March 17, 2024 Sunday Drive to Church

[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. Pastor Wolf Mueller here on March Sunday, March 17, the year of our Lord 2024. This is the Sunday drive to church for the fifth Sunday in Lent. The old one year name for this Sunday was Utica. That was the beginning of passion tide. We've lost some of these subtleties, I think, in the three year lectionary. In our current liturgical practice, we just sort of have Lent and then, and then Easter. But there was some layers to Lent in the church. So you had pre Lent for three weeks, and then you went into Lent. And then on the fifth Sunday, Utica, you switched into passion tide the last two weeks of Lent. And then the Sunday before Easter, that's Palm Sunday. Then you're in holy week, and that's that really intense week. We'll have that and then you're on into Easter. So we enter now into passion tide. The last two weeks of Lent, things are getting more and more intense, and we'll get a sense of that in the lessons today. Some really incredible lessons and hymns, too. But first, the colect, which is, I don't know if I'm missing some. It's not a real subtle colect today. [00:01:09] It's just a prayer that God the Father would, through his mercy and goodness, govern and keep us in body and soul. So we'll pray together, almighty God, by your great goodness, mercifully look upon your people, that we may be governed and preserved evermore in body and soul through Jesus Christ your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. [00:01:38] Maybe the aesthetic of that prayer is matching what we're into now in Lent. [00:01:46] Deeper we get into Lent, the more and more things are sort of stripped away until on Monday, Thursday, we even have the stripping of the altar. Things are kind of pulled back. We do have that a little bit today. You'll notice that we'll speak a little bit more of the liturgy. We'll speak the words of institution. We'll speak some more of the prayers. That's to indicate this deepening piety of Lent. But we have the lessons. Jeremiah 31 31, the promise of the new covenant, Hebrews five, one to ten, mark 1032 to 45, and psalm 119, the second section. That's maybe where we'll start. Remember last week we had psalm 19, and I mentioned to you that there's these three Torah psalms or three word psalms, psalm one, psalm 19 and psalm 119. So we have psalm 119. It has 186 verses or something. [00:02:46] The verses are 22 times eight because it has eight verses for each letter of the hebrew Alphabet. And we're going to do the letter Beth today. That's verses nine to 16, the second letter in the hebrew Alphabet, but it has eight. And in fact, in the Hebrew, if you look at psalm 119, it's called the golden acrostic because the first eight verses begin with olive, the second eight verses begin with Beth, and then the third eight verses begin with giml and so forth and so on, all the way through the 22 letters in the hebrew Alphabet. It's the longest chapter in the Bible. [00:03:24] And that's why it has all of these verses. And in every verse, except for maybe one or two, it mentions the word of God. It uses all these different synonyms for God's word. So for example, in this text, we have your word, your commandments, your word, verse eleven, your statutes, verse twelve. Your ordinances of your mouth, verse 13. Your testimonies, verse 14, your precepts, verse 15, your statutes and your word, verse 16. So it has all these different synonyms for the Lord's word. And it's a prayer here. And this little section, this second section of psalm 119, more than I think any of the other sections in psalm 119 are talking about treasuring the word of God in our heart, what we sometimes call memorizing the word of God. Although, and it is memorizing, but don't you think that's a different thing? If I were to say to you, hey, have you been memorizing the Lord's word versus have you been treasuring the Lord's word in your heart? Like, sometimes I would memorize things for history class. Well, let me adjust that. Sometimes I was supposed to memorize things for history class, like the dates that things happened and like the order of the presidents and the capitals of the states. You know, you're supposed to memorize this and it's just because someone determined, hey, you should know all these things, so you're trying to force your mind to hold on to them, but to treasure in the heart has a really different sense. It's not like I'm trying to cram this in there so I don't lose it. It's rather, I love this and I'm holding it close and I don't want to ever let it go. I'm going to memorize it. [00:05:15] I'm going to tattoo it on my conscience. [00:05:23] It's like all these engaged couples we got running around and the guys look at the girl, say, I want to memorize the shape of your face. I don't want to ever forget it. So when I close my eyes, that's the christian idea of how we think of the scriptures. Blessed are you, o Lord, teach me your statutes. I've rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways. I shall delight in your statutes. I shall not forget your word. All those meditate, regard, delight, not forget, rejoice. It's just wonderful, wonderful. This is how we ought to be. And this is what the