Surrounding God [Epiphany 2]

 Readings from Holy Scripture

    Exodus 33:12-23

    Romans 12:6-16

    St. John 2:1-11

Surrounding the Lamb

Only God can save you. Only God will save you. Not a mask. Not a syringe. Not a civil war. God has a plan to save you and He lays it out today how He is going to do so. There will be a party, a wedding even. There will be a Groom and a Bride. There will be wine. There will be belief.

There will be no masks as holy Scripture never mentions them. Well, it does, but its in the negative. Moses wore a mask so that the people couldn’t see God’s shining glory streaming out of his face, Exodus 34 (v. 30ff): “Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him…And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.”

But we are not like Moses who proclaimed a ministry of death, written on stone, by his mask, says 2 Corinthians 3 (v.7), because the Holy Ghost has more glory than stone, death, and a mask. Our mask is instead over our hearts and the mask on our face reflects that “whenever Moses is read” to us, continues 2 Corinthians 3, “a [mask] lies over [our] hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the [mask] is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with [unmasked] face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (v.15-18).

Thus we hear today in our Gospel the unmasked glory of the Lord’s Wedding Feast, which is His plan for us and His solution to all our woes and fears. This unregulated, unmitigated, anti-social distancing nightmare is what God has planned for your life, not just in the future, but today. For today God shows you what His back can accomplish and what you receive by being behind Him, as we heard from our OT reading.

Not like our political handlers, who within minutes of fearing for their lives and being harried in a chaotic retreat out of the Capitol building a week and a half ago, our duty-bound millionaires bravely took their rightful place in front of camera and microphone immediately to deliver a carefully written, and long-thought out speech. Funny.

In this miraculously prepared speech, the deeds and accomplishments of a great temple were listed off in order to be worshiped. We are told to rally around democracy, whatever that is, and the party. If we just follow these millionaires, we will be alright. If we just get behind their idea of life, we will be healed. If we just bow down…

But really, they are just fleecing us. They do not want us behind them, they want us in front of them. They want us to go along with their idea and, instead of going with us they will leave us out in front to face the consequences. However, they will be behind us using us as a meat shield.

This is the lie that Satan told to Adam and Eve. If you just eat this fruit first, you will be like God. Go ahead of me, Eve. You bite the bullet first.

In fact, satan was also saying to go ahead of God, for God’s Word to them was not to eat. Satan was saying that if you take the next step in faith, eating, what God really wants you to do is step out on your own two feet and then you will have it. As we found out, there is only death ahead of, or in front of, God.

Jesus also takes a hold of and claims the idea of “getting behind” Him, not in front of Him. And we are considering just what He means, because Moses is shown God’s back today. So we must find out what God means by revealing His back, because what sinful man always means when he says “get behind me” is “you take the fall instead of me”.

Now Jesus tells us to follow Him in many places in holy Scripture, so we can assume that He is going to stand in front of us, which He does. But when He does so, He says to “follow” Him, in other words, get behind Him.

But what is behind Jesus? what exactly is this back that Moses is seeing in Exodus 33?

Jesus says, “Get behind me satan” in Matthew 4 (v.10), then says to St. Peter, “get behind me satan” in chapter 16 (v.23). He tells the Apostles to come behind Him and He will make them fishers of men, Matthew 4 (v.19) and whoever does not pick up his cross and get behind Him is not worthy of Him in Matthew 10 (v.38).

Quite the motley crew gathering behind Jesus, at God’s back. The sinners are there. Both believers and unbelievers. For, according to St. John, who’s Gospel we heard today, those disciples that could not stand the practice of eating and drinking the Body and Blood of our Lord, also went behind Jesus, but did not follow Him any more (6:66).

In fact, the whole word goes after Jesus, as the Pharisees prophesy in John 12:19. That is to say, that when God reveals His plan, those who hate it and those who love it will be behind Jesus, following to see what He will do.

Also in St. John’s gospel, Jesus is the one Who “gets behind”. He is the one “behind” or coming after John the Baptist in 1:30 and the One behind St. Mary at the Empty Tomb on Easter (20:14).

Now Jesus is not only before us, but behind us as well, where our social managers are only behind us hiding as Adam and Eve did hoping to avoid all divine attention. Psalm 139:5 says, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.”

Jesus is in front of us in every aspect. In creating all things, He was first in the universe and first on earth and first to see everything in it. In becoming incarnate, He was first to be miraculously conceived and born of a virgin, first to mature and live as man perfectly united with God. In being crucified, He was the first to endure the sum total of all sin and in the resurrection, He is the first to leave all that behind and take a human body and soul to eternal paradise, ruling all things.

This is what Moses sees at God’s back. He sees a savior Who stands in front. He sees a God Who sacrifices Himself and lays down His life so that his could be redeemed. He sees a back strong enough to bear the weight of suffering and the cross caused by all sin of all time and yet still rise again for the fight.

To get behind Jesus is to see Him do all these things. To see Him do all these things on your behalf is to believe, as the disciples did today at the Feast of Cana. Notice how careful the Lord is with Moses. He places him in a safe, secure spot. He covers Moses to protect him. He tells Moses exactly what’s going to happen and exactly what he’s going to see. The Lord stands behind Moses, supporting him.

Jesus is behind us, in every respect. Not only is He our support and strength in times of trouble, but He has also placed Himself lower than us, becoming the chief of sinners on the cross. He the servant, I a lord. He gives us the glory, the crown, and the honor. All that He has from His Father, He gives away, to you.

To be in front of Jesus is to see everything that He has purchased and won on the cross. Life, light, salvation. To be in front of Jesus is to be received into the Lord’s presence with the merits and worthiness of Christ. To be in front of Jesus is to be pushed into death, only to be led right back out again by Jesus in front.

Psalm 17:9 laments that my deadly enemies surround me. They have “surrounded our steps;

    they set their eyes to cast us to the ground” (v.11) in death, as Daniel was surrounded by the lions. 

• Psalm 32:10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

• Psalm 125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.

And

• Psalm 32:7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. The shouts of deliverance that echo in this church. 

If God wants you to get this virus you are getting this virus. But God doesn’t want to give you this virus, He wants to give you His Body and Blood. You may still get the virus to produce repentance in you and for you to do better, but only to lead you to His forgiveness that you can eat and drink. This is the reason why we should want Communion every chance we get and offer it every Sunday, at least.

Because God’s plan is to have you surround Him, now. God’s plan is for you to hem Him in on all sides. God’s plan is for you to approach His back, which is Jesus, in Body and Blood for the medicating of both body and soul and vaccination against death and sin. 

The whole world does follow Jesus, as the Pharisees prophesied, along with death, disease, and tragedy. But those baptized into the faith follow to the wedding hall, where not only is water turned to wine, but wine turned to Blood for the forgiveness of your sins.

The whole of Christendom follows behind Jesus and is spurned onward by Jesus, to His Holy Supper. Where we fail, God is trustworthy. Where we are placed in difficult and impossible situations, God is faithful. He hems you in. There is nowhere you can go where He will not follow you, not even to hell.

Psalm 139:8 says, “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!”

Only God can save you and He does. He saved you through the past, the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son. He saved you “…by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on [you] richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5-6).

And He saves you now, from all things, by His means of His Spirit, the Word and Sacrament, which you surround. Dear Christian, you are already saved. In faith, you have already won the race, you have made it and no matter what this world does to you it can not take that away. In faith, you will be saved. You will awaken from death and arise to a final, eternal life next to your Savior. 

Today, you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, alive. Today you eat and drink and make merry, because tomorrow you live. God spreads His wedding feast in jars of clay and offers this spot at the table next to Himself, just for you.