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LENTEN MIDWEEK SERIES
Our Savior’s Wounded Body
1. Ash Wednesday: His Humbled Head, Mark 15:16–20
2. Lenten Midweek 2: His Holy Hands, Matthew 27:35–42
3. Lenten Midweek 3: His Battered Back, John 19:1
4. Lenten Midweek 4: His Faithful Feet, Matthew 28:9
5. Lenten Midweek 5: The Savior’s Side, John 19:28–35
6. Lenten Midweek 6: His Unbroken Bones, John 19:31–36
7. Holy Thursday: His Blood, Luke 22:7–20
8. Good Friday: The Light, Luke 23:44–45a
9. Easter Day: Who’s Wounded Now? John 20:1–18
Rev. Mark D. Femmel, assistant pastor, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Des Peres, Missouri
Ash Wednesday
His Humbled Head
Mark 15:16–20
Sermon Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
People have thought of brilliant ideas.
At times, the thoughts we entertain are not brilliant, but dark.
Jesus thought only good thoughts, never dark, for which he received a crown of thorns.
Jesus wore the crown on his head and died on the cross for what our heads deserve.
JESUS LAID DOWN HIS HEAD FOR THE THOUGHTS THAT GO ON IN OURS.
5.
Jesus rose and now wears his glorious crown, which he shares with us.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
1.
There was a day when “dry-clean only” made absolutely no sense. When clothes became dirty, someone had to take the
hamper all the way down to the river and rinse them over and over. Eventually, someone came up with the brilliant idea of a
washboard. You would fill a tub full of water, put in some soap, and rub the dirty clothes up and down against the washboard
until the dirt came out. It was tough on the clothes and tough on the hands, but at least you did not have to stand in the mud to
clean your clothes. Now, we are able to throw our clothes into a machine, add soap, and push a button. Finally, we have come
so far that we can wash clothes without water. Brilliant ideas have made lives so much easier. Brilliant ideas save hands, save
time, and even save clothes from embarrassing stains. But not all ideas are as brilliant as the washing machine.
2.
It is disappointing to look up and see a light bulb that should be bright, but is dark. The same thing happens with what goes
on inside our heads. The heads that have come before us have been able to solve challenges ranging from washing clothes
faster to keeping churches around 70 degrees inside, no matter what it’s like outside. All sorts of brilliant ideas do come from
our heads, but not all the thoughts that come out of these heads are brilliant. Some thoughts that lurk in here are just dark. One
of the tempting dangers of our minds is that no one else can see what we think or imagine. In here we are free to wander
wherever we want. God has given us the gift of imagination, so we may come up with brilliant ideas. Yet those imaginations
do not always find themselves entertaining the brilliant ideas; instead, our minds become tangled up in all kinds of dark
thoughts. You may think that you’re free to think whatever you want to think, because these are only thoughts, thoughts that
stay inside your head. No one else can see them, after all. Except remember that God sees what’s going on inside your head.
Also remember that it’s God’s decision whether or not he’ll put a crown on that head on the Last Day. With that in mind,
remember that God does not approve of all that goes on in your head.
3.
With all the thoughts that could be in your heads right now, turn your thoughts toward Jesus. Inside that holy head of his
were only pure thoughts, only good thoughts, loving thoughts. He constantly thought of those around him and was consumed
with helping those who needed him most—which is the entire world. Even when Satan tried to tempt him in the wilderness, his
mind never strayed from his mission to enter Jerusalem. After all his traveling, Jesus did make it to Jerusalem. Soon after he
arrived, the scene became messy. Soldiers found long thorns and wrapped them around his head in the shape of a crown. After
all the good that Jesus had done, Jesus deserved a crown made out of platinum covered in diamonds and jewels of every kind.
Yet the soldiers thought of the most humiliating crown they could put on that holy head of Jesus; thorns were tightly wrapped
around the one head that never thought a dark thought. As Jesus walked through the streets of Jerusalem with the cross on his
back, all people could see the ugliness of the crown on his head. In that crown of thorns, you and I are called to see how ugly
and how dark the thoughts in our heads can be. The soldiers’ thoughts and our thoughts put that crown on his head. It was
because of the thoughts that come into your head and my head that Jesus walked through the streets of Jerusalem, walking to
his death, wearing the crown of thorns on his head—the only crown our thoughts deserve.
4.
We can’t do much about the thoughts that come into these heads. We can try to think about good things, the brilliant ideas,
but the dark thoughts will still come into our heads from time to time. Jesus did not abandon us to the prison of being stuck in
our dark thoughts. When Jesus came to earth to live among us, he came to a world full of dark thoughts. He came because our
heads are not filled with wholesome thoughts. Jesus chose to wear that crown of thorns on his head. In that crown, we can see
how much Jesus loves us. He chose to wear that crown, and through that crown he shows how much he was willing to suffer
for us. He took all of our dark thoughts, all of the less than wholesome things that fill these heads, and he took them to the
cross. There on the cross, Jesus took those thoughts away from us and buried them with his body in the grave. Jesus was
sacrificed for us.
JESUS LAID DOWN HIS HEAD FOR THE THOUGHTS THAT GO ON IN OURS.
5.
Today we hear about his head. On the cross, Jesus wore thorns around his head, but Jesus didn’t stay on the cross forever.
