Our Temptation Is His Temptation

A Sermon on Matthew 4:1-11 for the First Sunday in Lent, Series A, 2020.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The reading for First Sunday in Lent every year is the temptation of Jesus. And each year we hear that Jesus faced these temptations on our behalf. But there are two problems we have with that. The first is: Is it even a temptation for Jesus at all to face these things? After all, He makes resisting temptation look pretty easy. The second is that these don’t look like temptations that we’re faced with at all. We don’t have the power to change stones to bread, nor the opportunity to throw our selves off the pinnacle of the temple, nor to acquire the kingdoms of the world. How can Jesus face these temptations in our place if they’re not ours? And to answer both of these problems, we actually need to look closer at our text today.

With the first temptation we remember Jesus’ divine nature so much that we sometimes forget that He is also completely human as well. Forty days and nights of fasting is extremely hard on the body. There have been people who have died going that long without food. The physical and mental anguish in that state is intense. That Satan offers Jesus a way out, by Jesus’ own hand, is no small temptation, even for the Son of God. To say no in such a situation is actually incredible.

Yet, what was the temptation? Surely it’s not wrong for Jesus to change one thing into another. He will do that at the wedding in Cana when He turned water into wine. And surely it’s not wrong to have bread, as Jesus took bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. The temptation comes from who led Jesus out here to fast to begin with. The Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness. And Jesus knows the cross is coming, which is where He will die. To turn stones to bread now would be to say that the Lord can’t keep His promises without our help. 

Abraham faced this temptation. He was promised to be the father of a great nation. Yet, at Ninety years old, he had no son, and Sarah was too old to bear children. He thought he would have to take the promise into his own hands, and conceived a child with Hagar instead. That was not the Lord’s promise. And it didn’t end up well. All throughout Abraham’s life, he kept trying to help the Lord, but he did it by assuming that the Lord wasn’t capable of keeping the promise without his help. 

We do the same thing. The Lord has promised that it is His Word that grows His Church. That it’s His Word that saves. And we keep adding our own works to it, because we don’t believe His promise. We think our programs are what really helps the church grow. We think it’s our own efforts, our own hearts that save us. And Satan gets us with that temptation all the time. 

But Jesus answers with the words from Deuteronomy chapter 8. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The  Father promised where Jesus would die. And it wasn’t out in the desert where the Spirit led Him. It took faith in that promise to go where the Spirit led. Faith that led through starvation. That’s the faith that Jesus has in our stead and for our sake. 

Now us, we want the bread, not the Word. We’re more than happy to go out and make sure we have our bread. Our livelihood. Our comfort. What we think we need. We will forsake the Word in order to take hold of this bread by our own hands. Whether it is in the form of food, or money, or convenience. Who really wants to get up an hour earlier, and study the Word of life? Who wants to set down the things we’ve made priorities in order to receive the Word which the Lord calls His power unto salvation?

Jesus overcoming this temptation isn’t just a nice example for us to follow, even if it would be good if we did. Jesus holds fast to this Word of life so that we may have life too. Jesus Christ successfully endured this temptation so that it would be counted to us as righteousness.

But Satan sees Jesus’ faith. Satan knows how bound by the Word our Lord is. And crafts his next temptation to capitalize on that fact. This time Satan will lead Jesus. Lead Him to the holiest place on earth. The pinnacle of the temple, right above the Holy of Holies. A place the Lord is very familiar with. And there Satan quotes the life giving Word to Him. ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ 

This is a real temptation for Jesus. After all, fulfilling the Word of God is exactly what Jesus came to do. Every single Word. Not an iota, not a dot is to pass away. Jesus was to accomplish it all. And right here, Satan gives Jesus the opportunity to do exactly that. 

So what’s the temptation? What was wrong with doing as Satan asked here? It was that to throw Himself off the temple, Jesus would have been trying to trust in something that the Word of God had not promised. Psalm 91 wasn’t written that humanity could start throwing itself off of temples. It was written that we would take refuge in the promises of the Lord. The promise specifically of the coming Christ, our savior. Because Satan stopped his quotation right before the words, “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” The promise was for Satan’s defeat, the end of sin, not a reckless stunt.

That’s why Jesus responds, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” You see, the temptation Jesus faced for us is the temptation to put our faith in things that the Lord has not promised. It is the mirror image of the first temptation. We have a tendency to take the Bible out of context. We have memorized our favorite verses, but do we know the verses that come right before or after them? We take a meaning out of them that might not be there. 

That’s what happened in our Old Testament lesson this morning. Eve heard the Serpent’s half-truths, and leaned on a promise that the Lord had not made. If I do this, I will be wise. If I do this, I will be like God. Neither of those are what the Lord said. Adam too, instead of stopping this, joined in with her. Found such promise-inventing desirable and worthy. And humanity caused the fall of all creation.

I can’t tell you how many people, including me, have said things like, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” But that’s not in the Bible. Or when we look at the cost of a project that is clearly outside of our financial ability, someone inevitably will say, “well, you just have to have faith.” When we lean heavily on something that the Lord hasn’t actually promised, what happens when it inevitably fails? We wonder if we have enough faith, or we wonder if this God is worth trusting at all. 

Now the things that our Lord has promised, those are sure. Forgiveness of sins is sure. Resurrection is sure. Persecution in this world on account of Christ is sure. His everlasting love is sure. And we are called to lean on those promises. But that’s why knowing the Word of God is so important. Because Satan throws out half truths, just like He did to Jesus.

Defeated, Satan leads Jesus once again. Leads Jesus up a high mountain, and by his power, shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Past, present, future. And every person who lived, lives, or will live in them. Satan’s job was to be the accuser. And in our sin, we have everything to be accused of. In sin and death, we are under the devil’s jurisdiction. And remain so until sin and death are taken away.

But there’s a bigger prize than us. And Satan offers that prize to Jesus. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Just bend the knee once, and Satan will give us all back. One knee, any time you want to Jesus. And the betrayal can end. The suffering can end. The cross can end. We know how big a temptation this is for Jesus, because He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane the night He was betrayed that if it were possible, that this cup would pass from Him. Nevertheless, Your will be done. 

And this is our temptation as well. Because we too face suffering on account of Jesus Christ. We have family and friends we’re afraid will stop speaking to us if we share the forgiveness of sins with them. We have a society that threatens us. Calls us evil for who we trust. And we can make all those things end instantly if we would just bend the knee. Deny Christ, and you’re a hero. Keep silent about Christ, and you can remain a friend. But what would have happened if Jesus had chosen comfort over us? There would no longer be a world. Creation would end. As the accuser would have something to accuse God Himself over. Without Jesus overcoming temptation on our behalf, there would be no us. Yet with His success, we have the cross. We have the sacrificial Lamb of God. We have forgiveness, life, and salvation made ours by His blood. 

So as you can see, these are indeed temptations worthy of Jesus’ endurance. And they are at the same time temptations that we face every day. Our Lord is a great example for us to emulate, to be sure. But even better than that, He endured those temptations on our behalf. As is written in our Epistle lesson, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for fall men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” 

Jesus fulfilled the Law fully on our behalf, and that fulfillment is His gift tp us. A gift that tears us away from the grasp of the accuser, and brings us into the Kingdom of Heaven as children of God. The head of serpent has been crushed by the bruising of the Savior’s heel at the cross. His death and resurrection has forgiven us, saved us, and raised us from death to life. And that’s why the temptation of Jesus in the desert for forty days is so important for us to hear. Because that temptation is the good news we need to hear.

Let us pray. Almighty Father, Your Son withstood the temptations of the devil on our behalf. Give us the fruits of His righteousness so that we may be enabled to resist as He did on our behalf. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses. Lead us not into temptation. And deliver us from Evil. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

A Struggle Not To Be Escaped From

A Sermon on Matthew 5:21-37 for the Sixth Sunday of Epiphany, Series A, 2020.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As congregations from all over the world hear today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus’ words will bring us all a profound sense of shame. Our Lord doesn’t mince words. He doesn’t make those commands easy. He doesn’t relax one iota, one dot of the Law. Do not even swear, Do not even look, do not even be angry. And after hearing them, everyone will be looking to make the struggle with those words go away.

Okay, pastor, make those words not so hard as they sound. Make my guilt stop pressing against my heart. Tell me the thing I need to hear so that I can go on from today just as if nothing had ever happened. Because Jesus’ words convict everyone of their sin. We have all been angry with our brother. Hated our brother. Looked lustfully upon another. Not let our yes’s be yes, nor our no’s be no. Many have been through divorce. Many have been through remarriage. And not a one of us has plucked out or eye, nor cut off our hand rather than fall into sin. We will not struggle. Not when that sinful world out there tells us that struggling is the worst thing you can possibly do.

