Good Friday

<)) Listen to the sermon here

[John 19:30] So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Ye Who Think of Sin but Lightly

“Ye who think of sin but lightly Nor suppose the evil great Here may view its nature rightly, Here its guilt may estimate…” [Lutheran Service Book, Hymn #451, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted]

It is not a light matter. “Sin is lawlessness” [1 John 3:4]. More cataclysmic than defying the laws of nature, lawless hearts, lawless tongues, and lawless deeds defy God Himself, violate the blueprint of our creation, and bring death where there was life.

In this world and life, crimes come in varying degrees, and most wrongs are not even illegal. But God’s justice reaches through our whole body – and to the soul, to the desires, the heart, mind, and thought - and to the tongue, our words. To every part of us that God has created.

As the law says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” – “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” [Matthew 22:37-40]. But God finds lawlessness.

In the crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus bears your lawlessness. Jesus is afflicted by your sin. The sin and lawlessness of the world, of all man, reaches His heart, soul, mind, and flesh. It is not a light matter, but is very great.

In the crucifixion of Jesus, the Son of God bears the sin of the world in more than one way:

(1) First, Jesus, the Innocent One, suffered with those innocently accused and abused. He suffered, unjustly, with those who suffer the lawlessness of this world unjustly. He became joined with those who are wronged, abused, or lied about – publicly, or personally.

Jesus was falsely accused of wrongs He did not do. He was denied due process and given a sham trial. The law-men acted lawlessly to put Him to death.

He was struck in the face. He was denied and betrayed, personally, by close friends – disciples – who should’ve loved Him, and whom He still loved.

Jesus bears the sin of the world by suffering what it is to be wronged, to be sinned against, or abused. He suffered with all who are wronged – known or unknown – to become their Savior, and is with them always, everywhere.

(2) Secondly, Jesus suffered the world’s rejection of God. Man’s rejection of God, rejection of goodness, rejection of truth, rejection of purity, and hatred for God’s righteousness – this fell upon Jesus on the cross.

“The reproaches of those who reproached You fell upon Me” [Romans 15:3; Psalm 69:9]. He is the Lord. The world’s hatred for their God found opportunity to strike Him because He had become flesh and dwelled among them.

In so far as God’s name and righteousness, and the proclamation of the truth, still dwell in Jesus’ body on earth, His church, this is the part of the cross that we still bear – where Jesus says, “Deny yourselves and take up your cross and follow Me.” [Luke 9:23]

(3) And third, Jesus suffered my sin and your sin – and the sin of all mankind – by making it His sin and suffering as the Sinner, though He had no sin. “For our sake, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin.” [2 Corinthians 5:21]

“Ye who think of sin but lightly, Here its guilt may estimate” – here on the cross.

On the cross Jesus carried sin. The sin I justify as not so bad. The sin I give my reasons for. The sin I say is not sin. The sin of my deeds, of my unheard words, of my heart, is turned inside out and displayed in the open upon the cross. There it is!

In the flesh of the brutalized Jesus. “As one from whom men hide their faces” – “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form beyond that of the children of mankind” [Isaiah 52:14; 53:3]    

In the horror of the spectacle of what He became on that cross – in His blood-soaked face – so beaten, abused, and marred, beyond recognizable as human – there, in that terrible appearance, we see the visual of our own sins.

What my sin is was finally seen when Jesus carried it on His cross.

But then, in His flesh – not in mine – but in His body on that cross, my sin died [Romans 8:3]. In Him. All that is sin in me and you, in Him it was condemned and put to death by the justice of God. In His flesh.

Jesus carried it to set you free from it. And then He said, “It is finished” [John 19:30], and bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

 “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [Romans 5:8]. “He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that brought us peace, and by His wounds we are healed… the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” [Isaiah 53:5-6].

Sin is not a light matter. Which makes Jesus a weighty Savior. Thanks be to God! (1) He suffered with those who suffer unjustly – and is with them always. (2) He suffered man’s rejection of God – and prayed, “Father, forgive them” [Luke 23:34]. (3) He suffered for your sin and died for you – you are forgiven.

All by a payment worth far more than your sins and all the world’s wrongs. It is finished. He is sufficient. And all of this ends with the resurrection of His body unto eternal life – life which He shares with you for free.

Knowing this, let us love Jesus even more. And let’s love the neighbor and the stranger for whom He also died, not in word or talk only, but in deed and in truth, as He has loved us [1 John 3:18]. Amen.