Judica - First Sunday of the Passion – the Fifth Sunday in Lent
Hymns: 40, 390, 307, 391
Genesis 12:1-3
— “And Have Been Blessed in You All the Families of the Ground”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The appointed reading of the Old Testament for this Sunday of Judica is Genesis 12:1-3:
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Introduction
Judica! Judge me O God! These are the opening words of the introit for this First Sunday of the Passion of our Lord Jesus. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, when we follow our Lord Jesus to Jerusalem where He enters as the King who gives Himself to the ultimate suffering on our behalf and then brings to fulfillment the ministry of the cross. This journey began in the Garden of Eden with the promise of the Seed of the Woman. In today’s text we hear this promise renewed with the call to Abram to follow the Lord to the land of the Promised Seed, the land which the Lord promised to cause Abram to see. To this land of the Promised Seed the Lord called Abram to follow Him. This is the land of blessing, the land to which the Lord attached the blessing by which all the families of the ground have been blessed in Abram.
I. Come from the Land of You to the Land Which I Will Cause You to See
Now the Lord had said to Abram, “Come, come out from your land and from your kindred and from your father’s house, to the land which I will cause you to see.”
Every time that I study this text I am amazed to discover how much more there is to see than what I have seen before. This is actually the point of this text, that we hear that the Lord is the one who causes us to see or perceive what He provides.
The very last portion of this opening portion of our text uses a form of the word ra’ah, which means to see or to perceive. But this seeing includes much more than we ordinarily associate with seeing. This same word is used in Genesis 22 in the account of the test of Abraham’s faith through which the Lord taught Abraham just how powerful this faith is that the Lord gives to those who hear His calling to follow Him.
On the way up mount Moriah, a conversation took place between Isaac and Abraham.
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:7-8)
The word that Abraham uses for provide is ra’ah. This same word is used again at the end of this accounting.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. (Genesis 22:13-14)
“It shall be seen” or “It shall be provided” is the meaning. Ra’ah is the word that is sometimes translated both as to see and as to provide, even in the same context. And this is indeed the intended meaning, for what the Lord has already decreed and provided from eternity, He causes us to see in our time.
Thus Moses records in today’s text that the Lord had said to Abram, “Come, come out from your land and from your kindred and from your father’s house, to the land which I will cause you to see.” The Lord had said this previously to Abram’s father, Terah. Terah brought Abram and Lot with him as far as the city of Haran, the city of Terah’s deceased son, where Terah turned from following the Word of the Lord, and moved no farther. Eventually it became clear to Abram that his father was no longer walking with the Lord and that if he and his descendants would receive God’s promises, that they would have to go on without Terah. Terah had preached to his son Abram and thus the Lord had spoken through Terah’s preaching to Abram. While Moses was not moved by the Spirit to record any of the conversations that surely must have occurred between Abram and his father, we can imagine how painful they must have been, especially for Abram, who had heard the Gospel from his father and watched as his beloved father both in the flesh and in the faith slowly turned to the ways of the world.
And so, at the age of seventy, Abram heard again the calling of the Lord, “Come, come out from your land and from your kindred and from your father’s house, to the land which I will cause you to see.” Now Abram and those with him would be journeying alone, without the leadership of Terah. Terah had stopped leading, because he had stopped seeing or perceiving. Now the calling and promise that began with Terah was placed solely upon Abram.
It truly is a great and wonderful calling and promise and blessing. Though it meant looking away from his own land and away from his kindred and away even from his father’s house, it was the call to see what the Lord had already provided. It was the call to continue onward in the Lord and in the faith that the Lord gives. And Abram did see as day by day he continued in accord with the Word of the Lord and everything that the Lord had promised was revealed little by little.
II. To the Land Which I Will Cause You to See
“To the land which I will cause you to see” is what the Lord had said to Abram. What was Abram’s part in this?
If we see what Abram was caused to see, is it not wonderful beyond anything else in the world? How did Abram get as far as Haran? Was it not that he was brought along as part of his father’s house? While his father continued in the true faith, was not Abram brought along as part of the household of faith?
We often focus on the obedience of faith as though this were an obedience that we choose for ourselves. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The obedience of faith is something that God causes to be born in us, something that the Lord causes us to have so as to see. It is as the author to the Hebrews writes, saying: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.” (Hebrews 11:1-2)
If we truly see or perceive what has been recorded for us, is it not truly wonderful? A bit later in Hebrews it says:
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)
This faith is not named as Abraham’s faith. It is the Lord’s faith. It is the same faith that the Lord had given to Terah, by which the Lord brought Terah and his household out of Ur in the land of the Chaldees to Haran. This faith, even though Abram’s father turned aside, continued to be effective in Abram so that this faith kept Abram looking to see what the Lord would cause Him to see, even as the Lord had promised.
Thus we also are caused to see. We see that this seeing is the natural way for those in whom the Lord has caused faith to be born. This faith is God’s work. It does the work of believing in us. We believe because God has caused us to be born from above to be the children of faith. This is not hard. It is simply being whom we have been born to be.
Because of this faith that the Lord provides He says:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. . .
Notice again who is making all of this happen. This is the Lord’s doing! Is it not strange that we often turn this inside out and change it from what the Lord does to what we imagine that we must do?
If someone gives us a wonderful gift or does something that greatly benefits us, do we not count this as a blessing? If a doctor performs a very complicated surgery to remove a tumor from a person’s brain so that the person is restored to health, do we not count this as a blessing? So why is it that when the Lord says of us Christians, us children of Abraham, that He shall make of us a great nation and make our name great and cause us to be a blessing, that we begin to seek for ways to make this happen? Why do we imagine that we are to go out to the world and make a great name for ourselves? Why do we imagine that we are to go out and to change the world through our efforts? Why do we imagine that we are to make ourselves to be a blessing? This is the Lord’s doing, not ours. If we truly have the faith that the Lord gives, if we truly do abide in His promise to cause us to see, then we hear this as very, very good news.
III. And Have Been Blessed in You All the Families of the Ground
The final portion of our text may be the most amazing of all. It is much richer than our translations generally show us. For what the Lord actually says is far bigger than we can hear or perceive apart from His causing us to see.
Our translations usually say: “and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
But what the Lord actually says is: “And have been blessed in you all the families of the ground.”
Do you hear the difference? Our translations almost always follow the false presuppositions of the legalism that is part of our fleshly nature. We always gravitate toward the notion that this somehow depends upon us and what we choose to believe and to do. We tend continually to resist the preaching of God’s grace through means, means that He alone provides and makes to be efficacious.
Notice first of all that this is not future in tense. The Lord declares that all the families of the ground HAVE BEEN blessed. It is an accomplished fact. The blessing has already been provided. The blessing is already given, even from the very foundation of the world.
Why this is so is declared next. “And have been blessed in you. . .” In you is pointing to the promised Seed, Jesus, the Christ. The Seed was already present when this promise was made concerning the Woman versus the head of the serpent. It is repeated again to Abram. Later it is repeated to Isaac, to Jacob, to David. It is repeated to every generation, looking forward to what the Lord would cause to be seen in Christ, but was already done in Abram. This promise continues to us today as we are directed to look back to what Christ has fulfilled with His life, ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. But it also calls us to believe what the Lord will finally cause us and all the world to see at the Last Day.
Thirdly, we should notice the scope of this blessing that the Lord declares has already been enacted. It includes all the families of the ground. This is a far more grand blessing than we are inclined to realize. First is the promise that this blessing has been worked for every family. Not even one family has been excluded. The Lord says: “And have been blessed in you all the families of the ground.” All the families have been blessed in Abram!
Now, secondly, we need to notice what the Lord declares as the reason for this assurance.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:17-20)
For Adam’s sake, and ours, the ground from which we have been taken and to which we shall return has been cursed by the Lord. The Lord cursed the ground for our sake. This is the ground from which every family exists. Thus, the Lord cursed the ground for the sake of every family. Adam’s response to all that the Lord declared, first regarding the promise of the Seed of the woman, who would defeat Satan and restore life, then also the promise to the woman that the Lord would cause her to desire her husband and submit to him so that the Gospel would be preached and that the Seed would be brought forth in a future generation, and finally regarding this promise that the ground is not the source of life but the woman’s Seed is Life, in response to all of this Adam turned to his wife and gave her the name of Eve, which means Life.
Through this all of the families of the ground, all who are born as descendants of Adam, have been blessed in Abram. For in Abram the Seed of the woman was preserved so that in due time Jesus was born of the virgin to take the sin of the world to save the world. This has been accomplished in full. All the families of the ground have been blessed in Abram. The Seed of Abram is the blessing that counters the curse that has been placed upon the ground for our sake. Because Jesus was tortured and crucified, dead and buried, the curse of sin was forevermore buried in the ground. Thus the curse upon the ground for our sake has been carried to completion. Now the grave is powerless, for the power of sin has been defeated, and Christ rose from the dead. Every family of the ground has been blessed in Abram.
However, not everyone will acknowledge and receive the blessing that God has declared and provided. The declaration of righteousness in Christ has been declared for every family of the ground, even centuries before Christ was born of Mary. The declaration has been made for all. Yet not everyone will receive the righteousness that is declared to belong to us all in Christ.
Why not? Well, in order to receive what has been declared to be ours in Christ, one needs to be incorporated into Christ. One cannot receive apart from the means of blessing. The declaration by which the blessing has been given to all is in Abram, which is, in Christ. This is what the Lord means when He says that those who curse or discount Abram the Lord will curse. The Lord uses two different words in this sentence, which our translations tend to translate as equivalent terms. They are not equivalent. The Lord says that He will curse those who count Abram as little. In other words, the Lord says that those who seek a way of salvation other than through the means that He has provided will not receive the blessing that is in Abram. And what blessing was in Abram? Abram had living in him the twofold blessing of the faith that God gives and the Seed who would crush the head of the serpent. This is indeed a singular blessing because the faith that God gives is the means through which Christ is given to us and we are incorporated into Him.
Conclusion
Having heard the exposition of this marvelous text, is it clear why we began the service calling upon God to judge us? We are responding according to the way of Faith generated in us by the Gospel. The Lord tells us that He has already judged us all in Christ. The ground has been cursed for our sake. The Lord Jesus was made to be the curse as He suffered and died in our place. His body was beaten and ripped to pieces and nailed to the tree. The means that the devil used to deceive man has become the means by which the devil was stomped under the heal of the woman’s Seed. The curse that came on account of listening to the devil has been born by the Word of God so that hearing Him, we are set free from the curse. This has been declared to belong to every family of the ground. In order that this Gospel may be preached to every family so that they may receive that which the Lord has declared to be theirs, Christ instituted the Church of the New Testament in His blood. Through the means of the water and the Spirit, every family is able to enter the kingdom of God. Through the bread and the wine, the everlasting blessing of God’s Communion is restored. So then, the Lord calls us to gather into His name again and to partake of His blessing yet again. Like Abram we are caused to see what the Lord has provided. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus forever. Amen.
Judica - First Sunday of the Passion – the Fifth Sunday in Lent
Hymns: 40, 390, 307, 391
( omit Gloria, responses before & after the Gospel reading, and other ascriptions of praise during Lent. )
The Introit (Ps. 43:1-3)
P: Judge me, O GodC: and plead my cause against an ungodly nation.
P: Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man
C: for Thou art the God of my strength.
P: Oh, send out Thy light and Thy truth;
C: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill.
(The “Gloria in Excelsis” is omitted during the Penitential Season of Lent)
The Collect
We beseech Thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon Thy people, that by Thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
The First Lesson Genesis 12:1-3
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
The Gradual (Ps.143:9,10; 18:48; 129:1-2)
P: Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies; teach me to do Thy will.C: He delivereth me from mine enemies; yea, Thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me; Thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
P: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth.
C: May Israel now say; many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. Yet they have not prevailed against me.
The Epistle Hebrews 9:11-15
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
The SENTENCE for the Season (Philippians 2:8)
P: Christ has humbled himself, and become obedient unto death:C: even the death of the cross.
The Holy Gospel St. John 8:46-59
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?
Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Genesis 12:1-3
— “And Have Been Blessed in You All the Families of the Ground”
Introduction
I. Come from the Land of You to the Land Which I Will Cause You to See
II. To the Land Which I Will Cause You to See
III. And Have Been Blessed in You All the Families of the Ground
Conclusion
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