For you—two words of supreme significance! Without them, a Christian veers away from Word and Sacrament, trying to find some assurance that he really is saved. He could look to his good works, thinking he must be saved because of what he has done. He could look to his emotions, trying to find in his ever-changing feelings what God has told Him in His Word. Jesus died “for you”; that makes it personal.
But Jesus also died “because of you.” That, too, makes it personal. “For you” and “because of you”: That sums up much of the Christian faith, at least as it applies to you personally. That Jesus died “because of you” shows you who you are apart from Him.
Today, many believe that we are by nature good, that everyone wants to do what is right. And so when a violent crime occurs or a terrorist attack takes place, we look for some outward cause of such misdeeds. After all, if someone is by nature good, then something bad, outside of him, had to get him to act in such a bad way. In the face of such evil, we then ask, “Where did this evil come from?”
But the Christian, who knows the content of the faith, doesn’t ask need to ask, “Where?” He knows. Evil in this world originally came from the devil and his temptation. Jesus says a much: The devil “was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood for truth since there is no truth in him” (John 8:44).
And the person, who has pondered his struggle with sin, also knows that we have such evil within us. Scripture tells us as much. Before the great flood, God said, “The Lord saw how widespread the wickedness of man had become on the earth, and that every inclination of his thought was evil” (Genesis 6:5). After the flood, God told Noah, “I will never again curse the land because of man, even though man’s inclinations remain evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). And King David confessed, “I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5).
Now, some of us may think: “That can’t all be true; I don’t obsess on evil. I wasn’t even that bad before I became a Christian.” But such thinking misses the point. Our every thought is evil because we are born in a fallen, sinful state. Because of our fall into sin, sin has become part of the fabric of who we are and is inseparable from us. And so, even when you have the kindest, most loving thought for someone else, sin still infects that thought, making even the best we have to offer unacceptable to God.
Even after becoming Christian, you are still sinful, for sin still infects you. But you also become fully righteous, made that way because Jesus’ righteousness becomes yours. You become a full-fledged saint while remaining a sinner. And you see that sinfulness seep out when you, for example, speak harshly to others or harbor hatred in your heart. You see it when you detest your lot in life or give in to the lustful thoughts that despoil you.
It’s then that these words from Jesus ring ever so true: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to do what your father wants” (John 8:44). Our sin exposes our failure to say to God, “Here I am,” like Abraham responded to God in our Old-Testament reading (Genesis 22:1).
God asked Abraham to sacrifice everything he held dear, and Abraham said, “Here I am.” And so Scripture holds Abraham up for us as a model of faith, even though he wasn’t sinless. Abraham said, “Here I am,” when Adam earlier tried to hide from the voice of God (Genesis 3:8). Abraham said, “Here I am,” when Jonah later fled from God’s call, foolishly trying to hide himself on a ship (Jonah 1:3).
But what God the Father would not have Abraham do, sacrifice his son, God did Himself in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. As one splendid Lutheran hymn puts it: “‘Go forth, My Son,’ the Father said, ‘and free My children from their dread of guilt and condemnation’” (LSB 438, 2). And the Son said, “Here I am.” Jesus obeyed His Father’s will, trampling down death by His death.
Death isn’t normal a part of life. God never created us to die. “God created man for immortality and made him in the image of His own eternity. But through the devil’s envy, death entered the world, and those who belong to him experience it” (Wisdom 2:23-24). Death is the result of taking the devil’s bait and falling into sin.
So, sin isn’t just some bad habit that you can discard or fix—if you just try hard enough! You sin because you are a sinner. But sin isn’t who Jesus was, or is; He isn’t a sinner, so He doesn’t sin. “Before Abraham was, I AM,” Jesus said. Jesus announced that He was, and is, God, the eternal, sinless one. He declared that He was God incarnate in the flesh: “I AM,” Immanuel, God with us.
And yet, “God made the one who had no sin [Jesus] to become sin for us, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). It’s not that Jesus only took our sin into Himself; no, He became our sin. Jesus came to deal with sin at its source, not being satisfied with just dealing with the symptoms. And so when Jesus, the sinless one, became sin itself, sin’s power over us died in His death.
The truth that Jesus had to become sin “for us” and “because of us” deflates all pride that we may have in ourselves. It says that we can’t achieve an iota of salvation through our efforts. It renders impotent our efforts to “get right with God.”
Jesus having to become sin “for you,” says that everything you’ve earned, everything you’ve done, and everything you’ve become counts for nothing when it comes to saving you. For if sin infects every part of your being, and it does, then all you do is just spread the infection around, making things even worse in relation to God. All that is true—apart from Christ! But in Christ, it all changes!
And so, Jesus says:
Before Abraham was, I AM. I am God, incarnate in the flesh. You are sick, sinful, and dying, but I am righteous, holy, and will take your burdens into myself. Come to me, cling to my Word, and I will do what you cannot do for yourself. Clinging to my Word, you will not experience eternal death.
Because Jesus was “without blemish,” He could offer a better sacrifice than the Old-Covenant sacrifices of goats and bulls. He was the sinless one sacrificed for us sinful beings. Only His sacrifice can “cleanse your conscience from dead works,” those words and works still cursed with sin’s infection and death.
We’re close to entering Holy Week, where we focus on our Lord’s suffering and death for our sins. But this isn’t just to recognize the historical reality of Jesus’ death. It’s not just learning or recalling facts. We want Jesus’ death and life to become real for us.
Jesus becomes the one, whom that same, hard-to-sing Lutheran hymn describes:
“Yes, Father, yes, most willingly I’ll bear what You command Me. My will conforms to Your decree, I’ll do what You have asked Me.” O wondrous Love, what have You done! The Father offers up His Son, desiring our salvation. O Love, how strong You are to save! You lay the One into the grave who built the earth’s foundation. [LSB 438, 3]
That’s why Jesus was scourged, crucified, and killed. It’s as the Apostle Peter said: “Christ also suffered for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
Jesus didn’t die, simply as some unfortunate victim. “With His own blood,” He died to secure your “eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12). And now, in receiving that blood, His death and life become real for you. You can’t go to the cross, but the cross can come to you. And when that happens, Jesus, in His body and blood, cleanses your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14).
Without His death, you could not be brought to God. You would remain eternally separated, for what hunts you down isn’t just the death of your body, but your body and soul condemned for eternity. But Jesus promises that those who cling to His Word “will never see death.” The original Greek says “will not see death into the ages.”
“Into the ages” is how the New-Testament Greek language refers to eternity. So, your physical, sinful body will still die; it has to, but you will not suffer eternal death. You will NOT hear these words of judgment from our Lord when He returns on the Last Day: “Get away from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Instead, you will get a new, perfect, and sinless body. And you will hear Jesus say: “Well done, good and faithful servant…. Enter the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).
You’ve already died. Jesus says, “I assure you: Whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged but has [already] crossed over from death into life” (John 5:24).
When did that happen? In your baptism; that’s when you died. That’s when you were crucified with Christ in His death (Romans 6:3). So, you’ve already passed into life. But since your sinful flesh still lives, which cannot be reformed into sinless perfection, it still must die. That’s why Jesus had to die, for your sinful body can’t become sinless.
The only cure for sin is death. But this is all so you can rise to new life in a sinless, perfect body. That’s why Scripture says, “The one who is victorious will not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:10). Your first death was in your baptism; your second death is when your sinful body dies its death. That’s why Scripture also says, “Blessed are the dead [the baptized] who die in the Lord” (Revelation 14:13).
It’s as Jesus says: “If anyone keeps my Word, he will not see death into the ages.” May God keep you all your days. But most especially, may He keep you in His love, grace, and mercy—until the final Easter—when your body will rise anew in the new heavens and the new earth that God is preparing FOR YOU, even now. Amen.
