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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Text today for the sermon is taken from the gospel lesson. Please be seated. The old saying goes that there are two things in life that are inevitable: death and taxes. There we go. And they’re probably both equally disliked and avoided, but there really is a difference between the two. Taxes aren’t preferred, but death can be feared. Taxes can annoy us, but death can scare us. When asked what scares people the most, death is often near the top of the list, if not number one, followed closely by public speaking and spiders. Not a true story, really.
Death can be scary and painful. It seems so final. And worse, it’s inevitable. It’s inevitable. You can actually get out of paying your taxes, but death, death happens. And that’s exactly what Peter and the other disciples don’t want to have happen in the Gospel reading today. When he takes Jesus aside and rebukes him, he scolds him for saying that he, Jesus, must suffer and that he must die. And Jesus isn’t too happy with that rebuke either. Poor Peter. It’s so easy to criticize him, but he kind of brings it on himself. Just in last week’s reading, just before this event, Peter says a wonderful thing about Jesus. He confesses that he’s the Christ, the Son of the living God. Good job, Peter.
And then he shows up in this event with his foot in his mouth. In Texas, we might say about Peter, “bless his heart.” He means so well. Or maybe he just likes the taste of his foot. I don’t know. But let’s not be so tough on him, okay? Because as best we can tell, this is the first time that Jesus has said anything about him having to die. And the other disciples, they didn’t comprehend this either. But Jesus looks at Peter and says to him, “Get behind me, Satan. You don’t have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Ouch.
But can you blame Peter and the other disciples for having a problem with this? Having a problem about Jesus having to die? They don’t want death to happen. They don’t want Jesus to die. They want him to always be there with them, teaching, healing, doing miracles, maybe even one day freeing the Jews from Roman occupation. But apparently, that’s not a thing of God. Jesus says Peter has in mind the things of men. But what Peter and the other disciples don’t know, they didn’t know about the express reason why Jesus was even there in the first place. He was there to die.
And what they also didn’t know, what the disciples didn’t know, was a saying that we have today. No, not the one about death and taxes, okay? I mean the expression, “to die for.” And maybe you know what I mean. To die for is an idiom that’s used to describe something that’s really good, awesome, wonderful. Something that’s thought to be so important or desirable enough to die for it. Basically, it’s a compliment to say that something is “to die for.” Example: that chocolate cake is so good. It’s “to die for.” Or, keeping it Texas style here, that barbecue—that is “to die for.”
You know, humans, we’re an interesting lot. Yeah, to us, death can be scary and painful and it seems final and inevitable, but we can joke about it. And even come up with little sayings like, “to die for.” Perhaps that’s a way that we just deal with it that way. Because after all, isn’t death a part of life, actually? No, it’s not. Or at least, it’s not supposed to be. Death is the opposite of life. It has nothing to do with life. It’s the end of life.
Death wasn’t a part of life before Adam and Eve rebelled against God. When they did, death became the ultimate price for all humans to have to pay for that rebellion. Romans chapter 6 verse 23 may be a familiar verse for you, very short but to the point: “The wages of sin is death.” That’s what we earn for our rebellion against God: death. Death is a thing of God to deal with our sin. Death. And that makes sense, really. Breaking a law, disobeying rules, rebelling, doing wrong, etc., needs action to fix it. Like having to admit you’re wrong, confess, apologize for it, somehow trying to make up for it or pay for it, or accepting punishment for it. Today, that could mean having to pay a fine, wear a monitor, or go to jail, or in some states even be executed. Yeah, doing something wrong has consequences, including dying for it.
So it is with breaking God’s rules and rebelling against Him. That’s called sin. And our sins are to die for. I mean, that’s why we die. Thank you very much, Adam and Eve. And maybe that’s why, like taxes, humans tend to avoid and dislike and even be scared of death because it doesn’t seem good. But that’s the mind of men and women. You’re not off the hook here, ladies, okay?
In steps the things of God. In our thinking of the things of men in our world, in steps Jesus. And why did he come here? Why did God take on human form and live among us? Not just to teach us, heal, and do miracles, but to die. See, in the Gospel reading today, how Jesus says He must suffer and He must die—He has to do this. He must go to Jerusalem, He must suffer, and He must die. And He did. One of the most famous deaths in history, in fact. Death by crucifixion. A horrible death by crucifixion.
But Jesus didn’t just die. He was to die for. And he was to die for you. That’s the thing of God that Jesus is talking about to Peter—that his death is the thing of God to have in mind forever. Peter says, “Oh no, Lord, I don’t want you to die.” And Jesus says, “I’ve got to. Your thinking is all wrong. That’s the things of men. You need to think the things of God, and that is that I have to die for you.”
The book of Philippians chapter 2 says this: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ, who, being found in human form, humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death.” In his death, Jesus takes on all of the consequences of sin. In his death, Jesus takes on all the consequences of your sin. Another perhaps familiar verse from the Bible, Isaiah chapter 53, it says, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Yet he was stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was put upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
In his death, Jesus takes on your punishment. In his death, Jesus takes on your death. In his death, Jesus takes on your wounds. In his death, Jesus dies for you because you are to die for. And again, that’s a compliment. Being to die for is a compliment. And that’s the way God feels about you. You are to die for. You are worth dying for. To die for is the way that God feels about you. And today, I’d like to point at each one of you and say to you, Jesus died for you.
