Quinquagesima, 2023

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

Quinquagesima

St. Luke 18:31-43

February 14, 2021

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

This morning, we hear Jesus telling His disciples, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” He is going to the cross. He is going to suffer the fullness of His Father’s wrath in the most horrible and gruesome way. He is going to Jerusalem to die for the sins of many—for the sins of all men who ever lived.

But how is it that God can die? He can die because He has become a man; He has taken on our flesh. How does this all fit together then, when we read passages from the Bible about how Jesus has no beginning and no end, that He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last? How can He die? Jesus is, after all, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity who cannot be made subject to the threats and dangers of created men. How can it happen that He, our God and our creator will be delivered over to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted, spit upon, scourged, and be killed?

After all, Jesus is the beginning of all things, though He had no beginning. The Second Person of the Trinity is not a created creature like you and me—subject to a beginning of life, and thus, to a natural death. Jesus wasn’t formed out of the dust of the ground, like Adam in Eden. Jesus has always existed from eternity.

And just as He is the beginning of all things as John writes in Revelation, so also, Jesus is the end of all things, though there won’t ever be a time where Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity ceases to exist. There will never be a reality or possibility, in which, Jesus is not present. He has no end. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

To reconcile this question of how God can die, we must make a doctrinal distinction here in order to understand all these events that are about to take place—how it is possible for Jesus to be without beginning and end, and why it is impossible for Him who is all-powerful and all-knowing to die and yet, at the same time, He humbles Himself and submits to death. To understand this, we must start from the beginning at His incarnation and His birth, where and when He entered time and space. Since that time, some two thousand years ago, the Son of God, whose divine and human nature have both taken up residence in the person of Jesus Christ, He has existed in two distinct states, which we call the State of Humiliation and the State of Exaltation.

I. What Christ’s State of Humiliation is 

It’s important that we’re able to distinguish between these two states of Christ’s existence because in doing so, we gain a greater understanding of the person of Christ and by what means He went to, in order to redeem us. First, Jesus Christ has always been and always will be God and man. There was never a time when He was not God. He is not like the mythological Hercules, who was “kind of” a god but not really, but sort of, but could do some godlike things but not others. Jesus, on the other hand, was, is now, and ever shall be fully divine, all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present.

But even though Jesus was, is, and always will be fully divine, there was a time—during His earthly ministry—where He chose not to always exercise His divine authority and majesty. We call this the State of Humiliation. Though Christ always had this divine majesty, because He’s God, from His conception until His resurrection, he abstained from using His divine authority, power, and majesty at all times. He didn’t always use this majesty, but only when it pleased Him. And of course, at times, Jesus did manifest His glory and divine authority, for example, when He performed miracles. He made lame people walk; He made people who were deaf to be able to hear; He raised dead people back to life; He multiplied bread and fish in the wilderness; and today, we hear that He gave a blind man back his sight. When a certain crowd was attempting to throw Him off the side of a cliff to His death, He passed through their midst in miraculous fashion and went away.

Furthermore, Jesus manifested His glory for a time during His earthly ministry on the Mount of Transfiguration, when some of His disciples saw His face shine like the sun, and His clothes become white as light. Not only that, but Moses and Elijah—men who had been dead for hundreds of years were seen talking to Him. But Jesus chose not always to appear in this fashion because He humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant. Isaiah tells us that Jesus had no form or majesty that we should look upon Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him—Isaiah is talking about Jesus during His Humiliation. Again, Christ’s State of Humiliation was a time when Jesus willingly chose to not always exercise His divine authority and majesty, but only when it pleased Him.

II. Why is it important

This is important because while in this State of Humiliation, Jesus not only chose not to exercise His divine authority and majesty, but in this state, He experienced real human emotions and feelings. He also allowed the atrocities of men to befall Him. For example, because of His human nature during this State of Humiliation, He hungered. After 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, He was hungry. When His friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. He experienced real sorrow, real emotions. While on the boat with His disciples, Jesus slept through the storm. So, we can assume that He grew tired and sleepy and needed to rest.

