Hand

A Sermon on Acts 9:1-19 for the Third Sunday in Easter, Series C, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Hands are one of most important parts of who you are. Hands are how people work. The great woman of Proverbs 31 for example uses her hands to planting a vineyard, and puts her hands to the spindle to sew, and reaches out her hands to the needy, and gathers in the fruit of the harvest. Though we have plenty of secular examples as well. All hands on deck. Having one’s hands full. Lending as hand. We work with out hands. And many hands make light work. 

Hands are also all over our first reading from Acts today, as Saul, not yet known as Paul, heads to Damascus. This is the guy, when Steven was killed for proclaiming Christ, stood there as the one most responsible. He had already been rounding people up in Jerusalem, handing those who put faith in Jesus over to the hands of the jailers and executioners. And now, he got written permission to hand over anyone he found for punishment. A lot of very busy hands to be found. But the work they were doing was not good. In fact, I can’t think of very much worse that the hands of Saul could have possibly done. His hands weren’t just dirty, he had blood on his hands. 

Well, on the road to Damascus Saul and the men traveling with him were stopped. A bright light flashed from heaven, and Saul fell to the ground. And there was a voice. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Saul was blinded by the light. So those with him had to lead him by the hand. Hands that had done all this work on their own suddenly are unable to do anything at all. 

It’s a difficult thing to be led by the hand. Most of us probably haven’t been since we were children. But to be led is to lose all control of where you go and what you work on. In Saul’s case, that was a good thing, because his works were evil. But it was a tremendous blow to his pride. We too have plenty of pride. Most of us world rather die than get to a point where we need to be led by the hand again. We do not bear it well when the idol that is ourselves is no longer capable of what we believe it should be. It never was. But our pride is far more resilient than our bodies. 

But who among us can be resilient against Jesus Christ? Being blinded was probably the least difficult part of Saul’s whole experience. He had just come face to face with the Lord, almighty God Himself. And Saul found out that this God is Jesus, the very one whose name he was trying to silence by threat of death. Our Lord took that idol of Saul’s and broke it so completely, that Saul put up no fight being led by the hand to Damascus. He had bigger problems to worry about. And they were so big, that he didn’t eat or drink for three days. 

We too can find ourselves lost when God breaks our idols. We wonder how we could get things so very wrong. We wonder what comes next. And that is the Time when the Lord sends us to His Word. Sends us to remember our baptism. Or in Saul’s case, to receive baptism. Ananias has been waiting for Saul to arrive. But the Saul he expected was the one who breathed out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He had gotten word that Saul was on his way. That the chief priests had given the authority to him to arrest anyone who confessed Christ. So when Ananias gets a vision from the Lord, news that Saul is here doesn’t surprise him. That Ananias was to go meet him, and lay his hands on him, that was not expected at all.

The hands are meant for work. The laying on of hands takes the work of one, and gives it to another. It has been around since the Exodus. The sacrificial animals had the hands of the people placed upon them. And they confessed their sins onto the animal. It didn’t need to be direct either. People could lay their hands on the Levites, who would then go and lay their hands on the sacrificial animals in their place. The work of sin was transferred from one to another, until it came upon the sacrifice.

Well, it works in the other direction too. The apostles received the work of Christ. And when the apostles laid their hands on others, they too received power from God. Ananias was told to go and lay his hands on Saul. To bring the work that Christ had done, and give it to this man who had come to kill them all. So Ananias went. 

We still have the laying on of hands. At baptism, pastor lay their hands on the heads of those they baptize. At ordination, pastors lay their hands on the new pastor. Each giving the work of Christ that we receive to the one who is touched. Hands are for working. And it isn’t our work that we need. It’s Christ’s work. His work on the cross. His work of bearing our sins. His work of death and resurrection. His work of forgiveness. His work of bringing life. 

Jesus delivers His work to us through hands. He’s been getting His hands dirty for our sake. By His hands we are saved. By his hands we are forgiven. By His hands, we receive life. Because His hands were pierced by nails. His hands hung our Lord upon the cross. His hands were a focal point of His sacrifice on our behalf. And He has shown us those hands as His work is given to us.

So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And Saul could see again, and was baptized in the name of Jesus.