Jesus died for you. That would take a lot of time, but actually, it happens every time at the table, at the Lord’s Supper. When you hear, “the body of Christ given for you, the blood of Christ shed for you.” Yeah, up there, you hear, you know, everybody’s eating together, and it’s “Jesus died for y’all.” But he died for you. Each person, he comes to you and is placed there and into you for you. So you hear that, that Jesus died for you at the table.
But you can also hear it whenever you have private or individual confession to your pastor. Yeah, Lutherans actually do believe in that sort of thing, okay? And it’s good, right? When I or any pastor has the privilege of hearing you confess any particular sin that’s really burdening you and then declaring forgiveness to you personally. And it’s great to hear the pastor up here speak and say, “Your sins are forgiven.” But there you hear it, “Jesus forgives you.”
The thing of God that Jesus is talking about in the gospel today is to die for the sinner. Even a person who has done terrible things is to die for in the thinking of God. And he sent his son Jesus to do just that. That’s the thing of God to have in mind that you are to die for. There’s no making up for your sins. There’s no paying for them or somehow getting some sort of punishment to satisfy them. There’s no jail or execution to face. It would be kind of interesting to have some sort of a holy ankle monitor so God can always keep track of you, but He already can do that, so I guess we don’t need that.
No, there’s none of those things, except for an execution, but not yours. It’s Jesus. Yeah, there’s still death. We’ve still got that kind of down-the-road thing. It’s inevitable, but it’s not final. You know, in the Gospel reading, when this happened, when Jesus said this to Peter and said it to the other disciples, they must have missed something here. They must have missed the part where after Jesus said, “I must suffer and I must die, and after three days I’ll rise again.” Maybe that kind of blew past them. Maybe we don’t really pay attention to that either when we hear it, but it seemed like Peter and the disciples only heard the dying part.
But Jesus is talking about his resurrection. Death wasn’t final for Jesus, and it’s not final for you. Jesus rose from the dead and gives that benefit to you too. The benefit of eternal life. Yeah, death is inevitable, but it’s not final. In fact, some probably familiar words of Jesus as well: “John 11, I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus said. “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” That’s what God brings out of death—life. Death is a thing of God because it brings eternal life. Jesus has destroyed death so that when you die, you don’t just die; you live.
I’m a fan of the 60s group, the Monkees, okay? Baby boomers, you know where I’m at here with this, yeah. The Monkees were a big influence on the Beatles. Yeah, that’s a joke. Come on, you guys. Monkees were a big part of my childhood. And so a couple of years ago when Davy Jones, their lead singer, died, it got my attention. It kind of makes you feel old when that happens. And also a quote by another one of the Monkees, Michael Nesmith. He was the one that always wore the hat, and he could actually play an instrument. And he was from Texas. That’s what he really had going for him here.
Anyway, he said this about Mr. Jones’ death: “While it is jarring and strange, this transition that we call death is a constant in the mortal experience. I am of the mind that death is a transition that I carry with me a certainty of the continuity of my existence. There’s an ongoing sense of life that reaches in my mind out far beyond the horizons of mortality and into the reaches of infinity.”
Some good stuff in there that Mr. Nesmith was connecting death with something infinite. Yeah, that death is a transition, and it’s a constant. It’s an inevitable, but he fails to define that sense of life beyond that is infinite. Right? And we know that. We know it’s resurrection. We know that it’s eternal life that Jesus has given to us in his death and resurrection. In fact, if you’ll pardon the pun, by dying and rising again, Jesus killed death.
And we can live now and look at death with hope and with comfort. And not just have hope and comfort in death, but also in our daily life when we encounter things that seem, well, they seem like death. They’re so bad, they’re so burdening, they’re so terrible for us. And they can make us feel like death. Worries about your career. Maybe things are falling apart at work and you’ve got big financial concerns. There’s conflict or tension in your family or with some good friends. Of course, I’m a campus pastor. I talk to students. Maybe you’re behind in class or you’re really overwhelmed with assignments and your schedule’s all messed up, and you can’t balance things.
Things that happen in life that make it feel like death. Well, there’s hope and comfort in Christ in that too. In those times, we can remember that, yeah, we’re to die for. Jesus died for me. I’m so loved by Jesus that my inevitable death—I have comfort in. I have it each day, too. Maybe it’s better to say that there’s not just two things in life that are inevitable. There’s four, actually. Okay? Yeah, death and taxes. All right, we got those. But also inevitable is Christ’s death and His resurrection for you. It’s always there.
And may that be a comfort for you whenever your death comes, but also in your daily life in this sinful world. The things that feel like death, even your own sins, may you be comforted by His death and resurrection. Remember, you’re to die for. You’re worth dying for. And Jesus did just that for you. That’s the things of God. Amen.
Gracious Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for your Son Jesus who comes into our world to die for us. Because despite our sin, you love us so much that we’re to die for. And Jesus does it for us, to forgive us. He rises again to give us eternal life. Lord, may that always be a comfort for us in the face of death, and each day the things that we face that seem like death. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
