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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Blasphemy!” The word “blasphemy” may bring to mind modern news reports of Islamist complaints against portrayals of Mohammed. Or, the word “blasphemy” may bring to mind fire and brimstone preaching against popular culture in days gone by. Or, you may recognize the word “blasphemy” as the high priest’s charge against Jesus in tonight’s Reading of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ as drawn from the four Gospel accounts. The general idea of “blasphemy”—“speaking evil of” or “mocking”—may be common to the news reports, the fiery preaching, and the charge in the Passion Reading, but the victim of the alleged blasphemy and the accuracy of the term’s use are not all the same. As we again this Lent both hear Readings from the Passion and reflect on key statements or events from the Readings, tonight we focus on the charge of “Blasphemy”.
As we heard in the Reading, the arrested Jesus was brought to the palace of the high priest, where at least some of the Sanhedrin was assembled looking for evidence that would warrant putting their Jesus to death. But, even their false witnesses did not agree in their distortion of what, in this past Sunday’s Gospel Reading, we heard Jesus say about His raising up the temple of His body (John 2:13-22). Still, Jesus remained silent, until the high priest put to Jesus a direct question about His identity as the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus’s dramatic answer publicly confessed that He was God and that He would be seen as such, judging as God those who were standing in judgment over Him. As St. Matthew and St. Mark vividly report, the high priest called Jesus’s answer “blasphemy” (compare Luke 22:66-71; John 18:12-28), and those assembled agreed that Jesus deserved death, which is the penalty the Old Testament gives for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:10-16). Yet, they themselves arguably committed blasphemy by accusing Jesus of it!
What about us? Do we, as the high priest and members of the Jewish Council did, speak evil of or even doubt Jesus’s claim to be the Messiah? Do we, as some of them went on to do (see especially Luke 22:65), mock His Divine gifts? How do we speak evil of or mock God, His Name, His Word, or those who bear His Word? How do we tolerate or tacitly approve of such blasphemy in the world around us? As we Lutherans believe, teach, and confess about “blasphemy”, we usually do so under the heading of the Second Commandment, that not to misuse the Name of the Lord our God by cursing by His Name, such as blaspheming God by speaking evil of Him or mocking Him (1991 Explanation, Question 28; 1943 Question 38). We Lutherans believe, teach, and confess about “blasphemy” also under the heading of the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, that to hallow or make holy the Name of the Lord, not profaning it by teaching other than God’s Word teaches or by living other than God’s Word teaches (1943 Question 220; confer 1991 Question 211). Do you and I teach or live other than God’s Word teaches? Of course we do, for we are sinful by nature, and our sinful nature still clings even to us who believe. Especially as we defile our flesh we commit a kind of blasphemy (Jude 8; 2 Peter 2:10). Such blasphemy, like all sins, warrants death now and eternal separation from God in the torment of hell. In tonight’s Office Hymn we even called on the Lord to preserve His honor and so to smite the bold blasphemer (Lutheran Service Book 658:2).
Yet, in tonight’s Psalm (38) we also confessed that our iniquities had gone over our heads and were too heavy for us; we confessed our iniquities and said we were sorry for our sins; and we called on the Lord for help and identified Him as our salvation. When we so turn in sorrow from our sins, trust God to forgive our sins, and want to do better, then God indeed forgives our sin, our sinful natures and whatever actual sins we have committed, including our various sins of blasphemy. God the Father forgives us for the sake of His Son Jesus.
As we sang in the Opening Hymn, often have Jesus’s “eyes, offended / Gazed upon the sinner’s fall; / Yet upon the cross extended, / [He has] borne the pain of all” (LSB 423:1). As Jesus, true God in human flesh, humbled Himself to death on the cross, He endured even more blasphemy, both from one of the thieves who were crucified with Him (Luke 23:39) and from those who passed by (Mark 15:29; Matthew 27:39). Yet, out of His great love and mercy, Jesus endured that blasphemy and all such trials for us, in order to save us from our sins. On the cross, Jesus suffered the separation from God that we deserve. On the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sin that we are unable to pay. On the cross, Jesus reconciled us to God. So, as we repent and believe in Jesus, God the Father forgives our sin for Jesus’s sake.
One day during His earthly ministry, Jesus forgave the sins of a paralyzed man who was brought to Him, and the Jewish leaders who were present silently accused Jesus of blasphemy for, as in tonight’s Reading, they thought He wrongly assumed to Himself the prerogatives of God. Yet, as Jesus made clear by not only forgiving but also healing the man, Jesus forgave sins as God and, as the crowd understood by the end of the incident, God has given the authority to forgive sins to other men, namely to those in the Office of the Holy Ministry (Matthew 9:1-8; confer Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26). And, forgive sins those in the Office of the Holy Ministry do—whether by the Word of preaching, by the Word with water in Holy Baptism, by the Word of individual Holy Absolution, or by the Word with bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar. As those in whom the Holy Spirit has created and nourished faith through the Word and Sacraments—baptized, absolved, and sustained with the Supper—we are children of God who, as we will sing in the Closing Hymn, ultimately will “meet no harm” (LSB 880:4).
Not as in modern news reports about portrayals of Mohammed but more as in past preaching against popular culture and as the Jews blasphemed against Jesus Christ in tonight’s Passion Reading, so the sinful and unbelieving world around us will blaspheme—speak evil of and mock—us who follow Jesus Christ (see, for example, Matthew 5:11). And, we who still sin even as we believe take care that we do not in the end consciously and wickedly reject and blaspheme the gracious and saving truth we are currently convinced of, for then we ourselves would be guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, the so‑called “unforgivable” sin—unforgivable because those who are opposed to God’s forgiveness are by that opposition excluded from it (see Matthew 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-30; Luke 12:10; 1 John 5:16; Hebrews 6:4-8; 10:26-27; Pieper, I:571-577; Beyer, TDNT 1:624). Now, those who have committed that particular sin usually are not concerned about it, while those who have not committed it are more likely unnecessarily to torture themselves about it. But, instead of that torture, by God’s mercy and grace, by His Holy Spirit, we “turn our heart, mind, and thoughts wholly to the absolutely universal and the absolutely free grace of God in Christ, which is revealed in Scripture … clearer than the sun” (Pieper, I:577), and thereby we have peace and joy, both now and for eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +