Genesis 22:1-14; Hebrews 9:11-15; St John 8:42-59
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Since the beginning of Epiphany we have been following our Lord in His ministry to the crowds and apostles. Ash Wednesday heightened our attention not only to Christ, His person and work, but increased our focus on and repentance for our own sin, which in love for His Father and for you, drove Him in faithful obedience to the Cross to be your one Mediator and Atoning Sacrifice for the forgiveness of all your sins.
Now we begin to contemplate more directly the sorrowful happenings of the last year of our Lord’s earthly life. This morning you hear the vehement hatred with which the enemies of our Lord Jesus attack Him. It finally breaks out on Good Friday in the most frightful of all crimes, in the vilest abuse of justice in all the sad history of man. Then all time seems to wane to a slow walk during the holiest week of the year, culminating in the glory of the Cross on which hung the salvation of the world.
The liturgy accents this grief. The Alleluias were dropped in Pre-Lent. They are unsung for 70 days. The Gloria in Excelsis left on Ash Wednesday. Today the Gloria Patri is taken away and the Crosses are already veiled in mourning, corresponding to our Lord’s own action from the Gospel: They picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the Temple. He will return. He shall come and clear the Temple of its idolatry and works righteousness in order to make room for Himself, the once-for-all-Sacrifice.
And so our hearts are overcast and penetrated with shame as we think on the price of our sins. The storm is rising and it is not only the evil rabbis and the lustful mob that yell “crucify;” it is also the Father who hates Jesus. His wrath strikes out at the Man made into a worm. The Holy One who has become sin and curse for the sake of His guilty brethren. For us. Who dares to think on such things?
Consider the Epistle to the Hebrews: When Christ appeared as a High Priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect skeine (the tent not made with hands) He entered once for all into the Holy Places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. He is the Mediator of a new testament in His blood, for He is the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world. He is not an unblemished offering for the rich, or a goat or bull, but a Lamb, provided by God Himself, which is God Himself in the flesh, offered as Substitute for all you Isaacs. He is your Christ.
This is why He came to the Temple, built on Mount Moriah, the same place God has commanded Abraham to take his only son, whom he loved, and offer him as a whole burnt offering. The Angel of the Lord who redeemed the child of Abraham now comes as a Man to offer proof of His divinity to the children of Abraham. But they would not. Unlike their father in the faith their hearts are hard, the consciences calloused. They are begotten of their father the devil. A liar and murderer from the beginning. As hard as it is to hear, their genealogy is yours as well. You are conceived and born in sin, by nature an enemy and hater of God; lacking fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. You receive the inheritance of devil in your own body: death.
This is why the Old Testament sacrifices were instituted; to give you a bloody picture of the cost of your redemption. For without the shedding of blood there is not forgiveness of sins. But the blood of goats and calves can no more redeem than the blood of the beloved son of a father, than Abraham being stained with Isaac’s blood, could have redeemed him. This is why Christ comes to the Temple, to the Mercy Seat, to prepare Himself for the once-for-all-Sacrifice that purifies your conscience from dead works and dead idols to serve the living God in everlasting righteousness and innocence forever. He addresses Himself with the divine name, and rather falling down in worship and praise, selfish men pick up stones to kill Him.
Abraham, the father of God’s people, trusted in the divine promises of the Seed. He longed for an rejoiced to see the day of the Messiah’s incarnation and atonement. He saw it and rejoiced. Did he see it in the near sacrifice of Isaac and in the providence of the ram caught in the thicket? He named that place not “the Lord has provided,” but The Lord will provide. Abraham saw more than the temporary reprieve of Isaac. He saw the future.
The Lord provides in the Temple built on that same mountain. He provided the ram, so also He provides on Mount Golgotha the sacrifice of His only Son, His beloved Son, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. Did Abraham see Good Friday in a vision or in some other prophecy or type and rejoice? Or did he see it from heaven like Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration? I don’t know. Perhaps the answer is all, or any, or another manner. All that matters is that Abraham saw it and rejoiced. So should we. We should rejoice in the death of Jesus Christ because it is in that unjust death that causes Abraham to believe and live. By the substitute for his son, Abraham received Isaac back alive. They see and rejoice.
But the Jews in our Gospel text do not. They do not rejoice, but revolt. Why? Well, I’m afraid I need to drag into some grammar here. It can’t be helped. The Word became flesh. Grammar matters. Firstly, the name our Lord gives to Moses from the burning bush, “I AM WHO I AM,” is spoken in the first person. The Lord says, “I AM.” That is His name. He is the One who is. The living, true God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - in contrast to all idols and creatures. Pharaoh isn’t. His gods aren’t. We aren’t. Only God is. He says, “I AM.”
But Moses immediately changes the name in Hebrew from “I AM” to “HE IS.” He conjugates the verb. Moses isn’t speaking of himself; he is speaking of the Lord. So he doesn’t say, “I AM,” but “He IS.” The name Yahweh or in your King James Version, Jehovah, is the divine name. A name the Jews refused to say aloud. When they read Scripture and came across the name Yahweh they’d substitute Adonai, the Hebrew word ‘Lord.’ When you read LORD in all capitals in your Bible or in the bulletin - it ought to be that way in the Benediction, too - that this name, I AM, Yahweh.
Hold that thought. We’ll come back to it.
The ESV gets the translation of Abraham’s verb wrong. Jesus doesn’t say, Before Abraham was, I WAS, using the past tense of ‘is;’ either for Abraham or Himself. He actually says, Before Abraham came to be, I AM. Jesus isn’t just saying He’s older than Abraham. He is saying that before Abraham was born, HE IS. He isn’t born, nor made, but begotten from all eternity by His Father who glorifies Him. Before Abraham was born, our Lord is. He never wasn’t. He always will be.
Its subtle, but important. The Jews picked up on it. That’s why they picked up stones to stone Him. The name they refused to say, to even take on their lips when reading Holy Scripture, the name that Moses conjugated, the divine name, Jesus not only speaks, but applies to Himself. He is the God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He is the God who stopped Abraham from sacrificing his little boy. He is the God who swore by Himself to make an oath with Abraham. He didn’t say what Moses said. Jesus said what was said from the burning bush, “I AM. Yahweh.”
That’s why they want to stone Him. For blasphemy. But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the Temple. But He would be back. For the Lord provides Himself the sacrifice. He is the scapegoat. He is the peace offering. He is the whole burnt offering and the grain offering and the meal offering. He is the promise and the fulfillment. He is the Messiah. He is the Seed of the Woman who crushes the head of the serpent. And He comes into the Temple to show Himself, that He might fulfill all things and redeem mankind. He comes in order to take the place of all you Isaacs, to be the Great High Priest, to rescue you from your false father the devil and reconcile you to your Father in heaven and to adopt you as children and heirs with Abraham of the promise.
The liturgy is accented with grief to be sure, for we are sinful men, full of vice, hatred and lust. But the liturgy also hints at joy. It expects with eagerness the King of glory who comes to save us. He has sent out His Light and His Truth, He leads you to the Holy Hill and the Altar of God, to God your exceeding joy. Why are you cast down, dear Christian, why are you in turmoil? Hope in God. He is your salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Since the beginning of Epiphany we have been following our Lord in His ministry to the crowds and apostles. Ash Wednesday heightened our attention not only to Christ, His person and work, but increased our focus on and repentance for our own sin, which in love for His Father and for you, drove Him in faithful obedience to the Cross to be your one Mediator and Atoning Sacrifice for the forgiveness of all your sins.
Now we begin to contemplate more directly the sorrowful happenings of the last year of our Lord’s earthly life. This morning you hear the vehement hatred with which the enemies of our Lord Jesus attack Him. It finally breaks out on Good Friday in the most frightful of all crimes, in the vilest abuse of justice in all the sad history of man. Then all time seems to wane to a slow walk during the holiest week of the year, culminating in the glory of the Cross on which hung the salvation of the world.
The liturgy accents this grief. The Alleluias were dropped in Pre-Lent. They are unsung for 70 days. The Gloria in Excelsis left on Ash Wednesday. Today the Gloria Patri is taken away and the Crosses are already veiled in mourning, corresponding to our Lord’s own action from the Gospel: They picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the Temple. He will return. He shall come and clear the Temple of its idolatry and works righteousness in order to make room for Himself, the once-for-all-Sacrifice.
And so our hearts are overcast and penetrated with shame as we think on the price of our sins. The storm is rising and it is not only the evil rabbis and the lustful mob that yell “crucify;” it is also the Father who hates Jesus. His wrath strikes out at the Man made into a worm. The Holy One who has become sin and curse for the sake of His guilty brethren. For us. Who dares to think on such things?
Consider the Epistle to the Hebrews: When Christ appeared as a High Priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect skeine (the tent not made with hands) He entered once for all into the Holy Places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. He is the Mediator of a new testament in His blood, for He is the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world. He is not an unblemished offering for the rich, or a goat or bull, but a Lamb, provided by God Himself, which is God Himself in the flesh, offered as Substitute for all you Isaacs. He is your Christ.
This is why He came to the Temple, built on Mount Moriah, the same place God has commanded Abraham to take his only son, whom he loved, and offer him as a whole burnt offering. The Angel of the Lord who redeemed the child of Abraham now comes as a Man to offer proof of His divinity to the children of Abraham. But they would not. Unlike their father in the faith their hearts are hard, the consciences calloused. They are begotten of their father the devil. A liar and murderer from the beginning. As hard as it is to hear, their genealogy is yours as well. You are conceived and born in sin, by nature an enemy and hater of God; lacking fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. You receive the inheritance of devil in your own body: death.
