{"id":10591,"date":"2025-03-03T16:11:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T23:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10591"},"modified":"2025-03-03T16:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T23:13:11","slug":"on-my-heart-imprint-your-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10591","title":{"rendered":"On my heart imprint your image"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hebrews 1:3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Lent we are using a different hymn each week as the focus for what we are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We begin this series with the hymn, \u201cOn my heart imprint your image\u201d (to the tune, Freu dich sehr, Bach). It\u2019s only one verse long. It presents that striking image: Imprint your image on my heart. What is that about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens with baby animals help us here. When ducklings hatch, they imprint on their parents and follow them everywhere. The core purpose of imprinting is survival, which makes sense since young animals are dependent on their parents for food and protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biologists today are bringing endangered whooping cranes back from the brink of extinction by wearing whooping crane costumes while caring for young chicks. The costumes prevent the young ones from imprinting on humans. Once they are old enough, the cranes are released into the wild where they join established flocks of whooping cranes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this hymn, \u201cOn my heart imprint your image,\u201d something else is at stake. Here \u201cimprint\u201d has to do with making coins. \u201cImprint\u201d refers to Hebrews 1:3, where it says of Jesus: \u201cHe reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature,\u201d meaning when you make a coin, you have a blank, and you have that which you use to stamp it. In the old days it was done one by one with a hammer to make that image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Greek the word is \u03c7\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2 from which we get the word character. We don\u2019t mean \u201ccharacter\u201d in terms of somebody sort of odd, but the original meaning is somebody who stands for something. There\u2019s an image there. We say somebody has character, meaning we know what they\u2019re about, and they stand for something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s that way about Jesus Christ. He is somebody who is truly God. He is true God. Keep in mind that this text is from several hundred years before the Nicene Creed was written. You recall it says: \u201cGod from God, light from light, true God from true God.\u201d Jesus is the very image. This is the thing we ask, that his image be stamped on our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of us may have used wax stamps or seals on letters to add a personal touch. You soften a piece of wax and then use a brass stamp to imprint an image in the wax. It doesn\u2019t happen much anymore because a wax stamp increases the cost of the postage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another kind of imprinting is branding, as in branding cattle or horses. Ephesians 1:13 uses this image of branding or sealing, where it says: [You] were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.\u201d We are branded the way slaves were branded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with this image of imprinting, branding, and sealing, is the image of the potter, very frequently used in both the Old and New Testaments. The clay which is made into a pot, like the one who is branded, has nothing to say about it. It\u2019s all up to the potter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul uses this image in Romans 9:20: \u201cWho are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to the moulder, \u2018Why have you made me thus?\u2019 Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use?\u201d God does what he does. That\u2019s the way it is. The potter does what he wants with the clay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is then at the beginning of the three-chapter section (Romans 9-11). Paul sets the stage for what he has to say at the end of the section in chapter 11, when in 11:32 it says: \u201cFor God has consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy upon all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How in the world can this be? God works this way and then we are then like coins that are stamped, animals that are branded, clay that is molded. God does whatever he wants. How does it work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can refer to Luther here because he often has a colorful way of saying things. In the Smalcald Articles, which he wrote, but was too sick to sign, he writes: \u201cWe must hold firmly to the conviction that God gives no one his Spirit or grace except through or with the external Word which comes before\u201d (Smalcald 3\/8\/3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the page, in the same section it says: \u201cAccordingly, we should and must constantly maintain that God will not deal with us except through his external Word and sacrament. Whatever is attributed to the Spirit apart from such Word and sacrament is of the devil\u201d (Smalcald 3\/8\/10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luther has a way of saying things that makes it clear. God doesn\u2019t come in dreams and visions, in holy smoke and hairshirts, in labyrinths and pilgrimages. He comes in his Word and sacrament here in church. Precisely the same thing is said in the 5th<\/sup> article of the Augsburg Confession. That\u2019s how God works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are caught by the idea that there has to be something that we do with this. It\u2019s useful to look at a couple of places in the Bible that show how there an original text that has been mistranslated. You are familiar with Gal 2:20: \u201cI have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God.\u201d The problem comes in the translation of the last phrase: \u201cby faith in the Son of God.\u201d It should read: \u201cby the faith of the Son of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true in going back four verses to Galatians 2:16, where it says: \u201cA man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Christ.\u201d  It should read \u201cfaith of Christ Jesus.\u201d  We are justified by the faith of Christ Jesus not in Christ Jesus. It\u2019s awkward to our ears, but you can see the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the ways we can help ourselves is that when Paul writes \u201cfaith\u201d we can put in the word \u201cChrist,\u201d and that often makes clear what it is really about, that it is what Christ is doing and it isn\u2019t what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, living in this modern world, in our modern mindset, are caught up in psychologizing what it\u2019s all about. We say to ourselves: It has to be that which I can make sense of, which comforts me, what I feel. But it\u2019s not that at all. It\u2019s what God does through Jesus Christ, through his Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, to help us further, we come back to infant Baptism. Here again is Luther writing about this. He says: \u201cWe are not primarily concerned whether the baptized person believes or not, for in the latter case Baptism does not become invalid. Everything comes back to the Word and commandment of God. . . . Baptism is valid even though faith be lacking. . . . Baptism does not become invalid even if it is wrongly received or used, for it is bound not to our faith but to the Word\u201d (Large Catechism, Part 4\/52-53).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he goes on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI myself, and all who are baptized, must say before God: \u2018I come here in my faith, and I the faith of others, nevertheless I cannot build on the fact that I believe and many people are praying for me. On this I build, that it is thy Word and command.\u2019 Just so, I go to communion not on the strength of my own faith, but on the strength of Christ\u2019s Word. I may be strong or weak; I leave that in God\u2019s hands. This I know, however, that he has commanded me to go, eat, and drink, etc. and that he gives me his body and blood; he will not lie or deceive me\u201d (LC Part 4\/56).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How in the world can it be this way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We come back to the potter. Isaiah and Jeremiah talk about the potter and the clay. Here then in Isaiah 45:9 (paraphrase) it says: \u201cWoe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it, \u2018Your work has no handles.\u2019 God, you\u2019re not doing it right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the sin of presumption. Presumption comes in two forms. First, this where we presume to tell the Lord what to do. \u201cLord, you\u2019re just not running the world right.\u201d \u201cGod you forgot to put the handles on the pot!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then in the second place, there is the presumption which says: \u201cOh well, if this is the way it is, then I\u2019m going to use it to my advantage. I know how to play a game with God. If everything is done for me, then I can presume upon it. I can play games with God and do whatever I want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this is so ridiculous because we do not see that the Lord is the one who does it, which brings us back then to this hymn, \u201cOn my heart imprint your image.\u201d The hymn says we thank the Lord because he has imprinted his image on our hearts. It\u2019s not that we, by saying this, make it happen. Obviously, the Lord does it without us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in the third line of this one verse hymn it says: \u201cLet the clear inscription be: Jesus crucified for me.\u201d When we baptize someone, as an additional way of pointing out what it\u2019s about, we make the sign of the cross over the child. Jesus crucified for me. This is the imprint, the sign of the cross, because he has done it. Thank God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hebrews 1:3<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent<\/p>\n

This Lent we are using a different hymn each week as the focus for what we are doing.
\nWe begin this series with the hymn, \u201cOn my heart imprint your image\u201d (to the tune, Freu dich sehr, Bach). It\u2019s only one verse long. It presents that striking image: Imprint your image on my heart. What is that about? <\/p>\n

What happens with baby animals help us here. When ducklings hatch, they imprint on their parents and follow them everywhere. The core purpose of imprinting is survival, which makes sense since young animals are dependent on their parents for food and protection. <\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10591"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10597,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10591\/revisions\/10597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}