Sardis's Blood [Wednesday in Lent 4]

TEXT ONLY -- NO AUDIO

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• St. John 9:1-38

• Revelation 3:1-6

 

Grace to you and peace. (1 Thess 1)
 
Jesus speaks to you tonight, saying:
“Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.”
 
In our Lord’s letter to His Church in Sardis, it appears as if His words come too late, for though there is work being done, the people are not alive, but dead. Not too much active or clean about dead people, which is why later in the letter Jesus talks about soiled garments. Not to be too graphic, but they are soiled because of the blood. When you walk in on a crime scene you know there is death, because of blood.
 
Blood outside of a body does it no good and that is Sardis’ problem: they have let out the blood so that they have none. And no matter how active or alive their works were, they were incomplete and inadequate to keep the blood, to keep life. As Jesus said, “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Lev 17:11).
 
Thus verse 2, when spoken to dead people, seems not very fair. But it’s only not fair if those spoken words are powerless. When verse 2 says wake up and strengthen, it happens. Their works may be incomplete, but “what remains” and “what you received and heard” in verse 3, are complete and powerful, because they are of Jesus.
 
Thus our belief is true: we are dead towards God and need the Word of Life, that is the Spirit to enliven us by His Gospel. And the Gospel Word to the dead-in-sin is wake up, that is be resurrected, not only today after you have repented and received absolution, but also on the Last Day.
 
The next Gospel Word to those fresh from the dead is “strength”, not strength to do it on your own, but strength to “hear what the Spirit says to the” Church, for the Lord has confused our language, but unites us in His language of the Church. This tells us that first we must be raised and given strength, that is baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. 
 
Second, we must remember that there are no works, good or otherwise, without the Gospel. At the Word of God we rise. At the Word of God we are condemned in our sinful, soiled rags of works and flesh. At the Word of God we are enlightened and enlivened by Word and Sacrament.
 
Again, remember and strengthen what remains and what you have received and heard. The Word of God handed down to you, the Faith catechized into you, and the Divine Service of the Church in your heart by memorization and repetition. 
 
when there is nothing wrong or nothing impending, remembering is easy. We have the calm and peace to make sure nothing is left out. When we are overwhelmed and the waters come over our head, then we revert to the least common denominator of our training, both physical and spiritual.
 
Meaning, in extreme situations when time and calm are not an option, you will only be as strong as you have trained. If you have trained in your sin, then your actions at the end with be conquered by those in white robes. If you have trained in Gods Church, then your actions will be to not forget your white cloak given in baptism and to lean on God’s understanding of how to save you.
 
As St. Peter is pulled from the drowning waters of death, so does the Word and Work of Jesus pull us from the sleep of death. We are not called to innovate and to think up new and relevant ways to approach God. We are called to what has already been accomplished and completed.
 
First comes He Who has the Seven Spirits and the Seven Stars. Now one could be self-centered and think of these as the gifts of the Spirit, found in Isaiah 11: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. And one could be pagan and believe that the seven stars are the seven lights of the menorah-type lamp that used to be in the Temple of old.
 
Or we can think of them as 7 being a completed number, as in the Days of Creation. That 7 is the number of God’s Completed goodness which He now gives only through Faith. So “seven spirits” just means “seven-fold spirit”, that is the Holy Spirit Who is filled with the Gifts of Christ. And the seven stars are the “seven-fold-light” which imperfectly revealed the Lord at His birth, but now shines brighter through the cross.
 
thus, the Crucifixion of Jesus stands as the One Thing Needful, “what remains”, and “what is received and heard”. The loss of Blood is the bloodless Worship Service that modern times dictate we have. The restoration in the white robes is nothing but the Blood of Christ returned, restored, and remembered.
 
Returned as in the preaching of the Spirit says, “Baptism now saves you”. Restored as in the preaching of the pastor then preaches about this reclaiming and regeneration to the people, that they put on this Robe of Christ’s Righteousness. Remembered as in, oh yes, I was baptized and God said it was important. Maybe it should be important to me as well.
 
Thus, godly death and resurrection, Law and Gospel, are given. No greater word could have been spoken to the Church at Sardis than, “you are dead in your trespasses” (Eph 2:1), because then the greatest Word could be spoken over them, “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:9-11).
 
Why? Because it is from He Who Conquers. The promises given to the Church are from the Man Who made promises to suffer, die, and rise again. Those came true, so there is no reason to believe that those same promises made to us won’t come true. He Who promises is faithful, he will do it (1 Thess 5:24).
 
The lesson from Sardis is that our Savior continues to teach and to preach His free forgiveness of sins regardless of what the Church looks like on the outside. Especially if it is in the midst of Babylon The Dead, the Word shall still remain. And since the Word remains, the Sacraments remain. 
 
And since the Sacraments remain, Faith remains for you to find in abundance in repentance and forgiveness.