Hands are amazing things. We just sung about them in our sermon hymn. “Precious Lord, take my hand. Lead me on, let me stand. I am tired. I am weak. I am worn. Through the storm. Through the night. Lead me on to the Light. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.” We cannot by our own hands do much of anything. But the Lord takes us by the hand. Does the work on our behalf. And it’s Him who gives us His home forever. 

Jesus is giving us His hand every time we hear His Word. He’s taking us by the hand every time our sins are forgiven. He’s placed His hands upon us in our baptism. And He’s showing us his hands every time we are given His body to eat, and His blood to drink in communion with Him. He has taken our salvation in His own hands. And by His resurrection, we have the confidence to say that we are in good hands indeed. Thanks be to God.

Held

A Sermon on Revelation 1:4-18 and John 20:19-31 for the Second Sunday of Easter, Series C, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Every year, the Sunday after Easter gives us the account of Thomas, who missed Jesus the first time around. It’s a beautiful text about how the Lord patiently brings Thomas from unbelief to faith. And it’s where we find Jesus giving the forgiveness of sins to His Church in order that forgiveness might be given to all.

Also, every year instead of getting an Old Testament reading for the season of Easter, we get our first reading from the book of Acts. Luke’s look at the very beginning of the Church helps us to see what the Church is supposed to be. And we also get to see their struggles, reminding us that we will also have struggles in our day. Nevertheless, the Lord is with His Church. 

But once every three years, we get our Epistle lessons from the book of Revelation. And, in all honesty, this is really the book most Christians are interested in. Because, we’re told, it’s all about the end times. Let’s stop that right there. The moment we call Revelation a book about the end times, we deny the words of Jesus. “No one knows the day, nor the hour,” Jesus says quite plainly. But when we treat this book as a timeline of the last days, suddenly everyone is keeping their eyes open in order to find out the day or the hour. Because if we can spot the start, then we know how long we’ve got left. 

And, boy howdy, we love to keep an eye out on the world to see if anything matches up. We examine every war, every rumor of war to see if this is the one that kicks off the final countdown. Even though Jesus also clearly says that wars and rumors of war are not the end at all, but just the opposite, namely the beginning. Not the beginning of the end. Simply the beginning. I mean, it’s already there in Cain and Abel, when the war between the two of them wiped out one quarter of all humanity. There were only four people at that moment, but I think the point still stands. 

Revelation is not a timeline of the end. And no one seems to get that. To be fair, it’s not just a today problem. Martin of Tours, bishop in the fourth century, said that, based on what was happening in the world in those days, Christ would return before 400 AD. Spanish monk Beatus of Liebana announced on April 6th, 793 that this was the very day Christ would return to judge the heathens around him. Even Martin Luther thought that, because of the state of the Church, the world wouldn’t last past 1600. Yet here we are. 

The lesson in all this isn’t that we should never think the end is coming. But rather that we should treat all times after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus as the time in which Jesus very well might come back. Being prepared for that is not using the newspaper to interpret Scripture. But by being faithful, no matter the circumstances.

But if that’s the case, then what is the book of Revelation? We find out in verse one. A Revelation of Jesus Christ. This book shows us Jesus. Who He is. What He’s done. However, the book is written in a genre that we’re not familiar with. And knowing the genre, the kind of book it is, is necessary to properly understand it. Think of it this way. If you confused a book of poetry for a cookbook, you might be wondering how you would even measure out 2 cups of love. But if you conversely tried to understand the poetic meaning behind a teaspoon of salt, you might end up with some very wild answers. Genre matters.

The genre of Revelation is not one we’re familair with. Apocalyptic writing doesn’t mean disasters everywhere. Αποκαλυπτω is the Greek word meaning to reveal. In this style, vivid and wild images are speaking to an underlying truth. What is important is not the images themselves, but what those images reveal about reality itself. Our text this morning actually gives us a class on how to do that. Though we need to finish the chapter to get the explanation. 

But here’s the image: “[O]n turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” 

Jesus then goes on in the verses after our reading today to explain what all these images represent. “As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” What John saw is not the thing John was supposed to see. What John saw was the symbol. Jesus explained the meaning. If we came away from that looking for stars and lampstands, we’re no different than the poet contemplating a teaspoon of salt. We might come up with something intellectually interesting. But the cookies we’re baking will turn out very bland. We might come up with fascinating theories reading Revelation. But unless they reveal Jesus Christ, they have no value at all.

But what about the parts of the text that Jesus doesn’t explain? The golden sash, the white hair, the fiery eyes, the feet of bronze, the voice like the roar of waters, and the two edged sword coming out of His mouth, what are those things? We are told. Just not in Revelation. Because this isn’t the only place we hear this description. This is the same description that Daniel uses for the Ancient of Days. 

Turns out that of the four hundred and four verses in Revelation, over two hundred and fifty of them are quotations and references to the Old Testament. And to find what the images mean, we look back at what they meant before. We look to how the Lord was giving a revelation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. After all, that’s what Jesus Himself says the whole Old Testament is about. Jesus, in this particular appearance in Daniel, is confessed to be Yahweh in the flesh. The hair, the bronze legs, all that, show the one talking to Daniel is Almighty God. And John speaks with the exact same person. 

Again, it’s not the image itself that matters all that much. It’s what it tells us about who Jesus is. And in that day, there was no bigger confession of faith than to say Jesus is the Lord. This is the exact same thing Thomas says in our Gospel lesson upon having  Jesus’ hands and side revealed to him. “My Lord and my God!” Thomas got to see and believe. Our sight comes from the messages that John wrote through His Gospel, through his book of Revelation, and through the whole Bible. 

We can also likewise see through the eyes of history. Something happened to get fishermen and tax collectors from Galilee to give up everything in their lives to confess the resurrection from the dead. A job they continued even when they were actually killed for saying it. An outcome so improbable, that only someone actually rising from the dead could inspire one to do it. So John does what he is told, and writes to Ephesis, and Smyrna, and Pergamum, and Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. He writes a message of Law, convicting them of their sin. He writes a message of Gospel, declaring hope, forgiveness, life, and resurrection. A Revelation of Jesus Christ. Given to them. Given to us. And in Christ’s hands are us His messengers. Those who proclaim the death of Christ until He comes again. Not just angels, not just pastors, but all of us are called to reveal Christ to the world. And as we all do, Jesus holds us safely, never intending to let us go. 

This is why He can say to the disciples in that upper room, “Peace be with you.” Because He holds us in a peace that the world cannot know. We are safe in His resurrection from the dead. Because now, no matter the dangers that come our way, there is nothing that can shake us loose from His saving hands. Thanks be to God.

Seated

A Sermon on Luke 23:39-56 for Good Friday, Series C, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to [Jesus] and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 

And [Jesus] came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

The cup that Jesus was to drink was His crucifixion and death. The baptism that Jesus was baptized with was the one that washed the sacrifice over sin totally consumed by the Lord’s fiery wrath. James and John asked to join Jesus on His right and on His left when He entered His glory. Jesus told them that they would indeed have their own crosses. Execution for James. A live of exile and torture for John, But to be on His right and on His left in that moment was not for Jesus to grant to them. It was prepared for two others. Two who had no idea that such would be their end.

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

…One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 

The two that joined Jesus in His glory were the thieves who were crucified with Him. They were baptized with the baptism that Jesus was baptized with. As it is written, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” They died with Jesus. They joined Him at the cross. Our baptism bring us to that place with them. But they’re already there. On His right and on His left. They partook of the same cup that Jesus did. Having a front row seat to the body and blood of Christ sacrificed for the sin of the world. A body and blood that the Lord must proclaim over bread and wine for us to take part in. They’re already there. On His right and on His left. 

Now it is true that one mistreated Jesus while on the cross. Would not believe that Jesus was the promised Christ, because Jesus did not take Himself off the cross. But the other still believed. Even while both hung there dying. Asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom. And Jesus made this man a promise. “Today you will be with me in paradise.” 

We think that to be the end of their story. But it’s not. Because the one on His right and the one on His left had a front row seat to the sun darkened. They saw the earth tremble at His death. They saw Jesus cry out, not weakly in the pangs of death, but with a great voice, giving up the Spirit. They saw with their own eyes that Christ died for them. We do not know what the faith of the other thief was. But he did see all this himself. And when we have been shown what he saw, the Holy Spirit has delivered faith into our hearts. Our faith comes from the death of Christ for our sake. And this is what Good Friday is all about. 

The fate of the two who sat on Jesus’ right and on Jesus left when He entered His glory was not a comfortable one. We heard that the chief priests asked Pilate to break their legs while they hung on that cross in order that they would die before the end of the day. It wouldn’t do to have sinners on public display as the Feast of the Passover Lamb began the Sabbath. 

But the Feast of the Passover Lamb did start. With sinners in the seats of honor before the Lord. There because the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world by His all availing sacrifice. Their sins were forgiven. Our sins are forgiven. And we stand in awe of the mighty work of God. This is the end of the road to the cross. Jesus has completed the journey. And won for us the forgiveness of each and every sin. Thanks be to God.

Passover

A Sermon on Luke 22:7-23 for Maundy Thursday, Series C, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Passover was one of the most important celebrations in the Jewish calendar in Jesus’ day. This was the first festival they were given by God. It began the night when they were freed from Egyptian slavery. They were told to slaughter a lamb, and paint its blood on their doorposts. They were instructed to roast the lamb quickly over the fire, and eat in haste. Because that night, the angel of the Lord would pass over all the houses in Egypt, looking to take the firstborn by death. Only the houses that had the blood of the lamb would be spared.

That first Passover which we hear in our Old Testament lesson brought the focus on the Passover Lamb. But our Lord later did lay out more parts of the Passover week through Moses. After they were free, Passover would last a week. There would be multiple feasts. The biggest feasts would be the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of the Passover Lamb. The Feast of Unleavened bread would happen on the evening before. Then at noon the next day, the Passover Lamb would be sacrificed. And at evening, the Feast was held. 

Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” Jesus sent them to go get the Feast on Unleavened Bread ready. And He sent them to someone who had already prepared it for whatever guests would be coming. The bread was ready. The wine was ready. And soon all the people would gather in their homes and tell each other the whole Exodus story. How the Lord freed His people from slavery. How the Lord brought them out of Egypt. How the Lord put them in their own land to rest. 

After all those years, the people of God still remembered what the Lord had done for them. Fathers would tell their children, so that the next generation would remember. And this was passed down generation to generation all the way to the night where Jesus was betrayed. 

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Wait, this wasn’t how the Exodus story started. Where’s the Pharaoh? Where’s Moses? Where’s the angel of death, the Passover Lamb, or the blood on the doorposts? The Lord God Almighty declared this day a memorial day. A day to always remember. And here Jesus does something completely different. Or maybe not really all that different after all.

You see, Jesus will not be alive for the Passover Lamb meal. Because He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He will be crucified at the same moment the lambs in the temple will be slaughtered. It’s a brand new Exodus. Only instead of being freed from slavery to a people, we will all be freed from slavery to sin. Instead of being brought up out of Egypt, we will be brought out of death. Instead of finding rest in a small land of this world, we will be given the entire new heaven and new earth to find rest in. 

So this night was Jesus’ last chance to incorporate the entire Passover with His disciples while He is still alive. And so this Passover would be eaten in haste as well. They needed not only to eat the unleavened bread to remember how quickly they needed to be ready to leave Egypt all those years ago. They also needed to eat the Lamb. This is exactly what Jesus has planned. Because it’s this night that’s been planned from the very beginning. The Passover points forward to Jesus. Therefore Jesus says, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 

The body of the Lamb. In this new meal that Jesus institutes this night, They eat both Passover feasts. This is the night that all those passovers to be remembered were remembered for. We eat the flesh of God, which He gave to us willingly, all in order to save us. Over this bread, God has spoken His creative Word. Is it now the body of Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World. The very sacrifice that the Lord has been preparing His people to receive in full for centuries. And when we have received the death in Jesus in full, we are to keep on doing this, just as before. Only instead of remembering the small Exodus from Egypt, we now remember the big exodus out of slavery to sin, death, and the devil.

As Jesus said, that night would be the last time that Jesus would eat this particular Passover, as earnestly as He had desired to do so. Next time that He would be present for this feast, it would be all new, completely fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Because of the cross of Christ, we now have a new Passover. Because of the life Jesus gave, because of the blood Jesus shed, death now passes us over, unable to keep us in our graves for long. Because the doorposts of our hearts are covered in the blood of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Thanks be to God.

