Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Easter 3 - 2021

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Easter 3 - 2021

April 20, 2021

Text: Luke 7:18-25

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

John the Baptist is looking for confirmation from His cousin Jesus that He is indeed the Christ.  Jesus points out to John’s disciples that He is performing the very signs prophesied in the Old Testament: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.”

Jesus also points out that some are “offended” by Him.

Indeed, “the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves” – just as they rejected the Baptism of John.  In fact, our Lord calls out those who simultaneously rejected John because of his secluded lifestyle of fasting and abstaining from alcohol, while at the same time rejecting Jesus for eating and drinking with people.  Our Lord’s critics accused John of having “a demon,” while calling our Lord “a glutton and a drunkard.”

And yet Jesus – who began His public ministry with the miraculous baptism by John – is openly performing signs and wonders that everybody (especially the experts in the Law and the Pharisees) knew were signs of the coming of the Messiah.  Interestingly, it was not the biblical scholars and religious leaders who came to faith in Jesus, but rather “all the people… the tax collectors too” who were baptized by John, and who followed Jesus.

This is why Jesus says: “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.” 

For even today, our Lord is offensive, both to unbelievers who rage against God, and to those who worship a caricature of Jesus.  The only way to get to know the real Jesus is to encounter Him in His Word – especially in the Gospels.  There you will meet Jesus, the real Jesus, and you will not find a meek and mild guru spewing politically-correct fortune cookie blather.  Rather you will encounter the God who is willing to die to redeem the creation that rebelled against Him.  You will find one who demonstrates His mastery over the universe, His condemnation of those who reject Him, but most of all, His mercy for “all the people” who hear His Word and are transformed by it!

Blessed indeed, dear friends, are those who know the real Jesus from the Word, and are not offended by Him – but rather serve Him as our very God and Redeemer!  Go and tell what you have seen and heard!

Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.