Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church

Last year, my daughter's car got hit -- and part of the back bumper got popped out. We pounded it back in, but it's popping out again. Sometimes we try to do that with sin -- fix it ourselves. But if the damage is severe, no way. You're going to have to get it fixed. Someone will have to pay. So God did. That's the final wonderful facet of forgiveness we'll consider tonight. He came. To fix us. And to pay for it Himself. With His life.

Jesus and His disciples are on the road going up to Jerusalem. Mark tells us that as they were going up, they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. But why the disciples were amazed, and why those who followed were afraid, Mark doesn't tell us. But perhaps it is for the same reason. They are amazed that He is, and afraid that He is. And after three days He will rise. But what does that mean? So it may seem like an odd time for James and John to approach Jesus with their request. They want to be close to Him in His glory. He doesn't rebuke them for their request -- it's just that they don't understand what they are asking for.

Our sins are cleansed; we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus. And yet still our sins nag at us, gnaw away at us. Wouldn't it be good if in addition to these facets, our sins would go someplace far, far away from us? Well that's the idea with the scapegoat we heard about tonight. It is, of course, a picture of Jesus. As all the sacrifices of the Old Testament were. So after His death and burial and His rest in the tomb on the Sabbath, Jesus descends into hell in victory, and then rises from the dead... and your sins are gone!

If you didn't realize it on your own, I'm sure you've all heard by now that this week marked the one year anniversary of the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. And so lots of reflection has begun, and I'm sure will continue. But that's not really what I want you to think about today. Instead, I want you to look at yourself. How did YOU do? Perhaps when your history is written, there will be some of both. Things that were good, and things that could have been better. But it's good to look back at this past year and reflect. Luther once wrote that all the trials and struggles we go through in this life is to prepare us for the biggest trial any of us will ever face -- when we face death.

It's good to know where things are. So it is with your sin. You may not have ever thought about it like that before, but the beautiful facet of forgiveness we'll consider tonight is that our sins are fixed. And when they are fixed, when they are in one certain place that we know, we're okay. Paul introduced another way of how we may look at our sins -- as a debt. But with Paul's picture, God has taken all that and fixed it again. Not stuffing the record of our sins back into us, in to the trash bins of our souls, but nailing them to the cross.

If Jesus were here today, what would He do? How would He cleanse His Temple? First, we need to realize something about Temples in the Scriptures. And that is: there are three Temples, or three kinds of Temples, in Scripture. The first is the building itself. The second Temple -- or kind of Temple -- spoken in Scripture: Jesus Himself. The third Temple -- or kind of Temple -- spoken of in Scripture: you. For it is not the first kind of Temple, that needs cleansing today. And it is not the second kind of Temple, Jesus' flesh and blood, that needs cleansing today. But that third kind of Temple... you and me... yeah, we need cleansing, don't we? And this, too, Jesus does.

As we hold the church's jewel of forgiveness up this week to consider its beauty, the facet of forgiveness that strikes our eyes and ears tonight is covered. Which, maybe, sounds odd. For if your sins are cleansed, if they are washed away, why do they also need to be covered? Well, because while God really and truly has washed away your sin, the fact is that it is not quite so in our hearts and minds. God doesn't see the sin, but we still do. We believe the forgiveness, but we know what we've done.

Some words you do not soon forget. The first time your future spouse says I love you. Or when they spoke their wedding vow to you. The first word your child utters. A cutting remark that really hurt. A word of encouragement when you needed it most. Abram received such a word from God, that he would have a son. So today we heard God repeat His promise to Abram; He had not forgotten. We heard another such word today, a word not soon forgotten, spoken to Peter. When Jesus said to him, Get behind me, Satan! But as with Peter, there are other words for us, too. That God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ dies for us.

This Lenten season, we're holding forgiveness up to the light and seeing its many colors; it's beauty. It's good to do so. Forgiveness is mentioned so often in the church, that perhaps we forget its beauty, how astonishing it is, and that it really is the most precious jewel the church has. Tonight, the facet of forgiveness we will consider is perhaps the most natural image, and certainly one of the most well-known: that of cleansing, or washing. And so you know, there's a right way to clean something, and a wrong way. So it is with sin.

If Mark was writing his Gospel today, he would have put it this way: The Spirit immediately threw Jesus to the wolves. Or, to use an even more modern saying: The Spirit immediately threw Jesus under the bus. The giant bus, that is, driven by satan, seeking to run us over and take away our spiritual lives. Mark doesn't even tell us how it ended. He must have won, though. Because next Mark tells us that Jesus shows up in Galilee, preaching. Proclaiming that the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. At the beginning of this Lenten season, we focus on the beginning of the battle. Not so much that Jesus is tempted as we are. But that Jesus is victorious.

