Luke 19:41-48 - Trinity
X - August 12, 2012
What Makes for Our Peace with God
…. And this here sets
the context for where our text begins this morning. Jesus came to Jerusalem for the very purpose
of eliciting praise from those whom he would redeem. And what could possibly silence the praise of
God’s people? Well, in our text this
morning we learn exactly what does: sin; self-righteousness; the refusal to
repent. And we learn as well what it is
that rekindles in our hearts the
praises of God our Savior.
When Jesus first laid
eyes on the city, as he approached Jerusalem for the last time before he died,
he wept. He didn’t weep for
himself. He didn’t weep for the brick
and mortar that had adorned the landscape for so long. He didn’t weep for the collective memories of
the nation. There was no sentimentality in his sorrow. No, Jesus wept for the souls he would soon
redeem with his own blood. He wept
because his chosen city, the city that housed the Meeting Place between God and
man, was rejecting him and the salvation he had long promised. He wept because they did not know what made
for their peace. It was hidden from
their eyes. That’s what Jesus said in our
Gospel lesson. That which would make for
their peace with God was hidden from
them because they refused to consider their own sin against God.
They didn’t believe
they were at war. …They had the Temple. They were satisfied with that. They found consolation
in the fact that God had chosen them out
of all the nations of the earth – they must be special. And they found this consolation every time
they saw the great Temple that stood as an edifice of God’s favor. But they didn’t know what it was for. And there was the problem. The
fact that it was there was good enough for them. The fact that sacrifices were made and that
incense was offered to God was good enough for them. But they didn’t know what this all pointed to. It pointed to God’s mercy. It pointed to God’s mercy for them – because they needed it. They saw in the Temple a symbol of their own
religiosity and devotion and spiritual achievement. But they ignored the message of God by which
God devoted himself to them.
Just consider God’s intended
purpose of the Temple in Jerusalem. God
himself had ordered its construction, and designed it. Within it, grain offerings and bloody
sacrifices were constantly being offered for the sins of the people. God himself was there to accept them. At the dedication of the Tabernacle, the precursor
to the Temple, at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, at the rededication when
it was rebuilt after being destroyed once before, on these occasions God filled
these buildings with smoke – with his own tangible presence as the glory of the
Lord descended from heaven. Just think
of the pillar of smoke that led the children of Israel through the desert. God was
there. Think of the smoke that
filled the Temple in Isaiah’s vision, when the angel brought the burning coal from
the altar to make him clean. God was there. The Temple was built so that God could be
there – so he could visit his people and serve them, making them clean as well. The Temple was not a shrine to their own
virtue or obedience as Jews. No, it was
a house of prayer. That is to say that
it was where God came to serve sinners by forgiving them their sins and so made
them holy. And in this way God taught them how
to pray, how to praise and how to give thanks, as the commandment
also requires us to do.
And now here we have the
very Son of God drawing near to teach them once again – the very glory that
filled the Temple in days of old, the very Christ whose coming the prophets
foretold, the very Lamb of God to whom all the many sacrifices pointed – coming
once again to visit his people. The
Temple was built to be a dwelling place for God. But the people loved the Temple more than
they loved God who wanted to meet them in mercy. So God destroyed it.
In the year 70 AD what
Jesus described came true. The city was
ruined. Men were murdered, women dishonored,
children sold, although most of them simply starved – what should pain any
messenger deeply even to have to report did in fact occur. And the Temple was destroyed utterly. No stone upon another just as Jesus warned
with tears in his eyes. It’s interesting
that the one portion of the Temple that does
actually still stand to this day, known as the Wailing Wall – you may have
heard of it – was a portion of the Temple that God never commanded to be built.
It was built by King Herod, a king whom God
never appointed to reign. He did it in
order to win the favor and praise of men.
And to this day, men, women, and children from around the world, weep at
this wall that God allowed to stand. But
it does them no good. What they have lost, whatever it may be, cannot be
redeemed or rebuilt or retrieved by their own tears. But the tears of Jesus as he wept over this
once-holy city are most certainly worth more.
It was God’s wrath
against hypocrisy and unbelief that was poured out on Jerusalem. Their sin made for war, and they lost. It was God’s love on the other hand – even
for those who did not love him and who reveled securely in their own
righteousness and lust – it was God’s love that compelled him to cry. And so it was God’s love that compelled him
to send his Son to take upon himself the wrath against sin in you and in me and
in every soul that deserves to die – the wrath of God that is only dimly
represented by the gory fate of Jerusalem.
On the cross the Temple that was made without hands, but conceived in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy
Spirit – this Temple was surrounded by enemies, and torn down. God waged war against the holy Substitute for
sinners and condemned sin in the flesh even as he condemned his own Son… for
you. This makes for our peace. …. Only when we look to the cross do our
eyes see the salvation that God has prepared before the face of all
people. Only when we see the glory of
God’s people Israel at the same time showing us the gravity of our sin, on one
hand, and on the other hand, showing us its full payment rendered in our place –
only then do we know and possess peace with God. In Christ, it is not hidden; it is
revealed.
