Those who approach DeForest from the south and are driving north on Main Street are treated to, what I think, is the best view of this building. On the south-facing exterior wall of this building is a huge cross. It is especially beautiful at night when the cross is back-lit. I wonder how many people since this building was built in 2000 have seen that cross! It has to be hundreds of thousands. Maybe over a million?
The Roman soldiers had a job to do. They had been given the job of torturing and finally executing Jesus of Nazareth. They tended to be very good at their job. They had the right tools to do their job. They had that tool called the scourge. It was a handle with strips of leather attached. Attached to the leather were jagged pieces of bone or metal. The scourge was used like a whip. The victim was stretched out, back exposed. The scourging began. Those jagged pieces of bone would rip and gouge flesh. It was a horrible tool! But it did the job!
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. May the name of the LORD be praised. (v. 21) Those are the words Job speaks at the end of our text. Have you ever paused to consider how utterly absurd these words seem? Also consider, they are prefaced with these words, He fell to the ground and worshiped. (v. 20) Job is worshiping! He is praising his God! Some would say, “He can’t sing that hymn now!” I mean, how could he? Just look at his day!
For our mid-week Lent service, Pastor Scott Schwertfeger from Zion Lutheran, Leeds and Lodi preached on our Lenten theme Baptized into His Death.
I’ve got some great news this morning! I pulled a few strings, and I have been able to arrange a little football game. Lord of Love will put together a team and we will play against…are you ready? The world-champion Kansas City Chiefs! Who wants in?
In order to understand and apply our text, we need to understand an ancient custom. Long ago, a person might show deep sorrow or anger by grabbing hold of their robe, or whatever garment they were wearing, and tearing it. We have many examples of this in the Bible. We mention only a couple. When Joseph’s brothers presented Joseph’s blood-stained coat of many colors to their father and told him the lie that Joseph must have been killed by a wild animal, Jacob grabbed his robe and tore it. He was devastated!
Most of you are likely familiar with this picture. This is a rather famous painting of Jesus. It was painted in 1940 by an American artist named Warner Sallman. For many Christians, if you told them to picture Jesus in their minds, they would immediately think of this painting. The truth of the matter is, we don’t know at all what Jesus looked like. The Bible contains no physical description of Jesus. He may not look anything like this painting!
What were Adam and Eve’s physical capabilities before the Fall into sin? It’s an intriguing question. What was the human body capable of before sin? Theories abound. There is one theory that holds that before the Fall into sin our world had a hyperbaric atmosphere. That means the air pressure would have been higher. This would mean that Adam would have had super-oxygenated blood. One result of this would be that Adam could have run great distances without getting tired. That is only speculation! But it is fun to think about. Wouldn’t it be fun to run and run and run and never get winded?
Have you ever left church stunned and amazed? Once when I was a kid a man had a massive heart attack right during the service. I left church sort of stunned and dazed that day. I suppose there are some here who might remember being in church when a beloved pastor announced that he was accepting a Call to serve another congregation, or that he is retiring. That can be sort of stunning. But have you ever left church stunned and amazed by Jesus?
Paul was nuts! That’s what some people thought. The miles he traveled around the northern Mediterranean countries, the zeal, the focus, the determination with which he proclaimed the kingdom of God, the sufferings he endured. Who does that? “He’s not right!” That was the conclusion of some. Paul addresses this in the verse before our text. He wrote, If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God. (2 Corinthians 5:13)
