Septuagesima
Beloved. Today we leave the joy and the glory of the Christmas and Epiphany seasons in which we heard once again of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that God became man for us and for our salvation; in which we heard the confirmation by His miracles that that Baby born of the virgin is indeed the true God who became also true man. We leave that joy and glory and begin turning our attention to Jesus’ work and how it was precisely that He became our Savior from sin, death, devil and hell—by His suffering and death; we will soon enter the season of Lent. But before we do, we have the short three week season of pre-Lent. In this season we do indeed notice our worship becoming more somber; but it is not the somberness of Lent. There is still joy, but a subdued joy. And the peculiar Latin names for these Sundays give us a glimpse into what this season is all about. Today, for example, is called “Septuagesima”; it tells us that there are about 70 days until Easter. Next week is “Sexagesima”; it tells us that there are about 60 days until Easter. So do you see the pattern? –Our eyes are being directed toward Easter. So now, looking forward to Easter, we are strengthened to face the rigors of Lent—the time in which we especially examine heart and life in the light of God’s holy Law to recognize our sin, to repent of it and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, strive to root it out of our lives.
Today we are strengthened for our Lenten journey by the Gospel in which we heard Jesus say in the parable: When those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. What makes this so comforting for us is that Jesus is describing here His Kingdom, the Church. How does Jesus “run” His kingdom? Is it by works and merit? Certainly not—if it were, those who worked all day would get much more money/ wages. But in Jesus’ kingdom, the Church, it is all by grace—those who worked only an hour received the full day’s wage. Is that “unfair”? Seemingly—unless you are the one receiving the day’s wage for only one hour of work. That’s how it is for all of us sinners—from Jesus, in His Church, we don’t get what we earn/ deserve—namely, God’s wrath and damnation; instead we get precisely what we haven’t earned/ deserved because of our sin—His grace, forgiveness of sin, eternal life. God’s grace to us in Jesus—that strengthens us for Lent to be ruthless in examining heart and life for sin; we don’t have to worry about explaining away or rationalizing our sin. God is gracious; He will forgive our sin, no matter what sin we unearth—we can boldly confess it, certain that He will not give us what we deserve for our sin and, receiving His gracious forgiveness, so root it out of our heart and life.
And we saw in today’s Gospel, God’s grace is “offensive”—it is “unfair” to those who think they earned/ deserved heaven and eternal life: When those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner: ‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ But not only is God’s grace “offensive” to the works righteous, it is taken and abused by those who do not want to repent of their sin and then use God’s grace as a license to continue on in their sin unrepentant: “God will forgive me anyway!” God’s grace is rejected/ abused by the self-/ works-righteous and also by the unrepentant.
That’s why today’s Epistle is so vital for us. It is a warning for us to be serious and intentional in our Christian lives. To teach us this, St. Paul uses a number of sports analogies—describing our lives as a race and the training an athlete puts him/ herself through in order to compete. Do you not know that when runners compete in the stadium, they all run, but only one receives the prize? Run like that—to win, or run in this world in order to obtain the next.
We began running this race the moment the Lord brought us to faith—for most of us, it was in the waters of holy baptism. Dear Christian, we have been given great gifts—faith, the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sin, eternal life—but just because we have entered the race, does not mean that we have won the race. And that’s the point that St. Paul is making. Do you not know that when runners compete in the stadium, they all run, but only one receives the prize? Run like that—to win. St. Paul is not saying that just one person will win the race, that there will be just one person in heaven. Instead, he is saying Run like that—to win, that is, strive with all your might to make sure that you finish the race, finish your life here on earth in the holy Christian faith. The point of comparison is on the striving, the exertion and the self-discipline.
The apostle continues: Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable victor’s wreath, but we do it for an imperishable one. That is why there is nothing aimless about the way I run. There is no pummeling of the air in the way I box. St. Paul mentions the perishable victor’s wreath. Today we think of gold, silver or bronze medals or a Super Bowl ring. But in St. Paul’s day, the winner received a wreath made of olive or laurel leaves. Just think of all the training and striving that the athletes went through to receive a wreath made out of leaves that soon dried up and was good for nothing. But what is it that we are striving for? An imperishable one, one that will never rot or decay; in fact, what we are striving for is not just a wreath but a crown. Jesus tells us elsewhere [Rev. 2.10]: Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. How much more should our striving be? And this striving in the race, racing toward heaven, to receive that an imperishable crown, that crown of life—that gives form, direction and focus to our lives. What do we do and why we do it? —That should all be determined by how that affects our eternal future—does it help us toward our heavenly goal or hinder it? What an amazing perspective that puts everything into! It sheds light onto what is really important and gives our lives focus. We don’t run the race called the Christian life aimlessly but toward a goal—the goal, the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, as St. Paul calls it elsewhere [Ph. 3.14]. Here he says: That is why there is nothing aimless about the way I run. There is no pummeling of the air in the way I box. The point is this—an athlete will say that if they don’t train with a purpose, that training will not produce a desired result. That’s why St. Paul describes his life as nothing aimless about the way I run and no pummeling of the air in the way I box.
So what is it that the Christian strives for? What gives purpose of our training—and really our whole lives? The strive for perfection/ sinlessness—not that we will ever achieve it in this life because we are all and will remain frail sinful people; we will still sin until our dying breath—but that is our constant goal as we press on toward heaven and the crown of life. Jesus tells us [Lk. 11.28]: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. We, dear Christian, hear the word of God. We hear His glorious good news to us of the forgiveness of our sin; we hear His love and mercy toward us; and in faith we keep it/guard it/ hold on to it/ treasure it. We also hear His holy word of Law, what His holy will is for us as He tells us in the holy Ten Commandments—and because we love Him and want to do His will/ want to please the One who loved us and saved us, we strive to keep/ do His holy word of Law. In other words our faith shows itself in our works. It is this striving, out of faith in and love of the Lord, for perfection when we really become aware of our sins and how much we really do sin. If we don’t care whether we sin or if we have the cavalier attitude that “God will forgive that one too” and so continue on in our sin, if we do not strive to serve God alone, then we are very close to losing our salvation because what sort of faith is it that just doesn’t care about the Lord’s will and word, that abuses/ takes for granted/ as no great thing God’s grace? –That’s really despising it!
What a blessing that Lent stands before us in a few weeks. Today we are assured of God’s grace. And now assured of God’s grace, and with His grace and Spirit, we strive to recognize our sin and drive it out from our hearts. That really is the form and focus of the Christian life—receiving by faith and rejoicing in God’s grace to us in Jesus and then training ourselves in spiritual discipline to fight against sin and all that we see in us that is contrary to God and His will and way. As a Christian who loves the Lord, we then hate any and all sin in us. St. Paul describes his and our struggle against sin this way: That is why there is nothing aimless about the way I run. There is no pummeling of the air in the way I box. Instead I hit my body hard and make it my slave so that, after preaching to others, I myself will not be rejected. Our struggle is not aimed at improving our old sinful nature and reforming it; instead our goal is to crucify it and put it to death. Our goal/ focus/ purpose in life is holiness and putting to death/ crucifying our sin—never to indulge it and see just how much sin we can get away with and still make it to heaven. If that’s our attitude, then we despise God’s grace and must question our salvation.
We run in this world to obtain the next with purpose and discipline, but also with God’s mercy and strength. The wonderful thing is that God wants us to run and win the race. That’s why He has given us His Holy Spirit; that’s why He has given us His holy word and sacrament. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them—and that rock was Christ! St. Paul refers back to the time when God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land after 40 years of desert wandering. His merciful presence was with them every step of the way. In the same way, we, dear Christian, in our baptism passed through the sea. We were cleansed by the Lord and separated out of the unbelieving world and brought into the safety of the Church. Just as the Israelites were rescued from Pharaoh’s tyranny and led to freedom, so too did the Lord rescue us from the devil’s tyranny of sin, death and hell and bring us to freedom—forgiveness of sin and life. Were those 40 years of desert wandering easy for the Israelites? Hardly! They faced physical and spiritual hardships. Are our lives easy as we go toward our heavenly Promised Land? As we run the race? Hardly! But what? The Lord is with us in His Church here on earth as He was with the Israelites. He gives us His Holy Spirit who helps us along the way so we do not stumble and go astray. We need the Lord’s grace every step of the way—and He is there! Just as He made the Israelites then aware of His physical presence, so too He is with us physically in the Blessed Sacrament with His body and blood. They all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them—and that rock was Christ. They had the manna from heaven to preserve them—we have the true Bread from heaven—Jesus Himself coming to us uniting with us, giving us eternal life; they had the spiritual drink—we have Jesus’ blood cleansing us from sin and giving us true sustenance to our soul. Let us run the race in this world that we may obtain the next—heaven. Let us run it with purpose and discipline fighting sin and assured at all times of His mercy and strength. INJ Amen