✠ Psalmody: Psalm 43:1–2a; 3a; Psalm 143:9a, 10a; 18:48; Psalm 129:1–4; Psalm 9:1a; 119:17, 25b; 1 Corinthians 11:24b, 25b
✠ Lection: Genesis 22:1–19; Hebrews 9:11–15; John 8:46–59a
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 45 speaks of Christ in saying, Thou art fairer than the children of men: Grace is poured into thy lips: Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. Indeed, our Blessed Savior has come meek and lowly, mounted even on a donkey in a triumphal ride to bloody victory, His mouth full of grace, gentleness, and truth. A Jesus Who is kind, compassionate, and even soft is the image that many have in mind when the Christ is spoken of. He is seen on many levels as weak, helpless, and defeated, for was it not He Who did not take Himself down from the cursed tree of the cross? It’s one of the paradoxes of the Christian faith; the fact that millions, if not billions, worship One Who came so meek and so mild, even continuing to bend the knee in honor and adoration before the Crucified One for millennia and counting. Beloved, do not be deceived as unbelieving hearts are, that His submission to human weakness was an indication of lack of power. No, His great strength was shown in what He was willing to endure on our behalf. In order to rescue us out of the pit of fallen humanity, He had to become one of us, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
In His divine-to-human humility, His veiled might had to also be wielded with great care for the sake of the sinners He came to save. Grace upon His lips is a necessary characteristic of His saving work coinciding with His delight in wooing the heavy-laden sinner. It that sense, God condescending to us is another facet of the Good News of Him willingly bowing down to us, not in worship of us, but inclining His merciful ear to our cry as a pure and loving Father. Behold the very demeanor of God toward you!
But into John eight we stroll, almost stumble into a scene akin to when we happen upon a boisterous crowd surrounding two parties who seem to be on the verge of throwing blows amid heated argument. These are typically uncomfortable situations for surprised observers. For one, we don’t want to be caught up in the melee, especially if it’s due to sheer knuckleheadedness. And two, we likely have no idea as to what even led up to or caused the conflict. The Gospel this morning sets us right in the throes of the scribes and Pharisees contention with Jesus in an exchange in which grace even seems to be the furthest thing from the lips of the Lord, for, indeed, it necessarily is. Jesus does not lose His cool the way that we do, yet also did not, and does not, speak kind, meek words in all places and at all times, for such a time of eternal bliss and sinlessness has yet to come. Much error still lurks about endangering the souls of unbelievers and believers alike. Jesus speaks with lips absent of grace to all manner of arrogant deceitfulness that denies Him to be the Christ, for where that lie is believed, no salvation is to be had. He is the One sent by the Father so that we remain not in our sins. In Jerusalem, Jesus was not encountering troubled sinners, weary bruised reeds, or heavy-laden smoldering wicks. Thankfully, infinite grace is upon His lips for such. But where there are arrogantly deceitful spirits, the Lord of all speaks blunt, poignant, pure truth where denouncement is needed. His opposers needed to be denounced, just as do all other false and deceitful anti-Christ teachings.
What led up to this clash with the scribes and Pharisees is written in the Scripture leading up to this portion. Christ had gone up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths, a remembrance festival that recalled and rejoiced in the goodness of God Who brought the children of Israel, of Isaac, of Abraham, up out of the land of Egypt and into their own land; an event pointing to how the Word would become flesh tabernacle among them, for them. Instead, they stood arguing with The Temple of God in the person of Jesus because He had taught that when one looks at Him, he sees the One promised and sent from God the Father and that only through Him, the Light of the world, may one have the eternal light of life. He had also left no room for misunderstanding, teaching that a rejection of Him as the One to Whom the Father bears witness, that a refusal to believe that He is the Christ, will cause any such person to die in his sins. A proud, sinful heart thinking that it is good enough to earn heaven shrieks like a demon in response to hearing this.
Christ’s teaching is a blessed death blow to the heart that seeks salvation by the works of the law as that opposing group did; a group whose anger continued to rise with all of Jesus’ proclaimed truth that they saw as a new teaching contrary to their long-held beliefs. They refused to submit their beliefs to the Word of God, both in what was written in the Law and the Prophets and in what the Word Himself stood their teaching, for with arrogant hearts, flushed faces, and clouded minds they made senseless counter-arguments in response to what Christ was saying. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” Their minds, fueled by corrupt human passion that spews from the mouth falsely argued against the first, natural death experienced by all people until the return of the Lord, asserting that Jesus’ claim had to do with keeping one from it. But Jesus was speaking of the second, permanent death, the eternal death experienced by all who do not keep Christ’s word, who do not hold it sacred, who do not trust what it says about salvation in Him alone. In that second death, the death from which redeemed hearts are truly thankful for rescue, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in fiery judgment; the smoke of whose torment ascends forever and ever.
The unbelieving heart cannot grasp the truth of God and if it grows in prideful arrogance so as to even accusing God of blasphemy, He will refrain from speaking with graceful lips, but with ones of wrathful correction and judgment. Therefore, those who keep Jesus’ word are the ones who regularly receive the grace that is upon His lips. Whether He appears to be soft by forgiving sins by His work alone, He cares not how the petty mind of man judge Him. Desire the goodness from Jesus’ lips, knowing that for the believer, His harsh words always drip with the sweetness of His grace, even when they are spoken in Fatherly correction. The true Jesus in Whom the sanctified heart delights is the One Who is full of grace and truth, especially to the benefit of repentant sinners, but Who is also a mighty Judge whose sternness will not continue forever to be restrained to merciful rebukes. Lord have mercy upon us all!
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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