“The Humble Human Jesus Possesses Supreme Divine Authority”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord [Amen.]
“So wield well your blade, Rejoice in its pow’rs,
Fight on undismayed For Jesus is ours!
Then in Him victorious Your armor lay down,
To praise, ever glorious, His cross and His crown.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
665:5)
Gospel Reading....................................... St. Matthew 21:23-27
[28-32] (esp. 23-24, 27b)
23When [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the
people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are
you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24Jesus answered
them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then
I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 27bAnd he said to
them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Prologue: Inquiring minds want to know many things. For
instance, have you ever wondered why Jesus performed miracles? The answer
is really simple. Jesus performed miracles for two very important reasons.
First, He performed miracles to demonstrate His divine nature … that He
truly was (and, by the way, still is) God. And second, He performed
miracles to demonstrate His deep love and overwhelming compassion for
people. By the way, it’s a love and compassion that Pastor Marks and I have
for all of you as well. To say it another way, in reference to today’s
sermon text, Christ’s performance of miracles showed that …
“The Humble Human Jesus Possesses Supreme Divine Authority.”
In the chapter immediately preceding today’s Gospel Reading Saint
Matthew reported that Jesus healed two blind men. Earlier in this chapter
he reported that “the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he
healed them.” (St Matt 21:14-15 ESV) Those and many other miracles that
were bathed in the context of His authoritative teaching brought about the
accusatory challenge of “the chief priests and elders of the people” in
today’s text.
By the way, “The question of authority was the same one they had
earlier put to John the Baptist. The chief priests and elders of the people
regarded themselves as the authorities. The point of their question to John
and the point of their question to Jesus was the same: We did not authorize
you to do what you are doing, so just who do you think you are anyway? John
responded to their accusatory question by subordinating himself to Jesus: ‘I
baptize with water, … but among you stands one you do not know. He is the
one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie’
(John 1:26,27).
“So it was utterly appropriate that when they asked Jesus by what
authority he was doing these things, he responded with a question about the
authority of John’s baptism.” The whole point of such was that “Jesus is
not just engaging in a ‘power play’ to ward off his enemies. If they had
answered his question, they would have had their answer to who he is and
what he had come to do. Jesus’ question really is a call to repentance, an
eleventh-hour invitation to believe in him as Savior.” (G. Michael Albrecht
& Michael J. Albrecht in People’s Bible Commentary: Matthew. Copyright ©
1996 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 303.) As often was
the case with Jesus, it was a “set up” question designed to lead into a
greater teaching. That teaching for them then and you today is that …
I. Baptism’s True Meaning and Significance Separate Those Who Believe the
Truth about Jesus from Those Who Don’t. (25a)
The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?”
Jesus was an absolutely masterful user of questions to both disarm
and counter-challenge inquiring minds that sought to compromise Him by
demonstrating that He was not the Messiah He claimed to be. His questions
that were sometimes rhetorical and other times exploratory were always
pathways to helping His disciples and His enemies alike realize that His
claims to be sent from God, to be the Messiah, and, indeed, to be the Savior
and Redeemer of mankind were valid. After all, His cousin John’s baptism
that he administered to Jesus was a baptism unto repentance that pointed to
Jesus as the Lamb of God, who came to atone for the sins of all people of
all time. It was the same repentance that we heard about in today’s Old
Testament Reading, “Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest
iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you
have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will
you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone,
declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” (Ezek 18:30b-32 ESV)
God’s Holy Law that accuses, condemns, burns, and stings confronts
you today even as it confronted the inquiring minds of Jesus’ day. It does
so by reminding you that you don’t “fear, love, and trust in God above all
things”; that you “curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His
name” and neglect to “call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give
thanks”; that you “despise preaching and His Word” and don’t “hold it sacred
and gladly hear and learn it”; that you “despise or anger [your] parents and
other authorities” and fail to “honor them, serve and obey them, love and
cherish them”; that you “hurt or harm [your] neighbor in his body” and
sometimes (perhaps often) don’t “help and support him in every physical
need”; that you lead a sexually impure and indecent life in what [you] say
and do and husband and wife fail to love and honor each other; that you
sneakily or forthrightly “take [your] neighbor’s money or possessions, or
get them in any dishonest way” and refuse to “help him improve and protect
his possessions and income”; that you “tell lies about [your] neighbor,
betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation” and avoid opportunities to
“defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way”;
that you “scheme to get [your] neighbor’s inheritance or house, or get it in
a way which only appears right” and refuse to “help and be of service to him
in keeping it”; and that you “entice or force away [your] neighbor’s wife,
workers, or animals, or turn them against him” and, in fact, even ignore
opportunities to “urge them to stay and do their duty.” (Lutheran Service
Book. Pages 321f.)
In response to all those sins and more that make you deserving of
everlasting damnation, the Baptism that Jesus instituted at His Ascension
and that today’s New Testament post-resurrection Church administers
continues to proclaim Jesus as the Lamb of God that atoned for your sins, my
sins, and the sins all people of all time. In fact, Saint Paul wrote to
Titus about Holy Baptism that “[God] saved [you], not because of works done
by [you] in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on [you]
richly through Jesus Christ [your] Savior, so that being justified by his
grace [you] might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus
3:5-7 ESV); and to the Christians in Rome he wrote: “Do you not know that
all of [you] who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? [You] were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
[you] too might walk in newness of life. For if [you] have been united with
him in a death like his, [you] shall certainly be united with him in a
resurrection like his.” (Rom 6:3-5 ESV)
In the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Baptism the Holy Spirit not only
planted faith in Jesus into your heart but He also connected you with Christ’s
crucifixion death on Calvary’s cross whereby He “completely conquered the
devil” and paid the penalty for all your sins, and His majestic resurrection
from the dead whereby He proved that “A. [He] is the Son of God; B. His
doctrine is the truth; C. God the Father accepted [His] sacrifice for the
reconciliation of the world; [and] D. all believers in Christ will rise to
eternal life.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. Copyright ©
1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 135 & 139f.)
Because of all that today’s Introit informed us that “The Lord builds up
Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.” (Ps 135:2-3 ESV)
In answer to the petition we prayed in today’s Collect, namely,
“Enlighten our minds by Your Holy Spirit that, confessing Jesus as Lord, we
may be led into all truth,” we realize that the true meaning of and
significance about Baptism, therefore, separate those who believe the truth
about Jesus from those who don’t believe the truth about Jesus. That truth
about Jesus is that “he was wounded for [your] transgressions; he was
crushed for [your] iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought
[you] peace, and with his stripes [you] are healed.” (Isa 53:5 ESV) That
is, He lived the holy life for you that God demands of you but you’re unable
to do. He suffered and died for you the sin-penalty that you deserve but
desire to escape. And, He arose from the dead for you in order to validate
all that He did for you and thereby sealed your forgiveness of sins,
salvation, and eternal life. In other words, …
II. Baptism’s True Meaning and Significance Point You to Jesus. (25b-27a)
25bAnd they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’
he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say,
‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a
prophet.” 27aSo they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”
Jesus’ questions stymied the inquiring minds of the Temple
authorities. In fact, they “were unprepared to answer the problem. They
all recognized that they were in a dilemma. Their immediate answer would
have been ‘From men,’ but the common people held John in too high respect
for them to say that. They were afraid of being stoned by those who
regarded John as a prophet. Moreover, John the Baptist had maintained an
even more rigorous view of personal ethics than did most of the Pharisees,
but they dared not admit that John’s baptism was from heaven. They
retreated from the challenge of Jesus.” (Donald Guthrie in Jesus the
Messiah: An Illustrated Life of Christ. Copyright © 1972 by The Zondervan
Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI. Pages 273f.)
Furthermore, as the Reverend Doctor David P. Scaer explained,
“Jesus’ refusal to answer his opponents’ question about the origin of his
authority, unless they in turn define the origin of the authority of John
the Baptist (21:23-27), builds on the crowds’ recognition that Jesus is a
prophet (21:11). It was self-understood that prophets had their authority
not from men but from God (21:24-25), thus the answer to Jesus’ question
about John the Baptist is obvious. To avoid acknowledging Jesus as a
prophet, as the crowds have done, his opponents refuse to ascribe even a
minimal recognition of John the Baptist as a prophet.” (David P. Scaer in
Discourses in Matthew: Jesus Teaches the Church. Copyright © 2004 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 366f.)
With those vital thoughts in your hearts and minds, recall with me
the second and fourth parts of what the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther
instructed about Baptism. “What benefits does Baptism give? It works
forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal
salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God
declare.” And, “What does baptizing with water indicate? It indicates
that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned
and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily
emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
(Lutheran Service Book. Page 325.)
In conclusion, therefore, today’s Gradual gives absolute and
certain assurance that God will guard and protect you as you recall,
believe, and confess that …
“The Humble Human Jesus Possesses Supreme Divine Authority.”
He gives his absolute and certain assurance in today’s Gradual, in which the
writer of Psalm 91 declared: “He will command his angels concerning you to
guard you in all your ways.” (Ps 91:11 ESV) He further provides that
protection in His precious means of grace—His Holy Word, Holy Baptism, Holy
Absolution, and Holy Communion. With those holy blessings the Holy Spirit
strengthens your faith in Jesus and through them He communicates to you His
merciful and gracious gifts of forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal
life. And that, my dear fellow children of the heavenly Father, is the
wonderful benefit of being in the Divine Service, where God serves us those
sanctified menu items.
So, ever bear in mind and hold fast to the fact that …
I. Baptism’s True Meaning and Significance Separate Those Who Believe the
Truth about Jesus from Those Who Don’t. (25a) and …
II. Baptism’s True Meaning and Significance Point You to Jesus. (25b-27a)
As you do so, may your life exhibit what Saint Paul wrote to the
Philippian Christians in today’s Epistle Reading: “… complete my joy by
being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of
one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others
more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own
interests, but also to the interests of others. Do all things without
grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children
of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation,
among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of
life … .” (Philippians 2:2-4, 14-16a ESV)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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