The Lutheran Hour
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"It’s a Must"
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Text: Matthew 16:21
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Sometime ago a friend made an impressive statement. He said: “A most remarkable thing about Jesus’ ministry was that He ruined funerals.” Now, my friend was not being disrespectful or disparaging about funerals, but in a very different way he was telling an incredible truth. Here’s what he meant: Funerals, as you know, are meant to mark lives now over. They are to allow crying and grieving for those who have left this life and world. They are to bring closure. Jesus ruined four of these occasions during His earthly ministry by making the dead person come alive again.
The first funeral Jesus ruined was outside the city gate of a town called Nain. The only son of a widowed woman was being carried to a funeral pyre. A great throng had come to this funeral procession to support a woman already familiar with grief and who no longer had a male provider. Jesus ruined the crying, parading, and “funeraling” as He brought the young man to life again.
The second funeral ruined was after the synagogue ruler, Jairus, learned his daughter died. By the time Jairus brought Jesus to his home, the professional mourners were already crying in front of the house. At this point, Jesus proclaims the girl is simply asleep. The mourners who were paid to cry now laugh at Jesus, but there’s an old saying that is well said: “He who laughs last, laughs best.” Going into the house, Jesus takes the little girl by the hand and says these words, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” And Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and now the mourners have to leave because there is no one to cry over any more.
The third funeral Jesus ruined was for His good friend Lazarus. Arriving in Bethany four days after Lazarus has been buried, Mary and Martha are still funeraling. Jesus goes to the tomb, cries Himself over the devastation death delivers, then thanks the Heavenly Father for the power of new life, and calls forth Lazarus from the tomb, ruining yet again this time of mourning and funeraling.
The fourth funeral Jesus ruins is most spectacular of all. Early on a Sunday morning some women go to a grave for one last cry, for one last anointing, for one last funeral of their beloved rabbi. But arriving at the grave they find the stone sealing the tomb had been moved and that their beloved Jesus had risen. A contemporary poet says it this way: “The stone was rolled away; it bounced a time or two. An angel stepped inside and said, ‘Hey, I’m an angel, who are you? If you’re wondering where the Lord is, at this very hour, I tell you he’s alive and well with resurrection power.'”
With all due respect, I’m convinced my friend was right — Jesus ruined funerals. That is, He brought to life and gave salvation to the ones who had died. The really good news is Jesus continues to ruin funerals to this day. When a believer in Jesus dies, though his or her body goes in the ground, the soul soars into heaven awaiting the day of the Lord when body and soul will be reunited and then the glorified body and soul will spend all eternity in heaven with Jesus. Luther adds the best commentary on this when he said, “An unbelieving world cries out, ‘In the midst of life we die!’ But I say, ‘Nay, it is in the midst of death that we live!'”
Now I tell you that to tell you this — our text makes it abundantly clear what Jesus needed to do to bring about a ruined funeral (which is a giving of eternal life) to each of us. Jesus must suffer for us, He must die for us, and on the third day He must be raised to life. The key word is “must!” You see the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus was a “must” for our eternal life.
It’s frustrating to note many people want to divorce the person of Jesus from His mission to destroy Satan and save us. They want a happy Jesus, not a bleeding Jesus. They want a soft Jesus, not a powerful-enough-to-die Jesus. These people neglect passages like 1 John 3:8 which says: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil;” or another passage, St. Matthew 20:28 which says, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” These people turn Jesus into some moral teacher or some economic freedom fighter or simply a holy man who was cut down in the prime of life. But Jesus, first and foremost, is the Savior! His mission was to be born, live, die, and rise again in our place to take away our sins. This mission was a must.
This is most clearly seen in our text today. Listen again to Matthew 16:21: “From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Did you hear it? Jesus used the word “must.” It means: obliged to, necessary, without negotiation, should.
This mission was a “must” for Jesus for three reasons: 1. The Law of God demanded that the punishment of sin was the shedding of blood and death. We are sinners, we deserve to die. If sin is to be paid for, the price is death. 2. Only Jesus, the true man and true God, could both die in our place and then rise from the grave in victory. 3. Jesus’ love for us compelled Him to freely give us eternal life even at great suffering and cost to Himself. Our sinfulness made it a “must” that we should be punished. Jesus’ love made it a “must” that He would take that punishment on Himself, and in return give us forgiveness and eternal life.
God has integrity. His Word says, “The wages of sin is death.” He could not simply overlook our sin nor forget the promise of His Word. But He also knew that if a substitute would take the place of a sinner then it would have to be God Himself, for He alone could be a perfect substitute and He alone could rise from the grave. In order for God to take our place He would have to be clothed in the stuff of humanity. God would have to become flesh and blood. In the greatest act of love, Jesus the Son of God, clothed in flesh, suffered and died as our substitute, and rose as our champion. All of this was a “must” because of God’s love for us. God wants us with Him forever and always. I’m convinced one of Jesus’ favorite words that He uses in the Gospel is the word “with.” And it’s always coupled between us and Him. Jesus wants us with Him. In Matthew 18 He says, “Wherever two or three are gathered there am I with them.” In Luke 23 when He was hanging on the cross and He was speaking to the thieves being crucified with Him, here’s what did not say. Jesus did not say to the thief who had first said to Him, “Lord, remember me when You enter Your kingdom,” Jesus did not say, “Truly, truly I say to you, today you’ll be in paradise.” That’s not what He said. Here’s what Jesus said. He said, “Truly, truly I say to you, today you’ll be with Me in paradise.” The good news, indeed is that we get heaven but the best news is we get heaven with Jesus. And it goes on. To the disciples the night before He was to be killed, He says in John 14: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe in Me. In My Father’s mansion are many rooms. If it were not so I would have told you. But I go there and I prepare a place for you so that I might come back to take you to be there with Me.” Jesus wants us with Him in the heavenly mansions. And still it continues. Any maybe the best “with” of all is found at the end of St. Matthew 28 when Jesus says, “And lo, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus wants us with Him.
A story by Richard Pindell written a long time ago helps me understand this better. After a heated fight between a father and a son erupted but again, the son chose to pack some clothes and leave his father and mother. After being gone about a month, the boy missed his parents and his home as his anger ebbed away. Finally he knew he should go home. Waiting for his train, he began to fear that maybe his dad didn’t want him home. He ran to a pay phone and called home. His mom answered and was flooded with relief when she heard her son’s voice. She quickly begged him to come home. He explained that he had already bought a ticket but was afraid that his father didn’t want him home, so he asked his mother: “Mom, can you guarantee dad wants me to come home?” The mom was silent for a moment and when the boy asked why she was so quiet the mom said, “Son, your dad is a changed man since the day you left. He hardly speaks anymore — even to me, and you know how close we are. He never smiles or laughs. He simply goes to work, comes home, broods over dinner, watches TV then goes to bed. On the weekends he sits by his workbench in the garage all alone.
“But mom,” the son said, “Does he want me to home? I’m not coming home if I’m not wanted. Mom, what do you say, my train is here and I need to board?” “I can’t give that guarantee son, your father won’t talk to me, just please come home,” pleaded the mom. “I gotta know, mom. Can you give me the guarantee?” “Son, I just don’t know about a guarantee.” The boy then got an idea. “Mom, he said, “tell dad I’m on the train and I want to come home. Tell him the train will run on the tracks that go behind the back of your property. If he wants me to come home, tell him to hang a white handkerchief from a branch of that old dead apple tree we were going to chop down that’s out by the tracks. If I see a handkerchief, I know I can come home; if there isn’t one, I’ll know I’m not wanted and I’ll keep going on the train. Mom, I gotta go. Tell dad what I said. Bye Mom.” The boy hung up and jumped on the train. He entered a train car that was filled with strangers. He sat by a window next to an older, stately-looking man, but he kept to himself staring out the window. Finally the older man nudged the boy and said, “Son, it’s obvious you have something on your mind. I’ll leave you be if you want, but sometimes it helps to talk over your troubles. I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”
The boy looked at the face of the kind stranger and began to tell his story. The boy told of his fight with his father, how he had left home a month ago, and how now he wanted to go home. He told of calling his mom and how she was to let the father know the boy was on the train and that if he was welcome, to tie a white handkerchief on the branch of that old dead apple tree. After finishing the story the boy could tell everyone in the train was eavesdropping. Then up ahead he saw the last bend before the train would run along the back of his parents’ property. He pointed the bend out to the stranger, then buried his face in his hands, and doubled over with crying, too afraid to look what was or was not on the tree. The boy felt the train make the bend. He literally felt everyone straining to look out the windows on his side as he knew they were approaching the apple tree. He was hoping they’d yell, “There it is!” or “Hurray!” or “Look at it!” but instead there was simply an audible gasp. The boy knew it must be bad news so he cried harder. But the stranger said, “Son, it’s time to grow up. It’s time to face your future. Face your future and look.
The boy sat up and pulled away his hands, and looking out the window as the train passed the apple tree, he saw not one white handkerchief was on the branch of that tree. What he saw was that there were a hundred white handkerchiefs on a hundred branches of that tree! The message was oh so clear. The dad was saying, “Please come home! You are welcome to come home! I need you home. I want you to come home!”
I tell you that to tell you this: Our Father in heaven welcomes us to His home. Oh, He doesn’t hang a handkerchief from an apple tree, but His Son Jesus hung on a tree called the cross that reconciled us again to the Father. And it wasn’t white flapping in the breeze, it was red. Jesus’ red blood flowed, cleansing us of all of our sins. The message is unmistakable; we are welcome again into the family of God, because Jesus’ sacrifice makes it so. God, our Father, is welcoming us home. He’s giving us eternal life in heaven. He wants us home with Him.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us the first of His three predictions of His death. For Jesus it was a “must” that He die: God’s Word demanded it; only through this could we be saved; and His love for us compelled Him to go through it. The Good News is that because it was a “must” for Jesus to die for us, some day our funerals will be ruined and we will be welcomed into heaven by our Father for all eternity when this world ends. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) FOR August 28, 2005
Topic: Did God Make Everything “Good?”ANNOUNCER: Stay with us now, as Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Today’s question: “If God never makes a mistake, how is it that He created the angels, and one of them, Satan, turned evil and led the other angels in rebellion against God?”
