Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (John 19:28-30):
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished”, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Kɛ kɔr kä mɛmɛ, mëë ci Yecu ɛ ŋa̱c ɛn ɣöö ci ŋɔaani diaal ku thuuk, cuɛ mɛmɛ lat kɛ ɣöö bi ruacni Kuɔth tëë ca gɔ̱r a thuɔ̱k, cuɛ wee i̱, "Ci rɛw ɣä näk." Kä tëëkɛ dhaar mi ci thia̱ŋ kɛ kɔaŋ mi wac ɛn wanɔ. Cukɛ li̱pä mi ci thia̱a̱ŋ kɛ kɔaŋ, la̱th wi̱i̱ taŋ lurä, kä cua jɛ thi̱eŋ thok Yecu. Kä mëë ci Yecu jɛ lot, cuɛ wee i̱, "Cɛ ku thuuk!" Cuɛ wi̱cdɛ guɔ̱l piny, kä cu yiëëdɛ cu jiɛɛn.
Prayer: Sanctify us with the truth, Lord. Your word is truth. Amen.
Jesus says: I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us!
No one takes my life away from me! He says. I lay it down of my own accord! He says. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.
Today we see the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, laying down his own life. Carefully placing it down on the altar of God. Jesus carefully lays down his own life on the altar of the cross, making the one, true, perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.
Once during his life, a centurion said to Jesus, “I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Jesus says to his disciples: “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”
Jesus is a man of authority. He can say to his angels, Go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes, and to someone else, do this, and he does it.
He can say to the earth, quake, and it quakes. He can say to the floods, rise, and it rises. He can say to the lightening, strike, and it strikes. He can say to the thunder, crash, and it crashes. He can say to the rains, pour, and they pour.
After all, at the beginning, he said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.
So look at the people of the world, the sinners, the blasphemers, the nations – look at them as they turn red in the face, not from shame, but from anger, pouring out all their anger on one man, pouring out all their fury on one man, pouring all their hatred on one man. All the hatred of the world is poured out on this one man, on this one Jesus, on this one innocent Jesus Christ.
He is arrested.
He is put on trial.
The charge is false.
He is crowned with thorns.
He is spit upon.
He is struck on the head.
He is stripped of his own clothes.
He is whipped.
He is nailed to the cross.
He is given vinegar to drink.
He is left to die.
Where are you, angels? Where are you, earthquakes? Where are you, thunders? Where are you, hailstorms? Where are you, floods?
Isn’t it about time for you to show up? Are you going to sit there at let your Maker be treated like this?
Isn’t it time for you, earth, to open up and swallow these mockers? Isn’t it time for you, waters, to rise and rage and wash away these sinners? Where are you? Are you going to fight for your Creator?
Where are you, angels? You supported Jesus when he was tempted by the devil, you comforted him in the Garden of Gethsemane -- Where’s your comfort now? Can’t you hear your master’s groans? Can’t you hear his sighs?
Abraham built an altar and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the top of the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his knife and took the knife to slaughter his son.
At the altar of the cross, the angel is ready, he is eager, and waiting. He is ready to come screaming out of the heaven, and say: “Stay your hand!” “Stop!” “Don’t do it!”
And Jesus says, “No.” I have the authority to lay down my life.
Stay back, angels. Restrain yourself, earthquakes, floods, rains, fires. Stay back.
It is the time for me to lay down my life. It is the time for me to exercise my authority – stay back, don’t come to my defense. It is not even the time to come and clot my blood – it is time to let it drop the ground. Restrain yourself. I have the authority to lay down my life.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us!
Jesus says: Now is not the time to come to my defence. Don’t defend me from the people for whom I have come to die! Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.
They don’t know what they are doing, but I know what I am doing, says Jesus. I am using the authority that was given to me, the authority to lay down my life.
Look at how Jesus is revealed as a man, a true man, and look at how he is hidden as God. Look at how what you see with your eyes is a bleeding human body, and believe with the eyes of faith that he who you see is the eternal Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God. Look at how what you see with your eyes is that all the strength of his body is taken from him, and believe with the eyes of faith that he is the one who has the authority to lay down his life, and the authority to take it up again.
We read in our reading: After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), “I thirst”. A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
After all this, after the beatings, the whippings, the nailings, the bleedings, Jesus pours out his love for the world in one last action. He knows that all was now finished. And in one last act of cruelty, he is given not water to drink to give him refreshment, but sour wine, vinegar, to add salt to the wound, to add fire to the pain.
Remember how in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus had said, “Lord, if this it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But not my will, but your will be done.”
He drinks the cup. He drinks the all the last anger of the world that was left of the world to give him. He drinks all the last anger of God upon sinners.
The angels are held back in restraint. It’s not their time to fight. It’s time for the fury, the anger, the rage of the world to be unleashed upon their greatest enemy, the one true God, who in the cool of the evening, walked through the Garden of Eden, and said, “Where are you?”
It’s time for the fury, the anger, the rage of God the Father to be unleashed upon the world, but not in a consuming fire to devour the whole world, but the fire of God’s anger burns the lamb of God, the sacrifice is made for the sins of the people.
This fire of God is fire that burns with anger, but also burns with love. The angels are held back, the elements are restrained from defending their God, because the world needs to be saved. It needs to be died for. God loved the world in this way, that he gave his only Son. He loved the world in this way that he abandoned, forsook, gave up his Son into the hands of his enemies, to sinners, to blasphemers, to mockers, so that whoever believes in him will not die but have eternal life.
God so loved the world that he gave his Son vinegar to drink.
And Jesus drinks the cup. He drinks it to the dregs.
Jesus drinks the sour wine, the vinegar, and he gives us to drink of the living waters, the Holy Spirit.
We are the ones who crown Jesus with thorns. Jesus is the one who gives us the crown of life.
We are the ones who spit in Jesus’ face. Jesus is the one who washes us clean, and wipes every tear from our eyes.
We are the ones who whip the back of Jesus. Jesus is the one who healed us with his own wounds. With his stripes we are healed.
We are the ones who nail him to the cross. Jesus is the one who draws us to himself, who engraves us on the palms of his hands. Jesus is the one who says, “No one will snatch you out of my hands.”
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us!
We read: When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished”, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Everything is finished!
Everything is completed!
He has redeemed you, a lot and condemned person!
He purchased and won you from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with silver or gold, but with His holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.
It is finished.
And with all the authority in heaven and earth, with all the authority that made the sun, the moon, and the stars, with all the authority that formed and shaped the earth, he lays down his life. I have the authority to lay down my life, and I have the authority to take it up again.
With this authority, he lays down his life, as the lonely Lamb of God. He lays it down and places it carefully into his Father’s hands. He commends his spirit gently and lovingly into the Father’s hands.
He said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment