Good Friday
Friday of the Passion - April 14, 2006
Text: Hosea 6:1–6; Revelation 3:14–22; Mark 15:21-32
THE LETTER TO LAODICEA & THE PASSION
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Dear Christians,
Today as we gather to remember what our Lord has given for us, we do so through our Lord’s 7th letter to the churches in Asia Minor recorded for us in the Revelation. It speaks of our Lord as the faithful and true witness (or martyr) and as the beginning (or source) of the creation of God. It speaks of our sin of being lukewarm in living our faith and of the blindness and nakedness resulting from our sin.
At the end of the day, the Lord your God is a faith dealer. He doesn’t accept cash, check or American Express. He deals only in the currency of faith. With faith you receive everything you need from Him; gold refined by fire; special clothes to cover your nakedness and shame; and salve to heal the blindness in your eyes.
The city of Laodicea was known for its healing waters. People would come to Laodicea to soothe their blind eyes and deaf ears in its healing waters. Its citizens grew rich from all the visitors and commerce their healing waters attracted. Life in Laodicea was good.
Citizens could kick-back relax and not concern themselves with God’s Word or anything like that. They needed none of the Lord’s Supper, no weekly Bible study, no daily Bible reading to help them sleep at night. And as they neglected God’s presence proclaimed among His people, they began to forget how and why the beginning of God’s creation met His end.
And so we remind you, especially today, how and why Jesus created this Friday and made it Good. Jesus was stretched out on a Roman cross; His arms pinned-back by metal spikes; eyes burning and blinded by bloody sweat and tears. It was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him. As He languished there, the heat of His body became lukewarm. Blood drained from the wounds in His body and flowed over the place of His death, the place of the Skull — called Golgotha.
Like the members of the church in Laodicea, Jesus quite literally became lukewarm. His Father spit Him out of His mouth into the eternal flames of the waterless pit. Hanging in full view for all to see, the beginning, that is, the source of God’s creation became wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. The faithful and true witness was made sin for us.
In the midst of all this suffering, Jesus Christ is the great Amen; the faithful and true martyr. He is the source of all creation. Through Him, everything was created. And without Him, nothing was made that is made.
It was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him. The Father’s beloved Son, in whom He is well-pleased, was held captive to the cross by nothing other than His love for you. No one could stand to drink this cup of wrath, except Him. It had to be poured out. So He poured it on Himself. Only one of us has ever been capable of this miraculous feat. This is God’s own Son whom He loves. Listen to Him. Do what He tells you. He has been reproved and disciplined for your transgressions.
It was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him. Like gold refined by fire, so was the Passion of our Lord burning in His life-giving body. He was consumed with zeal for His Father’s house.
Even though He is the only one of us who had no need to repent, He took the whipping and scourging our sin deserves. Infinitely more than that, He bore the full fire of God’s wrath. From this torture He did not save Himself. But by this torture, torture unto death and damnation, He saves you.
By His stripes we are healed. By His spectacle we are caused to see better than ever. Better than any salve in Laodicea could heal our eyes. By Baptism into His sacrificial death you are given the eyes of faith.
Those in Laodicea where comfortable in their own clothing. They did not know they were spiritually naked. The one whose shameless body was stripped of His garments has given His life to fashion special clothes to cover your nakedness and shame forever. They are the white garments of His righteousness.
It was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him. And when the 6th hour had come, darkness fell over the whole land until the 9th hour. And at the 9th hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”
Dear Christians, you know why He was forsaken! You have been given eyes to see!
In +Jesus’ Name. Amen
Text: Hosea 6:1–6; Revelation 3:14–22; Mark 15:21-32
THE LETTER TO LAODICEA & THE PASSION
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Dear Christians,
Today as we gather to remember what our Lord has given for us, we do so through our Lord’s 7th letter to the churches in Asia Minor recorded for us in the Revelation. It speaks of our Lord as the faithful and true witness (or martyr) and as the beginning (or source) of the creation of God. It speaks of our sin of being lukewarm in living our faith and of the blindness and nakedness resulting from our sin.
At the end of the day, the Lord your God is a faith dealer. He doesn’t accept cash, check or American Express. He deals only in the currency of faith. With faith you receive everything you need from Him; gold refined by fire; special clothes to cover your nakedness and shame; and salve to heal the blindness in your eyes.
The city of Laodicea was known for its healing waters. People would come to Laodicea to soothe their blind eyes and deaf ears in its healing waters. Its citizens grew rich from all the visitors and commerce their healing waters attracted. Life in Laodicea was good.
Citizens could kick-back relax and not concern themselves with God’s Word or anything like that. They needed none of the Lord’s Supper, no weekly Bible study, no daily Bible reading to help them sleep at night. And as they neglected God’s presence proclaimed among His people, they began to forget how and why the beginning of God’s creation met His end.
And so we remind you, especially today, how and why Jesus created this Friday and made it Good. Jesus was stretched out on a Roman cross; His arms pinned-back by metal spikes; eyes burning and blinded by bloody sweat and tears. It was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him. As He languished there, the heat of His body became lukewarm. Blood drained from the wounds in His body and flowed over the place of His death, the place of the Skull — called Golgotha.
Like the members of the church in Laodicea, Jesus quite literally became lukewarm. His Father spit Him out of His mouth into the eternal flames of the waterless pit. Hanging in full view for all to see, the beginning, that is, the source of God’s creation became wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. The faithful and true witness was made sin for us.
In the midst of all this suffering, Jesus Christ is the great Amen; the faithful and true martyr. He is the source of all creation. Through Him, everything was created. And without Him, nothing was made that is made.
It was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him. The Father’s beloved Son, in whom He is well-pleased, was held captive to the cross by nothing other than His love for you. No one could stand to drink this cup of wrath, except Him. It had to be poured out. So He poured it on Himself. Only one of us has ever been capable of this miraculous feat. This is God’s own Son whom He loves. Listen to Him. Do what He tells you. He has been reproved and disciplined for your transgressions.
It was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him. Like gold refined by fire, so was the Passion of our Lord burning in His life-giving body. He was consumed with zeal for His Father’s house.
Even though He is the only one of us who had no need to repent, He took the whipping and scourging our sin deserves. Infinitely more than that, He bore the full fire of God’s wrath. From this torture He did not save Himself. But by this torture, torture unto death and damnation, He saves you.
By His stripes we are healed. By His spectacle we are caused to see better than ever. Better than any salve in Laodicea could heal our eyes. By Baptism into His sacrificial death you are given the eyes of faith.
Those in Laodicea where comfortable in their own clothing. They did not know they were spiritually naked. The one whose shameless body was stripped of His garments has given His life to fashion special clothes to cover your nakedness and shame forever. They are the white garments of His righteousness.
It was the 3rd hour when they crucified Him. And when the 6th hour had come, darkness fell over the whole land until the 9th hour. And at the 9th hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”
Dear Christians, you know why He was forsaken! You have been given eyes to see!
In +Jesus’ Name. Amen
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
5/14/2006
