Simply Lutheran

This Sunday's little gallery below is reminiscent of Whom we are to see and where we are to see Him. Pic #1 is the devotional faith of beholding Jesus' physical presence in His Last Supper (according to how St. Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17); Pic #2 directs our attention to see the glory of the cross as Christ crucified to atone for the sins of the entire world; in Pic #3 is a not so gentle reminder, since we by faith have received the salvation promised to us, that we dare not ignore the needs of others; and lastly, Pic #4 is the cross that once was outside of the old Faith Mission near the corner of 4th and Long streets in Columbus, Ohio, where Christ crucified was on occasion preached to all who wanted to truly see Jesus.

This brings me to my address for the second Sunday in Lent: Reminiscere Sunday in the Synodical Conference Series:
John 12:20-25 NKJV “We Wish to See Jesus”
20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. 23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Dear friends in Christ: Our Lord God had placed before Philip an opportunity; and what an opportunity this lesson places before you to reach out to others who have questions about Jesus and the Christian faith. The Greeks mentioned in our text were most likely proselytes to Judaism and were familiar with the Jewish customs and festivals, for Scripture says, “…they were among those who came up to worship at the feast (of Passover).”

Solomon’s dedicatory prayer of the temple speaks of such people that the evangelist John mentions. Solomon prayed in 1 Kings 8:41-43: “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name’s sake (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.”

The simple request made of Philip by these foreigners was this: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” If their request is to be granted, they would have to “see” Jesus as all Christendom now sees Him: 1) To see Jesus means to see His death and His resurrection; and, 2) In order to see Jesus one needs to repent, deny self, pick up his own cross, and believe the Gospel.

After hearing the Greeks’ request, Philip told his brother Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. And as you look at verse 22, you will see what Jesus said about this request, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” In other words, you should see Jesus how He wishes to be seen this Lent, namely, only in His crucifixion and death. Every true Lutheran “temple” should be dedicated to the Lord’s name, the name of Jesus. Every member, man or woman, rich or poor, old or young, of all ethnic groups, needs to make that simple statement to be their own. They should demand of their pastors who stand in their pulpits to preach Christ crucified and Christ only: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Why preach the death and resurrection of Jesus Sunday after Sunday? Simply because Jesus is glorified along with the Father in heaven and that message of Christ crucified is the power unto salvation! As St. Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone WHO BELIEVES, for the Jews first and also for the Greeks.” And just how does this power work? St. Paul explains it this way: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” What kind of future would we have if we ever forgot what God, through Jesus, had done for all sinful mankind? Could it be the future that has already come to America? This is an America that is devoid of any personal responsibility but only sucks off the teats of her government for comfort and salvation! An America that is devoid of any sense of the eternal and lives only for what each person can suck out of life now, and forgets about its Creator and Savior, is only evil.

It is true that one can claim to be a Christian and yet not seek the glory that lies in Jesus’ cross and His resurrection. But that kind of Christian is only interested in the social gospel and a socialist’s State that has only a civil religion in mind. There are many Judases who would reverence their Master with a kiss and yet be willing to betray Him just because they place their trust elsewhere. As is recorded by the prophet Jeremiah (17:5), “Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord.’”

Sometimes we all forget to see Jesus, if first we can’t picture Him suffering and dying on that old rugged cross of Calvary. Sometimes we all get used to viewing the empty cross so that we forget what great work was done once for all for sinful man in the sufferings and death of God’s only Son. The simple statement, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” should be made again and again! Yes, that was probably meant only as a request for a personal interview with the Master in the courts of the Lord’s House just prior to that eventful Passover in Jerusalem. But the public was about to personally see Jesus outside the walls of Jerusalem, bleeding and dying on the cross to atone for the sins of the entire world.

As St. Paul reminded the Church in Galatia to once again see Jesus: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified?’”

In a sermon, St. Augustine spoke of the glory of the cross: “Let us declare that Christ was crucified for our sake, proclaiming it with joy and pride, not with fear and shame.” The Apostle Paul saw this reason for boasting. He could have told us many great and holy things about Christ; how as God He shared with His Father the work of creation, and how as man like us He was master of the world. But Paul would not glory in any of these wonderful things.

You, and many Christians around the world, are called to see our Lord in His Holy Supper today. You are to see Him just as St. Paul did in the words of 1 Corinthians 10:16, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” In other words, we confess along with Paul that Jesus body and blood communes first with the bread and the wine so that He is physically present in a miraculous way. Today, in the Lord’s Supper, we see and handle Jesus in this mysterious, sacramental way. And yet we cannot possibly see Jesus unless we have come to true repentance of our sins and have denied ourselves.

