After Pentecost
Exodus 24:1–8
1Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him." 3Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do." 4And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." 8And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." (Exo 24:1 ESV)
God signed his covenant with the people of Israel in blood. The blood of sacrificed oxen was thrown onto the people as the signature and seal of God's promise of the covenant. God gave his word and signed it in blood. That strong word of God is the only thing we can rely on. That promise, signed with blood, is our only hope.
For we are drowning at sea. Yes, our life is in great peril. Like a man drowning at sea, death is ever before us and all around us. We are at risk. By our own deserts we are going to hell. Our own merits are but "filthy rags," God says. We may even get the idea that we have not really done anything wrong, we are not gross sinners, we have kept our lives from overt evil. Then we find that the things we do not do are just as damning. The love we have withheld from others, from our spouse, our children or our parents. The mercy and compassion we have withheld from the suffering, the hungry, the poor, the homeless, is just as sinful as any overtly evil deed. The good deeds for our neighbor that we have left undone condemn us to hell just as much as murder and adultery and gossip. The book of James tells us, "If you know the right thing to do and fail to do it, it is sin." At the final judgment, Jesus will say to those on his left, "I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, therefore depart from me you cursed into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." You may have never committed a serious crime, but you have often withheld love, mercy and compassion from those who need them. We are thereby condemned.
We are sinners, not only by the bad things we do, but the good things we have not done. Even our thoughts and words condemn us.
"The Lord saw that every intention of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually," we are told in Genesis. Our thoughts, our desires are continually pulling us away from Christ. They are continually pulling us away from faith and drawing us back into sin. Our situation is desperate. We are drowning in the sea of life, in the sea of our own thoughts and desires. In the sea of temptations from the world and the people around us. It is a dark night and we are being tossed about by the waves in the middle of the sea, our arms flailing, our shouts for help unheard. Fear clutching our hearts. It is cold, it is dark, it is lonely and we are sinking ever deeper into our sea of lust, desire, gossip, selfishness and greed. We are thrashing our arms around instead of reaching them out in love to others and doing good deeds of mercy. We are being pulled away from faith every moment of the day. We are being pulled away from Christ every second that clicks on the clock. We are being pulled away from salvation every hour that we live. There is nothing solid to stand on. Nothing solid to grab hold of. We can grip no life saver, no life line is there for us to cling to. There is nothing solid, only water that we splash and churn with our flailing arms. Oh Lord, have mercy! ...
Then, "splat!" water sprays in our face. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a life saver hits the water right in front of us. A life line is attached. We grab hold. It pulls and pulls us toward a distant boat. In the dark of the night and the icy cold of the water, we cling to it,.. until our knuckles turn white and our fingers numb. A light is turned upon us. Hurray's of joy sound forth from the boat. The din of celebration echoes through the air. We are being hauled to safety. We are saved!
Just as, suddenly, God himself rent open the heavens and came down to us. He is the life saver. He dwelt among us and became one of us, taking our own flesh and blood. Absorbing our sin and wickedness into his body. And doing FOR us what we have not done. The good deeds we have not done for our neighbor he has done in our place. The love we have withheld from others he has given as our substitute. He has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and has become the shelter for the homeless. All so that our lack, our faults, and the love we have left undone will not be held against us.
He absorbed our sin into his body and on the cross sacrificed that body. He gave his strong word of promise that our sins are forgiven and that we are reconciled to God. The promise that our sins of thought, word and deed will not be held against us on the Day of Judgment. And he signed that promise and sealed the covenant with his very own blood. And that blood was sprinkled on us in Baptism. The covenant God made with his people by Moses and Aaron, he has perfected and made a new covenant. Not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with the blood of God himself poured out on a cross.
That sacrificed body and blood of the Son of God is our life line to God, our life saver, our salvation. That body and blood is the life saver that God has thrown to us. We cling to that hard wooden cross with Jesus hanging on it. For that is the only solid thing. Peter says, "All flesh is like grass it withers and it's flower falls, but the Lord remains forever. The word of the Lord remains forever." ( Peter 1:24-25). "The Son of God is the food which endures forever." John 6:27. He is the solid rock, our one sure foundation, our Mighty fortress, the corner stone, the rock of salvation. In the dark of the night, in the cold of the raging sea around us, with no sure foundation to stand on, with no solid thing to grasp on to, we cling to Jesus on the cross until our knuckles turn white. He is the only solid thing in our sea of sin and despair. He is our only hope; he is our only rescue. His promise is faithful and sure. His strong word is eternal. Jesus Christ alone is the same yesterday, today and forever. Only he can preserve our life; only he can preserve our faith; only he can preserve our salvation. Oh Lord, have mercy!...
We cling to that body on the cross by eating it in Holy Communion. We are washed by that blood, shed for the forgiveness of our sins, by drinking it in Holy Communion. The Sacrament is our life-line to God. It is the life line that pulls us out of the sea of sin and death and to the safety of the boat. It is the one solid thing in this world that we can grab hold of and cling to for our salvation. Cling to that body and blood for your life. Do not let go, for it is your lifeblood.
When you eat the body and blood that was sacrificed on the cross, that story about Jesus dying is no longer just a story about a man 2000 years ago. Now it is your story. Now it is you hanging there on that cross, now it is your sins that are put to death. In this life you are in peril and danger. There is no solid thing to grasp and hold you up apart from the cross of Jesus. In the Sacrament of the Altar you are joined to that cross, that one sure foundation that saves. Cling to the Sacrament. For life is in the blood, and the blood of life is poured into you at the altar.
As you are pulled closer to the boat of salvation, you see the light turned upon you. You hear cheering for your coming to life. You hear the roar of celebration at the wedding feast which the King is making for his Son. The celebration is for you, because you are the bride. Oh Lord, have mercy!... Amen.