Miracle of flesh and blood [Epiphany 3]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• 2 Kings 5:1-15

• Romans 12:16-21

• St. Matthew 8:1-13

 

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

Who speaks to you today saying:

“the centurion replied, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed’”

 

Jesus has just finished showing everyone around Him that He can turn water into wine and since this is His first sign, never mind His birth, the Magi, or His Baptism, it is at this time that great crowds begin to hound Him. And the requests began to pour in and pile up.

 

A miracle worker! A miracle worker! Jesus, fix my shoes. Jesus, fix my marriage. What color sandals should I buy next? He’s a carpenter? Jesus, my roof leaks. Jesus, I need a new house. I want a cookie.

 

Even with the miracles He did perform, He separated Himself from the crowds, maybe for that reason. Later in the Gospel, St. Matthew recalls, “And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone” (14:23). Not that He was overwhelmed, well maybe according to His humanity, but that He was not here to just show miracles.

 

Even the disciples became overwhelmed with all of it. When people started to bring their infants to the fray, they refused them audience with Jesus. Jesus has to say, “No, no. These aren’t the ones to turn away.”

 

The Lord never tires of caring for His creation. “He watching over Israel slumbers not nor sleeps”, says Psalm 121:4. But the proper care only He knows, thus He is only interested in performing His work. He is exclusive. Healing one son, but leaving another sick. Raising one daughter, but leaving another. Calming one storm, feeding one crowd, making merry one wedding, but leaving all others to run their own course in this sinful world.

 

Seems cold. Seems distant. Seems uncaring. 

 

And yet, this is what is asked of Him. The centurion asks for a miracle of healing, but he does not want to burden Jesus anymore than he has to. Indeed, the same faith that compelled him, a man of authority, to come himself, is the same faith that trembles at the thought of addressing God with so seemingly small a matter.

 

At other times, Jesus denied moving from where He was and just tele-health-ed the child. Again, with the Syro-Phoenician woman, He both denied moving and healing (Mk 7:24-29). This is all to reveal to us another aspect of faith. For in each case, it did not matter what Jesus did or where He went, as long as He was involved, healing would happen.

 

For now, there are no hungry, or broken sandals, or bank accounts brought forward. Now, the dead are being brought to Jesus. Jesus picks and chooses His miracles and signs, not because He has limited power or because He’s waiting for the holiest person to make the right words. He waits for the right sign in order to reveal Himself and His work.

 

And when the dead begin coming to Him, we begin to march towards Jerusalem and Golgotha.

 

Repent. In Jesus’s miracles, we see power only. And when we focus on power, we are brought up on charges that, if Jesus were really God, why doesn’t He heal me right now? Then, we get stuck in the “evil god” loop, which goes: 

If God is willing to prevent evil but is not able to, then he is not all-powerful. 

If he is able to prevent evil but is not willing to, then he is not all-good. 

If he is both willing and able to prevent evil, then why is there evil and suffering in the world?

 

In our sinfulness, we begin to agree and we being to doubt. Unlike the centurion, we hear these doubts before we even get close to Jesus, and turn back home, thinking it a waste of time. Unlike the Syro-Phoenician woman, we despair at the first hint of struggle, dis-believe, and going back to our sinful lives wonder why life is so hard.

 

There is a Son, a Servant of the Lord, Who receives no help, tele- or otherwise. There is a Servant Who becomes sick unto death and no rescue comes. There is a Son Who is captured unjustly and receives no trial, no intermediary, and no reprieve. Who delivers such a One as this?

 

Like the centurion’s servant, Jesus is sick unto death with our sin. As the propitiation, the wrath-absorbing-sacrifice for sin, Jesus takes the sickness into Himself and instead of it being the servant’s, it becomes His. Like the Syro-Phoenician woman, Jesus begs for the cup to be removed from His lips. He removes the cup of suffering from her lips, but takes it to His own.

 

In these miraculous signs of Jesus, we see His work of suffering, death, and resurrection. He is not there to simply save from temporal problems, but from eternal problems. There is more at stake than 401ks, wardrobes, and health. There is eternal life and eternal death. 

