The Lutheran Hour
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"Seeing the Savior"
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Text: Matthew 5:11-12
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Those Godly certain words of resurrection victory tell all who will hear that a conquering Christ has changed the world and eternity for all who believe, for all who are found faithful. Thanks be to God.
He was a young man that would make a mother proud, the kind of man a father would want his daughter to marry. Why not? His reputation had never been sullied by any hint of gossip; he was an intellectual, but not in a snobby sort of way. He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and work with others who were less fortunate than he. He felt serving others was not only an obligation, but an opportunity to give glory to the Lord. In our age there are those who might have labeled him a nerd, or a Jesus freak; but those who would have called him those names would have been doing so out of ignorance. Those closest to him recognized him for what he was: a man who had been blessed by God with a powerful faith. Yes, he might have made an ideal son-in-law; he might have done a lot of things, but none of those things were likely to happen.
You see, this talented man was on trial for his life. Admittedly, to call the farce that he faced a “trial” was to do disservice to the concept of justice. Those who testified against him had been instructed what lies they should say, what untruths might do him the most damage, what fabrications might frustrate any attempt at defense. In the streets an active smear campaign had been launched against this man to make sure there would be no long deliberations, to assure the verdict against him would be “guilty,” and the punishment he would be given would be “death.”
Although he should have been spiritually drained, our man seemed cool, calm, and composed as he talked. He spoke with a peace that far surpasses any human understanding. He spoke with a joy that seemed to say that he was far more free than any of those who had arrested him. He spoke and told the story of God’s people and divine love. He told of how the Lord had, throughout history, made and kept promises to His patriarchs, His prophets, His people. The man reminded his jury that when God’s chosen had proven themselves faithless, God remained faithful. Using one historical vignette after another, he showed them that God cared for this sin-saturated world. Indeed, the man said, God cared so much that He sent His only Son into the world to seek and save us; to recall and redeem us. Without anger or malice, the man spoke and he was so filled with the unbelievable beauty of God’s grace and Jesus’ story that his face glowed with an angelic light.
Jesus of Nazareth, that was a name that the court did not want to hear. If the judges hated this man who stood in front of them, they had hated Jesus far more. Jesus of Nazareth had been nothing but trouble to them… what with His preaching and His teaching and His miracle working. Even now some of them remembered some of the strange, and seemingly silly things that Jesus said. Things like: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Jesus had mesmerized the crowd with His words. Almost everybody agreed, “He had spoken as one who had authority,” and then they had added, “not like the others who normally teach us.” Yes, the crowd may have swallowed everything Jesus said, but the court did not. They had listened carefully to Jesus’ words as He called for a return to God’s laws rather than blind obedience to human regulations. They had listened as He had summoned people from sin and asked for repentant hearts rather than bloody temple sacrifices. True, the day might come, and indeed it has now arrived, when people would promote Jesus’ humanity and deny His divinity; when they would emphasize His Bethlehem cradle and ignore His Calvary’s cross; when they would forget His power and passion so they could paint Him only in pastels of mild meekness. But the judges had understood that Jesus was, with His promise of forgiveness of sins through faith alone, ushering in a new age, a new covenant, a new world order which would make it possible for the average man to come directly to his Father in heaven.
The court correctly comprehended that Jesus was going to turn the world upside down. They understood that if Jesus were not checked, He would convert the world to His cause. They realized that if the world worshipped God in spirit and not on Jerusalem’s temple mound, they would be out of work, and the world would have a new mediator between God and man. This the judges had understood most clearly. That is why they had set aside their differences and come together to murder the Messiah. With singular purpose, they implemented their plan. They bribed one of Jesus’ own disciples into betraying Him – with a kiss, no less. They arrested Jesus. In the middle of the night they brought Him to trial and had Him condemned before the crowd knew anything unusual had happened. Even the Roman procurator, the man who had the final thumbs up or down in the sealing of Jesus’ fate had been convinced it was in his best interest to wash his hands of the matter. Jesus had been crucified, going to His cross without ever having made a serious defense. His enemies had reviled Him and persecuted Him and uttered all kinds of evils against Him, but He had died speaking words of forgiveness rather than curses of condemnation.
Jesus had died. They were sure of it. Jesus had died, and they had been able, for the first time in years, to breathe a sigh of relief; to get a good night’s rest. For three days they had felt safe and secure… and then, on Sunday they heard first-hand reports from the trembling guards who had fled Jesus’ grave. They had been told that Jesus had risen and His tomb was empty. They knew Jesus had risen. All they could do is try to stop the news from spreading; to stop the people from believing. Like countless national and religious leaders that would come after them, Jesus’ judges tried to stuff Him back into His tomb.
Indeed, that is exactly what they were trying to do right now. This young man, the young man who stood before them, was a believer in a living Lord, a risen Redeemer. He had been boldly talking about how, in Jesus, there is hope for those who have been robbed of hope. By word and work, he had told how, in Jesus, there is love for those who have found themselves abandoned. He gladly shared with anyone who would listen, that when God turned you to faith in Jesus, your sins were forgiven, your life found meaning, you possessed peace, and you had Jesus promise that you, like He, would rise from the grave to a new life, an eternal life of happiness in heaven.
Yes, this man had to be silenced. The Savior’s story had to be stopped. That is why, when the young man accused the court and his judges of having abused their authority, of having disobeyed God, his accusers were beside themselves. The only thing that could have upset them more would have been to have Jesus personally show up in the courtroom. Which He did. Seeing with eyes of faith, the man on trial looked up to heaven and saw Jesus. He told the court what He was seeing, and the picture he painted left little doubt that Jesus, a living Jesus, was there, right there with them. With a knee-jerk reaction, the judges covered their ears, hustled the man out of the city and stoned him.
It’s a nasty business, stoning. I’ve forced myself to watch videos of adulterers being stoned in Iran and Afghanistan. It usually takes a while for these violators of religious and state law to die. Usually they struggle as they strive to save their lives. Our condemned friend did not do that. He did not try to escape; he did not try to save his life; he did not beg or plead. No, still looking at Jesus, he asked forgiveness for his murderers and then he fell asleep. Really, that’s the way those who were watching the young man’s execution reported it. They said, “He fell asleep.” A moment later Stephen, Stephen is the name of the first Christian martyr, awoke in heaven. His murderers, they went back home to live with their crime. And unless they eventually came to faith in the Savior, they died with the sinful stoning still staining, still condemning their souls.
No doubt some of you are wondering why I’ve spent so much time telling the story of the first Christian martyr. I wasn’t telling you Stephen’s story. I was telling you Jesus’ story in Stephen’s life. It is God’s ongoing story of forgiveness and grace. It is a story of hope and heaven. It is a story of victory and the vanquishing of sin, death, and devil. Look through the Gospels and you see a caring, compassionate Jesus. You will see Him bring comfort to those who mourn. Look at Jesus. Have you, until now, interpreted His meekness as being nothing more than weakness? He who could still a storm, heal a leper, mend a sword’s thrust with a touch was not a weak and wimpy nerd. His meekness was the price that He paid so you might be forgiven of your sin and free of your guilt, boldly stand before God on judgment day. Look at Jesus. See Him forego all the pleasures that you take for granted. This message is being broadcast to America’s forces all around the world. You men and women stationed around the world know the pain you feel by being separated from your spouse, your children, your friends, your loved ones. Jesus never knew the companionship of a spouse, He never had children, His friends proved themselves faithless, He had no home to call His own. It was part of the price He paid so your needs might be met.
Do you think you know Jesus? Look closely. See Him reach out to those who were rejected, shunned, despised, and diseased. See Him, the innocent suffering for the guilty. See the Prince of Peace enduring the pain and punishment which should have been yours. Look at Jesus, who, having lived His life without sin, had to carry every sin that stains your soul. Look at Jesus. He is our divine peacemaker, bringing forgiveness to repentant souls, calming worried minds, touching broken hearts. Look at Jesus who takes the refuse and rejects of the world and brings them into His Father’s house, restored and refreshed, adopted and beloved. Do you think you know Jesus? Look again. See how the leaders of His community reviled Him; see how they persecuted Him; how they lied and trumped up charges against Him. See how He endured their dishonesty and deception so that you might have eternal life in heaven.
