Sermon for April 8, 2012, Matins, The Resurrection of Our Lord, Easter Dawn B

The Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.

1 Corinthians 5:6b-8

Celebrate the Festival

The Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Dawn, 08 April 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming

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

            Ask any Lutheran what Lutherans do when we get together, and what will the answer be? (Pause) Eat! (Pause) Pastors would love to hear the other answer first: receive the Lord’s gifts and worship Him. But even the first answer confesses that we taste and see that the Lord is good when we feed on His Word and upon His Body and Blood.

            Whether it is a Circuit Pastors’ Winkel, an LWML event, the congregational “pot-luck,” or another festival, with Jesus as our guest, His gifts to us are blest, indeed.

            We rejoice in the daily bread our Lord gives. We receive it with thanksgiving. Where would we be without yeast? Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Yeast is robust and effective. Bakers know the amazing things that yeast, leavening, can do for breads and other Lutheran desserts.

            Bakers also know that yeast can be temperamental. If the yeast is too old, the water is too hot, or if salt is added to the recipe too quickly, the yeast won’t work. It could even die. Normally, we think of that as a bad thing.

Our text says, “7Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.”

You have heard it said, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” 2 Cor. 5:17 (ESV) Behold! Anyone who is in Christ is a new lump! You are unleavened! Huh? What does this mean? The old leaven is malice and evil. The Christian, the new lump that you are, is forgiven. You are reborn. You confess, “I am baptized!” You have been washed white in the blood of the Lamb. Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed and Resurrected. You are cleansed, you are redeemed, you are saved from sin, death, and the power of the devil. And, you go and sin no more. The baptized are not given to do malice and evil. That would be giving in to the old leaven, the yeast of the old Adam.

            Bakers know that yeast can be temperamental. If the yeast is too old, the water is too hot, or if salt (Pause) is added to the recipe too quickly, the yeast won’t work. Where would we be without salt?

Salt was a valuable preservative. We read of it being used in ancient times, the middle ages, and even pioneer days. In the Old Testament, salt was valuable / as were choice, unblemished lambs and the high quality grain offerings. The people of Israel are told in Leviticus: (2:13) Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.”

Salt gave a sense of continuity. God blessed Israel richly. And using salt on a sacrifice preserved the memory of these blessings in their minds. We see salt not just as a preservative of food, but a description of how God preserves His people throughout the ages.

Salt is to yeast what Christ is to malice and evil. Where would we be without Christ? For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  8Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

            Getting up for an Easter Sunrise Service can be a challenge. So it is also with holding to the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The devil, the world, and even your own sinful flesh want to add the yeast of evil, malice, and sin to every batch of your spiritual bread. The world wants a Church that will compromise. The DaVinci Code wants you to believe that Christianity is a lie and that Jesus was just a man, faked His death, married Mary Magdalene, and fathered a daughter by her, and that His bloodline is the true Holy Grail. The Devil wants you to give in to your basest desires, and your sinful flesh is willing all-too-often. And even so-called fellow Christians want us to “get with the times” and water-down Biblical practice and doctrine until both become a matter of personal preference, indistinguishable from the rest of the world.

Holding to Christ and His Word in sincerity and truth is something for every generation. Every person should be taught the faith—the responsibility of each spiritual head of household, every pastor, and each congregation as the body of Christ.

St. Paul (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5) describes what pastors have been given to do: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

A congregation, District, or Church Body, like the LCMS, can remain faithful only when all are faithful. A pastor who ignores Scripture under pressure from a congregation, peers, human authority, or other Christian traditions is unfaithful. Church Discipline is a helpful but rarely used resource of the Lord. What if a congregation strays from truth in doctrine or practice? Do sister congregations care enough about one another and the Lord’s truth to act out of a motivation of love?

