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THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT March 17, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto OPENING HYMNN: 609 “Jesus Sinners Doth Receive” Lutheran Service Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RODV7z-UQhI The Invocation Page 184 Confession and Absolution Page 184-185 THE LITANY P: O Lord. C: have mercy. P: O Christ. C: have mercy. P: O Lord. C: have mercy. P: O Christ. C: hear us. P: God the Father in heaven. C: have mercy. P: God the Son, Redeemer of the world. C: have mercy. P: God the Holy Spirit. C: have mercy. P: Be gracious to us. C: Spare us good Lord. P: Be gracious to us. C: Help us, good Lord. P: In the time of our tribulation; in the time of our prosperity; in the hour of death; and in the day of judgment: C: Help us good Lord. P: We poor sinners implore You C: To hear us, O Lord. P: To forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers and to turn their hearts; to give and preserve for us the kindly fruits of the earth; and graciously to hear our prayers: C: We implore you to hear us, good Lord. P: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, C: we implore You to hear us, P: Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, C: have mercy. P: Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, C: have mercy. P: Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, C: grant us Your peace. P: O Christ. C: hear us. P: O Lord, C: have mercy. P: O Christ, C: have mercy. P: O Lord, C: have mercy. Amen. The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) Lord Have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord Have mercy upon us. Collect Prayer: Almighty God, by Your great goodness mercifully look upon Your people that we may be governed and preserved evermore in body and soul; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible Readings: Old Testament Reading Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 119, verses 9-16 Epistle Reading Hebrews 5:1-10 Gospel Reading Mark 10: 32-45 THE APOSTLES’ CREED P. 192 HYMN OF THE DAY: 430 “My Song Is Love Unknown” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re6yzS24FRw The Sermon – Jesus predicts His trial, crucifixion and resurrection for the third time. He tells the disciples this on the way to Calvary. His act of service on the cross, will, for believers, mean the difference between Heaven and hell. Faith looks to Christ crucified and risen, and says, “for me.” Martin Luther wrote, “who is the ‘me?’ It is I, a condemned sinner, who was so loved by the Son of God that He gave Himself for me.” Today we hear that in Christ’s Kingdom, positions of authority carry a servant’s job description, and He demonstrated that with His own life. He gave his life as a ransom for many. When it comes to serving God, what the Almighty is most concerned about, is the state of our hearts in our relationship with Him as His beloved and redeemed children. By the death of Jesus, the many, are set free from their bondage to satan and the hostile spiritual forces under his control. In Christ’s substitutionary death for our sins, we are indeed set free, liberated to be God’s people, now, and in eternity. He offers what we cannot – forgiveness and eternal life. This week before Palm Sunday, the Bible readings frame the events of Holy Week. The Creator God will serve the rebellious creation. He will go to a cross, unjustly dying there, so we might be brought into a relationship of faith with Him, in which we serve others He also died for. For every Christian who comes to that Friday we call “Good,” there is a terrifying reality. Jesus hangs there for us, and because of us, both you and me. This saving act is not something we bought, earned, deserved, or made any ‘decision’ about. It was simply and wholly done for us, out of love and grace. In our reading from Jeremiah, God gives great hope to a people who’ve been carried away into exile. They’re wondering if they’ll even exist in another generation. Yet God’s promise of faithfulness is strong and sure. We know, from the Apostle Paul, writing in Galatians and Ephesians that today, we, as Christians, are the new Israel of God. (Galatians 3 & 6:16 and Ephesians 2:13-15) We’re children of Abraham, and God’s chosen people, by faith in Christ. Unlike the covenant God made at Mt. Sinai, this new covenant is written by God on our hearts. He does this through the means of grace found within His Church as He offers forgiveness in the absolution of the Divine Service, as He pours out the Holy Spirit on us in Baptism, as He feeds us very His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, and as He richly gives us His life-saving Word. In our reading from the Book of Hebrews the author is making an appeal to a group to remain Christian. The audience could include Jewish priests who converted to Christianity, but now, facing persecution, are thinking about reverting to Judaism. The argument the writer of Hebrews uses is a common technique from rhetoric in the 1st century. He argues from the lesser to the greater. The first verses of the book are an example: “In the past God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, now He has spoken to us by his Son.” The heart of the argument is that it’s better to be a Christian than it is to be at the top of the temple’s religious bureaucracy. The author makes this argument based on the fact that Jesus is so much greater than Moses. The Christian doesn’t need to make sacrifices because Jesus has made the one, and final, sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Hebrews tells us Jesus learns obedience through suffering and becomes the salvation of all who obey him. The ‘obedience’ of which the Book of Hebrews speaks forms the very covenant Jeremiah said God would write on our hearts. Christ’s perfection and His sacrifice for our sins is what makes His obedience, even to death on a cross, our salvation. Today in our Gospel reading John and James ask Jesus if they can sit on His right and left when He comes into the kingdom. Jesus asks them if they can drink His cup. Can they be baptized with His baptism? They say, “Yes.” Do they have a clue what they are asking for here? Jesus says no. Christ explains that they will indeed be baptized with His baptism, but He can’t give the position on His right or left, there are others for whom that has been prepared. In this world, it would be a pair of thieves who will be crucified with Him on Good Friday. James was the first of the twelve disciples to be martyred. John would serve Christ longer than any of the others. They both spent their lives in difficult service to Christ. One serves as a Christian martyr, the other pulls the plow of discipleship for 50 plus years. According to church history, when John was in his 90’s people carried Him into church on a stretcher so he could preach. The Son of Man didn’t come to be served, but to serve. Jesus puts the passion event in terms of service, and then connects this to the believer. Christian scholars tell us the Gospel of Mark was written during the time of the emperor Nero’s persecutions in the first century. Nero was covering Christians in tar, crucifying or tying them to a post, and setting them on fire to light up his dinner parties. Our Christian lives are shaped by our crucified Lord. Jesus didn’t describe His gruesome death as a horrible injustice, although it was. He described it as an act of service, and then said that we likewise should be the servants of all. The Greek word here in verse 44 is “doulos,” it means “slave.” Crucifixion was known as the slave’s death, for no Roman citizen could be crucified. When Jesus calls His followers to be slaves of all, that was not simply a nice sentiment, especially for Mark’s audience. Our minds are to be those of Christ, who made Himself a sacrifice. In this Gospel reading Christ defines our salvation and the life that flows out of His saving act. It’s the gift of Jesus transforming us into a new creation that looks somewhat like Him, in His suffering, and in His service. Our human nature lusts for power and authority. By nature, we like to exist at the center of our own universe, and all is supposed to revolve around us. But Christ dismisses that. He writes a new “code” on our heart that governs us differently. Now our joy is the blessing of our neighbour, the gift of self to another, putting someone else first. Christ belongs in the center of our solar system; we’re tied to Him in a loving orbit by the gravity of His love. Yet sometimes we’re afraid to ask people to take up a cross and follow Him. We can even feel shy about asking them to give up one hour on Sunday to hear His true Word and worship Him in Church. To help create a faith community in which we’re bound to one another by God’s love, a self-sacrificing God who declares each of us His forgiven child made worthy by the crucified and risen servant, Jesus Christ. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 SANCTUS (Holy, Holy, Holy) Page 195 THE LORD’S PRAYER Page 196 AGNUS DEI (Lamb of God) Page 198 THE DISTRIBUTION NUNC DIMITIS (Song of Simeon) Page 199 Post-Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN: 423 “Jesus, Refuge of the Weary” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFYKZhU2dG4