This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. (1 Peter 3:18)
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
On Good Friday, we particularly remember the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. In history, we recognise that there was a real person called Jesus, who lived a real life, and that at a particular time, at the time of Passover, at a certain year, we recognise that Jesus suffered and died. In some sense, people don’t have to be a Christian to recognise that these things happened, but in the church, we also celebrate and commemorate and remember these things, because we want to bring them to mind, think about them, and hold these events before our eyes. Also, we believe that these things that Jesus did and which happened to him are of such great importance for us, and not only us, but also for everyone all throughout the world. But also, Jesus didn’t suffer and die for no reason: there was a reason for it, a purpose for it, and it meant something and achieved something. He suffered and died as the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, taking upon himself the sin of the world, to satisfy the wrath of God against sin, to make an atonement for sin with his own life and blood, to win for people the forgiveness of sin, to destroy death and the power of the devil.
And so, first of all, let’s summarise the events of Jesus’ suffering and death. Basically, we have five scenes. First of all, we have the events that took place in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then Jesus moved to the house of the high priest Caiaphas. Then Jesus moved to the judgment hall before Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then we read about the crucifixion of Jesus itself, which took place outside the city of Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha. And then, we read about the burial of Christ, when he was placed in a tomb.
First of all, in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read about how Christ took his disciples there, and also prophesied that all of his disciples would forsake him. Right from the beginning, we see that Jesus is our all-knowing and all-seeing God. He knows everything that will happen to him, and he prophesies what the disciples will do. But also, he knows that he must also carry and bear the sins of the world alone, with no-one else to help. So, we as Christians, when we look into ourselves, we see only our sin and our weakness, but we rely in everything on Christ, because he is our only Saviour, and he goes to his suffering and death completely alone, without any helpers.
Then, in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see how Jesus has such terrible internal suffering and prays so forcefully and strongly that he even sweats blood, and submits himself willingly to his Father’s will. Here, we see that when Jesus’ suffers for us, there is not only a physical external suffering, but also an internal suffering on the part of Jesus. Sin affects us right to the core of our being, and it pervades the core of our being. And so when Jesus takes on our sin, he takes it on internally, and suffers in his mind and in his heart. We look to him as the one that has truly born the weight of our sin, and who prays and intercedes for us before the Father.
Then we read that Jesus was arrested in the garden, and betrayed by Judas with a kiss. Judas brings to Jesus a false gesture: he pretends to show him a gesture of love and friendship, but behind the gesture, behind the kiss, there is a deceit, because it had been pre-arranged that Judas would show to the soldiers who Jesus was by doing this. The law of God requires us to be genuine and upright and honest and loving in all of our words and thoughts and gesture. However, we drastically fall short of this. As it says in Romans, Let God be true though every one were a liar. And so, Jesus takes upon himself the weight of the falsehood and the deceitfulness of sin, the bitterness of being betrayed, the bitterness of being turned against by a former friend.
We read, next in the Garden, that Jesus doesn’t allow himself to be defended with a sword, and is deserted and forsaken by all his disciples. The disciples have a plan about how they are going to defend Jesus, but Jesus doesn’t need to be defended. There were many times, when people tried to kill Jesus, when they tried to throw him over a cliff, or tried to stone him to death, but he hid himself from them and escaped. It wasn’t the right time. But now, Jesus submits to them willingly, not hiding himself, not calling on legions of angels to help him, because now is the right time.
Then we come to the second venue or setting or place where the events of Good Friday took place. We come to the house of the high priest Caiaphas. We read that Jesus was examined about his disciples and his teaching and was struck in the face. Here we see how Jesus gave a true testimony, although everyone else gave a false testimony. Even when he spoke the truth, they didn’t want to hear it. They thought it was even blasphemy, and so they call for his death. Here we see how the Law of God requires us to have one God and to hear the Word of God and to follow it. However, many times, and often, and even constantly, when we hear the Word of God, we are so plagued and filled with our own self-righteousness, our own ideas about how things are and how they should be, that God’s Word makes no sense to us, or it can even make us angry, and turn against God. And so, here we see the way in which even religious self-righteousness condemns the Son of God himself. They even spit on him and slap him, and all that kind of thing. All of these things, the insults and the false sentence, all of these things Jesus takes upon his own shoulders, and offers himself willingly to endure them for us.
In the meantime, we read about how Peter denied Jesus three times and the rooster crowed, reminding him of the time earlier that day, when Jesus had prophesied and predicted that Peter would do exactly as he just did. We often look into our hearts, and we want to pluck up our own strength, and even to commit ourselves to Jesus and his cause. But in actual fact, we fail to recognise our weakness and our sin and the evil in our heart, that actually is ashamed of Jesus. This shame is sometimes exposed in some situation, as it happened to Peter. But you see, we need to see that Peter is not our Saviour, he is not the strong man, he is not the mighty warrior. The same goes with us. We are sinners, and Jesus is offering himself for our sin by himself. He will not share this sacrificial act with us in any way, so that we should never have a single inkling that we have contributed something to this atonement, and to our salvation. Jesus does it all, and when we think we are going to do it, then Jesus needs to show us our sin. But then, like Peter, he sees Jesus eyes from the other side of the room, look right to him. Peter then knows that Jesus knows. Jesus look cuts him to the heart, and Peter runs out in a blubbering mess. After the resurrection, Jesus also asked Peter three times, Do you love me? In this way, Jesus calls Peter back and forgives him for this. But everything depends on Jesus here. Nothing depends on Peter, just as nothing depends on us.
We read now, about how Jesus is taken to the judgment hall to Pontius Pilate. He is accused before Pilate and gives a faithful witness. Pilate considers Jesus, actually, to be innocent, and sends him to Herod. Then Herod sends him back, and Pilate tries to appease the crowd by having Jesus scourged – that is, whipped in a terrible way. Even in the midst of all this, Pilate’s wife even comes and warns him that she had a bad dream about Jesus. Pilate tries to give the crowd a choice, by offering to release either Jesus or Barabbas, who was a hardened criminal. They chose Barabbas. A criminal released, and the innocent one is taken and scourged, whipped many times with terrible whips that had pieces of metal and bone in them. He was clothed with a purple robe, crowned with thorns, and given a reed for a sceptre, and was mocked. Then we read how after all this, the high priests and Jewish leaders still pressured and made noise and cried for Jesus to be crucified, to be nailed on a cross, the most brutal form of Roman execution, reserved particularly for rebels. Pilate then acknowledges that Jesus is the king of the Jews, washes his hands of the matter, and condemns him to death on a cross.
Here, in this whole history of Pontius Pilate dealing with Jesus we see what looks like a terrible perversion of justice. We are in a court room, which has gone terribly wrong. The judge is overthrown by the mob. In the end, the judge does completely the wrong thing under pressure. He hands Jesus over to a terrible miscarriage of justice.
However, there is something else that is going on here. On one hand, Jesus is on trial. But actually, is it Pilate, the crowds, and the whole world that is on trial. Jesus stands there innocently, but in fact, he is the judge, and he is putting Pilate, the crowds and the whole world in the dock. But in fact, what happens is that everything that looks perverted and upside down, is in fact the right way that everything should be. Because this is not about Jesus being given a false judgement, it is about Jesus carrying the right judgment that belongs to us. The law of God demands that we should be perfect, just as God is perfect, that we should love God with all our heart, with all our heart, with all mind and with all our strength, and our neighbour as ourselves. Jesus says: Do this and you will live. But in actual fact, we don’t do this, we fail miserably at it. We don’t do this, and so we rightly die. The wages of sin is death. And so, Jesus stands here, the innocent one, the one who really has fulfilled the law, who has really done all these things, whose mind is pure, whose gestures are honest, and whose judgments are always right. And he takes the false judgment of the world, which is actually the true judgement of God upon us. And so, when we sinned, we have a judgment to face, a sentence which is due, a fine to pay, if you like, which is so large that it is beyond our ability and strength to pay it. But Jesus pays it, he takes the judgment upon himself. Imagine if you were in court, because you had a stack of fines to pay, which you couldn’t pay. But then, if someone pays them for you, then you can go free. And so, Jesus pays the price of our sin. He is judged wrongly by these people, but God judges us rightly and gives to His only Son this judgment to carry upon himself. When the sentence is paid, the justice of God is satisfied, his wrath and anger against us is appeased, and we can go free.
And so, now we come to the fourth scene of Jesus’ suffering and death: the crucifixion itself. Jesus is led from the city of Jerusalem, and speaks to the women weeping on the road there. He is brought to Golgotha, tastes the bitter wine mixed with myrrh, and is crucified there. He prays also for those who crucify him. Pilate puts a message above his cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.” The soldiers divide Jesus’ clothes by casting lots. Jesus gives his mother into the care of John, who takes her home to look after her. While Jesus is on the cross, many people mock him and defame him, taunting him to prove himself by coming down. We read that one of the criminals next to Jesus converts to him, and heaven is promised to him, and opened to him.
Then we read that at 12 o’clock, the sixth hour, as the bible calls it, darkness comes over the whole land. Jesus cries to God, and laments being forsaken by God. Jesus complains of his thirst. He declares that everything is finished. He commends his spirit in to the hands of his Father, and he falls asleep in death, and yields up his spirit.
Here we see in all these things how Jesus is our wonderful high priest. In the Old Testament, we see how the priests offered all kinds of sacrifices to God. But here, we see that Jesus is both the priest and the sacrifice. He offers himself, and he offers his own blood. No priest had done this before, and no priest will do it after him. This is the one, perfect, sufficient sacrifice and atonement for the sins of the whole world.
We see the wonderful way in which Jesus offers prayers in sacrifice there. The cross is not a silent place, it is a place of prayer. And we also see with the thief, that the cross is not a place of despair and failure for us, but it is the place where our salvation is won, where our entrance into heaven is given. The repentant thief says to the other: Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. The thief recognises that he is a sinner, but Jesus is the sinless one. The thief has been judged rightly, Jesus has been judged wrongly by the people. But then, Jesus is also judged for us, sentenced for us, he innocently suffers for the thief, so that when the thief dies he will not go to hell, but will enter into Paradise with Jesus. The thief says: Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom. Jesus says: Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. And so, the death of Jesus is our life.
After the death of Jesus, we also read about the wonderful miracles that took place, how the rocks were split, and the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom, and that many saints were raised from the dead and appeared to people in Jerusalem after Jesus rose from the dead.
When we see the temple curtain torn in two, it was no accident. Normally, at home, if our curtain tears, it frays from the bottom upwards. But this curtain was torn from the top to the bottom. We see two things here: first of all, God the Father, who promised to meet his people there at the Ark of the Covenant, in the Most Holy place in the temple, receives this wonderful sacrifice of the life of his Son. Also, the sacrifice of Jesus is presented to God the Father, and in such a way that the old Jewish worship in the temple is no longer needed. The continual and regular sacrifices of the animals in the temple are no longer needed, because Jesus has offered himself.
Then we read that Jesus’ body was taken by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea and buried in a new tomb. Actually, Jesus was buried by wealthy people in a wealthy person’s tomb. And there he would rest until he walks out, when he rises from the dead.
And so, this Good Friday, we should once again call all these events to mind and think about them, remember them, and consider them. Today, we’ve briefly gone through the history and the suffering and death. But also, let’s never also forget the purpose and the reason for it.
First of all, we should call to mind that God has given to all people his holy and unchangeable law, and requires from all people—no matter who they are—a complete and total obedience to it, and pronounces eternal damnation on all whose who don’t keep it. Jesus says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. But also, we read in Galatians: Cursed is everyone that does not abide by all the things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.
Second, we should call to mind that God has placed upon Jesus, and that Jesus willingly accepted, the obligation to keep the law perfectly, and also the bear the punishment for it, and he did this in our place. We read in Galatians: When the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law…Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, by being made a curse for us. So everything that Jesus did, in his suffering and death, he did for us, and he did in our place, so that the Law which we should have kept, he kept, and the punishment that should have been ours was his.
Third, in this obedience of the death of Christ, which he did in our place, God’s wrath and anger against us, against people, against sinful human beings, was appeased, and satisfied. The debt was paid for, and his judgment and condemnation is therefore set aside. In Romans we read: By the righteousness of one man leads to justification and life for all men… Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. So, what it means, is that we are reconciled to God, and our sins are not counted against us. Jesus is our sacrifice, our Saviour, our Mediator, our priest, our righteousness, our salvation, and our reconciliation with God.
And so, let’s commend our lives to Jesus Christ. Let’s bring our sin and our weakness and our whole sinful life and condition to him. Let’s trust in him for our salvation, who put himself in our place and took our sin upon himself. And let’s thank him for the wonderful way in which we are reconciled to God through Him. Let us live with him and die with him, who lived for you and who died for you. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
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