Ash Wednesday puts us in our place. Dust you are and to dust you will return. Death's tyranny takes no days off. This past year has driven that home as each day we are told of more deaths. But this too: Dust you are and to life you will return. For just as one man brought sin and death into the world, so one man also brings life into the world. So today we fast and weep and mourn. But we do so not wondering whether our Lord will turn to us and relent and leave a blessing behind Him. He already has.

And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. What a bummer, right? No more glory. No more Moses. No more Elijah. No more celestial conversation. No more cloud. No more voice. No more change that maybe, just maybe, they could stay there. Back to Jesus. Just Jesus. But this scene, the Transfiguration, shows us that Jesus is never plain old Jesus. Sure, He looked like any other first century Jew. But as we have heard this Epiphany season, He was anything but. He spoke with authority. He cast out demons. He healed diseases. The ordinary looking man was really quite extraordinary.

If Peter's house was where they were staying, it was quite the day. The whole city, Mark tells us, was gathered together at the door of their house that evening. All kinds of people, all kinds of diseases, all wanting to see Jesus, all wanting to be healed. Then, after a busy night and not much sleep, Jesus rises very early in the morning, Mark tells us, while it was still dark, to go pray. But when Peter and the others found Him, Jesus says: time to go. Which, at first seems terribly unfair to the folks in Capernaum -- those who didn't get in to see Jesus for healing that night, but probably showed up early that next morning. So why some and not others? Why them and not us?

There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. Until Jesus came along... The great physician of body and soul. The unclean spirit knew it. It knew who Jesus was and what Jesus could do. The people in the synagogue that day were amazed, but the unclean spirit was terrified at being in the presence of the Lord of hosts. The Lord of all creation, in a little synagogue, in a little city, in a little country, with people of little account. Not where you'd expect to find God. Yet there He was. Teaching them. Now, Mark doesn't tell us what Jesus preached in the synagogue that day. But I'll bet it was this very topic -- that He has come to set us free.

Stay awake! Jesus told His disciples. It's hard to stay awake alone. Coffee makes it easier. So does knowing how long you have to stay awake. But the disciples had neither of those things. There is no such thing as spiritual caffeine. So our Lord sets servants over His households, His Churches, to feed them, care for them, and watch. And one of those servants was Timothy. He was of the second generation of Christians, after the apostles, but the first generation of pastors who would care for the church after them. Sources say that Timothy was martyred in the year 97. But we're not commemorating Timothy the martyr today, but Timothy, the Pastor and Confessor.

We have many challenges facing us today. From conquering COVID, to our fractured political system, to rogue nations, to the challenges in your own lives and families. But I would say there is one challenge that is above all others, that really drives all the others, and that is to know what is good. Last week, we heard of something good -- creation. But this is something we do not agree on today. The godless philosophy of our world says this world is neither created nor good. This week, we heard that word good again, but in a very different way, a more modern way. Philip came up to his friend Nathanael and told him, We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote!

So it seemed that when Jesus stepped into and then out of the Jordan that day, not much changed. It didn't really make much difference. Oh, it was cool! The heavens opening, a dove descending on Him -- don't see that every day! -- and then a voice from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." But for Joe the plumber, Simeon the shepherd, Miriam the mother, when the heavens closed back up, the dove flew away, and the voice stopped echoing, it was back to the same ol', same ol'. And yet at that moment, everything changed.

There is a saying that is used quite a bit these days... What did he know and when did he know it? Well I'd like to kinda, sorta, apply that to the Wise Men, as we think about them a bit today. To help us think about how the Lord epiphanied, or made Himself known, to them. So many questions the Wise Men must have had as they started on their journey. They are the same questions we must have of God, if all we can know of Him is from what we can see. When we see beauty and stillness, we see a friendly God. When we see power and destruction, we see a fearsome God. Which of these is the true God? Nature cannot tell us that. It takes an epiphany to tell us that.

The world can't wait for Christmas to get here, but once it does, it moves on quickly to the next thing. Which is too bad. But not so the Church. And not only because our Christmas celebration lasts for the twelve days of the Christmas season, but because the Church never moves on from Christmas. Becasue the Word who become flesh, as we heard and rejoiced in two days ago, still is. And always will be. This is who Jesus, our Saviour, now is -- God and man in one person, united for eternity.

Let it be to me according to your word. Mary said that. In response to the word spoken to her by the angel Gabriel. But Gabriel's word was really God's Word. And God's Word not just spoken then and there, but the Word that had been spoken from the beginning. All was now being fulfilled. Here. In this most unlikely place, Nazareth, with this most unlikely person, Mary, a virgin, and in this most unlikely way. But nothing is impossible with God. And so it is. So in this year that was so unlike any other in recent memory... maybe this was a year perfect for God to do His unlikely work in unlikely ways. Again. For nothing is impossible with God.