Tag Archives: Clean

Purified & Redeemed – Sermon on Hebrews 9:11-15 for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Hebrews 9:11–15

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Transferred – Sermon on Matthew 9:18-26 for the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity

Matthew 9:18–26

18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. 20And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. 23 And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went through all that district.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This world is filled with sin and uncleanness. But Jesus, the Lamb of God, has come and taken the sins of the world into Himself (Jn. 1:29). Christ has shed His holy and precious blood to wash away all the uncleanness of this sin-stained world, and He has done that to transfer you from the domain of darkness to His eternal kingdom (Col. 1:13).

To understand this Gospel text, it is important to have a basic understanding of the Old Testament’s teachings on the concept of uncleanness. Through Moses, God declared that if you engaged in certain behaviors, if your body was sick, or if you were going through different natural processes, you were unclean and couldn’t be around other people or the things of God because that uncleanness is like a virus that spreads from one person to another.

Both degree of uncleanness and the length uncleanness depended on certain factors. For instance (because these things are related to this Gospel text), a dead body was unclean, and if someone touched a dead body, that person would be unclean for seven days (Num. 19:11). When a woman was in her “womanly cycle,” she was unclean for seven days, and if someone touched her while she was in that uncleanness, that person would be unclean for one day (Lev. 15:19).

So, when this father asks Jesus to help him by laying His hand on his dead daughter, he is asking Jesus to become unclean for seven days according to God’s law given through Moses. And even though this woman needs Jesus’ help because she has been bleeding non-stop for twelve years, she is too timid to ask Jesus to become unclean by touching her. But she knows who Jesus is. So, she thinks it’s worth a shot to try to sneak a healing from Jesus by touching just the fringe of His garment in order to secretly get relief. Her plan works, but it doesn’t stay secret.

Now, the difference between the father’s boldness and the woman’s timidity is something to meditate on. The next time I preach this text, we might consider how the ruler – his name is Jairus (Mk. 8:22) – Jairus is desperate enough to boldly ask Jesus to become unclean while this woman isn’t confident enough to ask. And yet both Jairus and this woman get help and relief from Jesus – the results end up being identical. Well, that will have to be its own sermon.

Anyway, back to this idea of uncleanness transferring to and defiling things that are clean. Ponder these questions: does Jesus become unclean when He shows mercy to this man by grabbing the dead hand of the daughter? And does Jesus catch uncleanness from that woman when she touches Him? Well, the answer to these questions is both ‘yes’ and ‘no.’

First, the ‘yes.’ Strictly speaking, the Law of Moses says Jesus becomes unclean. He has contact with both a corpse and an unclean woman. In both instances, the uncleanness of the dead girl and the woman are both eliminated because Jesus takes them into Himself. Jesus absorbs the illness of the woman, and He takes death out of the girl and into Himself. On Good Friday, Jesus suffered all of God’s punishment, judgment, and wrath against sin and uncleanness. But Jesus starts loading Himself up with that sin and uncleanness long before He goes to the cross.

It was shortly after Jesus’ Baptism that John the Baptizer says that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29). Also, just a few verses before our text, Jesus heals a bunch of people of their sickness and demonic possession, and Matthew tells us that Jesus did this to fulfill Isaiah 53:4, “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (Mt. 8:17). In His miracles and ministry, Jesus takes the illness, disease, and uncleanness of those He encounters. So, yes. Strictly speaking, according to the ritual laws of God about cleanness and uncleanness, Jesus becomes unclean.

But also, no, Jesus doesn’t become unclean because He can’t become unclean. Jesus is God in the flesh and the source of all cleanness, health, and life who has come to drive all sin and uncleanness out of this world. Jesus can’t be defiled. Just like how you don’t wash a bar of soap by the sink or in the shower after you use it so that bar will be clean for the next person. You don’t do that because it is the very thing that cleanses. Infinitely more, Jesus’ purity can’t be corrupted because He is purity embodied. Light cannot be overpowered by darkness. Darkness always loses its battle with light (Jn. 1:5, 12:46).

In a very real way, Jesus isn’t able to touch a dead body because whatever lifeless corpse He touches is restored to life the moment His clean, pure fingers touch it. Christ is Life embodied (Jn. 14:6), and He transfers from death to life. In a real way, Jesus can’t touch an unclean person because at the moment of contact, the things that are categorized as unclean are transferred to clean. Christ came into this world to take away the sin and sorrow that fills this world.

