Printable PDF:  4-4-2021 Easter 1 Sunrise Sermon

Pastor Mark R Jacobson  †  Easter  †  April 4, 2021  †  John 20:1-18

¹Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” ³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. ¹¹Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. ¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ¹⁵He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). ¹⁷Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

THE EMPTY TOMB IS FULL OF MEANING

Ordinarily empty is not good. An empty gas tank won’t get you anywhere. Cupboards that are empty won’t satisfy your hunger. A wallet or purse that is empty won’t pay the bills. Initially, the empty tomb didn’t look good to Mary Magdalene either. A living Jesus was never a possibility for her. Mary Magdalene saw Jesus die. She saw the soldiers make sure when they pierced his side. Mary watched Joseph and Nicodemus take the lifeless body of Jesus down from the cross, wrap the body in linen and placed it in the tomb. When the stone was rolled over the entrance Mary could no longer deny what she couldn’t believe. Jesus was dead.

Jesus had done so much for Mary. The Bible says Jesus drove seven demons out of her body. When Jesus had done that, it was like he had given her life back to her. In return, Mary had dedicated her life to serving Jesus, and as Mary went to the tomb, she did so with the intention of serving him one last time by anointing his body with spices.

Mary’s heart was heavy as she went to the tomb, but her heart began to pound as soon as she saw the tomb. Something wasn’t right. The stone had been rolled away and Mary assumed the worst. She thought that someone, probably those bloodthirsty Jews, had stolen the body. And, later, as Mary Magdalene returned to the scene of what she thought was a horrendous crime, Mary was inconsolable, so inconsolable was Mary that the appearance and the conversation of angels did nothing for her. These angels, who had so scared the mighty guards at Jesus’ tomb that the Bible says they shook and became like dead men, were practically invisible to Mary, and so was Jesus. Mary thought Jesus was the gardener.   

Do we have any Mary Magdalenes here, people who have come to church this morning with heavy hearts? What is it that makes you so sad? What is your brain so busy trying to understand? Are you sad and at times inconsolable because like Mary Magdalene, you are living on the wrong side of Easter, assuming the worst about your situation? Don’t judge your situation too quickly. Don’t be so overcome with emotion that you cannot see Jesus and his holy angels ministering to your soul’s deepest needs. Read your Bible, keep coming to church, attend a Bible class and see what this empty tomb means to you.

And in a way that’s exactly what Peter and John did, didn’t they? In the shuttle run of Easter morning Mary Magdalene handed the baton to them, and they raced to the tomb. John got to the finish line first, but Peter broke through the tape when he went into the tomb. And they didn’t need their FBI training certificate to start eliminating possibilities. They both saw the strips of linen lying there and the burial cloth folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Thieves do many things to a house, but one thing they don’t do is housekeeping. The evangelist Luke writes that Peter, “wondered what had happened.” John himself writes that he saw and believed, but qualifies his faith in parenthesis by writing, “(They still did not understand from the Scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)”

We’ll give these disciples a participation ribbon for their investigation, but they were too slow to receive the prize that Jesus wanted them to receive from the starting line. Peter and John didn’t need to run. They didn’t even need to go. Peter and John could have simply sat back in their rocking chair or headed to fish had they simply took to heart the words of their Savior Jesus. Jesus had predicted his death, and Jesus had also predicted his resurrection. They heard Jesus say to the Pharisees, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” Jesus said to the disciples, “I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay it down on my own accord…and I have authority to take it up again.”  And if the imagery of buildings and shepherding were too difficult, time and again they heard Jesus say, “The Son of Man…On the third day he will be raised to life.” That was why Pilate posted a guard in the first place. A proper investigation wouldn’t have left these disciples to simply return to their home as it says in verse 10, but to rejoice and to be glad that what Jesus said about his rising from the dead was true.

How is your investigation going?  Are you searching the Scriptures and taking God’s Word to heart, or has your attention to God’s Word lapsed like these disciples? Don’t be slow in your study and understanding of God’s Word. Though your life might be fine today, you don’t know what’s coming tomorrow and this week. Mary Magdalene thought the empty tomb meant that the body was stolen. Peter and John weren’t sure what to make of the empty tomb. Do you know the full meaning of the empty tomb, so you are ready in a time of crisis? It’s time to wake up and listen. Learn what the empty tomb means for you. We start to learn what the empty tomb means as soon as Jesus says, “Mary.”

“Mary.” What did this little word mean? It means Jesus wasn’t the gardener. Jesus was and still is Rabboni (which means teacher) and the first lesson of Easter is ‘Jesus lives.’ Jesus has power over death. Yes, he was dead, the soldiers made sure of it, but now he lives. And because Jesus lives, we also will live. The stone was rolled away for the benefit of the women, not for Jesus, and so I don’t know if the coffins will be dug out of the ground and opened or if the urns with ashes will break, but as surely as Jesus physically made his way out of that tomb, so also all of our believing loved ones will be physically raised from the dead to be with Jesus and all believers. And as Jesus was made perfect so also will we be. Jesus did not come out of tomb with crutches or a wheelchair. Jesus didn’t walk with a limp or speak with a sore throat. Jesus experienced no side effects from the resurrection, no post dramatic stress from all he had been through. His resurrection from the grave was easier than your getting out of bed. Jesus only kept the nail marks and the pieced side because they are cool. Those war wounds tell the story of his great victory. In the same way we, too, will live like him without the ache of arthritis or the pain of disease or the loss of hearing. We will live as he lives. That’s what Easter means, but that’s only half the story.

Jesus will raise us up physically from the dead. Jesus will also raise us spiritually. The empty tomb also means we live with peace and purpose. Jesus told Mary, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” “My brothers,” Jesus called them. Jesus didn’t call them, “traitors,” or “scaredy-cats.” Jesus doesn’t kick them out of the family and the church. Jesus says, “my father and YOUR Father, my God and YOUR God.” The empty tomb announces that God the Father accepted his Son’s holy life and sacrificial death as the full payment for the world’s sins – including the sins of the disciples and your sins and mine. The empty tomb proclaims peace. The empty tomb also proclaims purpose.

I don’t know what Mary Magdalene did with those spices. Did she use them on someone else? Did she keep them as a memento? She didn’t use them on Jesus. Instead Jesus used Mary as an apostle to the Apostles. Jesus sent Mary for the sole purpose of proclaiming peace to the Apostles and in turn the Apostles would be sent to proclaim to peace to the world. That was their mission for the rest of their lives, and as Christians that mission is now our mission. It’s our turn. We turn from “Come and See” investigation to our “Go and Tell” purpose. Share the good news of the empty tomb. Don’t just tell people how your Easter weekend was. Tell them what your Easter means. Tell them your Easter was empty, and that empty never felt so good. An empty tomb means a full life, a life filled with forgiveness and filled with peace and filled with joy. Amen.   

Printable PDF:  4-1-2021 Maundy Thursday Sermon

Pastor Mark R Jacobson  †  Maundy Thursday Sermon  †  April 1, 2021

THE HANDS OF THE PASSION

¹It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him…¹²When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.  – John 13:1-5, 12-17

It was their anniversary. The two of them were seated at a fancy restaurant, and they were hungry. They began to peruse the menu and waited for the server. Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Nobody even came to offer them a glass of water. Thirty minutes. Finally the man pretended to go to the restroom so he could find out what was going on. Seeing a man who looked like he had some standing in the restaurant, he asked him what was going on. Just as he started, though, he was interrupted. “I’m sorry, sir, but my attention is needed at another table. I’ll be with you in a moment.” That was it! He had been put off for the last time. He returned to the table, gathered up his wife, and left in a huff.

Have you ever had a similar experience? Maybe you saw a retail store clerk wearing an apron that says “Ask me, I’m here to help,” but the clerk made it clear he didn’t want to help. Or you were in the hospital and you pressed the nurse call button, but nobody answered and nobody helped. Or you made that big 8:00 to noon or 1:00 to 5:00 block of time to be home when the repairman said he would come, but he didn’t. You know that good service is hard to find. The Internet has spawned rating systems, presumably so you can discover those merchants who do a good job, but most of them are filled with jilted customers who just want to tell their horror stories.

God created people to depend on each other and their acts of service. Many of us have an expertise in one field or another, but the time will come when we need someone else’s expertise to help us through life: taxes, health care, home or car repair, etc. The world doesn’t work without people serving one another. Serving one another is so crucial to our existence, and good service is so rare that we’re often willing to honor those who do their jobs especially well with handsome tips and enthusiastic referrals.

If that’s the case, then you will certainly be ready to refer your friends and relatives to Jesus when you learn about the kind of service God provides. In tonight’s lesson, Jesus not only provides incomparable service to his disciples, but he does it for free. With no demands of payment, without pulling rank, without excuse-making, or being condescending or patronizing, Jesus serves his disciples with his…

HANDS OF HUMILITY

Jesus had a lot on his mind that night. John repeatedly records the interplay between Jesus’ divine and human nature, especially how Jesus knew ahead of time what was about to happen. “Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father” (verse 1). He knew! He knew ahead of time that within 24 hours he would lay down his life for the sins of the world. He knew ahead of time that Satan had baited Judas to betray him (verse 2). He knew that the Father had laid all things at his feet (verse 3), and he entered the evening with complete omnipotence and omniscience. Yet rather than leveraging his full authority in some dazzling display of the divine, Jesus exercised humility.

While Jesus’ mind raced with anticipation of the pain of sin and suffering of hell, his disciples were engaged in a petty argument over which of them was greatest! Their quibbling carried over into the upper room where they realized that there was no servant on duty to wash their stinky feet before the Passover. Then who was going to do it? Which one of the disciples would step up and volunteer? They all just stood there. Not one man even reached for the bucket. Jesus once taught his disciples how to be great. “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Matthew 20:26-27). On this Thursday evening, Jesus didn’t opt for another lecture but chose instead to model for them what humble service looks like. “So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (John 13:4-5). If Jesus would have blown a gasket, we would have understood. But Christ’s love never wavered. Without frustration or exasperation, Jesus handled their pride with perfect patience. The King of creation, the One who has all authority in heaven and earth, bent the knee to serve his disciples with a task so menial that servants jockey to avoid it. Christ came from heaven on a mission from his Father to redeem the world, and he wasn’t about to quit in the 11^th hour. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (verse 2).

Most of our Christian service falls short because we base it on the behavior of our neighbor. Doctors are slow to follow up on the patients who are the most belligerent. The wait staff label those who make special orders as difficult. Inside our own families, we tiptoe around the hothead and walk on eggshells around the opinionated in-law. We are tempted to shun people who don’t agree with us.  Worse yet, we sinfully justify our poor Christian service by suggesting that they had it coming because they were being obnoxious. If Jesus based his service on the disciples’ behavior, no one would have had their feet washed. No one would have had their sins forgiven because Jesus would have never made it to the cross! Jesus’ humility shines brighter and greater than ours because it’s not based on human behavior. Jesus’ humility is based on God’s love and grace. He serves us because he loves us. His love is unconditional. His love is perfect. Not our behavior, but God’s love moved him to wrap the towel around his waist and wash their feet—and he even washed Judas’ feet, too.

You don’t get the idea that Jesus would ever walk out of a restaurant upset over poor service. He didn’t walk out on his disciples, and he didn’t walk out on you either. He came to serve you. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Christ’s obedient death served you well; it paid the ransom price for our pride and entitled attitude, for our obnoxious rank-pulling, for making people feel smaller and lesser, and for every other shallow and insecure excuse we’ve ever offered God for failure to serve. “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The disciples had a history of missing the point. After Jesus washed their feet, it would be very natural for them to feel ashamed. Their disgraceful bickering had been laid low by Jesus’ humble hands. Jesus, though, wanted to do much more than shame their pride; he wanted to rewire their attitudes and invite them to use their hands of humility. “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15). Jesus was their Lord and Teacher, and by virtue of his office he was their superior. But he didn’t wag his title in their faces or use it to avoid humble service to anyone. “Washing one another’s feet” means to show Jesus’ love toward our fellow man. That’s a kind of love that forgets to feel superior, a love that stoops to the lowliest of service and is blind to what it is doing or who it is serving; it’s a love that serves so freely it pays no attention to what it costs, and a love that is so humble it voluntarily serves, regardless of human behavior; a love so pure it seeks not the recognition of man but only the approval of God. Love and serve your neighbor like Jesus did, with humility. Let Jesus’ humility and servant attitude rework your attitude, too. Jesus closes by saying, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (verse 17). Jesus was blessed to be our Savior. The disciples were blessed to start the New Testament church. We, too, are blessed to be associated with Jesus and his church. And we can show our love for him by how we are willing to serve one another. Amen.

Printable PDF:  3-24-2021 Midweek 6 Sermon

Midweek 6 Sermon  ~  March 24, 2021  ~  Pastor Myrl Wagenknecht

Hands of Self-Preservation (Pilate)

¹⁵Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. ¹⁷So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him. ¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” ²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. ²¹“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. ²²“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” ²³“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” ²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” ²⁵All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” ²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. – Matthew 27:15-26

You know a lot about Pontius Pilate. You say his name every time you confess the Apostles’ Creed – “Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate.” What do you know about his hands? Most likely you think about how Pontius Pilate washed his hands saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood.”  Tonight I want to tell you ten things about Pilate’s hands to show that they are HANDS OF SELF-PRESERVATION.

Sometime after Christ’s resurrection, Peter and John healed a lame man who had been lying outside the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. When his leaping and singing praises gathered a crowd, Peter addressed them, and accused them of crucifying Jesus. He said: “You are guilty of killing the One who made this miracle possible. You disowned Jesus. You shouted for him to be crucified. You handed Jesus over to Pilate to be crucified, though he had decided to let him go” (Acts 3:13).  Pilate had decided in his mind to release Jesus. Peter said these words: “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go” (Acts 3:13). 

Our text from Matthew 27:15-26 tells us of Pilate’s involvement in the Passion. So you are familiar with Pontius Pilate and his hands. We will see that Pilate did many different things on Good Friday, but there is one thing he didn’t do. He didn’t release Jesus. Instead of letting Jesus go even though he was convinced that Jesus was innocent and that he had decided to let him go, he gave in to the enemies of Jesus. Under pressure he capitulated. He compromised his integrity. He was concerned with self-preservation.

What happened? What made Pilate change his mind? Where did he go wrong, and how did he try to preserve his judicial integrity? The Romans were famous for their legal system, and judges were also judged on their honesty. Pilate knew what was at stake in this trial of the famous rabbi from Jerusalem. He knew the political pressure that the Chief Priest could use against him. All four gospels share details about the interaction between the King of the Jews and the governor of Judea, but only Matthew mentions something Pilate did before he handed Jesus over to be crucified. To protect his position, to proclaim his innocence, Pilate washed his hands. We will call these Hands of Self-Preservation

Pilate had ten good reasons to release Jesus.

#1) When Pilate first met him, Jesus said nothing. The chief priest and elders were accusing him of anything and everything, but Jesus said nothing. He didn’t protest his innocence. He didn’t plead for mercy. He didn’t say a word in his own defense, and Pilate was amazed.

#2) Jesus did open up when the two men were alone, and the things he said made an even deeper impression on Pilate. “My kingdom is not of this world….the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth….you would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 18:36,37; 19:11). No one spoke to the Roman governor like that. Come to think of it, no normal person ever spoke like that. And Pilate was beginning to realize that this man was no ordinary human being.

#3) If Pilate found those statements a bit unsettling, imagine how he felt when he received that message from his wife. She couldn’t wait for him to come home. She didn’t need anyone to interpret her dream because the meaning was clear. Don’t get involved with that man. Don’t have anything to do with that righteous man (if he did, he would regret it).

#4) Pilate was a well-educated politician. He didn’t get to his position by being naïve and easy to manipulate. He could see what the Jewish leaders were trying to do. He knew that they were jealous of what Jesus had become. Pilate was convinced that Jesus was no criminal.

#5) After weighing all the testimony, after examining all the evidence, it should have been an open-and-shut case. Pilate should have set Jesus free and sent the Jewish leaders home. But he didn’t. Pilate didn’t want to touch this political hot potato, so he tried to pass the buck. First, he told the chief priests that if he was guilty of blasphemy, to judge Jesus according to their own law.

#6) When that didn’t work, he sent Jesus to Herod, hoping that a Jewish court would handle the case. That didn’t work either. Herod said that he found no fault in Jesus.

