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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus’s crucifixion is the primary focus of Good Friday. So, Jesus’s crucifixion is the primary focus of today’s Gospel Reading; for example, the original Greek of the Gospel Reading uses the verb translated “crucify” eleven of its forty-six New Testament times—almost one quarter of them—and it uses the noun for “cross” four of its twenty-eight New Testament times—one seventh. Jesus’s crucifixion is the primary focus also of the Old Testament Reading (Isaiah 52:13-53:12), of the Epistle Reading (Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9), and arguably of all of Holy Scripture. Yet, Jesus’s crucifixion is the primary focus not as we might think, in gratuitous graphic gory detail, as Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie might suggest, but Jesus’s crucifixion is the primary focus in that His crucifixion is for you. “Jesus was crucified for you!”
Crucifixion may have been invented or perhaps first used by the Persians. An Old Testament passage apparently referring to a “hanging” under the Persians is translated into Greek using the verb for “crucify” (Esther 7:9 LXX). Later, the Macedonian Alexander the Great crucified people, and, obviously, so did the Romans; they especially crucified those people who tried to break away from Roman rule. For those conducting it, crucifixion is said to be one of the strongest means of maintaining order and security, and, for those experiencing it, crucifixion is said to be one of the worst forms of execution; the most painful, dreadful, and ugly; inflicting unimaginable physical and mental suffering, before the victim dies from lack of water, blood, or air. (J. Schneider, TDNT 3:572‑583.)
As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, the chief priests and officers of the Jews repeatedly commanded Pilate to crucify Jesus (19:6); even their repeated command translated “away with Him” could be rendered “lift up”, as in “lift up” up on the cross (19:15; confer 3:14‑15; 8:28; 12:32, 34). For his part, Pilate told them to crucify Jesus (19:6), told Jesus that he had the authority to crucify Him (19:10), asked the Jews if he should crucify their King (19:15), and eventually delivered Jesus over to be crucified (19:16). The place where the soldiers crucified Jesus was called the “Place of a Skull”, in Aramaic “Golgatha” (19:17-18), and was near both the city (19:20) and a garden with a new tomb (19:41). The Divinely‑inspired St. John tells all sorts of things leading up to the crucifixion, what happened when the soldiers had crucified Jesus (19:23), and what happened after the crucifixion, but, rather than report gratuitous graphic gory detail, St. John focuses on why Jesus Christ was crucified.
The Divinely‑inspired St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that Christ crucified is a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:23). What is Christ crucified to you? Is Christ crucified to you also a stumbling block or folly? Is Christ crucified Someone of Whom you are ashamed? Is Christ crucified something you would rather forget about with an empty cross? Is Christ crucified to you fine for your justification but not for your sanctification? In other words, is Christ crucified to you nothing in regards to either how you live your life or your attitude toward your own suffering? If nothing else, your sinful nature and all of your sins are the cause of Christ’s being crucified. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Not only has the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all, but the Lord also calls and thereby enables us to repent of our iniquity: to turn in sorrow from it, to trust Him to forgive it, and to want to do better than to keep doing it. When we so repent, then God indeed forgives us, for Jesus’s sake.
The Jews and Romans who crucified Jesus did not understand the eternal wisdom of God, or, St. Paul says elsewhere, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Corinthians 2:8; confer Acts 3:17). Because they did not understand the Scriptures, they instead fulfilled them by condemning Him (Acts 13:27; confer Luke 24:20). Also demonic rulers and authorities were put to open shame by God’s triumphing over them in Christ crucified (Colossians 2:15). Even in His resurrection He is still referred to as the Crucified One (for example, Matthew 28:5). Most important for us, Christ was high and lifted up and so bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed; the Righteous One truly makes many to be accounted righteous. On the cross He finished His work of paying in full our debt of sin; the record of our debt was, as it were, nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). So, as the Divinely‑inspired author of Hebrews said in the Epistle Reading, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation, so we with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
God gives us that grace through His Word in all of its forms. Like St. Paul, we preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23), knowing, as it were, nothing except Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2), letting the words and delivery not be in keeping with human wisdom but be in keeping with the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:4-5), imparted in words taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:13). The sign of the holy cross, connected with God’s people already in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 9:4-6; confer Revelation 5:3 et cetera), is given to those who are baptized, both upon their foreheads and upon their hearts, marking them as those redeemed by Christ the crucified, those belonging to Him and under His protection. The resurrected Christ crucified sent His disciples and their successors, pastors today, with the Holy Spirit and authority to forgive sins in individual Absolution (John 20:21-23). And, not sprinkled blood but the drunk Blood of Christ with the wine of the Sacrament of the Altar, and the Body of Christ with its bread give us the forgiveness of sins, and so also life and salvation.
So forgiven through God’s Means of Grace received in faith, we are also transformed to live as God’s people in the various callings that He gives us. We are not ashamed of Christ crucified but boldly confess Him in word and deed. We try to honor His sacrifice for us by living our lives in keeping with His Commandments, and daily we are willing to take up, not our self‑imposed crosses, but the crosses that God permits us to bear, and so we follow Jesus (Matthew 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27). We accept suffering and affliction, denying or saying “no” to ourselves in such ways that even might involve our surrendering our very lives. For, when we lose our lives for His sake, we truly find them.
Jesus’s crucifixion is the primary focus, in that “Jesus was crucified for you!” His cross has significance for you not only in the past but also in the present and future. In what will be our Concluding Hymn this evening, seventeenth‑century Lutheran pastor and hymn‑writer Paul Gerhardt was following a long Christian and Lutheran tradition of meditating on receiving Christ’s saving work on the cross for the salvation of the world, using the imagery of the cross to comfort the repentant sinner with the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (LSB:CttH #453, p.315). We conclude this sermon as we will conclude this service, with the last stanza of that hymn as we have it translated, its words a prayer to our once-crucified and now‑resurrected Lord (Lutheran Service Book 453:7):
Your cross I place before me; / Its saving pow’r restore me, / Sustain me in the test.
It will, when life is ending, / Be guiding and attending / My way to Your eternal rest.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +