Bible Text: John 8:42-59 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus | Series: Lent 2022 | Disney Parks just announced that it will no longer say, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls,” to open any of its shows. And its workers will no longer say, “Hi boys,” or “Hi girls.” This is in the name of inclusion, so that people who don’t identify as either a boy or a girl won’t feel left out. You notice that in the name of inclusion words and beliefs have to be excluded. In the name of inclusion, what people have believed and thought normal for thousands of years has to be excluded, what God created in the beginning, male and female, has to be excluded. In other words, there is no such thing as “inclusion” without exclusion. Disney says, “The world is changing and we’re changing with it.” What that means is that whatever new standards the world comes up with Disney will follow. It will include people and beliefs only based on the new standards. And it will exclude those of us who insist on reality, on creation, on biology, on sanity, on the old ways.
Jesus welcomes everyone to Him. He’s not like Disney. He doesn’t hide a thing. He doesn’t say, “Everyone is included,” when He really means only some people are included. He says very clearly, “When the Son of Man is lifted up [on the cross], He will draw all peoples to himself.” He tells his church to make disciples of all nations. He includes everyone, His call goes out to all. He doesn’t care if you’re black or white; He doesn’t care if you’re male or female; He doesn’t care if you’re poor or rich; He doesn’t care what your last name is, how noble you are, how educated you are. He says to one and all, “Come.” And He applies the very same standard to all. Repent. Again, he doesn’t hide this. Repent, he says. If you’re a drunk, repent. If you’re a man who desires other men, repent. If you’re a boy who thinks he’s a girl, repent. If you’re a gossip, repent. If you’re a constant worrier, repent. If you’re arrogant and prideful, repent. If you’re greedy for more and more money, repent. If you hold constant grudges, repent. He holds everyone accountable to the same Divine Law, the standard of Good that does not change, because it is the Good that proceeds from God’s own Goodness. And to all who feel the burden, who see how terribly they have failed, who want to do better but can’t find the strength in themselves to do it, who want to be right with God, but know they can’t make it happen, to all Jesus says, Come, lay your burden on Me. This is why I am here in the flesh. Before Abraham was, I AM. And now the eternal Son wears your flesh and blood. I’m here to take it all, all your sin, all your sorrow, all your guilt and all your punishment. I love you so much. I will suffer it. I will shed my blood and face what you deserved. Come, and I will give you rest.
There is Jesus’ honest inclusion. Come all, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, all nations and tribes and peoples, come all repent and trust in the Son of God.
But Jesus is also exclusive. Because He’s honest. He doesn’t plot in closed rooms. He speaks it clearly because He has nothing to hide. He doesn’t try by a slogan to pull the wool over people’s eyes. He says it very plainly, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” There’s exclusivity. No one comes to the Father but through Jesus. You won’t ascend to Him by the ladder of your works; your emotions won’t raise you up to meet Him; your intelligence won’t give you the way to know Him. It doesn’t matter how sincerely you follow your religion, if your religion isn’t Jesus, it will get you nothing but death. Jesus says it earlier in His sermon, “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”
Jesus is not the pessimist. He tells them that they will die in their sins if they don’t believe in Him. But this is already what they’re content with. What do the Jews say when Jesus claims to give life? Our father Abraham died. The prophets died. And you say whoever believes my word will never see death? Who do you think you are? You see their philosophy of life. We die. Don’t you try to offer us life. Don’t shine on our darkness. We like it in the shadows. And this is the sad state of affairs today too. Jesus offers life. Real life. To everyone. And He’s the only One who can give it, who has the right to give it, because He is the great I AM, the eternal God, who has made us and who has redeemed us by His own blood. He alone gives life, but it is life to all. Beautifully exclusive, beautifully inclusive.
And by life Jesus doesn’t just mean eternal life, living forever. He does mean that, but He means much more. He means life with God, honest life, life that doesn’t pretend absurd things. It doesn’t pretend a baby’s not a baby. It doesn’t pretend sodomy is normal or healthy. It doesn’t pretend a girl can be a boy. It doesn’t pretend that we are all happy with the death that awaits us all, it’s just the circle of life. It doesn’t pretend that we aren’t accountable to God for all we’ve done wrong. It’s the honest life, the life of truth, that has nothing to hide.
