Oculi Midweek 2009

OCULI MIDWEEK

18 March Anno + Domini 2009

"Sacred Head, Now Wounded” Sermon Series

Part 5:  "The Wound of Denial” (Matt. 26:69-75)

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

"Even if I must die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matthew 26:35).  That is what he said.  Peter loved his Lord.  He could not imagine the intense love he felt for Jesus ever being insufficient.  But the Lord knows what is in man.  And in fallen mankind there is fear - fear of death above all.  Fear of death, as Hebrews (2:15) puts it, is how the devil keeps us in bondage.  So the Lord tells Peter before it ever happens that it will happen.  Not once, not twice, but three times Peter will be given opportunity to confess His Lord.  And not once, not twice, but three times, Peter will instead deny Him. 

Among the wounds that afflicted our Lord during His Passion, surely the denial of His beloved disciple Peter figures large.  And who among us has not added to that wound?  For opportunities to confess our Savior arise at every hand, yet how often we pass them by in silence.  And our silence denies Him.  Isn't our fear the same?  The fear of the death of others' respect, the fear of the death of their friendship (for who wants to befriend a religious fanatic), the fear of the death of our reputation (for what will others say about us if we are known for speaking up in confession of the Lord)?  And so the silence, which is denial just as surely as saying, "I do not know the man.”

But, we deny our Lord in other ways too, don't we?  We deny Him when we absent ourselves from His Word.  We deny Him when we refuse to remain silent when we should, opening our mouths to speak badly of others and engage in the latest gossip.  We deny Him when we refuse to serve and support the work He does among us and through us.  We are often even guilty of denying Him when we're right here in His Holy House, as we close our ears to His Word and allow our minds to drift elsewhere.  We are lot like Peter.  We say we love our Lord Jesus Christ, and we even make the same pledge Peter makes in our Confirmation vows, when we promise to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from our Lord.  And yet, our thoughts, words, and deeds reveal that we do not keep that promise.  Hear the cock crowing, dear friends, for it crows for us - all of us - just as loudly as it crowed for Peter that night long ago.  Repent! 

But also see!  See that Jesus goes into His Passion to be wounded for our transgressions.  Our denials of Him - they need not result in His denial of us.  For He has carried them to death, and where we denied, He made the good confession before the high priest and before Pontius Pilate.  Jesus did not let fear of death deter Him, and we do well to ponder that. 

For though our Lord hates death - despises it, scorns it - He does not fear it.  He came into this world to destroy it.  He came among us to let death devour Him, so that by falling into its stinking gullet, the One over whom death had no claim would destroy death forever, and so His people would be set free from their slavery, set free from their fear.

Standing before the high priest, Jesus knows what is about to happen.  He knows that He will yield His life upon the cross - a fragrant offering and sacrifice to His Father, His blood blotting out forever the guilt of our sin and the sin of the whole world.  And Jesus also knows and rejoices that His Father will never abandon Him to the grave.  Although death will take Him, death's bands will be burst.  The way several Early Church Fathers put it, Jesus was death's poison pill.  Having swallowed Him down - the utterly indigestible Divine Son of God - death began to wretch and ended up vomiting all it had swallowed - it couldn't keep Jesus down.  Jesus does not fear death, because death will never be the end of Him or of anyone who is joined in living faith to Him.

Now Peter, he fears death.  And all that he has heard is that Jesus will be raised from the dead, but before his eyes he beholds the Master in the hands of those who are beating Him and who will turn Him over to be crucified.  Peter's heart quails, and he trembles and fears.  Rather than in peace confessing His Lord, in terror of death Peter denies Him.  And as the fateful rooster crows, he recalls how His Lord said it would be so, and Peter goes out and weeps bitterly.

This, dear friends, should be our response, too.  As we heard on Ash Wednesday, Lent is not for pretend sinners, but for honest-to-God sinners who not only recognize their sins, but sorrow over them, plead for mercy, and desire to do better.  Of course, this is not reserved for the season of Lent, but should be the lot of our entire Christian life.  As Dr. Luther wrote in the first of his 95 theses:  "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”  If we are not sorry for our sins; if they do not cause us to weep and plead for mercy; and if we have no desire to amend our lives, then something is surely amiss with our faith. 

But, note this well:  Recognizing and being sorry for our sins need not lead us to despair.  Peter wept bitter tears for his own fear and sin and cowardice, but he did not despair, at least, not fully.  Here Peter differs from Judas, for Peter does not despair to the point of taking his own life.  He holds out hope, as dimly as that hope might seem to him in that moment.  I wonder if he recalled the look in his Lord's eyes when He said, "Remember, I told you that you would deny Me, and I was right, so you have.  But remember that I also told you that I would rise again, and I will be right about that, too!  I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith fails not!”

And then we fast forward to the time after the resurrection.  Think of that man - that Peter - that we meet there, after he has seen His Lord and has been absolved.  Thin of Peter after the Day of Pentecost.  The man who cowered before the serving girl and her friends boldly tells the crowds that day:  "This Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree God has raised from the dead, and we are all His witnesses!” (see Acts 5:30-32).  That's the same Peter who, when the religious leaders came to him, boldly declared that he would follow God, not man.  What stands in between?  The resurrection of Christ and the coming of the Spirit. 

And so it is with you and your Baptism.  There in the waters you are placed into the tomb with Christ and raised with Him as the guarantee of a life that will never end.  In those waters, the Holy Spirit descended on you even as He descended on Peter and the other apostles on Pentecost, transforming them from quivering cowards to bold confessors.  What changed was the conviction of faith that Jesus truly has destroyed death's power by enduring it, and He has atoned for all our denials by His confession and suffering for us. 

Years later, this same Peter was told that he had to sacrifice to the emperor and deny this Jesus or die.  In the grace of God he refused.  He refused, and Peter went the way of his Lord.  He, too, was crucified, though, according to Church tradition, upside down, because he did not feel himself worthy to die in the same manner as the Christ.  In the end, Peter looked the fear of death in the face and laughed at it.  "You cannot scare me this time, Death!  I know who lives forevermore, and I know you have no power over Him.  And I am in Him, and His Body and His Blood are in me.  My sins are forgiven, blotted out.  My life is secure.  You lose, Death, even as you take me.  I am not afraid of you - not anymore.”

Well might Peter's prayer have been that day what we sing tonight:

My Shepherd, now receive me;
My Guardian, own me Thine.
Great blessings Thou didst give me,
O Source of gifts divine.
Thy lips have often fed me
With words of truth and love;
Thy Spirit oft hath led me
To heav'nly joys above. 
(LSB 450:4)

Dear friends in Christ, you are right to weep over your sins.  You have denied your Lord countless times, and thus, your repentance is justified and necessary.  So, weep.  Repent.  Throw it all at the foot of the cross and receive what your Lord is always willing to provide - forgiveness, life, and salvation.  And then, rise from His loving, gracious, and merciful absolution in the strength of the Spirit, having been renewed in your Baptismal vows, washed clean once again, not to go out unchanged and to continue to knowingly and willingly commit the same sins, but to struggle against your sins and to strive, with all your might and by His grace, to live in love toward God and neighbor.  Lord, give us strength and grant this unto us all.  In Jesus' Holy and Precious Name.  Amen. 

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.