Sermon for Lent Service

Mark 14:43–65

THE SECOND ARTICLE

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

 

What does this mean?

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord,

 

who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,

 

that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

 

This is most certainly true.

 

We confess in the creed that we believe that Jesus Christ is true God and also true man. These two natures in the one person Jesus Christ is the key to understanding the interrogation by the high priest in the Passion reading tonight from Mark 14.  “Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” ⁶² And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

The Jews were very careful, you might say hypervigilant, about the 2^nd Commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord.” So the high priest doesn’t ask if Jesus is the Son of God, but refraining from using the word “God” says, Son of the Blessed.

These antagonists see Jesus standing in front of them, with his hands bound. He’s powerless, so it seems to escape the armed guards. He doesn’t look like the Son of the Blessed, His only Son our Lord, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. They only see his humanity, He who was about to suffer under Pontius Pilate, be crucified and then do that very human thing, that mortal thing, die.

But this One person, has these two natures, divine and human. these two natures are joined in Him such that, it will be the human being, the Son of Man whom these his enemies will see when He is glorified, exalted, seated at the right hand of Power, coming to judge the living and the dead.

For those of us who believe, this is beautiful to hear, our Savior Jesus, crucified and killed by evil men will come again in glory. We love to hear it. We love to confess it, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.

But those chief priests, elders, and scribes, who didn’t believe, when they hear what Jesus says, their hatred is irrational and intense. Our Lord’s words are powerful, no denying. To us who believe, powerful to give life and salvation. To those who refuse to believe, the words of Jesus are powerful to produce hatred, violence, and eternal damnation.

Notice that this Jewish counsel is building their whole case against Jesus around the accusation of Blasphemy – what Jesus said, His words. Blasphemy is saying something against God, something contrary to the Hallowed name of God, something that would hurt His reputation.  They hated Jesus because they hated what He said. They condemned Jesus because they chose to believe that His words were lies.

C.S. Lewis was a Christian writer in the 1940s. In his book Mere Christianity, he wrote:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Such a big distinction between those who hear what Jesus, the Son of the Blessed says, and believe it, and those who hear what Jesus says and think He’s lying.

Today the words of Jesus are still heard. And by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, still believed. Words like, “Come to me.” And “leave behind your sins, follow me and live.” For the believer these words are joy and peace. But we can’t be surprised when unbelievers in our world hear what Jesus says and respond with anger. They don’t want a Lord, they want to be their own lords. They don’t want to leave their sins. They don’t want to follow Jesus. They want Him to leave them alone. Sometimes we Christians can get caught in that hatred and the hatred gets turned toward us. It’s like the young man in the Passion reading tonight who was following Jesus  and the mob grabbed his robe and he had to leave it behind and flee naked (Mark 14:51-52). The anger towards Jesus, caused this young follower to suffer.

So let us keep hearing Jesus Words and confessing Who He is, True God, True Man until He comes again. Amen.