third commandment is, that we would delight in the Lord's word. We should fear and love God so we don't despise preaching his word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. I think I've told you guys this. When I teach this commandment to the kids, say, look, the third commandment is not just go to church and listen to the sermon and pay attention. You have to like it. [00:06:27] If you don't like the sermon today, you haven't kept the third commandment. You have to like it now. Okay, maybe that's a little much on the sermon, because you could say, now, look, that wasn't a good sermon, but the scriptures. [00:06:39] When Pastor Davis, Pastor Leblanc, when I stand up there and read the scriptures today, and you should, because you will, because these scriptures are good. [00:06:49] Okay, so looking at the scriptures now, Jeremiah 31 31. This is the promise of the new Covenant or the New Testament. [00:06:59] We want to note this very carefully. We're about to get to it in our Hebrews study. We're in Hebrews chapter seven. HEbREWS chapter 8910 is basically an exposition of this Text from Jeremiah 31. And in it, the Lord is declaring that he's going to make a new covenant. Now that's an amazing thing. The prophet Jeremiah, remember, was the prophet of the destruction. He was the one who fled Jerusalem down to Egypt so he wouldn't be walloped by the Babylonians. So 586, right around that time, and before there, there was the three waves of attack. So we date Jeremiah 560, which is good. [00:07:42] So it's happening in the midst of all this stuff. Listen to what the Lord says through Jeremiah. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of it. Not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord, I'll put my law within them. I'll write it on their hearts. I'll be their God. They shall be my people. No longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. Why? And this is the key of the NEw TeStament, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. [00:08:29] Now, the sermon in Hebrews has to reflect on this, because whenever the Lord says, I'm going to make a new covenant, he's saying that there's something wrong with the old one. And mainly the wrong thing with the old one was that they broke it. But there's something more about the old covenant. It was never meant to be the forever perpetual covenant. It was always pointing to the promise to come the Passover lamb, and the sacrifice that the priest would make. It was pointing to the cross and to the victory that Jesus would win over sin, death and the devil for all of us. So it was always a preparatory covenant. [00:09:10] It was tricky for the people to know that, because remember, when the Lord made a covenant, it lasts until the one who makes the covenant dies. And how can God die? It's a hard thing to imagine, but that is when the old covenant ends, when the one who made it dies. So the death of Jesus marks the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the NEw TeStament, which takes effect at the death of the TeStator. [00:09:42] So that that's already indicated in JEremIaH 31, when the JEwIsh people would say, hey, look, this is an eternal covenant that God made with us, a perpetual covenant. It's never going to come to an end. You would point to Jeremiah 31 and say, well, why did God promise to make a new one? [00:10:01] That's the burden of the Text. The next is HebRews five. We've been studying Hebrews now for a while in Sunday school, and so you'll remember this text, I hope you'll remember. In fact, we're in Hebrews seven, deep into the MeLchizeDek. HebREws five is where the MeLchizeDek conversation started. In the Book of Hebrews, it talks about how the high priests in the Old Testament were gentle because they also knew sin. They offered sacrifice because not just for the people'sins, but also for their own sin, and that they didn't take the honor of the office themselves. It was given to them. So it says. So Jesus is also gentle as a SacrIfice for sins and he receives the office of the high priest from psalm 110, verse one. You're a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's when God the Father gives the promise of the office to the son. And then some amazing words here, starting with verse seven. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with LOud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now, there's a lot there, and we've been talking about it for weeks and weeks in Sunday school, so don't forget to join us for Sunday school. It's marvelous. We'll continue to think about this order of Melchizedek and how the Lord made him high priest. But how amazing that Jesus, who has all of these things already, perfection, glory, dominion, he lays those things aside so that they would be given to him again as the lamb of God, the son of man. [00:11:52] Just to think about this a little bit theologically, Jesus says in Matthew 28, that famous passage, all authority in heaven, on earth has been given unto me. [00:12:01] He had all authority in heaven and on earth, and yet he laid that aside as the eternal son of God to become man, to take on our flesh and blood, to die in our place under the weight and the burden of our wretched sinfulness so that he might bring many