Remaining Faithful is hard work. We have to resist the influences of the world, the devil, and our own sinful flesh. It takes time in the Word, study of the Word and doctrinal topics, as well as study of the spiritual context we live in. It takes dedication to remain true to our Lutheran Confessional heritage: the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, and the Small Catechism, Large Catechism, Augsburg Confession, plus the rest of the contents of the Concordia, the Book of Concord.

At the same time, celebrating the festival in sincerity and truth is the easiest thing in the world. We first hear the Lord in His Word, believe it, do it, and continue Hearing, believing, and doing it. We are in the Word of God so that we know what it says—so that we know what we as Lutheran Christians believe, teach, and confess. False teaching will then stand out like dirt against white snow. And we continually are given to be at Divine Service regularly—without excuse—regularly receiving the gifts the Lord has appointed to keep us faithful until He returns or calls us home.

The Christian, the new lump that you are, you are forgiven. You are reborn. You confess, “I am baptized!” You have been washed white in the blood of the Lamb. You are cleansed, you are redeemed, you are saved from sin, death, and the power of the devil. And, you go and sin no more. For Christ, your Passover Lamb has been sacrificed and Resurrected. Let us therefore celebrate the festival with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Amen.

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

Sermon for April 6, 2012, Good Friday B

The Rev. Paul J Cain

John 19:17-30

It Is Finished

Good Friday, 6 April 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, WY

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

LSB 450:5: What language shall I borrow To thank Thee, dearest Friend, For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end? O make me Think forever! And should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never, Outlive my love for Thee.

The theology of the cross obviously does not mean that for the theologian the whole church year shrinks to Good Friday. It rather means that one cannot understand Christmas, Easter, or Pentecost without Good Friday. Luther was, alongside of Irenaeus and Athanasius, one of the great theologians of the incarnation. He was that because he saw the cross behind the manger. He understood the victory of Easter as well as any theologian of the Eastern Church. But he understood it because he understood it as the victory of the Crucified. The same can be said of his understanding of the activity of the Holy Ghost. It is always the cross which illuminates all chapters of theology because the deepest nature of revelation is hidden in the cross. This being so, Luther’s theologia crucis wants to be more than one of the many theological theories which have appeared in the course of the history of the Church. It claims to be, in contrast to another theology, which now prevails in Christendom and which Luther calls the theologia gloriae, the correct, the scriptural theology with which the Church of Christ stands and falls. Only of the preaching of this theology, Luther thinks, can it be said that it is the preaching of the Gospel.

Sasse, Letters to Lutheran Pastors 18, 1951

Posted by Rev. Matt Harrison at 4:24 PM

http://mercyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/04/sasse-on-good-friday.html

It is finished. The cross is where salvation was accomplished. Period. The Lord Himself also does the work of delivering that salvation to you, here and now, in Word and Sacrament. That is also finished and is difficult for American Christians to believe.John 19:17-30 is at the core of these comforting truths.

So they took Jesus, ¹⁷ and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. ¹⁹ Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰ Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. ²¹ So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” ²² Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

Jesus is now enthroned on the cross between those appointed to be on His right and His left. Sorry, James and John. This is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. The four letters I N R I are often found at the top of a cross. This is the Latin abbreviation of the title, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Pilate has spoken, for his work is finished. 

²³ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, ²⁴ so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

The dead have no need for clothing, the soldiers think to themselves. The whole is greater than the parts, so they gamble for Jesus’ tunic. The soldiers have a very practical view of death. As you know, His is no ordinary life or death, for He lives again.

So the soldiers did these things, ²⁵ but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Behold, Jesus says to his mother and his beloved disciple, John, our narrator. As a good son, He honors His mother, keeping the commandment. Is His vocation of Son now complete, too?

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. ^[1]

Jesus rejected the drugged wine before. He submits to drinking wine vinegar, knowing that all was now finished. And he speaks: It is finished. And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Note: The salvation Christ won on the cross has truly come to pass (objective reality). But unless the Holy Spirit applies that salvation to us personally and individually (subjectively), it will remain hidden from us. Sanctification is often understood to refer to our good works. (Here) Luther uses it, as the Bible often does, to describe the entire work of the Holy Spirit bringing us salvation, including justification. [In the next question,] Luther [will drive] (drives) home the point that “Church” is, first and foremost, the people the Holy Spirit is gathering together through the preaching of the Gospel. It is not primarily a building or an institution. Luther suggests it is best to understand the “communion of saints” as a “community of saints” or a “holy community.” It is not holy because of their works, but because of the Holy Spirit’s work in their midst. Within the Church the Holy Spirit, through preaching and through “signs” (that is, the sacraments), forgives us and keeps us in the faith. Therefore, in this sense, it is right to say that outside the Church there is no salvation. This is not because of an infallible papacy, but because of what is going on by the Spirit’s power. He works the forgiveness of sins and continues that work to the very end of time. (See AC VII/VIII; SA III XII.)^[2]

Luther writes: ³⁸ Neither you nor I could ever know anything about Christ, or believe on Him, and have Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel [1 Corinthians 12:3; Galatians 4:6]. The work of redemption is done and accomplished [John 19:30]. Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, and so on [Colossians 2:3]. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew about it, then it would be useless and lost. So that this treasure might not stay buried, but be received and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed. In the Word He has the Holy Spirit bring this treasure home and make it our own. ³⁹ Therefore, sanctifying is just bringing us to Christ so we receive this good, which we could not get ourselves [1 Peter 3:18].^[3]

Similarly, the Formula of Concord confesses: ⁴ 3. God the Holy Spirit, however, does not bring about conversion without means. For this purpose He uses the preaching and hearing of God’s Word, as it is written in Romans 1:16, the Gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” ⁵ Also Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” It is God’s will that His Word should be heard and that a person’s ears should not be closed (Psalm 95:8). With this Word the Holy Spirit is present and opens hearts, so that people (like Lydia in Acts 16:14) pay attention to it and are converted only through the Holy Spirit’s grace and power, who alone does the work of converting a person. ⁶ For without His grace, and if He does not grant the increase, our willing and running, our planting, sowing, and watering (1 Corinthians 3:5–7)—are all nothing. As Christ says ‹in John 15:5›, “apart from Me you can do nothing.” With these brief words the Spirit denies free will its powers and ascribes everything to God’s grace, in order that no one may boast before God (1 Corinthians 1:29; [2 Corinthians 12:5; Jeremiah 9:23]).^[4]

It is as we memorize the Bible truth in the Small Catechism: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. He did this not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, so that I may be His own, live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.^[5]  Amen.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Jn 19:16–30). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[2] Concordia : The Lutheran Confessions. 2005 (Edited by Paul Timothy McCain) (402–403). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

^[3] Concordia : The Lutheran Confessions. 2005 (Edited by Paul Timothy McCain) (403). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

^[4] Concordia : The Lutheran Confessions. 2005 (Edited by Paul Timothy McCain) (478). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

^[5] Concordia : The Lutheran Confessions. 2005 (Edited by Paul Timothy McCain) (329). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

Sermon for April 5, 2012, Holy (Maundy) Thursday B

The Rev. Paul J Cain

Mark 14:12–26

Nothing But the Blood of Jesus

Holy (Maundy) Thursday, 5 April 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, WY

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

This is the night on which He was betrayed. Jesus’ Last Will and Testament proclaims: Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

Tonight, we will sing, “O precious is the flow That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know; Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” That is the well-known refrain of “Nothing but the Blood,” a hymn by Robert Lowry, absent from Lutheran Service Book. Why? For all the Gospel comfort it extols, the text fails to concretely locate the forgiveness of sins. Tonight, the night on which Jesus was betrayed, the Sacrament of the Altar provides the perfect context for locating the forgiveness of sins where Jesus has promised that we will find it!

