Sermon manuscript:
The psalmist says, “For you, O Lord, are the most high
over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.” Again, it says, “The
Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory is higher than the heavens.”
In one of our songs in the liturgy we sing something similar: “Holy, Holy,
Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth! Heaven and earth are full of your glory!” God is
glorious. The Christ is glorious.
The apostles had thought on Holy Week that this glory had
only just begun for Jesus, and therefore also for them, his friends. Holy week
was a good week for Jesus until that terrible night when he was betrayed. He
had ridden into Jerusalem with palms and praises. He had routed his enemies who
tried to slip him up with trick questions. So when Jesus tells them on the night
that he was betrayed how he was going away from them, sorrow filled their
hearts. The believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the one God had
promised from the beginning. This Christ is supposed to be king. How can there
be this talk of him going away? A kingdom was going to need to be built. How
could it be built without a king?
This is the concern that Jesus is addressing in our Gospel
reading today. He was going to go away. He wasn’t going to remain with them in
the same way that he had before. He was going to die, be resurrected, and
ascend to the right hand of God the Father. But he was not going to leave them
as orphans. He was going to send the Holy Spirit, whom he calls the Counselor
or the Helper. Surprisingly, they will be better off when Jesus goes away,
because if he did not go away the Holy Spirit would not come to them. But if he
goes away he will send the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit would lead them
into all the truth.
Jesus told the apostles that he had many things that he would
like to say to them, but they could not yet bear what he had to say. This is
because the disciples were still stuck in the notion that Jesus was going to
create an earthly kingdom. They thought that he would be like King David. He
would kick out the Romans and make all the Gentile nations pay tribute. They,
as his friends, would be given high positions in the government. A new and
glorious day was dawning. It was morning again in Jerusalem. Blow the trumpets;
raise an army! Let’s get this glory show on the road.
But this was not how Jesus would have it go. This is not how
it did go. No armies, no purple robes, no parades of goosesteppers. Without
these things we can’t help but think that the whole enterprise was downgraded.
It went from being a great kingdom to be a merely spiritual kingdom, which, to
many minds, sounds like a pretend kingdom. Meanwhile, what happens to these
apostles? According to tradition Peter is crucified upside down. Andrew is
crucified on an X shaped cross. Thomas is skinned alive. Paul is beheaded. What
kind of kingdom is this? It hardly appears to be even an imaginary kingdom.
But appearances can be deceiving. That which is seen is
temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. What is given to
the apostles, and therefore also to the Christian Church even down to our own
times, is not a step down from a physical kingdom, nor is it something
imaginary. It is such a kingdom that triumphs over all enemies.
Psalm 2 is a very important prophecy about Christ’s kingdom.
In this psalm it says, “Why do the nations rage? Why do the peoples grumble
in vain? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers join together
against the Lord and against his Christ. They say, ‘Let us tear off their
chains and throw off their ropes from us.’ But the one who sits in the heavens
laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. He speaks to them in his anger and in his
wrath he terrifies them. He says, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, on my holy
mountain.’” The kingdom of Christ is such that the greatest nations cannot
do anything against it. The Lord laughs at them when they try to resist him.
In Daniel chapter 2 there is a prophesy about Christ’s
kingdom that uses picture language. The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar,
receives a vision of a proud and glorious statue. It represents the greatest
civilizations that have existed on this planet. Even such a proud civilization
as our own might be thrown into the mix. Our civilization believes it can
conquer the universe, bend the laws of physics, and defeat death if only it
believes in itself and never gives up. But this glorious statue that
Nebuchadnezzar sees has clay feet. And there is a stone that is not cut with
human hands that struck the magnificent statue and it all came down in a heap.
That stone is Jesus Christ, who became incarnate in the womb
of the virgin Mary, not by the will of man, but by the Holy Spirit of God.
Jesus’s kingdom is such that it is an everlasting kingdom. No matter how
conceited mankind might get in his belief in his own power, the Kingdom of
Christ is greater.
By his Gospel and by his Sacraments, Jesus makes people into
children of God. By the Spirit and by the water we are born again. Being
baptized into Christ we are crucified together with Christ and raised together
with Christ. Just as Jesus will never die again, so also we will never truly
die. Jesus has defeated death. Whatever powers and authorities there might be
in heaven or on earth, they will all be put under Jesus’s feet. These are
things that the mightiest of empires that have existed on this earth cannot
even dream of accomplishing.
So you must not think that Christ’s kingdom is an imaginary
kingdom. It is more real than the things we can see and taste and touch,
because one day these things will be brought to an end. Christ will be king,
world without end. And the authority that Jesus gives to those who confess his
saving Name is also tremendous.
Jesus gives to his Christians what he calls the keys to the
kingdom of heaven. Those keys open and close heaven and hell. What greater
power could any king or president or emperor ever dream of? And yet this power
is given to even the poorest, weakest, humblest Christian. When a Christian
speaks God’s Word to someone, that Word accomplishes what it says. If it says
that the unrepentant cannot enter the kingdom of God, then that is how it will
be. If it says that whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, then that
is what is brought about. There is nobody on earth—no matter how rich or
powerful a person might be—who is outside the jurisdiction of Christ’s kingdom.
