Sermon -- 5th Sunday in Lent (March 21, 2021)

HEBREWS 5:7-9

A PRAYER FOR FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE.

In the name + of Jesus.

     We have begun the time of Passiontide in which we see the sufferings of Jesus intensify the closer we get to Good Friday.  This is reflected in our worship.  The artwork is either veiled or removed; for we are not worthy to even look upon the Lord who died for us.  Our church bell remains silent, as does all music except for what accompanies our singing.  Perhaps that is the most noticeable and most awkward.  But that is the point.  As Jesus’ sufferings grow more intense, so does our fast from sights and sounds.

     The entire Lenten season is focused on Jesus’ sufferings and death.  In the Gospels, about one quarter of each book is devoted to Holy Week.  In the case of John’s Gospel, it is almost half.  The Holy Spirit indicates that this deserves our focus.  This is what it is all about, as Jesus himself asserted in our Gospel for today: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  … Now is my soul troubled.  And what shall I say?  ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (John 12:23,27). 

     With the focus of the Lenten season being so sharp, we might get the impression that Jesus’ sufferings were very limited.  We might even think the sufferings were boiled down to his final 24 hours, from Thursday in Gethsemane to Friday on the cross.

     The writer to the Hebrews tells us differently.  “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8).  The sufferings of Jesus were “in the days of his flesh,” that is, in the entire time of his humble estate.  Jesus’ prayers were for faithful obedience.

     Jesus of Nazareth did not live some kind of charmed life which was immune to the problems we all face.  He knew a world of stubbed toes, bee stings, and slivers.  He was picked on by neighbor kids and wrongly scolded by their mothers.  He was put to work in his father’s carpenter’s shop where he honed his skills and by his sweat helped provide for his household.  He shed tears at the burial of his father, Joseph, and saw friends grieve when their loved ones got sick or died.  

     Jesus knew the pains of a sinful world.  He also knew what it was to be sinned against.  Jesus’ disciples watched him model a life of meek service, but then he had to hear them argue about which of this was the greatest.  He preached to the crowds who were more interested in food and health than in the kingdom of God.  For delivering people from oppression and possession by demons, he was slandered by Pharisees who said he was in cahoots with the devil.  He was tempted repeatedly to find short cuts to glory and to avoid the cross.  Thus, Jesus’ prayers were for faithful obedience.

     Oh, yes, the cross.  It was there that Jesus would be put through the gravest injustice in order to carry out justice.  Justice demands that the Law be obeyed.  And justice demands that those who have not kept the Law be condemned.  So Jesus provided justice by willingly observing every word of God, but then he would endure the injustice of being condemned for sins he did not commit.  Jesus knew that this hour was coming throughout his whole life.  Do you think that the devil failed any opportunity to taunt Jesus over this?  Despite his innocence, Jesus was going to suffer and die for people who are disobedient and disrespectful, ungrateful and unrepentant, depraved and defiant.  No wonder he said, “Now is my soul troubled.  And what shall I say?  ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (John 12:27). 

     It should be no surprise, then, that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray.  Jesus’ prayers were not to avoid the cross, but for faithful obedience.  He would spoke to his Father in heaven and sought strength in his lowly, fleshly condition to do what was given him to do.  With loud cries and weeping, Jesus pleaded for strength to thrust aside every reason to do what was easy and expedient.  You could argue that it would be understandable and even excusable if Jesus refused to suffer and die for sinners, but Jesus prayed to complete what was hard and unfair for him so that he could be good and gracious to you.  “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).  Jesus’ prayers were for faithful obedience.

     You are also children of God, and your heavenly Father treats you as children.  He disciplines you so that you learn obedience.  The Father allows sufferings and evils to come upon you so that you will pray to him for strength.  Unfortunately, our sinful nature clouds our prayers.  When we pray for our sufferings to go away, our motive is often selfish.  Rather than pray to be kept faithful, we pray for God to make life easier.  We pray for our enemies to suffer, perhaps even to die.  We pray for that jerk in traffic to get pulled over or to have his tires blown out.  We pray for the classmate to move to a new city or for the coworker to be fired.  Why?  Because we believe, “This will make me happy.”  Our prayers become, “Lord, get this person out of my hair, out of my way, and out of my life.”  This is love for oneself and despising one’s neighbor.  And where does it end?  What if your suffering is what makes someone else happy?  The Pharisees wanted to be happy, too.  What would make them happy?  For Jesus to die.  That would fix their world.  This is why selfish prayers are offensive to God.  Repent.

     Nowhere do the Scriptures teach us to pray, “Lord, make me happy.”  But there are dozens of prayers which plead, “Lord, have mercy.”  Consider the prayers of the early Church.  The venom that the Pharisees had for Jesus was redirected to his disciples.  Because they preached about Jesus and his resurrection, the Pharisees arrested the apostles.  They had them beaten and threatened worse if they kept preaching.  Upon their release, the Church gathered and prayed.  Their prayer was this: “Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:29-30).  They did not pray for vengeance upon their enemies, much less, “Lord, make us happy.”  They prayed for faithful obedience no matter what their enemies threatened or did to them.  This was the prayer of Jesus, and this remains the prayer of his Church.  Whether you die happy or miserable, whether peacefully or violently, your goal must be this: to be found faithful to Jesus Christ. 

     Thus, our prayer is for faithful obedience.  If times are good, you will be tempted to think that God is unnecessary.  Quite often wealth and success do more harm to faith than hardship and loss.  Pray for faithful obedience, recognizing that true riches await in heaven.  And when you do suffer hardship and loss, you may well pray with loud cries and weeping.  God may not restore what you’ve lost.  He may decide that the cross you bear is good for you.  But losses and hardships do not keep anyone out of the kingdom of God.  Therefore, pray for faithful obedience.

     If the day should come when we face the wrath and rejection of this world because we believe that the word of God is true, the temptation will be to play along as much as we can so that we won’t have to suffer for our faith.  Like the Apostles, our prayer must not be for a curse on others, but rather that we do not fall under a curse for being faithless.  Our prayer is not that the Lord would make us happy, but that he would keep us faithfully obedient.  We cannot control how anyone treats us, and we have never been able to stop others from sinning against us anymore than we have been able to overcome our own sins.  Therefore, pray for faithful obedience and cling tightly to God’s word and sacraments; for this is where God provides strength and salvation. 

     No matter how much Jesus suffered at the hands of the Pharisees, the Romans, or even from his own disciples, Jesus called out to his Father to keep him faithfully obedient to his mission—to save sinners.  “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.  And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:8-9). 

     It sounds strange to hear that Jesus was made perfect.  He always was, and still is.  But through the temptations he faced, he demonstrated his faithful obedience to his Father.  Adam had that chance.  All he had to do was to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  He failed.  Daily we have opportunities to avoid sins and to demonstrate faithful and willing obedience, but we fail too—either because we think we benefit from the evil or think that doing the good is too hard.  Jesus was continually, willingly, and joyfully committed to the word of the Lord.  He daily gave himself to what was good, even when it was hard.  He daily turned away from what was evil, even if it seemed easier or more beneficial.  He proved his obedience and maintained his faithfulness.  He proved his place as a Son.

     And his greatest obedience was the sufferings and death he endured for you.  He did this, first, out of love for the Father who sent him, and then out of love for you who need it.  He paid a price he did not owe because you had a debt you could not pay.  He endured a curse he did not deserve to provide a righteousness that you do not have.  All of this he did for you to remove from you every blemish of sin and to cover you with perfect innocence.  Now, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus; for he has become “the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9).   

     Therefore, our prayer is for faithful obedience.  To obey the Gospel is to listen to it, to believe it, to take it to heart, and to hold to it.  For, the Good News is not a commandment you must fulfill; it is a promise that God extends.  By this promise, God produces in you the godly life he delights in.  For, now you recognize that God is good, and his word reveals what a good life truly is.  If you remain in his word, he will keep you faithful.  For he is the source of eternal salvation, and he delights in saving you.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.