A Father's Love

In Nomine Iesu
Romans 5:6-15
June 18, 2017
Pentecost 2 (Proper 6A)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus~

It just so happens that today is Fathers’ Day. Now, Fathers’ Day isn’t a church festival. But it’s one of those rare instances where the culture and the church are in basic agreement. Fathers should be honored. Christians are called by God to honor their fathers (and their mothers) every day, and not just on the third Sunday in June. And there’s never a bad time to reflect on, and give thanks for, God’s gift of fathers.

I suspect that my father was probably like a lot of other fathers of his time. My dad didn’t often verbalize his affection for me and my sisters. The words, “I love you,” didn’t pass through his lips on a daily basis. But I never had any doubt about my father’s love. Why not? Because he demonstrated his love for me every day. He showed it all the time: by going to work at a job that he didn’t always enjoy, by cheering me on at cross country meets and basketball games, by helping me buy my first car and teaching me how to change the oil, and by disciplining me when I needed it. Most importantly, he brought my family to the Divine Service every Sunday. It didn’t matter the weather, or what our weekend activities were, or whether he and my mom were out late on Saturday night, we were in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day. In these and so many other ways my father’s love was demonstrated. He showed it—and kept on showing it—by his deeds and actions.

This is also how our heavenly Father loves His dear children. He shows it! He demonstrates it! He makes it perfectly clear, not just in word, but also in deeds. That’s really the theme of today’s reading from Romans chapter 5. There it says plainly and clearly: God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Beloved in the Lord, that’s the beating heart of the good news we’ve been proclaiming here at Our Savior for the past 84 years. Christ died for us. In our place. As our substitute. Look at Jesus hanging on the cross and think of all the Biblical foreshadowing: the ram that was sacrificed instead of Isaac, the Passover Lambs that died in place of all the first born, the Scapegoat on the Day of Atonement. It all pointed ahead to Christ as the stand-in for sinners—Christ the vicarious victim.

Of course, what’s so stunning about this kind of love is that God shows it to sinners. Christ died for us . . . while we were still sinners. Jesus is godly; we are ungodly. Christ is sinless; we are sin-full. Yet, Christ died for us. Examples of love being shown in this way are really hard to come by. A parent might do it for a child. A husband might do it for his wife. It’s more common to hear about the soldier who lays down his life to save a fellow soldier. The battlefields of history are filled with those kinds of heroic accounts. And those are certainly valiant, heroic deaths. But they aren’t vicarious in the sense of Romans five. Heroic, yes, but not vicarious—not substitute sacrifices.

Christ died for the ungodly—for sinners, for His enemies. He took the place of those who hated Him—not His family and friends, but His enemies—those who wanted Him dead and gone. By the way, you and I are included in that group. Yes, you—good, decent, hard-working, church-going, you. Yet by nature, apart from Jesus, you are just another ungodly, sinful, enemy of God. But this is how our heavenly Father shows His love and demonstrates His love: while we were yet sinners—dead in our sins—Jesus Christ died for us.

It was one life in exchange for another. Jesus became the sinner in place of every sinner; and we, in Him, become the saint, holy and righteous before God. This is what Paul means we he writes that we are “justified by His blood.” The blood of Jesus shed on the cross is your righteousness before God. It covers who you are . . . with who Jesus is. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your sin any more, but He sees the blood of His Son, and the perfect life He lived as your sacred substitute. And even though your sins are many and they are great, yet His holy, precious blood is greater. By the blood He shed, you can stand before God blameless.

Do you see why this good news has to be repeatedly proclaimed, over and over again, week after week? Do you see why we can never take this for granted? The demonstration of the Father’s love by sending His Son is totally unique. This is something our reason and our senses alone cannot comprehend—that Christ should come and die for the ungodly, for sinners, for His enemies, and that in that death we are justified before God.

And do you see what this means for us in our daily living? It means the end of all attempts to bargain with God, to impress God, to bribe God, or to butter Him up with your impressive spiritual and charitable accomplishments. This is exactly where every other world religion goes off the rails. Whether Judaism or Islam or the Jehovah’s Witnesses—it makes no difference. For every other religion begins and ends with YOU demonstrating YOUR love for God—YOU showing God how much you love HIM by YOUR obedience, YOUR submission, YOUR willingness to do radical things as a demonstration of your devotion. But the faith we confess begins and ends with God—God showing and demonstrating His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were still His enemies, He loved us in His Son. He reconciled us. And He does it all without asking our permission or waiting around for us to come to our senses. He just does it. He justifies sinners—by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith.

This is the love of our heavenly Father—love that’s both spoken and demonstrated in His Son. Oh, and by the way, today’s text from Romans five literally says that God keeps on showing His love. He continually, in an ongoing way, shows His love in your life. God’s love demonstrated at the cross, is still being demonstrated today. Your baptism is an expression of that love. There at the font He adopted you to be His own dear child and washed away your sins. Today God keeps on showing His love for you by feeding you with the very body and blood of His Son. In this meal God takes the love He poured out at the cross and gives it to you personally. He forgives all the sins that would otherwise make you unlovable.

Today’s Holy Gospel reminds us of another way God keeps on showing His love for you—by sending laborers into your life—by sending pastors and preachers so that you don’t have to go through your days harassed and helpless and hopeless, like sheep without a shepherd. For 84 years your heavenly Father has been sending His called and ordained servants to this little flock. And these men, with all their faults and frailties, are a flesh-and-blood demonstration of God’s love for you—laborers sent to gather the harvest.

As we remember our fathers today and give thanks to God for them—and as we pray for fathers everywhere—remember that you are reconciled to your heavenly Father, through His Son. He is good. He is gracious. He loves you and shows you that love until He calls you to dwell with Him forever. Happy Fathers’ Day.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.