Grace,
Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ Amen.
The
sermon today is based on the words of Jesus to the crowd in Luke 23.
In
the Name of Jesus
What does it mean to be green? I think more than any
other, this phrase as acquired many different meaning over the
centuries. It used to mean, when someone told you that you were
green, that you were envious of your neighbors possessions.
Sometimes today when someone tells you “you look green” it means
that you look ill. It could be, when someone calls you green, that
you are just a rookie or a new guy on the job. That you are still
learning the tricks of the trade.
More
recently when someone tells you you are green, it means you are being
environmentally friendly. There is a big push to be green, to go
green, to do your part and save the planet. Do you remember the old
phrase, recycle, reduce, reuse and close the loop? If you want to
sell a product, if you want to promote your company, you need the
eco-friendly seal. Because some would say, it pays to be green.
Moving
to our text, Jesus has a message not only for those who surrounded
him on his way cross but he has a message for you this day. His
message...be green! So as good Lutherans we must ask, what does this
mean? Was he telling us to be conscious of our environmental
footprint? Was he telling us that we were jealous of his current
situation or possession?
It was a sad, emotional day as the crowds followed Jesus
to the hill called Golgotha. Here was a man they knew to be
innocent. Many among the crowd that day knew and confessed him as
the very Son of God. And yet he was being sent to his death, for no
reason. Even the leaders, Pilate and Herod, had pronounced him
innocent. Hear Pilates own words [he]
then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was
misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I
did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him.
Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing
deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and
release him.” But they all cried out together, “Away with this
man, and release to us Barabbas”— a man who had been thrown into
prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.
Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they
kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to
them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt
deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.”But they
were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified.
And their voices prevailed.
Those who faithfully followed Jesus wept openly as he
proceeded to his death. And yet he tells them
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming
when they will say,‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never
bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to
say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover
us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will
happen when it is dry?”
Don't
cry for me, instead save your tears. Save your tears for yourself.
The time will come when you will weep for yourselves and for your
children. How could there be an event that would be worse than an
innocent man being sent to his death? He wasn't even wrongly
accused, in all reality he wasn't accused of anything! No conviction
was ever given. But Pilate caved to the pressure of the crowd.
But
what was to come would be so much worse. Jesus paints the picture of
horrific times. A time that would change even the way they thought.
Throughout the Bible children were seen as a blessing and those who
were barren felt cursed. But our Lord flips that thought. He said
the time will come when those who are barren would be blessed. The
time will come when they will beg for death. When they will want to
be spared what is happening right before their eyes. When the
blessing will lie with the barren who do not have to witness the
death for their children.
Sin
changes everything. Sin alone takes what is alive and vibrant and
kills it. Sin alone takes a strong fortress and distresses it and
destroys it. Sin alone warps the sound mind and turns it against the
truth. Even though sin was present as our Lord walked to the cross,
it would only get worse. Sure then it was only one innocent man. It
was only one green branch being turned into a dead dry branch. But
the time will come when the fire would be placed on all. When the
green wood and the dry wood would be placed in the same fire.
Have
you ever spent time in an area after a forest fire moves through?
When it is at it's worst, the fire is uncontrollable, unbearable, and
inescapable. It consumes everything in its path, and it thrives on
dead, dry wood. But after it has past, before much time has passed,
even in as little as a few days, new life springs up. Grass, trees,
pop up through the mounds of ashes. Out of the midst of certain
death, life comes forth.
Where
there is nothing, where the only thing that exists is death, God
brings life. On the cross death reigned supreme. The physical death
of Jesus, spiritual death of those who condemned the Son of God to
death. It is such a beautiful thought. From the dead, dry wood of
the cross, consuming those who are nailed to it, life sprung forth.
The temporary death of one brought life to all. The death of Jesus
assured that even though we have moments of being dead, dry wood,
even though we have moments of unbelief, we are forgiven and new life
lives within us.
It is
only because we are connected to that death on the cross, connected
to that wood, are we therefore connected to life. The life that is
connected to the cross through the means of Grace, through the Word
and Sacraments, is a life that is vibrant, a life that is green.
When we are connected to the vine, to the Water of Life, then we
cannot be destroyed. Then the fire is not placed on us to destroy
us, but it is a fire, the fire of the Holy Spirit, that burns by
faith within us.
An amazing example of our Lord turning dead wood into
green wood, a lost life into a saved life comes at the end of our
Gospel today. One
of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you
not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him,
saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence
of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due
reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he
said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And
he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in
Paradise.”
A
life seemingly lost, saved in an instant, by the confession of
Christ. Dead wood resurrected and made green. This is our story as
well. Lost and dead even before we were conceived, we have been
saved by the Water of Life and marked for eternity.
And
so it is that our calls on you to stay green. Stay faithful, stay
connected. Remember the words of the explanation of the Third
Article of the creed.
I
believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus
Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by
the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in
the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and
sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with
Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily
and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the
Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to
me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.
On
the last day the eternal fire will come to destroy. It will seem to
consume all things. But for those who are connected to the Water of
Life, who abide in the Truth, who have been kept by the Holy Spirit,
will remain unto the end. You will be tested, you will be tried, but
ultimatly the believe will pass from this life to the life that ever
ends. God grant this passage to us for Jesus sake.
Amen
SOLI DEO GLORIA
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