’s perfect Son to say on your behalf, I know My transgressions; My sin is ever before Me. They required Him to say to the Father, I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight. He was taking upon Himself what you are. Your sins required Him to become before the Father the justifiable object of His most severe wrath and judgment. Instead of you, He was the one saying, Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

But the Son was cast away from the Father’s presence. He was forsaken. He was turned over to the place of the damned, because where you deserved to be became instead (on your behalf, for your benefit) where He deserved to be.

It was so that you can now stand before God on the Last Day without transgressions and sins before you. It was so that you are considered not to have sinned and done what is evil in His sight. It was so that there aren’t any words of judgment against you. It was so that you are never cast away from the LORD’s presence.

You are forgiven because of what Jesus has suffered for you. The cross on your forehead represents, now, the cross upon which your Savior died for you. You follow your risen LORD, rising from death yourself to receive the joy of His salvation. What sweet music are those words of our text when attributed to Jesus. Amen.

Palm Sunday/Matthew 21:1-9 

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Presumably, many of the Good Friday “Crucify Him!—shouters” are also these Palm Sunday “Hosanna to the Son of David!—shouters”. It seems astonishing, doesn’t it?—that in five days they will go from, We love this guy!—to, We gotta to kill this guy!—even shouting out things like, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25)! How could it happen?

We’re going to look at 

1. What they thought they knew about Jesus, and then:

2. What they came later to think they knew about Jesus, and then, finally:

3. What all people really need to know about Jesus.

What they thought they knew about Jesus

Hosanna to the Son of David!—is a very specific greeting. When Mary learned she would be the Savior’s mother, the angel said to her, 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” (Luke 1:32b-33). Saying his father David meant He was from David’s ancestral line. It was a reference to prophecies like from Jeremiah (23:5-6):

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ (Jeremiah 23:5-6). 

Jeremiah’s words, at least in one sense, were a prophecy of the Messiah, of God’s anointed Savior that He was sending for sinners. What the people thought they knew about Jesus, was that He was this one Whom Old Testament prophets had talked about; He was this Righteous Branch, this king, this Savior. 

They thought they knew this about Him because of what He was doing. The prophet Isaiah had said that when this anointed individual came, he would bring good news—joyful news of freedom from captivity for those who were brokenhearted (who knew they were on the outs with God because of their sins, is what he meant). The Psalmist had talked about Him providing justice for the oppressed, feeding the hungry, opening the eyes of the blind (146). They had seen Jesus doing these things, including unimaginable miraculous signs (He’d brought Lazarus back from the dead recently—John 11:42-44). Certainly this was the one they’d been waiting for, they thought. In fact, St. John records a couple of instances of people saying that sort of thing: “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world” (6:14)!—and, “This really is the prophet” (7:40)!

On Palm Sunday, they were sort of following the script of our Old Testament lesson. As this king was coming, righteous, having salvation, they were rejoicing greatly, they were shouting aloud in praise of Him. 

And as long as He would fulfill their expectations…they would be set to go on praising Him. Their praise was based on what they thought they knew about Jesus.

What they came later to think they knew about Jesus

For many of the people, evidently, what they’d imagined Jesus to be, and what He turned out to be were two different things. For one thing, they’d imagined a king who would have a kingdom like David’s kingdom. Like Jeremiah’s prophecy had said, he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. 

Those words have the sound of the kind of kingdom that would be in this world (though, Jesus would say to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world”—John 18:36). If words like Jeremiah’s had become detached in their minds from God’s promise to Adam and Eve, and to Abraham, and so on, of Him sending a savior from sin, then it’s imaginable that people had attached a worldly sort of interpretation to the Messiah’s kingdom, come to think of Him as having a kingdom of this world. 

There’s a hint of this sort of expectation in the account of the feeding of the 5,000, that we looked at a few weeks ago—in the crowd that saw the miracle, and then determined to take Jesus, and make Him king by force (John 6:15). Also, it was implied in some of the things the disciples said, like at the ascension: 

…they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” His disciple Thomas had said to Him another time, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” At least to some extent, even the disciples evidently imagined a king who would have a kingdom like David’s kingdom, here on earth.

Also, quite frankly, they’d imagined a winner. On this day in Jerusalem, riding in kingly fashion (as King Solomon had once done—on a donkey, no less—1 Kings 1:38), put together with everything else, they could see it; Jesus had that appearance. They couldn’t wait to see what might come next. Would there be a battle of some sort? Who knew? They certainly expected Jesus would overcome, though, whatever was to happen (of course, He would overcome; but it wouldn’t really look that way for some time, with the disciples in despair over their master’s death). 

We’d asked how it could happen that “Hosanna!—shouters” could so quickly turn to “Crucify Him!—shouters”. There’s an incident in John’s Gospel: Jesus had been saying some things that were difficult for the people to understand. At a certain point, it says, After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him [speaking of a larger group of followers, not the twelve] (6:66). They’d become disillusioned. Jesus wasn’t who they’d thought Him to be, they’d determined.

Well, a number of turbulent things happened on Holy Week. The next thing Matthew records after this Palm Sunday text is Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple (overturning the money-changer’s tables and so forth). It was for good reason, as He explained, but we can imagine it left an impression with people. Shortly after, Matthew mentions again, Jesus’ authority being challenged by the chief priests and elders of the people—the peoples’ religious leaders (the people were seeing that, too). Jesus’ messages had gotten more provocative, with Him saying things like, Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits (Matthew 21:43). He preached stunning law—not only to scribes and Pharisees, but to Jerusalem—to the ones of that generation, telling parables of people being excluded from the kingdom. In the days immediately following this Palm Sunday entrance, the “Hosanna—shouters” were processing a lot of information, taking in a lot of things—things that informed what they later came to think they knew about Jesus, including, for many, the religious leaders’ assertion that He was a fraud.

So, the people had thought Jesus to be the prophet who was to come into the world, but perhaps (for many) more of an earthly leader than a savior from sin. A short time later, many would evidently become convinced to the contrary. Many would become offended by Him, as He’d cautioned John’s disciples not to do (Matthew 11:6).

What all people really need to know about Jesus

Our hymn really does a pretty good job of setting out the important issues. The statement, 

“O Savior meek, pursue Thy road” 

—from the first verse reminds us of St. Luke’s statement about Jesus: When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem (9:51). Luke meant, He started to bring to completion what His life and ministry had been entirely about—dying on a cross outside of Jerusalem for the world’s sins. We’re reminded also of Jesus’ statement: No one takes [My life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord (John 10:18). This goes well with the hymn writer’s poetry in verse 3 as well: 

“The angel armies of the sky look down with sad and wondering eyes to see the approaching sacrifice.”

When we’re talking about what people really need to know about Jesus, the word sacrifice is a must-mention. And along with it, the fact of it being a willing sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice planned in eternity, promised in the Garden of Eden to the first sinners, foreshadowed in Old Testament worship. The innocent blood of this “Lamb of God” stands in the place of every sinner. 

It stands in your’s and my place too. We might say that the Palm Sunday shouters ultimately wanted Jesus to be something other than He was. They wanted more than the Savior meek pursuing His road, than the approaching sacrifice. They wanted a more satisfying existence in this world. They weren’t interested in Jesus if He wasn’t going to be that for them. It was simple worldliness, wasn’t it? It was clinging to this life and this world. Aren’t you guilty of that too? Isn’t that the greatest danger that stands between you and heaven? 

Jesus sure thought so. He talked about it during Holy Week in some of His most well-known parables. He told the Parable of the Wedding Feast in which invited guests chose other interests over the master’s heavenly invitation. He told the parable of the Ten Virgins in which five are focused on being included in the kingdom, and the others haven’t been interested enough to be prepared. Jesus talked about it because every sinner clings to this world and this life, demonstrating even a tendency to choose it over the next life. The devil stands ready with accusations of this for every sinner.

But the One Who rides in our text has silenced those accusations. The devil has no opportunity to make them because One has prioritized God’s kingdom above all else without fail on your behalf. It’s like your clinging to this life and this world over God’s eternal kingdom never happened because the road the meek Savior in our text pursued led to the cross and grave. It led there so that He might (as the hymn writer says):

“Bow [His] head to mortal pain.”

What all people really need to know about Jesus, is that God has forgiven their sins in Him. He has forgiven your sins in Him. You sing Hosanna this morning to the Savior who pursued the cross and grave for you so that in Him you now have eternal life. God be praised. Amen.

John 8:46-59 

[Jesus said,] “Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Whoever is of God hears the words of God. We can hear God’s Words and not hear the Words of God; we can ignore what they really mean (or misinterpret them). There are two great things that God is doing for us with His Word: He 

• Condemns us as sinners; He makes us see we’ve failed to meet the requirements of His Law, and He

• Comforts us with additional news. He has, through a blood sacrifice, met our Law requirements that had condemned us, so that we are free and clear.

That’s what everyone should be hearing who hears God’s Word—the Law and the Gospel. That’s what it is. That’s the message.

You might get hung up on that word: condemn, right? It’s NEGATIVE! It’s another way of saying we deserve hell. Ouch! Could it really be all that serious?

The men in our text certainly had that perspective. The Jews here are really the Scribes and Pharisees from earlier in the chapter. The conversation they have with Jesus gets a little complicated (talking past each other). What’s really important to them is that they’re ancestors of Abraham’s. He’s what comes to their mind first when Jesus says, “…if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” Ah!—they think. Now, we’ve got Him. If there was some way to keep from dying, Abraham would have known it. But he died like everybody else. So much for this wi-i-ize teacher, Jesus.

It was hard for them to accept these certain words of God, the ones that say they’re condemned as sinners. It was hard because they felt safe as Abraham’s descendants. Jesus had said to them one time, Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham (Matthew 3:9). They tended to diminish the significance of their sins, and to figure that God would consider them to be good enough people—especially because Abraham was their forefather. They were refusing to hear the condemnation God wanted them to hear in His Words, for their good.

It’s interesting how Jesus handles that in our text. What He does, is, He gets real about Abraham—not criticizing him—but demonstrating that he’s really just another human being like them. He’s stained by the same sinfulness that everyone else has inherited from Adam and Eve. He doesn’t have any righteousness to lend to them. In fact, the thing that is truly great about Abraham is his acknowledgement that he’s a condemned sinner whose salvation is in the One God has promised—the Messiah or Christ. Jesus says it like this: Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” He was seeing it through faith. He was absolutely convinced that God’s promise of a Savior in his family was real. In that faith, he went to the land God showed him (as talked about in our Old Testament lesson), though there wasn’t anything there in that time to demonstrate the promise’s fulfillment. He simply believed. He trusted in Christ purely on the basis of God’s promise. He was a man who was truly hearing the Words of God.

The people in our text were refusing to hear in God’s Word the condemnation of the Law. And here’s the thing: then the Gospel meant nothing to them (what good is it to be saved if you’re not condemned in the first place? Why’d they need Jesus when they didn’t really think they were that bad of sinners?). 

We tend not to like this idea that we’re condemned. We don’t like seeing ourselves that way. With all the way-worse people around, we have to be ahead in some way, we think. How can God look at me in the same way He looks at…(and then we think of this person and that person). He must be seeing my goodness, isn’t He? I’m a respectable person! We alternatively interpret God’s Words about condemnation. We rearrange them so their bite isn’t quite so painful. God requires that I forgive people? But even He knows that there are some people I’m just not going to be able to forgive. He understands. We have refused to hear in God’s Word the full condemnation of the Law, too, haven’t we? It irritates us to hear about it. We’ve side-stepped it, given it a friendly interpretation for ourselves.