And that is why we need
to consider our sin. “Would
that you,” Jesus said, “even you, had known on this day the things
that make for your peace!” We know.
The destruction of Jerusalem, in particular the Temple, is a warning
against impenitence. God takes our sin
very seriously. We know. And if we had no besieged Jerusalem to teach
us this, we have the broken body of our Savior Jesus Christ. There is no such thing as true religion – no
relationship with God at all – apart from God having mercy on sinners for
Jesus’ sake. And that’s why we preach
Christ crucified. And that’s why we
preach Christ crucified here at Trinity Lutheran Church. There’s nothing special about this building
or this congregation other than the fact that in this place God has mercy on
sinners. And that is why the constant message, the
constant theme, the lifeblood and purpose of every hymn we sing and every
melody we hear is the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ who suffered the wrath
of God against sin in our place to save us poor sinners from hell.
This is real, dear
Christians. It is as real as Jerusalem’s
awful fate. As real as your sin and your
guilty conscience. It is as real as the
pain in your heart, or the pain you see your sin has caused others. It is real.
Hell is real because sin is real.
Thank God that he has taken our salvation as seriously as he has taken
our sin. In fact, he takes them both
seriously in the same place. Because our
salvation consists in this: that God has borne sin for us.
We know what makes for
our peace. Just as the things of the
Temple taught God’s people of old, so the risen Christ, our chief cornerstone
upon whom the Church is built sturdy, teaches us today – not by pointing ahead
to some grander day, but by giving now
what you need to live, by making today
your day of visitation. He visits us by
the Holy Absolution you hear, and by gathering us together often in the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit whose name was placed on each one of us in
Holy Baptism. It is here by forgiving us
all our sins that God makes us his own temples, fit for his dwelling. Here he makes us worthy to receive the very
body and blood of Christ as often as we come to know our need for true peace
with him who spares nothing in judgment.
But look here; he spares nothing in mercy either, not even his own
Son.
Immediately after Jesus
wept and after he recited the looming judgment against his ancient city, consider
again what it is he did, immediately. “He
entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, ‘It
is written, “My house shall be a house of prayer,” but you have made it a den
of robbers.’ And he was teaching daily
in the temple.” It is as if
Jesus became totally unconcerned with the fate of the Temple. It would be destroyed. Yes. But
not yet. In the meantime, it was set
aside for God’s holy use. And, by God, Jesus
was going to use it for what it was intended.
He taught. And the people heard
him. He rebuked sin. He cast out hypocrites. He expelled the moneychangers. And he began to teach. And the people heard him. This is how we also today learn to pray. We listen to Jesus. This is how Jesus makes us holy.
The eventual fate of
the Temple did not keep him from cleansing it with the word of God. But what is our fate…eventually? Have
these thoughts or concerns crossed your mind?
What will be the fate of this wonderful building and congregation? I doubt anything like what happened to
Jerusalem will happen here. And yet these
things concern us. But look at what does happen here that happened also in
Jerusalem. Our God comes to us. Our God sanctifies this space by giving us
right here the words of eternal life. God does not so concern himself with what may
become of this congregation in 80, 50, 20 years. This does not keep him from doing what he has
intended to do for us here. He still
comes here to rebuke sin, to cast out hypocrisy from our hearts, to instruct us
in godliness, and to cover us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ his
Son. This is what we need him to
do.
Oh, there may be
sentimental tears that we weep when we consider what has been, and what may
never be. But what do we know? Consider instead the tears of Christ. They were not sentimental. They were tears that flowed from a heart eager
and able to save you from a much more awful fate. If we weep, let us weep tears of repentance,
not at some wailing wall, not at what remains of our glorious endeavors. No, but let us weep before the throne of
God’s grace, where we are sure to receive what pleases God to give us.
The praises of God’s
people were once silenced, cast down by fear, so that the only cry left to fill
the city was one that cried for the death of Jesus: “Crucify him!” Yet it was
precisely in the silencing of God’s praise that the greatest praise was
ordained as the Son of God hung high upon his chosen throne. And even as the stones of the Temple fell
silent, not one upon the other as they all lay rebuked by God’s damning wrath,
yet the hearts of stone in our sinful chests now cry out – built together as
one – the psalms and hymns of true faith that proclaim God’s saving grace—even
as the Holy Spirit makes us fit temples for the dwelling of the Most High
God. These hearts of stone turned flesh
now cry out Hosanna to our Lord and Savior.
The fate of Jerusalem, the fate of this church, the fate of the aging
bodies listening right now may be sad to consider. But Christ is risen. Our eternal fate is sealed and it is glorious. Consider this. Hang on to this word, and your praises will
never be silenced.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
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