Trinity 10
Dear friends in Christ. Last week we heard of Christ in the temple looking out and seeing that there is much sin and unrighteousness to condemn, but there was also, like with the poor widow giving her all to the Lord at the collection in the temple, much that Christ can praise in that small, faithful remnant called His Church. His dear Christians are led and empowered by the Holy Spirit and in faith and love offer up works of love and service to the Lord and their neighbor.
But what is Christ’s attitude toward those that He must condemn? The apostle [1 Timothy 2:4] writes: God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Although in His holiness and righteousness He must condemn those who reject Him and His forgiveness and righteousness and eternal life in Christ, our Lord does not take any pleasure in it. In fact, the Gospel gives us a glimpse into the heart of Christ as He is about to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and sees the city ahead of Him and the joyous pilgrim throngs. And what does Jesus do? [Luke 19:41] Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it and then Jesus, the all-knowing God, tells the reason why He weeps: He prophesies and describes Jerusalem’s destruction that the Romans would carry out a mere 40 years later.
This heart, this love, this attitude of our Lord is vital to keep in mind as we hear His words of judgment in our text; vital as we hear God’s holy Law in our own hearts and lives; vital as we hear of God’s wrath being poured out. As a just and holy God, He must punish sin—but He would rather save all people by bringing them to faith. Let us hear again Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you did not desire [it]!” [Matthew 23:37] Why some are saved and not others is not from a of lack of desire in God but because of the wicked human heart: but you did not desire it!
In our text, Jesus issues a call of repentance to the Israelites. He, in love, was trying to spare them that destruction that was coming as the direct result of their rejection of Him and His saving work. In the same way, each time we hear God’s just and holy law accusing us of sin and cutting us to the heart, let us recognize it as the gracious voice of our Lord calling us to repent—to turn from sin and turn to Him and receive His free gift of forgiveness of sin, His perfect righteousness and eternal life. Let us recognize it as a great mercy of God.
When our Lord comes to us in the instruments of His word and sacrament, He can be rejected; His love that seeks us out can be refused; His Holy Spirit can be rejected. That’s the wisdom of God—He does not force us to believe.
May we never take lightly/ for granted the Gospel call to come to faith. May we never turn away from and try to silence the accusing voice of God’s Law condemning us for sin, but may we use it rightly as the preparation gladly to hear and receive Jesus’ work and the forgiveness of sins.
1. Jesus spoke the words of our text just a few days before His suffering and death. And they are words of sharpest law and condemnation—again, to lead the people to recognize their sin and to turn away from that sin.
Therefore, indeed, I am sending you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Here Jesus is warning, specifically the religious leaders of the Jews but also their followers, that because they continually rejected Him Jerusalem and thus the temple and the nation will be destroyed. The prophets, wise men, and scribes are the apostles and other proclaimers of the word. Notice: Jesus is the one sending them: I am sending you prophets, wise men, and scribes. And Jesus then tells them what sort of reception His apostles and their associates would receive: some of them you will kill and crucify and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. That’s the reason for the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple—which happened on and which is remembered on 10 August: the rejection of Christ and His work and word.
But then there’s interesting phrase/reference Jesus uses: that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Abel is the son of Adam and Eve killed by his brother Cain; Zechariah is a priest who was killed on orders from the wicked king. According to the Jewish order of the Old Testament books Abel’s death is recorded in the first book, Genesis; Zechariah’s death is recorded in 2 Chronicles—the last book in the Jewish order. Jesus is saying: just as you rejected Me, killed My faithful servants/ witnesses all throughout the Old Testament, so you will kill or otherwise mistreat My faithful servants I will send to you to call you to repentance and faith in Me. That’s why Jesus says at the beginning of our text: Therefore; therefore, Jesus says [Matthew 23:32]: Fill up then the measure of your father’s guilt—much like Jesus would say to Judas a few days after this [John 13:37]: What you are doing, do quickly. On that first Good Friday, egged on by their religious leaders, the people cried out to Pilate [Matthew 27:25]: His blood be on us and on our children. Jesus, the long promised Savior was rejected and killed—just as many of those who before His coming faithfully proclaimed Him were killed and as were His apostles and those following them. That generation followed their ancestors: whom you murdered.
The result of this rejection of Christ, of having come upon them all the righteous blood shed on the earth, is the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple and their nation: See! Your house is left to you desolate; [Matthew 23:39] for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! That applies not only to the Jews in that generation, but Jerusalem’s destruction is also a picture, a prelude, of the ultimate destruction come the Last Day.
The deaths of Abel and Zechariah prefigured Jesus’ death. All those who reject Christ, His word and work, upon them comes all the righteous blood shed on the earth. This righteous blood, the righteous/ innocent blood of Christ comes as a curse upon Christ’s enemies; by their rejection of Him, they not only retain all their sin but also become guilty of shedding/rejecting Christ’s blood. They, then, stand before the judgment throne of God with all of their sin having rejected Jesus and His holiness, and with the curse and guilt of the holy, innocent blood of Christ on their hands. Nothing but eternal damnation in hell awaits.
What made this so horrible were Jesus’ words: for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! [Matthew 23:39] The people of that day, who rejected Him and rejected His apostles, had no way of coming to faith in the true God; no way to come to know Jesus as their Savior from sin; no way to forgiveness of sin and eternal life because they had rejected Christ and His word and so He withdrew Himself from them. Only when it’s too late—on the Last Day—will those who rejected Him recognize that Jesus really is the Savior.
The same applies to those today who reject Jesus when He comes to them through the instruments of His holy word and sacrament. Today’s text and especially these words of warning are our Lord calling to us not to reject our time of grace—that time He comes to us in His word and calls us to recognize our sin and to turn to Him for forgiveness. If we reject Christ now, if we reject His coming to us now, there is no guarantee He will come again. Now is the time of grace-and let us make use of it—lest Christ withdraw His presence because His work by His Spirit in the Word and Sacrament is despised and resisted.
2. The destruction of the temple and Jerusalem as well as of the nation, serves us as a graphic warning/ illustration of what happens when Jesus, the only way to salvation is rejected. But let us also remember Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem because of its upcoming destruction; and let us remember Jesus’ words in our text: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I desired to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Even though Jerusalem was in no way worthy of the Lord and His blessings, even though the people killed or at the very least rejected, the Lord still wanted to gather them and bring them safely to Him in repentance and true faith. The Lord delights in saving. And the same thing applies to us: even though we, because of our sin and rebellion against Him, are in no way are worthy of any of our Lord’s graces, He still desires to gather us together in safety under His protection—for both now and eternity. And He does this as He has His holy word and sacrament go out to us. As long as He sends us faithful preachers and gives His word in our midst, He is spreading His wings out over us for to crawl under for our spiritual protection.
But how/ why can a holy God save us sinners from the well-deserved wrath/ punishment for sin? Again, our text: that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Righteous blood has come upon us—that is, Christ’s blood has come upon us and has brought about the forgiveness of our sin/ has cleansed us from all sin and unrighteousness. That righteous blood was shed by Christ just days after saying this: Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Because the holy, innocent blood of the very God Himself was shed, it was a sufficient price to pay for the sins of the whole world. The wrath of God was poured out on that One Man, Christ Jesus, the God-Man, in that generation. In Christ’s death, His generation was judged, as was ours, in fact: in Jesus’ death the world was judged. All of our sins were placed on Christ and He was judged and found guilty of all the sins of all the people. It’s not that God doesn’t punish our sin—it’s just that He already has in Christ on the cross. The judgment already happened—at the cross. His blood is upon us—a cleansing forgiving blood. Since Jesus shed His holy, righteous blood and God’s divine judgment over sin has already been poured out on Him we are now reconciled to God. Our Lord seeks to gather us in His Church where that forgiveness of sin and every other heavenly and spiritual blessing is poured out upon us. His Church is that protecting wing that we’re under.
For most of us, He brought us under the protecting wing of His Church through Holy Baptism. There in the waters of baptism we are united with Christ in His death and resurrection. In baptism we died with Christ, condemned on the cross; in baptism we rose with Christ, declared forgiven and righteous. We live out that daily rhythm of death and resurrection as we confess our sin—and once again drown our old sinful self—and having received forgiveness/ absolution we strive by the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life more and more free of sin.
In Christ’s Church His righteous blood is upon us and we even receive it in our mouths in Holy Communion for the forgiveness of our sin. We recognize that Christ Himself is here in the Blessed Sacrament and acknowledging Him we cry out in all joy and welcoming Him in the communion liturgy: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!
As we see from Jesus’ words today in our text, His righteous blood comes as a curse upon those who hate and reject Him and as a result they can expect only the greatest judgment; but His righteous blood comes as the greatest grace and blessing, a shower of forgiveness and righteousness upon His dear Christian. INJ Amen.