Midweek Lenten Devotion, March 16, 2011

Text: Hebrews 9:22
Theme: Images and Reality

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

The fish and not the cross was the main image of early Christianity. The torturous and bloody scene of a crucifixion was perhaps too fresh in the minds of early Christians. It was too stomach-turning, too repulsive. Nevertheless the image of the crucifixion soon identified followers of Jesus Christ with an act of God that was both insufferable and incomprehensible in the Roman world. It is today the most recognizable symbol of the Christian faith; though it might be argued that the full depth of its significance is waning.

In our Lenten journey we are focusing on images of the Passion. If “a picture paints a thousand words” how many words does a depiction of Christ’s crucifixion entail? Of course it’s not the number of words that concerns us but the meaning conveyed. Our Scripture for this evening is from Hebrews chapter nine, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”1 Blood is the currency of reconciliation. Sacramental Christianity is bloody Christianity. That is, the bloody sacrifice of Christ informs every teaching and practice of the church. Lutherans do not trivialize the resurrection by abandoning the horror of the crucifixion. The risen Christ bears the scars of the cross. And the resurrection itself does not consign the crucifixion to the historical past. Rather it elevates it as the eternal access to the Father’s love and blessings of the Holy Trinity.

Some images become vested with meaning based solely on our experience. Pictures of war evoke for soldiers memories of very personal experiences. Images of floods, and earthquakes, and tsunamis will be life-long traumas etched on the hearts and minds of many this year. Other images are God’s windows into the sacred acts of redemption. We don’t understand these naturally. We grasp these by faith. The Scriptures paint a picture of what Christ has accomplished and the Spirit enables us to “understand” it by faith. Oh, yes, we can gaze upon the pitiful sight of the crucifixion and be moved by compassion and sorrow quite naturally. Suffering and death trigger human sympathy- one of the tangible proofs that humans were made in the image of God. But to see there- in the foolishness of the cross- the very wisdom of God requires a supernatural intervention.

Why the need for the shedding of blood at all? Why not a painless dispute resolution process? Why not a mere verbal pardoning for all transgressions? Here we enter one of the deep mysteries of Christian teaching. God created us with flesh and blood, soul and spirit and it was necessary for the means of salvation to be commensurate with the nature and magnitude of humanity’s abandonment of God. Dear friends, the undertaking of reconciliation to God was no trivial matter. A man who was down on his luck was told by a Christian man to be thankful. "Thankful! What have I to be thankful for?" grumbled the sour-looking man to the Christian. "I can't even pay my debts." "In that case," prompted the Christain, "be thankful that you aren't one of your creditors."

People today are not so much concerned about guilt and judgment and forgiveness in life as they are about whether life has meaning, and purpose, and opportunity. They don’t see that these categories are inseparably related. Society tells us truth is relative and that there is little reason to be accountable for our false ideas or selfish motives. We are told we’re not answerable to a higher power; we are rather victims of the misconduct of others. Instead of repenting and seeking forgiveness we seek empowerment. Instead of pursuing reconciliation we pursue license to control.

But the crucifixion is not the image of self-empowerment or the icon for permission to do as we please. It is the defining picture of sacrifice and humility. While praying in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but yours be done.”2 The Father was willing to shed the blood of His Son that we might be spared. When the body and blood of Christ is taken upon your lips; when the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in your hearing; when the name of the Holy Trinity is spoken at baptism and to begin each Divine Service you can be certain that the fruits of Jesus’ shed blood are being communicated to you. This bloodied Saviour is your God and Lord. He is our Lenten journey. It’s a short pilgrimage and mere prelude to our Sabbath rest. Amen.

+ in nomine Jesu +

Midweek Lenten Service
16 March 2011
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Hebrews 9:22
2 Luke 22:42