Jesus did not stay dead. Jesus came back from the dead, fully alive. He is alive today and will be alive forever. That crown of
thorns is gone forever, because our dark thoughts, which put that crown on his holy head, are gone. Now, Jesus wears a new
crown. We hear in the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, that his head is no longer bloody, but that it’s white like
wool. Jesus now wears a new crown, a priceless crown on his head. He has a crown for you as well. His crown is no longer
made of thorns, and your crown will not be made of thorns either. Your crown will be more precious than any crown worn by
any king before, because that crown will be given to you by the King of kings. By the wounds on his head, we are healed.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts and your thoughts on Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Lenten Midweek 2
His Holy Hands
Matthew 27:35–42
Sermon Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
As little children, we can endanger ourselves with our hands.
We tend to use our hands in ways that harm others or perhaps, unintentionally, might even harm ourselves.
Jesus used his hands only for good, yet, in return, people lifted their hands against him for terrible violence.
Jesus came into the world to suffer at our hands for what we do with our hands.
BECAUSE OUR HANDS DO ULTIMATE EVIL, JESUS’ HANDS DID THE ULTIMATE GOOD.
5.
Jesus rose from the death handed to him and continues to use his hands for us.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
1.
It’s a beautiful sight to watch a baby learn how the world works. Sometimes a baby can spend a few minutes just looking
at that strange thing at the end of their own arm as it moves back and forth, up and down. Soon those little hands are grabbing
things left and right, trying to put whatever they can grab right into their mouth. Then the real fun begins. Those little hands
start reaching for things and exploring their world. That’s when plastic baby-proof plugs appear in the outlets. They keep little
fingers from playing with something that can be really dangerous, like sticking a fork into an electrical outlet. Those plugs keep
little hands and the rest of the baby safe from what those little hands may try to do.
Soon enough, those little hands get bigger and find bigger and more dangerous things to play with, such as pots and pans
and glass plates. Later, those hands may put a baseball through a window or open a window to sneak out without permission.
Hands can wrap themselves around some pretty bad things and for some pretty bad reasons. Sure, we have enough sense not to
stick forks and knives into an outlet now. That would just be silly, because it would hurt the hand wrapped around the handle.
Through experience we’ve learned what’s a good idea and what’s a bad idea. Touching a hot stove is a bad idea.
2.
We can take fairly good care of our hands, except when it comes to other people. It seems that the only lesson we learned
from the plastic plugs is not to stick our own hand into the outlet, but we use our hands, we use our actions, to put other people
in harm’s way. Perhaps you have found yourself wrapping your hands around something that did not belong to you—maybe it
was a cheat sheet for a class or a snack from a store. How free our hands feel to write a scathing letter or e-mail to put someone
in his place, or where we think his place should be. If written words could kill, imagine how many more gravestones there
would be in this world. Sometimes our fingers wrap themselves around a phone to call someone so we can talk behind
someone else’s back. By not pulling back your hand, you may be destroying someone else’s reputation. Our hands wrap around
remote controls and find shows we are better off not watching because they put less than quality thoughts in our heads. Hands
have been at the center of some of the darkest moments of our lives.
3.
Jesus was walking around once, and a man covered with leprosy ran up to him. The man knelt before Jesus and said,
“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” (Mt 8:2). In those holy hands of Jesus was the purity for which this man was
looking. A leper was cut off from society because anyone who came close to a person with leprosy could catch it. Jesus
reached out and touched the man with his own hand and said, “I will; be clean” (v 3). The man was instantly made clean. With
those healing hands, Jesus took away the suffering of this poor man. As Jesus’ reward, Pontius Pilate handed Jesus over to his
enemies. Men wrapped their hands around thorns and twisted them into the shape of a crown. With those hands, they shoved
that crown down on Jesus’ head and then hit him with a rod. With their hands, the soldiers put a cross on Jesus’ back, and those
holy hands of Jesus carried that cross all the way to the spot where he would die. The soldiers grabbed onto hammers and put
nails through his wrists, holding Jesus onto the cross until his last breath was breathed. We stand with those people who
abandoned and beat Jesus when we wrap our hands around the wrong things. With our own hands and the things we do with
them, we daily condemn Jesus to die.
4.
That’s why Jesus came into this world and did such good things with his hands. For every time we sin against God by
what we do, we know that Jesus paid the price. Every time we use the precious gift of these hands (hold up hands) for evil,
remember that Jesus’ hands bear the marks of the punishment that we deserve for our evil actions. With the weight of all our
sins bearing down on him, the nails were pounded into Jesus’ wrists. But we did not put Jesus on that cross. Jesus put Jesus on
that cross. Jesus knows all too well what evil deeds we do with our hands. Jesus knows that you and I are so completely
corrupted by our sins, there’s nothing we can do to free ourselves from the debt we owe. So Jesus took our debt, our
punishment, our death, on himself. He came to give his own flesh and blood to save us from all that we do with these (hold up
hands). He let his own hands be subjected to the driving nails of the executioner.
BECAUSE OUR HANDS DO ULTIMATE EVIL, JESUS’ HANDS DID THE ULTIMATE GOOD.
Jesus took our place on the cross and suffered for us so we would be spared the punishment. Jesus’ hands could have let
go, could have left us to die for our sins. But with all his strength as the all-powerful God, he held on to those nails until his
suffering was enough. When it was enough, Jesus breathed his last and was brought down from the cross, hands and all.
5.
