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+ In Nomine Jesu +

The list of dignitaries St. Luke records is quite impressive, a veritable “Who’s Who” of the ancient world.  On the political side Luke names Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, the tetrarchs Herod Antipas, his brother Philip, and Lysanias.  On the religious side he mentions the high priests Annas and Caiphas.  Not a petty bureaucrat among them.  These were men with authority, men who commanded respect.  These were men of the world, who had both feet firmly planted in the day-today realities of exercising power over the underlings beneath them.

And power and authority they had – plenty of it.  Get on Tiberius Caesar’s bad side and word might come down from on high that the only honorable thing for you to do was drink a cup of hemlock or slit your wrists in a warm bath.  As local representative of the might and glory of Rome , Pontius Pilate was fond of crucifying anyone who appeared to be a threat to the Empire.  At the behest of his wife, Herod Antipas had the head of John the Baptist lifted from his shoulders.  And then there were Annas and Caiphas, the spiritual leaders of Judaism.  When Jesus got in their way, they engineered His arrest, saw that He was convicted, sentenced to death, and crucified. 

And yet, as today’s Gospel reading reminds us, powerful though these men were, they did not possess ultimate authority.  Though their subordinates hastened to do their every command, these men did not direct the course of events which brought God’s Son into the world.  There was another authority at work behind the scenes, another power determining the outcome of human history.  The God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son was making ready the stage of history upon which our Lord Jesus Christ would be revealed. 

The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.   During the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Herod Antipas and his brother Philip, when Annas and Caiphas were high priests in Jerusalem , the Word of God bypassed all that pomp, all that dignity, all that power and authority, and came to an eccentric, ragged prophet in the wilderness of Judea . In fulfillment of God’s ancient promise spoken some seven centuries before through Isaiah, all flesh was about to see the salvation of the Lord.  Not in the imperial palace in Rome, not in one of Herod’s castles, not in the headquarters of Pontius Pilate, but there in the wilderness of Judea, the salvation of the Lord was about to be revealed.

That’s why John came.  That’s why He proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  In the words of Isaiah, John was the voice crying in the wilderness, calling all to humble themselves, to repent of their sins, to prepare the way of the Lord.   For the Savior of all mankind was soon to be revealed.  He whom the Lord God had promised as soon as sin entered the world – the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head – was soon to make His appearance.

And though He wore no kingly crown, a king indeed He was.  The crowns which Tiberius, Herod and Philip wore, though made of gold and costly jewels, were as paper mache compared to the crown of thorns Jesus was to wear.  For the crown Jesus wore as king, though it was placed upon His head in mockery and contempt, was a crown of love.  He wore that crown out of love for you.  Love that led Him to drink the cup of suffering and death so that your sins could be forgiven, so that you could be reconciled to God, so that you could receive the gift of life eternal.  Caesar, Herod and Philip expected others to serve them.  But King Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.

Your King comes to you righteous and having salvation in the Divine Service.  He came to you to wash you of your guilt in Holy Baptism, as He did for little Thomas earlier this morning.  He comes to you in grace and mercy to absolve you of sins by His sure and certain Word of forgiveness.  He comes to you in His very Body and Blood in the Sacrament, to feed you and strengthen you and give you all that you need to keep you in His kingdom for all eternity.   Your King comes to you to serve you because He loves you.

But not only is Jesus a King.  He is also a priest.  As priest He represents you to God.  He pleads for you, makes intercession for you.  And He does this because as Priest He offered Himself on the Cross in sacrifice, not only for your sins, but the sins of the whole world.  And having sacrificed Himself, He was raised again because God the Father accepted His sacrifice for the sin of the world.

Jesus is therefore a faithful and merciful High Priest over the entire house of God.  He is a Priest who sympathizes with you in your weakness, who knows what it’s like to be tempted, who overcame sin for you so that united to Him through faith you can overcome not only sin, but also death and the devil.  He will stand by you forever.  He doesn’t use His priestly office for His own gain, as did Annas and Caiphas.  No, Jesus uses His priestly office for your eternal gain.

John the Baptist was a prophet, speaking God’s Word in order to prepare people for the coming Savior.  Jesus too is a prophet, teacher, and preacher.  He is the Word of God made flesh, the Word that gives life to a world dead in trespass and sin, the Word that brings light to those lost in the darkness of unbelief.  As prophet Jesus speaks God’s Word in the Divine Service.  In the readings from Scripture and in the Sermon, Jesus speaks the prophetic Word to you. 

King.  Priest.  Prophet.  And Savior.  For we cannot save ourselves.  Our sins would damn us to hell forever if God had not given His Son to be the Savior of the world.  So Jesus came into the world to do His Father’s will, even to the point of dying on a Cross to pay for our sin and take it away.

Nor can we rule ourselves, for our sinful nature would cast off every authority and proclaim itself king.  So God gave His Son to be a King who rules us with gentleness and love and compassion.  Though He is King of kings and Lord of lords, He humbles Himself to serve us in the washing of our Baptism, in the preaching of the Gospel, and in the gift of His Body and Blood in Holy Communion.

We cannot come to God on our own terms, demanding that He accept our feeble acts of righteousness which Scripture says are as filthy rags.  So God gave His Son to be a Priest, who is the one Mediator between God and Man.   The sacrifice of His Body puts an end to all other sacrifice, for with that one sacrifice our Priest has taken away the sin of all the world.

Neither can we find God in our own hearts, or by our imaginings, or vain, foolish, wishful thinking.  So God gave His Son to be our Prophet, to speak to us the sure, certain and unbreakable Word of God.  If you want to hear from God, then listen to the Words of Jesus.  He has the words of eternal life.  He is the Word of life.  And in Him, you have life too.

It all happened long ago, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor in Judea , when Herod ruled in Galilee , and Annas and Caiphas were high priests in Jerusalem .  And it happens today, whenever water is poured in the Name of the Triune God.  When the Gospel of forgiveness is faithfully proclaimed.  When the Sacrament of Jesus’ Body and Blood is distributed to His people.  Jesus comes among us through these Means of Grace, to forgive, save, renew, and make ready a people prepared for His Second Coming.  Because Jesus is our King, our Priest, our Prophet, our Savior, we have seen the salvation of God.

Gloria Patri. . .