Welcome to this new day – the day of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead! Jesus rose on the first day of the week, which began at sunset tonight. And since then, every first day of the week has been blessed. Since then, every first day of the week has become a celebration of Easter as the Church gathers around her risen Lord in Word and Sacrament until he comes again in glory to raise all the dead and to bring us into that great wedding banquet that has no end.
Today is also the Third Day – the Third Day of the Paschal Triduum, the blessed Third Day about which Jesus said, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”
Today has also been called “The Eighth Day” – the day of the new creation. For God made all things in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. And Christ labored for the six days of Holy Week and on the seventh day his lifeless bones rested in the tomb. But now he rests no more. Now he is risen from the dead and that changes everything. You can’t just start over again counting the days of the week as man has done since the beginning of creation, because this creation is waxing old, like a garment. This creation is destined for fire, because the sin of man – the sin of us all – has ruined it. We’ve ruined everything, and so everything must pass away; everything must be destroyed. Everything – except for the living Lord Jesus. He has already conquered sin and passed from death to immortality. He is the beginning of the new creation, a perfect creation, and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. He is our doorway out of this dying world and our entrance into the life of the next.
And we enter through that doorway through Holy Baptism. It’s no accident that ancient baptismal fonts were octagonal – eight-sided – in shape. Because the Church understood what was really going on in that Sacrament, what was really happening in the spiritual realm. The baptized is being drawn out of this dying world and into the new creation of Christ, being clothed with Christ and with his resurrected life, the life that belongs to all of you who have been baptized and believe in the risen One.
So welcome to this day, fellow believers! Today is a new day with the dawning of new life and the beginning of the destruction of death. And whether we remember it as the first day, or the third day, or the eighth day, let us remember with the Psalmist that this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24)! Amen.
Now the first Holy Day of the Three Holy Days comes to a close and a new day begins now at sunset – a special Sabbath Day for the Son of God, a day of perfect, undisturbed rest for his dead body in Joseph’s tomb. And just as God rested from his whole work of creating the universe on the seventh day of creation, so the Son of God rested from his whole work of salvation on the seventh day of that first Holy Week.
It had been quite a day, with all the suffering and death that the whole world of sinners had coming to them, now poured out on the sinners’ Substitute – all in a single day. And yet, even after as he died and before he was buried, God already pointed to the three gifts that flow out of Jesus’ death. Of all the things to think about and remember as Good Friday comes to a close, remember the Spirit, the water and the blood.
With his Passion – his suffering – complete, with his work of redemption finished, Jesus breathed his last and “gave up his spirit.” Then one of the soldiers pierced his side, and out came blood and water.
The Apostle John points us to those three things in his Gospel, and explains it in his first Epistle, This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
What do these three agree about? Well, they agree that Jesus really, truly and actually died. He gave up his spirit, and blood and water flowed out of his side when it was pierced.
But they agree on more than that. Because, John says, not that they testified when Jesus died, but that they testify now. To what?
To exactly what Psalm 130 says: If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
That Psalm is fulfilled on Good Friday, at the great “It is finished!” The Lord did redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
But how is that redemption applied to you? How is it the forgiveness Jesus won applied to you so that you may be justified? How does the forgiveness that is “with the Lord” get to you so that you are forgiven, so that you can stand before God?
It’s by the Spirit, the water and the blood.
On that very first Easter Sunday, the risen Jesus would appear to his disciples, breathe on them and say, “Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” The Spirit of Jesus hands out the forgiveness Jesus won on the cross in Holy Absolution, in the forgiving word spoken by the ministers of Christ.
It’s also by the water, by which the Spirit plunges us back through time and unites us with Christ. What did Peter say on Pentecost? Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins!