This brings us to the Gospel reading. In His State of Humiliation, Jesus went willingly to Jerusalem to be crucified for your sins. He took up all your sin upon His shoulders and carried it to the cross where He submitted to death. He allowed sinful men to perform terrible acts of violence against Him. Thus, Jesus tells His disciples, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” Jesus will lay down His life for all people. He brings your sin to the cross and destroys it. He’s treated shamefully, He becomes thirsty and is given vinegar to drink. His Father forsakes Him because He sees our sin on His Son and turns His back on Him despite hearing His Son’s cries.

III. Why does this matter for us

It matters because Jesus wasn’t overpowered by the Jews or Romans or forced to do or experience any of this. He went to Calvary, clinging to His cross willingly out of love. He chose not to exercise His majesty and instead, to humble Himself and go where we could not, where we dare not go. Like a lamb that’s led to the slaughter, He remained silent. He remained silent through false accusations, being falsely imprisoned, spit upon, and treated shamefully. He opened not His mouth. He is a willing suffering servant who suffers in our place. Even though we know what will happen, we’re told the disciples understood none of these things. This saying was kept hidden from them.

But not us. We understand. We know. We know what will happen in about 50 days. Thus, our hearts and our faces are now turned toward Jerusalem with Him. We’re about to begin our Lenten journey with the rest of the Church and relive the events of Christ’s life. All this matters to us because we are going to the cross with Him. We have been baptized into His death. Because of our own Baptism, we receive the life from His death.

All of this matters to us also because Jesus didn’t remain in that State of Humiliation. Come Easter morning, the great Day of Resurrection, and His ascension to the right hand of His Father, Christ no longer humbles Himself in the form of a servant. He freely used His Divine authority having destroyed death and opening the grave. Now He is exalted.

These sayings aren’t hidden from us. We know the end. Jesus lives. He is risen. But before we come to that point, we make our journey to Good Friday and the cross. But we know the end. We know what awaits us. Christ has ascended and sits at the right hand of the Father. All of His enemies have become His footstool. All of our enemies have become His footstool. Our journey is His journey. We journey through the penitential season of Lent in humility and sorrow over sin with the hope of the joys that await us. Just as Christ humbled Himself, died, and was then raised from the dead, such is our journey. Now we battle and fight with sin. We’re treated shamefully, treated unfairly, and in unjust ways. But the end will come. Jesus lives. He makes all things new and right. He brings true justice and redemption for us.

And there’s more good news. Even now, He reigns in heaven. He is all-powerful and all-knowing. Sometimes we might use fancy terms like omnipotent and omniscient. Jesus is also omnipresent. That means He’s present everywhere at the same time. He no longer humbles Himself but exercises His divine majesty at all times. Though we cannot see the face of God and live—God tells Moses—Jesus comes to us in a way that we can receive Him and not be destroyed. I’ve said it time and time again from this pulpit: Jesus makes Himself present in the earthly and simple forms of bread and wine. Through these earthly means, we receive His full presence. It’s a great and mighty wonder that He would deign to dwell amongst us. We receive His crucified and risen body. We receive forgiveness of sins. We receive blessings that seem too good to be true. Don’t ever feel alone. Don’t ever feel unworthy. Don’t ever feel worthless. Yet, if the devil or the world accuses you of this, come to the Supper. Have you lost loved ones—parents, children, friends, your spouse? Come to the Supper. Though Jesus reigns in heaven, He descends from Heaven to comfort and console you with the testament and promise that He loves you and that He will never forsake you. Come to the Supper. He has given you a promise that He’s working all things, in the end, for your good so that one day, though now we must humble ourselves in the sight of men and because of our many transgressions, we will be exalted, just as He is, and perfected in heaven. 

In +Jesus’ name.