Lent 3—Oculi
Dear friends in Christ. The Church has given the Sundays in the season of Lent names, usually from the first word of that Sunday’s Introit in Latin. Today’s Introit begins with Psalm 25: My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net. This Sunday, then, is called “Oculi”, which means “eyes.” In this psalm verse, David here confesses his faith, as well as the faith of believers in every age: we are always looking to the Lord for help and rescue—and He will indeed help and save us in every trial in the best way and at the best time.
This theme of “eyes” is a very fitting theme for Lent because eyes look; they see. That’s precisely what Lent is about—looking and seeing. First off, we especially use the season of Lent as a time to look at our lives according to God’s holy Law. There we see all of our sins. There we see what God demands of us; what His holy will is for us. As we look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s holy Law, we see how often we have done the opposite of what God demands and wills; there we see all the good that we should have done but didn’t.
But Lent also means looking and seeing with the eyes of faith Jesus and His holy perfect life lived without sin for us. It means looking at Him on the cross and there suffering the penalty for our sin; there paying the price for our sin; there reconciling us sinners to the holy God.
That’s the two-fold emphasis of Lent; that’s what we “see” in Lent. As we examine our text this morning we will see Lent’s two-fold emphasis, namely the call to repentance and Jesus’ passion, His suffering and death.
1. In our text, St. Paul writes: For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. What is this that he says-- For I through the law died to the law? It is precisely here that we come to that first emphasis of Lent—repentance. Again, the holy Law of God is His holy will; it is what He expects and demands of us. Here we have the holy Ten Commandments. In them God tells us what He requires of us in order to be righteous in His sight, in order to be saved by them, in order to get into heaven. But this is no superficial obeying of a few outward trivialities—no, I haven’t killed anybody or stolen a Cadillac. Instead, it is looking inwardly deeply into the heart as Jesus calls us to do and as the apostle [1 Jn 3.15] reminds us: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Do we truly love all those around us and place them first in our lives ahead of ourselves? Do we always help those around us in all their physical needs? What about the First Commandment—do we truly fear, love and trust in the holy Triune God above all things? If we do, then why do we do our own thing and sin—that’s not fearing and loving Him above all things? If we perfectly trust Him, why is there that worry in our lives? The simple fact of the matter is that no matter how hard we try, if we are honest and look at our lives in the mirror of God’s holy Law we will see how far we are from perfectly obeying God’s holy Law. We will see that we really do not love God with all our heart, soul and mind as He demands; we will see that we do not love those around us as ourselves, as God requires of us. Precisely that is the purpose of God’s holy Law for us—so that we recognize that we truly are sinners. Yes, we really are that bad! We look into the mirror of God’s law and see that we are indeed sinners; we cannot do what God requires of us. We see that because of the wrong we do and because we are sinners that heaven is shut to us and eternal damnation in hell awaits.
Daily, as we should, but especially now in Lent, as we look at and see our lives in the mirror of God’s holy Law, we discover anew that all our efforts to keep the Law do not work; we are not/ cannot be holy by our keeping of the Law and thus we earn and deserve God’s wrath and punishment. But when God’s holy Law leads us to recognize that, it has properly done its job! By its threats of God’s anger and eternal damnation, the Law drives us to Jesus and the grace of God.
The repentance of Lent is not just sorrow over our sin and despair that by our sin we earn only God’s wrath and punishment. Instead, repentance also includes running to the promises of God, embracing His grace that He promised us and trust in Jesus as Savior from that sin. Today is Oculi Sunday: My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net. Our eyes are directed not only to the Lord and His holy will, but they are also directed toward His grace and mercy to us in Christ because what we are unable to do, He does for us! He shall pluck my feet out of the net. We are caught in the net of sin, damnation and hell, but in grace Christ our Lord plucks our feet from that net and saves us from the just reward of our sin.
When it comes right down to it, there are only 2 ways that we can be saved—either by our works or by Jesus and His work for us—God’s grace. God, in His holy Law, shows us that it is impossible for us to do what He demands of us in order to be holy and worthy of heaven and so all our righteousness by our own works is excluded! God, in His holy Law, holds before us only His wrath and damnation. Here is the glorious theme/ emphasis of Lent—repentance! By looking at our hearts and lives in the mirror of the Law, recognizing our sin and that in no way can we save ourselves by the good we think we do—we then in our sorrow over sin hear God’s gracious call to trust in Jesus to save us from them.
2. With Lent’s first emphasis on repentance, we sorrow over our sin and we despair of having shut ourselves out from heaven because of our sin. But then we hear the promise of God’s grace in the Gospel and in Spirit-worked faith run to the grace of God. And that grace of God has a foundation—Jesus and His suffering and death on the cross for us for our sin! That’s the second emphasis of Lent—Jesus’ Passion. These two emphases belong together as our eyes are ever toward the Lord—not only toward His holiness and righteous demands but also toward His mercy, grace, love toward us sinners.
Lent’s second emphasis—the suffering and death of Christ for our sins—so clearly shows us the seriousness of our sin. Our text: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Notice that Jesus, the Son of God, loved us and gave Himself for us. Here we see that our sins are so serious, that the offended holiness of God is such a grave matter that it takes the death of the very God Himself, the Son, to placate the holy God. That shows us so clearly that there is no work that we do, no amount of good works that we do, that could make up and appease the offended righteousness of the holy God. It takes the death of the very Son of God Himself. Only His holy life, His perfect keeping of the law, only His suffering and death, was a sufficient ransom, a high enough price to rescue us sinners from the law—the do’s and don’ts of God that accuse and condemn us for not doing them.
Not only as we in this Lenten season look at our lives in the light of God’s law and see our sin and recognize ourselves as lost, condemned sinners do we see that we cannot be saved and earn/ merit heaven and salvation, since they are in no way enough, the perfection God demands; but, also as we this Lenten season look at the death of Jesus, the Son of God, do we also see that if we are/ can be saved by what we do—if we do enough good things—then Jesus acted foolishly. Our text: I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. The very fact that Jesus had to die on the cross to bring us forgiveness of sin, righteousness and eternal life means that it is impossible for us to live perfectly without sin; it means no amount of good we do can “make up” for the sin we do and earn us heaven.
As we look at Jesus’ death on the cross, especially now during Lent, we see that sin simply cannot be “made up for,” as if I had committed sins x, y and z but if I do a, b and c that will make up for it. Jesus’ suffering and death show that sin must be punished; the holy, righteous anger of God, Whose just and holy will was gone against, must be appeased. That’s precisely what happened when Jesus died on the cross and why He had to die on the cross.
Dear Christian, especially this Lenten season as we ponder Jesus’ holy suffering and death, let us keep in mind that there and there alone is our salvation. We have done nothing and could do nothing to save ourselves. If we think our salvation is not by the grace of God alone and that somehow, some way, we have to add something to the work of Christ, if we have to do something, some good work, then we despise Jesus’ death. Do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.
But as we ponder Lent’s second emphasis—Christ’s Passion—let us see something else wonderful there. Our text: I have been crucified with Christ. When we see Jesus on the cross, He is there as our Substitute. Jesus is our Substitute as He kept and perfectly obeyed all of God’s holy law for us; and since He did it as our Substitute, for us, now when God sees us, He does not look at and see all of our sin and wretchedness but only Jesus’ perfect holiness and righteousness. There on the cross Jesus is also our Substitute in enduring, in taking the punishment for us for our sin. He took all our sins upon Himself and suffered God’s condemnation and wrath instead of us. Now, through faith, we partake of the blessings and benefits Jesus brought about for us—His perfect righteousness. That’s why our salvation is certain—it all depends on the grace of God; it all depends on Jesus and His work! So then, since, we are forgiven our sins and saved by Christ Jesus and His work for us; since our works, our keeping of the Law, the holy 10 Commandments, do not even enter into the equation when it comes to our salvation, does that mean that we don’t need to live a holy life? Does it mean that we can choose to do or not to do God’s holy law? Certainly not! Why not? Because Christ is in us! Our text: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Dear Christian, through faith we are in Christ and He is in us. He is leading us into every good work. By His Holy Spirit, He strengthens and empowers us to want to do His holy will, to strive to live in accord with His holy 10 Commandments. That same Spirit worked faith in us that receives the forgiveness of sin, also produces a new life in us that loves and delights in doing God’s will. Our lives as Christians are lives and works of thanksgiving for the salvation that Jesus brought us.
So yes, as we examine our lives this Lenten season and as the Law of God condemns us for not doing what we should or doing what we shouldn’t—Lent’s first emphasis—let us then rightly use the Law and keep our eyes ever on the Lord, that is, accused and condemned by the Law, let it drive us to the grace of God and to the cross of Christ—Lent’s second emphasis.
Let us then hold firmly to that grace of God in Christ and the forgiveness and righteousness He brought about for us. Let us regularly be here in church to receive these gifts of forgiveness of sin and salvation that Jesus gives us in His word and sacrament. INJ