For Your Peace
Luke 19:41-48
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen.
It was the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus had just entered the city of
Jerusalem to the great acclamation of her people. The people saw this as a
triumphal entry. The Pharisees were so disturbed by the crowd's response to
Jesus that they urged Him to rebuke his followers. Yet Jesus, the one who
received this adulation, was found to be weeping over the holy city. He wept
and said, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the
things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."
In the account of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, we see a
whole cross-section of the things that did not make for peace. The people of
Jerusalem greeted Jesus as a king; but they greeted Him as an earthly king,
and Jesus did not come as an earthly king to bring earthly peace. The
Pharisees rejected Jesus because they were afraid He would disturb their
peace-a false, worldly peace that was based on their self-righteous outward
adherence to the Law. Jesus would certainly disturb that kind of peace, for
He came to bring that peace "which the world cannot give". And then we see
the buyers and sellers in the Temple court. Of all places where people
should have been able to witness to God's grace and truth, the Temple was
the place; but the world had defiled it. The buyers and sellers were in a
position to hear the promises made by God through Moses and the prophets;
instead they took refuge there. They sold and bought sacrifices to appease
the wrath of God. They thought that hiding themselves in the Temple would
shield them from God's anger; after all, surely God would not destroy His
own holy place.
And so, Jesus wept. He knew what was to come. He knew God's wrath toward
unbelievers--and more than that, He knew the means by which the justice of
God's wrath would be delivered. He said, "For days will come upon you when
your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you
in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the
ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you
did not know the time of your visitation." Jesus was exactly correct. At the
time of the Passover in the year 70 about 1,000,000 Jews gathered in
Jerusalem. During the next five months Jerusalem was totally overcome and
destroyed. In fact, they played a part in their own destruction. There were
three parties in the city who were jealous of each other and did not trust
each other. They destroyed each others' food supplies and homes. Thus the
Jews were their own worst enemies. Jerusalem was circled by three strong
walls. With great effort and at great expense the Romans conquered wall
after wall. Then they went after the Temple. It was burned to the ground
August 10, 70 A.D. Then 900,000 Jews were killed, starved or sold as slaves.
Only about 100,000 survived. God's judgment was terrible and righteous. As
we learn from the prophet Malachi, "Who can abide the day of His coming, and
who can stand when He appears?"
The Church is not immune to the pride and self-sufficiency that distracts
from the Word of God. How easily the house of God becomes a den of thieves.
How easy it is to lose sight of what it is that makes for your peace. How
often do we think God's Church couldn't survive without our financial
support? How often do we think that we do more for this congregation than
this congregation does for us? What brings you to this place today? Is it to
be seen? Is it to keep your name on the membership rolls? Being baptized or
having your name on the rolls of a congregation is no guarantee of
salvation. It's a simple matter for a baptized child of God to deny that
baptism; we do it every time we sin, every time we succumb to the Old Adam
in us. We do it every time we allow our self-reliance to distract us from
the preaching in the Word and the reception of God's holy Sacraments. The
Church is no refuge for the prideful or the self-righteous man. The history
of Jerusalem-especially its destruction-stands as a terrible warning of how
those who God has chosen might still be destroyed because of their rejection
of God and His gifts. And Jesus weeps over them. Jesus weeps. He weeps
because He desires the whole world to be saved. If the people of Jerusalem
had only received Jesus as the Messiah He was, if only they had not rejected
Him as they had rejected the prophets! If only the baptized child of God
would not deny his own need for the body and blood of Jesus; if only the
baptized child of God would hunger and thirst for Christ's righteousness! Do
not be deceived: the doors of the church building will not protect the
self-righteous from God's wrath.
The Church is no refuge for sinners who are comfortable in their sinfulness.
But the Church is the refuge for sinners who recognize their sinfulness and
repent of it, for it is in this house of prayer where we hear the Word of
God spoken to us to bring us comfort and that peace which the world cannot
give. It is in this place where we receive the holy Word of Absolution
spoken to us, spoken by your pastor as from Christ Himself. It is in this
place where the lowly, the humbled, the repentant, are raised up in the
waters of Holy Baptism and made righteous with the righteousness of Christ,
the white robe of righteousness that will shield you from the wrath of God.
Just as a few faithful remained in the Temple for Christ to teach daily,
there will always be a faithful remnant in this place whenever the Word of
truth is preached in its purity. It is that which brings you here this day:
the true Word of God preached to the true Children of Israel. And it will
continue to be preached here, that you may know the things that make for
your peace.
God is faithful. Just as He faithfully fulfilled the promise of the absolute
destruction of unrepentant Jerusalem, He faithfully fulfilled the promise of
sending One to crush the head of the wily serpent, Satan. Just as the
promised death and resurrection of Jesus was fulfilled, so will be fulfilled
the promised Day of Judgment, the day when we shall receive the promised
inheritance of eternal life. As we wait for that day, the Word will continue
to be faithfully preached in this house of prayer, so that you may hear it
and learn it and cling to it, rather than having to rely on your own faulty
self-righteousness. The Holy Supper will continue to be faithfully
administered in this place, so that you may eat and drink of it and live.
Here is Jesus Christ, faithfully present in His own body and blood, given
and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sin, present just as He has
promised. Here is the thing that makes for your peace, both now and for all
eternity. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
--
Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.
Pastor, St. Peter Lutheran Church, Campbell Hill, IL
[email protected]
http://pastoralkorn.blogspot.com
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