Exodus 32:1-20/1 Thessalonians 4:13-18/St Matthew 24:15-28
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
There are some things that are simply so outrageous that when we see them we recoil in horror. Terrorist attacks, political atrocities, gruesome suffering of the innocent, our own personal seasons of turmoil. In reaction to these things we search for answers. “How can this be happening? This is an abomination. Where is God? How can He let this happen? Has He abandoned me?”
And when that happens, when it seems as if God is far off and aloof, we grow impatient, we seek after other gods. Like your ancestors you have set up golden calves. You can’t be bothered to wait on the Lord; to wait for what He alone can give. You seek to do it yourselves. Though it is the Lord who made you in His image, you seek to remake Him your own image. You fashion a god who is more like yourself; more tolerant, more open. A god who lets you sit down, kick back, and relax so that you can eat and drink and play. And if you don’t get what you want, when you want it, you complain. You get angry.
And so you seek things that’ll take away your anger. Things to make you happy. This is why you speak ill of others behind their backs; why you kill them with your tongue. This is why you cheat on your spouse in thought and sometimes in deed. This is why you turn to alcohol and drugs, to money or porn. You want to escape from having to wait upon the Lord. You want to play. To eat and drink and be merry. You know what you want and you want it now. And you don’t want to wait. And so you create your own personal god, one who looks and speaks and acts like you, and wants just what you want. This is idolatry. This is an abomination.
And the one true God who spoke to Moses on Sinai has every right to cause His wrath to burn hot against you; every right to decimate your idols with fire, grind them to dust, and make you drink them; make you consume the iniquity of your sin.
For St Matthew’s paraphrastic comment, let the reader understand, is not only for the first century Christians, it is for you. Learn from them. For as it is for you who wait upon the Lord, so it was for ancient Israel; governments crumbling around them, political upheaval and turmoil, surrounded on all sides by their enemies. It was no different.
And it was no different for the Jews in Jesus’ day. They were under Roman rule. And the Romans demonstrated their power by placing their insignia, their image upon the lands they ruled. That image was the image of an eagle. “Since the Roman conquest of Palestine, the eagle insignia were common sights. The Jews prohibited graven images because they were a defilement, but one was attached to the facade of the temple. It reminded the Jews that even the temple, the center of their worship and the assurance of God’s presence among them, belonged not to them but to the Roman emperor” (Scaer, Discourses in Matthew, 381).
For the Jew this was an abomination. It was idolatry. It was outrageous that a man like the Roman emperor who claimed to be a god, would put his insignia upon the place where the true God dwelt on earth. The temple doesn’t belong to Rome, it belongs to the Lord.
But they couldn’t wait. They wanted to be free of Rome. And they didn’t want to wait for the Lord to act. So they recast the temple into their own image. They used the temple as a way for them to take power, seize control, make money. They made it into a den of robbers. They used it as a way to enslave. They created an idol; an abomination. They couldn’t wait upon the Lord for their deliverance. They wanted to sit down, to eat and drink and play.
But then the fullness of time had come. Jesus came - a Man who claimed to be God in the flesh, who claimed to be the true temple of God on earth. And this too for the Jew was an abomination. It was blasphemy. It was idolatry. And so they sought to put Him to death. He was put to death under Roman rule, by the authority of Caesar, at the hands of Roman soldiers with the eagle insignia surrounding the corpse of our crucified Lord. It wasn’t vultures that surrounded the corpse; it was eagles.
The abomination of desolation was that God Incarnate was crucified by the Roman emperor god. And the Holy Place is the place where the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God was poured out. Let the reader understand. This is the abomination. God is crucified. And for all who beheld it, they recoiled in horror at just how outrageous it was. “This can’t be happening. All our hopes and dreams are shattered. Where is God? How can He let this happen? Has He abandoned us?”
No, He has not abandoned you. It is precisely there that He is most with you because it is precisely there that He is most for you. The Cross is folly to the wise. The Cross is weakness to the strong. But to the perishing, those who ought to die because of their sin, those who are separated from God and one another because of their idolatry, the Cross is the wisdom of God and the power of God. For when Christ Jesus seems most weak, most powerless, it is then and there He is most strong, when He is conquering sin by becoming Sin and defeating death by dying. He has drained the cup of suffering for you; all the way to the dregs. He has consumed the wrath of the Father that burned hot against your sin.
And He is not dead. Though He died, yet does He live, as St Paul proclaims to the Thessalonians. Those Christians in Thessalonica were confused; confused about those who has died, who had been put to death for the confession of Jesus. You see, to confess, “Jesus is Lord,” was both a religious confession and a political confession. It was an abomination to Jew and Roman alike. And those dear Christians were terrified concerning those who had been put to death, confused about the times and seasons they were enduring, and in doubt about our Lord’s presence with them. They were not unlike the Israelites, tempted to idolatry; not unlike the disciples in Jerusalem; not unlike you, riddled with fear and doubt. It God with me?
Beloved, do not grieve as others do who have no hope. Jesus is Lord. He is with you always in His Word, read and preached for the forgiveness of your sins. With you in His Baptism, marking you with His Cross and Name. With you in His Absolution speaking peace to your troubled conscience. With you in His Body and Blood to strengthen you in the one, true faith in both body and soul unto life everlasting. He is with you especially when you think that He isn’t. He can never leave nor forsake you. And you are strongest when you feel the weakest, for then you rely fully upon Him and what He gives.
Therefore, wait for the Lord. He is for you in Christ and in Christ you are always with God. So that when you think all is lost, when everything is going to hell in a hand basket, when you’re hanging on by a thread, God has not abandoned you. He died for you. He rose for you. He comes to you this day to bring courage and strength that only He can give, poured out for you from His Cross and now into His chalice, from which you drink not your sin and iniquity nor the wrath of the Father, but the blood of the new covenant.
Some things are so outrageous that we recoil in horror at the sight of them. And those things will only continue to multiply as this world spins toward its end. But not so the Cross. For when you behold the Cross you behold with the eyes of faith God’s true power to overcome your real problems: sin and death. When you behold the Cross you behold God’s wisdom, putting all worldly wisdom to shame. When you behold the Cross, you see God’s true love you you.
Encourage one another with these words. Put not your trust in princes, but seek the Lord where He is truly found. Behold He is here in the inner room, with the living voice of His Word. Behold He is there, upon the Altar, in Bread and Wine, for the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
There are some things that are simply so outrageous that when we see them we recoil in horror. Terrorist attacks, political atrocities, gruesome suffering of the innocent, our own personal seasons of turmoil. In reaction to these things we search for answers. “How can this be happening? This is an abomination. Where is God? How can He let this happen? Has He abandoned me?”
And when that happens, when it seems as if God is far off and aloof, we grow impatient, we seek after other gods. Like your ancestors you have set up golden calves. You can’t be bothered to wait on the Lord; to wait for what He alone can give. You seek to do it yourselves. Though it is the Lord who made you in His image, you seek to remake Him your own image. You fashion a god who is more like yourself; more tolerant, more open. A god who lets you sit down, kick back, and relax so that you can eat and drink and play. And if you don’t get what you want, when you want it, you complain. You get angry.
And so you seek things that’ll take away your anger. Things to make you happy. This is why you speak ill of others behind their backs; why you kill them with your tongue. This is why you cheat on your spouse in thought and sometimes in deed. This is why you turn to alcohol and drugs, to money or porn. You want to escape from having to wait upon the Lord. You want to play. To eat and drink and be merry. You know what you want and you want it now. And you don’t want to wait. And so you create your own personal god, one who looks and speaks and acts like you, and wants just what you want. This is idolatry. This is an abomination.
And the one true God who spoke to Moses on Sinai has every right to cause His wrath to burn hot against you; every right to decimate your idols with fire, grind them to dust, and make you drink them; make you consume the iniquity of your sin.
For St Matthew’s paraphrastic comment, let the reader understand, is not only for the first century Christians, it is for you. Learn from them. For as it is for you who wait upon the Lord, so it was for ancient Israel; governments crumbling around them, political upheaval and turmoil, surrounded on all sides by their enemies. It was no different.
And it was no different for the Jews in Jesus’ day. They were under Roman rule. And the Romans demonstrated their power by placing their insignia, their image upon the lands they ruled. That image was the image of an eagle. “Since the Roman conquest of Palestine, the eagle insignia were common sights. The Jews prohibited graven images because they were a defilement, but one was attached to the facade of the temple. It reminded the Jews that even the temple, the center of their worship and the assurance of God’s presence among them, belonged not to them but to the Roman emperor” (Scaer, Discourses in Matthew, 381).
For the Jew this was an abomination. It was idolatry. It was outrageous that a man like the Roman emperor who claimed to be a god, would put his insignia upon the place where the true God dwelt on earth. The temple doesn’t belong to Rome, it belongs to the Lord.
But they couldn’t wait. They wanted to be free of Rome. And they didn’t want to wait for the Lord to act. So they recast the temple into their own image. They used the temple as a way for them to take power, seize control, make money. They made it into a den of robbers. They used it as a way to enslave. They created an idol; an abomination. They couldn’t wait upon the Lord for their deliverance. They wanted to sit down, to eat and drink and play.
But then the fullness of time had come. Jesus came - a Man who claimed to be God in the flesh, who claimed to be the true temple of God on earth. And this too for the Jew was an abomination. It was blasphemy. It was idolatry. And so they sought to put Him to death. He was put to death under Roman rule, by the authority of Caesar, at the hands of Roman soldiers with the eagle insignia surrounding the corpse of our crucified Lord. It wasn’t vultures that surrounded the corpse; it was eagles.
The abomination of desolation was that God Incarnate was crucified by the Roman emperor god. And the Holy Place is the place where the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God was poured out. Let the reader understand. This is the abomination. God is crucified. And for all who beheld it, they recoiled in horror at just how outrageous it was. “This can’t be happening. All our hopes and dreams are shattered. Where is God? How can He let this happen? Has He abandoned us?”
No, He has not abandoned you. It is precisely there that He is most with you because it is precisely there that He is most for you. The Cross is folly to the wise. The Cross is weakness to the strong. But to the perishing, those who ought to die because of their sin, those who are separated from God and one another because of their idolatry, the Cross is the wisdom of God and the power of God. For when Christ Jesus seems most weak, most powerless, it is then and there He is most strong, when He is conquering sin by becoming Sin and defeating death by dying. He has drained the cup of suffering for you; all the way to the dregs. He has consumed the wrath of the Father that burned hot against your sin.
And He is not dead. Though He died, yet does He live, as St Paul proclaims to the Thessalonians. Those Christians in Thessalonica were confused; confused about those who has died, who had been put to death for the confession of Jesus. You see, to confess, “Jesus is Lord,” was both a religious confession and a political confession. It was an abomination to Jew and Roman alike. And those dear Christians were terrified concerning those who had been put to death, confused about the times and seasons they were enduring, and in doubt about our Lord’s presence with them. They were not unlike the Israelites, tempted to idolatry; not unlike the disciples in Jerusalem; not unlike you, riddled with fear and doubt. It God with me?
Beloved, do not grieve as others do who have no hope. Jesus is Lord. He is with you always in His Word, read and preached for the forgiveness of your sins. With you in His Baptism, marking you with His Cross and Name. With you in His Absolution speaking peace to your troubled conscience. With you in His Body and Blood to strengthen you in the one, true faith in both body and soul unto life everlasting. He is with you especially when you think that He isn’t. He can never leave nor forsake you. And you are strongest when you feel the weakest, for then you rely fully upon Him and what He gives.
Therefore, wait for the Lord. He is for you in Christ and in Christ you are always with God. So that when you think all is lost, when everything is going to hell in a hand basket, when you’re hanging on by a thread, God has not abandoned you. He died for you. He rose for you. He comes to you this day to bring courage and strength that only He can give, poured out for you from His Cross and now into His chalice, from which you drink not your sin and iniquity nor the wrath of the Father, but the blood of the new covenant.
Some things are so outrageous that we recoil in horror at the sight of them. And those things will only continue to multiply as this world spins toward its end. But not so the Cross. For when you behold the Cross you behold with the eyes of faith God’s true power to overcome your real problems: sin and death. When you behold the Cross you behold God’s wisdom, putting all worldly wisdom to shame. When you behold the Cross, you see God’s true love you you.
Encourage one another with these words. Put not your trust in princes, but seek the Lord where He is truly found. Behold He is here in the inner room, with the living voice of His Word. Behold He is there, upon the Altar, in Bread and Wine, for the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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