That’s not the last thing those hands did for us. We still see Jesus’ hands today. His hands are alive, because Jesus walked
out of the tomb just three days later to do even more good with those holy hands. The nailed hands of our crucified and risen
Lord embrace us when he washes us in the waters of Holy Baptism. Here, in these waters, Jesus hands to us all he worked hard
to earn. As he provides for us here, he points us forward to the Last Day. There we see those holy hands in the Book of
Revelation (1:16). In those hands, the Church is kept safe, and one day he will bring us to live with him in paradise. He protects
us from danger and refuses to let us be taken out of his holy hands. In his holy hands we are kept. His hands have saved you
from your sins. His hands are saving you still.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts and your minds in the hands of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Lenten Midweek 3
His Battered Back
John 19:1
Sermon Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
John Q. broke under his burdens.
We struggle under our own burdens.
Jesus also had burdens to carry.
Jesus’ back bore the punishment for our burdens.
JESUS BORE ALL OUR BURDENS ON HIS BACK.
5.
Jesus rose from the burden of our sins and is glorified.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
1.
It was the straw the broke the camel’s back. The movie John Q. was about a man with nowhere to go. John Quincy
Archibald was watching his son, Michael, play baseball. As Michael rounded first base and headed for second base, he grabbed
his chest and collapsed. Michael was raced to the hospital and, after tests, John and his wife, Denise, found out their son
needed a heart transplant. John’s company provided benefits, but, to save money, they downgraded the coverage to a cheaper
option. This cheaper option didn’t cover the $250,000 surgery Michael needed to save his life. They tried yard sales and
overtime and everything they could think of, yet they did not have the money to save their son’s life. The hospital was going to
send Michael home with his bad heart, and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. John Q. walked into the emergency
room and took the medical staff and the patients hostage.
2.
You’ve probably never been there. But you have felt that straw that broke the camel’s back. You have been in that place
where bad news just keeps coming in and you have nowhere to turn or to go. Burdens just seem like they crawl into our lives
and up onto our backs. You can’t carry all the burdens that try to drag you down, so why do you try? Some of the burdens that
we drag around are burdens we don’t need to carry around, and some we don’t have a choice about. We easily fall into the
burden of looking for approval from others. Compliments make us feel good about ourselves. Comments chip away at how
good we feel. Criticism tears most of us apart, especially if it is from someone we respect. We try hard to make people around
us like us. That may be the burden of trying to bring home a huge paycheck so the family can have the best clothes, high-speed
Internet, and maybe even a pool. We try hard to make people around us like us. You may be struggling under the burden of
trying to make your friends think you are brave or cool by doing something that is dangerous or foolish. You may be struggling
under the burden of trying to do whatever it takes to keep the peace. You may be just trying to survive to the next day, the next
paycheck, or the next meal. Some of you may be struggling to cope with medical problems, or how to go on after a loved one
has died. We feel pressure from areas in our life, and like straws on the back of a camel, those burdens will eventually break
you if you try to carry them all.
Burdens are exactly that—burdens. Burdens don’t help you to carry them. Burdens don’t make life easier. They are
burdens. They drag on you until you can drag them no longer. What’s even worse is when things that are supposed to be good
become obligations and feel like burdens. What’s guaranteed in this life is that you will always feel pressure from somewhere
to do or to be something. No matter how strong of a camel you are, eventually, you will meet a straw, a burden, you cannot
carry.
3.
Jesus knows what a burden is like. He came into this world full of people with burdens. Everywhere he went, people
flocked to see him. Some came to hear the message he spoke. However, the sad fact is that many came simply to have him fix
their problems and weaknesses and injuries. He had the burden of always being on call to help whoever ran up to him,
whenever they ran up to him. He had the burden of being hated for the work he was doing and the burden of the agonizing
death he would have to suffer. On top of all of this, Jesus knows your burdens as well.
4.
In the last hours of his life, before they put nails through Jesus’ hands and feet, they whipped his back with a scourge. A
scourge is a whip full of sharp tips and points that cause terrible cuts. For those nailed to a cross, the whipping made it harder
to hold yourself up. They whipped the back of Jesus. After they had finished whipping him, they gave him a cross to carry
through the streets of Jerusalem on that same torn back. Before the eyes of all, Jesus was nailed to the cross with his back
against that wood. On the tips of their whips and in the weight of that cross, Jesus was feeling the weight of the world: every
burden we drag around. He was suffering for every burden that we should drop, and for dropping the burdens that we should
carry, and for every burden that we would rather drop, but can’t. There on the cross, we see Jesus, bearing our burdens in our
place.
JESUS BORE ALL OUR BURDENS ON HIS BACK.
5.
Jesus died on that cross, and they put his body in a tomb and rolled a stone over the entrance. Jesus died under our
burdens, but he didn’t stay under those burdens. On the third day, with a huge earthquake, he rolled back that rock over his
tomb and walked out, leaving that tomb empty. He came into this world to free us from the burden of our sins and to free us
from the burdens that weigh us down in this life. His back is no longer torn or on the wood of that cross. We hear of his back in
the Book of Revelation (1:13). His back is now covered with a white robe that goes all the way down to his feet, once put to
death, but now risen and glorified. Through your Baptism, Jesus shares his robe, his glory, his resurrection with you. By the
burden on his back, you are free. By the wounds in his back, by his life, his death, and his resurrection, you are healed.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts, your minds, and your burdens on Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Lenten Midweek 4
His Faithful Feet
Matthew 28:9
Sermon Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
Mark Inglis, though he lost both of his feet, climbed Mount Everest.
The world depends on us getting up and going to where we can use our abilities.
Though we can do much, we often give in to the temptation of not doing much.
Knowing where his path led, Jesus never “put his feet up” or stepped off the path that led to the cross for you.
FOR EVERY TIME W E PUT OUR FEET UP INSTEAD OF DOING SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE IN NEED, HIS FEET W ALKED TO
THE CROSS FOR US.
5.
Our Lord rose and walks to us in the waters of Baptism and washes away our straying that we may walk his path.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
1.
In 1979, Mark Inglis began his professional career as a search and rescue mountaineer in a national park of New Zealand.
One day, he and his climbing partner were going about business as usual when an intense blizzard trapped them both inside an
ice cave. A day passed, and they started to get cold. Another day passed, and they started to feel the cold grip of ice and snow
reaching into their bodies. Another day passed, and then another. Their legs and arms and bodies started to get numb. After
thirteen days, the search and rescuers were rescued. Mark Inglis lost most of both of his legs to frostbite. Twenty years later, on
carbon fiber legs, Mark returned to that mountain and climbed to the top. In 2006, Mark decided to try Mount Everest. Things
were going well on the way up until one of his carbon fiber legs broke. They had to fix it with duct tape until someone could
bring one up from the base camp. Finally, on legs that were not his, he found his new feet on the top of Mount Everest. He had
overcome every obstacle in his way, and step after step he did what most thought impossible.
2.
Your steps may be a little less newsworthy, but they are important just the same. Mark Inglis gave people with challenges
hope and courage to overcome obstacles in their way. Every one of us has a particular thing we offer the world. If we didn’t get
out of bed in the morning and go to work, some people wouldn’t get their taxes done. If we didn’t go to work, some people
wouldn’t have their legal cases looked over. If we didn’t go to work, some people might not have the food they need. When the
people of the world get out of bed and go where they are called to serve for the day or the night, the world moves forward. If
no one got up and got going, there would be no farms to grow food, no stores to sell clothes, no one to make our phones work
or send us e-mails! Because people get up and go, things get done.
3.
So, where do your feet take you? More important for tonight, where do your feet not take you? There is tremendous power
when a person decides to go and do something. We can go and do many great things for many needy people, even if it is as
simple as getting the leaves out of an older neighbor’s yard. We can get up on our feet and do incredible good. But our feet
usually find their way into a comfortable spot in front of the couch or on top of a table as we “put our feet up” or “take a load
off.” It is so much easier not to do something than it is to do anything. In your free time, where do your feet end up? Do they
end up doing not much? Do they take you nowhere in particular? Could it be that your feet are actually taking you away from
the places you could be or should be? Down there inside your shoes, you have the ability to get up and go do something great.
If you have trouble getting up, you can still get around if you’re here tonight.
4.
The harder we work or the longer we’re busy with something, the more tempting it is just to put our feet up. But no one
has worked harder or was busier than Jesus. Jesus could have “taken a load off” in the Upper Room; instead, he washed the
feet of his disciples. Then, after giving them his body and blood in the Last Supper, he walked out to the Mount of Olives and
waited for Judas’s betrayal. When the guards came, he willingly went with them, knowing the path that waited for him in
Jerusalem. Those feet walked step after step to walk a path that would save you from every time you find your feet not going
where you ought to be.
FOR EVERY TIME W E PUT OUR FEET UP INSTEAD OF DOING SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE IN NEED, HIS
FEET W ALKED TO THE CROSS FOR US.
Jesus did not put his feet up when the world was counting on him, so those Roman guards put his feet up on the cross with
hammer and nail. When he finally died, he couldn’t walk to his grave because those feet could not move.
5.
Three days later, some women who believed in Jesus were walking to the tomb. The tombstone was rolled away because
Jesus had walked out of it. Mount Everest would be a tough climb, but Jesus climbed out of death, which no one else could do.
Jesus stood before the women and said, “Greetings!” They instantly recognized him and fell to his feet in worship. He was no
longer dead, for he was now alive. He walked into death for you, and he walked back into this world for you. In that nailing
and in that resurrection, your feet and all that you are have been brought back to the path that leads to everlasting life. In
Baptism, our Lord himself has come to you and washed your feet and all of you to set aside where we have wandered or been
distracted. The feet of Jesus, which have been pierced for us, are described in the Book of Revelation as being “like burnished
bronze, refined in a furnace” (1:15). Those feet have left our straying in the grave. By those feet, your feet have been brought
back to the path that leads to everlasting life, the path that also leads others to everlasting life. By the wounds in his feet, we are
healed.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts, your minds, and the path of your feet in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Lenten Midweek 5
The Savior’s Side
John 19:28–35
Sermon Outline
1.
2.
3.
Some things are good for us to take into ourselves; some things are not.
Some things we can allow in spiritually are nothing short of lethal poison.
Jesus suffered for what we allow ourselves to be tainted with because he is pure.
FOR ALL THE THINGS WITH WHICH THE W ORLD FILLS US UP, JESUS W ENT TO THE CROSS.
4.
By water (Baptism) and blood (Lord’s Supper), like that which flowed from his pierced side, Jesus makes us clean.
5.
Like Jesus, we will live eternally with restored bodies.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
1.
Summer is coming up in just a few months. With summer come all the summer-type jobs. Soon enough, the lawn mowers
will be burning gas. New plants will be finding space in flower beds. All this, of course, after spring cleaning and putting the
winter coats away. Every season of the year has plenty of work, but summer is the hottest. During a long, hot day doing
housework or yard work, nothing quite hits the spot like a big, cold glass of salt.
No! Of course, you’re not going to drink a glass of salt. When you’re already hot and sweating out the water your body
needs, the last thing you need is something to dry you out even more. Some things are good for you, and some things are better
left outside your body. Salt tastes good on a T-bone steak. But if you’re already thirsty, salt is just about as good to you as dry
air is to a fish. After working hard, water can give you a second wind. You could drink Gatorade with its electrolytes and
nutrients. You could drink a big glass of lemonade and be ready for some more work. A bad decision would be to drink a quart
of motor oil. That would not help at all, except to make you sick. Mud would not be a good thing either, because it’s bad for
your body. Just because we could drink something doesn’t mean we should drink it. Some of the things we could drink would
be very bad for our bodies. It shouldn’t surprise us that this is also true for our soul.
2.
Some of the things we let inside of us can be absolute poison. Some of the people we listen to do not say things we ought
to hear. When gossip comes along, our ears tend to perk up instead of close off. That gossip affects how we see that person,
whether or not the gossip is true. Sometimes we listen to famous people as if they are deeply enlightened individuals, instead of
remembering that they are just people who are good at getting ratings. Seventy years ago, certain things were saved for
marriage. Today, people make different choices. We are not even surprised anymore because we see that sort of thing in almost
every “romantic” love story movie. By watching these movies, we are telling one another that that is the true sign of love. On
television shows and movies, people are murdered left and right; then we wonder why people are violent and why people do
not let one another in on the highway. We can tell ourselves that we know better and just see these things as entertainment or
harmless fun. We could tell ourselves that, but we would be lying. If you play with fire, you are going to get burned. If you
walk in the rain, you are going to get wet. The world pours out spiritually toxic things everywhere we go, and like dogs at a
water dish, you and I lap it up, thinking it is not going to do any harm. But it does.
No surgery can go in deep enough to cut this poison out. No scalpel is sharp enough to separate the stain of this poison
from our souls. We can fix the body fairly well. If I drank motor oil, the ER staff could get it out. But the stains on our souls
from the spiritual poison we take in? No surgery can go that deep.
3.
However, there is something that can get rid of this spiritual poison, and it is already done. When Jesus was nailed to the
cross, he was as good as dead. Jesus, who had never tasted the poison of the things the world offers, was going to die for all of
us who drink this spiritual poison.
FOR ALL THE THINGS WITH W HICH THE W ORLD FILLS US UP, JESUS W ENT TO THE CROSS.
When all the sins of the world were poured onto Jesus, he paid the price.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for
that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be
taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with
him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of
the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. (vv 31–34)
The soldiers around Jesus did not expect him to die so soon. Jesus hadn’t eaten since the night before. Jesus had sweat drops of
blood. Jesus was struck over and over through trials and in between. Jesus had been through a lot before they even began to
scourge him. He suffered more than most who were crucified, so he died more quickly than most. To see if Jesus was really
dead, one of the soldiers took a spear and pierced Jesus’ side all the way into his heart. “At once there came out blood and
water” (v 34b). It was not the sins of the world that came pouring out. It was water and blood that came from the Savior’s side.
“He who saw it has borne witness,” John tells us. John—the one apostle we know was at the cross. “His testimony is true, and
he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe” (v 35).
4.
With water, in Baptism, Jesus washes off all the poison we are covered in. By that blood, the same blood that came from
the Savior’s side, Jesus washes away the poison that gets inside of us. At these rails, in our Lord’s Supper, we are cleaned from
the inside out. Jesus replaces all that poison with his own body and blood. He fills us with the same body and blood that saved
us from that spiritual poison. We are saved because Jesus has forgiven us all our sins. Jesus makes us completely clean. He
takes all that unhealthy junk that the world fills us with and crucifies it on the cross. Jesus takes all the poison that we ourselves
have added to the world, and he neutralizes it with his own blood. It was that side that makes us clean, because it was that side
that walked out of the tomb fully alive.
5.
We hear about this same side in the Book of Revelation (1:13). The wound is still there (Jn 20:27), but it’s no longer bare
for the world to mock him as dead; instead, today it’s wrapped in a golden sash showing that he is indeed the risen and living
Lord. Just like Christ, we and all believers will rise again from the dead. But then, our bodies will be new, restored, and
eternally cleaned by Christ, who died for us. By the wounds in the Savior’s side, we are healed.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts and your minds and what you do with his gifts in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.
Lenten Midweek 6
His Unbroken Bones
John 19:31–36
Sermon Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
Jesus was caught in a frenzy of rage beginning with his arrest.
The frenzy of rage was like that of great white sharks in a feeding frenzy.
Around Jesus was a frenzy of many different people and motivations, which sent Jesus to the cross.
Though it looked out of control, the frenzy around Jesus was all a part of his own plan to be nailed to the cross for
you.
EVEN IN A FRENZY OF DEATH, JESUS IS IN CONTROL TO BRING LIFE.
5.
In Baptism, Jesus wraps himself around us like an indestructible shark cage to preserve us, no matter what it feels or
looks like.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
1.
Just after his Last Supper, Jesus walked with his disciples to the Mount of Olives. He wanted to pray. As the moon rose in
the sky, so did the plans of those who fiercely hated Jesus. They lit their torches and their lanterns. They grabbed their clubs
and their weapons and marched out to arrest Jesus. As the night grew darker, those torches came closer to the quiet garden
where Jesus was praying. Then the frenzy began. Swords were drawn and swung, words were exchanged, and Jesus was taken
away. He was brought before Annas, father-in-law of the high priest, and there he was accused and slapped. When they were
done with Jesus, they sent him to Caiaphas, who had his own frenzy over Jesus. After a flurry of false witnesses, Jesus finally
spoke up. In reply, they began to strike him and spit in his face. They took him to Pilate to send him to the cross. Pilate heard
the crowds shouting and mocking. Pilate gave the order to have Jesus scourged with whips braided with sharp edges for all to
see. In the frenzy, some of Pilate’s own soldiers put a crown of thorns on the head of Jesus and beat him with a staff. They put
a cross on his back, and people in the street harassed him all the way until they hammered nails into his body and watched him
suffer to death for six hours. They were in a frenzy of rage at someone they thought was helpless to harm them, when all he
was doing was helping them.
2.
In a frenzy of rage and anger, they feasted on his pain. This frenzy, which lasted almost twenty-four hours, was
unstoppable until their hunger for his death was satisfied. This kind of frenzy can be seen almost every day off the coasts of
Australia and South Africa. There you can hire a company to flirt with danger. There is beautiful sea life around Australia, but
some do not go down for the beauty; they go down for the danger. Out in the middle of the warm waters, a steel cage is
lowered into the water. Tourists climb into the cage from the top, and then it is closed over them. Once they are inside, with
their scuba equipment and waterproof cameras, the cage goes down under the water. Someone on the boat drops chum into the
water, which are pieces of tuna or some other fish, just enough to bait the great white sharks that swim in the area. Just enough
chum is dropped into the water to keep the great white sharks in the area and hungry. Soon sharks circle the area looking for
something to tear into with their razor-sharp teeth. Inside the cage, you can watch the top of the food chain just inches away.
Inches away from certain death, you can stand in the middle of sharks in a feeding frenzy looking for something, anything, to
tear into. Outside the cage, the great white sharks tear and thrash and rip and chew their meal to pieces. Each shark in the
frenzy is looking only for something to tear into. It does not get distracted by other sharks, but only where food is and how to
get there. In an all-out frenzy, you dare not stick a foot or finger outside the safety of the cage, because those sharks are hungry
and mad. However, no matter how mad they get, no matter how ravenous they get, they cannot touch what is inside that cage.
Eventually, they will give up or destroy themselves trying.
3.
In a frenzy, the religious leaders and crowds and government officials and soldiers attacked Jesus. The high priest wanted
power over religion. He wanted no competition, even if the troublemaker could do miracles. Pontius Pilate wanted to keep the
peace, even if that peace demanded the life of a man whom he knew was innocent. The crowds wanted to follow their leaders.
Their leaders were calling for the death of a man who had done only good. The soldiers came into the frenzy and began to
mistreat a man who was a leader of the Jews, who hated that the Romans were even in their land. The only friends of the man
sent to the cross had abandoned him or betrayed him. He was alone in the middle of a feeding frenzy of pride and power and
persecution. In the middle of it all was Jesus. What happened to him was the cross.
4.
People nailed to a cross took a long time to die. To make them die more quickly, the soldiers would break their knees.
They came to break Jesus’ knees, but, unexpectedly, he had already died. We hear in Jn 19:36 a quotation from the Old
Testament, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” It was written around 1,500 years before Jesus was even born. This frenzy,
with all the political and religious sharks circling Jesus, nailing him to the cross, was all according to God’s plan. Here John
tells us that everything that happened, even to the point that Jesus did not have his bones broken, went completely according to
plan.
EVEN IN A FRENZY OF DEATH, JESUS IS IN CONTROL TO BRING LIFE.
Jesus died exactly as he said he would and rose from the dead exactly as he said he would. The world fought and raged
against him, and still Jesus triumphed. The world did everything they could to him in their frenzy of rage, and still Jesus won.
Like those ravenous great white sharks circling those steel cages, they could do nothing to Jesus that he did not allow them to
do. He overcame it all for the sake of his plan. All along his plan has been the same—to save you from your sins and the frenzy
of wrath they deserve. It is in him that we have our hope.
5.
In Baptism, Jesus has wrapped himself around you like one of those indestructible steel cages. Things and people and
issues and shortcomings and even our sins may frenzy around us. Life may spin wildly out of control; maybe you feel like
something is circling you, looking for a weakness to tear into, but you have been covered by Jesus—head to toe, inside and
out—for our indestructible Savior overcame the frenzy the world threw at him. The only strength that lasts, the only assurance
that means anything, the only protection that can actually protect, is found in Jesus. No matter what frenzy you find yourself in
the middle of, nothing can ever spin out of his control. His bones are living proof. By those bones unbroken, we are healed and
have hope.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts, your minds, and the frenzies you face in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Holy Thursday
His Blood
Luke 22:7–20
Sermon Outline
1.
2.
Blood is usually not a good sign.