 

These are what Christ comes to bear on our behalf. He comes to secure life itself, such that death, sin, and the devil have no more power over it. He comes to secure healing itself, such that there never be a tear, or a sorrow, or suffering ever again. 

 

For when Jesus accomplishes His work, it will not matter what happens to us in this life. The centurion’s servant could die, but if he dies in the faith, he will live. The Syro-Phoenician woman could suffer her whole life, but if she suffers in faith, she will never suffer again. 

 

The true miracle of Jesus is that He secures perfect healing as both God and man. Healing that happens at His Word, regardless of situation, life, or death. This, His signs are to point us to. That because He can heal at His Word, and we have that same Word today, we can believe His Word and receive what it says. 

 

And because He can, and springs to the opportunity to heal also with His touch, and He is still Living and working the same way today, we can also believe and receive exactly as He gives. So at His Word and by His Touch, the church gathers under His signs and finds the Faith given to them.

 

This is why, traditionally, these words of the centurion have been associated with a Communion prayer. That, when we are about to receive the Body of Christ in our mouth, we pray, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof” of my mouth. 

 

Jesus says, you are right and you are wrong. You are right that your sin prevents you, but you are wrong that your sin prevents Jesus. For it is His work that makes your roof worthy to receive blessing from God. It is His work that creates holy space out of sinful space. It is His work that cleanses and heals, so of course He is going to go to those places that need it.

 

The funny thing is, in order to remain pure, to follow God’s Law, as they believed, the Pharisees would not set foot in Pontius Pilate’s praetorium in order to condemn Jesus. They thought that if they stepped foot in an ungodly place that worshipped other gods, they would be unworthy of God’s favor at the festival.

 

But Who do we find standing in the praetorium? Jesus. Who do we find eating with sinners and tax collectors? Who do we find touching lepers? Who do we find walking in the places of the dead causing life to spring out, instead?

 

Does this mean we, too, go out and seek suffering and sickness and unholiness in order that Christ come for us? A mirror is all you need for that. Instead, we seek out Him; His Person, Work, and Word. We do not focus on our sinful unworthiness, but His Body and Blood which makes us worthy.

 

For the greater miracle is here. That God is in the flesh, having died once, is now alive forever more. That He has not forsaken us, but still continues His work among us in Word and Sacrament, coming under our unworthy roofs, freely giving His Worthiness, making things holy.

 

So now we have His Holy Church, a Holy Bible, Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, Holy Absolution, and Holy Preaching and teaching. Such that we prepare our youth and all who believe to receive Christ in His Body and Blood. God prepares it, Christ confirms it. He is on earth, God and man, still forgiving, still blessing, still healing.

 

 

Roused to Glory [Epiphany 2]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 33:12-23

• Romans 12:6-16

• St. John 2:1-11

 

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

Who speaks to you today saying:

“This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And His disciples believed in him.”

 

Today’s Gospel is included in God’s Word to wake us up, according to the 3^rd Commandment. God plops down in front of us and starts working, urging us to sit, rest, and receive the fruits of His eternal labor. He has created Love, He has created marriage, and He has created the wine of gladness, the Gospel, which invites to an eternal rest in Him. He works, we believe and receive.

 

In the Wedding at Cana incident, there have been many words said. Most of those tend to remain in the “miracle” category, as in, wow Jesus can do Wedding tricks too! And thus, the depreciation of this wonderous act begins, in our hearts. We cannot understand it fully and so we make jokes about it and file it under Jesus’s “well, that’s nice for that wedding, at that time”. Not mine.

 

Though we can dive deep into the meaning of this first Sign, as Jesus calls it in our Gospel today, on the surface it seems rather plain. I, too, laugh at the jokes of people switching supermarket signs of the wine and water aisles. Its funny. Laughing at ourselves is a good thing. But, turning water into wine is just…too…natural for someone as awesome as Jesus, right?

 

My wife and I went to a wine store, one day, to get the “chemistry kit”, they called it, to start making our own wine. The Owner felt the need to explain from the very beginning, what wine is. So he took a grape. Placed it on the table. Smashed it and said, that’s wine.

 

St. Augustine has said such about this Sign from our Lord. “This miracle of the Lord, in which He made wine from water, does not astonish those who know that God wrought it. For on that day, He made wine in the water jars, Who each succeeding year makes it in the vines. But this latter through familiarity loses its wonder. So, God made use of unaccustomed means to rouse men, who were now as sleepers, to the worship of Himself; for which reason the Evangelist says: and manifested His glory.”

 

That is, God works miracles every day. The fact that there is such a thing as grapes and that there is such a thing as fermentation is a miracle. But since this, and other such natural occurrences, happen so often, we look down on them and pay them no mind. Everyone loses their minds when one dead man comes back to life, but no one bats an eye at the birth everyday of those whom, nine short months prior, did not even exist!

 

The point is not to go out and recognize miracles in your life every day, though you can do that and be better for it. The point is to show that God is putting everything at His disposal, in all creation, to wake you up. And it is not just the apparent parlor tricks. God will use His gifts He gives to you to rouse you to His Word. Whether its water into wine, a near death experience, loss of a job, or a husband or wife. The normal humdrum is filled with His sermons.

 

Witnessing water turned to wine is an epiphany moment. What would you do? I would probably stare at the water-turned-wine in disbelief. This isn’t supposed to happen this way. What…? How…? Where…?!

 

It would be the kind of moment where you stop in your tracks and evaluate what you have been doing with yourself up to that point. If someone is here that can change water into wine, then what else can He do and what does He have to say. Someone important is around and you need to pay attention.

 

Repent! It is not the water-turned-wine, it is the slap in the face it gives you. You have become comfortable with the belief that God is on your side and accomplishes His will according to your will. How you like, when you like, and who you like. 

 

And God cannot be any other way. He has come for me, so He is going to make me happy. He cares for me, so He is going to work miracles in me and through me. And we will list those miracles, which just so happen to be the same as when we count our blessings. 

 

But this miracle and all others are not just blessings. They are a shaking. A trembling. “Therefore I will shake the heavens”, saith the Lord in Isaiah 13:13, “And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the Lord of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger.”

 

The shaking is that God is using creation to accomplish salvation. For not only will He unnaturally produce wine, still storms, and heal, but He will enter time and space to be made flesh. The angels stare in disbelief as the infinite God is fed at His mother’s breasts, suffers, and dies on a cross. It is the Lord’s doing.

 

St. Chrysostom says:

He manifested His glory, in so far as this depended from His own act. For if all did not hear of it then, yet they would afterwards come to hear of it. Then follows: and His disciples believed in Him.

For they were obliged to believe in Him, and also, more readily and with more diligence pay attention to the things that were being done.” (Homily 22)

 

And the things that were being done, the acts that shake the heavens and the earth, the event of the Lord’s wrath is Jesus, for He has come to absorb that wrath fully, in the common flesh. He has taken the Cup of Salvation and found the whole wrath of God in the dregs, drinking it all.

 

From Psalm 75:8, “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, And the wine is red; It is fully mixed, and He pours it out; Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth Drain and drink down.”

And Isaiah 51:17, “Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the Lord The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out.”

 

Jesus must remind His Apostles in Gethsemane, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” (St John 18:11)

 

“Thus says your Lord, The Lord and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people: ‘See, I have taken out of your hand The cup of trembling, The dregs of the cup of My fury; You shall no longer drink it’” (Isaiah 51:22).

 

Jesus must remind them that He has come to perform and accomplish the sure and certain sign of God’s blessing. Not just water-into-wine-that-normally-happens blessings and miracles, but a Son. A Son come to shed His Blood and give His Body for the salvation of the world. This man, this son of Joseph whose father and mother we know, “How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (St. John 6:42)

 

The water into wine is not the end. It is the first sign the Lord gives to inaugurate His entrance onto the battlefield. Water into wine, healing the royal official's son in Capernaum, healing the paralytic at Bethesda, feeding the 5000, walking on water, healing the man blind from birth, and raising Lazarus from the dead are signposts. This way to the Son of the Most High.

 

But, sorry to disappoint, He is both God and man. He humiliates Himself in the flesh. He suffers evil to be done to Him. He rises again and causes His work to continue on earth, through earthly means: Word and Sacrament. You may bore of His things, but that is on you, not Him.

