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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Hosea 6:1-6
Exodus 12:1-12
St. John 18:1-19:42
Grace, mercy, and peace from Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim
1)
Who speaks to you on this Good Friday from His suffering
heard, saying:
“’Whom do you
seek?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I
am he.’”
King of kings and Lord of lords. And He shall reign forever
and ever from a tree. Halleluiah, halleluiah, halleluiah, halleluiah. Oops. I said the A
word. Or is it the “H” word?
What did you come to Church, tonight, to see? A reed shaken
upon a head, by the hands of men?
What did you come out to see? A man in soft clothes of many
colors or maybe one Who has come from Edom, with crimson-stained garments,
spattered with lifeblood?
Behold, those in soft-clothing, with blood on their hands
are in kings palaces and politicians’ mansions.
What did you come out to see tonight? Maybe you thought your
Bread King would fill your pantry or your miracle King would heal all your
ills. Or entertainment? Jesus, bring yourself down off the cross, dance around
speaking in tongues, then we’ll believe.
Maybe you thought there was a show on tonight. That for the
price of admission, you’d be entertained, like with a clown. Because, when it
comes down to it, that’s all we really want from God: entertainment. We don’t
care what He says, as long as its nice and we can feel good about ourselves. We
don’t care what He does, as long as its in the past and has nothing to do with
how I worship Him today
We don’t care to stay too long either, or it might become
not as special. We don’t dare dwell on Christ on the Cross. Its too dark. Too
depressing. Not churchy enough.
I will tell you what I came out to see. I came to see the
Crucified. I came to see a corpus, a body on that cross. I came to see God
stopped dead in His tracks, literally. Why? Because I am an enemy of God in my
sin and while I was an enemy of God, I was reconciled to Him by the death of
His Son (Rom 5:10). That’s what He wants. That’s how He wanted it. Give God the
glory great things He has done.
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and
eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul
may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my
steadfast, sure love for David” (Is 55:2-3).
He came to be despised and rejected by men. To be heavy with
sorrow and grief. The shame that made us hide our face from Him, He wore as a
badge of courage, those marks of thorn and reed. Though we judged Him forsaken
by God, He bore our griefs and iniquities. Why do we whitewash our
churches and services and empty our crosses?
Being pierced, crushed, and tortured He buys us peace.
Having been afflicted with numerous, fatal wounds, we are healed, because from
those open and flowing wounds comes the lifeblood of God Himself, in which is
life eternal.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter, our Man does not turn to
the left or to the right. No more praying for relief, no more threatening with
legions of angels, and no more arguing. The Table is set. The cards are down. The
chips fall where they may.
And when the dust settles, the Lamb that was slain, stands
upright again. He can stay on the cross. He can hold up the crown of thorns. He
can withstand the scourging of reeds and rods and stand again. And when He
stands He shouts out, “Today you will be with me in paradise”.
Its not the sentencing of the innocent, or the death, or the
burial, but at the announcement of our inclusion. That is when the News is Good
News. “We are included!”
Then the new song is started up, everyone already knowing
the words, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you
were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and
language and people and nation” (Rev 5:9).
By thorn, nail, and spear a fountain is opened up “to
cleanse from sin and uncleanness” (Zech 13:1). False Idols will be cut off
and “I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my
God’” (Zech 13:9).
Your “sin…is written with a pen of iron; with a point of
diamond it is engraved on the tablet of [your] heart” (Jer 17:1). “For
thus says the Lord: ‘Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous.
There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound,
no healing for you’” (Jer 30:12-13). There has never been a case such as
yours where the patient lived.
Until Christ.
For thus saith the Lord, “In this is love, not that we
have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the wrath-absorbing
sacrifice for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10).
So what have we come here for, tonight? We have come to be
witness and party to God’s great work of history: salvation for sinners. We
testify that God has done this through the suffering, death, and resurrection of
His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as He wanted. And we proclaim that death
until He comes, by eating and drinking His Feast, and keeping the reminder in
front of our faces, of just where and how this was accomplished: Christ on the
cross.
We have come to proclaim His death until He comes again. To
testify by Word, Water, Bread and Wine that our King of Glory, strong and
mighty, reigns forever as the Crucified, as we adorn His Church with Him, The Crucified.
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