Sifted

A Sermon on Luke 22:24-34 for Palm/Passion Sunday, Series C, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. During our Midweek Lenten services this season, we’ve been looking this whole reading from Luke’s Gospel on Jesus’ road to the cross. Only we started at Gethsemane. Our reading today starts earlier. The chief priests and scribes were plotting to kill Jesus, and Satan grabs ahold of the first of the twelve disciples, Judas. 

Judas was not the only of the twelve that Satan wanted. He actually had claim on them all. Right after Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, and told them that He would be betrayed, the conversation started over who it could be. But it wasn’t long until none of them were worried about someone betraying Jesus. Instead, it was a debate about who among them was the greatest of the disciples. An argument that Simon Peter had the best shot of winning.

It’s in quelling that argument that Jesus tells him, “Simon, Simon, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” Now, the word ‘you’ in english can either be singular or plural, and we have to know by context which is which. Not so in most other languages. In English, we assume by context that when “Satan demanded to have you,” that Jesus meant only Peter. But in the original, it’s clear that Satan demanded to have all the disciples. Because as we heard, every single one of them fled. None stood by Jesus in His toughest hour. Peter, of course, tells Jesus of his faithfulness. “I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” But when given the opportunity to do just that, Peter denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed. Judas betrayed Jesus for money. Peter betrayed Jesus for nothing. 

Satan demands to have us too. The job that he was given at creation was to be the prosecuting attorney. To accuse those who sinned. That’s where he gets his name from, as ‘satana’ is also the Hebrew word for ‘accusation’. And we have plenty of sin of which to be accused. If we think our sin is too small to be of consequence, Satan smiles and knows he has us. If we think our sin is too big, and it will crush us, Satan smiles and knows he has us. If we think our sin is just right, Satan smiles and knows he has us. Any sin is a sin that the accuser can use against us. And no matter how we might try to fool ourselves, we all have sin. 

So Satan demands us. Tells God that because of our sin, we belong to him. That’s the way it was set up from the beginning. And the Lord can’t go changing His Law now, lest Satan have an accusation against God as well. Because of Judas’ betrayal, because of Peter’s denial, because of all the disciples’ abandonment, Satan has a claim on them all. Because of our sin, Satan has a claim on us as well.

But Jesus tells Peter this. “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” This time the word you isn’t plural, it’s singular. Jesus has prayed for Peter in particular. And Jesus tells him the reason why. “When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Satan is coming after all of them, but Jesus prays for Peter in particular. Why? Because even though the sin of Peter and the sin of Judas are equal, it will be Peter who will lead the others to be Christ’s Church. 

You see, the Church is not a place where the sinless gather. We are not the club of the holy and pious. We are full blown sinners, just like everyone else. Only we have learned something very precious and dear. Jesus Christ forgives sins. So now Peter does not go to his fellow disciples and say, “I have withstood temptation, be like me.” Peter tells them, “I abandoned Jesus too, but He has forgiven us all by His blood.” And ever since, the Church has been filled with sinners reaching out to sinners with good news. The best news any sinner could possibly hear. Jesus Christ has taken your sin to the cross and paid for it with His life. It is now gone. And Satan has nothing left to accuse you of.

That’s what we have seen today. Jesus bears all your sins. He takes them off of your shoulders, and carries them through Gethsemane. He bears them through the trials. He hauls them to His cross. And they are pierced through with nails as much as Christ is. He who knew no sin became sin for us. And by doing so has taken all our sins away. So now, when Satan goes to accuse you before God, the Lord asks where the sin is. And it is not on you any longer. It is dead and in Jesus’ grave. All by itself, because Jesus isn’t in His grave anymore. He has risen from the dead. A fact so important, that all of next Sunday is dedicated to it. 

We will have times in our lives where Satan will still sift us like wheat anyways. We know what our sins are. And he will use them against our consciences. Hoping at some point to make the case that our Lord couldn’t possibly forgive you. And Satan’s is wily enough to pull that off against any of us in time. But Jesus Christ changed all that. Only through our Lord do we have anything to fight back Satan with. But that something is everything. Jesus Christ died for you and me on the cross. And He took all our sin with Him. It is not ours any longer. It is all gone. And we are free from its grasp. Thanks be to God.

