Archive for April, 2007
Easter Vigil Gospel
Monday, April 9th, 2007
I Know that You Seek Jesus
Monday, April 9th, 2007Text: Matthew 28:1-7
Date: Easter Vigil + 4/8/07
To the women who went to the tomb of Jesus “after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week,” the angel said, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” The angel invited them to check it out for themselves, saying, “Come, see the place where he lay.” When they did they saw that the place where he lay was empty, vacant. How long would the women have stayed there wondering and looking, looking and wondering? But they were not to linger there. For the angel commanded them and immediately sent them with the task, “go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.”
Saint Peter wrote of you who call yourselves Christians, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [Christ’s] own possession, for the purpose that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Like those women that first Easter morning, like all the apostles, and like all who have believed and followed the risen Christ Jesus to this day, the first impact of the Gospel, the Good News of the resurrection, is personal faith and a change in status. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10). But then, immediately, you are called upon to “go quickly and tell,” to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” to witness, to bear testimony, to preach Jesus Christ to the world.
This morning you have literally come out of darkness as we followed the Light of Christ into this place. The ancient acts of creation and the deliverance of God’s people through the Exodus and the sea brought us to the waters of Holy Baptism. And now amid the eternal songs of the angels, “Glory be to God on high,” “Then the holy holy holy Celebration jubilee” [LSB 680:5] we have come to this moment when the angel invites us, saying, “Do not be afraid, come, see the place where he lay,” and “go quickly and tell.”
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Good Friday Triduum
Saturday, April 7th, 2007Text: John 19:17-30
Date: Good Friday Triduum II + 4/6/07
From a harmony of the four Gospels we have seven words or statements from the cross. Matthew and Mark report only the one, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” St. Luke has three more: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do;” “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise;” and “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” Each Evangelist’s account has its own character and purpose. St. Luke’s is the most catechetical, proclaiming the faithful Son of God who came to release all mankind from the grip of the bondage of sin. Good Friday, however, is reserved, always, for Saint John. He reports the additional words from the cross, “Woman, behold, your son,” “I thirst,” and “It is finished.” In addition to those words, however, are two more important details: the soldiers gambling for his tunic, and the piercing of Jesus’ side with a spear and the flow of blood and water. Taken together, St. John’s account of the crucifixion therefore emphasizes, more than the others, the triumph and victory of the Son of God, the Word made flesh Who came to conquer death and give life to all who believe. In John the Passion is victorious. Jesus’ death is referred to as his glorification, and by his cross he is lifted up like the healing serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness. Even his final word is a cry of victory, “It is finished.” He is not overcome. He has overcome.
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Maundy Thursday
Saturday, April 7th, 2007Text: Luke 22:7-20
Date: Maundy Thursday + 4/5/07
It’s been a long night here in the Upper Room. During our Lenten midweek services we have heard the words of our Lord that he spoke to us that night in which he was betrayed from the Gospel of John, much of it standing just before heading out the door into this night. This night, however, is set aside to commemorate two things: first, the mandatum novum, the new commandment “that you love one another” from which this day receives its name “Maundy” Thursday, and demonstrated in our Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet. Secondly, this night is the anniversary of the greatest mystery: the institution of the sacrament of our Lord’s Body and Blood, the sacrament of the altar, the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Communion, the Eucharist. It is a mystery because while we can and are to know, acknowledge and believe that Jesus meant what he said when he said, “this is my body, this is my blood,” still we cannot explain it. Those bent on explaining this mystery most often end up not believing it aright! But those who simply hear and boldly believe the words of Christ truly receive what he says, his holy Body and his sacred Blood, and the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation that has been purchased for us by his holy sacrifice on the cross.
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Hosanna!
Sunday, April 1st, 2007Text: John 12:12-19
Date: Palmarum Sunday + 4/1/07
He arrived just as he was supposed to arrive, just as it had been written by the prophet Zechariah. “Behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” (Zech. 9:9). So here he is. And at first it appeared that they remembered this prophesy because they went out and greeted him with the kingly shout, the words of the Psalm, “Hosanna!” that is, “save now,” “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 118:25-26). They even called him “the King of Israel!” But John tells us it wasn’t a cry of faith at all. He tells us “His disciples didn’t understand these things at first.” John should know for he was there. Furthermore he says the real reason why the crowds went to meet him was only because they had heard of his most incredible and final miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. So it had to be either faith in the Word of God being fulfilled or some other enthusiasm at work because Jesus looked like anything but a king. Earthly kings come riding into town on a powerful galloping steed with impressively dressed saddles, girths and browbands, accompanied by a military entourage, with uplifted fist receiving the accolades of the crowds. Well, the accolades were there, but Jesus rode slowly, bareback on a young donkey of all things, not even acknowledging the crowds. “Lowly,” “humble,” that’s the way of the kingdom of God.
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