Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church

Today we've reached the Fifth Sunday in Lent. It is the start of Passiontide, the last two weeks of this Lenten season. So what have you learned this Lenten season? If you had to sum up the Lenten season in one word, what would it be? Hope. Lent is so I might have hope.

Thy kingdom come, Jesus taught us to pray. But how often it is MY kingdom that I want to come. And I would like God to help me make that happen. But if MY kingdom comes, that makes ME the king, not God. And that is not good. And so it was with the Jewish leaders, and Pilate, and Herod. They all had their own kingdoms. You see this clash of kingdoms isn't really a clash at all. There is really only one king, and He is in control.

Who can see? Who is blind? That isn't just a question for Jesus' day. Today, this debate rages on as well. Both in the world and in the church. Consider the economy and inflation. Some say spending more will improve things. Others say spending more will just make it worse. But while important, these are questions that pale in comparison to questions that concern eternal life. And so the account we heard today -- a story not so much of a man born blind who can now see, but of how we see Jesus. And how Jesus sees us.

Truth and consequences. That's what we heard in the Passion reading tonight. First up in the reading tonight were those false witnesses against Jesus. But Jesus tells the truth. Though He knows there will be consequences for it. But, He is willing to suffer the consequences. This is why He came, God in the flesh. To be life in the midst of a world of death. To be love in the midst of a world of hate. To be truth in the midst of a world of lies.

They would all be offended and scattered. The Shepherd would be one me. Alone. Jesus was one man against the power arrayed against Him. One man from whom a simple spoken word conquered all the might of man. Until He gave Himself into their hands. To fulfill the word that of those you gave me I have lost none. Tonight we see all the weakness of men, and the strength of one, of Jesus.

Have you ever been in a conversation where you're just not communicating? You're talking about the same thing, you're using the same words, and yet, somehow, you're not connecting. That's what's happening with Jesus and Nicodemus in the account we heard today. Nicodemus needs what we all need -- not just facts or information or a checklist of what to do or do better. What Nicodemus needs, and what we all need, is a new way of thinking. A God doing for us way of thinking.

What will you give me? That just might be the question of our age. What's in it for me? This question cares not about the giver, only what is given. To me. For me. This is what sin has done to us. Curved us in on ourselves. How different Jesus. For Jesus' reality is not the sinful reality we inhabit, but of Eden. He doesn't want from you, He wants you. He doesn't want from you, He wants only to give to you.

That sin that you confessed tonight, I took that sin, Jesus says. And that one... and that one... and that one, too. All of them. So Ash Wednesday. It's about sin, it's about confession, it's about death, it's about dust you are and to dus you will return. You are unworthy. This is true. But Jesus knew all that, all your sin and unworthiness, before He came. That's why He came. And that's why this is all gift.

Not long after John the Baptist baptized Jesus, some of John's disciples came to him and told him that Jesus -- or, at least, some of Jesus' disciples -- were baptizing and all the people were going to Him! To which John said, Good! They should. He must increase and I must decrease. And maybe it seems as if that's what the Transfiguration is all about. But not so. The reality is actually the very opposite of that. What Jesus is doing, what we see testified in the Transfiguration, is not a man increasing but the Son of God decreasing.

You make choices all the time. Should I do this or that? Should I go there or stay home? Now most of the time, those are probably not life and death decisions, though they may have a negative impact on your life if you do not choose wisely. But sometimes there may be life and death involved. The people of Israel though they were making a good decision, thought they were choosing life when those chose not to go into the Promised Land the first time they got to the border. In reality, they were choosing death and evil. For they were turning away from God and His Word.

Last week we heard the Beatitudes, the beginning of Jesus' teaching called the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes come at the beginning of Jesus' teaching because they set the stage for His life and the rest of what He will say. And so it is with that foundation that we move onto the teaching of Jesus that we heard today. It's important that we keep this all together, that we build on this foundation laid last week, as we hear Jesus say that you are the salt of the earth... you are the light of the world.

Sometimes it's good to start at the end. That's what Jesus does today. We heard today the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes. Jesus is just getting started on His public ministry and His teaching. But He speaks of the end. Of rewards. Of blessings. Of the kingdom of heaven. He didn't have to. But sometimes it's good to start at the end. Because honestly, while we're on the way, it may not seem like everything is blessed. So Jesus starts at the end.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. Those are familiar words. We hear them on Christmas Eve every year. Perhaps we could say the same today, some 2,700 years after Isaiah first proclaimed those words. For 50 years now, thousands of people have walked in darkness -- the darkness of the disregard for life in our country. But for 50 years now, thousands of people have walked in darkness because they have seen a great light.

How do you measure wisdom? Some would measure it by age. Some would measure it by schooling. On this day when we celebrate the Epiphany of Our Lord, we again heard the story of the Wise Men. Stories and legends have grown up around them, names have been given to them, but so little is truly known about them. But this we know about them, beyond a shadow of a doubt -- God wanted them there. To see His Son. This epiphany to them of the Almighty God in tiny human flesh.

Happy New Year! Maybe it will be happy for you. But maybe not. We hope it will be. We wish it. So maybe instead of hoping for change... maybe instead we put our hope in the God who doesn't change. But as you've often heard me say, there are two ditches we don't want to fall into here. To do nothing and think God is going to do everything for you is the one ditch, but the other ditch is equally bad -- and that is to think it's all up to me. So the apostle Paul wrote the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

Another year has passed. A New Year begins in just a few hours from now. A year, 12 months, 365 days, seems like such a long time. Perhaps by some measures it is. But not to the Creator of time. That is comforting. We need a God big enough for eternity. But big can be frightening. We also need a God small enough for us to know, and who knows us. Which is what the apostle Paul also said to us tonight, that if God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not with Him graciously give us all things?

Today is not only the birth of Jesus, the birth of the Son of God in human flesh, the birth of our Saviour... it is all that, but more. Today, God is speaking to us by His Son. For here, in the manger, the Creator lies as a creature. And not just any creature, but one of us. And not just one of us, but a tiny, helpless, baby. No other god would do this. How greatly God doth love you! That word is being proclaimed loud and clear this day. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

How hard it must have been for Joseph, not to be able to provide better for his wife. How hard it must have been for Mary, not to be able to provide better for her child. The stable would have to do. the manger would have to do. Beggars can't be choosers. You've heard that phrase before, but never like this. For tonight, God is the beggar. The God whose heaven has streets of gold so pure that they are clear like glass, with walls made of precious stones, and each gate made of a single pearl, is tonight as far from that as one can get. He is a poor beggar. We have no room for you.

I mean, would you have believed it? Immanuel. God with us. Really? That's what they will call this child? That must have seemed like a cruel joke to Joseph. Because God certainly wasn't with him! His betrothed was with child. Everyone knows there's only one way for that to happen. God with us. I wish, Joseph perhaps thought. So He could straighten this all out. Make it right. That's what God is for, after all, isn't it?

Why are they there? the disciples of John, I mean. Why aren't they with Jesus? John knows that's not right, so he sends them to Jesus. With a question. Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? Jesus could have just said yes. But words weren't enough. He points to the Word of God in the Old Testament, in the prophet Isaiah. But not just these things. Even more. So that when they did, tell John, John could say to them -- then why are you still here?