13th Day of Lent
Our Passion reading tonight begins in the upper room where Jesus gives to His Church of all ages the holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. That great miracle and mystery we have today was also a great miracle and mystery for those disciples that first Maundy Thursday: how could Jesus, who is standing right there in the midst of them, who they can see with their physical eyes--how can He give them His body and blood; how can He give them His body and blood together with the bread and wine--in with and under it? We do well to ponder this mystery but it will always remain a mystery--it is a great miracle and also a great grace.
Another towering event in tonight’s reading is Jesus in Gethsemane. There we see the depths of His sufferings as it is a foreshadow/ prelude to His even greater physical and spiritual sufferings. Jesus’ sufferings will even intensify but here we catch a glimpse of that holy heart of Jesus burning with love for us sinners! We hear Jesus tell the disciples Mt. 26.38]: My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, even to the point of death; we also hear [Lk. 22.44]: As He was in agony, He prayed more fervently. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground. Three times, all alone in His agony as His chosen disciples had fallen asleep, He prayed in this agony [Lk. 22.42]: Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done. Here is Jesus in greatest agony as He--the Lamb of God-- here feels the full weight of the sins of the world placed on Him; here He knows all that He would very soon have to suffer; here He knows that that moment for which He has come has arrived. And, yes, Jesus very much is in agony and recoils at the thought but in His heart burning with love for us sinners He wants to redeem/ save the whole sinful world. That’s why He prays in such agony: He wants to carry out His saving work and if there is some other way that He could do it then Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me; but if there is not then Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done. The will of the Father and the Son are one and united. And since there was no other way to save the world from its sin and death, the Father then strengthened Jesus to carry out the work He had come to do and which He in His heart was burning with desire to do [Lk 22.43]: An angel from heaven appeared to HIm and strengthened Him.
But this account of Jesus, in agony, praying in Gethsemane is not the only account in the Passion HIstory we read tonight that reveals Jesus praying. We also have the account of Jesus warning Peter that Peter would deny Him: “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail.” So do you see that heart of Jesus burning with love for us? --Even in the midst of His great agony, Scripture reporting that [Jn. 13.21] [Jesus] was troubled in spirit, Jesus was looking out for the other, the spiritual good of the other and so, even with the great sufferings and agonies that He knows He would soon be enduring, Jesus prays for His disciples--and in particular for Peter who would be the special object of the devil’s attacks that night. Not only was the devil out to try to destroy Jesus, he was out to destroy the disciples, the Church, by destroying their faith. Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat, that is, all of you the devil has asked for!
Jesus warns all the disciples [Mk. 14.27]: All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered’. And here in our text, Jesus zeros in on Peter as obviously the devil had his sights especially set on him: Simon, Simon! By twice mentioning his name--Peter’s original name, the name he had before Jesus changed his name to Peter--the rock-man--because of his correct and bold confession of Jesus [Mt. 16.16]: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God--Jesus shows His deep anxiety/ concern for Peter. He shows His deep love of the disciples and of Peter by warning them beforehand of what was happening. By warning him, Jesus wanted Peter to be ready and on alert. But notice Jesus’ love goes even further. He doesn’t just warn them and leave it at that; He doesn’t just “pass along the information” Instead, what does Jesus do? He prays for Peter: But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail. Jesus doesn’t just say: you had better start praying--which is good and proper. Instead He Himself prays for Peter. That’s the love of the Lord for us. He who suffered and died for us on the cross also prays for us. His love has no bounds.
When Jesus warns Peter, in particular, there is that fascinating line: Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. Here is something very humbling to Peter and to each one of us--Satan asks for us. That implies that Satan has some sort of claim on us. None of us would ask for Brooklyn Bridge because none of us would have even the remotest claim. But the devil asks for the disciples--and Peter in particular. Why? Because of our sin, the devil has a “legal right” to us. He got us to turn away from the Lord, to sin. We are his “trophies of war”. Jesus describes the devil this way [Lk. 11.21]: [The devil is] a strong man, fully armed, [who] guards his own palace, [and] his goods [his trophies/ us!] are in peace. The warning for Peter and each one of us is this--our sin is a serious matter. Yes, through baptism we belong to Christ; yes, in baptism we are safe as He has claimed and rescued us out of the devil’s kingdom, but by our sin, our continued, willful and unrepented sin we can drive the Holy Spirit from our hearts and when He goes, so does the faith He creates. Either we belong to Christ or the devil. There is no middle ground. Evil works--our continued, willful, unrepented sin--destroy faith. That’s why the devil especially targets our faith--like we see him targeting the faith of the disciples that day--and especially Peter’s. It wasn’t enough for the devil that he got Judas--he wanted Peter and the rest. The warning for us: It isn’t enough for the devil that he has most people--he still wants our Lord’s Christian--you and me!
The devil’s ultimate goal is our spiritual ruin. That’s what Jesus warned Peter that day and that’s what He warns us today. Our text: Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail. To be sifted like wheat--an image of separation. After it was winnowed, the grain still had impurities mixed in like bits of the stalk or leaves, chaff, so it was shaken and put through a sieve separating out the impurities to make it ready for use. So by affliction and temptations--especially the great spiritual trials the disciples would soon be enduring as they would see their dear Lord arrested, put on trial, beaten and ultimately crucified and dead; by the trial, fear and terror Jesus’ Passion would bring, the devil was trying to rock and destroy faith in Jesus from their hearts. So also today with us, the devil wants to take advantage of every trouble to devour us/ destroy faith; he wants to separate us from the wheat of the believers and cast us out from the kingdom of God as chaff. Although Satan wanted to reduce Peter to chaff, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat, our Lord’s purpose was that Peter remain wheat--But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail!
The same thing applies to us, dear Christian. Satan is always working to destroy our faith, bringing on and taking advantage of every trial and affliction; but our gracious Lord’s intent is to keep, preserve and strengthen faith.
Here is where we can learn from Peter. He was specifically warned by Jesus and given the glorious promise by Jesus: But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail, so what did Peter do? But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” Instead of holding on to Jesus’ word of promise and asking for strength, Peter announces his courage; he doesn’t think he needs prayer since he thinks he’s ready to endure prison and death. Peter tells Jesus that because he is ready to go with [Jesus], both to prison and to death that Jesus shouldn’t doubt his faithfulness. Notice, though, where Peter thinks he is getting his strength from--himself; he is relying on his own strength to get him through this trial. We may consider self-reliance a great American characteristic like we see with the pioneers, but it is horribly detrimental spiritually. When we are self-confident spiritually, when we think we by our own strength can resist the devil and his wiles, when we think we do not need to be in church around the word and sacrament, when we think we can skip Scripture reading and prayer, etc. that’s when we are most ready for Satan to come along and destroy our faith. St. Paul warns very clearly [1 Cor 10.12]: Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Jesus warns Peter exactly of that; He warns Peter how deeply he will sin: I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me. Not only will Peter then not go to prison and die with Jesus, but he will even deny knowing Jesus.
Instead, let us learn here from St. Peter. Let us hear Jesus warn him and know that the same warning is also meant for us--the devil is out to destroy our faith. But instead of relying on ourselves to remain in the faith, like Peter here did, let us hold on to our Lord’s word of promise; let us by constant humility and ceaseless, trustful prayer to the Lord for His sustaining strength and making use of HIs word and sacrament strive to remain faithful to the end.
And here we have that glorious promise of Jesus in our text: But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren. Jesus prayed for Peter and He prays for us that we, too, may remain faithful to the end! Even though Satan may ask for us, that he may sift us as wheat, Jesus, the Stronger, is praying for us! And on top of that, let us find another comfort: since Satan has to ask for us, that means he cannot do anything without God’s permission; it means that God puts limits on what the devil can do. So yes, there will be that onslaught against us led by the devil to try to sift us like wheat, to try to destroy our faith, to spiritually ruin us; the devil will want to separate us from the wheat of the believers and cast us out of the kingdom of God, like a weed. That’s what Jesus warned Peter and that’s what He has warned us and all Christians. But through these trials and spiritual attacks that God does allow the devil to inflict, God intends to work great spiritual good.
And with and in these trials Jesus is praying for us! There is our help and strength! That’s what we hold to, not our own strength or holiness. Yes, Peter did deny Jesus 3 times; he relied on his own strength and sinned grievously; but he repented; he was re-converted. Here, Satan’s victory was for a while but it was short lived. By the power and grace of our Lord, Peter returned to the faith, to the Lord. Whenever a Christian falls from faith and then returns again, it’s solely by our Lord’s grace and Jesus’ intercession.
If you feel the attacks of the devil trying to sift you like wheat, if you very much feel your sin, even if you fear you have lost the faith, know Jesus is praying for you like He did Peter. In His heart burning with love He offers up prayers for you. Know He will bring you through. Run to His holy word and sacrament where He offers and gives you that grace and the forgiveness of sin. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail. INJ Amen.