The sermon for January 12 was on Luke 2:41-52         

          Grace and peace to you . . .  

          How much of your week do you devote to God? Perhaps you come to church every, single Sunday. Good for you! But if that is the only part of your week devoted to God, then you only spend one out of 168 hours going about the Father’s business. Maybe you are especially devout and come to Bible Class or Sunday School after you’ve enjoyed Ed’s doughnuts. Only one in three of you do. That means you spend two out of 168 hours in the Father’s house. Surely you say grace before meals. “Come Lord Jesus . . .” takes about seven seconds, so add another five minutes per week. Pretend you are extra holy and actually come to Matins here at Bethany , prayed Monday through Friday at 8:15 . That would add another hour and a half per week. Throw in some Bible reading time at home, and you might actually top five hours each week spent going about the Father’s business, keeping the other 163 hours for other pursuits. That’s hardly impressive.  

          Now guess how many hours each week God demands of your precious time. I’ll give you a hint: it’s more than one hour per week. It’s even more than five hours per week. Here’s the astonishing answer: if you spend anything less than 168 hours per week devoted to your heavenly Father’s business, then you are sinning. That’s right. God demands that every hour of every day be devoted to Him. He wants your every breath to be breathed for Him. He wants your every thought directed toward Him. Every word you speak should be for His glory. Every action you undertake must be sacrificed to Him. What do you think St. Paul meant when he said, “Present your body as a living sacrifice.”? God demands that you love Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. Indeed, you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  

          You may think that I demand too much. “Pastor, you are being unreasonable,” you may be thinking. But I am only saying what God’s Law says. You know I am telling the truth. God’s Law demands everything. But it gives you no power or strength to fulfill its demands. I can admonish you to come to Bible Class every Sunday, and still only a dozen or so of you will listen. The rest of you will hurry off to whatever you think is more important than God’s Word. The theological truth is that you cannot keep the demands of God’s Law. The sad reality is that you so often prove this theological fact with your daily life. If you are mad at me for saying this, then the Law has not yet pierced your self-righteous heart. If, on the other hand, you are squirming uncomfortably under the Law’s accusations, then good! The Law is doing its proper work and driving you into the forgiving arms of Christ.  

          Jesus Christ fulfilled God’s Law. Jesus Christ fulfilled God’s Law for you. It is precisely because you cannot keep the Law’s demands that Jesus kept them on your behalf. That is why He went to the temple for His twelfth Passover — to keep the Law for you. That is why He studied God’s Word so diligently that He marveled the rabbis with His astonishing answers — to keep the Law for you. That is why He was subject to His parents, obeying the Fourth Commandment perfectly — to keep the Law for you. That is why Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God — to keep the Law for you. Jesus spent every hour of every day about His Father’s business. Every breath He breathed, He breathed for His Father. His every thought was directed toward Him. Every word He spoke was for the glory of His Father. Every action He undertook was sacrificed to God. Jesus Christ fulfilled God’s Law perfectly for you.  

          No mere man could keep God’s Law perfectly, and even if one could, he could not do so on everyone else’s behalf. But Jesus did. For Jesus is no mere man. Jesus is God Himself. God almighty does have the power to keep His own Law perfectly on behalf of all people. But God is not subject to the Law, man is. Therefore, God became a Man in order to fulfill the Law for you. This is the divine mystery of the Epiphany season: this Man, born of the Virgin, is God, the Son of the Father. The twelve-year-old Boy sitting before the teachers is the Lord God of Sabaoth whom the teachers worship. This Son whom His mother sought is the One who created Mary and Joseph and all things, visible and invisible. This Boy who was subject to His parents and grew up in Nazareth , this Boy is God. And so your God, as a Boy and as a Man, your God kept the Law for you.  

          Jesus went to the temple at the feast of the Passover. This is no accident. Jesus is the very Passover Lamb, who sacrificed Himself to take away the sin of the world. The Passover Lamb was without blemish; He kept God’s Law perfectly. Yet He was sacrificed, the Righteous One crucified for all the unrighteous. Moreover, Jesus’ body is the new Temple , the location of God’s merciful Presence for the forgiveness of your sins. This Temple , though torn down in death, was raised up on the third day.  

          Why do I mention this? Because it is the context of this Gospel lesson. God came down from heaven and became a Man so that He could become the Passover Lamb whose blood covers you from the angel of death. God came down from heaven and became a Man so that His body could become the Temple , the location of His merciful Presence for the forgiveness of sins. That God became a Man is the point of this Gospel lesson. That this Man is the Lamb of God and the new Temple is the very business of the Father which Jesus spent His life to do.  

          Remember that uncomfortable squirming caused by the preaching of the Law? It’s called guilt. Your guilt has been washed away by the blood of the Lamb. He placed His cleansing blood, not on your doorposts as in the Old Testament, but upon your forehead in holy Baptism. With that holy blood upon you, the wrath of God and the angel of death pass over you, doing you no harm. Furthermore, Jesus places His cleansing blood within you as you receive His blood from the cup of the New Testament paschal feast. Since you are covered by and filled with the blood of the Lamb of God, when the Father looks at you He sees His spotless Son. He views your every hour as being devoted to Him. He counts you righteous 168 hours every week, because the blood of the Passover Lamb, the blood of His Son, covers and fills you.  

          And so, like Jesus, you tarry in the Temple . You have come here this morning to the place of the Presence of God for the forgiveness of your sins. I am not referring especially to this building. I am not even referring especially to this altar, though I direct your attention in its direction. I am referring especially to the bread of the Eucharist. There is the place of the Presence of God for the forgiveness of your sins. There is the flesh of the Passover Lamb. When you eat His body, He places into you Himself. Here you partake of His divine flesh. Here you receive the Temple of God , the body of Christ. Therefore, when you leave this place, you no longer tarry in the temple of God . Rather, the Temple of God tarries in you.  

          What does all this mean? It means that you are forgiven. It means that you are righteous. It means that you are covered in Christ’s blood and enfolded in His flesh, 168 hours a week. Therefore, every breath you breathe, you breathe for your heavenly Father, because Christ breathes in you. Your every thought is directed toward Him, because Christ thinks in you. Every word you speak is for the glory of your Father, because Christ speaks through you. Every action you undertake is a sacrifice to God, because Christ acts through you. Jesus Christ fulfills God’s Law perfectly as He lives in you. That theological reality, Christ in you, overrides and overcomes all your sin. 168 hours every week, you increase in favor with God with Christ in you. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008