 

We follow and we believe, just as His disciples did.

We believe, as our Formula of Concord presents:

“On account of this personal union and communion of the [two] natures, Mary, the most blessed Virgin, did not bear a mere man. But, as the angel testifies, she bore a man who is truly the Son of the Most High God [Luke 1:35]. He showed His divine majesty even in His mother's womb, because He was born of a virgin, without violating her virginity. Therefore, she is truly the mother of God and yet has remained a virgin.

He did all His miracles by the power of this personal union. He showed His divine majesty, according to His pleasure, when and as He willed. He did this not just after His resurrection and ascension, but also in His state of humiliation. 

    (a) At the wedding at Cana of Galilee [John 2:1-11]

    (b) When He was twelve years old, among the learned [Luke 2:42-50]

    (c) In the garden, when with a word He cast His enemies to the ground [John 18:6]

    (d) In death, when He died not simply as any other man, but in and with His death conquered sin,                 death, devil, hell, and eternal damnation [Colossians 2:13-15]

The human nature alone would not have been able to do these miracles if it had not been personally united and had communion with the divine nature.” (SD VIII:24-25)

 

Neither could the Church be His Bride, were she not personally united and in divine communion with Her Lord and Savior. So it is that the world sees Christ as common, unimportant, water. To the eyes of faith, the veil is lifted and the wine, hidden in the water, inebriates us to salvation and the forgiveness of sins, found in the cup of the New Covenant, given and shed for you.

 

At His Word [The Baptism of Jesus]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 42:1-7

• 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

• St. Matthew 3:13-17

 

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

Who speaks to you today saying:

“Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

 

It seems fitting, to me, that I should this day preach on snowflakes. “The snow was cold and the snow was bright and the snow was all around”. Maybe a new hymn for our hymnal.

 

No. The snowflakes I want to talk about are the political snowflakes. These are people who get triggered by certain topics immediately when they are brought up in conversation. Snowflakes are people who have been conditioned by their TVs to get offended and angry as soon as a topic is brought up, just like their shock-jocks do. They imitate and idolize.

 

For the last decade, every single political issue is tied to offense. You cannot hold a civil conversation about any important topic without losing your cool. And these topics are important and should be discussed and debated, but you can’t tell a snowflake that.

 

But that’s just the civil and political realm, right? Nothing like that happens when you talk about Jesus. Just try bringing up baptism, and there’d be no snow left in Garrett County. 

But what’s so offensive about Baptism that makes everyone lose their minds?

 

Baptism does that on purpose. John the Baptist says, a few verses before today’s Gospel reading, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Mt 3:12). The difference between the wheat and the chaff is faith. Faith to be able to submit yourself to God’s way of doing things.

 

For example, in 2 Kings 5, there is the event of Naaman. He was a great general in the Syrian army. The Syrians were enemies of Israel and often warred, later to be completely conquered by the Assyrian kingdom. Regardless, Naaman is an enemy. An enemy who had leprosy, yet is highly favored by his king. His king then sends him to Israel, to the Prophet Elisha, who he is told would cure the leprosy.

 

When Naaman arrives at Elisha’s location, Elisha does not come out. Instead, Elisha sends a messenger. Offense number 1. He tells him to wash in the Jordan river 7 times and he’ll be saved. Offense number 2. The Jordan is the dirtiest river in the region. Offense number 3. Elisha did not come out and put on a show. Offense number 4. 

 

Let’s return to John the Baptist for a moment. John the Baptist is melting Jewish snowflakes left and right, by his preaching. “Brood of vipers” is the title of one of his sermons. Maybe an upcoming title in this pulpit. Just sayin.

 

Anyways, the snowflake offender becomes the offended. Jesus doesn’t approach John with arguments, or rebuttals, or gotchyas, like the Jews did. Jesus just comes to be baptized like everyone else was and He is rudely accosted, prevented from doing what everyone else was already doing. John the Snowflake says, “I need to be baptized by you” not vice versa.

 

In other words, “Its supposed to be awesome”. “Its supposed to be fire and Spirit and throw your hands in the air”. Its not supposed to be me, its supposed to be God the Chosen One. Its not supposed to be Jordan-river-filthy-water. Its supposed to be special…man…

 

Man indeed. Man, because you are from man. And now “as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman” (1 Cor 11:12). God has made us physical creatures. He has given us our body and soul, eyes, ears, and all our members and still takes care of them. 

 

And still takes care of them in faith as well. That is if we need words of encouragement, He gives us the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, by mouth and ear. If we need to be fed, He gives us daily bread AND His Body and Blood for lips, mouths, and stomachs. 

 

If we need to be washed, cleansed, sanctified, renewed, regenerated, lifted up in His Image, then He gives water for hands and head, not just feet. 

 

He does not forsake His creation, but continues to use and care for it, as well, that it may be the tool and vehicle for our salvation, who, lest ye forget, are also part of His Creation. You cannot separate yourself from yourself and claim some sort of superior, transcendent status, when you are made with dust.

 

You cannot say that one or the other is more important, spiritual vs. physical, because you cannot separate or distinguish between the two. What happens to your soul happens to your body. What happens to your body, happens to your soul. 

 

Especially for the reason that God Himself has a rational body and soul. “Let it be so for now”, Jesus says. What is for now? Just when He’s walking around with His disciples? No. Now means now, even as we say it today. Jesus means that now the time of salvation will be ushered in by the Baptism of God in the Jordan river, with no fireworks, no show, and no fire.

 

Does your baptism get to be more specialer than Jesus’s baptism?

 

“Let it be so for now, to fulfill”, Jesus continues. Fulfill means so much more than prophesies. Yes, Jesus is fulfilling prophesies about Him from the Old Testament, but He is also completing them, perfecting them. He brings them to their purpose, to their conclusion.

 

What Jesus fulfills today is the washing that Ezekiel spoke of (36:25), but also the Flood and the Red Sea. Jesus could have saved Noah and his family any number of different ways, but He chose an Ark and He chose a flood. Not just because wood floats, even very small rocks do that, but because it looks like baptism.

 

Why didn’t Israel get to walk over the Red Sea, or on the water as Jesus did, or on some magnificent bridge of light? Because going through water is how you baptize, not going over it. This is fulfillment, completion, perfect. How many times must the earth be flooded or how many times must we wash or pass through the Red Sea ourselves, until we receive God’s favor?

 

In fulfillment, you ride the Ark through the Flood, with Noah, by Baptism. In the completion of prophesy, you walk through he Red Sea, with the true Israel, by Baptism. And in Jesus is the greatest and only fulfillment. Which means that, even though it would be cool to ride the Ark or walk through walls of water, the greater show, the more majestic act, the climax of all God’s speaking and teaching, lies in the baptismal font of His Church.

 

As Jesus completely says, “Let it be so for now in order to fulfill all righteousness”. Jesus does not use His words flippantly. If all righteousness is being fulfilled by His Baptism, then all righteousness is being fulfilled, completed, perfected by His Baptism, thus saith the Lord.

 

And if all that is in baptism, how can we be included like John? Well, we do not have to go to the Jordan, dig up John’s bones, and put on a play. “we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts”, says St. Peter who was there (2 Pet 1:19).

 

Even St. Peter concludes that his experiences with Jesus pale in comparison to Word and Sacrament. We have the Word. The Word which does not lie. The Word which cannot be broken. The Word the endures for ever. The Word that speaks and they are created.

 

“It is not plain water” that accomplishes such great things says our catechism, “but the word of God which is in and with the water, and the faith, which trusts this word of God in the water. For without the Word of God the water is plain water and no baptism. But with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost.”

 

In our sin, we cringe from the idea that God must be reduced, or must reduce Himself, to using such things as water, bread, wine, words. But in faith, we believe that this is the show, this is the transcendent moment, this is the spiritual climax, when we hear and believe.

 

Hear the promises of God, made to us, through water and His Word, and believe that by His Word, we too have the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from death and the devil, and eternal salvation” by grace, for Christ’s sake, through Faith. 

 

“For in [this Gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” alone (Rom 1:17). To all who believe this, God grants the fulfillment of His Word, as the words and promises of God declare. 

 

God does not place His salvation out of reach, far in the past, or so high above us. He creates earth, works it out on earth, and keeps it on earth, because that is where He placed us. In order that we might find Him near. “And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes” (Ez 36:23), the Lord declares, not as we declare.

 

 

No other gods [The Epiphany]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 60:1-6

• Ephesians 3:1-12

• St. Matthew 2:1-12

 

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

Who speaks to you today saying:

“behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’”

 

Epiphany is here, recorded in God’s Word, in order to show the completion and fulfillment of His First Commandment. That God has made for himself a graven image and likeness to be worshipped by us. In order that, not only do we point to Jesus against all other false gods, but invite our neighbors to the God Who Shows Himself.

 

There were, maybe 42 kings total, for Israel and Judah up to the Babylonian exile. Post-exile, there was never a real return to kingship, until the Maccabees and their descendants seemed to be forced into the role following Alexander the great, then the coming Romans.

 

In other words, Herod was no true king of David’s line. Even the dynasty before him only came from a line of priests, allegedly. Herod was a puppet of the Roman state, promising allegiance if they would give him the title “king of the jews”. His family came from Edom, the sons of Esau, which gave up the faith way back in Isaac’s time. 

 

“Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe:”, the Lord says in Psalm 60:8.

 

In other words, when the wise guys from the east, announced they were looking for a king, we can be quite confident that they were not searching for a regular king. Not only was there corruption in the current kingship, but there would have been enough kings of the past to be excited over. Nostalgia, if you will. Why this “king”? Why now?

 

The entire world seeks after “god”, though they don’t admit it. Either they want the highest power to approve them and their choices, over and against you, or they want to have the power themselves and claim some sort of transcendence which qualifies them as the authority, not you. 

 

“they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator”, says the Lord in Romans 1:25. We’ll get to what that truth is in a moment, but first, false gods are a lie. We must lie to ourselves and choose objects of wood, stone, or flesh to pretend to be gods for us.

There is nothing else. 

All lifestyles are religious lifestyles.

 

When we think about “having other gods”, as our 1st Command speaks to, we usually think of the “golden calf” incident. If that’s the only idols we have to be worried about then that’s easy. Those stupid Hebrews. How silly of them to think that a gold statue was god. Ha-ha.

 

Not so fast. The idea was from God. Before Aaron made the golden calf, it had already been prescribed that bulls would be used to offer atonement before God for all sins. So what better to remind and teach of that than a golden calf, a pure, eternal symbol of that atonement? Very logical.

 

But Aaron says, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”, in Exodus 32:4. The mighty God Who performed all those wonders in the face of everyone. And He’s a calf and not a mature, strong bull?? Who’s idea was that? 

 

If we’re going to make gods for ourselves, they better be the epitome of strength. Like the Hindu’s Shiva, with four arms, or Vishnu with four or possibly more! Who knows? Or better yet, the Egyptians with their half-animals, because animals are fiercer and stronger than humans. Or maybe we make the humanoid gods, like the Olympians, and just make them super-strong. 

 

Or best of all, and this is where we are today, we just say that our gods are beyond all description and beyond all perception. We can’t even comprehend them, so don’t even try to ask questions about them or think too hard. We can’t even depict them in art or statues in order to relate to them, so don’t even try or we’ll cut your hand off.

 

In fact, best to worship either in silence or an empty room. Emptiness is best, because then you really feel your insignificance and the feebleness of your senses. And that’s the lesson you pay for. As long as you don’t disagree with the one preaching, you will be fine. I mean, really. How can you question the unquestionable?

 

Repent. So what do Christians do? We adopt this very same program. We kidnap God out of His heaven and demand Him to be ponderable as we stare at blank walls, infinite geometric patterns, or our own mirrors. We violently bring God down and declare “He is unlike”, but accessible for the right fee. 

 

In a room with nothing but white walls, what do you think about? How do you worship? Just because there is nothing around, does not mean you are fulfilling the first commandment on your own. Your “nothing” becomes your god and the nothing is filled with you and your self-worship.

 

How the Lord Jesus puts an end to this sinful nonsense is, He shows up. He shows up, not as the full-grown, powerful bull, but the son of the bull, the calf. The Son, The Holy One. It is this Messenger from God Who will fulfill God’s own righteousness. 

 

At the official installation of Aaron as High Priest, he was ordered to prepare a calf for his sin offering, to make atonement for himself and for the people he was to preach to and teach. Every other sin offering commanded was of adult bulls, except this first one for Aaron. Why?

 

Because, it was no adult appearing suddenly from heaven who would save the people from their sins and rule over their atonement. It was to be a child, The Son of the Most High, as Gabriel put it (Luke 1:32). And even the Hebrews, fresh from Egypt knew it. The Father was not going to come down, bringing His death-inducing lightning and fire, from atop the mountain. He would send a man, first foreshadowed by Moses, then in the flesh in Jesus.

 

It would be no golden scepter, golden idol, or golden boy that would appear for the magi to worship, but the Father’s Son Himself, God and man, Jesus Christ. The Hebrews almost got it right. Herod wanted himself to be right no matter what, and we want to be right of ourselves. Yet, that sinfulness only gets us part of the way to understanding.

 

We seek power, God seeks service. We seek infinity, God hides in finitude. We want the unexplainable, God draws near to speak His own truth. “Come now”, says the Almighty in Isaiah 1:18, “and let us reason together”. How do you reason with God, if not face to face with mouths and voices? 

 

And what does the almighty wish to discuss with His sinful creatures? Wrath? Judgement? Who is greatest among you? He continues in Isaiah, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, thus saith the Lord”.

 

The Lord wants to speak of atonement and He wants your attention focused on the Atonement Himself: Jesus. In order to accomplish that, He has given you such a brain that you can imagine scenes in your head that you have never witnessed. Someone can tell you about an event you were never at, and you can see it in your head.

 

And seeing it in your head you can believe what is said to you, because you can relate to the witness. Jesus comes in the flesh, your own flesh that you recognize on Him: 2 eyes, ten fingers, eleven toes…

 

And seeing God in the flesh, then gives strength to your belief. That because He is man, he is trustworthy and believable. If He were a triangle, He’d be suspicious. If He had ten arms, He’d be feared, but not loved. If He was invisible, of what use He to the visible?

 

God gives your mind focus. When you hear of the Golden Calf, you scoff, because you know that a golden calf doesn’t look like Jesus. When you hear of the “king of the jews”, you know Herod isn’t Jesus. When you come to Church and hear of light, scenes you’ve never seen, and a statue of the man Jesus, you know you don’t worship all this, but you also know that this is probably what it looks like right now.

 

Instead of having to fabricate a graven image for yourself, or pretend you don’t have any, God gives you His image and likeness. When you stare at a blank wall, or blank canvas, or blank cross your mind goes blank and tries to fill in the blank, all with disastrous, sinful results. 

 

God puts His Body in front of you so that there is no question Who we are seeking and Who we are worshipping. It is Jesus, the Crucified. Born of the Virgin, pierced by nail and spear, and buried only to rise again with those holy wounds intact. 

 

God describes Himself in such detail, that you can imagine Him, draw Him, and picture Him. God allows Himself to be investigated in such a way. He is not lessened because He is pictured, like Allah or Mohammed. Instead, He is glorified because of what He has done.

 

For our images of our Lord are not arbitrary. In fact, we would have no idea who it is that is front and center on our Altar were it not for His wounds. The image tells a heavenly story. We would not know the who or what of any other depiction we have in Church, were it not for the Word of God describing it in such detail that there is no doubt.

 

It is a sin to say that God is indescribable, if it means that Jesus must be thrown out. And if you are involved with people who are trying to get you to believe that that is God’s main feature, that is a false religion of the devil. “Who’s to say what god really says”, they teach, “he’s indescribable. Just believe me, bro.”

 

It is good, right, and true to seek the Crucified Who retained the description of His wounds even in His resurrection. His Body is proof and He puts it in front of you. And this is the Truth about God: that He can be found in His earthly Sacraments, just as He was found in earthly trappings by the Magi. 

 

They sought Him on earth and brought Him earthly gifts, and they were accepted by Jesus Himself! God made man. The Word Made Flesh. Discoverable, knowable, describable and able to be handled by His people through faith, by Grace, for Christ’s sake alone.