+ Last Sunday of the Church Year – November 24th,
2013 +
Redeemer Lutheran, HB
Proper 29, Series C: Malachi 3:13-18;
Colossians 1:13-20; Luke 23:27-43
In the Name of the Father and
of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today feels a bit like church year déjà vu,
doesn’t it? We’re celebrating the end of the Church Year and yet the Gospel
reading is from Holy Week. We’re anticipating Christ’s second coming and yet
we’re hearing about his crucifixion. Isn’t this all a bit backwards?
Actually, this is how you live your lives as
Christian pilgrims. We look forward to the future while holding on to the past.
We preach Christ Crucified and proclaim His promised return. You can trust his
promises about his return because of his saving work in the past. The Lord is
faithful. So, think of the Last Sunday of the Church
Year as the Church’s Nunc Dimittis. We sing with Simeon and the criminal: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in
peace. Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Or as we pray in the Lord’s prayer: “Thy
Kingdom Come.” There it is; in three little words – Jesus’ crucifixion and His
return. Good Friday and the Last Day.
Thy Kingdom Come.
Good Friday and Jesus’
second coming have a lot more in common than you think. Good Friday is a
snap-shot of the Last Day. After all, Good Friday is the beginning of the end
times.
Thy Kingdom Come.
Still, we want to know when. When is Jesus
going to come in glory? When will he finally put an end to my sin and
suffering? When will he put an end to cancer wards and graveyards? When will he
wipe away all tears from our eyes? Thy Kingdom come…what does this mean? The
kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray that
it may come to us also.
So, when is Jesus’ kingdom
going to come?
According to Luke’s Gospel it’s already here.
Every sign that Jesus gives warning about the End Times happened at his
crucifixion: darkness, earthquakes, rumors of war, persecution, suffering, and
judgment. Jesus’ crucifixion is the beginning of the end. Even the events of
the crucifixion sound like the end of the world:
The women weep and wail for Jesus. But Jesus
replies, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children.” Jesus’ words are a two-fold warning.
Warning about the Romans, the temple destruction, and how much worse it will be
for women and children. But he’s also warning all of us about the Last Day. “If
they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry.” That’s
how the end times work. Things go from bad to worse and worse to worst before
they get better.
Thy Kingdom Come.
As the kingdom comes on the cross, so does the
mockery. The religious types cry out: “He saved others; let him save
himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The
soldiers also mocked him with their cheep wine and sour sarcasm: “If you are
the King of the Jews, save yourself!” And then one final insult, an
inscription over his head, “This is the King of the Jews.”
Of course none of them believe what they’re
saying – that’s the mockery. But here’s the irony. They’re right. Jesus is the
Christ, the Chosen One. Jesus is the King…of the Jews and the Gentiles, you and
me. King Jesus, enthroned on the cross. Robed in our sin. Crowned with our
suffering. Reigning over death while dying.
Thy Kingdom Come.
For even here on the cross,
especially here on the cross, Jesus is King of kings, Lord of lords. He is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Son of God, Savior of the
nations… This is the King in His kingdom as it appears in this world. On our
hearts imprint this image: Jesus crucified for me, for you.
There’s comfort for us in
Jesus being mocked. The Church is mocked. You’ll be mocked for believing Christian
doctrine too: That the Bible is God’s Word; that it’s historically reliable;
that God gives life includes unborn children. God’s gift of sexuality,
marriage, and family just to name a few in the headlines these days. Why? The
world mocks the Gospel. The world hates free grace, unconditional pardon of
sin, and forgiven sinners. “You’re letting guilty people off the hook” they
say. And they’re right. That’s the Gospel: Outrageous forgiveness for
undeserving sinners. So don’t be surprised when you are mocked for believing
and proclaiming this Gospel too. For the disciple is not greater than his
master. So when the world hates you know that it hated Jesus first. But fear
not, Christ has overcome the world too.
Come
quickly, Lord Jesus. Thy Kingdom Come.
Jesus’ cross is also a
picture of judgment day. For in Jesus, the world is already judged. “For God
did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him” (John 3:17) Jesus is all of humanity in
one Man, the second Adam. His death is humanity’s death; His death is the death
of the world. His death is the world’s Last Day in type. The innocent for the
guilty. That’s the pattern Jesus lays down for us when he lays down his own
life.
That other criminal got it. “…we
are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing
wrong.” He confesses Christ. Jesus is innocent. More than that; he is
sinless. And yet for our sakes God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.
On the cross Jesus is the criminal, the blasphemer, the rebel, the murderer,
the adulterer, the thief, the liar, the gossiper, the coveter. On the cross
Jesus became your sin.
The judgment you had coming
on the Last Day, Jesus takes for you. He takes your record of sins and drenches
it in his blood, rips up your laundry list of sin and throws it into the grave.
In the salvation of this criminal next to Jesus we see our own. We - the guilty
ones – are pardoned. And Christ suffers innocent for us. We – sinners all – are
declared righteous. And Jesus is declared cursed on the tree.
“This man has done nothing wrong,” and yet this Man dies as one who has done everything wrong,
forsaken by God, condemned, persecuted, mocked, ridiculed, damned. He gets what
we deserve so that, in the end, we get what He deserves. It is finished.
Thy Kingdom
Come.
We need to hear those words
over and over again. For everything in this life cries out, “No it isn’t. Just
look around you. It’s a mess. Life is one bitter tragedy after the next.”
Against all that the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh hurl at us Jesus’
words stand true: “It is finished.”
In Christ’s judgment on the
cross we see a marvelous picture of Christ’s return. You hear the final verdict
of the Last Day ahead of time: Come you who are blessed by my father…inherit
the kingdom prepare for you before the foundations of the world. Jesus’ kingdom
comes among us without our prayer, or our efforts. It comes by promise: “Amen,
I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Jesus’ words are pure gift.
Words that are as true today as the day Jesus spoke them. “You will be with me in Paradise.” “When?” “Today.” “How? I don’t
see it. This looks like Paradise lost.” “Don’t fear. Today you’ll be with me in
paradise.”
Jesus’ two most important
words in that sentence are: “With me.” Paradise is wherever Jesus is. Jesus brings
you Paradise in the waters of Holy Baptism. Jesus brings you paradise in the
absolution. Jesus brings paradise to earth at the holy altar.
It’s the same as praying, “Thy Kingdom Come.”
And how does Jesus’ kingdom come? “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father
gives us his Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe His holy Word and
lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.”
Wherever you have Jesus, there’s His kingdom.
Jesus’ kingdom comes in water and Word. Jesus’ kingdom comes in the forgiveness
of sins. Jesus’ kingdom comes in bread and wine to feed and forgive you.
That’s how we live in these latter days. The
same way that second thief on the cross lived and died confessing: “Jesus,
remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” This is how faith prays. He asks for nothing but to be
remembered by Jesus. He doesn’t ask to be saved from the cross, to be spared
his suffering, to be granted a last minute pardon, as the other one did. When
death is unavoidable, faith embraces death and prays, “Jesus, remember me.” So
it is for us. Jesus, remember us in our grief and sorrow. Remember us in the
hour of temptation. Remember us in illness and in death. Stay with us, Lord,
for it is evening, and the day is almost over.
And Jesus is with you. That’s
why he didn’t leave the cross. He stayed there for you. Pierced for you. Bled
for you. Breathed his last for you. Died for you. Buried for you. Rose for you.
And he will come again for you.
Thy Kingdom Come!
He has…and He will…and He does. The One who
comes on the Last Day to judge is the same One who was judged for you on the
cross. The One who comes on the Last Day is the One who comes to you today with
the gifts of His sacrifice. Today we pray the prayer of faith: “Jesus, remember
me.” Knowing that Jesus’ response is always the same: “Amen, I say to you, today, you will be with me in Paradise.”
Thy Kingdom Come. Come
quickly, Lord Jesus.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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