It would be very easy for us to read this passage of Scripture and to come away from it thinking that it applies to someone else. Here it’s Jerusalem and those wicked, unbelieving Jews, who rejected and killed Jesus and His prophets. It would be okay with us, if our Lord’s words of lament and woe were spoken over San Francisco today. Speak them over San Mateo, if you like, but Pacifica is a little bit too close to home. Even then we’d still try to wriggle out of His words by saying that they only applied to the unbelievers in our community. Jesus can’t be speaking these words to us, as we have not rejected Him, but have repented of our sins. We’ve taken refuge under His wings, and weekly (if not daily) we sing, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”
So, why do we need the season of Lent? Why not do away with it altogether. And while we’re at it, why not get rid of confession and absolution? What do we Christians need those for? In fact, why not get rid of all references to sin and repentance, both in our liturgy as well as in the Scriptures themselves. After all, they don’t apply to us anymore, do they? Doesn’t even the Apostle Paul write to St. Timothy that “the Law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners...?” Surely, now that we have repented, we don’t need to be told to repent any more. Surely, we’re done hearing the Law; all we need now is the Gospel!
The trouble with this line of reasoning is that, though we have been brought to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, though we have been baptized, born from above, and declared righteous, we are still sinners by nature, sinners who sin much daily. And because of this, the Law must still do its job of convicting us of our sin and leading us to repentance on a regular basis, so that we might continually confess our sins, take refuge under our Lord’s wings, and hear His words of forgiveness. Our Lord’s words here about His own people rejecting Him and His prophets apply to us, God’s people today, who must diligently fight against the temptation to do this ourselves. Paul writes that at one time we were enemies of God, dead in our trespasses and sins. We could easily return to that state, if we don’t continue to live in repentance, dying daily to our sinful nature, rising and living according to our new nature created in the likeness of Christ.
But it’s not a nice word to have to hear, that we too are guilty of having rejected and killed both Christ and His prophets. It’s a difficult word to accept, that though Christ wills to take us under His protective wings and keep us there, we are sometimes unwilling and would rather go our own way, living for the passing pleasures of sin, closing our ears to God’s words of warning. It’s a sad word but a necessary one, that if we reject the release from sin, death, and the devil that Jesus brings, we will be released from God, His love, and the eternal life that He gives. But the Christian has to hear these words, too, so that he might not run out from under the protective wings of Christ and fall prey not only to the vultures of the devil and the world, but also to the wrath of God, which on the Last Day will fall on all those not so protected by Jesus.
And this is why Jesus speaks such harsh and difficult words, because with them He would warn us of what awaits us, if we were to reject Him, turn away from Him in unbelief, and give ourselves over to our sinful desires. The day of wrath is coming. Jesus foresaw Jerusalem’s day of wrath, when He spoke over that city, “Behold, your house is forsaken.” Because they had forsaken God, God would forsake them. And in 70 A.D. the city and the temple were destroyed. But Jesus does not want this for us, and so He warns us. He wants us to know that He’s the only one who can protect us from such wrath and destruction. Therefore, He calls everyone to repent of their sin, even those who have already repented, and come and continue to take refuge in Him.
The Scriptures are very clear that God does not willingly pour out His wrath on sinners. St. Paul tells Timothy that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The Prophet Ezekiel writes that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but wills that the wicked turn from his way and live. God pleads with His own people and says, “Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” The Apostle Peter, writing to Christians, says that the Lord “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Why should Peter talk this way to Christians, encouraging them to repent? Because repentance is an on-going way of life for Christians. We were brought to repentance in the beginning through the preaching of the Word and our Baptism. But repentance isn’t something that we’re over and done with now.
Some people look at confirmation like this. It’s almost as if once they’re confirmed, they’re finished with church, never again to worship with God’s people, never again to commune at His altar, or to listen to His Word, or to confess their sins and receive His forgiveness. Do they think nothing of the oath that they took before God’s people, let alone God Himself, that they would hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully, that they would live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death, that they would continue steadfast in this confession and Church and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it? It would be easy for us to point our fingers at those among us who have forsaken their confirmation vows and have left the protective cover of Christ’s wings. And yet, we are all in danger of doing this. We could all easily fall into a lifestyle of unrepentance ourselves, putting other gods, putting ourselves, before Christ. And, by the way, just because our bodies are present here, it doesn’t necessarily mean that our minds and hearts are. We who come to church every Sunday are just as vulnerable to the temptations of the world, our flesh, and the devil and are in need of repentance just as much as those who don’t come at all. Beware of the temptation that says that you can be a lone Christian, that you don’t need to worship with God’s people, that you don’t need to hear the Word of God preached to you, that you don’t need the Lord’s Supper. The author of the book of Hebrews tells Christians not to neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some. Any one of us could easily just stop going to church (and it would take a lot less than death!). But by the grace of God, we too would abandon the safe haven that Christ provides for us here under His wings where He is present in His Word and Sacraments.
That’s why when we are confirmed we take our vows with these words: “I intend to do all these things - hearing the Word of God and living according to it, receiving the Lord’s body and blood in His holy Supper, worshipping with God’s people, confessing my sins and receiving the Lord’s forgiveness - by the grace of God.” It was by His grace that He brought you to repentance in the first place, and it is by His grace that He continues to work that repentance in you today. By His grace He gathered you formerly unwilling chicks under His wings in holy Baptism and gave you new and willing hearts that now love Him and sing, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” By His grace He keeps you under His protection as He speaks His words of forgiveness to you and tells you that He has suffered the wrath you deserved on the cross, so that having taken refuge in Him you will escape the wrath that God will pour out on the Last Day. And by His grace Jesus feeds you on His body and blood, the food that gives you eternal life, the food that assures you of the resurrection of your body and the life of the world to come.
The Lord willingly does all of this for you, because He loves you and knows what will happen to you if you stray from under His wings. He does not want you to be forsaken. He was forsaken for you on the cross, in order that you might not be. Yet, we are often unwilling to remain under His protective wings. The lure of sin is too strong. We justly deserve God’s wrath. But instead the Lord calls us back to repentance and His protective wings. Psalm 91 says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge...”
Let us, then, who have run for cover under our Lord’s pinions repent of our frequent unwillingness to abide there and of the sin that so easily entices us to leave, so that the Lord’s sentence against Jerusalem might not fall upon us. Let us hear again our Lord’s words of forgiveness, and let us renew our own confirmation vows, that by the grace of God we will hear the Word of God, receive the Lord’s Supper, live according to His Word in faith, word, and deed, remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit even to death, and continue steadfast in our Christian confession and the Lord’s Church, suffering all, even death, rather than fall away from Him. And as He, who was crucified for our sins, resurrected from the dead, and now protects us from God’s wrath, comes to us today in His body and blood here at the altar, we will sing, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” for our own eyes will have seen the salvation that God has prepared before the face of all people, so that none may perish, but that all might have eternal life. Amen.