March 29, 2024 – Good Friday     Text:  Matthew 27:38-54

Dear Friends in Christ,

Imagine standing at Calvary as Jesus is crucified.  There is a lot take in – different sights and smells.  For now, focus on the sounds.  What do you hear?

You first hear this, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”  Then the Jewish leaders, “He saved others; he cannot save himself….let him down from the cross and we will believe in him.”  The Gospel of Luke tells us that the soldiers and those crucified with him also said similar things.  Different voices.  Different tones.  But one diabolical chorus with a clear theme:  “Prove it.  If you are really God, show us.”

“EVIDENCE”

Today we still hear the echoes of voices directed at God or his people.  “If there is a God, show me the proof.  Why does it seem the devil has free reign in the world?  Why do prayers go unanswered?  I want a sign so I can believe.”

Like at Calvary, the voices come from different places.  People who hate the Christian Church and a God they can’t stand.  Some are natural skeptics who don’t believe in much of anything.  Some are desperate in their words and want to be proven wrong.   People still put God on Trial.  They want to see the evidence.  Does any of this affect you?

Do you get angry at the voices?  Are you frustrated about what they say about your faith?  Does Satan ever push a doubt into your cranium?  Could they be right?

Don’t ignore the voices.  In fact, in these voices, part of what they say is correct.  “He saved others.”  If they could have seen past their spiritual blindness, they might have noticed why he didn’t save himself.  He was refraining from using his power for a reason.  Why didn’t the man who could raise the dead save his own life?

Jesus had his own why question, but his question is meant to be an answer:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  He cries to God not in unbelief but in agony.  It reveals what no one standing there could see.  The man in the middle cross wasn’t just suffering from lacerations, nails, thirst, and suffocation – on top of the ridicule.  This man, who had done nothing wrong in the court of humankind or the court of God, was suffering God’s wrath for the sins of others.  His question came from the depths of torment we deserved.  The one who saved others didn’t save himself.  Why?  Because he loves us.

That’s the answer to all the why questions that plague us.  “Why doesn’t Jesus do ____?   Why would he allow ___?”  Would he be abandoned by God for us only to later abandon us?  Would he follow every commandment, fulfill every prophecy, and forgive every sin only later to make a mistake in our lives?  He must love us.  He does love us.

Some voices were changed that day on the hill.  Luke speaks of a thief who went from mocking him to defending him.  A voice who wanted to be with Jesus in paradise.  The Holy Spirit working through a Suffering Servant.

Jesus works in us the same way.  A simple washing at a font and his Spirit is put in us to convince us he is our Savior.  Through eternal words, he speaks to us of the same forgiveness, the same promise of paradise.  In an unassuming meal, he lets us touch and taste Exhibit A:  the very body and blood he gave for us.  These means bring Jesus’ death to us to forgive our doubts – and put them to rest.

There is one more voice that should give you hope, especially if you have family or friends who look to the cross and their soul is blank.  They see and hear no Savior.  They are so deep in their sin that they are just a skeleton of bones with no purpose.  Remember how earlier we said that the enemies of Jesus spoke the truth – “He saved others.”  Nothing has changed.  If these dry bones didn’t think there was a God, then they would have no reason to get rid of him.  Do you ever try to destroy something that you don’t believe in or is not there?  

At the bottom of the cross was this type of man – a doubter, a skeptic, someone joining the mob mentality of why he won’t save himself.  He represents your child, your loved one, the one you pray for all the time.  He utters one of the greatest hopeful lines recorded in all of Scripture:  “Truly this was the Son of God!”  Whoop, there it is!  Walk past the cross tonight knowing that dry bones can be made alive again. 

On Golgotha, Jesus gives us all the evidence we need.

Amen.

March 28, 2024 – Maundy Thursday Text:  Luke 22:7-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

Things in our “God on Trial” series are about to get hectic, a little crazy.  The enemies of Jesus are ready to pounce.  Judas is now on their payroll, and it could happen at any minute.  Somewhere out there in the city, they lurk and conspire.

Soon it will come to a head:  their plot – and God’s plan.  Here is what is coming in the next 24 hours – the mob arrest in Gethsemane, the trials before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, and Pilate again; the crucifixion and death on Calvary, and the burial in the tomb.

But not yet.  For a few hours in this second-floor room, it is just Jesus and his disciples.  How He has longed for this moment.

“RESPITE”

This time with his disciples is precious to him.  He enjoys being around them.  It is a good respite before the turmoil.

It is more than that, of course.  They are not just hanging out watching the NCAA basketball tournament.  They have gathered to celebrate the Passover – to remember the night the Lord rescued the Israelites from Egypt.  The Lord led them out of slavery, and they celebrated with a meal.

It was not just a look to the past but also a look ahead.  The perfect Lamb of God, the Christ would be sacrificed for the people.  His blood would protect them from God’s wrath.  He would give them freedom from their slavery to sin and death.  

We haven’t hit on the best part yet.  On this night for the first time, Jesus grants to his people his real body and blood, the very things he’ll give in death the next day.  He gives a down payment on the new covenant, the new pact God will make with sinners – sealed with Jesus’ blood shed on the cross – a promise of forgiveness through faith.  Jesus institutes a meal that is still being celebrated every week in Christian Churches around the world.  How we long to take our places at the table.

Our enemies, like Judas, are ready to pounce.  They lurk outside these walls looking to put God and his people on trial.  They ridicule the words God has given us and conspire to prevent those words from influencing our culture and our children.  That is why it is good to be in this room, God’s House with God’s people.

We cannot deny that we bring our sin in here.  The church doors are not some kind of airlock that keeps spiritual contaminants out.  Where there are sinners, there is sin.  Sin was in the upper room in the hearts of the disciples.  We drag our guilt in here with us for all the times we have been easy prey for our greatest enemy.  We carry in our doubts and fears.

Which is why we need to be here.  In this room, Jesus gathers us together to assure us that his blood covers our sins and shields us from God’s anger.  When you hear God’s Word here, Jesus is speaking to your hearts just as if he were sitting across the table from you.  More than that, he invites you to the table.  Gives you his body and blood in an unbreakable pact, a promise of forgiveness through faith, sealed with the blood of the Lamb of God.

When do you need a respite?  For me it will be next week.  The last two months have been crazy busy.  But I am not alone.  In this sanctuary we have people changing jobs, planning to move out of state, contemplating their future, traveling for work or pleasure.  We have others dealing with sickness, chronic pain, or family problems that won’t go away.  The reasons we need a respite are endless.

Tonight, Jesus gives the invitation.  “Come with me to a quiet room.  Come recline at my table.  Let’s celebrate a special meal together.  I have made the preparations, there is nothing you need to do.  The food is ready.  The drink is prepared.  It is my body and blood.  Let me serve you.  Let me strengthen you for the struggle of tomorrow.”  Here, in this moment, at this table, it is just you and Jesus and the company of heaven.

And one more thing.  As Jesus gathers us, he gathers us together in one body.  To your right and to your left, here at Jesus’ Table, are your brothers and sisters, who are fighting alongside you, facing the same enemies, needing the same Divine strength, and receiving the same forgiveness with you.

It is about to get hectic, but this Supper is a respite.  Here we find peace.  Here we kneel in the presence of God.  Here we are surrounded by his people.  Here it’s like . . .

Heaven.

Amen.  

March 24, 2024 – Palm Sunday       Text:  Zechariah 9:9-12

Dear Friends in Christ,

A few weeks back I was watching a college basketball game between Creighton University and the University of Connecticut.  U Conn at the time was the #1 ranked team in college basketball.  Creighton beat them.  This brought the usual storming of the court by the students.  As I watched this unfold on our television, I focused in on one student in the middle of the melee.  He was hopping up and down with his phone in one hand well over his head, probably filming the whole thing.  He was totally oblivious to everything else, but he was getting the picture or video he wanted.  It was all about him.  Can’t anybody enjoy the moment these days without getting out their phone?  Don’t we all have less pictures in our homes these days because we no longer have cameras?  So much of history is going to be lost to cyberspace, but that is a whole other sermon. 

Today is Palm Sunday, and while we don’t get the gospels we used to get as kids that told the story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey, we get a glimpse of it in today’s Old Testament lesson.  So come along . . .

“FOLLOWING THE DONKEY”

We begin, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Jesus is riding into the fray of chariots, war horses, and battle-bows.  He rides and is ready to cut them off with merely a word.  Once more today we welcome heaven’s King.  He arrives in triumph but still rides that same old donkey.  His technology hasn’t changed.  His mount is as effective in cutting off a chariot or war horse as it would be in a dogfight against an F-15.  Apparently, no matter the age, this is the only way he enters the world’s battles.

He faces the hostile crowds and the empire’s governor and soldiers with nothing but his integrity, memory of His Baptism and the word of truth that declared who He is.  We have seen him arrive so many times that we know how the journey ends, with beatings and torture.  The King comes into his glory on a wooden, cross-shaped bloodied throne.

Every year we follow the donkey.  We walk beside the donkey-rider.  What are we going to witness when we get to Jerusalem?  Are we jumping around the donkey rider with our phone trying to get a picture for our Facebook or Instagram account?  Or are we paying attention to what is happening?  See, it is not about you and snapping the right photo.  Nobody cares….except the one on the donkey.  That is where our eyes and ears should be focused.  

We follow closely as he takes us into places he warned us about.  We too stand before kings, governors, the powerful rulers for his sake, armed with our integrity and grounded in our Baptism.  We hear that voice, “You are my child.  Our lives are bound up with each other.”  

The donkey rider leads us into boardrooms and classrooms and prisons and kitchens and bedrooms where people with powerful words rip and tear at each other.  He leads us to so many places, all named Golgotha, where the innocent are caught in deadly traps, where children and dreams die together in such numbers that we cannot even remember them for their sheer multitude.  Those places become our places in this world, the places where we most truly belong.

What is this donkey rider going to do?  He is going to cut off the chariot and the war horse and the battle bow.  He is going to speak peace to the nations and through his blood bought covenant he is going to set us prisoners free from our waterless pit.  He will restore us and make us prisoners of hope.  Knowing the dungeon of our sin has been expunged by the donkey rider. 

Our journey in following the donkey can be at times fearful and lonely.  But we have been following since Advent when Isaiah bid us to rise up from our far-off exile and make a glorious return to Jerusalem on the King’s grand, new highway.  The prophet promised that we would go out in joy and be led back in peace.  The hills and mountains would burst into song and the trees would clap their hands in accompaniment.

So, when we find ourselves in the wilderness, we need to remember to sing.  “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna!”  The hills echo our songs.  And the trees?  Yes, they did applaud. 

We are still singing today as we go into Jerusalem.  We must follow the donkey because we are about to witness our salvation.  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem!  The praise of our gentle King will carry us onward as we follow the donkey.

Amen. 

March 20, 2024 – Lent Text:  Luke 23:26-34

Dear Friends in Christ,

There are less and less Christians in the United States.  A middle schooler is shamed by his teacher in front of the class for saying he believes God created the world.  A woman loses her job for refusing to go along with immoral and unethical behavior.  People give caricatures of Christians that are unflattering.  Does any of this bother you?  Should we look for pity?  Is that what Jesus would say?  

Jesus sure makes for a sympathetic figure on his way to Golgotha.  Actually, pathetic might be a better word.  His back is shredded.  Face is mangled from the punches.  Blood is dripping from the thorns.  He has been up all night and is exhausted, he can’t even carry his own cross.  And you Christians, this is your Savior from sin?  Ha!

No wonder the women were mourning.  They were in tears at the brutality.  As He walks to the cross does Jesus need our  . . . 

“SYMPATHY”

Well, does he?  Look at the text.  “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.”  Just five days earlier, Jesus had wept for the people of Jerusalem.  Because they rejected the Messiah, they would experience God’s judgment.  History records that is what happened to mothers and children when the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem a generation later. 

Jesus uses a proverb for a warning.  “For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (v. 31).   Jesus is saying that if he, the innocent one, was tortured and put to death, how much more could the sinful inhabitants of Jerusalem expect to suffer and die?  Could we turn that saying toward us?  If Jesus, the perfect Son of God, was put on trial and suffered, why would we sinners be surprised when the same happens to us?

When we watch Christianity decline, when we see portions of society leaving godly values behind, when we might experience some form of rejection because of our Jesus connection, do we see ourselves as victims in need of sympathy?  If we do, then we have lost perspective.  We still are blessed in our freedom to worship and to wear a cross and to say a prayer and witness to our faith.  Look around the world brothers and sisters at our fellow Christians in other parts of the world who are hiding for their faith, smuggling in their Bibles and going to jail for preaching Christ crucified.  If we are playing the woe-is-me mentality than we are sinfully self-centered.

God never told us to play the victim.  Self-pity is the opposite of what we see in
Jesus.  His pity is not for himself but for the women – and the children and their husbands and all their countrymen who are going to suffer.  His pity extends to the cross, “Father, forgive them.”  Forgive who?  The disciples?  Those poor women?  No, the soldiers who are driving the nails through his hands and feet.

  Jesus’ words reveal a heart focused not on self but on others.  Jesus had sympathy for us.  Relish that for a moment.  Jesus didn’t just weep for you, he took God’s punishment for you.  He died for you.  He shed his blood to cover you, to hide you from the destruction to come.  Through pain and fatigue and insult, you were on his mind.

Jesus can sympathize with us in our weakness.  His heart still goes out to us when we suffer, including and especially when we suffer for his name.  Don’t wallow in self-pity.  Look past yourself to him.  Let him help you carry your crosses and give you strength in His Word and Sacraments.  

He allows us to have sympathy for our brothers and sisters in the faith who are struggling with pain and temptation.  We have fellow Christians feeling alone because of the attacks on their faith.  Our Savior would have us pray for them, reach out to them, and remind them of his promises.

Then our Lord would direct our sympathy toward our enemies.  There is a destruction coming that is worse than what happened to Jerusalem.  The people of the world, even the ones who make our lives harder as Christians, don’t know it’s coming!  Just like those putting God on trial.  They do not realize they are fighting against the Son of God, and they have no idea how badly that fight will end for them. 

What can we do for these misguided souls?  Warn them.  Pray for them.  Tell them about God’s forgiveness.  Point them to a Savior whose compassion knows no limit.  In other words, let’s save the sympathy for others.  God can change their hearts, like he did a centurion soldier – “Surely he was the Son of God.”  May that be our prayer.

Amen.