The cost of our redemption

Sermon for Good Friday

Three months before Jesus was born, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, rejoiced at Jesus’ conception and sang these words, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.” What did he mean? How had the Lord redeemed His people? He had redeemed them by fulfilling what we might call “phase 1” of His plan of redemption, the “rescue” of the human race from sin, death, and the power of the devil. He had come to their rescue, in person. The Redeemer of sinful human beings had to become a human being. That phase of our redemption is what we celebrate at Christmas, although, in reality, it took place nine months before Jesus was born.

What we remember on Good Friday, what we ponder, what we celebrate is the completion of Phase 2 of our redemption: the cost that had to be paid.

There’s a Psalm that says, “No one can by any means redeem another, nor give to God a ransom for anyone, for the redemption of their souls is costly.” All have sinned. The wages of sin is death. Therefore, everyone needs to be redeemed, ransomed, rescued from sin and death, but no one could pay the cost. No one, except for the Son of God. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” It took the perfect, sinless life of the Son of God to redeem sinners, a life of perfect love and obedience to God at the expense of His own comfort, His own glory. Jesus paid that cost every day of His life. But it also took all the humiliation you heard about in today’s Passion readings. It took the denial and betrayal and abandonment of friends. It took the hatred and scheming of His enemies. It took the anguish of His soul in the Garden, and the anguish of His body as He was whipped and beaten and crowned with thorns. It took all the injustice He suffered at the hands of men, and the mockery of the soldiers and of the priests of God. It took the agony of trying to bear His own cross toward the hill called Calvary, of being nailed to the tree and left to hang from it. It took the feeling of being forsaken not only by men but by His own Father in heaven. It took experiencing the wrongness of death. That’s what it took to redeem mankind from sin and death. That was the cost.

But now, “It is finished.” The second phase of our redemption is complete. The cost has been paid. Forgiveness for all people has been earned. Reparations have been provided, the only reparations God will accept: the atoning sacrifice of His beloved Son. That means there is no price left for anyone to pay. You don’t have to atone for your sins or earn God’s forgiveness, either by your suffering, or by your works. In fact, you dare not try. Only the obedience, suffering, and death of the Lord Jesus Christ is acceptable to the Father on behalf of sinners. And now He invites you to use that sacrifice, to approach Him through Jesus’ sacrifice, through Jesus’ death, as the high, high cost of your redemption. In other words, He invites you to put your faith in the Lord Jesus, to believe in Him who has redeemed you.

And what do you mean when you say, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Let it mean exactly what our catechism says it means in the Second Article, the article of Redemption:

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; who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death; that I should be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from death, lives and reigns forever and ever. This is most certainly true. Amen.