It’s also by the blood. What did Jesus say at the very beginning of that first Holy Day, “Take, eat; this is my body. Take, drink; this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this…”
All the benefits won by Jesus on that Good Friday, all the treasures of his life and death – forgiveness, life, salvation, victory over sin, death and the devil, a Father’s love, a place with him in Paradise – all of it comes to us now through Word and Sacrament, through the Spirit, the water and the blood. And it’s no accident that they were all there on Good Friday, just like it’s no accident that John recorded it, just like it’s no accident that you, here, in this place, have been reached by the Spirit, the water and the blood. God’s love for you and his desire for your salvation are from eternity. And just as he elected us in Christ since before the foundation of the world was laid, so he also planned Good Friday from eternity, so he also planned how and where and when the Spirit, the water and the blood would come to you to bestow on you the forgiveness purchased by the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
And just as Christ entered his Sabbath rest on that first Good Friday evening, so there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, according to the writer of the Hebrews. Let us strive to enter that rest, he says. And how will we do that? Through faith alone in Jesus Christ. And how will God sustain that faith in us until the end? Through the Spirit, the water and the blood. Remember. Amen.
The Word of the Lord through the prophet Zechariah: Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. (Zech. 3:8-9)
Today we remember that single day, that day of once-and-for-all atonement, that day of redemption called Good Friday.
So many things to remember from Good Friday. The before-sunrise trials before Annas and the high priest Caiaphas. The false witnesses. The spitting and mocking and striking. The early-morning trials before Pilate and Herod and Pilate again. The ripping of Jesus’ back to shreds. The purple robe. The crown of thorns. The Gentile governor’s attempts to free an innocent man. The Jews’ insistence that their king be crucified.
Of course, it’s Jesus’ six hours or so on the cross that we remember most of all. And it’s that striking Psalm, 22, that painted the picture for us a thousand years before the events took place. I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. They have pierced my hands and feet. They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. All who see me mock me. He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him! All my bones are out of joint. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Isaiah has already told us why. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
But even as Jesus cries out from the cross in agony, he is directing us back to the Psalm. And what we find there is not the hopelessness of despair and guilt and punishment, but faith in God in the midst of the deepest agony, the hope of an end to punishment, an end to suffering, and the ushering in of salvation. For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
It was about the 9th hour – about 3 PM when Jesus cried out from the cross, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?” And it was about at the 9th hour – 3 PM on that Day of days when Jesus was delivered, his suffering ended. His Father delivered him, delivered him to death, but through death, to Paradise for his worthy soul, and to a Sabbath Day’s rest for his weary bones.
One perfect life had been lived. One perfect death had been died. A life of obedience and trust in God from start to finish – the life and death of the Man who is also God. It is finished!, Jesus cried. And was it ever! Satisfaction made. Redemption finished. Forgiveness won. For every sin of every sinner, including you.
This atonement finished by Jesus, this payment for sin made by Jesus is the firm footing for our faith. This is what is preached in the Gospel. This is what is delivered to us by God in the means of grace. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus Christ with his perfect righteousness, the only righteousness that avails before God. Jesus Christ with his finished work of redemption.
Now, what sin can the devil throw in your face and say, “Oh. That one’s too big. I’m sorry. Even Jesus’ blood can’t cover that one”? “Oh. You did that? You harbored a thought like that in your heart? And you call yourself a Christian? No forgiveness for you – not if God finds out about that.”
Foolish devil. And foolish you, if you believe him. It is finished, Jesus said. There is no sacrifice or payment for sin left to be made. Once for all, it is finished.
Or, what good work will the fool devil fool you into doing in order to make God “happy”? What good Christian sacrifice will you make for him, to hold it up next to Jesus hanging on the cross, “See, God! Well, Jesus did all that, but I did this! Look here! Look at me! I’m a good Christian, aren’t I?”
You might as well be one of the damned Pharisees who called for Jesus’ crucifixion. Because if you dare to hold up another righteousness before God than that of Jesus, if you dare to rely on any sacrifice but the sacrifice of Jesus, then you will be locked out of the heaven Jesus won for you. It is finished, Jesus said. God’s law has been satisfied. Don’t try to satisfy it some more.
