“THE GLORY OF SALVATION”
Saint Matthew 24. 15-28
Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity: 9 November Anno Domini 2008
Fr Watson SSP
When the Lord quotes the Prophet Daniel He is not engaging in fanciful malarkey like most tele-evangelists do when hawking their heretical books. Jesus created Saint Daniel, saved him in the Lion's Den, and ensured by the Holy Ghost that Daniel would write what the Savior wanted written. "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountain…"
These words are not about Iran or Syria or Vladimir Putin. This seemingly cryptic passage is not about the millennial fantasies of "left-behind" or Armageddon. The Savior is talking about His Saving activity and of the resultant consequence to the City that turns its back on the Free Gift of the Son of Man. The Christ is saying when you see the former Holy Place, the Temple, in the former City of the Lord, Jerusalem, besieged by Rome (Rome representing the desolation of unbelief, just like the abomination of the Jews in rejecting their Messiah), flee to the new mountain, Mount Calvary, the Crucifix of the true Rock of Ages, and to the new City of My Body and Blood.
The Jews at the time of Jesus, that is, the Jews who no longer looked for the Messiah to be a deliverer from sin and God's wrath against disobedience but who rather sought a political leader to free them from Roman occupation and Gentile corruption, these Jews, were sacrificing in the Temple and committing an abomination to God. The Pharisees and Sadducees thought that the blood sacrifices were their own good works of diligence, loyalty and obedience. In many ways when the Priests offered up the blood they were foreshadowing the later sins of the so-called "Sacrifice of the Mass" that the Church of Trent would dogmatize.
It is always a sin to think that you, that is that man, is giving something to God that God needs, or that, is helpful in some way in convincing God that you are deserving of some reward. Works righteousness, whether practiced by the Sanhedrin or the College of Cardinals is a sin. Hypocrisy whether indulged in by the Scribes or by so-called "confessional Lutherans" is a sin-an abomination.
Yes, every one of you could be convicted this very morning by an Angelic Tribunal conducted objectively and fairly before the Host of Sabaoth. You all by your hidden thoughts, your spoken views, and your actual activities are guilty of violating every one of the Decalogue's prohibitions. Don't think that just because you know more about the Symbols in the Book of Concord then the "liberal" or the protestant that that will save you. Don't think that any of your ethical, political, familial, or national good deeds and beliefs will save you. Only the Blood of the Pascal Lamb delivers from death and abomination-not your blood, not your sacrifice.
The blood of the animals shed in the Temple was to point to the Blood of God the Messiah shed on the Tree. That's how serious sin is, that it requires the payment of nothing less than God's own Body-the perfect Second Adam keeping all the Commands and then purging all of the world's trespasses.
And now, it's been done; it's finished. Jesus did and kept everything perfect and without sin. The 10 Commandments have been kept: ledger closed. Believe on Him and it is so for you. Jesus was the last Animal (the immaculate, blemish-free Lamb) to be slaughtered. The sacrifices are over dear children. Believe that He redeemed you and it is so.
Yes your sins are abominable but Jesus is wonderful. Yes your sins are dark and deadly but He is Light of Light and the Life Eternal. The only abomination that leads to desolation is to reject Grace and to sin against the Spirit by denying Jesus and His Father. The Jews in Jerusalem, the vast majority, remained obdurate and stiff-necked. The Jewish nation, save for those whom the Holy Spirit converted via Paul and the other Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors, and fellow Saints, the non-believing Jewish nation came to an end in the year 70 A.D. when the armies of Rome destroyed the Temple and the City of David.
The Lord spoke the words of today's text in front of Saint Matthew so that he and the other Disciples would know what was coming and to be ready-they and the fellow lambs that they shared the Lord's words with-both in their preaching and teaching; and also you (21st century lambs) who can read and hear preached to you the very same Jesus.
No matter how horrible things got in their home town, their beloved Jerusalem, the Saints of Christ were always safe in Him, and in their new and lasting home, the New Jerusalem which comes from His spear-shredded side: The Holy Catholic Church. No matter how terrible things get for you: in your own personal lives; your jobs; your marriages; your towns and country-you the Saints of Christ are safe in Him. His Words give you life now and forever. His Spirit's clarion call gathers you as Eagles on the breath of that same Holy Ghost, to "congregate" now at His table and eat not His carcass, but His Glorified Body and His Eternal Blood. Believe He died for your sins and rose for you, and it is so.
Not in the dessert, not in the inner room, but here, here, here, for you.
In the Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost