Christ's Promising Word

Reformation Sunday
October 25, 2009
A Perfect Priest
Hebrews 7:23-28

The Former Priesthood

On my shelf I have a book (a large, coffee-table picture book) that recreates daily life in the temple back in the days of Jesus—daily worship life. What a sight that must have been!

Hundreds and hundreds of different priests throughout the year. In groups of 24 at a time. Dressed in full-length, snow-white linen robes—the cleanest, purest cloth that people ever saw. Led by the high priest with his dazzling jewel-studded breastplate and golden crown. Offering up sacrifices and thanksgivings for the sake of all the people. In a sacred temple space that would knock your socks off. In fact, barefoot was the only way to enter it.

Imagine this! A temple courtyard so large that it could hold 15 football fields with ease (which means that all of the teams of the NFL—all of them!—could play their Sunday games in this venue simultaneously). It was that big! And in the center. The sanctuary itself. A perfect cube. With a gold and silver façade on top of its white marble that would absolutely blind you when the morning sun crested over the Mount of Olives.

And before that sanctuary the great high altar, on which the sacrifices were lifted, given, poured. And from which the fragrant smoke wafted up in steady streams drawing God near. If I had a time machine, this would be the first place and the first time that I would like to visit.

Grand, but Limited

And yet, for all of its magnificence and despite its splendor, this priestly way of doing things had it limitations. “The former priests were many in number,” the book of Hebrews tells us. They had to be. They kept on dying.

And it was a priesthood based on the commandments (“Do this or else!”). And it locked them in an endless cycle of divine command, human sin and trespass (sins of commission or omission) and priestly sacrifices to make restitution for the sins of the priests and all the people.

It sounds like many of the endless cycles that we are in, now doesn’t it? Bubble-bust-recovery. Bubble-bust-recovery. Command-sin-restitution. What’s the difference? Those are just two different ways of saying, “Opps, I’ve made a mess that someone else must clean up.”

Until… that endless cycle is broken for us by a death. Our death. And it is “curtains.” There are “term limits” for us all. As those ancient priests themselves found out. “They were prevented by death from continuing in office.” And that’s an epitaph that could be written of us all.

Enter Jesus – A Perfect Priest

But enter now Jesus Christ. Who is a different kind of priest. And who brings a different kind of priesthood. Not many priests, but one. Just one. A perfect “one.” And not a priest from the normal tribes of Levi or of Aaron. But a priest that is above all else the Son of God. And not a priest who must offer sacrifices for his own sins first and then, and only then, for all the people. But a high priest who is holy, blameless, undefiled.

Jesus is the holy Son of God who became a human being. Jesus is God in human flesh and blood. Vulnerable to suffering, yes. Open to temptation. Just like we are. And yet, he did not sin. His fidelity and trust took him all the way to the cross.

And on the high altar of the cross, his death is a better sacrifice… far better sacrifice…with far better results. It does not have to be repeated. It lasts forever. And it is meant for everyone. Not just for one small group of people.

Based on God’s Promise

And best of all it is no longer based on a command (“Do this…or else”). But rather it is based on God’s oath, God’s word of promise. Which means it does not depend on what I do for God, but on what God has done for me.

In Jesus we have a bridge, a pons (as the Roman Catholics say in Latin), a pontiff, a priest, a very high priest that draws us near to God no matter how big or deep or wide the gulf, the breach, the chasm.

For any God who can willingly come from the throne of heaven down to earth to die a death for sinners and then rise from the dead for them and ascend to the heavens can certainly bridge any gap of sin that I can carve out…out of my own stupidity.

Jesus breaks the endless cycle of bubble-bust-recovery, he breaks through the terms limits death imposes, he cleans up the messes that we make, and bends the curve of our recovery in line with his eternity.

In Jesus Christ, God says to us…God shouts at us…, “I have done this for you. Believe me. Trust me. Take me at my word of promise.”

This is the new and better covenant than the one we had before. For it is based on God’s oath and promises in Christ, rather than the commands that God gave to the former priesthood.

Tithes & Gifts for Ministry

And that changes everything. Including what we do with our money. No longer do we give the tithe (10% of what we have, the first fruits) to support a priesthood. A command, by the way. A mitzvah. Do this or else!

But rather we give the tithe to engage in a ministry. The ministry of Christ himself. A ministry that we are involved and engaged in, too, ourselves. For now we are his body now. We are part of a royal priesthood that involved in a “bridge-building.” Letting others know that God is “near” through the work and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Ministry is not just what a pastor does…say, me. But rather ministry is what we all do together as the church of Jesus Christ. And so Jesus needs your time. He needs your talents. Jesus needs your involvement. He needs your heart and will as well as your pocketbook.

Please Respond

This week we are sending out a mailing to the entire congregation inviting your involvement for the coming year. And I hope you will respond. For Jesus certainly is worth it.

He is our priest. Our great high priest. Holy, blameless and undefiled. And his work and his ministry goes on forever.