Not truly hearing God’s Words can be done a different way, too. Maybe you have refused to believe for yourself the comfort of the Gospel. You have continued to feel hopelessly condemned for your sins, even though you’ve faithfully and sincerely confessed them, and even though God has spoken to you His forgiveness in Christ. And that’s the way you have refused to hear the Words of God. He has presented Jesus to you, as He does in our text—as the one for Whom Abraham longed, He Who is one with the Father—saying, I AM, like in the Old Testament. He has shown you this Great High Priest from our epistle lesson, the Lamb of God without blemish, Whose blood purifies your conscience, redeeming you from sin and death. But you have refused these Words of God. You have continued to feel the weight of guilt. You have taken no joy in God’s mercy. Then the Gospel is meaningless to you because you have excluded yourself on the basis of not keeping God’s Law. You have refused to hear the comfort that God intends for you in His Words. But there isn’t any further revelation to come. He has already said what you need to hear—that every sin is accounted for in Christ’s sacrifice.

The sins of refusing to hear in God’s Word the Law’s condemnation and the Gospel’s comfort are accounted for in the One Who was made to endure that condemnation’s full weight for every sinner, who Himself perfectly fulfilled its requirements, but upon Whom all of its punishment landed. You can’t justify yourself according your works and the Law; that’s just a deception that leaves you condemned. There isn’t any point in pursuing that. If that’s your plan, then plan on feeling the full weight of God’s wrath and punishment. But if you have recognized the futility of that plan and instead want God’s mercy, it’s available to you in Christ, Who already endured the law’s condemnation for you. 

If you’re hesitant to believe that God could really forgive even your sins, then look upon Christ in our text. Listen to His Words, really hearing them for what they are. Consider the meaning of His statement: if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. Another way of saying it might be: If anyone holds on tightly to the promises about Me—about God’s grace established in Me as the One Who makes real what the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadowed, he will never bear the burden of his or her guilt before God. It has been fully accomplished. 

That’s the message that’s present for you in God’s Word. Nothing more is required of you, because it has been fully accomplished in Christ. Your forgiveness is fully accomplished. God be praised. Amen.

Lent 4/St. John 6:1-15 

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

What if Jesus had gone about this all differently? Kind of a provocative opening question, isn’t it? What He did in this well-known text, was to provide miraculously, food for the thousands who had gathered, 

• demonstrating Himself to be the prophet who is to come into the world (as the people said at the end),

• demonstrating Himself to be God in human flesh—the One Who can solve any problem.

That’s what He did.

It’s interesting to see Jesus address something like this. He looks up and sees the crowd, and notes (in a way) to His disciples, that people are in need. 

This isn’t the only time that sort of thing is written about Jesus. St. Matthew records that one time, when [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (9:36). Now, on that occasion, He was talking about the crowd’s spiritual situation. He goes on to say to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (9:37,38). He’s talking about preaching the Gospel to bring people to faith so they can be forgiven, and saved. Jesus’ concern for these two different crowds is presented the same way whether it’s an issue of bread for their bodies, or the bread of life that he provides for their souls. It’s important for us to see that here. 

Jesus’ solution to that problem of needing Gospel preachers to reach the lost for Him is interesting too; the solution is, pray earnestly. It isn’t a problem with a human solution; it’s a problem solved only by God.

We’re capable of human solutions of a certain sort. We find out we don’t have any milk to make pancakes (something I happen to like on Saturday mornings), we run to the store and get some. Our child skins her knee on the driveway, we go to the cabinet and get a band-aid. By God’s grace, scientists have found cures for diseases. We’re capable of human solutions of a certain sort. 