The humbles Christian may speak to the kings of the earth, and sooner or later
they will come cringing to him.
Of course, now, in the hour of darkness, the high and mighty
will not see this. They will not imagine that the Word that is spoken to them
is God’s Word. They will think it is merely a man-made word. They will not
think that it has any authority. They will smirk, bemusedly, at a Christian who
makes such exalted claims.
Think of how Pontius Pilate treated Jesus. Pilate asked
Jesus, “So you are a king are you?” Mm hmm. Jesus told him quite plainly
and rightly—we are not in the business of lying, after all—that his kingdom was
not of this world. If his kingdom was of this world he would command his angels
who would fight for him, but his kingdom is not of this world. And I’m sure
Pilate said, “Mm hmm.”
Eventually Pilate put a sign on Jesus’s cross that said, “Jesus
of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” He meant that sign to be a sneering,
sarcastic sign. It was intended to say, “Look at this stupid, deluded man. He
thinks he’s a king.” But in actual fact that sign spoke the truth. There on
that cross was not just the king of the Jews, but the king of heaven and earth.
Holy, holy, holy, heaven and earth are full of his glory. He died for sin. He
was raised for our justification. He ascended in triumph. He sits at the right
hand of God the Father, reigning and ruling in his Kingdom on earth by the
preaching of the Gospel and the administration of his Sacraments. And he will
come again with power and great glory to judge the living and the dead. His
kingdom will have no end.
So do not think that Christ’s Kingdom, wherein he reigns and
rules by means of words, is somehow less powerful or less real than a kingdom
that is ruled by guns or even nuclear bombs. The Lord, who sits in the heavens,
laughs. He holds them in derision. Jesus speaks the truth when he says to his
disciples, “It is to your advantage that I go away.” It is to their
advantage because Jesus sends the Holy Spirit.
And let’s say a little something about the work that the
Holy Spirit does according to Jesus’s words. He says the Holy Spirit will
convict the world concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning
judgment. Foolish men, women, and children think they have a pretty good handle
on what sin is, what righteousness is, and what judgment is. This is especially
true of the high and mighty. They think they know these things quite well. In
fact, they think they know these things so well that they can’t help but scowl
at Jesus’s explanations of these words.
Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world
concerning sin, because they do not believe in him. “Well, I don’t know how
much of a sin that is! I think I could come up with some juicier ones than
that!” Our reason imagines that so long as we don’t murder, rape, or steal, we
must be a jolly good fellow. God, however, does not look at these outward
things. He looks at the heart. And there he sees how man truly is. He hates.
He’s lazy, He’s a slave to his passions. And on top of all that he’s proud of
it all to boot! There is only one way to be saved from this horror show that
exists in every single one of our hearts—and that’s by faith in Christ.
Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world
concerning righteousness because he goes to the Father and we will see him no
longer. If our reason doesn’t care for Jesus’s definition of sin, it only gets
worse with his definition of righteousness. What on earth does Jesus’s going to
the Father have to do with righteousness at all or with the righteousness of
any one of us?
Here Jesus speaks in parables so that the truth may be
hidden from those to whom it has not been given. Jesus going to the Father
includes all that he has done for the salvation of the world. Included in these
words are Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus did not do
these things for himself or for his own righteousness. He had no need of such
things. But we do. The only way that any descendant of Adam and Eve can be
righteous is through Jesus’s righteousness that is offered to all and received
by faith. We see him no longer. We hold to him by faith.
Finally the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning
judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Judgment has to do with
knowing what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. Here too
the world has a pretty good idea of what is right and wrong, good and bad,
thank you very much. What is right and good to them certainly doesn’t include
listening to a crazy preacher talk about an imaginary kingdom for twenty
minutes, and then eating a wafer and taking a sip of wine. They know of better
ways to spend their time. They’d rather watch sports, or watch TV, or sleep.
But they know not what they do. Their judgment is way off. They don’t know
what’s what.
Here’s what’s what: The ruler of this world, the devil, has
been judged. The one who has judged him and condemned him is the Lord Jesus
Christ. The story line for our existence is not the progressive march of
civilization. What is good is our God, what is bad is the devil. What is wise
is God’s Word. What is foolish is believing in idols.
With these words Jesus tells us the work of the Holy Spirit.
It is wonderful to me that he hides these things from the wise and prudent and
reveals them to babes. The world believes that it is invincible and eternal
with its wisdom, power, and might. That is not surprising, really, if you only
consider how we think of ourselves. We all think that we are quite something.
We all think that the world would be a whole lot better place if everyone would
just see how smart we are and agree with everything we think.
But it is different with those who have been convicted by
the Holy Spirit. They know their sin. They know the only One who is righteous.
They know that they’d better stick with him if there is to be any goodness
whatsoever. The work of the Holy Spirit is glorious. He works miracles as he
breaks our stupid pride. Such is the work of Christ’s kingdom.
“You, O Lord, are the most high over all the earth; you
are exalted far above all gods.” “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth!
Heaven and earth are full of your glory!” Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment