Good Friday

Good Friday
April 2, 2010

Behold the Hidden Glory of the Cross!
It Is Hidden in the Savior's Promises

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear fellow cross-bearers,

It's over. Our Lenten journey is done. 40 days ago we listened to Jesus' call, “We are going up to Jerusalem.” Along the way we looked for His glory that was hidden in the cross.

John 19:31-37

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of His bones will be broken," and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the One they have pierced."

During His three years of preaching and teaching, Jesus had often said that everything He was doing, and especially His death, fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament. 1,000 years earlier King David was inspired to write Psalm 22. There he wrote that His Savior would be so thin and stretched out that passers-by could count His bones. His clothes would divided up. Isaiah 53 looked ahead to this day and declared that it would be a day without visible glory. The Savior would be rejected and despised.

Try to wrap your mind around it! From Adam to Moses to Zechariah, one of the Old Testament's last prophets, God predicted only misery for His Son. Who has ever heard of someone promising misery for themselves and then making sure that every last bit of that misery is suffered? This is very strange, yet special, promise indeed!

In this promised and fulfilled pain we see our hope, hope that we never need doubt. Here's why: if Jesus did fulfill His promise to suffer for us, then He will certainly fulfill His promise to give eternal life to those who trust in Him alone for their salvation.

And that's not all. Jesus makes many other promises to you. Some are promises that help you in your life right now; others will help you in the life to come. When it is your turn to suffer and all those around you abandon you, He won't leave you. When sorrow shadows your every move, either because of your sin or because of the sin of others, He won't run away.

He also promised that your Baptism washes away your sin and that we have the right to forgive sins and that His body and blood are really present in His Supper. He also promises that those who confess forgiveness in His name now will be recognized by Him on the first day of eternity. And He promised that if your body dies before that youngest day, He will put your body back together and better than before and breathe life back into you.

It is Good Friday. On this day the sun in the sky refused to look at its Creator and shine its light. Our churches and our hearts are dark as well. But at the same time our hearts are filled with joy because we have seen the hidden glory of the cross. We have seen the glory that is His promises kept. We have seen the glory so that we can certain that He will always keep all His promises.

Go home with the quiet confidence in the joy of forgiveness and wait three days for the cry to go out: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” For all of this has happened that the Scriptures should be fulfilled.

Amen.