#7) Pilate was running out of options, at least any options that would allow him to protect the innocent and protect his position at the same time. His last and best chance was a Passover custom to release a prisoner chosen by the people. To make the choice obvious, Pilate proposed two men: Jesus and a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. Barabbas was a criminal, guilty of rebellion and murder. He was so bad that he would make anyone else look good. At least that’s what Pilate was hoping. But Pilate’s plan backfired when the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas’ release.

#8) Pilate must have been stunned as he watched his foolproof plan fall apart. Pilate must have been at a loss for other words when these desperate words came out of his mouth, “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” (verse 22). Then Pilate had Jesus scourged and brought him out bloodied and crowned with thorns hoping to evoke some sympathy pointing to Jesus and saying, “Behold! The man!” But the crowd immediately called for his crucifixion. And when Pilate tried to reason with them, it was too late. They kept shouting, “Crucify him!” (verse 23). Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!

Pilate was responsible for keeping the peace, but his attempts to free Jesus had almost started a riot. He needed to do something. He needed to decide: “Do I do what I know is right, or do I do what I think is best for me?” Self-preservation was his only concern.

#9) In the end, Pilate chose himself over Jesus. He sentenced the world’s only truly innocent man to die, while maintaining his own supposed innocence in the process. “He took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. ‘It is your responsibility!’” (verse 24).

Pilate as the Roman governor in the occupied land of Israel was the law of the land. Pilate was the only person who could authorize Jesus’ execution. In spite of his claims to the contrary, Pilate was responsible, and history has held him responsible. Two thousand years later our creeds still confess that Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” No amount of water or public washings will ever make those guilty hands clean.

It was bad justice that Pilate condemned an innocent man. He condemned the sinless Son of God. It was bad enough that Pilate blatantly disregarded justice. What made his actions even worse was that he did everything for his own self-preservation. Pilate was a pagan, and his actions prove that protecting his own power and authority was more important to him than anything else. In the final analysis, an unbeliever acted like an unbeliever. We shouldn’t be surprised by that. In fact, we should probably expect that. What is a greater concern is when people who know better, people who know Jesus, people who call themselves Christians, follow Pilate’s example. They hang their hands in silence.

In the safety of this sanctuary, surrounded by fellow saints, it is easy to sing God’s praises, but out there in the world, it is a different story. When we are with our coworkers or classmates, when we get together with a group of our friends, not all of them are Christians; and some of them can be pretty outspoken. They aren’t afraid to question what we believe. Sometimes they even make fun of us for what we believe.

When we find ourselves in those situations, we know we should say something; but how often have we said nothing? It is an act of self-preservation. After the opportunity has passed, when we have time to think about it, and are feeling guilty about it, we might try to come up with excuses for our silence: “It wasn’t the right time…I didn’t want to get into an argument…I don’t want to lose my friends…I don’t want to lose my job.” We have no excuse and when Jesus declares, “Whoever denies me before others, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:33 EHV), we have to realize that those condemning words are aimed at us. How about boldly confessing, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.” Witness to the power of the cross in your life.

Pilate didn’t do what he could have, and should have, done on Good Friday, but he wasn’t the only person on the Stone Pavement who was in a position to take action. Jesus could have come to his own defense. Jesus could have called down legions of angels to destroy his enemies. Jesus possessed the divine power to do everything Pilate failed to do and more, but he chose not to use it. He could have raised his hands in self-preservation, but instead he lowered his hands in submission. Jesus allowed his enemies to arrest him. He allowed the soldiers to mistreat him and humiliate him. He allowed a crooked court to convict him and a weak judge to wash his hands of him. He allowed himself to be numbered among the transgressors to fulfill prophecy and to pay for the world’s sins. Jesus allowed his own life to be taken as the atoning sacrifice that allows us to live in his presence forever. Praise God! “He has for all a full atonement made.” CW376, stanza 4

#10) We have been looking at all the things Pontius Pilate didn’t do, but he did do one thing on Good Friday that could be considered positive. When Jesus was crucified, Pilate had a notice fastened to the top of his cross that read “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (Matthew 27:37). We don’t know what Pilate meant by that. Was he tweaking the beard of the chief priest? Was he making a final statement to that crowd that yelled for the crucifixion? Was there a part of Pilate that wanted to believe that? Probably it was just one more attempt at self-preservation.