This, friends, is what Jesus Himself tells us: John 12:25-26 is very explicit to the detail of Jesus’ own words: “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” If you see Judas as he saw the Christ ask yourselves what went wrong that Judas, as contrite as sorrowful as he was, went out and hanged himself. We believe that in order to see Jesus as He really is you must first have true repentance. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, teaches that repentance merits graces that enable you to trust in Christ. However, our confessions point out the following: “Why did not Saul, Judas, and men like them attain grace even though they were terribly contrite? If someone should ask this, the answer must be in reference to faith and the Gospel that Judas did not believe nor strengthen himself with the Gospel promise of Christ. For faith makes the difference between the contrition of Judas and that of Peter.” (Apology of the AC, Art.XII, p.183 Tappert)

It is important to see Jesus through acknowledging your sins before Him and also by clinging to His promise of forgiveness gained for you in His cross, when Jesus, in His dying breath, triumphantly proclaimed, “It is finished!”

On February 20th of 2016, I watched the funeral Mass of the late Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, and I was impressed with the opening liturgy chanted by his son, the Reverend Father Paul Scalia. I was impressed with the way the priest began his homily, preaching Christ alone saying, “We are gathered here because of one man, a man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to many more; a man loved by many, scorned by others; a man known for great controversy and for great compassion. …That man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth.” I knew that he wasn’t referring to his dad the way he led others to think; Scalia was showing the thousands in the congregation Jesus only, whom many did not come to the cathedral expecting to see.

As Reverend Scalia got toward the end of his sermon he unfortunately showed another Jesus. The Jesus that he now portrayed to the thousands gathered was a Jesus that somehow left things undone by His crucifixion, namely, the earthly penalties that remained for the sins committed that now had to be purged from Antonin Scalia’s soul in the fires of purgatory in order that he could enter into eternal glory and heavenly bliss. Rev. Scalia asked for the prayers of the people to help his father and reminded the large congregation of the indulgences they were to be granted by coming to the funeral Mass that was being said for his father. So what started out to be a glorious evangelical, even a Lutheran, sermon was turned into a plea to rather trust in the doctrine of man than to trust in Jesus, who alone died to make full atonement not only for the sins of Justice Scalia but for the sins of the entire world.

There were a few moments recalling some lighter sides of the two Scalias: He also shared a funny anecdote about his father: “[Once he] found himself in my confessional line and quickly left.” Scalia also said, “As he (my father) put it later, ‘Like heck if I’m confessing to you.’ The feeling was mutual.” Luther, who saw the meaningful comfort of the distressed soul in confession, might have also laughed at that situation between the two Scalias.

But, on the serious side, Luther’s Small Catechism states: What is Confession? “Confession embraces two parts. One is that we confess our sins; the other, that we receive absolution, or forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, and in no wise doubt, but firmly believe, that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.” And these keys are also given to every Christian, but the pastor is called to act on behalf of the congregation.

Had Judas seen Jesus, in this way, he would not have despaired and took his own life, which now continues with this part of seeing Jesus, namely, that if you wish to see Jesus…you must deny yourself. Some may think that this is beating a dead horse; nevertheless, what Jesus says in our text again this morning is exactly what He means. “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

And as much as Lutherans believe in the separation of Church and State, we also must believe that America was founded on the principle that there are some things worth sacrificing self. These things were written into the Declaration of Independence and spelled out in our Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is our so-called Caesar to whom we are to obey, according to Romans 13, and the President and Congress are also to obey the Constitution. For the President and the Congress as well as the Supreme Court are sworn to uphold the Constitution just as much as we Christians are obligated to obey what St. Paul tells us in Romans 13.

So, friends, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ should be something you continually see before you all the days of your life and not just while attending funerals or merely during the season of Lent. You are to learn from Christ and all His saints who denied self so that that you too will not cling to the things of this world but rather learn to nail your unregenerate selves to Christ’s cross! In that way you will keep your lives to eternal life. For in this life here on earth, sin always remains but it is always atoned for by the cross of Christ so that you are pure and holy now only for His name’s sake, if you believe in Christ.

Be careful not to imitate the ways of this world and be tempted to turn away from Jesus who wants you to trust in Him as He trusted in His heavenly Father for all His needs. And again, God’s revealed will for you is quite clear throughout the Bible, that you are to love God with your whole heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. Remember that Jesus demands that you indeed deny self as is stated in Mark 8:34, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The New Man that was recreated in you through your baptism into Christ’s death is now brought forth in a new life, a life of love, following His resurrection.

If foreigners were to come to worship within your own churches, and they wish to see Jesus, whoever it is that comes should always expect a Christian pulpit where only Christ is shown as crucified. Only then will they truly be able to see Him face to face in glory when life in this veil of tears is finally ended. Amen