John 13,21-30. Invocavit

 John 13,21-30     1621

Invocavit 024

Pepin the Elder of Landen, ancestor of Charlemagne, Mayor of the Merovingian Palace of Austrasia ✠ 640 

21. Februar 2021

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, inasmuch as the adversary does continually afflict us, and as a roaring lion does walk about, seeking to devour us: We beseech You for the sake of the suffering and death of Your Son, Jesus Christ, to help us by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to strengthen our hearts by Your Word, so that our enemy may not prevail over us, but that we may evermore abide in Your grace, and be preserved unto everlasting life.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich) 

2. »After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in His spirit, and testified: „Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.“ The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom He spoke. One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to Him: „Lord, who is it?“ Jesus answered: „It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.“ So when He had dipped the morsel, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him: „What you are going to do, do quickly.“ Now no one at the table knew why He said this to him.« 

3. Jesus makes an interesting comparison in John 13,18, where he says: » The Scripture will be fulfilled: he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against Me.« He is quoting Psalm 41,9: »Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who eat my bread, has lifted his heel against me.« The close friend who would soon lift up his heel against Jesus was Judas Iscariot, one of His 12 apostles. Jesus is also alluding to Genesis 3,15 where He told the Serpent: »I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.« Jesus is comparing what Judas would soon do (betray him to the Jewish Sanhedrin) to the Serpent biting His heel. Judas’ betrayal set in motion the arrest, suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. 

4. Luke tells us that when the Devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Jesus until an opportune time (Luke 4,13). John tells us: »Then after Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him.« The Devil had found his opportune time in person: Judas Iscariot. This is a shocking turn of events. How could one of Jesus’ closest disciples, one of the 12, betray his rabbi and friend? 

5. During Lent we often contemplate our discipleship and loyalty to Jesus. The Lord reveals that our sinfulness, our rebellion, our unwillingness to heed the will of Yahweh are acts of betrayal to Jesus. Like the 12, we face the temptation to run away and abandon Jesus when trials and tribulations arise on account of our faith. We are just like our father Adam who first lead us down this path of suffering and death; it is easier to yield than to take up the cause of faith in Christ. A couple of weeks ago our Gospel pericope reminds us that the Devil tries to take away God’s word and our faith; likewise times of testing can cause us to fall away from Christ and our faith. This is what happened to Judas. 

6. Jesus had arrive to solve Adam’s curse by becoming a curse for us on the cross, and in doing so vicariously took our place and paid for our sins so that forgiveness, salvation and eternal life would be ours. Jesus redeemed us out of His love for us. Not only did He save us, but Jesus had been tempted as we are, yet He did not sin. With confidence we draw near to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4,15-16). As God the Father sent angels to minister to Jesus following His temptations (Matthew 4,11), so Christ sends angels to minister to us, for they are ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are to inherit salvation (Hebrews 1,14).  

7. Do not receive the grace of God in vain (2. Corinthians 6,1). God listens to us and helps us (Isaiah 49,8; 2. Corinthians 6,2). Christ endured temptations on our behalf; He overcame all temptations whereas we often fall short or fail. He understands the struggle we endure. Thus we pray in the Lord’s Prayer: and lead us not into temptation. God attempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the Devil, the world and our sinful nature may not deceive or mislead us into false beliefs, despair and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory (Small Catechism). Jesus is gracious and merciful to us and sends forth the Holy Spirit and the angels to strengthen us during trials and tribulations, and comforting us when such trials have concluded.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God; You appeared to destroy the works of the Devil, so that we can have the certainty of salvation that is grounded upon You alone.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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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 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.