Taught by men [Passion Sunday]

 READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 22:1-14

• Hebrews 9:11-15

• St. John 8:46-59

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 

Jesus speaks to you today, saying:

“…but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the Temple.”

 

In our sin, we forget about God and what it means to follow Him. As Jesus demonstrated for us last week, to follow Him means to eat and drink His Body and Blood. As Abraham shows us today, to follow Him means to sacrifice your one and only son. God’s Word to Abraham was no metaphor and Abraham didn’t think so either. Neither should we, when it comes to Word and Sacrament.

 

One of the reasons following Jesus is hard, is because we don’t get to make the rules. We don’t get to follow our heart or our dreams. We don’t get to listen to voices in our head and we don’t get to watch for signs in sun, moon, and stars. God speaks through His written Word and if what we experience in the world contradicts that, then we are to disregard the experience.

 

For Abraham had the good life. The really, good life. Part of this “good life” was his family. We don’t really think about this too much, even in the Church, but remember all those long lifespans they had in the beginning? That Adam lived 930 years and that Seth, his priestly son after Abel, lived 912 years? That Noah lived for 950 years and Shem, his priestly son, lived 600 years?

 

Well, what this means is that Noah’s father, Lamech, lived with Adam for over 50 years and with Seth for almost 200 years of his own 777 years of life. 

 

I don’t think this has sunk in yet. Lamech, Noah’s father, knew Adam. He got to sit at his feet and listen to a first-hand, eyewitness account of all God did in the beginning. He got to hear of Eden and Eve and the serpent. He got to hear of all that the Lord spoke to him and did with him. Lamech’s catechesis was done by the First Man ever created.

 

Such that when God’s Word shows up to confront Noah, Noah is able to believe. And he is able to believe for 2 reasons: 1) was his faithful upbringing and catechesis done by his father, and 2) it is easy to believe when there is somebody talking to you, rather than a ghost. 

 

For Dr. Luther contends that Adam and Eve were not only parents, but acted also as God’s Priests on earth. So they were not only in charge of ceremonies and the Church of the day, but also in charge of revealing God’s Word to everyone, as in when the Lord speaks Adam is doing the speaking. And after him, Seth, then Lamech, then Noah, then Shem and on and on.

 

As Hebrews 1:1 tells us, “…at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.” God speaks through men.

 

So when we get to Abraham and this seemingly ridiculous command to sacrifice his son, Abraham is not hearing voices. I believe that Shem was speaking to Abraham and Abraham trusted Shem and the Word of God from Shem. Shem outlives Abraham and knows both Isaac and Jacob and preaches to them as well. 

 

What this means for us is that God takes special care of His Word. He makes sure, double sure, and triple sure that it will get to you. Not by legends or myths or he-said-she-said, but by the word, ink, and pen of men. 

 

Such that, Abraham “…considered that God was able even to raise [Isaac] from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Heb. 11:19). Now, it is enough, for a father, to receive one’s son back from the dead, but the Lord’s promise was greater than that. Not only would the Son return, but “…I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:17-18).

 

This of course is impossible with man. Not even Adam with his long life could have enough children to fulfill this promise in a natural way. No, this promise is for the resurrection. This promise is made to prove the resurrection of all flesh, not just the Son. For the amount of offspring that have died in all of history, to this point, truly does surpass the number of stars and sand.

 

So the Lord provided. He provided Isaac in this rehearsal of the resurrection. He provided His Word through the prophet Shem to Abraham. And today, the Lord provides a Son of His own. For “at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs” (Heb 1:1-4).

 

Jesus is both Isaac and the ram caught in the thicket. Jesus as the ram is caught in the thicket of our sins. The ram did nothing to deserve being sacrificed, neither did any of the other sacrifices demanded by God in the past. However, the Word has spoken through men and now through His own mouth: “the Lord will provide”, “the lamb that taketh away the sin of the world”.

 

Jesus as Isaac is the one who gets away. The guilty that goes free. For Jesus is condemned and found guilty of our sin, punished to death upon a cross and is raised again. Through His death, Jesus escapes death forever. By His suffering, dying, and rising He will never die again. Though it is not really an escape, because He dies, but He does so in order that Isaac, and all his descendants, would escape.

 

And where does this information come from? How do we know that what we hear today is trustworthy? We know because a Man spoke it, the God-man, Jesus Christ who rose from the dead, and other men listened and recorded it as the Holy Ghost guided them.

 

For Jesus is also the Word made flesh, not just ink and paper, Who hides Himself within the mouths of men. The Messiah and His promise were hidden in the mouth of Adam and Eve, hearing the first Gospel proclaimed in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

 

The Word made flesh was hidden on the lips of Noah and Shem and Abraham as they proclaimed the resurrection through water and the Word. The water of the Flood which corresponds to Baptism and the Word of the promise of the provision in the Ram.

 

Jesus hides Himself today. In His holiness, none will ever lay hands on Him or humiliate Him ever again. He may be blasphemed against, but none of the charges stick.

 

There is comfort and blessing found in the hiddenness of Jesus. For when Jesus hides, He does not do it to be found by only a certain special someone. He hides such that all may find Him as He said. As He said to Adam and Eve. As He said to Abraham. As He said to His disciples on Easter, “He is not dead but alive…He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he said” (Mk 16:7).

 

Just. As. He. Said.

 

Repent and be forgiven, dear Christians. Jesus still hides Himself for you. What has He told you? He told His disciples to go to Galilee to see Him. He tells you to find His Body and His Blood in bread and wine, hidden upon your own lips today.

 

Such surpassing blessing the world has never known! The Word may have been on Adam’s lips and all the patriarchs, but they never had the Word as you do. In fact, as wonderful and miraculous as all the things in the past that happened to them, they “…all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 6:13).

 

Abraham had to die, never being able to to see more than His son Isaac and most of the trouble he got into. He had to wait for the true Ram of God, Who would not only take away the sins of the world, not only resurrect all flesh, but Who would give Himself completely to sinners, securing an eternal redemption, purifying our conscience from dead works, and granting the eternal promised inheritance (Heb. 9:11-15), all through the Sacrament, as our Epistle has said.

 

Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Jesus and the full completion and perfection of the promise made to him, on the cross. Abraham saw it and rejoiced, because Abraham is not dead, but lives. For the Word gives life (Jn 6:63) and the Word is life (Jn 1:4).

 

Jesus lives and Adam lives in Him. Jesus lives and Abraham and Isaac live in Him. Jesus lives and you will live. For, it turns out, the Word was not just thoughts, ideas, and feelings, but a man. The Word was made flesh, hiding the glory of God in a body, which is glorified by the Father by rising from the dead and becoming a Supper for all who hear it and believe it.

 

For as it has always been and will be, world without end, the Word is given that men may believe. It is spoken so men may hear. It is revealed that men may understand. And it is given by men such that men may take and eat and drink and be unified in the one Body of Christ, their Ram, Who forgives all their sin.