St John 13:1-15, 34-25/1 Corinthians 11:23-32/Exodus 24:3-11
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the Atoning Sacrifice for our sins. Tonight you behold the essence of His love; a self-sacrificing, gentle, humiliating love; a love that stoops down into the dust to wash and cleanse and reclaim men that were once His.
In the beginning, in love, God stooped to the dust to create man in His image, after His likeness. That is, to create them in the image of the only-begotten Son, the One who is Love Incarnate, love-made-flesh. In love God dirties His hands, so to speak, in order to make you, His beloved, the very object, the recipient of His love.
But His love was unrequited. Self-sacrificing love was met with selfish lust. Where once there was fellowship and communion between God who is Love, and man, the object of His love there was now, on account of sin, enmity and strife. Unclean and unholy, man was banished from God’s presence and withheld from fellowship in the Tree of Life.
Yet, in love, the Lord provided for a way back. He would restore fellowship with His fallen creation. It would not be easy. It would require sacrifice. It would require love, a love unknown in all the world; unknown in the hearts of fallen men.
Having loved His own, He enacted with them a covenant; He gave them a command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul; and love your neighbor as yourself. Love is His commandment, His Word. And at Mt Sinai all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
And Moses read the Book of the Covenant in the hearing of the people and they confessed their obedience. Fellowship was restored. The covenant was sealed in blood; half splattered on the altar, half sprinkled on the people. Once unclean and unholy, they had now received the Word of the Lord and were under the blood of the covenant.
Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up the mountain, and they saw the God of Israel. And He did not destroy them; they beheld God, and ate and drank. In the love of God they were in communion with Him once again.
But it would not last. For men’s hearts are fickle and weak. And self-sacrificing love does not come easy to hearts twisted and depraved by sin. Judas lusted for a false hope, a would-be Messiah of his own malicious intent. And he chased after silver. Aaron took his gold and made an idol; a grotesque god of lust and perversion. And in the height of blasphemy he worshipped it as Yahweh Elohim!
The commandment is simple: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Yet we are condemned on every side. Our hearts lust after all that glitters. We open our souls to all manner of perversions: to pornography and illicit behavior. Our minds are warped with false notions of equity and justice determined by the culture and our emotions. Our strength is a joke. We do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
Repent, dear Christians. Stop trying to justify yourself. Judge yourself truly, for when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Indeed you are not condemned! For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that that world might be saved through Him.
Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved you to the end. He who in the beginning stooped down with dust and rib to create man in His image, now as Man, stoops down with water and towel to cleanse fallen man, and recreate him once again in His image. He is among them as One who serves. He always was, for God is love; self-sacrificing, giving, humiliating love.
This is the radical nature of His love, His crazy love for you: the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. He came not to be loved, but to love; a love unknown in the hearts of men. A Love so strong that He dies in utter weakness. A Love so mighty that He gives up life itself so you may be pardoned, forgiven, restored, and healed. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the Atoning Sacrifice for our sins.
Having loved His own, He has given you a new covenant, sealed in His Blood. It was not easy. It required sacrifice. Love always does. And the life-blood of the very God of Israel was spilt up the altar of the Cross. And it is poured down your throats. By His Blood you are made clean. You are holy. By His Blood fellowship is restored. You are His again.
And in Him you love as He has loved you. St John writes, No on has ever seen God. But Moses and Aaron and the elders went up the mountain and they saw the God of Israel; they beheld God, and He did not destroy them, and they ate and drank! “I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.” That is your destination this night; that is your desire for all eternity. For there you see God, you behold Love Incarnate, Love in the flesh, as He gives His Body and Blood to you to eat and drink for the forgiveness of your sins! If we love one another, John goes on, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.
This is His new commandment: love as He has loved you. The commandment has always been about love: love the Lord your God, love your neighbor. But it is not about your love. It is about His love for you. He has washed you in His blood and righteousness in Holy Baptism. You are clean. You have fellowship with Him once more. He has done this for you. He is for you. His Body and Blood given and shed for you, are not an example, they are love real and tangible.
My dear ones, your Jesus desires that such love live in you, that you also should do as He has done to you. He has removed your idols. He is your God once more. He has given you a clean conscience and a new heart. He has set you mind on things above. He is your strength, a power made perfect in weakness.
Therefore you are free. Free to love one another in selfless, sacrificial love. Free to lay down your lives for each other. Free to give away all that you have, for you have been given everything in Christ. God abides in you and you in God. Love is perfected in you. You have confidence for the Day of Judgment. You love because He first loved you.
And as you examine you hearts and minds and find nothing good there, come again to the altar of God, to God your exceeding joy. He is your help. He is your forgiveness. He is your life. He is your salvation. And He has loved you to the end with a love that never ends.