But the Passover, which Jesus celebrated once more the night before he went to the cross, remembered an event in
which blood was a very good sign.
3.
Jesus bled a great deal throughout his suffering.
4.
Attached to the blood of Jesus, we see our forgiveness.
IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS, W E SEE THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS HE W ON FOR US.
5.
Jesus’ lifeblood, given to us in his Supper, is our lifeblood.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
1.
Usually, blood is not a good sign. We learn this as children from a very early age. From the first time you skinned your
knee on the playground, you learned bloody knees were not fun. Fingers get scratched from cleaning up those bigger tree limbs
after a bad storm. A paper that moves in just the wrong way will leave a nice little slice. Blood is usually not a good sign. It
shows that somehow you have hurt yourself. Blood is not a good sign.
2.
But when Jesus and the disciples gathered around a table on the Thursday before Jesus was put on the cross, it was to
celebrate an event in which blood was a very good sign. They were about to eat the feast called Passover. Passover was the
holiday when God’s people gathered together to celebrate what God did for his people long ago in Egypt. God’s people were in
slavery to the Egyptians for four hundred years, and now God was ready to act. He told them to eat a special meal to prepare
for what he would do. They were told to eat bread with no yeast, to show that God was acting quickly to bring them out of
slavery, and a sacrificed lamb, because it was God who was bringing them out. Above all else, they were to put the blood of
that lamb over the doorposts of their houses, as a sign that this was a house of God’s people. When the angel of death passed
through the land of Egypt that night, the firstborn in every house of the Egyptians died. But when the angel saw the sign of the
blood, he passed over, sparing the sons of Israel.
For more than one thousand years, God’s people celebrated this holiday every year by eating the same kind of meal. And
in many ways, this night, in Luke 22, was the same as always.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent
Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where
will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar
of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The
Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will
show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told
them, and they prepared the Passover. (vv 7–13)
Just as God’s people had celebrated it for centuries.
And yet this meal is different. At this Passover feast, Jesus says something the world had not heard before:
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body,
which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,
“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (vv 19–20)
All through Lent we’ve been talking about what Jesus did for us with the wounds in his body; tonight we talk about his
blood.
3.
The disciples would be seeing a lot of his blood in the next few hours. Just after eating the Passover, the disciples went
with Jesus up onto the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, Jesus prayed to God the Father. As he was
praying, he was in such agony that Luke tells us he was sweating “great drops of blood” (Lk 22:44). This is a medical
condition that we know can indeed happen if someone is under a great deal of stress. After the men came to arrest Jesus, they
began to mock him and beat him. The disciples would have seen his blood again. Later, when they dragged Jesus before Herod,
that thorny crown was pushed down onto his head, cutting into his skin. When the trials were over, they laid the cross on his
back, which was torn by the whips and the scourges. The disciples saw the nails pierce his wrists. They saw his body pierced
by a spear. The disciples saw a lot of Jesus’ blood in those few hours. It was the blood that they had betrayed. It was the blood
they had denied. It was the blood they sinned against—the blood we sin against.
4.
A scraped knee or a paper cut stings. Blood is usually a sign of bad news. When the disciples saw the blood of Jesus, they
surely thought of this as bad news, but only because they’d failed to grasp the sign of the Passover, the sign of the blood that
saved God’s people from death. And only because they forgot the words Jesus himself had spoken to them the night before
they saw his blood. He said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (v 20). When they saw his
blood, they were not seeing a cut from running on the playground; they were seeing the new covenant poured out for them.
They were seeing something entirely new. We also see something entirely new.
IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS, W E SEE THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS HE W ON FOR US.
No longer were people to look forward to the forgiveness of their sins yet to be secured. No longer were people to look
forward to the Savior who would come. The Savior had come. He was right before their eyes, and for all the times we gave him
a reason to be nailed to the cross, he attaches his forgiveness to that holy blood.
5.
He invites us to that same table with the disciples, where he says to us, “This is my body, which is given for you. . . . This
cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (vv 19–20). This is the same one who spoke in the beginning
of all time and said, “Let there be light” (Gen 1:3), and there was light. He created the fish, the birds, the stars, the planets, and
the whole universe with words. This is the same one who stood at the wedding of Cana and immediately changed water into
finely aged wine. The same one who has done such great things through words sat at this table and said, “This is my body.”
With this bread and this wine, we have the body and blood of Jesus. We know it because Jesus does it. What God says he does,
he does.
When you see his blood, when you hear about his wounds and the blood he shed this week, remember, this blood is life for
you. This blood is the forgiveness we desperately need. We can have true and complete forgiveness in no other way.
Remember, this is his lifeblood that he gives to us. His lifeblood is our lifeblood. Because of his blood, we have forgiveness.
Because of his forgiveness, we have life.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts and your minds and how you see his suffering in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.
Good Friday
The Light
Luke 23:44–45a
Sermon Outline
5.
4.
3.
Total solar eclipses are short, but they make the day dark.
Long ago, in Egypt, God made the sun dark for three entire days as he judged sin and was setting his people free.
Jesus, the light of the world, calls us to live in his light and not in darkness.
2.
1.
At the cross, the sun went dark as God the Father judged our sins and set us free from them through the death of Jesus.
Jesus overcame the darkness of death and will raise us up from it as well.
DEATH COULD NOT KEEP ITS DARK GRIP ON JESUS, FOR HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE W ORLD.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
5.
