1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word for this 5th Sunday after Pentecost is taken from Romans 7:14-25 and is entitled, “Christ, Our Deliverer,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Sometimes the smallest thing can tell a greater story. Your great grandmother’s hope chest. Stone markers telling of Civil War battles. The smallest things can tell much greater stories, extending over time, involving many people. Consider a well-used silver cup, about the size of a chalice. It was buried in the homestead of a once prosperous Roman family. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it was valuable enough to be buried in a wine cellar but not valuable enough to be taken along as the family fled for safety. This one small cup belonging to one family told of a much larger story. The story of Rome and what it was like to live under the rule of Caesar Augustus.
3. On one side of the cup is the image of Caesar Augustus, surrounded by the mythological Roman gods. He is seated and being handed the world by Venus and winged Victory, while Mars, the god of war, brings before him many conquered nations. On the other side of the cup is the image of Augustus, ruling over people. Here, the image is one of mercy and not of war. Augustus is seated, people are coming before him, and he extends one hand out to the people while in the other hand he holds a spear.
4. This image of the emperor was common throughout Rome at the time when the Apostle Paul wrote his letter. It was carved into marble friezes, printed on coins, and molded into cups. It helped people understand what it meant to be a faithful Roman citizen. Faithfulness was the word used to describe the relationship between the conqueror and the conquered. The Roman Emperor held both power and mercy. In power, he would protect his people – so you see him with a spear in his hand – in mercy, he would rule his people – and so you see him reaching out with an open hand. Power and mercy in this one figure, ruling over people.
5. When the Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Church at Rome, he offered another story of another conqueror who ruled over people in power and mercy. This God and man was Jesus Christ. The small portion of the letter that we have before us today is well-known among Lutherans here in Romans chapter 7. It names the struggle between sinner and saint. Martin Luther said that we are simul iustus et peccator, simultaneously sinners and saints. This struggle is real and hidden in the heart of every person. Some people confess this struggle openly, asking others to help them in relationships of accountability; other people hide this struggle, putting on the best face they can. But, all people, suffer this struggle and it’s not something, like that Roman cup, that can be left behind. Until the day when our conqueror, Jesus Christ, returns, we will be involved in this struggle of being sinner and a saint.
6. Paul’s description is personal here in Romans 7. It tells the story of one man and one struggle that never seems to end. Paul knows the good that God desires and Paul agrees with this desire. He acknowledges that what God wants is good. But Paul also discovers that he’s “sold under sin” (7:14). Paul uses the language of slavery and of captivity. His members “wage war” and he is “captive” to the law of sin (7:23). Paul knows the good that he wants to do, but he’s unable to do it. Instead, he finds that what he doesn’t want to do, that he does. A slave to sin, a captive to his flesh, Paul cries out for deliverance.
7. But, Paul’s story, isn’t the story of only one man. This is the story that touches all people. Paul’s cry is that of Cain from the Old Testament, knowing the good that God wants him to do and yet also knowing the evil that’s close at hand in desiring to kill his brother Abel. Joseph’s brothers in the Old Testament, knowing the good care and concern they should show their brother and yet also knowing the evil judgment and sale of Joseph into slavery that eventually overtakes them. King David, knowing the good rule of his kingdom and protection of his people that God desired and yet also knowing the evil pleasures of adultery and the murder that he could use to cover it up. From individuals to families to nations, this captivity continues through the ministry of Jesus. (The Apostle Peter, knowing the good that he wanted to do in following Jesus to death and yet knowing the evil that he does in denying his Lord in the courtyard) to our own lives today.
8. Paul’s one small story, his one small revelation of this personal private experience, is the larger story and experience that we all know so well. But, this isn’t the only story that Paul wants to tell. In fact, there’s a much greater story, the story of God that Paul wants to highlight for all people. This story of God is a story of faithfulness. Not our faithfulness to God but God’s faithfulness to his promises to his people through His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
9. As early as man’s fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, God had begun telling this story of his love. As Adam and Eve stood there, naked before God, ashamed of themselves, and yet unable to hide, God began to speak of his love. They overheard it, in a conversation he had with that snake, the Devil. God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). Here, was the first glimpse of God’s promise. The greater story of God. He would send one, an offspring of a woman, who would bruise the head of Satan and conquer in the fight. Adam and Eve lived in hope. The individuals, the families, the nations that followed them lived in hope of this story of God coming true. And the apostle Paul writes this letter to proclaim that it did come true, in Jesus Christ our Savior. “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Paul cries out. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” In this section of the letter, Paul lets his one small story become part of a much larger story. The story of Jesus Christ, our Lord. He’s the one who came as our deliverer. We delivered him up to death as Satan worked through us to bruise his heel and yet he delivered us from death and from the kingdom of the Devil as he revealed his power in his resurrection and called us into the kingdom of God. This Jesus loves us, dies for us, and rises from the dead through His resurrection to give us new life.
10. “Jesus Christ is Lord” Paul proclaims and, with those words, he invites everyone into God’s greater story. Jesus Christ is the one who rules, the one who is greater than Caesar and Caesar’s gods. He himself is God, he has come as our deliverer, and he is at the heart of God’s greater story of the rescue of his people from our slavery to sin and the redemption of all people in the world. An artist once captured this rule of Jesus in a painting. The painting is called, “Christ and the Four Evangelists” and it depicts Jesus as Salvator Mundi, the Savior of the World. In 1516, Fra Bartolommeo was asked to paint this piece for a chapel. In it, Jesus isn’t depicted engraved on either side of a cup, with one side telling the story of the gods and one side telling the story of humans. Instead Jesus stands on top of the cup, both God and man, ruling over the world. His one arm holds a scepter with the globe at the top. Jesus truly holds all power and rules over all creation. But, Jesus’ other hand, is raised in blessing. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has accomplished salvation for all people and now rules over all things in love and offers his blessing to the world.
11. For some, this image has lost the intimacy of the silver cup of Caesar Augustus. There Augustus was seated among the people, extending his hand in mercy to them. Here, Christ is above the people, even the evangelists appear small when compared with his higher and larger figure, and his hand is raised in blessing not extended to one individual person in mercy.
12. But, if you look closely at the image, you can see how Christ has chosen to rule through his people. The men who surround him are the evangelists who have written his message that’s now still being read to the world. They each hold their books, their gospels. The men in the back are looking at Jesus, while the ones in the front are engaging with the world. Matthew looks up at Jesus and Mark points his finger toward Jesus while conversing with John. Luke stares out over the people who are gathered and John points his finger downward. There we see two angels holding a disk. In that disk is just one place in the much larger world.
13. When this picture was placed in the altar of a chapel, an amazing thing would happen The Pastor, facing the altar, would lead the worshipping community in communion. At this celebration of the Lord’s Supper, then the Pastor consecrated the bread, he would raise the body of Christ above his head and there it would appear in that one small window on the world upheld by angels. That body of Christ is the place where God’s people meet Jesus. Yes, he has ascended into heaven. His left hand holds his scepter. He has all power and he rules over the world. His right hand is raised in blessing over all. But this same Jesus is found among his people today. Jesus is present with us, close and near, as He comes in His body and His blood in the Lord’s Supper, the chalice and the host, to be your deliverer from sin, your Savior. Today.
14. The evangelists proclaim this message. They want us to hear it and to have eyes to see this much larger story. Listen today to the words of Matthew. Here, in our gospel reading, Jesus invites you to see and to come to him. “At that time, Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:25-28).
15. Here, in a very personal way, Jesus brings you once again to the heart of this greater story of God. As we gather for the Lord’s Supper, we’re connected to the much larger story of God’s loving rule over his world. This is the story of Jesus, our Deliverer, now come among us. The one who rules the world has lifted his hand in eternal blessing and we now come and receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Yes, we come with our smaller private stories, the moments when the good that we wanted to do, we did not do and the evil that we didn’t want to do we did. That struggle is there and it is real and we come today confessing our sin. But we also come trusting in our deliverance. Jesus is faithful. He remains faithful to his promises. “Take eat. Take drink. This is my body. This is my blood. Given for you. For the forgiveness of sin.”
16. Our Lord rules. Jesus is our Deliverer. In his hand is power and blessing and here, this day, we find mercy in his body and blood given and shed for you. At the Lord’s Supper we are joined to this much larger story. The story of God saving the world in Jesus. As we lift the cup of salvation to the Lord, his power, his blessing, his mercy extend to us and he continues to rule until the end of the world. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