This is what Jesus offers because Jesus offers Himself. He is the eternal Son come down from heaven. He loves us dearly. His message is a message of pure truth and optimism. Whoever follows Me will never see death. Whoever keeps my word will live forever. This is what He came to do. He calls Himself the Light of the World earlier in this sermon. The light of the world. He shines and if we stand in His light we can’t hide our sin. It’s glaringly obvious. We can’t hide our problems, our fears, our ignorance. His light forces honesty from us. Honesty that we are God’s creatures, made male and female in His image. Honesty that God’s Law is the standard by which we live, because He is the One who made us and not we ourselves. Honesty that we’ve sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and so would die in our sins. And then this brilliant and beautiful honesty, this truth, that God Himself has come to save us, every one of us, even you, a poor miserable sinner, that He loved you so much that He became your Brother and took the mocking and the insults and the unbelief and the rejection and the pain and the shame and the death.
Our hymn asked the question, “Why, what hath my Lord done, what makes this rage and spite?” Well, it’s this honesty. It’s this exclusivity. It’s that you need Jesus, every word that comes out of His mouth, and it’s this inclusivity, that this means you, all, everyone, you need Jesus, because without Him you simply don’t know reality, don’t know God, you might just slip so far that you won’t even know what a boy is or what a girl is. But Jesus will show you. He won’t just forgive you your sins and make you right with your God, He’ll give you life, real life, a life of purpose that doesn’t end in meaningless death, but goes on forever and ever.
And Jesus is insistent, you notice, and persistent. They wouldn’t have picked up stones at the end to throw at Him if He would have left well enough alone. They don’t believe, Jesus. Why not just leave and let them be? Because Jesus loves them. Even when he calls them children of the devil. Even when he tells them they’ll die in their sin. Even when they pick up stones to murder him. He loves them. And his love is not the love that covers up sin or refuses to speak the truth because it will cost him friends. It’s the honest love that speaks the truth to people who need to hear it.
This is the love the people around us need from us. People are very confused. They’re in the dark. They’re pessimistic, so pessimistic they’ve begun to believe demonstrably absurd and harmful things, to denounce reality and creation itself. Disney’s no outlier. This is basically every major corporation, every university, it’s seeping even into our LCMS universities. It’s a cancer in the Western world. So it went with Jesus. His miracles were right before the people. They saw them. Undeniable. In the end He would rise from the dead and prove beyond doubt that He is who He said He was, and so many still wouldn’t face reality. But Jesus remained the eternal optimist. Go and preach it, he said, to all, everyone, far and near. Include everyone. I love them all. I want them all to know the truth that will set them free. I made them for Myself, I’ve shed my blood now for them, I have done all so that they can know true happiness with God in Me.
So don’t be afraid to speak the truth. You have it. And people may hate you for speaking it, but speaking it is how you love them. And this starts with you. It starts with you making sure every day of your life you don’t take what you have for granted. No matter what you’re going through right now, whether happy times or challenging times or painful times, realize what you have in Jesus. You know who God is. You can name His name, the one who created all things, who created you, you know Him, you call Him by name and He listens to you. You know who your Father created you to be, your know why you’re here on this earth. You know not to look to your own feelings or to what some woke corporations say to determine right and wrong, but to look to God’s commands to see the eternal and unchangeable standard of Goodness and Love. You know that the uncrossable breach between you a sinner and God the Holy One has been crossed by God Himself, that the eternal Son now wears your human flesh, is your Brother, and really lived for you and died for you and reconciled you to God. You know He lives forever and feeds you with the body once pierced for you and the blood once poured out for you. You know that purpose and fulfillment in this life come not from getting rich or becoming famous, but in being a Christian and loving one another as Christ has loved you. You know an eternal future with Christ your Lord. Dwell on this. Think on it daily. Make it so much your life that when others ask the hope that is in you you give the defense of the truth.
And yes, some people won’t like you for it. But not all picked up stones to throw at Jesus. And even some who did, even some who mocked Him as He suffered on that cross, later tore their clothes and beat their breasts at the unrelenting preaching of Peter on Pentecost, and the insistence on the truth brought them finally to repentance and baptism and faith in Jesus, and so to unparalleled joy and peace. So we insist on the truth, on Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life, exclusively him, and welcome one and all to join us, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, excluding no one, to throw their sins on Jesus and find in Him rest for their souls. Amen.