Instead, trust in the satisfaction Jesus made! Trust in the crucified One. Hold his sacrifice up before God and say, “See! Look at this! Look only at this! Accept me because of this! Because of him!” That’s faith. You really want to make God happy? Then remember that it is finished, that God is already appeased by the sacrifice of Jesus, and happy with all who put their faith in him.
As the Psalm says, All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. Yes, the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, even as the Church has remembered for some 2,000 years, even as we are doing today. It is God’s will that you remember this Day of days, Good Friday, that you remember Jesus Christ and him crucified, that you worship him and tell of him to the next generation. But of all the events of Good Friday, of the crucifixion itself, God wants you to remember this, that it is finished. Salvation has been won, for you. Amen.
Tonight begins the first of the Three Holy Days, from sunset to sunset, according to Creation Time – first evening and then morning each day. It would take a full twenty-four hours – or maybe just a lifetime – to do justice to all the events that took place during the twenty-four hours of that very first Holy Day that began at sunset on Maundy Thursday and ended at the eerie sunset of Good Friday.
So many memorable and meaningful events took place on that Thursday night. The love of Jesus on display as he washed his disciples feet. The command for them to walk in his footsteps of love, self-sacrifice and lowly service. The Passover meal. The predicted betrayal, abandonment and denial. The High Priestly prayer of Jesus – for his disciples back then, and also for his disciples now. The Garden of Gethsemane. The anguish of Jesus’ soul.
“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with me.” And then, with sweat dripping like blood, Jesus prayed three times to his Father to “take this cup” from him, “if it is your will. My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
And the Father’s will was done. Jesus drank from the cup. And that brings us back to the one thing I would ask you remember tonight, or at least, the one thing I would ask you focus your attention on. On Palm Sunday I asked you to remember one thing above all else – to remember Jesus riding on a donkey. Tonight, as we begin the first of the Three Holy Days, remember the cup.
We sang about it already in the Psalm this evening, and since we’ve been considering the Psalms throughout our Lenten journey this year, let’s include them for the Three Holy Days, too. In Psalm 116 we sang the words of the Messiah, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.”
Now the interesting thing about the Messianic Psalms is that, though they were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, they were written from the perspective of the Messiah both as the events are transpiring in his life, and also as he looks back on it all after it’s all over.
Listen to the words of Jesus in Psalm 116, “I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.” You see the perspective of the Messiah there? It’s as if Holy Week is already over and done and the Father has already heard him and delivered him from his enemies on Easter Sunday. But the Psalm gives us a window into what Jesus was going through as Holy Week was happening.
“The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of the grave laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD: O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!” Sounds just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, doesn’t it?
Then he gives thanks to the Lord, “For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” Sounds like Easter Sunday, doesn’t it?
But see what had to happen in between. A cup had to be drunk. In order for sinful mankind to be able to drink salvation from God’s cup, the sinless Son of Man had to first drink the cup of wrath, the cup of punishment, the cup of torture and death. And when he asked his Father to take it from him and his Father didn’t do it, what did Jesus do with that cup? Oh, he could have thrown it down on the ground and let God’s wrath against sin be poured out onto sinners. Remember, he said in the Garden when Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus, “Put your sword away… Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”
Instead of dropping the cup, Jesus drank it – drank it down to its dregs. He had to be brought low, lower and lower and lower, down to the point of death, even death on a cross.
But as he says in the Psalm, “When I was brought low, he saved me.” The cup of wrath and suffering for sin had been emptied. And now the cup of Jesus is filled to the brim with salvation – not just for himself in his glorious resurrection, but with salvation that he pours down the throats of his people.
What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
That’s not just a figurative expression. Jesus literally poured his salvation – his forgiveness and his life, into a cup on Maundy Thursday and gave it to his disciples to drink, not just once, but to do this in remembrance of him, to lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, to drink from it again and again.
Do you still sin after your baptism? Yes, you do. Do you still have bitter enemies who can attack your faith in Christ and beat it to a pulp? Yes, you do. But you have been given a cup of salvation, filled with the precious blood of the Lamb of God, filled for you to drink.
It’s not a symbol of Jesus’ blood. By the power of Jesus’ word, it is his blood. It’s not a symbol of salvation. By the power of Jesus’ word, it is salvation and forgiveness and life for all who believe in the words and promises of Jesus – given for you, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. No sin is wicked enough, no enemy is strong enough to undo Jesus’ words of promise. He pours his salvation into this cup, and so administers a lethal dose to death.
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Even your death is precious to your Father in heaven, because you have been united to his precious Son, Jesus Christ, whose death was also precious in the Lord’s sight, precious enough to satisfy God’s wrath against every sinner. Your death, when it comes, will be precious to your Father in heaven, because you have drunk from his cup of salvation, week in and week out, and so you have received the medicine of immortality, a better Tree of Life, God’s seal and pledge that, though you die, you will live.
And isn’t that what that other Psalm says, too? You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Remember the cup of Jesus – the cup that he drank, and the cup that he has filled with his salvation, with his blood, poured out for you. The table is ready. Drink from his cup and live. Amen.
Matthew 21:1-11 + Passion Narrative from the Gospel according to St. Matthew
There are so many things packed into our service today: the palms and the procession that began our service, the long Passion history reading that took us all the way through those bitter-sweet 24 hours during which our redemption was purchased and won, the many hymn stanzas we’ve sung so far, a confirmation rite coming up in just a moment. With so much activity, so much divine truth laid out before us, what should our confirmand – what should all of you remember about today above all else?
Remember Jesus riding on a donkey.
Oh, you might well remember the other things that surrounded that, too, like all the different kinds of people who met Jesus in Jerusalem:
You had the ignorant and indifferent people, those who still, for some reason, didn’t know and didn’t much care who this Jesus of Nazareth really was who was riding into town on a donkey.
You had the haters among the Jews who knew Jesus and wanted him dead.
You had the false followers of Jesus who tagged along in the procession and acted like they believed in Jesus, but really, they were in it for the glory and adventure of following this popular teacher and miracle worker.
You had the fair-weather followers of Jesus, who believed in him and supported him as long as things were going well, but in the time of testing, they were quick to leave.
And finally, you had the devoted followers of Jesus, including his own inner circle of disciples – those who had followed him faithfully through good times and bad, those who loved and worshiped him as the Christ sent by God, and as their Savior from sin, some of whom would one day lay down their own lives as martyrs, witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now, the last three groups mentioned were there scattering their palm branches and cloaks along the road. They were all singing well-deserved praises to Jesus and calling out “Hosanna! Come and save us now!” But if you listened to the whole Passion reading today, then you know what happened to those five groups of people. They combined into just two groups of people: those who openly hated Jesus, and those who loved Jesus for awhile, until something else got in the way.
Those who openly hated Jesus wanted to see Jesus suffer, and they got what they wanted. The rest – the false followers, the fair-weather followers, the devoted followers – they didn’t want to see Jesus suffer. But neither were they willing to suffer with him. As for the inner circle, Jesus’ own disciples, one of them betrayed Jesus to his haters. Another – Peter – denied him three times. And all the rest ran away from Jesus in his darkest hour. And those were his closest friends! They loved him until something else – until their own safety, their own comfort, their own life – got in the way.
We have the same characters, the same groupings of people in the world today: The ignorant and indifferent who don’t know Jesus either because no one has told them, or because, they’ve cared so little about God that they haven’t bothered to find out. You still have the open haters – didn’t the atheists just have a rally of some 20,000 people in Washington? They still refuse to acknowledge their utter sinfulness and hopelessness; they still openly reject Jesus as God and Savior.
You still have the false followers and the fair-weather followers, and the most devout Christians. And guess what? The most devout Christians today – always in church, always looking for ways to hear the Word of God and serve their neighbor – the most devout Christians today are no better than the apostles themselves, no less prone to stumble and fall when it becomes really hard to follow Jesus.
Jesus knows all this – about the people surrounding him on Palm Sunday and about the people who make up our world today. He knows all about you as he sends his disciples to the place where he knows the donkey to be. Jesus, the very Son of God, knows all this and he gets on the donkey anyway and rides on, surrounded by false followers and fair-weather followers and devout followers alike, knowing exactly who they are, knowing exactly what each of them will do this week. He rides on, resolute. He has a cross waiting for him. He has a baptism to undergo, a baptism in soldiers’ spit and in his own blood. He won’t turn back. He won’t turn aside. He has to die. He has to. For the sins of all who hate him, for the sins of all who love him only a little. He has a world to buy back out of slavery to sin, death and the devil.
Jesus rides on in lowly majesty, gentle; humble, having salvation. Because he knows that, as he humbles himself and makes himself obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, he will accomplish the very saving act that will be preached to the nations, that will turn some of his haters into believers, that will call back Christians who have gone astray, that will kindle faith in the hearts of some, so that they see their sin and his willing sacrifice as their substitute under divine wrath, and hear his promise that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. And they will believe.
One day Jesus will ride in on the clouds in power and great majesty. The king will ride in for judgment and rule with an iron scepter. And God’s wrath will be revealed against every impenitent sinner, against everyone who is not found clinging to him in faith. On that day, the king will ride in with vengeance against his enemies.
But until then, Jesus still comes riding in on a donkey. As long as this Gospel is proclaimed, as long as Baptism is administered, as long as there are ministers to hand out forgiveness with the Key of Absolution and to hand out the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins – as long as all of that is still going on, Jesus is still coming to you in humility, with salvation.
And as he comes, his message is the same to all, no matter which group you’re in. “Repent and believe the good news!” As long as Jesus is riding on a donkey in these means of grace, he isn’t gathering the war horses for battle. As long as Jesus is riding on a donkey, he is proclaiming peace to the nations, peace to all who mourn over their sin and look to him for salvation, because with him, there is forgiveness. Mourn over your sin and rejoice in your Savior from sin who fought for your salvation all by himself and earned it all by himself, who redeemed the world without any help from anyone and gives repentance and forgiveness to his people.
Dana, you’ll be confessing your faith today in the presence of God and of this congregation. And you’ll be making some very serious promises today, promises that every communicant member of this congregation has also publicly made: to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully; to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death; to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it.
As history has shown here in this church and throughout the world and throughout history, not all remain faithful to those promises. Many fall away.
God help you to remain faithful, which doesn’t mean you won’t sin. “Faithful” means living in daily repentance and faith. “Faithful” looks like coming to confession and receiving the absolution. “Faithful” looks like gathering with the Lord’s people around the Lord’s Table and the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day.
And if you should ever walk away or run away and abandon Jesus, then, Dana, you remember this day before it’s too late. You remember today, Palm Sunday, the day of your confirmation. But don’t remember your promises before God! Don’t remember them! What good did promises do for Peter and the other disciples? “Even if all fall away, Jesus, I never will!” Has any promise been more quickly broken than when Peter and the other disciples broke those promises? But that’s what happens when you put your faith in your promises instead of in Jesus and his Word.
So don’t remember your promises. Remember Jesus, riding in humbly on a donkey, riding in to suffer and die for sinful haters and for runaway followers. Remember Jesus and the word of peace he spoke to his disciples after his resurrection. Remember Jesus and where sinners find him after they fall – in the same place where all of us find him today – riding humbly in to us through the preaching of his Holy Week Gospel, in the absolution of a pastor, in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Whatever you do with your life, wherever you go, remember Jesus riding on a donkey, bringing salvation to sinners. Even if you forget everything else about today, don’t ever forget him. Amen.
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