Lent 5—Judica
Dear friends in Christ. Today we begin the final two weeks of Lent, a period of time called “Passiontide.” Here Lent takes on a more somber and serious tone as we approach closer and closer to the altar on which Jesus sacrifices Himself for the sins of the world—the cross. In today’s Gospel reading we heard Jesus being rejected by the Jews, for after Jesus clearly confesses that He is the true God, I AM, that is, the One whom Abraham and all the OT faithful were looking for in faith, we read: Then [the Jews] took up to throw at Him. They rejected Jesus. Although the events of today’s Gospel took place about 6 months before Jesus’ crucifixion and death, they give us a picture of Jesus’ rejection that He would suffer at that time and of which He had prophesied earlier [Luke 9.22]: The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. We can hear Jesus calling out in today’s psalm [43.1]: Vindicate Me, O God, and plead My cause against an ungodly nation.
Notice as well in today’s Gospel: the truth of what Jesus said elsewhere [John 10.18]: No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. The point? Jesus determines the time and place of His death because He is willingly laying down His life; He is in control of all the events. That’s what we see at the end of today’s Gospel: Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. The fact that Jesus was in complete control of when He would lay down His life for the sins of the world shows that it was a willing sacrifice.
As we examine our text from Hebrews we will see the power of Jesus’ blood—that is, we will see where that power comes from and what that power works.
1. As we enter today these final two, especially solemn weeks of Lent, our thoughts turn to Jesus’ bloody sacrifice on the cross and the immediate events leading up to it. As we today are also met with our text that talks so much about blood and sacrifice, we then come right away to the question: what’s the deal with blood and sacrifice? Isn’t there any other way back to God? Long story short—No! The holy writer of our text writes a few verses later [Hb. 9.22]: Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. In other words, God demands death for sin. That’s how seriously God takes sin. It’s only the devil that does not regard sin as a big deal. That’s the point of these past weeks in Lent as we examined our hearts and lives in the light of God’s holy law. We have seen all the more clearly our sin and that our sins have serious consequences—separation from God, they make us enemies of God; guilt, God’s wrath, eternal condemnation. Our sins are a big deal! Having honestly examined our lives, recognizing our sin especially these past weeks, how we long for rescue, deliverance from those sin! The only way that we can be saved from our sin and their consequences is if God—who is the One who is sinned against—forgives us our sin. After all, if our sins are as serious as they are—rebellions against the holy God and His will which earn us nothing but His wrath and damnation—nothing we do from our end can make amends, appease God, and reconcile us to Him. The only thing that can happen has to be from God’s side; He has to forgive us our sin. That’s precisely what He did—by the shedding of His own blood; by Jesus offering Himself on the cross as the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.
That was the whole point behind the OT sacrifices, where bulls and goats, etc. were sacrificed. The OT priest would offer these sacrifices—these sacrifices which in and of themselves had no value to forgive sin; but they pointed the faithful forward to the one perfect sacrifice for sin that God Himself was preparing—His only Son who would be both the priest offering the sacrifice and He Himself would be that once for all perfect sacrifice for sin.
That’s where our text begins: But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come… Notice Christ came as High Priest; He wasn’t made high priest but appeared already on the scene as High Priest. A priest is one who offers a sacrifice—and Jesus, the Son of God, the Second Person of the blessed and holy Trinity came to do precisely that: to offer a sacrifice, one that would reconcile the whole of sinful humanity to the holy God. Jesus was no ordinary priest but being true God and coming as High Priest He would offer up that one, pure sacrifice that would be for the sins of the world.
Okay! So the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, comes as priest; but notice through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. The Son of God is God and thus spirit—non material. But what does He do when He comes? The apostle here talks about the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) and about his own blood. In other words, what’s being talked about here is that the Son of God, when He came, took on human flesh and blood; He became true man. By the special working of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin, He prepared a human nature free from original sin and the defects of sin. The holy God, the Second Person of the Trinity, comes already as High Priest to offer sacrifice, but, our text tells us, the sacrifice that He offers He carries out through the greater and more perfect tent, that is, the building/ tent of His own body and by means of his own blood, [He] thus secur[es] an eternal redemption.
What’s all this about? Our text is telling us that Jesus is both the Great High Priest who offers the sacrifice and that He Himself is that sacrifice. All the OT priests could do was to offer up some irrational, unwilling animal and by God’s grace that would remind the people of the perfect once for all sacrifice that was coming and that work and strengthen faith in the coming Savior who would offer it up; although the OT faithful were forgiven their sin, it wasn’t because of the sacrifice of some animal but it was in light of the sacrifice of the coming Messiah.
But now Christ appeared as a high priest, that is, when the Savior came to bring about the salvation of the world, He would not sacrifice some animal but in the greater and more perfect tent of His body He would offer Himself as the perfect once for all sacrifice: He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. As true God, Jesus would have no blood to shed; but as true man He does have blood to shed and there on the cross Jesus offered up Himself as the once for all sacrifice for sin. Again, and why? Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Our sins are too great; there’s no way from our end that we can make up for them. Our sins are too great—they require God’s wrath and eternal damnation. They can only be dealt with by God forgiving them and the only way that God can forgive them is if first His holy Law, which He demands be kept perfectly, is obeyed and then if blood is shed because that Law has been broken.
That’s why Jesus! That’s why Christ appeared as a high priest. Because God is a holy and just God, He demands that the Law He has given is obeyed. He can’t just wipe out sin if His holy Law stands defiled. That’s why Jesus came and obeyed God’s holy Law fulfilling every bit of it—since we don’t/ can’t. Our text: Christ…through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God. Christ obeyed God’s Law; it stands fulfilled—by Christ for us.
But what about our sins? They must be punished! They indeed are serious and deserving of death and damnation. But again, the grace of God shines through so brilliantly! By means of his own blood, [Christ] thus secur[ed] an eternal redemption. Jesus took on human flesh and blood, the greater and more perfect tent, not only to obey God’s holy law for us in our place but also so that He would have blood to shed, the very blood God demands be shed if there is to be forgiveness of sin.
The glorious thing about Jesus’ blood is that it is not the blood of mere man; it is the very blood of God Himself! That’s what gives Jesus’ blood such power and worth. That’s why Jesus blood/ His suffering and death is enough, in fact more than enough, to pay for the sins of all people ever to live on earth. It’s the blood of God! St. Paul calls the Church [Ac 20.28], the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood. That’s the power of Christ’s blood and its power comes from the fact that Jesus’ blood that He willingly shed for us and our salvation is God’s blood.
2. Because it is the blood of God Himself that Jesus sheds on the cross—again the mystery of the Person of Christ, that He is both true God and true man—that’s why it has such power and it also works great spiritual and heavenly blessing.
Look at what our text says: [Christ] entered once for all into the holy places. That beautiful phrase once for all; Jesus didn’t have to keep sacrificing Himself. He did it once; and because it was the blood of God that He our High Priest offered as He offered Himself as the victim on the altar of the cross it is good for all people of all times. That means that whatever sins we commit, have been paid for by Jesus, our High Priest sacrificing Himself on the cross. Again, our text: By means of his own blood, [Christ] thus secur[ed] an eternal redemption. Hear that? Christ’s blood works an eternal redemption. That means that His blood shed for us on the altar of the cross has set us free by paying the price that God demands for sin—namely, death and hell. Jesus’ blood has rescued us from sin, devil and hell. The glorious thing is that Christ is, as it were, in heaven forever pointing to His blood as having freed us from all sin and guilt. And what is also so glorious is that He gives us this very blood of His in the Blessed Sacrament, giving and assuring us of that forgiveness.
How glorious is that power of the blood of Christ as it works in us and gives us that joyful conscience! Can we be sure of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life? Absolutely! Our text: how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works! Jesus’ blood does a divine thing—it purifies/ cleanses us from sin. It doesn’t just purify us outwardly while still leaving us inwardly defiled. Instead, Jesus’ blood removes sin’s defilement from the very core of our being: it purif[ies] our conscience from dead works; it washes us from our sins coming from our corrupted sinful nature and which lead to earthly and eternal death. What does this mean? It means that in Christ, because of His sacrifice of Himself He offered on the cross, we have the forgiveness of sins; we, then, are reconciled to God; we have a joyful conscience that is at peace with God. Things are now right between us and God. Through Jesus and His sacrifice/ His blood we are assured of His mercy and that we are God’s dear children now and eternally in heaven.
Whatever sins Satan and conscience may throw up at us to try to get us to doubt and despair of God’s grace, we have the certainty that the blood of Jesus Christ…cleanses us from all sin. Not only do we have that certainty, but God proclaims it and gives it to us so richly and abundantly in His Gospel and the absolution and in the Sacraments it washes over us and we receive it in our mouths. Christ’s blood is powerful because it is the very blood of God Himself and it works so powerfully giving us the forgiveness of sin and a joyful conscience at peace and reconciled with the Lord! INJ