We believe what Pilate’s hands put on that sign. We believe that Jesus is the King. We believe that Jesus is our King. Our King’s rule extends all around the world, and yet his kingdom is not of this world. His rule is primarily spiritual. He claimed us to be his own through the washing of rebirth. He rules in our hearts through the faith he created on the day of our baptism. And the gracious way Jesus loves us and leads us, moves us. As his humble, grateful subjects, we offer our hands to serve him. We eagerly seek out opportunities to serve him. As we pray for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth, we look forward to the day when we will enter his Kingdom in heaven.

Before our Savior-King we confess: “Nothing in my hands I bring; Simply to thy cross I cling.” Amen.

Printable PDF:  3-17-2021 Midweek 5 Sermon

Midweek 5  ~  Matthew 27:27-31  ~  Pastor John Sprain  ~  February 17, 2021

 ²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Mom and Dad took pride that they had raised a happy kid. She was ten years old now and growing into a decent young lady. It was during her fifth-grade year, though, that her parents began to notice a change in personality. The youthful exuberance, her joy for life, and the permanent smile on her face gave way to sullenness. During that school year she grew increasingly distant. Her parents approached her. They took an interest; they asked, “What’s wrong?” and said, “It’s okay to talk about it.” The behavior continued. It wasn’t until the bruises started showing up that they called a meeting with the school principal. Only after hours of prodding did their daughter break down crying, admitting that she was being bullied by a group of mean girls in school.

Bullying is such a widespread and real problem that our government has set up a website, www.stopbullying.gov. It happens in our classrooms, it happens between spouses in our homes, in the workplace, on the subway. The site describes bullying as a pattern of behavior that is used to leverage power or control over another. It identifies three types of bullying. Verbal bullying involves name calling and threats of violence. Social bullying happens when a person is deliberately excluded or ostracized from a group, or others are encouraged not to befriend someone. Physical bullying occurs when property is damaged as a threat of further violence, or when you actually lay your hands on someone else by pushing, kicking, tripping, or using your fists to fight.

If you accept the website’s description, then we’d have to admit that Jesus was the victim of all three types of bullying during his time on earth. His enemies, primarily religious enemies like the Pharisees and Sadducees, routinely engaged in patterns of verbal bullying. Their regular attempts to catch Jesus with trick questions is just one example. There was also the social bullying. Jewish leaders discouraged people from following Jesus, spread rumors about him, and tried to embarrass him publicly. After reading Matthew’s words, Jesus’ physical bullying is unmistakable. What happened at the Praetorium goes way beyond bullying to utter contempt and outright assault.

It’s one thing for a teenager who has had a growth spurt to steal a smaller person’s lunch money, or for a jealous fifth grader to bully the teacher’s pet. It is entirely another thing to bludgeon a man nearly to death for the “crime” of preaching forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Throughout his ministry Jesus was bullied verbally and socially. Beginning late Holy Thursday evening the physical violence escalated. Tonight, we see Jesus suffer the soldiers’ Hands of Brutality.

 

Hands of Brutality (Soldiers)

 What Matthew records for us is actually the second instance of the hands of brutality in the Passion History. Jesus was now in the custody of the Roman governor, but in the early darkness of Friday morning, the Jewish leaders had conducted their own court trial where they abused him. At their illegal meeting, the Jews were trying to manufacture evidence to sentence Jesus to death but couldn’t make anything stick. In their zeal, they stopped trying to pin blame on him and just mocked him mercilessly. These church leaders blindfolded Jesus, slapped him across the face, and demanded he identify the man who hit him. They blasphemed against him, spit in his face, and sent him on to Pontius Pilate.

Pilate interviewed Jesus and was determined to set him free. But Pilate was a politician first and foremost. The angry mob of Jews screaming that Jesus be crucified pressured Pilate into doing what he did.  Perhaps if Jesus were brutalized the Roman way, the Jews’ rage would subside, and they would be satisfied, and Pilate could release an innocent man. So he handed him over to his whole company of soldiers—an estimated 600 men—to do their worst.