In our text we see that our ability to provide solutions has limits. Jesus asks a question of His disciples for which He knows they have no answer: “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He asks it so that they will struggle. He wants them to see what they can’t do. The answer is the same as it was in that other account (the one about the need of spiritual help for those sheep without a shepherd). The answer, again: pray earnestly. Now, Jesus doesn’t say it like that here; the message ends up being the same though. These humans won’t…work this out somehow. No amount of calculating or arranging will produce an answer. There won’t be a human solution to this; it will have to be from God Himself. In our helplessness, then, we put our trust in Him. We reach out to Him with our concerns and needs. We pray earnestly.

We asked, What if Jesus had gone about this all differently? What if instead of solving the problem like He does, He had instead said, “I can handle this for you. You just need to put me in charge of it, okay? Ask Me to do it, I’ll do it.” But the disciples sort of set that aside, as if any old person had said it. They go on with their calculations, brainstorming, worrying, maybe even plotting and scheming in some sinful way to come up with an answer. Jesus reminds them, “I’m here. I’m willing.” But they set that aside, and keep on with their own strivings. Wouldn’t Jesus have used that as an occasion to condemn their unbelief, like it says He did after His Resurrection, when He appeared to them in the Upper Room (Mark 16:14)? In that situation, too, they’d been reluctant to believe that He could rise from death like witnesses had said He’d done (like He Himself had said He would do). They’d refused to recognize in that weak moment, that He is the all-powerful God, capable of anything!

Now, we know that Jesus did this miracle in our text that demonstrates His divinity. He never put them in the situation of ignoring His help, or anything; He went ahead and did it. But He did want them to wrestle for a moment with the idea that they need to rely on Him in this life (and regarding the things of the next life, for that matter). The Gospel writer John says He asked this question to test them. He wanted them to have it as a matter of instinct that they would turn to Him for all of their needs. 

We float out the hypothetical idea because it puts us into the picture a little more. Jesus is at our disposal like He was at theirs. He’s eager to help us like them. He wants us, as a matter of instinct, to turn to Him for all of our needs. 

Isn’t it true that you and I have neglected to do this as we should? We have had Jesus standing next to us, saying, “I can handle this for you. You just need to put me in charge of it, okay? Ask Me to do it, I’ll do it.” But we set it aside as if any old person had said it. We have gone on with our calculating, brainstorming, worrying, maybe even plotting and scheming in some sinful way to come up with an answer. Jesus reminds us in a text like this, “I’m here. I’m willing.” And isn’t it true that we have neglected to cast our anxieties on Him (1 Pet. 5:7), as He invites us to do?

The devil doesn’t want us doing this; we know that. He’s want us to be thinking things like: 

• How could I have made such a mess of things? I have to get this all sorted out before I even think about bothering God with it. Or maybe:

• How can I go to Him when He knows all things; He knows my thoughts and my deeds? He might even consider me His enemy right now. I certainly don’t deserve His help; I got myself into this trouble.

If those thoughts are your thoughts, consider the one in our text who looks up and sees that crowd and resolves instantly to meet the need of every person in it. And consider that that same person sees you with every one of your needs in this life. The compassion with which He provided food for their bodies, even as in His preaching He saw to the needs of their souls is the same that He directs toward you this morning. He directs it in the form of His Spirit-filled Word that nourishes your faith. It invites you to confess your sins and receive His forgiveness. In an even more concrete way, He invites you to the communion rail to receive from Him the very thing that made atonement for your sins—His true body and blood along with bread and wine. He reminds you there, that you’re Baptized into His death—connected to Him so that His righteousness is considered by God to be your righteousness.

The one Who sees you in the crowd and longs to meet your every need is the one Who became needy for you. The fact that He never neglected to put Himself in the Father’s hands, praying constantly, right up to time of being unjustly arrested and tried before sinners, makes atonement for every shortcoming on your part. Every sin is forgiven in this one Who meets the needs of body and soul. Go to this Savior in confidence with your burdens that He might remove them as promised. He is the one Who can solve any problem. God be praised. Amen.