The Promise and The Payment :: Hebrews 9:11-15

Brothers and sisters in Christ, after hearing our readings, it is clear: Jesus promises you eternal life, and he has made the payment to secure that eternal life. 

THE PROMISE AND THE PAYMENT ARE YOURS: WE ARE FORGIVEN AND FREE

This is our theme today for this Fifth Sunday in Lent ... which in Latin is called Judica Sunday. I note the Latin name for this day because it is kind of lost on us in English. Judica comes from the Latin verb that means “to judge.” So if we were speaking Latin today, we would have opened our Divine Service pleading with God to judge us ... that’s right ... judge us. We can make this plea for judgment rather confidently because of the Promise and the Payment of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Because he has promised your salvation, we can confidently say today, Judge me, O God. 

Because he has paid for your eternal life, we can confidently say today, Judge me, O God.

The Promise and the Payment belong to us: We are forgiven and free. 

This is the Gospel for this Judica Sunday.

1.

In the heavenly courtroom on Judgment Day, your innocence is guaranteed because Jesus ... our Great High Priest ... has fulfilled his Old Testament promise ... given on the mountain, where the Lord will provide (Gen 22:14). He was the ram who laid down his life on the altar of wood called the cross. There, he shed his blood for you as God’s only begotten son, the One our heavenly Father loved (Gen 22:12), paid the redemption price to set you free from the debt of your sin. Jesus sprinkled his blood upon the Mercy Seat of God in the Holiest of the Holies, thus purifying our consciences so that we can say ... “Judge me, O God.” 

We who have been baptized have been declared innocent on account of the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world. So we can say “Judge me, O God.” We, the Baptized in Christ, have been washed clean of all sin for all time by the water and the blood that flows from the heart of the Lord. We have the newness of life now. He has clothed you with the robes of righteousness which you can wear with confidence as you approach the altar of God to celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb in his kingdom.

This is the promise and that payment that both are at the center of our readings today.

2.

The first question is, then, do you hear the promises of God? 

There is nothing worse than NOT being able to hear the promises of God. Without the promises of God, we won’t otherwise recognize the forgiveness of sins. We would be trapped in bondage to sin. That is one of the main things happening in our Gospel reading from John chapter 8. The Jews don’t recognize that the forgiveness of sins comes through Christ. They don’t hear. They are too busy trying to silence Jesus. They didn’t want to hear Jesus. More than that, they were blind. They didn’t want to see Jesus for who he was. They were focused only on what they must do. They had even argued right before our reading they had never been in bondage (Jn 8:33).

As we heard last week, it is because of this kind of thinking ... not being able to hear or see ... that many of Jesus’ disciples have already turned away from him. They have stopped following Jesus. They have rebelled against Jesus’ word that if they eat his body and drink his blood they would have eternal life (6:51). This is a hard saying, they told themselves. Who can understand it? (6:60) Besides that, who gave him authority to forgive sins? (7:5) Who made him equal to God? (5:18) 

So more people started grumbling about Jesus. Some said that he is good. But others said he deceives the people (7:12). Then they began despising everything Jesus said. 

Despising God’s Word is perhaps the greatest evil we all face. God’s Word is despised by people in high and low places. ... It is despised by people both in and out of the church. ... Too often by our own action we insist on having a role in our salvation. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, instead, repent and believe the Gospel. 

Because of the Promise and the Payment received by faith, it is OK to say, Judge me, O God! Jesus has set you free in forgiveness.

3.

Let’s pause there for a moment, and turn now to Page 323 in your [Lutheran Service Book]. Join me in confessing our faithful doctrine from the Lord’s Prayer. As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household ... What is the Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer? ... What does this mean? ...

4.

This leads us back to the promise of our Gospel reading today. Early one morning, Jesus went to the temple, and all the people came to him. After having his judgment challenged on what to do with an adulterous woman ... forgiveness, any one? ... Jesus said ... Whoever is of God, hears the words of God. ... Amen, Amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps ... or holds on to ... treasures ... my Word, he will never see death (Jn 8:47, 51). There’s your promise. 

Jesus can make this promise because the Word of Jesus is the Word of God. He has kept and continues to keep his Word of Promise. As the evangelist to the Hebrews framed it in our epistle reading, Jesus, our High Priest of the good things that have come through the greater and more complete tent ... not handmade ... that is, not of this creation ... entered into the holy places ... with his own blood (Hb 9:11-12). That’s right ... his own blood. Jesus shed his own blood for you on the cross, securing the forgiveness of your sins. That was the price for your eternal life. Jesus paid the price for your eternal life. He who knew no sin became sin for you (2 Cor 5:21). He was crushed for your iniquities ... that is, our rebellion. He was pierced for your transgression, or you could say, your immorality. By his stripes, we are healed. 

We ARE ... because Jesus is still giving you his blood of the new covenant for eternal life ... just as he promised. As the Lord told Moses in Leviticus, it is the blood that makes atonement for your very being (Lv 17:11). This is the cup that overflows, as David wrote in Psalm 23. And this is the cup being offered to you in the Sacrament.

5.

When you know that the blood of Jesus covers you, then you are able to receive the cup knowing what it delivers, the judgment that you are forgiven and free. Or as Saint John and the evangelist to the Hebrews teach us: We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one (1 Jn 2:1). For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who are common, sanctify toward the purification of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ, who on account of the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that ... because a death has happened into the redemption of those who trespassed upon the first covenant ... the called ones may receive the promise of eternal redemption (Hb 9:13-15).

So the promise and the payment are yours. 

Jesus appeals to God for you by appealing to his death in our place for the forgiveness of our sins. He could not do this if he had been a sinner himself. But he was perfect in every way. He was innocent. That means he didn’t lie, cheat, steal, or idolize himself. He didn’t hate. He didn’t withhold forgiveness to his brothers and sisters, pretending to forgive. He actually encouraged you to share it whenever you can. He didn’t hold onto grudges. He didn’t mask himself and pretend that all was well. 

If I glorify myself, Jesus said, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me. ... Indeed, on the cross. ... Then Jesus said, Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day (Jn 8:54-56). 

Like you, Abraham knew the promise and believed the promise of the resurrection. 

And we get to see the fulfillment of it.

The Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of our High Priest’s atoning sacrifice. We eat and drink in remembrance of the fulfillment of his promise to redeem us. It is our Lord’s will that we are to remember this whenever we can. Here, he enables us to vividly remember that he gave us his body and shed his blood for you for the forgiveness of your sins, setting you free. He intended that we never stop talking, singing, praying, and remembering this. Saint Paul even caught that idea when he wrote that as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 

So may this holy sacrament speak to us this morning and ever Lord’s Day forevermore. It is for you. May we always remember that by our eating and drinking, we also declare, Jesus lived, died, and rose again FOR YOU. He made payment FOR YOU. He fulfilled his promise FOR YOU. Therefore, we will always be enabled to stand boldly and confidently before the Lord knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God ... whose promise has been paid in full FOR YOU ... in Jesus’ name.