The time was 8:15 a.m. and my cell screen said the call was from our granddaughters’ school. As I answered the call, the voice on the other end said, “Pastor, we just wanted to be sure that you are all right.” “Yes,” I said, “and I will be there for 9:15 chapel.” “Chapel,” they said, “is at 8:15.” That’s when it hit me – SMACK Between the Eyes – that I had placed the wrong time in my calendar, and thus let down the entire school! Ouch.
I made sure that I was a few minutes early for my 10:00 a.m. appointment where two of us would be walking through the Lutheran confessions together in preparation for a man to take a colloquy exam to become a pastor. As we met, I told the story of my earlier failure that morning. Then we proceeded to the topic of the day. And that topic (ironically?) was the hammer of the law and repentance. Once again – SMACK Between the Eyes – I was being confronted with my inadequacy … and my need for a Savior.
The Smalcald Articles (which is what we were reading) said it this way: “The New Testament retains this office of the law and teaches it, as Paul does and says, in Romans 1.18: ‘The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all’ people. Also Romans 3.19-20: ‘So that … the whole world may be held accountable to God’ and ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’; and Christ says in John 16.8: the Holy Spirit ‘will convict the world of sin.’ Now this is the thunderbolt of God, by means of which he destroys both the open sinner and the false saint and allows no one to be right but drives the whole lot of them into terror and despair. This is the hammer of which Jeremiah speaks: ‘My word is a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces’ (Jeremiah 23.29). This is not ‘active contrition,’ a contrived remorse, but ‘passive contrition’, true affliction of the heart, suffering, and the pain of death.”
Fortunately, not just the law hit me SMACK Between the Eyes, so was the Gospel. The message from the school was, “We are glad you are all right. We will cover for you. Can we put you down for a date in November?”
And the Smalcald Articles go on to say, “To this office of the law, however, the New Testament immediately adds the consoling promise of grace through the gospel. This we should believe. As Christ says in Mark 1.15: ‘Repent and believe the good news.’ This is the same as, “Become and act otherwise, and believe my promise.’ … Jesus himself says in Luke 24.47: ‘You must preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in my name to the whole world.’”
And the uplifting SMACK of the Gospel far exceeds the SMACK-down of the law.
Excuses … self-justification … blaming … denial of responsibility …all tend toward a denial of the Gospel and a lessened need for a Savior. The law will never save us, but a denial of its power is also a rejection of the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. And, though we think we are helping ourselves, the fact is that we end up denying ourselves the peace and true freedom that the Gospel alone offers. As the Smalcald Articles say, “Moreover, the gospel does not give consolation and forgiveness in only one way – but rather through the Word, sacraments, and the like (as we hear), so that with God there is truly rich redemption from the great prison of sin (as Psalm 130.7-8 says).
Thus, my friends, I encourage you to confess your sins to God, repent and believe the good news … you are forgiven through Christ Jesus our Lord.
SMACK Between the Eyes
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