Ash Wednesday – Pr. Anderson sermon
John 10:17-18; ELH #331 v. 1 “Willing all this I Suffer”
February 18, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Our loving Savior and Redeemer, who not only pled the cause of mankind before the tribunal of supreme Justice and were by Your Father stricken, smitten and afflicted for our sins, but also willingly gave Yourself over into the hands of wicked men, permitting them to take, bind, and abuse You, enlighten our eyes to see the wonders of Your love, patience, and meekness in Your sufferings, that we may acknowledge You the Lamb of God which has taken away our sins, accept Your merits by faith, and willingly follow You in all our trials, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever. Amen. (The Lutheran Liturgy, companion altar book for The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 109)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
Is there a sacrifice you are willing to make? If we are going to make any kind of sacrifice in life, it will always depend on the situation. Maybe it’s something that is totally minor. You only have to sacrifice eating one thing in your diet or you are sacrificing a meal for, we are in the season of lent after all. Maybe you are going to sacrifice a day out in order to help someone in need. Well, those things aren’t too bad. What if it is life and death? The sacrifice is you giving up your life for that of your child or a close family member. What kind of thoughts are running through your head? They are probably different kinds of thoughts than if you were asked to sacrifice your life for that of a complete stranger. And just to really make you think, let’s have you sacrifice your life, for the sake of someone who has, maybe committed murder. Family, easy, strangers, maybe not as easy, it could be done, but what about someone who has committed a crime? In the season of lent, we see this scenario play out. There is an exchange that takes place and all we can do is watch with complete awe that this lamb goes uncomplaining forth. He goes forth willingly to suffer for all. To sacrifice Himself for the guilty.
The sacrifice of the season is one where the innocent lays down His life for the guilty. And while this is the actual plan, which in the grand scheme of things sounds crazy, it is so crazy that many think they can talk this plan out of existence. The first one to try and stop the lamb was the devil through temptation. He thought that would be enough, because why would the lamb complain if He just had an easy opportunity to escape the hard part. On Sunday the question was raised if this lamb even had the authority to do this. This is an extension to the devil’s temptation as it is another way for the lamb to see that everything is simply going well. He isn’t really needed as the people can take care of themselves. The Pharisees, having works as their focal point, it seems like they have the people on the right track. Close can be close enough and the lamb doesn’t need to be a part of the equation. This gives us that freedom to do as we want. Lastly, there are those who are the closest to the lamb and in what they think of as great love, they think it would be better if the lamb would just stay by their side and in doing so would avoid any sort of sacrifice.
This seems logical because the Jewish nation already has many sacrifices they must do for God’s law. Why does this lamb, who is human, now need to be the One to give up His life? Diving into the Old Testament law, blood is needed to make atonement. And as the blood comes from the animals, God makes a point this will be done to look ahead to a perfect lamb. As the blood was poured on the altar, God was also searching for something else. He searches continually for the broken and contrite heart. A heart that sees with fear all that it has done, a heart that must rely on its trust in God. Through history, both faded. The blood of the animals was given as a work, not looking ahead to what was to come. Without that looking ahead, the broken and contrite hearts were no longer contrite, just broken. They were broken and had no way to mend them back together.
At times this can be hard for us to see just how broken our hearts are. The world searches for ways to cater to this brokenness, but in the end, we still see a world that is lost. And this lost condition doesn’t go away even when we do our best to stay away from the lost parts. Unlike the lamb, no one escapes the devil’s temptations. Why go through this hard part of being rejected by the world for being in this building today? Why can’t the lamb take a little bit of a passenger seat to some of the things we have going on in our lives? Then maybe I can fit in just a little bit without complete rejection. Lastly, can the lamb, this precious lamb that we do hold so close and dear, can He just reveal His love without revealing to us that wooden cross? With the love of the cross comes the contrite acknowledgement of all our sins, and maybe we’re not ready to suffer what those entail.
While there are times in our lives we search for ways to avoid suffering, A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, The guilt of all men bearing; And laden with the sins of earth, None else the burden sharing! Goes patient on, grows weak and faint, To slaughter led without complaint, That spotless life to offer; Bears shame and stripes, and wounds and death, Anguish and mockery, and saith, “Willing all this I suffer” (ELH #331 v. 1). There is the guilt, shame, mockery, done with the no complaint, and the Word we find from our Savior, “Willing all this I suffer.” A point He makes when He states, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
If these words sound familiar, it is because they follow the words we will hear Sunday’s from now on Good Shepherd Sunday. Now you might be thinking, I thought this whole time, this whole series, we are meditating on Jesus, the Lamb of God? We are, and as we do, we can’t help but find these words in our meditation bring home the willingness for our Savior to suffer these things. Jesus the Good Shepherd, who is protecting the fallen sheep, lays down His precious, perfect life for us, as us. He became one of the sheep. He became the sheep to be slaughtered for the sins of the world and He does all of this, the leading, and the laying down His life for us willingly. This great willingness was witnessed by those who were gathered at the sight of the wooden cross. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded his spirit (Matthew 27:50). This willingness to suffer can only be found in His full identity. The begotten Son of God who gives up everything for the sake of the broken lambs.
And St. Paul states this process to you when he writes that Jesus emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:7-9). He must be the lamb, He must willingly suffer, and He must be God to take all of your brokenness upon Himself to make you whole again. Jesus has willingly suffered your rejection fulling. He willingly suffered the temptation to give in, without giving in. And in your utmost need, your lamb willingly suffered the full acknowledgement of your sins on the cross. The full punishment paid with His holy and precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death. In the depths of your pain and anguish because of sin, you see on the cross the greatest love of God, with the lamb who goes uncomplaining forth, sacrificed for you.
In this penitential season and your walk with the uncomplaining lamb, it can be easier to focus only on the complaints of your brokenness. It can be easy to think, this sacrifice is too much to bear. As you wander through these forty days, you wander alongside one another. You compile your complaints, your sacrifices, and walk in love together knowing where all of those complaints and sacrifices are landing. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). The steps will be hard, but these steps don’t compare to the steps of the Lamb who said, “willing all this I suffer.” Willing all this I suffer for you. He has been given charge, He has the authority, and He comforts you, that you aren’t laying down your life for your sin. On His accord, He picks up your broken and contrite heart and He points you to His life as the lamb sacrificed on the cross for you. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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