+ + + 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. (Amen.)
In today’s Gospel Reading, the Divinely‑inspired Evangelist St. John five times says that something happened essentially to fulfill either Jesus’s own words or Scripture: first, about His not losing one of those given to Him (confer John 17:12); second, about the kind of death He was going to die (confer John 12:32-33); third, about the soldiers’ dividing His garments and casting lots for His tunic (confer Psalm 22:18); fourth, about His thirsting and being given sour wine to drink (confer Psalm 69:3, 21); and, fifth, about the soldiers’ not breaking His bones but instead piercing His side (confer Exodus 12:46; Zechariah 12:10). That a Gospel account of Jesus’s Passion reports prophecy’s being fulfilled should not surprise anyone who followed our Special Midweek Sermon Series in this year’s five Lenten Vespers services, when we focused on St. Matthew’s account of Jesus’s Passion’s fulfilling prophecy. By both its placement first in the canon and its specific content, St. Matthew’s account seemingly bridges the Old Testament and New Testament, especially for its original primary audience of ethnically and former-religiously Jewish‑Christians, seemingly emphasizing more than the other three Gospel accounts how Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah are fulfilled by the whole New Testament ministry and Passion of Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, our Savior. But, when it comes to expressions’ indicating fulfilled prophecies particularly in the Passion narratives, such as that we heard today, then St. John’s account seems to have the most. Regardless of which account and its specific prophecies are in view, as I said to the pastors in the Dallas-Fort Worth Study Group in February when I overviewed my Midweek Sermon Series for them, we must avoid focusing so much on the trees that we miss the forest, though we can see the forest only because of the trees.
English writer John Heywood’s 15‑46 book that collected English proverbs, including a number of other proverbs that you may know, is usually given as the first-known published source for that expression of not seeing the forest for the trees, which, as you probably know, means to be too focused on the smaller details, such as the individual trees, to understand the bigger picture, such as the collective forest. I do not think that any Divinely‑inspired evangelist is guilty of missing the forest for the trees, though we certainly can ponder St. John’s unique contributions, presumably writing later than the other evangelists, being aware of their accounts, and perhaps intending in some sense to supplement their accounts (for example, Guthrie, p.314).
Each of us doubtless can relate to focusing on specific things going on in our lives, things that we may think are unique to us. We may get bogged down in specific events or afflictions in the world, in our congregation, in our families, or our own individual lives. Maybe we are praying for God to do something specific in regards to them, and maybe we think that God is not answering us. Maybe we are so focused on what we think is God’s failure to act regarding a specific event or affliction, that we lose sight of the bigger picture, that in Christ Jesus God delivers us from our sin and its deserved consequences for us, such as death here and now and torment in hell for eternity. Or, like a man who emailed me recently, maybe we wrongly think that we keep God’s Commandments and have nothing of which we need to repent. Or, maybe we wrongly think that we have sinned too much, or that we have sinned in such heinous ways that we cannot be forgiven. We are not alone. St. Paul assures the Corinthians and us that no temptation has overtaken us that is not common to man (1 Corinthians 10:13). And, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7‑9), we do not have a High Priest Who is un‑able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have a High Priest Who in every respect has been tempted as we are tempted, yet was without sin. That High Priest makes it possible for us to be forgiven. His Holy Spirit calls and enables us to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust God to forgive our sin, and to want to stop sinning. When we so repent, then God forgives us. God forgives us for Jesus’s sake.
As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, various details of Jesus’s crucifixion and death truly were prophesied and then fulfilled, but more important than such smaller details is the bigger picture that Jesus was crucified and died for us, in our place, in order to save us from our sins. Of course, that, what we call, “vicarious atonement” or “substitutionary atonement” was also repeatedly foretold and in‑time fulfilled, even if the Divinely‑inspired St. John does not explicitly say so (confer TLSB, ad loc John 19:24, p.1822). Our loving God’s plan to save us from eternity was first revealed after the first sin, and that revelation came in God’s cursing the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Then finally, on the Cross, in the words of today’s Old Testament Reading (Isaiah 52:13-53:12), Jesus 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. And, Jesus did not stay dead! The third day He rose again according to the Scriptures—Scriptures that both prophesied His resurrection and recorded the prophecies’ fulfillment. The Lamb of God Who had been slain stands again (for example, Revelation 5:6). Now, in faith we look on Him Who was lifted up on the cross and pierced, and whoever believes in Him has eternal life (John 3:14-15, with reference to Numbers 21:8-9, confer Revelation 1:7).
As described in today’s Epistle Reading, with confidence we draw near to God’s throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find help in time of need. As Jesus in today’s Gospel Reading entrusted the care of His Mother to St. John, so Jesus entrusts the care of His Church to Her ministers. Those ministers read and preach Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, including Jesus’s own words, to groups such as this group. And, as water and blood came out from Jesus’s pierced side, so Holy Baptism and the Holy Supper of His Body and Blood come to us individually, forgiving our sins and so also giving us life and salvation. Any cross might be a reminder of Christ’s cross, but even Christ’s actual cross, if you could locate it, would have value only because of the Savior Who hung on it, and you would not find that Savior there, but you find Him only where He promises to be, that is, in His Word and Sacraments.
Through these Means of Grace, our crucified and resurrected Savior strengthens us. As we heard in today’s Epistle Reading, he learned obedience through suffering, and we also learn obedience through suffering. St. Paul assures the Romans and us that God, Who did not spare His own Son, but graciously gave Him up for us all, will also with Him graciously give us all things (Romans 8:32). There is the big‑picture forest to put the small-detail trees into perspective! At times we do have to focus on specific events or afflictions in the world, in our congregation, in our families, and our own individual lives, but we keep those specific things in the context and perspective of God’s already having delivered us from sin and death. We trust that God ultimately will do what is best for us in regards to those specific things, as God already has done what is best for us in Christ.
So, we try not to miss the forest of God’s fulfilling His bigger-picture prophecy of the vicarious atonement of His Son Jesus Christ for all the trees of God’s fulfilling the smaller‑detail prophecies about His not losing His Eleven disciples, about the kind of death He was going to die, about the soldiers’ dividing His garments, about His thirsting, and about the soldiers’ not breaking His bones. To reverse the expression, however, we might also say that we “Don’t miss the Tree for the forest”. That is, for the forests of all of the things going on in our lives, and for the forest of all the things going on even in this service, we do not miss the Tree of the Cross, by which, today’s Proper Preface reminds us, our Lord Jesus Christ overcame the serpent and accomplished the salvation of humankind, including the salvation of each one of us.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +
