26 February 2020 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Ash Wednesday
Vienna, VA
“Fix Your Eyes on Jesus”
Text:
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21; Joel 2:12-19
In
the Name of Jesus. Amen.
From Transfiguration
white to Ash Wednesday black.
From Lord, it is good
to be here to Lord, have mercy.
From Glory to God in
the highest to Dust you are and to dust you will return.
No more glorias, no more alleluias.
Not for a while. Not until we shout them out again
when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.
But now it is not the
triumph of the resurrection that is our focus, although we always have that in
mind, for without the resurrection, no Christian Church, no Christian faith, no Christ, no Christians, no forgiveness, no life, no
Supper, no hope. So we always have the resurrection in sight.
But this season we focus
not so much on the triumph of the resurrection but on the triumph of the
cross. The triumph that looked like anything but triumph.
That looked like defeat. But was, in fact, the triumph of God’s Word and
promises fulfilled. All that we need, Jesus did. As we heard, He became
sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. His
life given that you might live.
Satan, of course, doesn’t
want you to see that, or know that, or worst of all, believe that. Look
anywhere but there. So sometimes he’ll fill your eyes with a million
distractions. All kinds of things in your life to take your mind and eyes and
hearts off of Christ crucified for you. And especially these days, it seems, he
is particularly good at doing just that.
But there’s one thing in
particular he wants you to look at. One thing in particular to focus on, and
that honestly, we like to focus on. We really like it. ME. Make yourself
the center and measure of all things. Of all that you do.
Look out for number 1.
We just sang: All
mankind fell in Adam’s fall; One common sins infects
us all (LSB #562). And that common sin is
this: that I am at the center. curvatus
in se, is how the theologians put it. Satan has curved us in on
ourselves.
But since this Lenten
season we are considering vision problem that we have - spiritual vision
problems - we could perhaps call this astygmatism. Spiritual astygmatism. For astygmatism is when the curvature of your eye isn’t right,
and so you don’t see as you should. Everything is blurry. Being curvatus in se - curved in on ourselves - has
done that to us. Our curvature is wrong. Instead of looking out we’re
looking in and so everything is blurry. Unsure and
uncertain.
God’s love for me is
blurry. Does He really love me?
My sin is blurry. Is what
I’m doing really sinful? It feels right to me. It seems right to me.
God Word becomes blurry.
It can’t mean that. That’s not what people today think. Our world is different
now.
The future becomes
blurry. Will I be saved? How can I know?
And curvatus
in se, we begin to answer those questions, that blurryness,
by looking to ourselves for the answers; what seems right to me. By what I
think, what I like, what I get out of it, by my
rights. Right and wrong, good and bad, true and false is what I
think it is. Everything is subjective, curvatus
in se. Even prayer and fasting and giving, as Jesus talked about, become
about ME. That I may be praised by others as good, holy, dedicated, righteous. And if praised by others, then
praised by God, too. Loved by Him, approved by Him, saved by Him,
because of what I am doing. curvatus
in se.
So this Lenten season,
the call goes out to fix your eyes on Jesus. We just sang that in the
Gradual earlier. Stop looking at yourself. Stop curvatus
in se. Fix your eyes where they belong. On Jesus. Or as the prophet Joel put it: Return to the
Lord your God. curvatus
in se is to make yourself god. Return to the Lord your God. Repent.
Fix your eyes on Him.
And as you do, things
will not be so blurry anymore. There will always be some blurryness as long as we live in this sinful world and in
our sinful flesh. But the Spirit enables us to focus again. To
see things more clearly again. With eyes on Jesus.
With eyes on Christ crucified.
For
there is God’s love for you. Does He really love me?
Look at how much He loves you! Each drop of blood, each agonizing breath, with
each mocking taunt hurled into His ears, with each nail, each lash, each thorn
piercing His head proclaiming to you, shouting to you, His love for you. For this is all for you. Does God love you? Fix
your eyes on Jesus. Clearly, that much.
And
what about your sin? There’s your sin [on the cross]. It’s
not blurry at all. And it isn’t little and it isn’t harmless. There are no “victimless
sins” when every sin is on Christ on the cross. What feels right to you feels
like that to Him. What about your sin? Fix your eyes on Jesus and
see your sin and its consequences clearly.
And what about God’s Word
- is God’s Word blurry? Fix your eyes on Jesus. The wages of sin is
death. He dies to pay your wages. And He dies because He promised He would.
Every Word He speaks - whether we like them or not - is true and fulfilled in
Him. Especially these words He spoke from the cross: Father, forgive them.
Fix your eyes on Jesus and hear Him. Clearly.
And
the future? Fix your eyes on Jesus there, too. Today,
you will be with me in Paradise He says. Clear words to
that thief, of hope and a future. And that thief departed in peace. And
so can you.
That’s why satan doesn’t want you to look
there, to the cross - to see that, know that, and worst of all believe that. So
look here! Look there! See that shiny thing! Look at that success! Look at that
awful person you can’t possibly forgive! Look at that injustice, look at that
unfairness. You deserve better! You deserve a better god!
No. Today fix your
eyes on Jesus. No more curvatus in se.
No more spiritual astygmatism. No more blurryness. No more uncertainty.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
Christ crucified. For you.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
Your sins are forgiven. Every. Single. One.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
His Body and Blood given for you.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
And see clearly again.
See clearly when Ash
Wednesday black becomes Easter white.
When Lord, have mercy
becomes Peace be with you.
And when Dust you are and to dust you will return becomes He
is risen indeed!
That’s your now and your
future.
When
your eyes are fixed on Jesus.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.