This is why the Old Testament sacrifices were instituted; to give you a bloody picture of the cost of your redemption. For without the shedding of blood there is not forgiveness of sins. But the blood of goats and calves can no more redeem than the blood of the beloved son of a father, than Abraham being stained with Isaac’s blood, could have redeemed him. This is why Christ comes to the Temple, to the Mercy Seat, to prepare Himself for the once-for-all-Sacrifice that purifies your conscience from dead works and dead idols to serve the living God in everlasting righteousness and innocence forever. He addresses Himself with the divine name, and rather falling down in worship and praise, selfish men pick up stones to kill Him.
Abraham, the father of God’s people, trusted in the divine promises of the Seed. He longed for an rejoiced to see the day of the Messiah’s incarnation and atonement. He saw it and rejoiced. Did he see it in the near sacrifice of Isaac and in the providence of the ram caught in the thicket? He named that place not “the Lord has provided,” but The Lord will provide. Abraham saw more than the temporary reprieve of Isaac. He saw the future.
The Lord provides in the Temple built on that same mountain. He provided the ram, so also He provides on Mount Golgotha the sacrifice of His only Son, His beloved Son, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. Did Abraham see Good Friday in a vision or in some other prophecy or type and rejoice? Or did he see it from heaven like Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration? I don’t know. Perhaps the answer is all, or any, or another manner. All that matters is that Abraham saw it and rejoiced. So should we. We should rejoice in the death of Jesus Christ because it is in that unjust death that causes Abraham to believe and live. By the substitute for his son, Abraham received Isaac back alive. They see and rejoice.
But the Jews in our Gospel text do not. They do not rejoice, but revolt. Why? Well, I’m afraid I need to drag into some grammar here. It can’t be helped. The Word became flesh. Grammar matters. Firstly, the name our Lord gives to Moses from the burning bush, “I AM WHO I AM,” is spoken in the first person. The Lord says, “I AM.” That is His name. He is the One who is. The living, true God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - in contrast to all idols and creatures. Pharaoh isn’t. His gods aren’t. We aren’t. Only God is. He says, “I AM.”
But Moses immediately changes the name in Hebrew from “I AM” to “HE IS.” He conjugates the verb. Moses isn’t speaking of himself; he is speaking of the Lord. So he doesn’t say, “I AM,” but “He IS.” The name Yahweh or in your King James Version, Jehovah, is the divine name. A name the Jews refused to say aloud. When they read Scripture and came across the name Yahweh they’d substitute Adonai, the Hebrew word ‘Lord.’ When you read LORD in all capitals in your Bible or in the bulletin - it ought to be that way in the Benediction, too - that this name, I AM, Yahweh.
Hold that thought. We’ll come back to it.
The ESV gets the translation of Abraham’s verb wrong. Jesus doesn’t say, Before Abraham was, I WAS, using the past tense of ‘is;’ either for Abraham or Himself. He actually says, Before Abraham came to be, I AM. Jesus isn’t just saying He’s older than Abraham. He is saying that before Abraham was born, HE IS. He isn’t born, nor made, but begotten from all eternity by His Father who glorifies Him. Before Abraham was born, our Lord is. He never wasn’t. He always will be.
Its subtle, but important. The Jews picked up on it. That’s why they picked up stones to stone Him. The name they refused to say, to even take on their lips when reading Holy Scripture, the name that Moses conjugated, the divine name, Jesus not only speaks, but applies to Himself. He is the God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He is the God who stopped Abraham from sacrificing his little boy. He is the God who swore by Himself to make an oath with Abraham. He didn’t say what Moses said. Jesus said what was said from the burning bush, “I AM. Yahweh.”
That’s why they want to stone Him. For blasphemy. But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the Temple. But He would be back. For the Lord provides Himself the sacrifice. He is the scapegoat. He is the peace offering. He is the whole burnt offering and the grain offering and the meal offering. He is the promise and the fulfillment. He is the Messiah. He is the Seed of the Woman who crushes the head of the serpent. And He comes into the Temple to show Himself, that He might fulfill all things and redeem mankind. He comes in order to take the place of all you Isaacs, to be the Great High Priest, to rescue you from your false father the devil and reconcile you to your Father in heaven and to adopt you as children and heirs with Abraham of the promise.
The liturgy is accented with grief to be sure, for we are sinful men, full of vice, hatred and lust. But the liturgy also hints at joy. It expects with eagerness the King of glory who comes to save us. He has sent out His Light and His Truth, He leads you to the Holy Hill and the Altar of God, to God your exceeding joy. Why are you cast down, dear Christian, why are you in turmoil? Hope in God. He is your salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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