Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio.
+ + + 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.
You may have seen the bumper-sticker that says, “Work for God – the retirement plan is out of this world.” Like many bumper-stickers, there is a grain of truth there, although, to be sure, we certainly do not earn “the retirement plan” of heaven by “working for God”. That we can say any such “retirement plan” is “out of this world” in all likelihood comes from Jesus’s words that we heard in tonight’s “scene” of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ Drawn from the Four Gospel Accounts at the Praetorium. By Divine-inspiration, St. John’s account alone has the fuller record of Pontius Pilate and Jesus’s conversation about a king and kingdom, including Jesus’s statement about His Kingdom not being of this world. The conversation somewhat ironically took place inside the Praetorium, also called the “hall of judgment” or “judgment hall”, which at that time served as the residence and public office of the Roman governor of the territory. Tonight we reflect on this “scene” of the Passion Reading at the Praetorium under the theme “An Out-of-this-world Kingdom”.
The Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment only after, as we heard last week, they had decided that Jesus deserved to die for blasphemy. But, when they get to Pilate they charge Jesus with perverting the nation, forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar, and claiming to be the Christ, a king. Pilate asks Jesus only about that last charge, and all four of the Gospel accounts include some record of this conversation about a king and kingdom, including Jesus’s somewhat enigmatic answer to Pilate’s direct question whether Jesus, Who claimed a kingdom for Himself, was, in fact, a king (Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:2‑5).
Since last week’s failure to repeal, if not also replace, the Affordable Care Act, the latest polls are showing increased dissatisfaction with our new president, even among those who voted for him (Politico). We certainly can be fickle when it comes to our rulers, liking them when they do what we want them to do, and disliking them when they fail to do what we want them to do, regardless of whether or not what we want them to do is what should be done. Even we Lutherans, who at least should know better, still can be guilty of looking for a kingdom like Jesus’s superlative “out-of-this-world kingdom” here and now in this world. We also can be guilty of not trusting God enough to work through whatever failures of our civil government He in His wisdom permits to still accomplish good for His Church. We even can be guilty of expecting the one holy Christian and apostolic Church that is an article of faith to be a complete reality in our Synod, District, Circuit, and congregation made up those who are justified but still sinners. Being guilty of such sins comes naturally even to us who believe, for we remain sinful by nature. For such sin and sinful natures, we ourselves would deserve death and eternal torment, if not for our God‑enabled repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, our King.
For, through such God‑enabled repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, our King, God forgives us. So, in tonight’s Psalm (102), amid eating ashes like bread and mingling tears with our drink, we not only confessed generally that the Lord is enthroned forever and remembered throughout all generations, but we also confessed particularly that the Lord would arise and have mercy on us, that the appointed time to show us favor had come. When we so repent and believe, then God forgives us. God forgives our sins of expecting too much from our secular or churchly leaders, our sins of not trusting Him to rule all things for the benefit of His Church, or whatever our sin might be. God forgives all our sin, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our King.
Tonight’s Opening Hymn (Lutheran Service Book 444) contrasted well the way that the world can expect a King to come with the way that, in fact, Jesus Christ, our King, comes. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, exiled to Egypt, raised away from any capitol city, betrayed and denied by His closest followers, crucified on the cross, buried in a stranger’s tomb—these are not the ways that one expects a king to come. But, so Jesus Christ, our King, came in these ways—to be God in human flesh, live, suffer, and die for your sins and for mine. Jesus Christ, our King, lived the perfect life we fail to live and took the punishment for our failure to live it, so that we and all who repent and believe in Him might live eternally with Him in His Out-of-this-world Kingdom.
Jesus Christ, our King, came once in ways that one does not expect a king to come, and Jesus Christ, our King, continues to come now in ways that one does not expect a king to come. With water and Word in Holy Baptism He comes to work forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and give eternal salvation to all who believe. Through the words and touch of a man in individual Holy Absolution He comes to forgive those who privately confess the sins they know and feel in their hearts, as certainly and validly, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself. And, in bread and wine that is His Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar He comes to give forgiveness of sins, life and salvation to all those who receive them in faith. The Church created and sustained by these Means of Grace is to a great extent already here and now the Out-of-this-world Kingdom of which Jesus spoke and about which we sang in tonight’s Office Hymn (LSB 651), especially in the Divine Service, with its “sweet communion, solemn vows … [and] hymns of love and praise.”
Especially here in the Bible belt we are surrounded by those who are looking for the Kingdom of God on earth, and not letting their false beliefs influence us can be difficult. Just last evening I was watching a rerun episode of one of my all-time favorite TV shows in which the storyline included people’s trying to fulfill what they understood as requirements for the Lord’s final coming, requirements that involved the Jews and Israel. The true Church has always understood that Jesus Christ, our King’s, final coming could happen at any time, that it does not depend on our doing certain things first. Jesus’s Out-of-this-world Kingdom is completely under His control; it does not originate from or belong to this world, nor does it compete with the kingdoms of this world. Jesus’s own innumerable legions of heavenly servants gloriously fight as needed (confer Daniel 7:10; Matthew 26:53), But, we also much-less-gloriously serve as we are able, according to our various callings in life, involved with both the secular government and the Kingdom that is the Church, not expecting too much from our secular or churchly leaders and trusting God to rule all things for the benefit of His Church. We so serve until Jesus Christ, our King, comes the final time and restores or completely remakes the heaven and earth that are the sky and ground for His superlative Out-of-this-world Kingdom’s eternity right here.
Reflecting on the “scene” of our Lord’s Passion at the Praetorium, we have realized that Jesus Christ, our King’s, Out-of-this-world Kingdom is graciously opened to us for eternity not because we work for it but rather as we repent and believe. We can endure the shortcomings of our secular and churchly government and whatever other sufferings God permits us to face here and now because, as we will sing in the Closing Hymn (LSB 680), His is the Kingdom and so also many other things, including the power and the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +