The sermon for January 7 was based on Luke 2:41-52.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today you see young Jesus in the temple. The temple is the place of sacrifice, but not just any sacrifice. It is not something you thought up, not a form of worship you chose for yourself, but something God requires. Second, the sacrifice is always bloody, which means it is always about life and death. And third, sacrifice does not give you the potential of holiness. Morning and evening sacrifices are not shrouded in sermons about holy living, or how your sacrifice and offering empowers and motivates you toward holiness. Rather, sacrifice—or, to be precise, the blood of the sacrifice—is what sanctifies and makes you holy. It gives what you can never be or achieve on your own. Sacrifice does all this, not because you chose to do the sacrificial giving, but because God ties His holiness to you by the sacrifice. And that holiness is the difference between your life or death. Otherwise, why all the blood?

It is no small detail that the sacrifice takes place in the temple. For there is God's presence, His glory, His being. So sacrifices in the temple proclaim not the mere idea of righteousness, floating somewhere out there, nor a forgiveness that is located only in concept and joyful feeling. Now sacrifice, and especially the sprinkling of the sanctifying life-blood, says something about God's own being, His own Self. Sacrifice indicates not just where God chooses to locate His mercy, but where He Himself is located for the forgiveness of your sins.

In the Old Testament, the sacrifice of animals pointed forward to a better Sacrifice. Now that better Sacrifice has been revealed, sitting in His Father's house. Jesus comes to His temple, for He brings the ultimate sacrifice. The book of Hebrews plainly says, "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood [Christ] entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." [9:12]

The Sacrifice of God was in the temple first when He was circumcised on His eighth day, then when He was forty days old, and now when He is twelve. The first time was the bloody sacrifice in the shedding of His own blood. The second time, the blood of two doves was shed. Today, He sets Himself up as the sacrificial Lamb. The Holy Spirit did not bother to record this episode simply to tell you something about Jesus' boyhood, or to give you a glimpse into the life of the holy family, or to give you a morality lesson on the Fourth Commandment. Rather, He is showing you the Sacrifice coming to His temple.

In the temple during Passover sits the Lamb of God whose blood will be shed by those priests who are now astonished at His understanding and answers. Perhaps their astonishment is the wonder of unbelief. Mary and Joseph can not help but wonder why the Son of God sits there. It is not simply because that is where He rightfully belongs. Since He is the presence of God incarnate, God's sacrifice in the flesh, where else should He be but in the temple. After all, that is the Father's business: to sanctify and purify by the shedding blood from the sacrifice. And what better sacrifice than God Himself?

The sacrifice of God, the shedding of His blood and the giving of His life pays the price for your sins and makes you holy. Is everything really tied up in this incarnate Son of God who was killed and sacrificed by God the Father? Is that really possible? How does it help you today? Does it make a difference? Does it take away from your own sacrifice and offering, your self-chosen form of idealistic, feel-good, unbloody worship, prodding and motivating you to squeeze out as much of your potential holiness as you can? You bet it does!

There was a faithful confession in the early Church, "What Christ did not become, He did not save." What did Christ become? He became a man, but more than that. He became the Sacrifice of all sacrifices, the sin-offering of all sin-offerings, the Lamb and Bull and Goat whose bloodshed far exceeds that of all other sacrifices. Again, the letter to the Hebrews summarizes it well: "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" [9:13-14]

The blood of Christ has made you clean. He sprinkled it upon you in Holy Baptism. He pours it into your mouth in the Holy Supper. Thereby He has purified your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Now your sacrificial giving and self-offering find its rightful place. No longer is it your way to please God or try to do what Jesus would. Now the blood of the sacrificed Christ has converted and purified your sinful dead works so that they are holy and righteous in His sight. For the works which serve the living God are not the things you do, but faith and confidence and a lively hope in this sacrificed God whose blood cleanses you from all sin.

In the former days, the place of sacrifice and presence of God was on a hill in Jerusalem. Jesus went there often, not only when He was eight days, forty days, or twelve years old. He went there to teach His people about the new place of sacrifice and the presence of God: His own flesh. Now, in these last days, where is that place of sacrifice and presence in the flesh of Christ? Right here at this altar! The Body once offered and Blood once shed are right here, for you. And here in this house of God, Jesus comes and teaches His amazing and wondrous Word, not as some inner voice, but in the person of His ordained men.

Having received Jesus in His chosen means, having heard His Word and been sprinkled with His blood, where now is the sacrificial life and presence of God? He is living in you! His Body and His Blood are infused into your body and blood. Thereby He lives in you, sanctifying your works and making them holy and acceptable reflections of His sacrifice. By His presence, you yourself are made holy and acceptable to Him. And by the continuing action of His Word and Sacraments in your life, He will strengthen and preserve you in the one, true Faith unto everlasting life in the Father's heavenly house. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes . . .

Last Updated: 7/15/2008