In
the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I
think John, chapter 8, is where Jesus gets most exasperated with the stubborn
Jews and their refusal to believe Him. He gets in their face and challenges
them. He asks them flat out, “Why do you
not understand what I say?” They have no reason to reject Him, no
legitimate reason to even be suspicious of Him. In His life He is innocent, so
He asks them, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” In His doctrine or teaching He is
blameless, so He asks them, “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” But the Jews have no good answer to
these questions. They
simply don’t believe, which means they are not God’s children. They slander His life by saying, “You are a Samaritan!” They deny His doctrine by saying, “You have a demon!” Since they don’t receive Christ’s
teaching and believe, they must reject Him and destroy Him.
Every
preacher and every person who holds an office in the Church should follow the
example of Christ here, because at some point we will encounter hostility and
stubbornness from the world, so we should not make matters worse. Every
preacher or officeholder should strive to demonstrate an innocent life and
irreproachable doctrine. Of course, the difference between us and Christ is
that we are never without sin before God. So we should try to maintain a holy
life in the eyes of our fellow men, while trusting only in the righteousness of
Christ for salvation. But doctrine is different, because it is not a matter of
conduct, a matter of trying, it is a matter of truth or falsehood. Doctrine is
either from God, the Father of Truth, or it’s from the Devil, the father of
lies. So, our doctrine must be good and pure so that it stands not only before
men but also before God.
As
I said, at some point we all encounter hostility and stubbornness from the
world, so what should we do? Again, let us look at the example of Christ: He lets
the attacks and slanders at His life go and He endures the shame. He tolerates
it when they call Him a Samaritan and He doesn’t bother to contradict the
ridiculous accusation. But He defends the doctrine, the teaching. He says, “I do not have a demon.” He does not
teach the Devil’s lies. He says, “I honor
My Father.” He preaches the grace of God because that is how God is truly
honored.
When
we are attacked we should forget about our lives. Let them slander us. But we
cannot let it go when the doctrine is attacked. The doctrine is not ours but
God’s, and He does not tolerate lies. We should risk all we have for the purity
and honor of God’s Word. If I perish, if I even lose my life, no great harm is
done. But if I let God’s Word perish and I remain silent, then not only do I
harm God’s honor but I also harm the world, because it is only through the Word
of God that the world is saved. If I make people angry at me by speaking God’s
Word, then not much has been lost. But if I do not speak the Truth, then I
dishonor God and I condemn the people by not giving them the Word that they
need to hear. And if people mock me or whisper lies about me, oh well. God will
handle that. He is the judge and He will not let them go unpunished.
God
promotes and upholds our honor. He did it for Christ. After all the mockery and
lies He endured, God raised Him up again. The resurrection is the vindication
of Christ. And He will do it for us too. All who believe and wait on God’s
judgment will be proven right in the end. That is why we pray with Christ: Vindicate
me, O God, and defend
my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and
unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I
take refuge.
Now,
Jesus not only defends His doctrine against the Jews’ lies, but He also declares
that His doctrine has power over sin, death, and the devil. Truly,
truly, I say to you, if anyone
keeps my word, he will never see
death. He’s not speaking about the word of the Law here, but the
word of the Gospel. The Word of the Gospel talks about Christ who died for our
sins. The Word of the Gospel presents Christ and His righteousness to us. It
gives Him to us as the One who has overcome sin, death, and the devil. So,
whoever grasps and holds onto this Word, grasps and holds onto Christ. And so,
through this Word you are set free from eternal death.
This
also explains what Jesus means by “keeping” His Word. He’s not talking about
the kind of keeping we do when we keep the Law by doing its works. The Word of
the Gospel must be kept in the heart by faith. That is the way we go through
death but never see it.
We
must all go into death, but a Christian does not see death, he is not terrified
by it, he does not lose faith because of it. A Christian that keeps Christ’s
Word by faith does not see death but only sees his Savior and eternal life. Jesus
made a similar point in John, chapter 11: Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. A Christian that keeps Christ’s Word has
already been redeemed from eternal death. For a Christian, death is only sleep, and he goes through
death and into life. That is
the kind of power Christ and His Word have. And that is why the Jews are wrong when they claim that
Abraham and the prophets are dead. Abraham is not dead. The
prophets are not dead. In the
midst of death they are still alive because they believed and kept the Word of
the Gospel which forgives sins and gives eternal life.
Jesus kept pushing back against the Jews’
arguments. He won’t let things slide. He continues to defend His doctrine. Jesus
made His second-most offensive statement to the Jews when He declared, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” Of
course, this doesn’t mean that Abraham saw Jesus with the eyeballs in his head,
but he saw Jesus by faith. He saw Jesus when he believed the Word spoken to
him: In your Seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed (Genesis 22:18). In that Word, Abraham saw that his
descendant would be born of a virgin, live a truly innocent life, suffer for
sins of the world, rise again, and cause this message to be preached and cover
the world with blessing. In hearing and keeping that Word, Abraham saw the day
of Christ, the time of the Gospel. And now you, today, some 4000 years after
Abraham, some 2000 years after Christ’s death and resurrection, this same Word
is given to you. And this is the Day of Christ. This is the time of the Gospel.
And if anyone keeps this Word he will never see death.
And yet after all this, the Jews still resist,
still deny, still refuse to believe. So, Jesus kicks it up a notch and makes
His most offensive statement yet: “Truly,
truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I
am.” In other words, you want to know how I can say all this? You want me
to answer your silly objections and explain Myself? Okay. I existed before
Abraham. I am the One who was and is and is to come, with no beginning and no
end. I am who I am (Exodus
3:14). I am the one true
eternal God.
And
here’s why it was necessary for the Christ to be true God: If the person who
sacrificed Himself for us were only human and not God, it would not help, because
even if He were perfectly sinless, His life would only count as a sacrifice for
one other human life. But when Jesus hangs on the cross, God Himself hangs in
the balance. Only the eternal God who is also a Man can be the sacrifice for
all men. What brings the eternal blessing and victory over all sin and death is
that the Seed of Abraham, the Son of the Virgin, is also the true God who gives
Himself for us. How can we possibly praise Him enough? How can we possibly wrap
our puny minds around this great mystery? By faith we keep it and gratefully
bow before it.
But
the Jews, along with many others, refuse to do that. Sinful humans will never
stop taking offense at Jesus’ Words, never stop throwing stones at Him or
slandering Him. And Christ hides Himself from them and leaves their temple. He
will only be found by those who receive His Word.
So,
let us take care that we never resist Christ’s instruction and force Him to
hide His loving face from us. Let us never anger or frustrate Christ with lies
or with apathy. Let us always approach our Teacher and Savior with humility, with
a desire to learn and understand, with a hunger to receive Christ and His
righteousness alone in His Holy Word and in His Blessed Sacrament. In the next
two weeks, let us humbly follow Christ our Lord, and by faith see the salvation
He won for us on the cross and in the empty tomb. Send out Your
light and Your truth, O Lord; let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Martin Luther’s Sermon: Luther’s Works,
Vol. 76, pp.409–414.
