February 28, 2010 — Second Sunday in Lent
“The Unstoppable, Stoppable Jesus” — Pastor Lassman
Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download. (Right Click)
My Fellow Redeemed in Christ,
Before God created the world he knew what would happen in the Garden of Eden. He knew about mankind’s rebellion against him. And he knew the misery that sin and death would bring to the human race and so he planned to send his son into the world. All of the Bible is about Jesus Christ, including the Old Testament where the prophets speak about his coming. He finally arrived on that Christmas as Paul says in Galatians: "born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law" (Gal. 4: 4, ESV). and then, like a great movie plot, a shocking twist takes place in the story: God’s own people not only reject him, but they have him killed. So then…God sent his son as he planned from before the creation of the world…and God’s own people rejected him. In our Gospel lesson we see these two truths that seem to contradict each other. On the one hand no one could have stopped Jesus from being the Savior of the world. But on the other hand, people can stop him from being their Savior. That’s what
our Gospel is all about: "The Unstoppable, Stoppable Jesus."
I. It’s clear from our Gospel that no one could have stopped Jesus from being the Savior of the world.
A. of course, this didn’t stop his enemies from trying. Some Pharisees had come to warn Jesus that King Herod wanted to kill him. King Herod’s father, Herod the great, had also tried to kill Jesus when he was a baby. Remember, Jesus claimed to be the king of the Jews. This had political overtones and would have been a threat to the throne of Herod, who was the king of the Jews. In those days anyone who was a threat to the throne was killed. And yet Jesus showed no fear or concern but tells the Pharisees: "Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold i cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course." God had a plan. And no one would be able to stop it as Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians: “…making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time…” (1: 9, ESV).. In Jesus Christ everything went according to God’s plan. And so on the cross Jesus said: "It is finished!" (John 19:30).
On the cross Jesus did everything necessary to save the world from sin and death. He had done everything according to God’s plan. He lived a sinless, holy life in the place of our sinful lives. And he even was punished and died for all of our sins. And to prove that what I just said is true, on the third day he was raised from the dead to conquer death itself. This was all according to God’s the plan.
B. And ever since Jesus ascended into heaven God continues to accomplish his plan through his church, just as Jesus said: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” Matt. 28: 19, ESV).
God’s plan is that through his church Jesus will continue to save people from sin and death and the power of the devil. He does this through the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. For it is only through these Means of Grace that the holy spirit calls people to faith in Jesus as their own savior. Faith in Jesus is not a decision made by people, it is a gift given by God. Your faith is a gift from God. It has to be this way because everyone is born into this world spiritually blind and dead. So Martin Luther says in his small catechism: "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith." Just as no one could stop Jesus from becoming the world’s Savior, likewise, no one will be able to stop the Christian Church from making disciples of Jesus Christ. Many people have tried. The church has often been persecuted and in many parts of the world is still persecuted today. As Americans we have freedom of religion. We are free to practice our Christian faith and to tell others about Jesus who is always with us as he said before his ascension into heaven: "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me… I am with you always to the end of the age" (Matthew 28: 18, 20, ESV). And when Jesus returns at the end of the world to judge the living and the dead no one will be able to stop him as Paul says in our second reading: “…we a wait a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power the enables him even to subject all things to himself (Phil 3: 20, 21, ESV). “By the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself”. You see? Jesus is unstoppable. There is a plan. And the plan will not end until Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead.
ii. And yet, having said all of these wonderful things….The fact remains that individual people do have the awesome power to stop Jesus from being their own savior. The unstoppable Jesus is stoppable.
A. Jesus Christ came into the world to save all people that’s what Jesus says: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son” (John 3: 16, ESV). When Jesus died on the cross he died for every human being who has ever lived, is living now, or will live. Jesus doesn’t have any favorites; he is not a racist, and he’s not influenced by wealth or power or prestige. God wants all people to believe in Jesus as their Savior so that they can have peace with God through the forgiveness of their sins and be raised from the dead to eternal life when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul says: "This is good and pleases God our Savior who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2: 3, 4, ESV). Jesus Christ came into the world in fulfillment of all those Old Testament promises about the Messiah. And when he finally came every single Jew, all of his countrymen, should have believed in him just as Jesus says: "Oh
Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." Can you hear the love and compassion in his voice? According to God’s plan he was about to die for them…all of them. And no one could stop him. And he wanted them to believe in him.
B. But here is where the unstoppable Jesus can become stoppable because many people don’t believe in him. Jesus could not be stopped from being the world’s Savior…but individual people can stop him from being their own Savior. That’s exactly what Jesus said about the Jews in Jerusalem who did not believe in him: "But you were not willing." Indeed, it would be some of his fellow Jews that would have him put to death. They would treat Jesus just as their forefathers had treated the prophets as we read in our Old Testament reading about Jeremiah. "This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city." And the other prophets of God were also mistreated by God’s people as Jesus says: "For surely no prophet can die outside of Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you." In Jeremiah’s day God used the Babylonian empire to destroy the people of Jerusalem for rejecting Jeremiah and his message. And in Jesus’ day God would once again destroy Jerusalem for rejecting Jesus, just as he says: "Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you the truth, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." But God is never the cause of such unbelief. God can never be blamed for people not believing in his son; he wants everyone to believe in him…if people do not believe in him it is their own fault as Jesus says: You were not willing.”
Conclusion: "The Unstoppable, Stoppable Jesus." No one could stop Jesus from becoming the Savior of the world. No one could change God’s plan. Jesus would do everything his heavenly father told him to do just as he said on the cross: "It is finished!" Jesus Christ is the world’s only Savior from sin and death and damnation. And no one can change this fact. And yet just like the people of Jerusalem people have the awesome power to stop Jesus from being their own Savior. May this never be said of us. As Jesus continues to come to us in the Means of Grace, his word and his Sacraments may the Holy Spirit who has called us to faith in our Lord Jesus continue to empower us to always say of him: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Amen.