Last year, in Luke’s Gospel, we were told a great deal about what it means to suffer. And we think suffering and struggling are the same thing. But they’re not. You don’t have to work at suffering. It just happens to you. But to struggle takes effort. Effort that we’re told is not worth putting in. And you know what? We believe that. Christians believe that. Pastors believe that. I have believed that before. I have told people who are struggling with these words that they no longer need to struggle, because Jesus has forgiven them. Yet, that statement is only half true. Because it’s absolutely true that Jesus has completely and fully forgiven our every sin. Yet, it is not true that such a thing means that there is no need to struggle against those sins.

In our world, anger and hatred are the evening news. Pornography is the evening entertainment. Lies are the meat of our meaningful conversations. Adultery is the expectation, not the exception. And the Church is not immune. We are not immune. We’re right there. Engaged, indulged, participating. The small seeds that we planted in former days, the ones we told ourselves and everyone else that they didn’t actually hurt anyone, have grown into the tallest of trees. When we reap what we sow, we find that the harvest is unmanageably more than what we planted long ago. For our sin has multiplied so much that it is beyond our ability to handle it. To struggle against it is to struggle against the tide, or against the stars. No matter what we do, there they are. Still haunting us whenever Jesus speaks these words from His Sermon on the Mount.

All we want is permission to stop struggling. All we want is to get out from under their weight. And we’re desperate enough that we’ll listen to anything at all. Anything except what Jesus has to say. We will go so far as to use forgiveness as an excuse to say that those sins don’t need to be struggled against. That it’s okay to ignore the seriousness with which Jesus warns us to avoid them. After all, cutting off your hand and plucking out your eye is far too extreme to be taken seriously. And continuing in our sin so that grace may abound means that I don’t have to struggle against anything at all.

But are we to continue in sin that grace may all the more abound? By no means. Jesus isn’t using hyperbole. Jesus isn’t secretly telling us that we’re all okay right where we’re at, and to not worry so much about it. Rather Jesus says to leave the offering to go reconcile. Jesus says to face loneliness rather than enter into sin. Jesus has us say what is true, no matter the consequences. And Jesus says that losing life and limb is better than following our heart’s desire into hell.

But then what are we to do? Because we have already fallen short. We have already murdered our brother. We have already become adulterers. We have already become liars. For those sins already past, there is only one thing that can be done. Receive the forgiveness of sins, paid for by the blood of Christ. His sacrifice covers them completely. On His cross rests all the guilt, and shame, and sorrow. And in that forgiveness, our struggle against sin finally begins.

Forgiveness for today isn’t the end of our story. Those mammoth sins are an impassable forest, and we must have a way through. It’s not okay to just sit down in the middle of them and remain lost. Jesus tells us in our Gospel lesson, in so many words, to begin the struggle, to start chopping down those trees of death that surround us. Clear a path forward, out of sin. To overcome our sinful instincts. To not be angry. To not look. To not lie. To not do all the rest. Struggle, mightily if we must. At great risk, if we must. Because the risk is not what we lose in this life, it’s what we lose in the next.

However, we are not struggling alone. Jesus is by our side. Working with us against the desires of the flesh. Strengthening our resolve by His Word. Carving a path forward by our Baptism. Sustaining us with His own body and blood. Because it is far better that He struggle mightily by your side than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And He has joined His Church in that struggle from the very beginning. In our Old Testament Lesson, the Lord tells the people coming out of forty years of wandering the desert, “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.” 

This isn’t a simple yes or no proposition. It’s a lifelong struggle over what will grow in your heart. It stems from the Law of God. Commands given for our good, and for the good of our neighbor. And as we heard last week, Jesus did not come to abolish the Law. He came to fulfill it. And Jesus joins our struggle as one who has kept all these commands perfectly on our behalf. He has let His yes be yes and His no be no. For He has said no. Said no to Satan’s insistence that we keep our sin. Said no to death’s demands to possess us for all eternity. He has said no to losing us. And has said no to any thought that His sacrifice was a price too high for Him to pay on our behalf. On the other hand, our Lord has also said yes. Yes to being by your side through all of this. Yes to your forgiveness. Yes to your resurrection. Yes to sacrificing everything for you. Yes to struggling with you against your sin today. His yes means yes, and His no means no.

