“One Last Thing…”

On the Last Sunday of the church year, we are used to hearing Jesus’ discourse on the end of the world—the wars, persecutions, the upheavals, the signs in the sun, moon, stars that the Son of Man is coming, the chaos of the last days. But with a new hymnal as we’ve had in our pews for a few months now, comes a new lectionary and a different Gospel reading for this, the Last Sunday of the Church Year.

It continually surprises me that people scrutinize the tiniest details of a new hymnal—the harmonies, the wording of their favorites hymns, the color of the cover, but consistently overlook one of the most important parts of a Lutheran hymnal—the lectionary. Having used 4 different hymnals as a pastor, and having gone through many debates about changing hymnals, I can tell you that not one time has even one single person ever asked me about the lectionary in a hymnal! I’ve been grilled on “Thees” and “Thous”, “Amazing Grace”, the prayers in the order of Baptism, the form of absolution from pg. 5, and the font size, among many other details, but no one has ever asked me a single question about whether a new hymnal has changed the lectionary.

Maybe that’s not so surprising to you. Maybe you don’t care much about the lectionary either. But I’d like to change your mind on that. The lectionary is the appointed set of readings for each Sunday of the Church Year. It determines what portions of Scripture, what Gospel we hear each Sunday. (It’s literally the first thing in our hymnal!). And since Jesus told His friend Mary once that there is really only one thing needful in life—to sit at His feet and hear His Word, well it surprises me that the Word of Christ appointed for our hearing is not our first concern.

Maybe it’s because it’s my job to deal with the lectionary every week, but it’s a big deal to me! While all Scripture is God’s Word, it’s amazing what you can do with a clever edit. The readings you select for a Sunday can determine whether you really hear the Gospel proclaimed or just get hammered with law and moralism. Snipping a verse here or there can totally change the tone of a reading. And make no mistake—clever people put together our modern lectionaries, and they all have an agenda. The question is whether the agenda is to proclaim Christ and Him Crucified or something else…

In the case of Lutheran Service Book I’m very happy to be able to say their agenda is clearly proclaiming Christ and Him Crucified. They took well established lectionaries of the church and carefully reviewed them—saving what was good and tweaking here and there readings that could be more Christ-centered, more truly evangelical. I don’t know who all worked on the LSB lectionary, but I can see from the finished product they must be solid theologians of Christ’s cross, because it’s an excellent lectionary.

Their choice for the reading for this, the Last Sunday of the Church Year is a fairly new one. The old one year lectionary in use since pre-Reformation times, would usually go with the signs of the end from Matthew, as Jesus sat with the disciples admiring the temple grounds. The Vatican II lectionaries from the 1960’s (the modern 3 year lectionaries) went with “Christ the King Sunday” and chose the traditional Palm Sunday Gospel—Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (partly because they broomed Palm Sunday from Lent and needed a place for it somewhere).

But the LSB crew takes the road less traveled. They give us neither the destruction of Jerusalem nor Palm Sunday, but something different—Jesus on the cross. And this, I think is a profound bit of theology and dead on the money. By choosing this reading over the others they are saying something: that Jesus dying on the cross is the real end of the world—the one, last thing. And with the thief on the cross and his final plea, they remind us that the real last day is the day of our death. And how shall we meet that day? What will be our last words? What should they be?

The death of Christ Jesus is the end of the world. This is most certainly true. But because to our eyes and sense of history, the world has gone on since Friday afternoon, 30 A.D. pretty much the way it went on before that, we often miss the real deal. Because armies march out, and kingdoms rise and fall, and fortunes are won and lost, and people marry and are given in marriage, because taxes are collected, and sporting events and holidays are observed with great fanfare, it seems nothing has really changed. But, if we could see things from God’s perspective, we would see that Jesus dying changed everything. It ended the old world of sin, death, and hell and brought a new creation.

Yep. The world that we know ended at 3 p.m., on a mid-April Friday in 30 A.D. (give or take a year—the calendar has glitches). When Jesus cried out at that moment: “It is finished!” He meant it. Literally the old world was finished, done, wound up at that moment. That’s why there was darkness and the veil of the temple was torn in two and the rocks split and the tombs were opened and many saints were raised to life that day. It was the end of the world as we know it—and the beginning of the unknown new.

See, before Jesus died, we were all under the curse of Adam. Sin was in our bones, in our hearts, in our minds. It dominated and killed us. It left us with a hard world, a cold world, a wrathful God. Life was hard and then you die. And that was it. But Jesus’ dying destroyed death. It ended the enmity between us and God. It brought reconciliation, recapitulation. Paradise was restored because sin was destroyed that afternoon. And when sin is destroyed, death also must yield and new life awaits us all. It’s the end of the world as we know it—and I feel fine! Because that old world was no good for me.

This new world is hidden under the cross though. X marks the spot, just as in all the treasure hunting movies. Only by the cross do we find the everlasting kingdom; only by faith do we find the cross. To those who have no share in Christ and Him Crucified, who do not live and die by faith in His cross, the new world is hidden from their eyes. The old is all they know.

But there was one that afternoon who could see. A thief, dying next to Jesus heard Him say “Forgive them; they know not what they do.” And he took that Word to heart. So as he’s dying, he turns and says to Jesus: “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” He saw a new world dawning that day, and asked for a place in it. Jesus promised: “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise”.

Which reminds us the real last day is the day you die. And your real death happened at the baptismal font when you were buried with Jesus by baptism into His death. Your real life, eternal life, began then too…

That’s the one last thing to take away from all this: the world ended the day Jesus died. Paradise began then. You can live in that new kingdom today. “Jesus, remember me…” is the magic word, the cry of faith that opens the door. Let that be the first thing, the last thing on your mind, the final word on your lips, and all will be opened to you as well, and the Peace that passes understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. First, last, always. Amen.