In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Christ’s first words as he bleeds and dies nailed to a cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The first words that Jesus speaks from the cross are words of forgiveness. Father, forgive them. These words echoed out from the cross, even to today. The reason we are here today is because we know we need forgiveness. We know we need forgiveness, because there is so much sin within each one of us. So much sin that separates us from God. So much hurt and pain and so much anger. The vast chasm that our sin creates separates us from God. It is so large and so unwieldy that we can do nothing to change it or to overcome it.
Murder, hate, lust, adultery, gossip, selfishness and pride. Friends, we don’t know what we are doing. So often our sin does what we know is wrong, what we know we shouldn’t do. So often do we know that we are guilty, just as guilty as those who hammered nails into the hands and feet of Jesus, the Son of the Living God, who pierced His side with a spear. But friends, Jesus’ first words are as much a prayer for you as they are for those who were there that fateful day. And Jesus’ prayer isn’t only a request or a plea. Jesus’ prayer is one that is answered. For it is in Jesus’ own blood poured out that Good Friday from His body, in His own death, that He earns forgiveness for you. “Father, forgive them, even though they don’t know what they do” Jesus’ prayer says, “and punish me in their place.” We have full and complete forgiveness in the death of Jesus.
Second Word: Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Today! Right now! Jesus makes a promise to that man on the cross. He doesn’t say, “Maybe you will be with me in paradise.” He doesn’t say, “Perhaps”, or “Tomorrow”, or “when I get around to it”. Jesus says “today”. It isn’t something that is in doubt. It isn’t something that you need to worry about. It is something that we have Today!! Right now! Today Jesus has suffered for me. Today his blood covers me. Today I am his holy precious child in the faith He pours out on me. Today.
Jesus is with me. Jesus is here and nothing can separate me from His love. It’s here for me Today, and all the Todays that are to come. Salvation is now, salvation comes right now. Salvation is yours today, because of the holy blood of Christ that spilled from his very side as he said, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Today. Amen.
Third Word: John 19:25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Jesus thinks not of Himself, but of others. Even as he is bleeding and dying on that Old Rugged Cross. Even as he suffers torture and crucifixion, Jesus is thinking of others. Here he fulfills the Fourth Commandment, “honor your father and your mother”, by instructing John to take care of Mary as John would care for his own mother. Jesus’ concern is not with what is happening to himself, but rather how to care for you.
By doing this, Jesus is fulfilling the entire Law. From the moment of His birth until the moment of his death, Jesus is fulfilling what we cannot. He has kept all Ten of the Commandments, where as we have kept none. He has obeyed God perfectly and totally, and has even now submitted himself to suffering and death on the cross. And Jesus does it all because he is concerned with you. Jesus does it all because He wants you to be in that same relationship with God the Father as He is in – perfect love. As Jesus suffers in your place, he says to you, “Behold, your heavenly Father, who has adopted you in my blood.” And to His Father He says, “Behold your son, purchased and won with my holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death.” Amen.
Fourth Word: Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? These words from Psalm 22 are more often than not our words. When we feel abandoned. When we feel alone, or betrayed. When we are angry or frustrated, what are our first words? God, how could you have let this happen? God, how could you have done this to me? Why have you forsaken me? Friends, in our sin, that is exactly what we deserve. Doesn’t it make sense that if we have so blatantly and utterly turned our backs on God that He should do the same? As we have confessed by our actions that He doesn’t exist, as we have said, “I know what scripture says, but I am still going to do my own thing.” We have done these things, so shouldn’t God abandon us, shouldn’t He leave us alone and bound for the Hell that we deserve?
But your God does not forsake you. Even as so many times we feel like God doesn’t care at all. Your God has not abandoned you. Your God has not left you alone or betrayed you. Rather your God took on your human flesh, and was Himself forsaken in your place on a cross. He Himself was abandoned; He himself suffered the punishment of Hell apart from God. God turned his back on Jesus. He was forsaken so that you yourself might not be, and might live with Him forever in His kingdom. There you will never be far from God. There you will never be abandoned or forsaken. There you will never be alone, for surely your God is with you always, even to the end of the age. Jesus was forsaken so that you might always be in palm of your God’s hand, even forever more. Amen.