See Jesus as Stephen saw Him: a Savior who gave His all, so we might, for time and eternity, have God’s good and gracious gifts. Don’t think of Jesus as yesterday’s Savior. That’s right. You can believe that Jesus still changes people. His redemption changes them so radically, so completely, that even the threat of stoning seems insignificant when it is compared with the joy that comes from knowing Him. Of course you might say, “This Stephen fellow… wasn’t he a long time ago? ” Well, he was. Over 1900 years ago. But even though Stephen’s story was long ago, Jesus’ transforming love is still alive and well.
As this sermon was being written, my friends at The Voice of The Martyrs, a wonderful Christian support group for the persecuted church, reported the deaths of Tapan Kumar Roy and Lipal Marandi. These two Christian men in Bangladesh were hacked to death for sharing the Savior’s story. Tapan and Lipal traveled around local villages and showed educational films about mother-and-child health care and AIDS prevention. They also, whenever possible, showed a film about Jesus. When an official at the local Islamic madrassa threatened the men, they kept showing the Jesus film. When villagers threatened to kill them, they kept witnessing. They had seen Jesus… they had seen Him come to them, reach out to them, suffer for them and save them. Having seen all this, they gladly gave their lives in thanksgiving to Jesus. No one forced them to do this, it was their gift of thanks.
Of course, making that sacrifice may sound strange to you. If so, let me tell you a story. About 15 years ago, Pam and I were shopping at a food store when we were approached by what seemed to be an ownerless grocery cart. The cart was so filled with stuff that we couldn’t see anybody pushing. Since we couldn’t see the driver, we assumed the driver couldn’t see us. We moved right to get out of the way, the cart did the same. We moved left, the cart followed. With a crash inevitable, we finally stopped and braced ourselves for impact. The juggernaut stopped a few inches away. That’s when the pilot, a lady, a lady I’d never seen before, stepped out, pointed a finger at me and said, “I left your church.”
Now, normally I would be deeply wounded by those words. I don’t know any pastor who wouldn’t be. Sadly, I must confess that that day, in the middle of the canned vegetable aisle, I jokingly replied, “Ma’am, if it really is my church, you’ve made a most wise decision. Indeed, if it’s my church, I think I’m going to quit, too.” Taken aback, she asked, “Don’t you want to know why I left?” Since she had already made her decision, I felt no need to discuss her dissatisfaction publicly. She did. She told me exactly why she had left my church. She said, “Reverend, you weren’t meeting my needs.” “But,” I stammered, “I don’t ever remember meeting you, I’ve never talked to you. Who are you?” She told me she had been in church twice in the last two years, but no, she had never officially joined. Since her daughter was getting married next year and they needed a place for the performance, she had been thinking about it. Then the lady informed me that my once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity to have her as a member had been lost because I wasn’t meeting her needs.
“You didn’t meet my needs.” The church hears that a lot. That’s because very often people, quite unrealistically, stumble through the church doors expecting to discover heaven has come down to earth. What a disappointment it is for them to see that all church folks are not born into this world with halos, harps, and wings super-glued to their shoulders. We’re not perfect. But we have a Savior who is. Look at Him. See this special Savior of suffering and salvation who wishes to come to you, forgive you, change you, give a new purpose, a real purpose, to your life. See Jesus and do not stop Him from coming to you. If you wish to know more about Him, or see Him more clearly, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for November 6, 2005
ANNOUNCER: Stay with us now for Questions and Answers with Pastor Ken Klaus. I’m Mark Eischer. Today, more statements about God that are true-but don’t necessarily tell the whole story. Pastor, what do you think about this statement: God is all-powerful.
KLAUS: It is something with which we agree. After all, someone who, with a word can call the universe into being, making something out of nothing, certainly has a power that is beyond anything we can comprehend.
ANNOUNCER: True, God is all-powerful. But when we admit that, don’t we also leave ourselves open to some problems, you know, things that might seem logical to us, and because they seem logical it could lead to some confusion?
KLAUS: Oh, sort of like that question that confirmation students used to ask, “If God is all-powerful, can He made something so big He can’t move it? If He can’t move it, He’s not all-powerful. If He can’t make it, He’s not all-powerful.”
