MIDWEEK LENTEN SERVICE - EYES ON JESUS

O come, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

OPENING VERSES                                                                                                                                                                           O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised.

COLLECT                                                                                                                                                                                       Lord Jesus, during this season of Lent we focus our eyes on the cross, for there we see our salvation. As You are the founder and protector of our faith, so keep us steadfast and true, that we may always walk and abide with You; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

VERSE                                                                                                                                                                                         Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth.

SCRIPTURE READING Matthew 5:43-48                                                                                                                                       43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. This is the Word of the Lord. Lord, have mercy.

SERMON HYMN “My Song Is Love Unknown”                                                                                                                                    When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died,                                                                                             My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ, my God;                                                                                         All the vain things that charm me most; I sacrifice them to His blood.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down;                                                                                 Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were an off’ring far too small:                                                                                     Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.

SERMON “Hateful Eyes – Love-filled Eyes”                                                                                                                                       Grace mercy, and peace be with you, from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our midweek sermon series has been “Eyes on Jesus.”. Today we’re going to talk about the hate-filled eyes of Jesus’s enemies, and the loved filled eyes of Jesus. And we’re going to see how Jesus changes our eyes to see God and others, even our enemies, with love instead of hate. 

“If looks could kill.” Have you ever heard that expression? Or have you ever been looked at that way, or looked at another person that way?

Can you picture the eyes of Jesus’ enemies filled with jealousy and rage as they looked at Him, as they tried so many times in vain to trap him in His words, so that He would say sometimes they could take to Pilate to have him tired and crucified.

They were filled with hatred and murder as they gazed upon Jesus being greeted with praise in Jerusalem during Holy Week, and before that, when face-to-face with Jesus, they heard Him speak words that laid bare their hypocrisy and lies, words that exposed their evil intentions. 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Jesus said in Matthew 23:29. This rhetoric wouldn’t fit in with Dale Carnegie’s advice, How to Win Friends and Influence People. But it was what they needed to hear; those words were spoken in love, not hate.

Although Jesus’ rightly judged them for their sin, greed and hypocrisy, He did so in truth and love. Just as a loving parent will confront his of her child, not because of hate, but because of love, speaking words that need to be said, and enacting discipline from a child can learn from his or her mistakes.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” said Jesus. “For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers” (Matthew 23:29–32).

Jesus wanted them to recognize their blatant hypocrisy and repent of it, for their own sake, and for the sake of the people they led and influenced. So He confronted them, “Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers” to bring them face-to-face with the murderous intentions that lay in their hearts, covered with pious pretenses of honoring the martyred prophets of old.” 

“We wouldn’t have done what our fathers did in persecuting the prophets”, they insincerely said or implied, but they were guilty of hating the Messiah Whom God had given them, and they were plotting to have His reputation destroyed, His memory forgotten, and His life taken.

“There’s nothing new under the sun,” said the Preacher in Ecclesiastes. Hateful, even murderous thoughts and looks are as old as the fall into sin. Cain’s downcast eyes became murderous toward his brother. The cause of murder is always the will of man, but the original source is the devil, who, Jesus says, was a liar and murderer from the beginning. 

John says that the murderer Cain “was of the evil one” (1 John 3:12). In addressing the Jews who wanted to kill Him, Jesus identifies Satan as the father of all who hate God’s Son.

In stark contrast are the intentions of Jesus. He came wanting to love and embrace all. The week of His passion, His suffering and death, Jesus looked down on Jerusalem and wept. He said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)   

Had they repented and had a change of heart, Jesus would have embraced each and every one of them, forgiven them for their hateful eyes and murderous thoughts toward Him, and welcomed them as dear brothers and friends in the kingdom of God.

But they would have none of it. Like the Pharaoh in Exodus, their hearts had hardened, and nothing would convince them to receive God’s grace and be restored to love and serve Him.

But how does this pertain to us? When have we ever conspired to kill our neighbor or to end a person’s life?

Though we may not have done so with our hands and schemes, we’ve done so in our hearts and minds.

In His sermon of the mount Jesus teaches us that hatred in the heart toward another is still breaking the fifth commandment, “You shall not kill.”. He said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” 

Jesus teaches us that hatred can run very deep in the human heart and soul. God doesn’t want us to hate and hurt others with our deeds; He also doesn’t want us to hate others with our thoughts and feelings. 

Even though we may think evil thoughts only hurt us, they do impact how we relate to others, and keep us from loving others more deeply, even those we’re not even angry with. And evil thoughts and feelings hurt us. Since our lives are not our own (we belong to God who created and redeemed us) so when we hurt or spiritually harm ourselves, we’re sinning against our Creator, and going against our Redeemer. God doesn’t want you to hurt your neighbor, and He doesn’t want you to hurt yourself.

The answer is to repent and receive the grace of God in Christ, the mercy that fully forgives us. His grace helps to lessen the evil feelings and intentions in our hearts and minds, and increases the loving thoughts and benevolent intentions within us, which in turn, enables us to treat others with loving words and deeds.

In His sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”.

The love of Christ in our hearts, changes our hearts to love even our enemies, even those we so badly want to hate, those who have hurt us so deeply. Something in us may want to see evil or harm fall upon them, or at least, not want anything good to happen to them. But God would lessen that part of us, and increase the part of us that loves even our enemies. 

One of the amazing things about the Gospel is that it gives us the power to love those we never thought we could, those we’d so rather hate instead. The Gospel has turned our hearts away from hatred toward and enmity with God, to love toward and friendship with God. This love God has given us in the Gospel, isn’t just the power to love Him, but to love others as well, even those who are hard for us to love. 

Although the sin within would always try to get us to live in fellowship with the fallen world, and in animosity or indifference toward God, (and even indifference is a lack of love and therefore a form of hatred) the Holy Spirit, by the power of God’s Word and Sacraments, helps us to know who our Friend really is, and to live in greater love and harmony with Him.

On the cross, as Jesus looked down on those who were crucifying Him, He saw them with eyes of love and compassion, and He prayed, “Father, forgive them.”.

Jesus has eyes of love and compassion for the whole world, and so he died for all. Jesus had compassion for you, even when you were His enemy in your sinful nature. As Romans 5:8 says, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Even when our unbaptized hearts were controlled by hatred toward God, Jesus’ heart was filled with love toward us. 

Jesus looks on us with eyes of love so that we might see him and our neighbor with love-filled eyes.

May His love always control your heart, for a heart controlled by the Holy Spirit is a heart of joy and peace. On the other hand, a heart controlled by sin and self, is a heart that’s vulnerable to the devil’s deceit, and unprotected from sin’s power to cause your heart to hate and neglect God and your neighbor.

Jesus sees you with love-filled eyes. May you see Him and others in that same way. 

And as you see the world with eyes of godly love and compassion, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard your heart and mind from sin and hate, in Christ Jesus, our loving Lord and Savior. Amen.

PRAYERS                                                                                                                                                                                 Heavenly Father, we ask that Your loving kindness and mercy would be with us. Send Your holy angel to guard and keep us from all harm and evil. We pray for healing for all who have contracted the corona virus. We thank you for all who have recovered. We ask you to protect all who have not contracted the virus. Give us good sense that we would all be careful and responsible. Keep us safe and calm. Bless all health care workers. Keep them safe and well. Give them strength, wisdom, and endurance. We pray that they are provided with all the medical facilities, equipment and medication that’s needed. Give wisdom to those who search for treatments and a vaccine. May the eyes of all look to You in trust, with repentance and faith, for You love all, and sent Your only Son to die and rise that all may believe in Him and live eternally. In His name we pray. Amen.  

Lord, remember us in Your kingdom, and teach us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping, that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.

BENEDICTION                                                                                                                                                                               The Lord bless us, defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen 

CLOSING HYMN “Abide with Me” 

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.                                                                       When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help to the helpless, oh, abide with me.

I need your presence every passing hour; What but Your grace can foil the tempter’s power?                                                           Who else but You my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me.

I fear no foe with You at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.                                                                         Where is death’s sting?  Where, grave, Your victory? I triumph still if You abide with me!

Hold now Your cross before my closing eyes, Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;                                           Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

God be with you and watch over you. Be well, be safe, and God bless.