February 14, 2024 – Ash Wednesday       Text:  Job 40:1-2, 42:1-6

Dear Friends in Christ,

Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do?  Painful, isn’t it?  Accusations can ruin family relationships, marriages, jobs and a reputation.  Old Testament Job knew all about accusations.

His suffering is legendary.  Let’s review.  Animals and servants dead – 10,000 casualties.  Wealth and income goodbye.  Roof collapses at the dinner table, seven sons and three daughters lie lifeless.  What would you do?  What would you say?  Somehow, Job uttered these famous words of faith, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21)  The man was devastated but he did not charge God with wrongdoing.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end.  He was consumed with chronic pain.  Been there, done that.  Miserable, right?  His wife wanted him to curse God.  But he didn’t.

What have you suffered?  Finances in arears?  Those close to you in eternity?  A relationship that weighs on the mind?  Friends can help, right?  Job’s friends did come visit him.  They sat in silence, which is sometimes the best thing a friend can do.  But then they open their mouths.  Not smart.  They try to explain.  They try to rationalize.  They even think Job might deserve this.  A good lesson for us in there.

The friends push him in a direction that has him saying to God,  “Why have you made me your target?  Have I become a burden to you?”  Job is putting God on Trial.

Over these next several weeks, we will see how people put God on Trial for reasons far less justifiable than Job’s.  We will hear how Caiaphas, Herod, Pilate, and the angry crowds all accused the Son of God in the flesh.  But before we do, on this Ash Wednesday we must consider how we have done the same – how we too have put God on Trial.

“ACCUSATIONS”

Maybe we don’t say it out loud, but is it ever in there?  “Lord, why did my spouse have to die?”  “I miss my parent, I could have used their advice today.”  “Why must this tension between my boss and I churn in my gut?”  “Lord, this pain is becoming a pain!”

The accusations are there.  The impatience and frustration simmer on the surface.  The complaining and criticism get verbalized.  God, would you please take the stand to explain yourself.

He speaks.  What does He have to say?  He says to Job, “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?  He who argues with God, let him answer it.” (40:2)  Not the guy you want to argue with.  He reminds little human being Job how He made the universe.  Put in the boundaries.  Hung the stars.  Controls the weather.  Job sniffs the smelling salts and says, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (42:6)  God does put Job in his place and that is a good thing.  It was a place of repentance.

If we accuse God, we get this whole human life things backwards.  We are the ones that should be put on trial by God.  “Please raise your right hand . . .”  How many of us would jump down from there and go running down the courthouse corridor?  

Please, come back, but come back in repentance.  Maybe God has used Christian friends, parents, teachers, coaches, preachers and His Word to waken you with some smelling salts.  God doesn’t want you or I to lose our faith and subsequently our salvation.  Tonight, hear the call, through the words of Job, repent in dust and ashes.

Job accused God, but he never lost faith in God.  In the very middle of the book, Job cried out words that become etched in the poetry of our Easter celebration:   “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.” (Job 19:25-26)  We know that Redeemer’s name:  Jesus.

This Lent we will see our Redeemer up close as he stands trial.  He will be betrayed.  Arrested by a mob.  Charged with blasphemy.  False witnesses brought forward.  He will be spit on and have fists slammed into his face.  They will give him a wardrobe change and then laugh at him.  He will just stand there and take it.  He won’t complain that he is not a sinner.  He will take the accusations.  He will undo the accusations of Satan.  He will carry them all to the cross of Calvary.  Justice will be served.

Remember this when you suffer.  The Lord gave Satan permission to afflict Job.  God was in complete control.  He didn’t let Satan take Job’s life and he didn’t let him take his faith.  In fact, God brought blessings to Job – and to us who read about them.

There is no need to accuse.  We don’t need to understand because God does.  He is Our Redeemer.  He lives and He is right there beside you.  See you in the courtroom next week.

Amen.  

