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BULLETIN

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Lent 5 2026
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
March 22, 2026
Ezekiel 37:1-14, Romans 8:1-11, John 11:1-45

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Text:                           pastorjud.org   
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                         bit.ly/pastorjud
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            Survivor is an interesting show.  People voluntarily endure miserable conditions, lack of sleep, severe lack of food and primitive hygiene.  Why do they do it?  In hopes of a $1 million prize.  It is said that everyone has their price.  Normally you would not do something, but for enough money you would. 

            What would it take for you to give up eternal life with Jesus?  How much would be enough?  After Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, the chief priests and the Pharisees are faced with this dilemma.  John 11:47–48 (ESV) 47 …“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him…”  

            A little earlier, in Jerusalem, Jesus restored sight to a man born blind, but there was some confusion as to what took place, Jesus made mud with saliva and anointed a man’s eyes, and that man went off to wash and someone came back who could see, but did it really happen?  The religious leaders sowed confusion and doubt.  But now Jesus has raised a man from the dead who has been dead for four days.  And this was not done quietly, there was a crowd of people standing outside the tomb when Jesus had the stone rolled back and He shouted at a dead man, “Lazarus, come out!”  And Lazarus came out.  Jesus has authority over blindness, and also over death.

            What Jesus has done will cause many to believe in Him and Jesus has taught repeatedly that whoever believes in Him has eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:36 (ESV) 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…  John 6:40 (ESV) 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  Just before raising her brother Lazarus, Jesus told Martha, John 11:25–26 (ESV) 25 … “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die…” 

            Word of Jesus’ promise of eternal life to all who believe in Him has certainly made it to the Jewish leaders.  That with the fact that Jesus just healed a blind man and raised a man from the dead is causing great anxiety.  While they do not want to accept it, the Jewish leaders know that Jesus has the power of God.  What would be so valuable to them that they would choose it over Jesus and the promise of eternal life?

            John 11:47–48 (ESV) 47 …“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”  Caiaphas and the others are afraid that if more people believe in Jesus it could cause trouble and the Romans will replace the Jewish leaders with others friendlier to the Romans.  They are worried they could lose their jobs.  Their jobs…or eternal life?  They are likely not thinking about it in quite that way, but that is what is at stake.

            Jesus has been warning the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders to repent and follow Him.  When the Pharisees come to Galilee to question Jesus and His disciples about breaking their handwashing rules Jesus rebukes them.  Matthew 15:7–9 (ESV) 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”  Now, Jesus has come to Jerusalem and He is causing no end of trouble and everything seems to spinning out of control.  Wiser heads need to prevail.  Someone needs to restore calm.  Caiaphas declares to the Jewish leaders… John 11:49–50 (ESV) 49 …“You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”  Caiaphas thinks he is going to kill Jesus in order to save his own position, but what Caiaphas is doing as High Priest is selecting the final sacrificial Lamb to die for the sins of all people.  Caiaphas’ words as High Priest are in line with the will of God.  Indeed, it is better that one man should die for the people rather than all the people perish. Caiaphas declares this not just as a leader, but as God’s High Priest.  Now, Caiaphas rejects the Messiah, he has forgotten God’s mercy, he teaches that salvation is through following hundreds of rules, but he still holds the office of High Priest.  As High Priest Caiaphas prophesies John 11:51–52 (ESV) 51 …that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”  Caiaphas may also be prophesying God’s truth when he announces to the Jewish leaders who reject Jesus, “You know nothing at all.”

            The Jewish leaders reject eternal life in order to try to save their positions.  They are willing to kill the one who makes the blind see and raises the dead.  Still today, there is a great temptation to reject eternal life in order to protect something else.  What would be more important than eternal life with Jesus? Some reject eternal life in order to be friends with the world.  People reject the true Jesus and make up their own Jesus in order to fully embrace whatever new perversion comes along that twists God’s good gifts.  People make up a Jesus who celebrates sexual immorality and the sacrifice of unborn children on the altar of sexual freedom.  They make up a Jesus who continually evolves to keep promoting ever-changing immorality.

            People give up eternal life with Jesus in order to pursue, financial success, or athletic success or academic success.  They reject the true Jesus who died for their sins in exchange for a “life-coach Jesus” who helps them build their self-esteem and achieve their goals.  I fear many people have given up eternal life with Jesus because they want to have a lazy Sunday morning.   

            In our easily offended society, there is a temptation to reject belief in the true Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life, and the only way to the Father, in exchange for a Jesus who is at peace with false teachers and false religions.  Their new Jesus is not the way; he is just a way.  People give up eternal life in order to not offend anyone. 

            Folks give up the true Jesus who pays the price for natural born sinners who cannot save themselves, in exchange for a Jesus that has you earn salvation so you can find dignity in your works. 

            There is great temptation to give up belief in Jesus so you can indulge your pride, your lust, your greed, your anger, your right to get even. There is a powerful desire in each of us to mold a new Jesus in our image instead of being conformed to the Word of God.

What would it take for you to give up eternal life with Jesus?         Jesus gives the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe in Him through the Holy Spirit.  You have the real Jesus.  Rejoice in the real Jesus who restored sight to the blind and raised the dead and who delivers to you forgiveness, life and salvation in the waters of Holy Baptism, in the Word of God, in Jesus’ words of absolution, and in the Body and Blood of your Savior in Holy Communion. 

            The world looks at Jesus’ means of delivering grace and scoffs at the humble simplicity of water, words, bread and wine.  You rejoice.  You know that Jesus is the one who died for the people and rose from the dead to conquer sin and death and give you eternal life.

            Caiaphas and the Jewish leaders know nothing at all. You have eternal life in Jesus.  There is nothing… not even life itself, more valuable than that.  What would it take for you to give up eternal life with Jesus?  Nothing. You have the greatest gift ever given. You live the humble life of a repentant sinner who knows you cannot save yourself, and who knows that you have been saved by the love of God through the blood of Jesus. 

            At confirmation I ask the question, “Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?  The confirmands answer, “I do, by the grace of God.”  In the face of the tremendous temptation to give up on Jesus for something else, I ask you, “Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?”  If so, answer, “I do, by the grace of God.”

            You have the greatest treasure possible.  You have faith in Jesus given you by the Holy Spirit. You believe in Jesus.  You have eternal life.  Amen.