Jesus Died for Preaching

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Word they still shall let remain

Nor any thanks have for it;

He's by our side upon the plain

With His good gifts and spirit.

And take they our life,

Goods, fame, child, and wife,

Though these all be gone,

Our vict'ry has been won;

The Kingdom ours remaineth (LSB 656.4).

The devil and his minions in the world hate the Word of God. He would love nothing more than to see the Word extinguished, or at least hidden away in some dark, dusty corner and forgotten forever. The devil can abide the Word existing, but he cannot abide His being preached, proclaimed, or believed in any real way.

The devil would be just fine with letting the Word of God out in the world, if it were retold as some sort of neat story or historical narrative. He will let scholars use it in reconstructing the timeline of the evolution of religion and philosophy. He will sit back as self-proclaimed experts in the Bible attempt to tell the world what the Good Book says, as long as it has nothing to do with Jesus, the Gospel, or actually repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Hypocrites and Their Sins

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This evening, we consider two separate episodes in St. John's account of our Lord's Passion. From both the Jewish leaders and from Pontius Pilate we learn the pattern of the hypocrisy that plagues both religious and irreligious sorts.

“Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.” What irony this is! The Jews are mired deep in mayhem and murder, so deep that they cannot think of anything but bloodlust, and yet they will not enter the house of a Gentile, lest they be defiled and not be able to eat the Passover meal.

I AM He

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The rabble, stirred up by the priests and the elders and led by Judas, comes to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Seeing them coming, the Lord steps between them and the drowsy disciples. He asks them, “Whom do you seek?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they say. A simple answer to a simple question. But the problem is: Is Christ it? Is He, the Son of God, what they seek?

Yes, He is, but He is much more than a simple carpenter's son from a Galilean backwater. To the horde's query, Jesus responds, “I AM.” Not simply “ya, that's me.” Jesus identifies Himself with the holy Name of God, the name above all names, the name too sacred for the Jews even to utter. And the reaction of the horde: “they drew back and fell to the ground.” What else can one do when you come face to face with God Himself. No one else could even begin to assert that he is the Lord God of Israel. They were thrown to the ground with the realization that they were getting much more than they bargained for. This is not just some looney heretic from Nazareth – this is the Son of God!

The Cross Hurts

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The crucifixion of Jesus is difficult for us to deal with. It is a bloody event. He was beaten, flogged with cat-o-nine-tails, pierced with the crown of thorns, and nailed to a rough-hewn wooden cross. Many people have trouble watching Mel Gibson's portrayal of the Passion because of the blood and gore and violence. We, two thousand years later, would rather not dwell on what our Lord suffered on that day. Sweating blood, suffocating in His own bodily fluids, crying out in agony – these are things the Lord of Hosts should not endure.

On a deeper level, the crucifixion is discomforting because it is a symbol of shame. Only the worst of the worst were tortured and executed so. The Scriptures call him accursed who hangs on the tree. Only the most grievous sin would bring one to this point.