15th Sunday after Pentecost
Rev. Charles Lehmann + Matthew 16:21-26 + Pentecost 15
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
When the Lord says that something is necessary, we should probably stand up and take notice. Today in our Gospel reading Jesus said that it was necessary “that he go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Whenever Jesus predicted his death He used this same word: necessary. It was necessary that the Lord suffer and die. It was necessary that He be killed by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law. It was necessary that He be raised on the third day. It wasn't optional. Jesus wasn't picking between door #1 and door #2. The cross was the only door that would atone for the sins of the whole world, and so Jesus took that road. There was no alternative that would have accomplished our salvation. The cross was necessary... absolutely necessary.
The cross was necessary because by it the Father was able to pour out His wrath on Jesus so that He could have mercy on you. Nothing brings greater joy to our Lord and Saviour than when one of you, his precious ones, looks to Him because you desire to receive mercy. That mercy which Jesus desires to give to you, His children, can come only by the cross. Mercy is what the cross is all about. And the cross, people loved by God, is what Jesus is all about. There is no forgiveness, no Divine love for sinners, and no life for any of the Lord's baptized children outside of Jesus' innocent suffering and death for them on the cross.
That is why Jesus' response to Peter's words in today's Gospel lesson is so strong. When Peter suggests that Jesus shouldn't die, our Lord says to him, “Get thee behind me, Satan. You have not in mind the things of God but the things of men.” Our Lord uses these strong words even though what Peter desires for His Lord sounds good and right. He wants Jesus to live. He does not want His Lord to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men.
But these are not pious or holy words that Peter is speaking. It's amazing how quickly this disciple can move from speaking the Father's words to speaking the words of the devil. Today's reading comes immediately after Peter's confession of Christ in Caesarea Galilee. He has just said that the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He has made the good confession that Jesus is God Incarnate, the Lord of the Old Testament come into the flesh to redeem His people.
Peter's confession that Jesus was the Son of the Living God came from God the Father. Peter didn't come up with the words by himself. But just as Peter's good confession came from God, his rebuke of Jesus in today's reading came from Satan.
When we first hear Peter's words to Jesus, it seems unfair to fault him for them. When Peter hears what the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the Law are about to do, he doesn't cheer and give shouts of encouragement. He doesn't sharpen the nails that will go through His Lord's hands and feet. Peter wants Jesus to live. He wants Jesus to escape the death that He was born to die. Peter wants Jesus to skip the cross entirely and move on to the good stuff like reigning on David's throne forever.
It is good that the Father didn't give Peter what he prayed for. Peter had literally said, “God have mercy on you, O Lord.” Peter didn't want Jesus to die, and he didn't want the Father to kill Him. Instead, He wanted Jesus to get what He deserved: glory, honor, and immortality. But if the Father wouldn't have sent Jesus to suffer and die on the cross, then Peter would have died eternally. Peter would have gone straight from this life into the pangs of eternal death in hell. He would be suffering there even now.
It was necessary for Jesus to suffer and die on the cross. It was even necessary that the Father send Him there to die. Later Jesus would quote the prophet Zechariah and say, “It is written, 'I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.'” But who struck the shepherd? If we look in Zechariah 13 we find that it was the Lord Himself. God the Father took up the sword and struck the shepherd. He did this because the sin of the world must be punished. Someone had to suffer the hell that you and I deserve.
The Lord of Hosts is holy and just. He cannot tolerate sin. The Psalmist confesses this when he prays these words, “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.”
Because of the holiness of God it was a terrifying thing for the Old Testament saints to be in His presence. The Old Testament Christians knew well that they were sinful. They knew that the holy and righteous God could justly condemn them eternally for their sin. To put it simply, they knew it was not safe for a sinner to be in the presence of a holy and just God.
The wrath of God against the sinner had to atoned for. Sin could not remain unpunished. Someone had to die. Blood had to be spilt. There could be no safe access to God apart from the shedding of blood. It had been this way ever since the moments just before God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
In these moments the Lord made clothing of skins for Adam and Eve. We all know that a leather jacket doesn't make itself. The cow doesn't just shed his skin so that we can dress in style. When God covered Adam and Eve's sin, some little critter had to give up its life. God had warned Adam about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “In the day you eat of it you will surely die.” And they did. In the moment that Adam and Eve ate the fruit they died spiritually. They were seperated from the holy, just, and loving God who had created them.
But God did not kill them outright. He was the same God to them that He is to us. In mercy God poured out His wrath on an animal instead. From the shed blood of that animal came the clothes of skin that Adam and Eve wore as they left the garden. The Lord covered their iniquity. They did not die that day-even though they deserved it.
God continued to work in this way throughout the Old Testament. Every year each family sacrificed a lamb. The Lord offered and received this blood sacrifice for the sins of that family. The Lord's wrath was turned aside by the blood. The family did not die for their sins even though they would have deserved it. But the Lord's wrath was real. It was every bit as real as the blood of the lamb. If the Lord was not holy and did not justly condemn sinners with the eternal condemnation, then the lamb would never have needed to die.
Today, though, it's not popular to talk about the Lord's wrath. It's not popular to confess a God who, as the Psalmist says, “hates all workers of iniquity.” We want to think of God only as a loving Savior who forgives us, loves us, and gives us every good gift. And certainly that is the God we have. We do have a God who loves us and forgives all our sins. We have a God who loves us so much that He was willing to send His Son. The Father was willing to make Him who had no sin to be sin for us. The Father was willing to take His only begotten Son, whom He had loved from before the foundation of the world, and make Him a curse. The only reason that we can approach the throne of God in safety is that we have blood on us. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
Jesus has drunk the full cup of the Father's wrath. He has suffered and died on the cross. If the Father had not struck our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, then we would be condemned eternally. If the Father had not accepted the blood of His very own Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, then the world would have continued in its bondage to decay, and hell would be filled to overflowing with every sinner who was ever born into this world.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Christ was obedient to His Father's will. He took all the Father's wrath. Jesus committed no sin. An evil word never came from His mouth. He was perfectly innocent. He kept all of God's Law in our place. But the Father, because of His great love for you, poured out all His wrath on Jesus. The Father is holy and just. But more than that, the Father loves all whom He has created. He even loves the sinners who have rebelled against Him. Because of His love for you, He poured out the wrath on His Son. But He did not leave Jesus in the grave. He raised Him up on the third day.
Because Jesus is risen, you know that you too will rise. Death has no power over you because it had no power over the Son of God. Rejoice, people loved by God. The wrath of God has been poured out on the Son. None is left for you. And because of the forgiveness you have received you are now free to walk in the Lord's commandments. You are free to live the life that God has given you. Your forgiveness is not a license to do what you want. Your transgressions hurt you. Every little sin can drag you into hell. Living under the cross is living in the Lord's forgiveness, but we are sinners. We run from the shelter of the cross and see if we can make it on our own.
We can't. Outside the cross is the Father's wrath, and no one can survive that, not even Jesus. Cling to the cross, dear Christians. Hold fast to the place that your salvation was won. But even more than that, come here, to the Lord's house. Come to the place where God comes to you not with His wrath but with His mercy. Come and hear His Word. Come, confess your sins. Hear the Lord's word of forgiveness. Come, eat the Lord's body. Drink the Lord's blood. Come, dear Christians. The Father loves you in this way: He sent His son suffer and die and be your Savior.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.