So, dear saints, know that when you feel your uncleanness; when you know the vile, evil things you have done; when you recognize the sins that have utterly defiled you in body and soul; know that Christ has come for you (Mt. 9:13). When you are filled with guilt and shame and begin to doubt that God could actually love and forgive you, remember that Christ came to save you who sit in the filthy, mucky darkness (Is. 9:2) and to bring His light to banish the darkness and obscenity around you and in you.

On the cross, Jesus stretched out His hands, which could not be defiled by sin, and those nail-pierced hands ripped all your sin and corruption from you. Because Jesus never became unclean when He did this for you, He promises that no matter how filthy you have made yourself, you can come to Him and plead for His touch which gives you the mercy you need.

In this Gospel text, you see two examples of the “Great Exchange.” Jesus absorbs this woman’s uncleanness, and in its place, she receives Christ’s healing love. Jesus gives His life to this girl and takes her death upon Himself. And while seeing these things is helpful and encouraging, Jesus has more for you today. Today, you also receive the transfer. 

You confessed earlier that you are, by your fallen, human nature, sinful and unclean, and that is completely true. Scripture teaches that because all of us are descended from Adam. But Jesus, the new Adam (1 Co. 15:45) is here. He comes to you today with His Body and Blood which He gave and shed for you. The resurrected Jesus who has defeated sin, death, and the devil comes to touch you and drive away all your uncleanness and death with His purity and life. He comes to you who still live in the domain of darkness to transfer you into His eternal kingdom (Col. 1:13). Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Name That Makes Us Holy – Sermon for Midweek Advent 2 2019

Listen here.

The texts for tonight’s service were Numbers 6:22-27; Ephesians 1:3-14; and Matthew 28:16-20.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Last week, we considered how God, the Holy One, makes us holy through His Holy Word which cleanses and sanctifies us (Jn. 15:1-5; Jn. 17:17). Tonight, we are going to look at Scripture and see what this notion of holiness is all about. So, in order to try get an idea what is holy, we are going to look at Leviticus 10:10 to see how God views everything when it comes to holiness.

But before we can do that, we have to remember that when God finished creation, He stepped back and declared everything to be “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Everything created by God is, by God’s declaration, good as the theme verses (1 Tim. 4:4-5) for these services say. Notice that Scripture doesn’t say that God created things and called them ‘holy.’ Nothing created is inherently or intrinsically holy or unclean; instead created things were all created ‘good.’ However, now that we have brought sin into the world, there are various degrees of holiness and impurity. So, Aaron, the high priest and all the priests after him (Ezek. 44:23), were called by God to make distinctions. Look at Lev. 10:10, “You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.”

Holiness SpheresGod’s holiness creates three interlocking spheres which I’ve tried to show with this figure.[1] Because God’s holy presence dwelled in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple, those places became the place where the holy God dwelt with fallen mankind (2 Chron. 6:14-21). They served as a bridge between heaven and earth, and specifically the Holy of Holies was where heaven and earth overlapped. So, in this figure, on the one hand, you have God’s holy presence and on the opposite side, there is the state of impurity which is utterly incompatible with holiness. What is unclean and defiled has been corrupted by sin and the devil. But you will notice there is all sorts of space between God’s holy presence on the one side and Satan and the demons on the other side. That is where we dwell.

Here’s the picture: What is holy is clean, but it is possible for something to be clean yet not holy which means it normal or common, which most things are. And something can be common but also unclean or abnormal.

In this ordering, things that are common must be cleansed of impurity before they can come into contact with God and share in His holiness or else, they are destroyed and consumed by God’s holiness. Last week we briefly considered Isaiah’s call (Is. 6:1-7). That event is helpful in understanding this concept.

When Isaiah was in God’s holy presence, he recognized his uncleanness. Isaiah’s lips were death-dealing, disordering, cursing, and made things around him sick. But the angel came with that coal from the altar (Is. 6:6) – which is an important fact because God had said that anything that touches the altar becomes holy (Ex. 29:37). With that holy coal, the angel touched Isaiah’s lips to purify him from his sins. Made holy by God’s declaration, that coal was life-giving, ordering, blessing, and healing so that Isaiah was made clean. After this encounter with God, Isaiah continued to receive God’s holiness as He received God’s Word, and Isaiah even emanated and transferred God’s holiness to others when He preached God’s Word. Even still today you receive God’s holiness that He dispersed through Isaiah as you hear God’s Word when you read the book of Isaiah. Get the picture?

Let’s fill this out a little more. The closer something comes to God, the holier it becomes. Think of it this way: The high priest was more holy than a normal Israelite, even though God had declared His people to be holy and sanctified them (Lev. 19:2; 21:8), because only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies while the Israelite could only enter as far as the outer part of the Temple. The same thing was true for different sacrifices. Certain sacrifices and offerings, like peace offerings, were holy, but they were less holy than other sacrifices because they were offered outside of the Temple and didn’t ever come into the Temple.

The opposite is true for things or people that were unclean. Some things were desecrated and defiled – like a person who was a medium (Lev. 20:27) or someone who sacrificed a child to Molech (Lev. 20:2). These were so defiled and unclean that God required the death sentence. But other people who were defiled – like someone who touched a corpse (Lev. 11:31-32) or who had a skin disease (see Lev. 14) – were easily fixed and made clean. That person could be purified of the uncleanness and sanctified.

Now, I can hear some of you saying, “Sure, pastor. But that is all Old Testament stuff. Jesus did away with that kind of thinking.” To which I say, “Not so fast!”

In Mark 7[:1-23] Jesus, our great High Priest, continued to teach about what makes a person clean or defiled.[2] It is true that the incarnation of Jesus meant that the location of God’s holiness moved from the Temple building to Jesus’ body (Jn. 2:21-22). And now, Jesus’ death has ripped open the curtain that guarded the Holy of Holies (Lk. 25:45-46), so the focus of defilement is no longer the physical body, but the human heart.

And Hebrews (9:13-14) addresses this as well: “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit Hebrews 9_14 - Christ offered Himself without blemish to Godoffered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

In Jesus, God’s holiness entered our common realm so that He could cleanse unclean sinners and expel the demons that brought defilement. And the demons recognized Jesus as the holy one of God who had come into the flesh to undo and cast out the uncleanness they brought with them (Mk. 1:21-27). All of this means that God’s holiness isn’t limited to the Temple building anymore.

Jesus’ incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension has brought about such a cleansing that now you, believer, are the temple of the Holy Spirit who abides in you (1 Cor. 6:19). So, continue to receive God’s holiness.

One more analogy to help get this across: Today was a bright, sunshiny day. There were no clouds on the sky and the sun’s light wasn’t blocked; it came clearly through the sky and bounced off the snow making everything outside bright. If you braved the cold and went outside you were receiving amazing amounts of light from the sun. It isn’t possible to capture that light – bottle it up or something – and have it to use it later in these short, dark days. To keep receiving the sun’s light, you have to be where the sun is. The same is true with God’s holiness. You have to be where God has promised to deliver His holiness to continue in it.

Hebrews 10_19-23 Jesus our High PriestIn Jesus, God has come into this common world and brought His holiness to you. Because of what Christ has done, God has claimed you as His own so that you can live with Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness. He placed His holy name upon you when you were Baptized. In your Baptism, you were marked with the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:18-20). That holiness, given to you in your Baptism, is now continually delivered to you when you hear and believe God’s holy Word. As you hear the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, you are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). God continues to place His name on you as He blesses you, keeps you, makes His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you (Num. 6:22-27). Bearing His holy name, you are brought into His holy presence, and radiate His holiness to those around you.

Christian, you are no longer common. Now, you are sacred. You bear the holy name of God throughout creation as you go about your common life in the midst of common people. Made holy by that name, you bring God’s sacred space to those who need purification and sanctification through Jesus’ blood. Rejoice and proclaim that name so that God’s sacred space continues to spread. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] The idea for this figure came from this paper by Rev. Dr. John Kleinig.

[2] See also what Jesus says when He washes His disciples’ feet in John 13:8-11. And when Jesus, our High Priest, came to wash His disciples’ feet, Peter objected. Jesus responded, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” So, Peter went all in, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” And Jesus responded, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.” (See also Jn. 15:3, 17:17-19.)