February 11, 2024 – Transfiguration Text:  2 Corinthians 3:12-13; 4:1-6

Dear Friends in Christ,

Somebody is “in their glory” when they are at their best.  When do you think your mother was/is most in her glory?  When she is all dolled up, looking pretty, ready to go out for a nice dinner?  Or when mom came to you in the middle of the night with hair all mussed to take care of you when you were sick?  On a personal level most of us would say when she gave comfort at 2 a.m.  She showed her love.  She was in her glory. 

When is Jesus in His glory?  Is it today at the Transfiguration?  After all, he is radiant, and His Father says He loves Him.  But the greater glory was the bloodied and beaten body of Jesus on the cross.  That is where He most clearly shows His love.  He comforts us in our sin and forgives us.  Oh, what glory.

This is the Gospel message.  We don’t hide or veil ourselves behind our sin.  Drop the charade.  You and I are sinners, and we know it.  Step out so the glory can shine on you.

“THE VEIL IS TAKEN AWAY”

The first veil is the veil Moses put over his face.  This is the old covenant.  “Moses…would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.” (v. 13). This is the teaching that the Law cannot save us.  Israel was being taught that without the shedding of blood, there could be no atonement.  On their “Day of Atonement” they would sacrifice a “scapegoat.”  They were learning how God would redeem the world, by transferring our sins to another.  With every Passover, they were to look to “the Lamb of God” who would once and for all take away the sins of the world.  Jesus would be the fulfillment of that covenant, once the veil is taken away.

It is too bad that some do not see beyond the old covenant; the veil essentially remains.  The Scriptures remain a closed book, and we miss seeing the one behind the veil:  Christ . . . on every page!

Our Gospel from Mark is the Transfiguration event.  We see in Mark, the three disciples were “terrified.”  They are afraid even before the clouds and voice appear.

We know about clouds overshadowing us.  How many times have you been driving in fog the last couple of weeks?  Not a comfortable feeling.  The car coming towards you is hidden and then there it is.  It has literally come out of the veil of fog.

What veils do we hide behind?  Do we ever hide behind our glory?  The feel-good moments.  The compliments.  The accomplishments.  “I’m a better driver than that person who  won’t put their lights on in this fog.”  “I would never lie like that guy on television.”  “How can people do that?”  We veil our sinful condition in subtle ways that we hardly notice.  We are in a fog, and we need an escape.  It is this same veil that kept many in Israel from receiving him.  John writes in his Gospel, “he came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11-13)

When Jesus said from the cross “It is finished,” the veil was being lifted.  The veil was also torn in two from top to bottom in the temple.  The fog has lifted, the veil is taken away, we can see the Lord clearly.  We see Him as He truly is – our Savior from sin, death, and the power of the Law.  In fact, we, by God’s grace, with “unveiled faces,” also begin to reflect the glory of Christ as the Gospel has its way with us.  The Law cannot produce such a change.  The Gospel can, because it’s all about Christ and what He accomplishes for us on the cross.

God continues transforming and transfiguring us as we hear the Word of God and frequently use the Sacraments.  This is a lifetime event, until we make our “exodus” to eternity.

Paul would continue his apostolic ministry.  He didn’t lose heart because it wasn’t about Moses or Elijah.  It is only about Jesus.  Paul is free.  We are free.  Free to confess Christ.

St. Paul doesn’t resort to “disgraceful, underhanded ways.” (4:2)  He doesn’t have to sugarcoat the Word of God to make it more appealing.  Paul had it in his day, we have it in ours.  We simply confess Christ as Lord and Savior when and where God gives the opportunity.  As our text says some are going to be “blinded” but we don’t lose the courage or moxie, because the result isn’t our responsibility.  That always and only rests in the hands of God.

God has shone in our hearts.  He has given us the knowledge.  The veil has been taken away.  Be bold confessors of the new covenant – “Jesus Christ as Lord.” (4:5)

Amen.