sons and daughters to salvation. And now he receives back the scepter and the glory and eternal life as the savior. [00:12:34] He goes back to the right hand of the Father where he started. Remember, Jesus didn't start in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He started at the Father's right hand. He started in eternity with God the Father. He goes back there, but now he goes back there with scars. He goes back there with flesh and blood. And that flesh and blood has a bunch of holes in it in his hands and feet and in his side and in those hands and feet and side, hidden in that cleft is you and I. [00:13:06] I mean, we ride into eternal glory in the wounds of Jesus. He carries us there so that now he has all of these things, perfection and everything through his suffering. [00:13:18] I don't know if that makes sense, but maybe it's like this in Colorado. There was a little town called Loveland. It was up north, kind of in the mountain foothills, and people would always go to Loveland to send their Valentine's Day cards because it's kind of cool if you get a Valentine's Day card stamped, know? In other words, if it's from Loveland, you're not expecting it to be a hate letter. Well, it's the same thing that happens when Jesus sits on the right hand of the Father as the lamb who was slain, as the one who was crucified. We know the things that are coming from his power are the things that are going to benefit us because he is now the Christ. [00:14:07] Hope that makes sense. If that doesn't make sense, let me know. I'll keep thinking about it. The gospel lesson. Mark. Chapter ten, verses 32 to 45. This is the third of the three passion predictions of our Lord Jesus. The first is, and just to think about this, mark 827 and following Mark 930 to 32, mark 1032 to 34, so that these are coming very close to one another. The first one is when Jesus goes up to Caesarea Philippi. Who do people say that I am? And he took them aside and began to teach them that the Christ must suffer before he enters into glory. Now we have the third prediction, and it seems like the disciples just cannot get it. Jesus keeps teaching this thing, and they keep not learning it. [00:14:53] Taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, see, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. So that's good Friday all through the night, delivered over to Pilate on, sorry, after the sun goes down, Monday, Thursday, all through the night, delivered over to Pilate on the morning of Good Friday. And then verse 34, they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. [00:15:30] And after three days, he will rise. [00:15:33] And then what happens? [00:15:38] It's not even like the disciples are kind of confused by this. [00:15:45] It's almost like they can't even hear it, because immediately James and John, sons of Zebedee, come to Jesus and say, can you do for us whatever we ask? And Jesus says, well, what do you want me to do? And they say, let us sit on your right and on your left in your glory. And Jesus said, did you guys just. [00:16:03] They can't help thinking that as they go towards Jerusalem, Jesus is going to take over. He's going to somehow lead some sort of military coup and sit down on Pilate's throne or something like that. It's crazy. So Jesus says, look, can you drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with? The baptism with which I am baptized? Now notice I don't think this is going to come too much into the sermon, but I always reserve the right to change that. But to think about this here is that Jesus uses the sacramental language to describe his cross, the cup that he drinks and the baptism that he's being baptized with. So that for Jesus, the baptism and the supper are the cross. And for us, the baptism and the supper are the cross. They're bringing the cross to us. So the cup that he drinks, that's the wrath of God. The baptism that he's being baptized with, that's his suffering. Are you able to drink this cup? Are you able to be baptized with this baptism? And they, James and John says, we can. So Jesus says, the cup that I drink, you will. The baptism which I'm baptized, you will. In other words, you also are going to suffer. [00:17:14] But to sit at my right hand and my left is not mine to grant. It's for those who have been prepared. It's for the two thieves. That's his right hand and his left when he comes into glory on one side and the other when he dies on the cross. And then what happens is the other disciples, Peter and the other nine, they're watching this James and John. [00:17:40] They're watching James and John talk to Jesus. What do you think they're talking about? Oh, remember how they want. They're kind of catching on to what's going on, that James and John are kind of jockeying for the good cabinet positions in the earthly rule of Jesus. And so they start to get mad, it says. And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James. And guys, you know, we always laugh. Well, I always laugh at the disciples. You guys probably don't, but I'm always laughing at the disciples because they're always trying to figure out which one of them is the best. [00:18:18] But who are we to laugh at this? When I get together with my brothers, this is all we ever do. But plus it's the whole kind of structure of humanity. I mean, we're getting ready in November to go to the election booth and to pick who's the greatest, although I don't know if we have the greatest, are going to be on the list. But anyway, this is the point. This is the whole political conversation of humanity. [00:18:45] Who's the best? Who's the greatest? And Jesus, he knows that they're arguing about this. And so listen to these words. This is not only some of the clearest words of Jesus on how it ought to be with us in the church, in the family, in the world, but also one of the clearest statements of how Jesus comes to us. [00:19:09] You know that those who are considered rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them over. [00:19:19] But it shall not be so among you. [00:19:22] Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [00:19:34] For even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. [00:19:45] So Jesus is among us still. [00:19:51] Not so that we would serve him, but so that he would serve us. Then that's what worship is, Jesus serving us. [00:20:03] More on that in the sermon. The hymn of the week is my song is love unknown. It's him. 430. My song is love unknown. It's a beautiful hymn, but I struggled with that first line. I said, wait, now, wait a. Hold on. We know the love of God for us, but here's how I think you should think of that. My song is love unknown is a poetic way of saying, my song is love. Unheard of. [00:20:27] No one's ever seen love like this. My savior's love to me, love to the loveless, shown that they might lovely be. Now that is a marvelous line, and it reminds me of the Heidelberg disputation, where Luther says, the love of man seeks for a lovable object, but the love of God makes us lovable. [00:20:47] It's a creative love. It's a powerful love. God doesn't look down and say, okay, who deserves my love? Who is lovable? No, he looks down and he loves us, and in his love, we become lovely. Love to the loveless, shown that they might lovely be. Wow. It's a creative love. [00:21:07] When we become the object of the love of God, we are now, well, the object of his love. We are loved ones. [00:21:15] This is, oh, who am I that for my sake the Lord should take frail flesh and die? He came from his blessed throne, salvation to bestow. This is what we were talking about before. This thing that we often forget about is that Jesus did not start in the womb. He started at the right hand of the father. He started in glory, and he came down from that throne. [00:21:37] The fourth stanza is a pretty amazing one. It's got this great little line in it, sweet injuries, which is a great irony to see. [00:21:47] Again. It's this poetic way of saying, well, here, I'll read the poem. Why? What has my Lord done? [00:21:57] What makes this rage and spite he made the lame to run he gave the blind their sight sweet injuries. Yet they at these themselves displease and against him rise. In other words, who did jesus hurt? He made the lame man to run he gave the blind their sight. Did he hurt them? These are pretty sweet injuries. [00:22:23] These are pretty precious wounds that he's given. Look at know he's so mad at jesus for doing all these mean things like saving and helping and serving people. [00:22:35] They rise. Here's what this fifth stanza means. They rise and needs will have my dear lord made away a murderer. They save the prince of life they slay. This made away is it's not making a way. But they send him away. Away with him. Away with him they made a way. They made him go away to the cross. Yet cheerful he to suffering goes that he his foes from thence might free. [00:23:04] So that jesus is dying for Pontius Pilate he's suffering for the Pharisees, he's bleeding for the soldiers who are crucifying him. Father, forgive them. [00:23:17] Here might. The last stanza. There's seven. I'm just a couple here, here might I stay and sing no story so divine never was loved your king never was grief like thine. [00:23:28] This is my friend in whose sweet praise I all my days could gladly spend this one dying all these things this is my friend. That's how we sing. Oh, what a phenomenal hymn I would suggest when you're getting ready for church today. So mark psalm one nine, verse nine. And take a look at those verses. And then this hymn, my song is love unknown to consider it. Also the opening hymn, come to Calvary's holy Mountain. That's the perfect hymn for the beginning of passion tide to consider that as well. All right, that'll probably do it for the Sunday drive to church. Don't skip Sunday school today. [00:24:07] Hebrews chapter seven. Maybe we'll get into Hebrews chapter eight as well. Continuing to think about Jesus as the high priest after the order of Melchizedek and what that means for us. We're about to get to this beautiful verse that says he always lives to intercede for us. And we'll consider this intercession of Jesus at the right hand of the Father, that even right now the Lord Jesus is praying for us. How marvelous. In the early service we'll have Ryan and Elizabeth's confirmation. God be praised for that. That. So hopefully you'll be able to see and congratulate them as well. All right, see you soon. God's peace be with you.