The Way of the Cross
I. In the Garden (John 18:1-11)
L: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
C: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When Jesus had spoken
these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his
disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus
often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of
soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there
with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would
happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They
answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed
him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew
back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And
they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he.
So, if you seek me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word that
he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” Then Simon
Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off
his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) So
Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup
that the Father has given me?”
Meditation
Peter, why did you draw
the sword? Didn’t you see what just happened? The first time Jesus said “I AM,”
Judas and the band of soldiers and the officers from the chief
priests and the Pharisees - the whole crowd with their lanterns and torches and
weapons fell to the ground. At simply Jesus’ word, His powerful word, they
could not stand. They could not do anything. All earthly weapons are useless
against the powerful Word of God.
But then it happens
again. The hunters want their prey. But this time, there is no falling down.
And it can be for one reason only: Jesus allows it to be so. He allows them to
seize Him and bind Him. Even these cords, like Samson of old, He could have
easily broken off and set Himself free. But He will not. For He will drink the
cup the Father has given Him. And what cup is that? The cup
of God’s wrath against the sin of the world. And He would rather drink
it than we drink it. He takes our place, that we may
be let go. That we may be forgiven.
So you see Peter? To draw
your sword and fight is to lose. For Jesus to die is to win. That is your
victory. You do not understand that now, but you will. You will.
It is a hard lesson to
learn, though. For how often are we like Peter, relying on the weapons of this
world rather than the strong and powerful Word of God? Put your swords away.
Put your anger away, your revenge away, your hatred away, your
bitterness away, and instead forgive. Forgive as you have been forgiven. For
still today, the powers of this world cannot stand against the Word of God.
Satan and his minions still fall at the word of Christ. That is our
weapon.
Jesus, the great I AM,
the almighty God in the flesh, now gives Himself into the hands of sinners. For you. For them. For the life of the world. And not one of His own will be
lost. Not then. Not ever.
II. Before the High Priest
(John 18:12-14, 19-24)
L: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
C: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
So the band of soldiers
and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
First they led him to Annas, for he was the
father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas
who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for
the people.
The high priest then
questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him,
“I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in
the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do
you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I
said.” When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by
struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high
priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about
the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Meditation
Jesus spoke openly to the
world. In the day, in the light, no secrets, no subversion.
He had nothing to hide. He was all truth, all the time. It was, in fact, the
ones questioning Him that were being secretive and in hiding. They have Jesus
arrested at night, under the cover of darkness. They call an illegal meeting of
the council at night, in secrecy. They want to get rid of Jesus in the easiest
and most expedient way. That’s what Caiaphas had said after all: it would be
expedient that one man should die for the people. They question Him, but
it’s a ruse; they have really already made up their minds.
But even more than this,
Jesus doesn’t just do everything in the light, He IS the light of
the world (John 8:12). But those who love the darkness hate the light. Those
who do evil will not come into the light. Those who are wicked will seek to
extinguish the light. But they will not be able. The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5). That will be true
also while Jesus is hanging on the cross. All three of the other Evangelists
tell us that at 12 Noon, when the sun should be at its highest and brightest,
there was instead darkness over the whole land. It was the time of darkness,
evil, and sin.
But never did the light
of Christ shine brighter than in those moments. Never did His love burn hotter
than when He stayed on the cross, suffering for the sin of the world. Suffering for you and your sin. When not the hand of a
soldier, but the hand of God would strike Him. Because of
you. For you. And this is what He taught
in the synagogues and in the temple - that He, the Messiah, would do this very
thing. He spoke the truth, and it is fulfilled.
Hymn #437 “Alas!
And Did My Savior Bleed”
III. The King and His Kingdom
(John 18:33-38)
L: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
C: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
So Pilate entered his
headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the
Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others
say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the
chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus
answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the
Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So
you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I
was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the
truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What
is truth?”
Meditation
What is truth? That is a question many
ask today. Some ask honestly, truly wanting to know the truth. Some ask
skeptically, thinking the truth really unknowable. And some ask mockingly,
believing there is not one truth but many truths; or in other words, that the
truth is whatever you want it to be. And if that’s so, then the truth really
doesn’t matter. The truth is sacrificed on the altar of my desires.
But, Jesus says, the
truth is why He was born. The truth is why He has come into the world. To bear witness to the truth. That we may
know the truth. That we may know Him.
For Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John
14:6).
So there really is truth,
Pilate. But are you listening? Are we? Or are our ambitions, our fears, our
desires, our pleasures, our wants, making us deaf? Deaf to the truth of God’s
Law, deaf to the truth of our sin, deaf to the truth of our Saviour?
It happens, doesn’t it?
The good news is that
Jesus gives hearing to the deaf. His Word goes forth from the beginning of
creation to the end, that all people may know the truth. The
truth that sets us free (John 8:32). The truth that
our bondage to sin, our captivity to the grave, and our oppression by the evil
one is being broken by our Saviour. Now. That there be a new king, a
new ruler. One who does not act in sin and deal in death, but who reigns in
peace and promises life. A new king
and a new kingdom - not of this world, which is passing away, but a kingdom
that will never pass away.
So yes, Pilate, Jesus is
a king. He is, in fact, your king. For He is not just
the king of a nation, for a time, but the king of the world, the king of
creation. And though you do not know Him now, you will, on that day when
every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11a).
That is the truth,
Pilate. He is standing right before you.
IV. Condemned (John 19:1-16a)
L: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
C: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Then Pilate took Jesus
and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it
on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying,
“Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out
again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know
that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of
thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the
chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and
crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a
law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the
Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He
entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But
Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to
me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to
crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at
all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over
to you has the greater sin.”
From then on Pilate
sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you
are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes
Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat
down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the
Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to
them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king
but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
Meditation
When Adam plunged the
world into sin, the ground was cursed and would no longer only grow good
plants, but now thorns and thistles. Those thorns of sin now adorn the head of
God’s Son.
When Adam plunged the
world into sin, the hand of brother was raised against brother, as Cain
jealously put his brother Abel to death. Now, the hands of sinners are raised
against God’s Son.
When Adam plunged the
world into sin, he tried to cover himself and hide his shame. Now, God’s Son is
arrayed in a mocking purple robe to shame him.
All this, and yet Pilate
says: I find no guilt in Him.
Behold the man! Yes, this is the depths
to which man has sunk. And in these depths, there is Jesus!
You see, that’s the good
news for us today. Do not feel sorry for Jesus. He wants to be there. For you. That’s why He does not speak. That’s why He does
not object and proclaim His innocence. The Son of God becomes a son of man and
lowers Himself all the way to our depth of sin and death, so that we sons of
men might become sons of God and be exalted all the way to the heights of
heaven. He takes our place that we have His place. So do not feel sorry for
Jesus. Be grateful! And live this new life He has given you. This new life He
gave so much to give you.
So finally, Pilate sits
down on the judgment seat and passes judgment on Jesus. One day, the tables
will be reversed. On the Last Day when Jesus the crucified and glorified will
be the one sitting in judgment. But you need not fear that day. For you already
know the judgment that will pronounced upon you, child of God. For on that day
Jesus will say of you: I find no guilt in Him. For He
took all your guilt away. He took it that day to the cross. That even though you die, yet shall you live, in Him,
forever.
Hymn #420 (vs. 1-3) “Christ,
the Life of All the Living”
V. On the Cross (John 19:16b-22)
L: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
C: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
So they took
Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The
Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified
him, and with him two others, one on either side, and
Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the
cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 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. 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.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
Meditation
What I have written I
have written.
In Aramaic, in Latin, and In Greek. So
that all could see it and read it and know it. Pilate would not change
his sign listing the charges against Jesus just because the Jews didn’t like
it. What I have written I have written.
So it is with the Word of
God. What is written is written and will be done. Jesus goes just as it is
written of Him.
The One promised to Adam and Eve, who would
bruise the serpent’s head.
The One promised to Abraham, who would bless all
nations.
The
One promised to David, who would be an eternal king and sit on the throne
forever.
The One prophesied by Isaiah, who would suffer
and die for all people.
The One propheised by Hosea, who would rise on the third day.
The
One whose way John the Baptist prepared, the angels announced, and the Spirit
anointed.
That One now hangs on the cross, going just as it
is written of Him.
No longer enthroned in love between the Father
and the Spirit, but now hanging in hate and scorn between two criminals.
But here, too, He is enthroned in love. His love for you.
And His work of the cross
now written not in three languages, but in a multitude of languages - that all the world may know. Here is Jesus of Nazareth, the King
of the Jews, the Lord of the Church, the Son of God. Dying
for you. That in His blood, you and your name be
written by Him in the book of life. That on the Last Day, what
is written is written and will be done - and you enter into that life that
will never end.
VI. Blessed
Words (John
19:23-27)
L: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
C: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
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, 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.”
So the soldiers did these
things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's
sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he
said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the
disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to
his own home.
Meditation
The Scriptures often
speak of Jesus as the Bridegroom and the Church as His Bride. Despite what is
being said of and done to marriage in our day and age, it was and is and always
will be God’s idea and institution. That a man leave
his father and mother and hold fast to his bride, and the two become one flesh
(Matthew 19:5).
That is what is happening
now with Jesus. He left His Father in heaven to become incarnate, to become
man. He is now leaving His mother, entrusting her to the care of His disciple.
And He is holding fast to His Bride, to you. Holding fast to
you in love.
That’s why He will not
come down from the cross. He loves you more than His own life. He will stay, to
make His Bride His. To make your sins His. To make your condemnation His. To make
your unrighteousness His. To make your faithlessness
His. To make your death His. And then also to
give you what is His. His atonement yours. His blessing yours. His righteousness
yours. His faithfulness and obedience yours. His life yours. For so it is with men and women made one
flesh - what’s mine is yours and what’s yours in mine. So it is with you and
your bridegroom, made one flesh.
Just before that, the
soldiers divided up His clothes - one of the benefits of being on this duty.
And one lucky soldier even got the expensive and fine tunic that Jesus wore.
But you - you get even better than that. And not just one of
you, but all of you. For Jesus has won for you the beautiful wedding
dress of His love and righteousness, put upon you in the washing of water with
the Word, in Holy Baptism. That you be splendid and glorious,
without blemish. Perfect Brides, in perfect love - the
perfection and love of Jesus for you, who in His resurrection will take you to
His home, to live there, with Him, forever.
Hymn #453 (vs. 1-2, 6-7) “Upon the Cross Extended”
VII. Death (John 19:28-37)
L: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
C: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
After this, Jesus,
knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
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. When Jesus had received the
sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his
spirit.
Since it was the day of
Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the
Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their
legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers
came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other
who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he
was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers
pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and
water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows
that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things
took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be
broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom
they have pierced.”
Meditation
You don’t hear it in the
English, but in the Greek it is there. John wrote that Jesus said “I thirst” in
order to fulfill the Scripture. And after receiving the sour wine, Jesus
says: “It is finished.” But the Greek word there, translated as finished,
is the same word as fulfill. It is finished because all is
fulfilled. All the Scriptures have now been fulfilled. Jesus would not stop,
would not die, until they were. Every jot and tittle, every last word. And
then, and only then, when they were, when our redemption and salvation
was completed, would Jesus bow His head and give up His Spirit.
And then we hear a
remarkable thing: that when one of the soldiers pierced His side with a
spear, at once there came out blood and water. Science has offered
technical explanations for why that was, but the church has always seen in this
a link to the life-giving Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. Just
as Adam’s wife Eve received her life from his side, so Christ’s Bride, the
Church, receives her life from His side. For only in His death is our life. And
so in His death come the water and blood that wash us clean from our sins and
give us life.
And even here, too, is
Jesus not stopping until all is complete, all is fulfilled, all is finished.
For still today, the resurrected Jesus is working to save all people. And He
does so by giving the benefits of His cross to us in His Word and Sacraments.
And He will not stop until it is finished. Until His children from every
nation, tribe, people, and language are gathered into His kingdom. And we
will look on Him whom they have pierced, glorified, in Paradise.
So we are not sad this
day. Serious, yes. Sad, no.
We gather in quiet peace and joy. Because we know the meaning
of this day. We know this is the day our Saviour
made everything good again. This the day of our
salvation. So to our Saviour Jesus Christ, we
give all thanks and praise. To our Great Redeemer, be
all glory, honor, and worship, now and forever, and unto the ages of ages.
AMEN.