Some years ago I had the frightening and sobering experience of being in an automobile accident.
While on vacation, driving in the town I grew up in, Derby, Connecticut, I was negotiating an intersection of two multilane roads.
I entered the intersection on a green light, but because of turning traffic, got caught in the middle of the intersection when the light changed.
Everyone stopped at the light saw my predicament and did not move. But there was one lane on the far end of the intersection that was open, and a fellow in a pickup truck blasted through the intersection and met me broadside. No one was hurt, thank God, though we did take an ambulance ride to the hospital to be sure.
It was at the hospital that a policeman handed me a ticket and charged me with the accident. I was stunned.
He was absolutely deaf to my argument that I was already in the intersection when the light changed. “I’m sorry sir the law is clear”.
The guy that hit me was speeding, and was pumped up on pain killers. He ran a power saw across his hand that morning and was on his way to the hospital a second time to see the doctor when he hit us. “I’m sorry sir the law is clear”.
I did not take this well. I felt a grave injustice had been done, common sense notwithstanding. And I told him I am going to challenge this. I had enough restraint not to push this further with the policeman: I therefore avoided being shot or arrested.
So I planned that I would just fly back up there and defend myself in court; the judge would see things my way. The law couldn’t be that blind.
My brother, in his infinite wisdom and his knowledge of his big brother, recommended that I see his lawyer – and I did.
So when I went to court and stood before the judge I had a mediator who knew the law and could present my case.
But the amazing thing was, when I met the lawyer at the courthouse before the hearing, he told me that the day before, he had been at that very intersection, and the exact same thing happened to him! What are the chances?
I had a mediator who knew the law, knew what was expected by the judge and communicated it to me. And he knew the facts of my case to present them to the judge, but most significantly: He knew my very experience, he went through everything I went through exactly as it happened to me. He was the perfect mediator, the perfect bridge between the judge and me, between the law and me.
In the same way, that was the great hope that occupied Israel for most of its history: to have a perfect mediator.
They hoped for the prophet, one who could perfectly bridge the gap between God and man. Someone who knew God so intimately that he could make God’s mind and heart known to his people, at the same time intimately familiar with their own circumstances and could fairly represent them before God.
That was the promise made by God through Moses to the Jewish people.
We hear it this morning in the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy: the Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst,…..and will put My words in His mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. One like Moses, who would bridge the gap – that’s what Moses did – make God’s will known to the people, and God’s power to lead, provide, and deliver at the same time he represented Israel’s needs to God. (vv15-18)
That was the hope, the promise that Israel awaited through their history, to have someone represent them to God and God to them; someone with real authority and power, like Moses.
And they waited and waited. And the reality was, as is stated in Deuteronomy 34:10, since then no prophet had risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.
Even at the time of John the Baptist’s ministry, the Jewish leaders asked John: Are you the prophet? (John 1:21) And he said no but he pointed at the one who was.
And that is what we see in the gospel lesson this morning. As Jesus taught in the synagogue his listeners were astonished because he taught the word of God as one who had authority. He taught the word of God as if he had the power to act on it. He taught it as if it was his own.
Then he plainly demonstrates that authority; taking authority he frees a man from an unclean spirit. He commands it to go and it goes. He frees a man of a powerful force that had bound him, oppressed him, and crushed him, a force no man had the authority or power to defeat. But Jesus knew his problem – he knew his need – and he did something about it.
The people are astonished. This Jesus has taught the word of God with authority and demonstrated that authority by exercising power over forces man has no ability to overcome on his own, liberating man of the things that bind and break and crush our lives and spirits.
It was this kind of evidence, a demonstrated intimate knowledge of God’s heart and mind, and God’s power mediated to man, freeing him from things he could not free himself from including death itself ultimately, that led some to recognize that the promise made by the Lord to Israel – that I would raise up a prophet like Moses (one who knew God face to face) – was finally fulfilled in Jesus.
Peter in a sermon proclaimed at the temple in Jerusalem proclaimed to the multitude there that Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. (Acts 3: 22)
St. Stephen gave his life, testifying that very same thing to the Council of Elders in Jerusalem. (Acts 7:37) Jesus is the prophet for whom we were waiting.
It is a truth the church has proclaimed ever since: Jesus is that one, the prophet who will make knows the word of God, who knows God face to face, who knows his people and brings their needs before the judge. One who has the authority to plead their case, and to win their freedom from every consequence of sin, death, guilt, even evil spirits, and powers.
Do we as Christians today, live our lives in light of that truth? Have we come to Jesus seeking to know God, know his heart and mind for our lives? Do we seek to hear him speak to us in scripture, in prayer? Do we trust that what he has said in scripture, and says to us, is true and dependable?
And do we trust in his power to enable us to live that life?
What things do we bring with us today that weigh us down, that separate us from knowing and experiencing God’s presence and joy? What doubts, guilt, accusations, un-forgiven sins, condemning thoughts, destructive behaviors, do you carry?
Jesus alone has the authority to plead your case, to represent you personally, and he alone has the power to break those powers that bind. He alone can declare you innocent and free. He alone is your mediator, your bridge between yourself and God.
As we continue our worship this morning, as we seek God’s face in word and sacrament, turn to him; give Him your case today. Trust him this day for your life that you may know his presence and peace.
Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, our Father and our judge, you govern all things in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the supplications of your people as we lift these burdens to you, and through the mediation, the power, the love, and the cross of Jesus Christ, grant us your healing, your forgiveness, your deliverance, that we might live in your peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.