Fifth Word: John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.
I am Thirsty. I need a drink. I Thirst. Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” He told the woman at the well, “I will give you water to drink which you will drink and never thirst again.” Jesus is the river of life. Jesus has water that will satisfy. Jesus has water that is good. But so often, we thirst for other things, hoping that in them we will have satisfaction, that in them we will have peace, in them we will finally have our thirst quenched. But when we partake of them, they still leave us feeling thirsty for more.
But there is only one thing that can satisfy. There is only one thing that can give us hope, only one thing which really will quench our thirst. And that thing is the very love of Jesus. The love that is so great that he will even give up his life for you, His beloved friend. The love of Jesus which is so great that he would go to Calvary and drink the cup of God’s wrath so that you might drink the cup of God’s blessing and tenderness.
What do you thirst for? What things do you thirst for? Friends, in faith we thirst for Jesus. We thirst for His love. We thirst for His forgiveness. And as we do, we know that those springs of living water well up within us to everlasting life. Amen.
Sixth Word: John 19:29 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. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
It is finished! It’s all done. The war our own sin began so long ago in the Garden of Eden, as Adam and Eve first disobeyed God, has now been completed. Now the battle’s o’er, the victory’s won. The battle has raged in each one of us. The battle raged as we fought against our God and our Lord. So often we deigned to be our own God. So often we claimed to be in charge of ourselves. We’ve made our own decisions, and in them so often spit in the eye of God and told Him, “I don’t need you! I don’t want you! Leave me alone!” But now the battle is o’er. Now “It is finished.”
It is finished because your sin has been taken on Jesus. All of it. Every single thing wrong, those you know about, and those you don’t know about. It is all on Jesus. You cannot keep any for yourself. He has taken it, and carried it up the hill called Golgotha, and there He has killed it once and for all. It is FINISHED! It is finished in the past as Jesus died. It is finished now as that grace and forgiveness come to you in the precious means of grace. It is finished because Christ has died for you, so that you may have new life in faith and hope and love. No longer need you be burdened by your sin – it is finished. No longer need you worry about your guilt – it is finished. No longer do you have to ask, “Is what I have done so wrong, that I can never be forgiven?” It is finished, period! Everything necessary for your salvation is FINISHED! You cannot add or subtract from it. It is finished. In Jesus, you are forgiven. Amen.
Seventh Word: Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Father into your hands, I commit my spirit. Jesus again praying the psalms. Jesus praying a prayer we can offer up every day. Into your hands, I commit my spirit. It makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, we are in His hands. Nothing or no one can snatch us out. As Christians, we live in faith toward God, and love for neighbor that says, “I belong to God.”
But so often this is not our prayer. So often we forget we are in God’s loving hands. So often we would like to commit our lives, or at least the moment, to something much less than God. Sometimes we commit ourselves to that which is downright evil and sinful. Because of that, we are so often afraid, afraid of getting caught, afraid of consequences, afraid of the unknown. And we can be honest, we are afraid of death.
But no child is ever afraid to go where the leader has already gone. We have seen the game, Follow the Leader. But no matter how bold or daring that leader might be, over the fence, through the yard, across the street, the others may follow their leader without fear.
Today, in our last word from the cross, Jesus teaches us how to live, and he teaches us how to die. Don’t you know that all of you who have been baptized into the death of Jesus have already died with him? You have died in the waters of Baptism, sharing in the death that Jesus dies right here, right now in our text. And if you have died with him, you also follow him through death into his resurrection, into his everlasting life, into heaven.
Father into your hands, I commit my spirit, for now I follow your Son boldly into new life with you forever. Amen.
This evening, we will continue with the Tenebrae Service of Darkening at 7:00 at St. John's Lutheran Church.