Dr. Luther writes, “So that our readers may the better perceive our teaching I shall clearly and broadly describe it. We treat of the forgiveness of sins in two ways. First, how it is achieved and won. Second, how it is distributed and given to us. Christ has achieved it on the cross, it is true. But he has not distributed or given it on the cross. He has not won it in the supper or sacrament. There he has distributed and given it through the Word, as also in the gospel, where it is preached. He has won it once for all on the cross. But the distribution takes place continuously, before and after, from the beginning to the end of the world. For inasmuch as he had determined once to achieve it, it made no difference to him whether he distributed it before or after, through his Word, as can easily be proved from Scripture. But now there is neither need nor time to do so.

“If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ, (as Dr. Karlstadt trifles), in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either. But I will find in the sacrament or gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross. Therefore, Luther has rightly taught that whoever has a bad conscience from his sins should go to the sacrament [of the altar] and obtain comfort, not because of the bread and wine, not because of the body and blood of Christ, but because of the word which in the sacrament offers, presents, and gives the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for me. Is that not clear enough? (Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 40: Luther's works, vol. 40 : Church and Ministry II (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (213–214). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.)

12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, [Jesus’] (his) disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

Because of the shed blood of the perfect lamb on the doorposts of a house when the Israelites were in Egypt, the Angel of Death was able to “pass over” that home. A sacrifice of atonement had been made. This is Jesus’ Passover. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world once and for all.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

The meaning of the question “Is it I?” does not mesh with the words of Jesus we so often hear this week: “You have said so.” Reword the disciples’ question this way: “It is I?” Take away the question mark and you have a confession of sin. We all have betrayed our Lord. We all are in need of the cleansing forgiveness of the Lord’s Supper.

For my pardon this I see: Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing this my plea: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

These are the Words of Jesus’ Testament, the new Testament in His blood, poured out for you. We are not saved by the good we have done. We are saved by Jesus. We are credited with the good He is and has done in our stead and by His Words of Promise.

Nothing can for sin atone: Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Naught of good that I have done: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Scholars tell us they likely sang Psalms 113-118. Psalm 116 is part of Divine Service Settings 1 and 2 in Lutheran Service Book. We rightly praise the Lord for hope, peace, and righteousness in Jesus Christ!

This is all my hope and peace: Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

To summarize Dr. Luther: “Christ has achieved [the forgiveness of sins] on the cross, it is true. But he has not distributed or given it on the cross. He has not won it in the supper or sacrament. There he has distributed and given it through the Word, as also in the gospel, where it is preached. He has won it once for all on the cross….If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ…in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either. But I will find in the sacrament or gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross…”

Refrain: O precious is the flow That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know; Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Amen.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

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^[1] Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 40: Luther's works, vol. 40 : Church and Ministry II (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (213–214). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Sermon for 01 April 2012, Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion B

The Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.

St. Mark 15:1-39

Expected

Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion, 01 April 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

          “Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked. Jesus responded, “You have said so.” That English translation doesn’t do the Greek justice here. Let’s retranslate: “You are King of the Jews?” Take away the question mark and Jesus’ response, “You have said so” makes perfect sense.

Our Lord didn’t meet the expectations of the people of His day. He was legitimately the King of the Jews. After all, isn’t that the One the Wise Men of Matthew 2 came seeking? Another Gentile, Pontius Pilate, declared Him innocent, but the will of the people overrode the “not guilty” verdict. He was given over to be crucified.

The soldiers didn’t think much of the King of the Jews. After having flogged him, they held a mock coronation. The real one was yet to come. A purple robe was put on Him. Purple, or violet, one of the hardest colors to produce in the ancient world, was a sign of royalty. Undoubtedly, the cloth stuck to His bloody back, and the fresh scabs were pulled off when the robe was removed, producing fresh bleeding. A crown with thorns the size of our modern nails was pressed into His head. These thorns have little to do with a North American rose bush. Then, the mocking words. This was all a joke to these Romans.

The end was near for this Jesus of Nazareth. You can tell because Simon was pressed into service to help Our Lord carry the cross. And the soldiers are mentioned again in passing. A dead man doesn’t need clothes. They cast lots to divide His possessions.

Even passerby get into the act. He is not what they expected. “So, You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” The mocking continued with the chief priests and teachers of the law. They spoke these words only among themselves, but Jesus still heard them: “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”

And to add insult to injury, those crucified with Him heaped on more insults. One, we know, repented and was remembered by his Lord that very day in paradise.

He had hung on the cross for three hours by this time, since His crucifixion at nine in the morning. It was now the sixth hour by the Roman clock, noon. Darkness came over the whole land..

Jesus continues to disappoint the expectations of His own people and others looking on. They are listening, but appear to be clueless. His quotation of Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, is apparently unintelligible to them. They clearly hear the words in the Aramaic language, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” and they mistake His calling upon “Eloi,” that is, “My God” as a reference to Elijah. Elijah does not come, because the one like Elijah has already come—John the Baptizer.

After drinking wine vinegar from a sponge on a stick and a loud cry, Jesus breathed His last. And the massive curtain of the temple was torn in two. But this is probably not the most surprising part in this portion of Mark 15.

And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard His cry and saw how He died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Think about it. The leaders of His own people had been out to get Him as an excuse to be rid of Him and His supposedly troublesome teaching—troublesome because He caught the Sadducees doubting God’s Word, and the Pharisees being hypocrites! Jesus didn’t fit with their preconceptions of what Messiah would be like.

Up to this point, everybody misses the point of Jesus, but one person gets it: the Roman centurion! He understands. He confesses Jesus as the Son of God, even the Son of God dead upon a cross. Joseph of Arimathea recovers the body. The women note where His tomb is so that they may prepare it later with spices.

We dare not judge those who expected a different Jesus too harshly, for by the standard we judge, shall we be judged. Be honest, at least with yourself. We all have expectations of God, ideas of what He is like, what He can or should be able to do for us. Scripture should shape our individual theology-study of God, but often, the influence of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh pushes such Biblical consideration aside in place of something that we think will better fit our needs. And there we are, worse off than even those who handed Jesus over to be crucified.

Sometimes our own thoughts and doubts nearly overwhelm us. “Why didn’t God heal my grandmother? I certainly prayed hard enough!” “Where was God on September 11^th?” “Why does God allow wars to happen?” “If He is so loving, why does He send those who don’t believe in Jesus to hell?” Such thoughts are common. And instead of doing the difficult, time-consuming study of the Scriptures to find answers to these questions and more, we find it easier to create a new idol, a false god in our own images. But we forget, that this tailored, trimmed-down, cut-and-paste “customized” god is really no god at all. It is only an idol, a creation of our own minds and hands and has no power to save. It doesn’t exist, except in our own dead minds and living excuses.

And we again are confronted by Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Before the soldiers at the Praetorium, the idea of a coronation was a joke. At the cross, it becomes real. The Good Friday cross was not a surprise to Our Lord, no matter what the faithless liberal textual critics say. As with the bronze snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. He did pray, Lord, save me from this hour, but by couching it in the petition, Thy will be done, He again shows us that He knew that it was for this hour, this cross, that He had come in the first place. And there He hangs, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, enthroned upon His cross.

Since it was not a surprise to Him, but rather something He expected, it doesn’t matter what the Jews’ expectations are. It matters not what our own expectations were. The blood shed on that cross atoned for the sins of the whole world. The blood of Jesus washes away all of your sin. All means all!

If He would have come down from the cross at the request of passerby and the chief priests and teachers of the law, He would not have saved anyone—not even Himself. He died so that we might die to sin, so that the Old Adam and all our sins and sinful desires and faithless thoughts would die. Easter is coming. Then we will remember that we have been raised to new life with Him. For now, let us now continue to ponder on His Holy Passion, for the forgiveness of our sins. And by faith, we see what the Centurion never expected. Amen.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.