In this way, Jesus has remained faithful to His bride, the Church, to which we belong. Even when the Church itself has failed to be faithful to Him. Our Lord hasn’t written you off. Rather, He has promised to stand by your side through everything we endure. Likewise Jesus has not hated you by encouraging you to struggle against sin. Rather, He has brought His gift to the altar, so that it may be reconciliation between God and man. Take, eat, this is My body. Take, drink, this is My blood. Coming to terms with us while we are still on the road of life, rather than having judgment pronounced at our death. Jesus kept all these Laws on your behalf. And it was not easy. It was a struggle. 

That struggle of faith plants seeds. We brought up the phrase ‘You reap what you sow,’ earlier. Not only does it go with sin, but it goes with faith as well. That’s a harvest that is far bigger than what was planted. Our Lord plants by Word and Sacraments. Forgiveness, Baptism, Supper. In there is where He teaches what we need to know in order to struggle well. And seeds always produce more than what was planted. Learning to struggle against sin, even starting as late as today, pays off down the road. And in our Epistle lesson, Paul talks about who grows those seeds. For the Corinthians, Paul planted, Apollos watered, but it was God who gave the growth. And the Lord still gives growth today, in you. You are God’s field. And in you grows the faith that holds on to the promises of Jesus Christ.

It is true, we badly want our struggles to end. But it’s because we think that there is rest in not struggling. And that isn’t true. That’s the lie that the world has told us. And we can see that even in our own lives. How rested do you feel spending the day doing nothing, and how rested to you feel when you feel like you’ve accomplished something? Jesus is right. The rest He gives is a rest found in the struggle against sin. And we can only struggle against sin through the faith that He has given to us. So when temptation is behind us, we rely on the forgiveness of sins. However, when temptation is still in front of us, remember who stands by your side. It is Jesus Christ. And in His struggle, we find rest from sin, death, and the devil. Keep up the good fight, or, perhaps, start.

Let us pray. Gracious Father. We have not always struggled against sin as we should have. We have failed to take sin as seriously as You have told us to in Your Word. Forgive our sin. And send Your Son to our side, so that we may struggle against that sin as Your Commandments proclaim. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Christian Identity of Salt and Light

A Sermon on Matthew 5:13-20 for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Series A, 2020

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our Gospel lesson today comes from the Sermon on the Mount. However, we’re used to breaking up that sermon into pieces. After all, it goes through three chapters in Matthew. And there’s still so much there, that it’s tough to fit even one of those chapters into just one Sunday. So it’s good that we want to spend more time in it. The draw back is that we end up taking verses that should go together, and splitting them apart. Because you do need a place to end and a place to begin. And that happens with today’s reading as well.

So let’s grab then real quick. The verses right before today’s Gospel lesson are the end of the Beatitudes. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” That is the context where Jesus says, “You are the salt of the Earth.” “You are the light of the world.” 

The context isn’t just persecution, it’s identity. The whole Sermon on the Mount it Jesus telling us who we are as Christians. The beatitudes give us the identity of blessed, even when it may feel like we’re not. Today’s text gives us an identity as heralds. The people sent forth to make sure everyone hears the news. That’s why Jesus calls us the salt of the earth. The message we’re given seasons those who hear with the hope of the forgiveness of sin. Likewise Jesus calls us the light of the world. The message we bring ends the darkness of death with the hope of resurrection to everlasting life. That’s part of who we are. That’s part of what we do. That’s part of what a Christian is.

But which part? We have to ask, because we hear a couple of different things from Jesus about this. In today’s text, Jesus says, “[L]et your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” But only a few verses later, still during the Sermon of the Mount, in chapter six, He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” “…when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” So which is it? Are we supposed to be the light of the world, and show our good works? Or are we supposed to keep those works a secret, so we don’t lose our reward?

But Jesus isn’t contradicting Himself here. Both these verses are a matter of identity. Who are we, and whose are we? When the Lord has given us to proclaim His Word to our neighbor, to our family and friends, then such proclamation needs to be seen. When our neighbor in need sees how we react to the generosity that Jesus Christ has shown us, that’s a good thing. 

But if we’re using good works for our own purposes. If we’re showing how worthy we are compared to everyone else, then such a thing actually takes away from the good news of life, forgiveness and salvation through our Lord. We shine the light on ourselves, receive all the glory for our works, but no one looks to who actually saves. We hide the generosity of Christ away, and take what we want when we should have been giving instead. It runs contrary to our identity. It seasons no one with forgiveness. It fails to bring life to light.  

Yet, it is so easy to fall off the fence one way or the other. We either hide away the saving Word of God, or replace it with works that show off ourselves instead of Christ. And all out of fear. Fear that we will be rejected. Fear that we will be hated. Fear that we will not be approved of otherwise. We do not want others to revile us, persecute us, or say all kinds of evil falsely against us on account of Christ. So we say something else, or say nothing at all. We are indeed wretched sinners in need of mercy.  

But our identity isn’t one of our own choosing. It’s given to us by the Lord. And it’s one of a forgiven saint. That identity tells us who we really are, and changes what we do. It’s an identity won for us by the sacrifice of Jesus. We now know who we are, because God became human, and died on the cross in our place. We are someone loved so much by the Lord, that He willingly gave His life for our sake. And in receiving such generosity, we are enabled to be generous in response. We can give self sacrificially for the sake of our neighbors also receiving the Gospel. Not because we earn anything for ourselves by it, but because being loved causes us to love in return. 

That love, that gift, ours from the Lord, is a righteousness that exceeds that of even the scribes and Pharisees. It is not our own goodness that we receive. We are made good, made right, by the blood of Christ alone. Therefore we don’t need to prop ourselves up. We don’t need the world to know how good we are, because it comes from outside of us. And that righteousness isn’t just for us, it’s for everyone else as well. That’s why we season with the Word of forgiveness. That’s why we light with the hope of resurrection. So that all may know, and believe, and grasp forgiveness, and have life forever through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therefore there is no longer a need to relax the Law of God. We don’t need to ease up on it, in the hopes that somehow we could qualify. Or teach others that it isn’t really as hard as it sounds. Because for slaves to sin, like we are, it is a mountain we cannot climb alone. But because the Law of God is as strong as it is, it readies us for the message that there is a Savior who has kept it all in our stead. One who has forgiven our sin by His own blood. One who has conquered death itself, and has risen on the third day. The full and complete Law has been fulfilled. Every iota of it. And the more Jesus Christ has covered, the greater that good news is. 

So, yes, we are sinners. We are rebellious. We are afraid. And Christ Jesus has overcome it all. He has taken away our old identity as slaves to sin, and instead made us salt and light to the world. Heralds of His generous sacrifice given for all creation. Proclaimers of forgiveness. Newsbringers of the hope of resurrection for all. Workers in response to His great mercy. That’s what His blood shed has made us. That’s whose name we bear. And yes, as a result, other will revile you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil falsely against you on account of Christ. But rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

Let us pray. Almighty Father, Your Son gave us the identity of salt and light. Keep us losing our taste for the Gospel, and from hiding away the light He has given to us. Send us Your Holy Spirit by proclaiming Your Word, so that the good news of life, forgiveness and salvation can go out from us to the world. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns withYou and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Purified by Sacrifice

A Sermon on Luke 2:22-32 for the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Jesus, 2020.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It had been a rough couple of months in Bethlehem for Mary and Joseph. First, this Roman census was taking forever. Second, Joseph’s family was only doing the bare minimum for them. That Mary, in labor, wasn’t given the guest room, what we translate today as an ‘inn,’ was shameful. She was left with the animals, and no one helped. 

They still were not helping Mary, Joseph, or Jesus. It was time for the forty day purification ritual, and the sacrifice for the first born. Mary had to be there, but Jesus, technically, did not. Yet despite staying with family, no one was available to watch the baby boy. There was no financial assistance either. A lamb was the appropriate sacrifice for the day, but Mary and Joseph had to make due with the exception for the poor, a pair of pigeons. 

We know today that there would be magi on their way, bearing expensive gifts. But they weren’t here just yet. Besides, those gifts would be seeing them through their upcoming trip to Egypt, where they would escape Herod’s infanticide. And with the way we see them treat Mary and Joseph, they might have even been willing to rat them out to the soldiers. The visions from angels were nice, but living every day with Jesus in their lives was a very difficult thing to do. 

Purification rituals in the Old Testament aren’t the most exciting thing in the world for us to hear about today. Most people just kind of shrug off such rites, and consider them to be unimportant. After all, we don’t do them any more, so they must not be all that big a deal, right? Yet today is February 2nd. Forty days after December 25th. The name originally given to this day is Candlemas. And in some Christian circles in history, it marked the end of the Christmas season. It has celebrated on this day since the beginning of the 300’s. And when it falls on a Sunday, it takes precedence over celebrating the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany. It’s a big deal, because this is a day of purification. 

And sure, it’s Mary, the mother of God who is purified. For some reason, this bothers us Lutherans. And I know why. It’s because on October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses, beginning the Reformation of the Roman Catholic church. We’re used to saying Lutherans good, Roman Catholics bad. And one strong reason for that is because our brothers and sisters in the faith have mistakenly believed that Mary is more than the mother of God. They have believed that she is someone to pray to, and someone whose holiness forgives their sins. Now, that’s wrong. And it’s wrong because she needed to be purified on this day. 

Yet we read in Scripture itself that Mary is honored for her faith. All generations will call her blessed. Because she is the mother of God. She was faithful, despite the accusations of faithlessness. She was true, despite being accused of lies. And she honored the Law of God, despite no honor being given to her as she raised her Son. Joseph too was a righteous man. Bearing the dishonor and shame heaped upon his betrothed. Adopting Jesus as his own Son. Protecting them from threats within the family and from without. We can acknowledge their faithfulness and righteousness. Even though it is not their own. That faithfulness and righteousness were given. Placed upon them by the Lord. They were purified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And they needed it just as much as we do.

Purification rituals in the Old Testament aren’t anything that we find all that interesting. The Lord had appointed them in Leviticus for after childbirth. And, yes, a Lamb was the appropriate sacrifice. Mary and Joseph brought a substitute sacrifice, two pigeons or turtledoves. But by bringing Jesus with them, they did in fact bring the Lamb into the temple to pay for their purification. The pigeons and lambs from years past up through that very day all pointed forward to the one sacrifice necessary to pay for the sins of the world. 

Mary and Joseph, as faithful and worthy as they were, needed to be made clean. They had their own sin. Their own shame. Their own guilt. Their own pain. They needed forgiveness. They needed to have faith given to them. And that’s what Jesus did. We are just the same as they. We too face a world that is harsh to us. We too face trials and tribulations. We too have families that hurt us. We too have our own sins which we are too proud to confess to those we’ve hurt. We too are in need of being cleansed. Of being purified. So that we too can be faithful. So that we too can confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, before God and before those we’ve sinned against. We too are in need of the sacrificial Lamb. We too need Jesus.

And Jesus goes to the cross on our behalf to pay for it all. Just as the Lamb  is brought before the altar, Jesus is brought. Just as the sins are confessed with a hand on the head of the lamb to die, so also Jesus hears our confession of sin, taking onto His shoulders. Just as the knife is taken  to the sacrificial lamb in the temple, so also the nails and spear pierce Jesus, pouring out His blood with which to blot out our sins. Just as the lamb is roasted and then eaten by the priests, so also we too are given Jesus to eat. Take eat, this is My body, Take drink, this is My blood.

Just as Mary was purified after childbirth, so also we are purified by Christ Jesus our Lord. We are taken out of darkness, and brought into light. We are brought back into fellowship with the Lord and with each other. We are forgiven, set free, loved. Jesus’ great sacrifice put our sin to death. Paid in full. Enough to cover it all.

Life may still be difficult. After all, Herod, Egypt, and Nazareth are all still ahead for Mary and Joseph. But just like them, we have Jesus with us. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with us, His rod and staff are a comfort to us. And no matter what the world may say about us behind our backs, we know what the Lord has proclaimed about us. And it’s His Word that will stand forever. For He has said to us that He has taken our sin away. He has cleansed us. Washed us. Purified us. And is doing so continually to this day. 

So now we have comfort for today, and hope for the future. For this mercy doesn’t come to an end when we go out those doors into the world. It is for today, for tomorrow, and for eternity. Because this purification that we’re given not only takes away our sin by forgiving it, it gives us the promise of resurrection on the last day and life forever with the Lord. Eternal life with God, and with all who have gone before us, and who will come after us in the faith. That’s the hope we hold. That’s the promise that we cherish. Because it has come from the mouth of the Lord. And He keeps His promises.

Let us pray. Almighty Father, Your Son was the sacrifice for both Mary’s purification, and ours. By that purification, forgive our sin. Give us the hope that carries us from day to day. And create faith in all who hear the good news of the death and resurrection of Christ for us all. Through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.