As Americans, being depressed usually bothers us more than having sin and guilt. Let’s contrast the difference. Depression is so commonplace that anti-depressants are on the list of most-prescribed drugs. But when it comes to sin and guilt, few are beating down the church door to confess their sins. This is true even in the Lutheran Church, where our Confessions speak at length about Private Confession being the norm for Lutherans.
Now, I’m not saying that depression is something trivial. It’s not! But most of us are more willing to put up with sin in our lives than depression. That speaks volumes about the world in which we live.
Despite the traditional, conservative “values” of our country, we continue to sink deeper and deeper into a moral quagmire. Greed and selfishness bog us down, with corruption on Wall Street being so rampant that it contributed to the Great Recession of 2008, from which we still haven’t fully recovered. Life in our country has become a slog through a swamp of pride and self-indulgence. We swim in a cesspool of sexual immorality, pornography, and perversion. If you don’t believe me, just watch the news.
And yet, in some strange way, that hasn’t bothered many Christian churches. I say, “In some strange way” because if you listen to the sermons in many Christian churches, you’ll hear little about the Jesus who bled and died to forgive those sins. Instead of hearing about the sin-forgiving Christ, you get Jesus as a mentor and success coach. It’s as if Christianity has been reduced to tips about how to live a successful life, not being saved from sin, death, and the devil.
But along comes Lent to set you straight about the real Jesus. For who can sit through 40 days of pondering our Savior’s bitter suffering and sacrificial death and, somehow, believe that Jesus came just to make you happy and successful? Who then could believe that Jesus is here just to give you a few pointers for self-improvement?
Nothing about Jesus’ death smacked of happiness and success. As He died, He looked like a real loser. His enemies mocked Him and His friends deserted Him. By any human standard, He died a horrible death. Yet, hidden under that obvious defeat was God’s total and complete victory. Jesus was, to quote John the Baptizer, “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John means what he says and says what he means. Jesus doesn’t just cover up sin, He does away with it!
To grasp the full impact of John’s words, we must consider a wild-and-woolly event that unfolded centuries before on a mountaintop called Moriah. There, an old man led his young son as they climbed their way to the top to perform a burnt offering to the Lord their God. In his hand, the old man held a knife and some burning coals in a bag. The boy carried the kindling wood up the mountain. As they approached their destination, the child spoke up, “Where is the lamb?”
You know these two: they are Abraham and his son, Isaac. For many long years, Abraham had no children. Then, God paid a visit to that old man and his barren wife, Sarah, and foretold a miraculous birth. After years of waiting, despite being well past the age of childbearing, these two old people became parents!
It was almost beyond belief. And if God were not God, Abraham and Sarah would’ve never believed it. Yet, even as it was, Sarah still laughed out loud about the idea. It was so hard to believe that she couldn’t help laughing about the absurdity of it all. She was old, long past the time when she had her monthly periods. And for poor old Abraham, Viagra hadn’t yet been invented. No wonder she laughed!
Yet, in about a year, just as God had promised, they had their baby. They even named him “laughter,” Yitzak in the Hebrew, or as we say, Isaac. He was their pride and joy. All their hopes for the future were riding on him, their laughing boy.
Then one day, some years later, the roof caved in on Abraham’s life. God tested his faith almost to the breaking point. God called to him and said: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2).
You can imagine the ache in Abraham’s heart. It must have cut like a knife within him to lose his son–and by his own hand! Then we hear the double-whammy: “your only son Isaac, whom you love.” God would give Abraham no more sons. It must have crushed him nearly to the breaking point.
But Abraham went. He packed and left for Mount Moriah. On the third day of their trip, Abraham “looked up and saw the place in the distance” (Genesis 22:4). We can only imagine the dread he felt as he saw the place of sacrifice.
Yet, Abraham believed the promise. He believed God against God. Despite God commanding him to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham trusted that God would keep His promise. Abraham believed that, through Isaac, He would be the father of many descendants. So Abraham pressed on despite his dread. He continued to walk by faith instead of by sight.
So, Abraham and Isaac left and made their way to the chosen spot. Young Isaac then voiced the unspeakable question closing in on them: “We have the burning coals and the wood, but where’s the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7)
Yes, where is the lamb? That’s the question, not only for Abraham and Isaac but also for us. Where is the lamb, where is our deliverance? How can we escape the onslaught of temptation, the rising tide of immorality that even threatens to topple Christ’s holy Bride, the Church? How can we be protected against despair, unbelief, and other great shame and vice? Where is the lamb?
In that question, everything collides. For in that question, the promises of God and His threats wage war against each other. It’s God’s judgment and His grace, His mercy and His love, battling each other for the victory. And each of us in his own way, at some time, needs to deal with the issue that young Isaac raised: “Where is the lamb?”
“Abraham answered, ‘God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son’” (Genesis 22:8). And He did–in the most-dramatic way. At the last moment, when Abraham was getting ready to slice open Isaac’s neck, when the dreaded deed was almost done, the Angel of the Lord intervened. “Don’t lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. I know that you fear God, because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me” (Genesis 22:12). Then, miraculously, Abraham looked and saw a ram caught by his horns in a thicket. There was the lamb for the burnt offering, the substitute for his son! God did provide the lamb, after all.
It’s no wonder that Abraham gave that place a new name. He called it “The Lord Will Provide.” And from that day on it was said of that place: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided” (Genesis 22:14).
The Lord will provide for you, as well. And it’s not just “clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children, fields and flock” as the Small Catechism puts it. God provides for you at a far more basic level. He saves your neck, just like He saved young Isaac on that holy mountain.
But God doesn’t save you with a woolly creature. Instead, He saves you with His own Son, whom He slays as your saving sacrifice. It turns out that the dramatic scene at Mount Moriah was a dress rehearsal for a far more gripping saga at a place called Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. There, God slaughtered His Son, His only Son, whom He loved. Jesus became the Lamb to set you free from sure-and-certain death. Jesus died there in your place as the substitute for your sin.
It’s no wonder that John called Jesus “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). And we repeat those words in every Divine Service. We say them before we approach the altar to receive the flesh and blood, which was once sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins. John’s words are on our lips: “Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us; grant us peace.”
Here at this place, Jesus comes among us in His Word and Sacrament to release and rescue sin-ravaged hearts and lives. Here is the comfort for all your fears, rest from your harried lives, respite for your souls, and solace in your despair. We need not slog through the swampland of this life, hoping for the best while fearing the worst. For with us, in our struggle, is the One who faced the bitter onslaught of the worst this world could throw your way–and He emerged the victor!
Jesus Christ fights for us against all that would fill us with despair. He cleanses us from the filth that has polluted us in body, mind, and soul. He frees us from our sins, and even from the fallout of the sins that others have done to us. Given over into death, our sins were heaped on Jesus and He took them all away with Him into His death and grave. There, He left them behind forever when He emerged on the third day, triumphant over sin and death.
Why settle for a Jesus that is only half a Jesus? Why settle for a mentor or success-coach when you can have a Savior and substitute, the one who bled and died to set you free? Jesus is the Lamb of God, who bears your sins. But here’s the best part: He takes them all away, for you! Despair may threaten, depression may assault you, but nothing can upset this unshaken certainty: All who trust in Christ Jesus have been eternally absolved. Christ has fully paid the debt you owe with His own blood.
Even with the world’s meandering undercurrents and dark pathways, go with Jesus into life. For Christ Jesus will keep you safe and secure. He will keep you, even to that day when you will join the saints in heaven gathered before the throne of God and the Lamb to sing eternal alleluias to your King. Amen.
