24 November 2019 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Last Sunday of the Church Year
Vienna, VA
“Victory!”
Text:
Luke 23:27-40; Colossians 1:13-20; Malachi 3:13-18
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God
our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today you will be with me
in Paradise.
Someday, those words will
be spoken to you. When the one who spoke them to the criminal
on the cross next to Him comes to speak them to you. Where will you
be when He does? When will it be for you? How will it be for you? None of us
knows. But those words will be just as true for you as they were for that
criminal, and will deliver for you the same: eternal life. Death and the grave
will not be your end. Life will. Life in a “today” that has
no end.
But before Jesus speaks
those words to you, there are others He speaks to you now. No less powerful. No
less life-giving. Words of hope. Words
of truth.
Today you are My child. He spoke that to you
when you were baptized. And you are. A child of God. On that day, born again, born from above, into the family of God.
He made you His child. He gave you His name. And on that day, you began to live
a new life. A new life in a “today” that will never end.
Today your sins are
forgiven. He spoke that to you again today. And they are. Your
sins cannot condemn you; they are forgiven. Your sins cannot and will
not be held against you; they are forgiven. God will not judge you
because of your worst moments and deeds, but because of His Son’s perfect
sacrifice and deeds for you. Your sins are forgiven, for they
were given to Jesus on the cross, and His life given to you.
And so because you are
His child and because your sins are forgiven, this too - you will hear these
words too, one day: Today you will be with me in Paradise.
What’s the alternative?
Today you will be dead. Just dead. You will cease to
exist. That’s what some believe. Or, today you are condemned. Sadly, that will
happen to some. But those are not words God wants to speak to anyone. What God
wants to say, to you and me and all people, is: Today you will be with me
in Paradise.
So why doesn’t He? Just
say that to all people? Well, what do you think would have
happened if Jesus had turned to the criminal on that other cross, on the other
side of Him, and said that. What would have been the
response? A hearty laugh? Yeah, right! More
ridicule? How can you save me? You can’t even save yourself! Or maybe
some spit spewed Jesus’ way? Jesus’ words of grace would have been rejected,
the same as some reject them today. Baptism? Repentance? Forgiveness? No thanks.
But we here today say: Thanks
be to God! Thanks be to God for His baptism which,
to use the words that we heard today from Saint Paul, has delivered us from
the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in
whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The
domain of darkness. Our world today calls
itself enlightened, and thinks that Christians are the ones in the dark. God
says it’s the other way around. But one thing all of us can agree on, I think: this
world ain’t Paradise. There is evil. There is
death. There is hatred. We live in the cancel culture. Don’t love your enemy,
eliminate them. With your words. Or even with the
deed.
But this is nothing new.
Some say the times we live in are the worst they’ve ever been. I doubt that.
Death and revenge and hate really is the oldest
profession in the world. So Cain killed Abel. Saul tried to off David. Isaiah
was sawn in two. Paul had his head chopped off. Peter was crucified upside
down. Early martyrs were fed to the beasts or to the flames. A price was put on
Luther’s head. Or think of just a few years ago, when 21 young men knelt on a
beach in Libya and had their throats sliced and their heads severed from their
bodies. Domain of darkness, indeed.
We could also speak of
genocide, the Holocaust, and the modern day holocaust of abortion. People
deceived into thinking that mercy killing and assisted suicide will give you
what you need and is the answer to your problem. Or trying to escape through
drugs or being someone you’re not. Domain of darkness.
The darkness within . . . against ourselves, condemning us.
The darkness within . . . coming out against others,
condemning them.
But in the midst of this
darkness, and this world that certainly ain’t
Paradise, there is hope. The hope of the criminal on
the cross next to Jesus. That even in the very midst of darkness, evil,
and death, the love of Jesus is greater. The love that kept
Him on that cross and would not let Him jump down and save Himself. The
love that enabled Him to pray for forgiveness for others, even while hanging on
the cross: Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. The love that brought Him here into our darkness in the first
place, to do something about it. To be swallowed up by the darkness of
evil, sin, and death - in your place - that He might speak these words
to you and to all: Today you will be with me in Paradise.
Now, the dead can’t speak
- at least, I’ve never heard a dead person speak! And so to speak those
words to you, that means Jesus cannot be dead, but
alive. Risen. Resurrected. Victorious. The grave that once held Him
as empty as the cross that once held Him. And the voice that called
forth life in creation now calling forth life from the dead. Giving
life to those now dead in their trespasses and sins, and giving life to those
who have here breathed their last in faith. For Jesus
risen from the dead means that the domain of darkness - as strong as it is and
as long as it’s been - didn’t win. He won. Life won.
And that’s true even
though we’re still living in a very dark world. It’s why Paul and Peter and
martyrs across time, even to those 21 young men on a Libyan beach, could offer
their bodies and necks to sword, teeth, nails, and flame - they knew the
victory has been won! That not even death could end their life. That when
their bodies succumbed to death, their ears would hear these words: Today
you will be with me in Paradise. Words spoken not as a reward
for our killing others, as some today believe. But words
spoken to us because of the one who gave His life for us.
And if that’s true - and
it is! For try as they might, no one has even found Jesus’ body or bones
and never will. If that’s true - and it is! - then
we have been given a life that is certain and sure and cannot be taken from us.
And so we can now use this life that has been given to us, and that cannot be
taken from us, for others. We can now lay down that life for others. With that
same love Jesus gave to us. With that same forgiveness Jesus gave to us. With
that life Jesus has given to us. For even though we are still living in this
domain of darkness, Saint Paul was right - we have been delivered from it, and
transferred to the kingdom of the Son. A kingdom which has no
end.
That’s our message this
Last Sunday of the Church Year. This Sunday set aside to look with anticipation
to when Jesus comes again in glory. That the victory has been won and the
victory is ours. You may not see it right now. You might not feel very
victorious. It might seem to you as it seemed in the prophet Malachi’s day,
that the arrogant are blessed, and evildoers not only
prosper, but put God to the test and escape. So what’s the use? Why
follow the Lord? Why believe?
Because
it will not always be so. The domain of darkness
is coming to an end. This world ain’t Paradise and
never will be, but that doesn’t mean Paradise doesn’t exist. It does, and one
day - maybe soon! - you will be with your Saviour there. He promised. He spoke it. And He did it.
And as empty as the cross and grave that once held Him, so will be the cross
you bear and the grave you will lie in - they will be empty, too. When you,
too, hear those words, Today you will be with me in Paradise, and
when the risen and victorious Jesus comes again, this time in glory, and all
His angels with Him, and your body will rise - perfect, sinless, glorified.
Until that day, until we
are the ones coming out of the great tribulation, we confess this. We
confess Him. We speak the Word of God. We speak the word of truth. We speak
Jesus. And we live Jesus. We live in His love and forgiveness, and we
give His love and forgiveness. And we do all this knowing we don’t have to win.
Jesus already won for us. So you don’t have to come out on top. You don’t have
to be first or best of the greatest or the highest. You already have the
victory. You can serve and give and do for others. You can give your life
because Jesus gives you His life. Today we’ll eat His Body and drink His Blood
and have His life in us. Life that never runs out. Life that will never end.
So we speak and live in
Him and His victory, and He will do the rest. He always has. And He always
will. It is now for us to trust. In that. In Him. For ourselves, for our children. That when
we close our eyes and bow our heads like the criminal on the cross next to
Jesus, it is not in defeat, but in victory. It will be our “today.”
Paradise awaits.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+)
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.