The Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 30, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline
Isaiah 42:14-21 Ephesians
5:8-14 John 9:1-41
Hymns – LSB 435, 551, 423
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Amen. Our text today is from the Epistle
lesson just read, especially these words, “Walk as children of light.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ. Within each one of us, deep in
the depths of our soul are terrible secrets.
Things we don’t want the other people in town to know about, things we
don’t want our spouses and families to know about. Sinful, dreadful things. You all have committed some sort of sin that
you don’t want to become public, that you don’t want to come to light. And due to the shame you’ve felt over that
sin, you’ve buried it deep within your hearts, to keep it hidden away from
prying, judgmental eyes.
What defines these
deep dark secret sins? Specifically? It’s different for each one of us. Perhaps it is some sort of adultery that you
have committed. Perhaps it that money
you wrongly received and stashed away.
Perhaps it’s the way you’ve treated a neighbor or family member, perhaps
its hating and despising, perhaps its even the abortion and murder you’ve
committed. Maybe you’ve been angry. Maybe you’ve been drunk, maybe even on one
more than one occasion.
In fact, these
things define who you are. You are a
sinner, dear friend. You are wrong in
God’s eyes. He despises the things that
you’ve done, the person that you are in sin.
That’s why you hide your sin away, you’re trying to hide it from
God. As if God won’t know that you are a
sinner if you hide your sin away. God
knows. He knows you walk in
darkness. He knows your faults. All of them.
He knows your shame. All of
it. He knows your sin, you cannot hide
it away in the darkness of your soul. The
light must shine upon it.
And that’s what
our Epistle lesson says today. At one
time you were in darkness, but now you are in the Light of the Lord. The light of Jesus Christ, whom the darkness
cannot overcome. He shines his light
upon you, and as the light shines, so too do all your shortcomings and failures
become visible. They are bathed and
revealed in the Light of Christ.
And yet, when
Christ shines his light upon them, they are made visible, not for shame, but
for forgiveness. When Christ shines upon
your guilt he does so with healing light, a light that shines forth from him
because of the great things He accomplished.
He went to the cross. He bled. He died, and rose again. He did this all so that he might shine out
forgiveness upon you.
And he does. Yes, all your blemishes and secrets are made
well in that death and resurrection of Christ.
We need not hide in the darkness of our sin, but instead, we are free to
bask in the light of his forgiveness and glory.
That’s what Paul says in our Epistle.
“But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for
anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’”
The light of
Christ for your forgiveness shines upon you.
Your sins are brought to light, and in his blood are made into
light. You are forgiven. Awake O sleeper, and arise from the
dead. For Christ has shined upon
you. Amen.