ANNOUNCER: Well, actually I was thinking about some other problems.
KLAUS: There are those problems. I remember a little boy in Sunday school class. The teacher spent the entire morning talking about all the things that God can do, and how He’s all-powerful. Then, at the end of the lesson, one of her second graders raised his hand and said, “Teacher, teacher, I know something God can’t do.” The teacher, with a sigh of frustration, asked, “And what is it that God can’t do?”
ANNOUNCER: And what did that little boy say?
KLAUS: He said, “The thing God can’t do is make everybody happy.”
ANNOUNCER: I suppose there’s some truth in that.
KLAUS: At least in this world. In the next world, everybody’s going to be happy. People who recognize Jesus as their Savior will be happy; they’re going to be spending eternity with their Redeemer. Those who didn’t want anything to do with the Savior, in a miserable sort of way, are going to get what they want, because they’re not going to spend eternity with Jesus. It will be spent without Him.
ANNOUNCER: Well, getting back to our subject. Some people believe that if God is all-powerful, He could have just given Adam and Eve another chance. You know, use His power of creation and re-create the world and start things over again.
KLAUS: If God could create the universe, He certainly could have done that.
ANNOUNCER: So, why didn’t He use His power to do that? Wouldn’t we all be a lot better off?
KLAUS: God could have, but He didn’t. Why? Because once God has set up a series of laws, He sticks by them.
ANNOUNCER: Tell us what you mean by that.
KLAUS: When God made us and set us up in the perfect Garden of Eden, He said, “Don’t eat from the forbidden tree. If you do, you are going to regret it. There will be some punishments coming your way.”
ANNOUNCER: And the Bible tells us that our first parents disregarded His command, and therefore sin entered the world.
KLAUS: Exactly. Because God had made some promises about punishment, He couldn’t simply disregard those promises and write off those punishments, just because it wasn’t what He wanted. God had given His word that certain things would happen. He had to keep that word. You see, God, along with being all-powerful, is also all-faithful. He keeps His promises. He is also all-just and all-unchangeable. God can be counted on to do what He says He’s going to do.
ANNOUNCER: So when He said that sin would mess things up?
KLAUS: It did.
ANNOUNCER: Even though He didn’t like it.
KLAUS: God didn’t like it, didn’t want it, didn’t approve of it. But God still had to be faithful and do what He said He would do.
ANNOUNCER: Now sometimes you hear people say, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
KLAUS: Yes, you hear that expression a lot. Actually, it might be more appropriate to say, “Expected things will happen to sinners.” And they do.
ANNOUNCER: So God had to keep His word and that meant that sin needed to be punished with death.
KLAUS: Exactly. But God found another way out for us. A way He could keep His word and be faithful to what He said He would do. He sent His perfect Son into this world to fulfill the laws that we had broken, and to sacrifice His Son’s life on the cross to buy our ransom. For us, the all-powerful Son of God hung the cross… powerless, broken, dead. Jesus’ resurrection shows that He has, once and for all, conquered the unholy three: sin, death, devil.
ANNOUNCER: So, actually God did use His power to make things better.
KLAUS: He did exactly that. Jesus is the Father’s way to take away both sin and punishment. God used His omnipotent, all-powerful love to send His Son to save us.
ANNOUNCER: Which is a lot better than we could have ever hoped for.
KLAUS: Better that anything we could hope for or deserved. That’s why the angels said they had “good news of great joy… a Savior had been born in David’s town. Christ the Lord.” That was God using His power and His love, His grace, goodness, and peace.
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
“The Beatitudes” arranged by Henry Gerike. From Blessed by the Concordia Seminary Chorus (© 2000 Concordia Seminary) Used by permission
“Sine Nomine” by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Earl Rosenberg, arr. by Bruce Houseknecht. From Be Thou My Vision by the Concordia University Wind Symphony (© 2003 Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois) Carl Fischer, Inc.
“Praeludium in D” by Dietrich Buxtehude. From Richard Heschke at the Hradetzky in Red Bank by Richard Heschke (© 1993 Arkay Records, San Jose, California)