He is the one. The perfect one.

© 2009 Pastor Paul Jaster

Time after Pentecost (Lectionary 28)
October 11, 2009
A Two-Edged Sword
Hebrews 4:12-16

God’s Two Words – Law & Gospel

The word of God is a two-edged sword. There are two sides to it that cut in two very different ways. There is the Law, and there is the Gospel. And those are two different…very different…words.

Both are God’s word with the full power and authority of God behind them. Both are “living and active” in our world today. Thank God, they are…because we need them both. Both cut deep below the surface into the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.

But they are not two equal words. One is Life. The other Death. One is “good news” for us. The other “bad news” for us. One offers us God’s grace and mercy and help in time of need. The other strips us of all our pretenses and excuses until our sins are laid naked and bare before the piercing “eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” God himself, the endtime Judge.

You don’t want to be on the bad end of the law, but you do want to be on the good end of the gospel. For one word of God is like the battle sword that cuts you down in battle. A battle against God, which is one battle you will never win. And the other word of God is like the surgeon’s scalpel that cuts the cancer out so that a living loving heart can truly heal.

And these two words contest against each other. In the Christ. And on the cross. Until one word trumps and triumphs over the other and wins out. And it becomes the “last word.” God’s final word.

God’s Accusing Word – The Law

Say the word “law,” God’s law, and most people think you are talking rules. The rules that keep us safe in our society. And certainly, we need rules to keep us safe. That is one function of the law. A good and godly function.

But, by God’s law we mean much more than just the rules that get laid down either through the Scriptures or through civil authorities. We mean that searching diagnosis of a doctor, which looks far beneath the appearances on the surface to see what is going on within.

The Law, in Christian circles, is that word of God that is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” That’s how the book of Hebrews puts it. “Able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

God’s word of Law is like a sharp, highly-granular, highly-detailed diagnostic tool that is able to penetrate the soul and look deep into the spirit and judge the hidden intentions of our hearts, which, as fallen human creatures, is always wanting and always lacking.

“The wages of sin is death,” the law says. “Break one, you break them all.” “Laws are made to be broken,” one saying goes. Oh, no! Not God’s law. “Laws are made because we are broken.”

And so, the law of God always accuses us. “The law always accuses,” the original Lutherans said in our founding documents. “The law always accuses.”

God’s Healing & Forgiving Word – The Gospel

And if this were the only word from God we had, well then, either we would be proud and boastful falsely thinking that we are keeping God’s law. Or else, we would be desperate and despairing because we knew darn well that we had not. But, either way, we would be in one heck of a mess.

But thank God, there is another word of God. A second one. The good news of the Gospel. Which is really God’s first and last word. The Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end.

In Jesus on the cross it happens. The two very different words of God clash and collide. God’s judging and condemning word—the Law. And God’s healing and forgiving word—the Gospel.

Jesus dies the death of sinners as rightly required by God’s law. Guilt by association, we would call it today. Aiding and abetting. Jesus befriended sinners and opened up a path to God in violation of God’s law. That was his crime. Befriending sinners.

And yet, in the same process, Jesus was also the obedient Son of God, living out the Gospel. Demonstrating in the flesh and in his love and fellowship with others, God’s mercy, grace and love.

And for three tense days, it seemed as God’s law and judgment won out. But God raised Jesus from the dead to show that God’s grace and mercy is God’s last word. God’s final word. God’s ultimate word. God’s mercy is greater than God’s judgment.

Only One can Change the Human Heart

And Jesus has now risen through the heavens to become our great high priest before the throne of God. And he is able to empathize with our weaknesses, because he himself became a human being and was tested in every way that we are, yet without sin.

And yet, he is also able to layer a picture of his own heart on top of ours. So, that when God’s judging eye looks at us, it is not our heart it sees with all its faults and weaknesses. But rather, God sees only the faithful obedience of Jesus upon the cross.

And that is where the word of God in the Gospel is so different from the word of God in the law. The law can only “judge” the human heart. Test it and evaluate it. The law cannot “change” the human heart.

But Jesus can. Jesus has the power and ability to transplant his heart into our own and fill us with his own spirit. It is the difference between a doctor saying “I have some dreadful news your heart is failing” and the surgeon saying, “Do not worry, I can implant a new device to keep your heart beating firm and strong. Simply relax and trust me, and I will do the job.”

The Gospel is God’s Last & Final Word

The word of God is a two-edged sword. There are two sides to it that cut in very different ways. There is the law and there is the Gospel.

But thanks to God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has become God’s last word. God’s final word. A word that enables us to approach throne of God with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find a grace-filled help in time of need.

© 2009 Pastor Paul jaster

Time after Pentecost (Lectionary 27)
October 4, 2009
God’s Son Speaking
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

Can You Hear Me?

When I was in high school, my pastor dared me to shadow him one day. He dared me. And much to his surprise I did. I followed him around one afternoon as he made communion visits to those who were shut-in. It was a hoot. We had a ball.

And I remember distinctly that we went into the home of one elderly woman who was extremely hard of hearing. And so, the pastor sat next to her as close as he could. And he got his mouth right up to her ear. And then, he shouted loudly this amazing bit of opening liturgy: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

And I began to giggle. Uncontrollably giggle. I mean no disrespect to this dear woman. But in my head, this moment suddenly turned into a “snapshot” of us and God. In my pastor shouting at this woman, I saw a picture of us and God.

A Picture of Us & God

I could see God sitting down next to us every single day of our life. Snuggling up to us as close as he can. Putting his lips right next to our ear. And shouting out his love for us in the clear, loud words of the Christian Gospel. God’s love for us in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Every day … every day … God is sitting right next to us … talking … talking … talking … until God is blue in the face. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” That’s what God is saying.

And yet, God looks at the blank stares on our face…or sees in our eyes that our attention is else where…or God hears us mumble and grumble that God is nowhere to be found. And God must just want to scream at us, “CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

And so, it hit me as a kid in high school. Maybe in our liturgy on Sunday morning … maybe a number of times throughout the service, we should have the pastor shout out in the name of God, “CAN YOU HEAR ME?” Maybe this should be part of the standard liturgy, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. CAN YOU HEAR ME? Amen.” Maybe we should all propose that for our next Lutheran book of worship.

God Speaks in Many & Various Ways

If we cannot “hear” God,… if we don’t feel that God is close at hand, it certainly is NOT because God isn’t speaking. “In many and various ways God spoke to people of old by the prophets,” the book of Hebrews tells us.

Go back into your bible starting from the book of Genesis and you will see that God snuggled up and spoke to his people in many and various ways. God had some very intimate conversations with Adam and Abraham.

And God spoke through dreams and signs and visions and spoken messages. God spoke to Moses through a burning bush and cloud of fire and through a thunderstorm on Sinai. And God spoke to Elijah through a small still voice. And God spoke to all his people through prophet after prophet.

Jesus is God’s Loudest, Clearest Way of Speaking

“But now in these last days, God has spoken to us by a Son.” Which is to say that with Jesus we sense a change in God’s M.O. God’s modus operandi. God’s way of operating.

Jesus isn’t just another prophet or another angelic messenger boy. And he isn’t just another preacher or teacher. And he certainly isn’t just another healer. Jesus is The Message. Jesus is the One. He is the Son. He is God in human flesh to get so close to us that he crawls into our skin himself.

And his megaphone becomes the cross. Through Jesus on the cross God does his loudest, clearest form of speaking.

God takes the loudspeaker of the cross. And he aims it right at us. And God turns up the amp. And God says to each one of us, “This is my beloved Son. He is the one who is the closest to my heart. Listen to him. Listen to what he is telling you about me. I love you. I love you. I love you. I want you to be one of mine.”

The Christian faith is so simple: There is a God. And we’re not it. What we are not, Jesus is. What Jesus is, we become…when we take Jesus at his word and trust his word of promise.

Jesus is the Scapegoat

Last Monday was the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is the holiest day of the year for Jewish people.

Back in the days of Jesus, people would travel from all over the land to go to the temple in Jerusalem. And there the high priest through a holy, solemn prayer would take the sins of all the people and lay them on a goat. The scapegoat, they called it.

And then they drove that goat out in the wilderness to let it die there along with all the sins that had been laid on it.

Well, the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was the scapegoat to end all scapegoats. Jesus was that one perfect sacrifice for sin that never has to be repeated. And isn’t that so fitting? Isn’t that so much in keeping with the loving character of God? That God should take pain and agony upon himself and suffer it away?

Jesus is our High Priest

And now this same Jesus has been raised to become our great High Priest who intercedes for us with God. He speaks to God for us. And he speaks back to us for God. And in the process he is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.

And that’s much better isn’t it? That God should speak to us through his Son. The one who is closest to his heart. It’s much better than a dream or a vision, which might be true or might be not. It’s better than a sign of nature, which shows God’s power but does not tell us whether God is for us or against us.

It’s better than a command from Moses that tells us “what” to do, but does not give us the power to do it. Or an angel that stands above us, but is not us, one of us, the way that Jesus is. Or, the promises of a prophet, which are only hoped for but not yet fulfilled. Jesus is the deed done. The love of God accomplished. Sealed with God’s own Spirit.

We Can Hear You Loud & Clear

“In many and various ways God spoke to people of old by the prophets, but in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son.” The cross of Jesus Christ is God’s megaphone. Through Jesus crucified and raised God does his loudest, clearest form of speaking.

And what a joy it is when we open up our ears and look Jesus speaking from the cross and from the empty tomb and say back to God: “Yes God, we can hear you. Boy, can we hear you. Yes, we can hear you. Loud and clear.”

© 2009 Pastor Paul Jaster