Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: 1. Peter 1,18-21. Oculi

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

1. Peter 1,18-21 1518

Okuli 026

Lucius, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 253

4. März 2018

1. О Christ, who purges our impurities, keep us ever as Your disciples and let nothing separate us from You, so that during this holy Lententide we hear, perceive and meditate upon Your bitter suffering and death (Starck 76). Amen.

2. Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

3. In four verses, the Apostle Peter summarizes the Bible and the gospel. He tells us that Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world. In his Pentecost sermon, the Apostle Peter proclaims that Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God the Father. Let’s ponder on this a moment. Before the Holy Trinity created anything, before man, before angels and before light itself, God knew what would happen before He even called light into existence. He knew giving men and women free will meant they were going to use that will to disobey Him, and He had a plan of redemption in place for when that fateful day occurred in the Garden of Eden. God the Father knew His creation would fall into sin and He had set apart His Only Son to be mankind’s Savior. The day Adam and Eve sinned did not catch God by surprise. He did not have to scramble and think of a plan to redeem them on the spot. God knew before hand and He was ready. The moment they had yielded to the serpent’s temptation, God sent His Son to find them in the Garden and tell them He would save and redeem them from sin and its curse. Jesus had been foreknown before creation that He would be mankind’s Christ.

4. Jesus had been promised as the Christ but He was not manifested until the last times. We often hear last times and think: O that’s some far-off distant event that we will never see. In a sense, this is true, if we are referring to the 2. advent of Jesus when He returns to raise our body and create the new heavens and earth: that is the last times, but Scripture also refers to the last times as the time when Jesus was born and walked upon the Earth and specifically the last times refers to His crucifixion. The Apostle Paul refers to this last times twice. »Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but now has been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the Eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith – to the Only Wise God the glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen« (Romans 16,25-27). Again: »Long ago, 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 He created the world« (Hebrews 1,1-2). The Scriptures promise to the patriarchs, the Davidic family line and the prophets that God will send the Christ to redeem both the Jews and the Gentiles. This promise was manifested when Jesus was born.

5. Prior to Jesus, God had established a covenant with Israel that involved animal sacrifices. Many times the animal was a spotless lamb offered up for the forgiveness of an individual, a family or the nation of Israel; this happened at the temple in Jerusalem. The covenant was founded upon the shedding of blood, for the covenant was established so that people had a certainty of their salvation (Heilsgewißheit). The sending of Jesus as the Christ was to fulfill the Sinai covenant, but this covenant was meant to point the people to the Greater Lamb who would take away all sin from all people with one sacrificial act. Animal sacrifices at the temple would no longer be necessary; people could stop trying to buy their redemption with gold or silver. The blood shed by Jesus is more precious than all the lambs sacrificed over Israel’s long history and more valuable then all the gold in the world.

6. The Apostle Peter calls the act of Jesus on the cross a ransom. He recalls the words of Jesus in the Gospel according to St. Matthew: »The Son of Man arrived to serve and to give His life as a ransom for all« (Matthew 20,28). The vicarious sacrifice of Jesus is the price paid as the ransom; His shed blood redeemed us from sin, Death and Hades.

7. In today’s Gospel pericope, Jesus exhorts someone to: »Go, and proclaim the kingdom of God« (Luke 9,60). In the Gospel according to St. John, Jesus further defines what the kingdom of God is: »My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day« (John 6,40). To proclaim the kingdom of God is to preach as the Prophet Isaiah did 2700 years ago: »Thus says the Lord: Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool« (Isaiah 1,18). The kingdom of God is about Christ bringing forgiveness, salvation and eternal life, for Christ is the fulfillment of Isaiah: He is the one who turns sin from red to white, from impurity to holiness.

8. Luke 9,51 is the turning point in Jesus’ ministry: »When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem.« While in Jerusalem, Jesus would be betrayed, arrested, condemned and crucified. The Apostle Peter says this happened to Jesus so that »we were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our ancestors.« Men and women are born in futility. We are born sinners with original sin, and thus our three great sins are: we do not fear, love or trust God. We exchanged the image and likeness of God with the image and likeness of our fallen ancestor, Adam.

9. God the Father does not tolerate evil; He will not allow wickedness to triumph. Therefore, He sent a good man to triumph over evil. God sent His very own Son to this Earth to conquer sin, Death and Hades. Jesus has paid the ransom price to redeem us back to God the Father. The current US debt is around $21 trillion ($20.820 T); our debt of sin is infinitely more than our nation’s debt; silver and gold would never cover the ransom price for our sin; only the blood of the righteous Son of God can redeem us from our debt of sin. We are ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Earlier in the Gospel according to St. Luke Jesus explained such forgiveness of debt with a parable: »A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both.« God is in the business of canceling debt and He does so through the payment of His Son’s life.

10. Oculi puts us halfway through Lent, and Jesus is journeying up to Jerusalem where the cross awaits Him; the cross is where He made payment in full for our sin. He had set His hand to the plow, did not look back, but kept His eyes forward toward the goal of redeeming all men and women. God promises us in His Holy Word: »I forgive your iniquity and I remember your sin no more« (Jeremiah 31,34), for »as far as the east is from the west so far have I removed your transgressions from you« (Psalm 103,12). »Our eyes are ever toward Christ, for He will pluck our feet out of the net. He redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Jesus will be condemned« (Psalm 25,15; 34,22). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, who stretched out Your hands to be nailed to the cross; guide our hands and order our steps as we live in Your glorious reign, so that we may have opportunities to tell our neighbor of Your wondrous love and gracious forgiveness. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, March 15, 2018

1. Peter 1,18-21. Oculi

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