Text: St. Mark’s Passion | Mark 15:39
Date: Passion/Palm Sunday + 3/29/15
This year St. Mark has been hurrying us to understand the gospel; that the gospel is about the vicarious suffering of Jesus Christ the Son of God (Mark 1:1). So today we begin to understand. But it is only a beginning. Continue reading “Truly This Man was the Son of God”
Text: 1 Peter 3:21
Date: Good Friday St. John Passion + 4/18/14
Our dear fellow Lutheran and world famous musician Johann Sebastian Bach has done a marvelous work of weaving hymnic theological comment into the hearing of the apostolic record of the Lord’s Passion according to St. John. Well-known stanzas of Lenten hymns have us begin, as if announcing a prayer, “Jesus, I will ponder now On your holy Passion” (LSB 440:1). Of the betrayal by Judas Iscariot and the band of soldiers arresting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane Bach has us remember that it was still a result of God’s wondrous love controlling events “That brought Thee here, by foes and thieves surrounded!” (LSB 439:7). Continue reading “"Peter, While His Conscience Slept"”
Text: 1 Peter 3:21
Date: Good Friday St. John Passion + 4/18/14
Our dear fellow Lutheran and world famous musician Johann Sebastian Bach has done a marvelous work of weaving hymnic theological comment into the hearing of the apostolic record of the Lord’s Passion according to St. John. Well-known stanzas of Lenten hymns have us begin, as if announcing a prayer, “Jesus, I will ponder now On your holy Passion” (LSB 440:1). Of the betrayal by Judas Iscariot and the band of soldiers arresting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane Bach has us remember that it was still a result of God’s wondrous love controlling events “That brought Thee here, by foes and thieves surrounded!” (LSB 439:7). Continue reading “"Peter, While His Conscience Slept"”
Text: St. Matthew Passion
Date: Passion/Palm Sunday + 4/13/14
Every year we hear the sad story of the Passion of Jesus, on Sunday according to the synoptic evangelist (this year St. Matthew) and again on Good Friday according to St. John. The Great and Holy Week is designed for us to make an extended meditation on our Lord’s death. No matter which way you look at it it is a very sad and heartrending story. Yet we know, God willing, that Easter is coming. And so it’s like the saying I heard some time ago and has now been turned into a song by a quartet named Legacy Five:
I’ve been readin’ in the Bible,
’bout the ending of the age.
And one thing that’s for certain,
it grows closer every day.
But I am not concerned about,
the way it’s gonna end.
‘Cause I’ve read the back of the book and we win.[1] Continue reading “The Rest of the Story”
Text: Isaiah 53
Date: Good Friday + 4/6/12
When the prophet Isaiah penned these words about the coming Savior, “he was wounded for our transgressions,” surely no one, you would think, maybe even the prophet himself, considered the wounds of which he wrote to be actual, physical bruises and gashes of the skin. No, this promised king, this descendant of David would surely be the victorious deliverer defeating all those who would bring any harm or attempt to enslave God’s people ever again. Maybe the prophet meant that the coming Messiah would be “wounded” by harsh words, false accusations or unkind names, not by “sticks and stones.” As he said, He would be “despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Surely He would “bear our griefs and carry our sorrows” in His heart like a kind and sympathetic counselor or friend, not by actually enduring the same grief or sorrow we are going through. “Smitten by God and afflicted,” “the chastisement that brings us peace” would be but a temporary discipline and the “stripes” of our healing would be like those worn by a victorious military officer embroidered on the shoulder or the arm. “Oppressed and afflicted” He wouldn’t need to speak but overwhelm His enemies with His actions. “By oppression and judgment” we have been taken away into captivity and enslavement of sin. So maybe He would experience our sense of the unfairness of life and bring us back out to a better life, for the prophet said, “he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” Continue reading “Messianic Expectations”
Text: Exodus 24:3-11
Date: Holy (Maundy) Thursday + 4/5/12
“Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Tonight we recall the Covenant God made with the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai pointing to the New Covenant established by Jesus at the Last Supper, both of which ultimately finding their fulfillment in the perfected people of God in the day of the full revelation of His glory spoken of in the Book of Revelation,
“Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
“And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” (Rev 19:7-9) Continue reading “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb”
Text: Mark 14-15
Date: Passion/Palm Sunday + 4/1/12
A man named Joseph “asked for the body of Jesus” (15:43). Just another detail of the story of Jesus’ death and burial? So many of the “details” of the story were predicted ages before in the scriptures. As in the Exodus the people of God were released from their captivity to Pharaoh in Egypt, so now in Christ are we freed from the captivity of sin and death. The Passover pointed to the entire scene as Jesus is the paschal lamb of God whose blood is the cleansing of all sin. All the details of Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 and more are fulfilled. Then the thirty pieces of silver for betrayal and the field of blood; the denial of Peter; Jesus’ arrest, His silent witness before Pilate, the mocking, the spitting, the striking and whipping, the abandonment by all; then the nails, the spear, the parched throat, the blood and finally His death. Then this detail: a man named Joseph “asked for the body of Jesus.” But this one was not foretold or predicted, was no amazing fulfillment of ancient prophecy, just a seemingly random, little detail. Or was it? Continue reading “Just Another Detail”
Text: St. John Passion; LSB 450:7
Date: Good Friday + 4/22/11
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
Once again to presume to say something more important, more powerful, more persuasive than God’s own inspired scriptural Word is unbelief. Throughout my years I have, therefore, simply not preached, not included a sermon on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. Was such a practice a lazy cheapening and waste of parishioners’ patience and time, or did it demonstrate a bold faith in the Word of God?
To quote our hymn, “What language shall I borrow”? For it seems even human language fails to understand, to describe, to believe, to give thanks for our Lord’s sacrificial offering—the grief and shame, the scorn, the thorns, despised and gory; pale, with sore abuse and scorn, grim death.
Yet this One, this Lamb of God, the Son of God carries our sin, my sin and pays the ultimate, the atoning price for my forgiveness. Remember this. Remember this always and especially when it is your turn…your turn to die. He is your consolation and shield. His passion gives redemption when your last hour draws nigh. In such a vision of His cross and faith it can be said, “Who dieth thus dies well.”
Text: Matthew 26:16-29
Date: Maundy Thursday + 4/21/11
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
In the “Confessional Address” almost everything that needs to be said was said. For it spoke about our acknowledgment and confession of our sins. It then drew us to the Sacrament of the Altar as the focus of the forgiveness of our sins. That is because, as we heard in the reading from Hebrews, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22). In His words of institution Jesus said nothing about the significance of giving His body for us Christians to eat. But of His blood he said it is “my blood of the covenant” and was poured out “for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:26, 28). Therefore it is especially here where we receive His body and blood according to His covenant and promise that our conscience is calmed, our sins stand forgiven, and we are filled with new, eternal life. We truly receive it and are truly comforted not in so far as we believe this but because Jesus said it. Continue reading “Holy (Maundy) Thursday”
Text: John 19:17-30
Date: Good Friday Triduum II + 4/2/10
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?” There are three from Luke’s Gospel, “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 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. The Good Friday portion of the Triduum, however, is reserved, always, for Saint John. He reports the 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 emphasizes 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 in the wilderness. Even his final word is a cry of victory, “It is finished.” He is not overcome. He has overcome. Continue reading “Good Friday Triduum”
