Is it easy to explain a work or hobby project to someone who has never done it or experienced it before? Quite often, unless people have done the same thing and have used the same terminology, there is a good chance that it will be hard for them to understand whatever it is that you are trying to describe. Have you ever experienced this? They might respond by saying “OK, I got it. I understand”, when they don’t. Or their eyes just glaze over in boredom. Some may genuinely be interested in wanting to know more.
In this morning’s Gospel text Jesus shared with the disciples what He had to do in order to accomplish and bring to completion the project and plan of God as He had spoken through the prophets. Jesus said: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
“They did not grasp what was said”. But then again, how could they? They did not have a clue because what Jesus was saying was far beyond what the disciples’ expectations, experiences, and eyes and ears could take in.
What Jesus was about to accomplish was and is the momentous event to which all creation looked forward to before it was accomplished and that to which all of creation now looks back upon since it has been accomplished. The suffering, the crucifixion, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These actions in the life of Jesus Christ are what had to be accomplished in order for our salvation to be accomplished, in order for God’s Word to be fulfilled, in order for sin to be removed from the guilt of mankind, in order for life to conquer death.
This was and is a big deal! A large project that God had been planning and devising which nobody could have fully understood or expected. It was and is something that is difficult to grasp, to understand based on reason alone. The magnitude of God’s sacrificial love for a creation that disobeyed Him: to even offer up from Himself His only begotten Son to suffer and die knowing that we could not fully appreciate it, is beyond our understanding. Yet, we receive it by faith, and we desire to learn more. Let us never be tempted to dismiss the details written in the Old and New Testament as it points to Jesus Christ crucified and raised, and say: “OK, I got it, or it’s no big deal. I don’t need to learn anymore”. We cannot and should not allow our eyes of faith to glaze over, or even give up and say, “this is too deep for me” and then not ponder it in joyful wonder.
If our attitude is dismissive and does not desire to learn and appreciate more God’s Love and the profound truths that God has given and continues to give, we should repent. We should try to appreciate all the more what God through Jesus Christ has done for us. We cannot ever learn enough or appreciate it enough. That is why we take extra time for Bible Study or during Lent and Advent to meet together and ponder God’s Word. Beginning this Wednesday, we will follow a series for Lent which gives us an opportunity to ponder the Love of God and the mystery of the Christ is who is True God and yet also True man who came to accomplish God’s great project for you and me and all believers: our salvation from our sins.
Notice how Jesus spoke of these plans of God in in the Gospel text today… Jesus said: “everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.” The word for “accomplish” is the same Greek root word that Jesus used at the Cross when He said, “It is finished” or “It is completed” “The work is at an end”. This is great news for you and me because we could not accomplish this salvation ourselves. We could not accomplish and complete the demands of the Law, we could not bear the righteous wrath of God, but Jesus has. This is what true love looks like.
1 Corinthians 13 is often used by people to describe romantic love or love that we could somehow hope to accomplish by our own effort and will. We cannot because we are not that unselfish. We are born naturally selfish and sinful; spiritually blind and ignorant, hateful and unworthy of salvation; worthy only of damnation. But God is love. Jesus Christ has accomplished in the fullness of time, that sacrificial and true love. God’s love bears all things, and so Jesus bore the grief and suffering and weight of your sin and the sin of the world taking it to the cross for the sake of His love for you.
So even as we like the blind beggar in the Gospel finally come to the realization how much we need Jesus and cry out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”, know this: He does and He has had mercy and will continue to do so. Love hopes all things and rejoices in the truth. The Lord has a hope and a truth for you. A hope for salvation and forgiveness in Jesus Christ who has died on the cross and risen again for you! He was scorned, spat upon, and crucified for you, for me, and all people.
But that is not the only work that He has done or completed. As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says: Jesus is the founder and the completer of our faith.” He is the One who has planted that faith in You by His Word, and by Holy Baptism…Laying your faith on the sure founder and foundation of Jesus Christ crucified and raised. And He will accomplish and bring to completion the faith that He has begun in you as you remain in Him and His Word unto eternity. That same “Accomplishment and ending word” of Jesus is used both regarding the work of salvation at the cross, and also here regarding your faith and salvation. He has called you in this place and time to faith, to be a shining light of His saving work in this dying world as He prepares for you eternal life.
Meanwhile, if you grow weary in this life. If you grow frustrated or anxious in your calling as a Christian by the worldly cares and troubles which surround us and would try to steal or choke that faith. Look to the ending and the completion which God has established for you in Christ Jesus. Come and be fed in your ears and in your mouth, where Jesus Christ promises to be for you. Here in His Word, and in the Sacrament of the Altar where His crucified, raised and glorified body and blood, the very presence of Jesus Christ works for you to get you to the goal and accomplishment of your salvation by the forgiveness of your sins by faith in Jesus Christ. This He does because His love is truly active and alive for you and all His people who repent and now see the cross of Jesus as a place of refuge and strength. Be eager to hear, and pray for understanding. He has accomplished this salvation for countless others who have gone before us, surely He will also bring us into His heavenly glory.
As Hebrews chapter 12 puts it: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and completer of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”
Isaiah wrote: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God
will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Dear Friends in Christ, you are a project of His love. Be of good courage. Receive the Good News of Jesus Christ and the tools He uses to strengthen our weak hands and feeble knees of these mortal bodies and this timid faith.
We may not ever fully comprehend or understand the concept of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and God’s great love for us…Nor grasp His mind and all the detailed work that He has done for us, but we can be interested in learning and growing more; in appreciating what He has done for us. And in this learning and growing as His children we may be encouraged in all seasons of this life, giving thanks and praise to Him all our days here on earth and be blessed in it as we look forward to that completion of our salvation in eternity to live forever with Christ Jesus our Lord God and Savior. Be assured He will accomplish this: to His glory and for our good by His gracious will in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas