Audio:
Text:
Hanging
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
People want to be
religious because they think that, by figuring out some law and rules and
commandments, they can live their lives the right way. People want a religion
that spells out exactly how they should live. They want rules and guidelines so
they know how to stay on God's good side. So Jesus boils it all down to two:
Love God and love your neighbor. So how is that going? We like to say we love
God, but there is usually a long list of people we can't stand. The thing is, you
can't love God if you don't love your neighbor. That’s why the world can't stand
religion: it's got too many rules we can't keep! We believe wrongly when we
think that the Bible is about the Law and how we can live a good life. Now
don't get me wrong: the Bible certainly gives us the Commandments, and the
Commandments teach us how to live. But they don't give us the ability or the
power to do keep them. When we break them, all they do is condemn us!
It’s important to
understand our Lord’s words the right way. He says that everything in the Law
and the Prophets hangs on these two commandments. When Jesus says "the Law and the Prophets," He
means the Word of God, Holy Scripture. He means Himself. So when Jesus says
that the Law and the Prophets—which mean Jesus—all hang on the commandments,
He's talking about His own death on the cross. The Law itself says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree."
So Jesus does not mean that the Bible tells you how you can save yourself. He
means that He Himself will hang on the judgment and curse of the Law against
sin when He hangs on the cross. The cross is death. Death is the curse, the
sting of the Law. Jesus receives that curse when He hangs on Calvary.
This means the Bible and true religion are not about the Law teaching us how to
live. They are all about Jesus living and dying for us upon the very Law that
we could not keep! This is why He asks those Pharisees whose Son the Christ is.
To save us, Jesus can't just be some guy. Only the Son of God, the one who is
true God, begotten of the Father, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary, can
save us from our sins.
Brothers and
sisters in Christ, since Jesus hung on the cross, since He hung upon the
judgment and damnation of the Law, since He hung on the tree of death to give
us life, do not hang your hopes on the Law! Don't try to think of a way to please
God by how you live! Instead, hang your hopes upon Jesus! Hang your faith and
trust upon Him. Jesus hung on the Law in your place. At the holy font, in the
water and word of Holy Baptism, the Lord Himself hangs His name on you to mark
you as His own, one who is redeemed by Christ. In the Absolution, our Lord
hangs on you His Word that declares you are forgiven and your guilt has been
pardoned. In the Sacrament, Christ Himself takes the same body that hung on the
cross and the same blood that poured out on the cross and gives them to you as
the sure and certain promise of forgiveness, life and salvation, upon which you
can hang all your hope and faith.
The Law will sound
good only as long as you can keep it. The moment you break God's commandments,
the Law will leave you hanging. But Jesus was nailed to the tree to hang on the
Law for you, and you are saved. No longer do you have to figure out which
commandment is most important; no more trying to figure out how much good you
have to do. You have Christ, the Son of God, who hung on the cross for you.
Upon Him everything hangs. Upon Him everything depends. Your salvation hangs on
Jesus, who sits at the Father's right hand, and who makes a place for you there
with Him. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God
which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
always. Amen.
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