In the Name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the Atoning Sacrifice for our sins. Tonight you behold the essence of His love; a self-sacrificing, gentle, humiliating love; a love that stoops down into the dust to wash and cleanse and reclaim men that were once His.
In the beginning, in love, God stooped to the dust to create man in His image, after His likeness. That is, to create them in the image of the only-begotten Son, the One who is Love Incarnate, love-made-flesh. In love God dirties His hands, so to speak, in order to make you, His beloved, the very object, the recipient of His love.
But His love was unrequited. Self-sacrificing love was met with selfish lust. Where once there was fellowship and communion between God who is Love, and man, the object of His love there was now, on account of sin, enmity and strife. Unclean and unholy, man was banished from God’s presence and withheld from fellowship in the Tree of Life.
Yet, in love, the Lord provided for a way back. He would restore fellowship with His fallen creation. It would not be easy. It would require sacrifice. It would require love, a love unknown in all the world; unknown in the hearts of fallen men.
Having loved His own, He enacted with them a covenant; He gave them a command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul; and love your neighbor as yourself. Love is His commandment, His Word. And at Mt Sinai all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
And Moses read the Book of the Covenant in the hearing of the people and they confessed their obedience. Fellowship was restored. The covenant was sealed in blood; half splattered on the altar, half sprinkled on the people. Once unclean and unholy, they had now received the Word of the Lord and were under the blood of the covenant.
Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up the mountain, and they saw the God of Israel. And He did not destroy them; they beheld God, and ate and drank. In the love of God they were in communion with Him once again.
But it would not last. For men’s hearts are fickle and weak. And self-sacrificing love does not come easy to hearts twisted and depraved by sin. Judas lusted for a false hope, a would-be Messiah of his own malicious intent. And he chased after silver. Aaron took his gold and made an idol; a grotesque god of lust and perversion. And in the height of blasphemy he worshipped it as Yahweh Elohim!
The commandment is simple: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Yet we are condemned on every side. Our hearts lust after all that glitters. We open our souls to all manner of perversions: to pornography and illicit behavior. Our minds are warped with false notions of equity and justice determined by the culture and our emotions. Our strength is a joke. We do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
Repent, dear Christians. Stop trying to justify yourself. Judge yourself truly, for when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Indeed you are not condemned! For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that that world might be saved through Him.
Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved you to the end. He who in the beginning stooped down with dust and rib to create man in His image, now as Man, stoops down with water and towel to cleanse fallen man, and recreate him once again in His image. He is among them as One who serves. He always was, for God is love; self-sacrificing, giving, humiliating love.
This is the radical nature of His love, His crazy love for you: the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. He came not to be loved, but to love; a love unknown in the hearts of men. A Love so strong that He dies in utter weakness. A Love so mighty that He gives up life itself so you may be pardoned, forgiven, restored, and healed. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the Atoning Sacrifice for our sins.
Having loved His own, He has given you a new covenant, sealed in His Blood. It was not easy. It required sacrifice. Love always does. And the life-blood of the very God of Israel was spilt up the altar of the Cross. And it is poured down your throats. By His Blood you are made clean. You are holy. By His Blood fellowship is restored. You are His again.
And in Him you love as He has loved you. St John writes, No on has ever seen God. But Moses and Aaron and the elders went up the mountain and they saw the God of Israel; they beheld God, and He did not destroy them, and they ate and drank! “I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.” That is your destination this night; that is your desire for all eternity. For there you see God, you behold Love Incarnate, Love in the flesh, as He gives His Body and Blood to you to eat and drink for the forgiveness of your sins! If we love one another, John goes on, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.
This is His new commandment: love as He has loved you. The commandment has always been about love: love the Lord your God, love your neighbor. But it is not about your love. It is about His love for you. He has washed you in His blood and righteousness in Holy Baptism. You are clean. You have fellowship with Him once more. He has done this for you. He is for you. His Body and Blood given and shed for you, are not an example, they are love real and tangible.
My dear ones, your Jesus desires that such love live in you, that you also should do as He has done to you. He has removed your idols. He is your God once more. He has given you a clean conscience and a new heart. He has set you mind on things above. He is your strength, a power made perfect in weakness.
Therefore you are free. Free to love one another in selfless, sacrificial love. Free to lay down your lives for each other. Free to give away all that you have, for you have been given everything in Christ. God abides in you and you in God. Love is perfected in you. You have confidence for the Day of Judgment. You love because He first loved you.
And as you examine you hearts and minds and find nothing good there, come again to the altar of God, to God your exceeding joy. He is your help. He is your forgiveness. He is your life. He is your salvation. And He has loved you to the end with a love that never ends.
In the Name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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