Lent Midweek V
Malachi 3:1-7b
April 9, 2025
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
What better way to close out this sermon series on the Minor Prophets than with the prophet Malachi? The timing is impeccable. Every one of these prophets spoke about the coming Messiah, and this sermon leads us straight into Holy Week, where we hear about the suffering, death, and resurrection of that Messiah.
And while I know that Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and that Matthew’s Gospel follows immediately afterward in our Bibles, you need to know that there was about four hundred years of history in between Malachi and Matthew. That’s a longer period than the history of America, and many things that happened during that time directly relate to the context in which Jesus was born and lived and died and rose again.
On that note, it is worthy of your time to seek out the history of the “Time between the Testaments,” which we call the Apocrypha. You may have seen these books if you have perused a Roman Catholic Bible once. Or maybe you have heard about those books on a TV program. And I bet you did not know that Luther’s German Bible included all of those Apocrypha books in it until very recently. What you need to know is this: The Apocrypha is good history, but the books are not biblical books and they are not written for faith and salvation.
But I digress. This is not a sermon on the Apocrypha. I just want you to know that there was a four hundred year gap between Malachi and Matthew. That realization makes Malachi’s message even more profound for us. These were the last words heard by God’s prophets and His beloved people: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. You and I both know that this refers to John the Baptizer, the cousin of Jesus. This word from Malachi sounds like Advent to us. That John the Baptizer will prepare the way of the Lord and make straight the highway of our God. But it also sounds like a Lenten theme, especially on a week like this. For Malachi’s words come true in the clearest way as Jesus enters into Jerusalem on a donkey.
At that point, the way had been prepared and God came to town. Malachi lays it out for us in so clear a way when he says, And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The Lord Jesus Christ came to Jerusalem. The High Priest Jesus came into the temple, His Father’s House. There are at least three stories related to this prophecy. First during Jesus’ childhood, He stayed behind when He was a boy and Joseph and Mary had to come back to find Him. Second during His ministry, Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers and declared the temple a House of Prayer rather than a den of robbers. And then finally, during this Holy Week, the Lord came to Jerusalem to “celebrate the Passover” as the Passover Lamb who took away all the sins of the world. Christ certainly came to His temple.
Christ certainly came to His temple and what a message this was for Malachi’s people who had not seen the glory of the Lord in the temple for over a hundred years and who would not see the presence of the Lord for another 400 years. The thought of God returning was yes joyful, but also a quite fearful thing for the people, especially as the years went on and on and God did not return. Malachi himself asked the congregation, But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? This too we see in the Scriptures. Who could endure the day of Christ’s coming? Did Peter, who denied Him three times? Did Judas, who betrayed Him into the hands of the chief priests? Did the chief priests and Pharisees, those who should have welcomed our Lord to the temple, did they endure the day of Christ’s coming? What about the other disciples? They all scattered and only John was left there at the cross. Who can endure? Who can believe? Who can stand?
It turns out that following Jesus at the time of Malachi and at the time of Holy Week and even during our own lives now is incredibly difficult. Consider one simple example, who could commit on one week of the year to go to church so much, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Eve, and Easter Sunday? I completely admit, that it’s a lot of time and effort just to commemorate the days of Holy Week, but imagine if you lived in those days? Imagine if the events transpired in your lifetime, and you were eyewitnesses to the day of the Lord who came to die on the cross!
Malachi expresses this endurance and faith as a process of purification. He says to us today, For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Consider then these Holy Days of Holy Week not as a burden, but rather as the work of God upon your soul, to refine you like silver, to purify your minds toward God, and to strengthen your faith in Him. Consider then this Holy Week not as your work or obligation, but rather as the opportunity that God works on you, saying to you, Take eat and Drink of it all of you for the forgiveness of your sins. That God works on you and says, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” That the Lord works on you and says, “On the seventh Day God rested from all His work in the tomb.” That God works on you and says, “He is not here. He is risen just as He said.”
Malachi speaks four hundred years before the life of Christ, but his message is fulfilled even among us. And this final thing I leave with you. That Jesus is enough. That Jesus’ work during this Holy Week justifies and sanctifies you. That Christ’s death on the cross atones for you. That God the Father’s offering of His only-begotten Son for the sins of the world is enough. Malachi himself declares, Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. That offering, Jesus Christ the Lord, is sufficient for your salvation. This messenger was sent, and this message was preached and even you believe it, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, and that He rose again so that you too shall live forever.
In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.
Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog
The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack
Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska
©2025 James Peterson. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com
