The Only Mediator

The Only Mediator

All Readings T Easter 6

INI

Last week, we learned how the Holy Spirit is our advocate – not simply flattering us in our sins, but convicting us of them, so that He might point us to Jesus Christ and His holy precious blood, by which He cleanses us from sin.

         This week, Jesus teaches us about Himself – who He is, and what He’s doing on behalf of the baptized right now. He is a mediator between God and men. He’s the only one. No one else has ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. There’s no one else who prays constantly for you – not Mohammed, not Jospeh Smith, not Buddha. Jesus is alive, He’s risen, and He CONTINUES His life of service by praying for you to the Father.

         In the Old Testament reading, we see a glimpse of what Jesus is able to accomplish in the heavenly places as a mediator. We see Moses foreshadowing Jesus in the role of mediator between God and man. As the Israelites were going around the land of Edom in their wilderness journey, they became impatient. They complained. They asked – “Why have you brought us out of Egypt, taken us away from our comforts and pleasures where we were at least able to sit by the meat pots and have access to reliable sources of water – why would you take us away from that just so that we would die out here in the wilderness?” It’s easy to judge them, but I’m sure many of us have thought the same. The wilderness was uncomfortable for them – even if it was holy. Egypt was at least predictable.

The Christian life can be the same way – it can be uncomfortable, as God seeks to change us. And a life of sin can be filled with pleasure, predictability, and familiarity – even if it should kill us eternally.

         However, their impatience made God impatient. And rightly so! Look at it from God’s perspective: He just freed them from the land of Egypt – where false worship was happening, where they were treated as chattel to accomplish Pharoah’s pet projects. They even forced the Israelites to commit infanticide, throwing all their newborns into the Nile river. Why? Because they had babies at a higher rate than the Egyptians, and they were afraid they’d be taken over. In summary, God’s people were oppressed not only physically, but they were oppressed spiritually by a sick, evil, twisted Pharaoh. If they wanted to thrive according to God’s good created order, they needed to be free!

         Yet, when they were freed, they did more complaining than praising. Their wilderness ventures served as a sort of purifying fire for them – a necessary process to purge them of their lingering attachment to Egypt. Egypt provided some level of comfort to them – but their desire to return to those comforts, even at the cost of returning to evil, had to be rooted out. In that way, they’re the same as us. Our sinful desires often offer quick gratification and comfort as we fill our base needs. But those desires never actually promote human flourishing – only eventual suffering. Like the Israelites, we need to turn away from the desire for evil, and trust the good and faithful provisions of God.

         So, that’s why the Lord sent the fiery serpents to them. He was disciplining and chastening them, as the Lord promises in the book of Hebrews, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives (Hebrews 12:4).” The Israelites feared God. They felt as if they weren’t worthy to approach God in His anger and ask for His mercy and deliverance from the fiery serpents. So, they asked Moses to pray to God on their behalf, that they might be taken away. Thus, Moses became a mediator between God and man.

         On multiple occasions, Moses became a mediator between God and Israel. The most powerful example came when Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai. And the Israelites were sitting at the bottom of the mountain, erecting a golden calf to worship! Of course, this angered the Lord greatly. He even said to Moses – “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you (Exodus 32:10).” God wanted to eradicate the nation of Israel, and instead, start over with Moses, that he and His lineage might be the faithful remnant to the world. Yet, Moses interceded on the Israelites behalf and mediated between God and the people, pleading for mercy and restraining the full force of God’s righteous anger.

         Jesus mediates between you and God in the same way. Our Epistle lesson states it most clearly: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5–6). Through His mediation, He stood in the place of sinners to absorb God’s wrath into Himself.

But His work as mediator didn’t end at the cross or the empty tomb. Having risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, He now lives to intercede for you—standing before the Father as your advocate, pleading not your merit, but giving His own blood as a payment for your sins.

As St. Paul writes in Romans: “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).

And again, the author to the Hebrews tells us: “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

This is part of His ongoing service to you. He didn’t simply forgive you once and then move on—He continues to pray for you, moment by moment, that the wrath of God would remain satisfied by His blood, and that His grace would continually be delivered to you in the gifts of the church, namely, in Holy Absolution and in the Holy Eucharist.

When your prayers fail, your Mediator’s do not. When your words falter, His are perfect. And when your heart condemns you, Jesus intercedes—“Father, forgive them. Lead them back to faith in me. For I have paid for this one.”

And since Jesus mediates on your behalf, He also grants you full access to the Father. The curtain has been lifted. The veil has been torn. The dividing wall of sin that once stood between you and the Father has been lifted by the blood of Christ. Only through Jesus can you have peace with the Father and be welcomed into His presence.

That’s His promise in the Gospel lesson: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it you … Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full.”

Because of Christ’s mediating work on your behalf, including His death, resurrection, and ascension – you aren’t left in your sins, separated from the Father. You aren’t forgotten and left to yourself. Your heavenly Father is with you and works to guard you, protect you, and provide for all your bodily needs. You’re even invited to speak to Him, as Christ taught you to pray “Our Father”. Not ‘His Father’ – but He’s your Father too. The Father of all creation hears your voice, your prayer to Him! All because He first heard the voice of His Son pleading for your mercy.

Since you have been joined with Christ through Holy Baptism, His righteousness covers you, His name is placed upon you, and His access to the Father becomes your access. As Christ said later in the Gospel lesson, “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

Because you are in Christ, the Father’s only-begotten Son, the Father also loves you. Not distantly or reluctantly. But He opens His arms to hear your confession, just as the Father did for the prodigal son. He sacrificed His own son just to have you. He hears your needs and provides for them as He sees best. He even sends His Son and the Holy Spirit to be near you now that one day, through their work and mediation, you may be brought before Him in heaven.

So come and receive the Father’s mercy on you, and receive the Son’s mediation for you. Come to the altar – for the one who prays for you meets you in this meal to give you divine peace.

INI