January 15, 2023                                Text:  John 1:29-42a

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Have you played the blame game?  The one where Adam blamed Eve for his troubles.  The same game where Eve blamed the serpent.  We even print t-shirts to put on youngsters with sayings like, “It’s my sister’s fault”, or “my brother did it, not me.”

    What if I told there are Christian churches where there is no blame game because there is nothing to be blamed for.  What if I told you this is being taught in a Lutheran Church.  Pastor Dawn describes herself as a “21st Century Progressive Christian Pastor.”  She preached on the text that we have before us today at Holy Cross Lutheran in Ontario, Canada.  She handled it differently as we see from her theme, “Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?  It ain’t necessarily so!”  Oh . . . she used “ain’t.”  Sit back and listen – it gets worse.  Here is a small portion:

    “To this day many Christians believe that though you and I deserved to be punished for our sins, that God sent Jesus to absorb that punishment as a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter…The projection of a literal sacrifice for sin depends upon a pre-Darwinian understanding of creation…So, becoming one with God is not about blotting out the stain of original sin, but rather evolving into our fullness as creatures grounded in the creator and source of our being…Jesus did not die for our sins.  Jesus revealed a God who calls and empowers us to step beyond the survival mentality that warps our potential and to become so fully human that God’s love can flow through us to others.”

    I told you it was going to get worse.  If this is the Christian Church, we might as well go home.  We are wasting our time.  I pray you know; you are making good use of your time in the Father’s house this day.  We have a message that answers the question . . .

“WHO DO WE BLAME?”

    Jesus.  He is the one the Old Testament was waiting for – what all that bloody sacrifice in temple was all about.  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  Jesus.

  He was the one the whole creation was waiting for – waiting for the full payment to be made so that his new Adam might restore all things.  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  Jesus.

This is what the whole New Testament Church is still about – what goes on here today and each Sunday in fact.  Jesus.

Each of us has sinned and will sin.  We need to fess up.  Repent.  All that we do, and leave undone, is our fault.  Yet, even doing this – admitting our fault and then being allowed to blame someone else – God Himself, of all people – this would still do nothing for the guilt or consequence, would it?  Someone still has to pay.  

We know all this.  We understand justice.  God is just.  He is justice itself.  Justice must be fulfilled.  So, God tells us to blame Him as if He did all these terrible things.  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

He did, and it was finished.  He did die in our place.  He did accept all sin as His own.  He paid the penalty on the cross for the whole world.  Justice has been done.

So, yes, we are to take our sin – all of it – and place it on his head and send it with him into that bleak and desperate place to die.  Outside the city wall.  To the cross of Calvary.  Leave it there.  In him.  On him.  This is why Jesus came.  He is the Lamb of God who takes the blame.  He accepts the blame, so we won’t be blamed.  He gladly accepts the eternal consequences, so we don’t have to.

So, fess up.  And when the devil comes with his list of your misdeeds you go right ahead and tell him it’s all true.  Yes, all of it.  And remind him there is probably more he doesn’t know about because he is not God.  You can tell him you are in fact a whole lot worse than he knows.

But Jesus knows.  He came for that very reason.  He came to take the blame.  He has taken care of it.  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

                                            Amen. 

January 4, 2023 – Baptism of our Lord                      Text:  Matthew 3:13-17                                    

Dear Friends in Christ,

    At this time in the church year things can move along rather quickly.  Epiphany was Friday – the visit of the Wise Men.  Now here we are two days later and the Baptism of Jesus.  He is an infant on Friday and a 30-year-old at His Baptism.  We fast forward to this unique event, a baptism unlike any other, yet a baptism that lays the groundwork for our own baptism.

    When Ed Koch was mayor of New York City, he was famous for strolling the streets and asking his constituents, “How am I doing?”  He took his cues and set his course based on their replies.  He was pleased when they were pleased.

    How’s Jesus doing?  We have a vested interest in the answer.  In our text we will discover that answer.  

“HOW IS JESUS DOING?”

    It is an odd question for us to be asking.  Does Jesus need our approval?  What kind of focus group do we think we are?  He is Jesus, after all.

    But even Jesus had his critics.  Even Jesus had those who questioned what he was doing.  The Pharisees and Sadducees make their first appearance in Matthew.  In the verses preceding our text they are questioning John about Baptism.  They don’t think they need to repent and confess their sins before being baptized.  They had their good works.  They had their heritage.  They were descendants of Abraham.  Ironic that they would play that card because Abraham was one who lived by faith with repentance and trust in God’s promises.  If John is touting this Jesus who is mightier than him, well these folks have a problem with Jesus too.  And as we know this will not be the first time that they question what Jesus is doing.

    But why baptize Jesus?  Why does someone who is sinless need this water of the Jordan?  Jesus had no need of this.  But Jesus makes a point:  I will be baptized.  Why?  Because I have come for sinners.  I stand with sinners.  I shoulder the burden of all.  This is the start of his three-year journey to the cross.  

    The Pharisees and Sadducees would say that he has blown it.  What is he doing mixing with this crowd?  They will be a constant focus group and a pain in the side of Jesus throughout his ministry.  But their approval doesn’t count.  “How am I doing?” the question goes.  Jesus doesn’t need to wait for the polls or the election.  He has immediate feedback which is better than any exit poll.  Jesus is baptized, comes out of the water, and immediately heaven stands in solidarity.  “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  Not just anyone, but a “Son.”  Not just pleased, but “well pleased.”

    God stands in solidarity with Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed, the Messiah.  We can understand if those on the riverbank were stunned and confused.  There were messianic expectations, some quite extraordinary.  This Jesus looks ordinary.  Beware of wanting Him on our terms.  Rather, take what is given, trust what is said.  It is rude to remake a gift.

    This “Son” would come for other sons and daughters.  He would come for prodigals who left the faith.  He would come for children who never knew the faith.  He would come for you and I so that we could be accepted by the Father.  Jesus is here for us sinners.  But God in solidarity with Jesus puts things in a new Epiphany light.

    God gives His approval that Jesus is doing great.  Here is how the circle works.  Jesus in solidarity with sinners, God with Jesus, and God with us.  How so and where?  In our Baptism.  Jesus’ baptism obviously is not identical with our own.  The path for Jesus was not finished.  There are still cross and empty tomb to come.  We are baptized into that death and resurrection.  His baptism is ours as our sin is His.  Martin Luther calls this the “happy exchange” that happens in our baptism.  “Who for us and for our salvation” as we confess in the Creed.  Christ’s name is put on us.  All righteousness was eventually fulfilled in Christ.

    Have any of you read where church roofs have opened with doves descending and voices from the sky giving approval during a baptism?  I haven’t either.  There is no need for that.  Something spectacular still happens as the Father, as Christ, stand in solidarity and give the Spirit.  As the Trinity is invoked and the water is sprinkled, we stand in awe at the power of our Lord.  His salvation is our salvation.  You are watermarked.

    How is Jesus doing?  In this God is well-pleased.  That is all that matters, right?                                                        Amen.