KLAUS: Good question. When God created the universe and all that is in it… when He made humankind, it was all very good. It was perfect, without error, without flaw, without sin.
ANNOUNCER: So far, so good.
KLAUS: Then, somewhere along the way, the devil sinned.
ANNOUNCER: And, do we know when that was?
KLAUS: Only that it was sometime after day seven in creation. Day seven is when God rested, and He looked around and pronounced everything very good. He wouldn’t have given that verdict if sin were already around. God is holy and He hates sin.
ANNOUNCER: So, the devil sinned. Do we know what that sin was?
KLAUS: Not for sure. Most scholars would say it was pride and a desire to usurp God’s authority. The devil was jealous of God.
ANNOUNCER: Later on, that’s also what Adam and Eve did. They thought they knew better than God, and they wanted to be like God.
KLAUS: It’s what people still do.
ANNOUNCER: So the devil sinned. How is that possible, though, if everything was created good? Doesn’t that mean God let a little bit of bad into the world?
KLAUS: No, it doesn’t mean that at all. It does mean that God gave to Satan, as well as the rest of the angels, as well as to humanity, something called free will. The angels had a time when they could choose to stick with God, or not. God didn’t force them, control them to follow Him. He wanted their love and worship to be voluntary, not a mandatory thing.
ANNOUNCER: And that’s when Satan sinned? He decided to go his own way.
KLAUS: That’s when he sinned.
ANNOUNCER: But still doesn’t that make God responsible somehow? At least I think that’s what our questioner wants to know.
KLAUS: It doesn’t. You know, if you look around this world, the Lord gave us many different gifts. Almost every one of those gifts can be used to glorify Him, or to demean Him. Almost every one of those gifts can be used to the benefit of our neighbor or to his detriment.
ANNOUNCER: Could you give some examples?
KLAUS: Yes. God created the opium poppy plant. From that plant we get all kinds of wonderful, pain killing medications. That poppy plant can be used to benefit our neighbor and relieve suffering. But, that same plant can be used to destroy lives, futures, hope, and tomorrow. The plant is God’s gift. The choice of what to do with it is ours. I can give other examples: Explosives can be used to clear a road, open a field, or take the leg off an enemy. The internal combustion engine can be used to transport a heart attack victim to the hospital, or it can be used by a drunken driver to kill a family. Our tongue can be used to build somebody up, or tear somebody down. A government can promote tranquility and peace, or it can enforce slavery and aggression.
ANNOUNCER: So what we’re saying is God gives the gifts, but we are given the choice to either use or abuse them.
KLAUS: And that is nowhere more true than it was for Adam and Eve during their time of testing in the Garden of Eden, or Satan when he was in heaven and before he fell into a spirit of rebellion. Satan used God’s gift for the wrong purpose. Even as history tells us, most gifts God has given have been perverted and used for the wrong purpose.
ANNOUNCER: Now you mentioned this “time of testing” for the angels. I imagine you’re saying that this time of testing is over?
KLAUS: For them, it certainly appears to be. They had a time when they could follow God, or not.
Obviously God wanted their loyalty, but some of them chose to withhold it. Now the good angels are with God, the bad ones, the demons, are with Satan. Christ has defeated them through His death and resurrection. There is no migration between heaven and hell.ANNOUNCER: Adam and Eve had their testing in the Garden of Eden. How about us?
KLAUS: Well, certainly we’re not tested in the same way Adam and Eve were. When they sinned, all of us became sinners, and, on our own power, we’re unable to reclaim the perfection God had first given us, that He still wants for us. (Romans 5:12). Nevertheless, we do still have the power to say “no” to God who sent His Son into the world to redeem us, and substitute Himself for us.
ANNOUNCER: God wants all people to be saved and He’s given us His Word to create faith and sustain us through this time of testing.
KLAUS: He does. Scripture is clear when it says, “God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections from this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“I Know That My Redeemer Lives” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“We Know That Christ Is Raised” by John B. Geyer and Charles V. Stanford, setting by Richard Resch. From Te Deum by the Kantorei (© 2000 Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne)
“The Day of Resurrection” by Kenneth Kosche. From Christ Be with Me by the Kammerchor (© 1998 Concordia University-Wisconsin) Coronet Press
“Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der den Tod überwand” by J.S. Bach. From Orgelbüchlein & More Works by J.S. Bach by Robert Clark and John David Peterson (© 1997 Calcante Recordings, Ltd.)
“We Know That Christ Is Raised” by David Cherwien. From Hymn Interpretations, vol. 1 by David Cherwien (© Summa Productions, Minneapolis)