The first thing the soldiers did was to whip Jesus’ naked back. This lead-tipped whip was called a flagrum, and it was designed to break open the skin, cause bleeding, and weaken the person, so he couldn’t resist any further punishment. This scourging was so violent that the Jews limited the number of lashes a person could receive. But Jesus was in the hands of the Romans now, and they had no such limit. A cruel piece of irony, this treatment so hard on the individual that many considered it to be an act of mercy. You were so weakened by the beatings that you’d die more quickly when crucified.

After his brutal whipping, the soldiers turned to ridicule. The Jews’ whole case against Jesus revolved around his claim to be a king. The Romans threw a scarlet robe on him—probably a soldier’s coat. They twisted together a bramble of thorns and pressed it into his skull as though it were a crown. They placed a stick of some kind into his weakened hands, and “they knelt down before him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews’” (v. 29). The company of soldiers took turns spitting on him and beating him over the head again and again. And with every blow of the flagrum, with every spray of spit, with every taunt and jeer, Jesus fulfilled God’s Word. “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6).

A lot of us would fight back and try to punch the bully. If not, we might try to get in a few choice insults. Jesus didn’t do that. The same man who taught his followers to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44), and do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Matthew 7:12) is now the man under the microscope. Would he practice what he preached? He did more than that; he fulfilled Scripture. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

Jesus let himself be brutalized. He offered his back. He didn’t object to his oppressors, because he was the King of the Jews. He was the King of the Gentiles! He’s King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), his name is above every name and to him every knee will bow (Philippians 2:9-10).

Why would our almighty King let himself be brutalized? Why doesn’t he stand up and punch those bullies in the mouth? He did it for YOU. Jesus let himself be treated that way for you. He did it for all the times we have hurt others with our hands and our mouths.

Jesus knew it ahead of time; this was the cup of suffering Jesus asked God to take away! But God wouldn’t take it away; he made Jesus drink every last drop. “It was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer” (Isaiah 53:10). Christ was brutalized for you as your perfect substitute. If Jesus hadn’t endured this shame, if he had retreated from the cross or refused to drink even a drop of suffering, then there is no forgiveness of sins for you. God’s wrath would still be on you and me. And suffering at the hands of God would be worse than any bullying by any soldiers.

Listen to Matthew’s words and hear how much Christ sacrificed for you. Look how thoroughly he was brutalized. That’s how thoroughly you are forgiven! An ancient church father who lived in the days just after the Nicene Creed was written, John Chrysostom, head of the church in Constantinople, explains why Christ’s whole body had to suffer at the hands of brutality.

Not only one of the Lord’s members, but his entire body had to suffer the most dreadful pains…His entire body was scourged, stripped, and arrayed in a robe of shame; his hands held the reed; later, his tongue had to taste vinegar and gall. Because sin dwells and is active in all our members, therefore Christ desired to suffer for our sins in all his members.

A bully tries to use power to control a person. When you’re the victim of bullying, you feel alone and powerless, as though you have to obey the bully. Sin is a bully; it tries to coerce us into crimes against the commandments. The devil is a bully; Satan tempt us into bad behavior. Our brother Jesus was bullied in our place and was brutalized, for all, and we belong to Christ. Now our spiritual bullies can’t demand our milk money and have no say in our morality. “Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Since the forgiving love of Christ lives in our hearts, we happily submit to his gracious rule rather than to the empty threats of any evil bully. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Freedom from sin and Satan is reason enough to rejoice! But as we join Jesus in his gracious rule, we really begin to see what liberty looks like. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. (We hate sin.) As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God” (1 Peter 4:1-2). Taking on Jesus’ attitude enables us to turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies and persecutors, and treat others as we’d have them treat us. Because Jesus made peace with us through the brutal suffering in his body, in him we are able to live peaceably with all people (Romans 12:18)

It’s no wonder why the world is so unhappy. So many people are still living without Christ. They’re being bullied by sin and Satan. They feel alone and powerless as the bullies dictate their lives. How much better is it to have God as your Father? He raises happy kids! Our brother, Jesus, suffered under the soldiers’ hands of brutality, and as a result we will never have to suffer God’s wrath. And, as happy kids in God’s family, we delight to bring our brother’s peace to people who are still being bullied. Amen.