The Jesus speaks to you this evening, through St. Peter, who
is simply repeating Jesus Who had already said:
This evening, we will begin to look at our black banners one
by one and discover what Jesus’ words from the cross have to do with us, these upcoming
Wednesdays in Lent. 7 are the total number, yet in Christ we find an extra word
that is not on our banners, which we will talk about on Holy Wednesday.
For now, seven is the number of sacrifice. We hear in 2
Chronicles: “And they brought seven
bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the
kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah
And in Job: “Now therefore
take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt
offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will
accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have
not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has (42:8).”
Seven is also the number of punishment. Heard from
Leviticus: “Then if you walk contrary to
me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your
sins (26:21).” And Deuteronomy: “The
Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one
way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to
all the kingdoms of the earth (28:25).”
For in the last Days, at the trumpet call of the seventh
angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his
servants the prophets (Rev. 10:7). And at the pouring of the seventh bowl, this
mystery will be completed (16:7).
To be sure, seven is also a lot of positive things in holy
Scripture, but those are well known. The cross of Jesus is a backwards victory,
so we must look at the hard things in life backwards to gain the correct
perspective. The cross is both punishment for our sins and yet Jesus is making
the sacrifice for those same sins.
So, the first of these sacrificial words Jesus speaks from His
cross has to do with forgiveness or dismissal, as that same word is sometimes
translated. Why complicate the word forgiveness and the plain good we can
receive from it? Because you already know it. What you don’t already know is
the depths of this word that Jesus uses on the cross to mean “forgiveness”.
What is telling about this word “forgive” is it is used of a
fever that St. Peter’s mother-in-law had. She is suffering and Jesus dismisses
the fever. The Scapegoat is dismissed from the people, carrying their sins with
him into the wilderness (Lev. 16:10). If a man is caught in the act of defiling
a virgin, then he is to marry her with no recourse to dismiss or divorce her
ever (Deut.22:19, 29).
Of course, the point is to show that not only is Jesus
asking for our forgiveness while He is suffering in our stead, a selfless act
no one can equal, He is also begging our heavenly Father to dismiss our sin and
divorce us from it.
This paints the gaining of salvation in its rightful,
violent light. Jesus is suffering and dying 2000 years apart from us. We
sterilize that image, removing Him from our crosses and make forgiveness a
forgotten word, but the language of Scripture does not allow that. In Jesus’
words from the cross, “Father, forgive
them…”, Jesus is calling for divorce.
In this way, whenever we hear about the severe consequences
of divorce in the Old Testament we should not think how sexist and how unfair
they are, but to see that if they were not so strict, there would not be such a
sharp separation of us from our sin.
Father forgive them, they marry their sins and die in them.
Father forgive them, they cling to the father of lies and find comfort in sin.
Truly, we do not know what we are doing here.
Jesus knows what He is doing. Much more than circumcising
the flesh to symbolize God’s covenant, Jesus is circumcising our hearts. Much
more than rending our filthy garment and rags of crimson, He is rending our
hearts. In the word of forgiveness from the cross, Jesus unleashes the Gospel
upon every heart and breaks it.
We are stuck in an unholy marriage, in the depths of woe,
and only unto death do us part shall there be a legal and binding separation.
Wed to our sins, Jesus, the true Bridegroom, declares the marriage annulled,
having been a farce in the first place, and baptizes us into the one, true
marriage: Jesus and His Church.
In sin, you have been united to a foreign wife. A wife full
of corruption and death. In Christ you have been reunited with your Creator,
your true Lord and husband. By calling for divorce, Jesus is not saying you get
to divorce nor is He saying that the Lord is in the habit of divorcing, as in
maybe He could do that to us one day.
Jesus calls for the divorce of death from life, not husband from
wife. God-instituted marriage is meant to remain whole and strong. Sin and
death are not instituted by God and therefore must be removed forcibly.
Jesus forgives our sins and in doing so tears us away from
our former selves in order that we live forever with Him instead. This is the
same forgiveness of sins you ask for and receive in the Divine Service.
No comments:
Post a Comment