Weep

A Midweek Lenten Sermon on Luke 23:26-38

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And there followed [Jesus] a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” 

If we’re really honest with ourselves, we don’t really pay much attention to these words of Jesus as He’s going to the cross. They seem like very Jesus-y words to say. And when we do think about them, we usually come away with something like, ‘repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.’ And that’s actually a really good thing. But that’s not quite what the crowd heard that day. 

Because every time the people gathered in Jerusalem for the passover, including this one where Jesus is crucified, they remembered far more than the deliverance out of Egypt. What they remembered was God’s promise to deliver them forever. There would be a savior. A messiah. One who would reign over the kingdom of God. And they looked forward to such deliverance with hope. They might be under Roman rule for now. But the day is coming when that savior will arrive. And then they’ll be free.

And the crowd had been very much hoping that this day would have been that day. Jesus would’ve been a good savior. Jesus would’ve made a great king. But now that He was going to the cross, it looks like their wait will have to be a little longer. Which was too bad. Many people did like Jesus. But how do you stand against a mob? How do you stand against those in power in your community? If Jesus were the one, then He could have. But now they mourn the death of Jesus, with the hope of tomorrow.

One day the savior will come. One day they will be free. One day the kingdom of God will be restored. And Jerusalem will be it capital. But then Jesus tells the crowd that it is better to not have been born than to endure what is coming to Jerusalem. You yourselves will be saying that it is better to die than to bear witness to what is transpiring before your eyes. There is no future hope for the kingdom they imagine. There is no future messiah who will kick out the Romans. There is no future, period, for Jerusalem and the temple. 

Do not weep for me, Jesus says. Weep for yourselves and for your children. Jesus takes their hopes and tells them to forget them. Their hope is not going to come about. Because while they see Jesus sentenced to death, on his way to execution, they will not see Jesus as the Messiah. While they see Jesus hanging on the cross, they will not see Him as their Savior. While Jesus is mocked by the chief priests they will not see Him and bringing about the kingdom of God. Even though that is exactly what He’s doing. 

Their hope is right here. Jesus has shown that He is the promised Savior they have been waiting for. Since when does the Lord need the right outcomes in order to bring about salvation? He didn’t need Pharaoh’s cooperation to lead His people out of Egypt. He didn’t need a well equipped or trained army to conquer Jericho. He didn’t need the thirty thousand man army Gideon raised to fend off the Midianites. He didn’t need Goliath’s match to fell the giant. He didn’t need the worship of hundreds of priests to accept the sacrifice at Mt. Carmel from Elijah. People of God, if you can’t hope now when three tree is green, when the Christ is standing right in front of you, how will you possibly hope when Jerusalem falls and the temple is destroyed in 37 years? 

Jesus isn’t necessarily calling them to repentance here, He’s calling them to hope in the promises that have been made to them by the Lord. Because even though Jesus dies on this cross, every promise ever made to them by God is fulfilled in this moment. The seed of the woman who crushes the serpents head. Jesus does it here, crushing Satan as his feet are nailed to a cross. The promise never destroy the earth by flood for the evil of the people. The forgiveness won here by His sacrifice pays the price for all sin already. The promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the starts. Jesus makes us and all who believe heirs of this promise by grace through faith. The promise of a land to live in. Jesus’ cross establishes the kingdom of God that goes through the entire world. Every promise is fulfilled. Every promise kept far bigger and better than anyone had a right to expect. 

And if God keeps His promises so fully, and so overwhelmingly, then why should we not hold out hope for what we face? It may be that God has deliverance for today. But even if it must wait until after our death, look how much our Lord did by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no amount of hope that is unjustified over the promises of God. 

When we are without that hope, it is more appropriate to weep for ourselves than for Christ. But with that hope we can stand through anything. Even as those around us call to the mountains to fall on them and the hills to cover them. With that hope, we can look forward to tomorrow, wether temporally or eternally. Even while others in the world say that it’s better to never have been born. We have a God who died on our behalf, and rose from the dead on the third day. And by it saved the world. Our hope is beyond compare. 

So as we watch this season as Jesus takes His road to the cross, we do weep at the price that had to be paid for our sin. But we do not weep and grieve as those who have no hope. Because our Lord has turned our darkest hour into our greatest hope of all. Jesus Christ has died as a sacrifice to pay for our sin. And has risen from the dead to give us resurrection unto eternal life. Thanks be to God.