Every eighteen months, somewhere around the world, the sun goes black in the middle of the day. One minute the day is
bright and sunny; the next minute the sun goes dark, and you can even see the stars of night in the middle of the day. It’s called
a solar eclipse. The sun is much larger than the moon, but it’s also much farther away than the moon. So, at just the right time,
in just the right place, the moon moves in between the sun and the earth and just about completely blocks out the sun. Instead
of having that huge yellow ball of light in the sky, the day becomes as dark as night. You have to be in just the right place to
see the eclipse, but somewhere on earth it can be seen every eighteen months. This eclipse is absolutely beautiful, and you can
find videos of one on the Internet if you have never seen one. However, a total eclipse lasts only about seven minutes. It’s
beautiful, but rare.
4.
Far rarer is when the sun literally fails to shine. It has happened only twice, ever. The first time, the people of God were
slaves in the land of Egypt. They were forced to do whatever their Egyptian masters commanded them to do. They were forced
to make bricks out of straw. At one point, they were forced to find their own straw and make bricks at their own expense! Their
masters were hard on them, so God lifted up a man to lead his people out of their slavery. He lifted up Moses. Moses was sent
to Egypt to command Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Pharaoh refused to free his slaves, so God began to send plague after
plague. The ninth plague God sent was darkness. For three days, the land of Egypt was dark. The sun went dark. The moon
stayed dark. The stars went dark. It was completely dark in the land of the Egyptians. The people of God, who lived nearby,
had light, but the Egyptians were forced to live in darkness for three entire days. This was no eclipse. Solar eclipses last only
seven minutes. This lasted three days. God was judging them for their sins, and God was at work freeing his people. God was
judging sin and freeing his people.
3.
Jesus came into this world and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will
have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). We have the sense that darkness is scary or at least more dangerous than the daylight. More
crimes are committed at night. Even though no monsters live under our beds, children are afraid of the possibility only at night.
They have no fears during the day, but once the light goes dark, imaginations run wild. We are curious about strange shapes
during the day, but a strange shape or shadow at night makes our pulse run faster until we figure out what it is. Deep down,
something about the dark unsettles us. Here is Jesus, in the middle of it all, saying, “I am the light of the world.” He calls us
away from dark deeds. He calls us away from dark thoughts. He calls us away from words that mean dark things. He calls us
away from the darkness we are tempted to dabble in and “into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9).
2.
When the sun rose on that first Good Friday, Jesus was in front of men who desired to do dark things to him. All through
the night, they had been harassing him and mocking him and trying to condemn him of crimes they had thought of in midnight
councils. They waited until dark to arrest Jesus, and through the night they did not leave him alone. Finally, as the sun rose,
they took him to Pontius Pilate and did the darkest thing of all. They demanded that Pilate put Jesus to death on the cross. Not
three hours after the sun’s light flooded the land, Pilate gave the order for their dark demands. Jesus was nailed to that cross on
that first Good Friday. The sun rose higher in the sky, shedding its light on all those with dark plans in their hearts, and finally
it reached its highest point—noon. There, from its highest point, the brightest place from which the sun could shine down, “the
sun’s light failed” (Lk 23:45). It failed for three hours, until the last dying breath of Jesus was breathed out. The sky was as
black as this robe. (Note: This sentence assumes you are wearing a cassock in light of it being Good Friday. If you are not so
vested, you may leave this sentence out, or point to something in the sanctuary that is black.) This was no eclipse. This was no
solar flare. This was an act of God. It was as if the sun, which was created through Jesus, was reeling at how creation had
rebelled against its Maker. Here God was judging, as he did in Egypt. God was judging sin. He was judging your sins and my
sins, which were nailed to that cross in the body of Jesus. There God was judging sin and, as he did in Egypt, he was setting his
people free. He was setting you free from your sins and giving you life through the death of his Son.
1.
That light, Jesus Christ, was put in a dark hole called a tomb, and he was left there to stay. Yet in the darkness of that
grave, our light shone again. The tomb could not hold him. That light shone too brightly. And when the stone over the tomb
was rolled away, the world could see that the light was still shining brightly. Death could not hold him in.
DEATH COULD NOT KEEP ITS DARK GRIP ON JESUS, FOR HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE W ORLD.
Jesus shines today, because Jesus is the light of the world. In the Book of Revelation (1:16), we see Jesus, our light,
standing and talking to John. His whole body is shining, but John especially mentions Jesus’ face—it shines like the sun. That
is the light we have in the face of the darkness of death. That is the light we have looking at Jesus’ death tonight. That is the
light we have when we look at our own death. That light, Jesus, comes for his people. By the darkness that our light, Jesus,
suffered, we have been healed.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts and your minds always looking to the light, Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Easter Day
Who’s Wounded Now?
John 20:1–18
Sermon Outline
2.
1.
All the wounds Satan inflicted on Jesus could not destroy him, for Jesus has crushed him instead.
All the wounds Satan inflicts on us cannot destroy you who are in Christ, for he has overcome.
JESUS OVERCAME ALL HIS WOUNDS SO THAT HE MAY BRING HEALING TO YOURS.
Sermon
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who has brought us together.
Amen.
2.
It was still dark. The sun was still far below the horizon. The women had an early start to make it to the tomb. They were
hurrying, because this was the first chance they had to take care of the dead body of their Lord. You don’t have to imagine all
that hard to think what was on their minds; we talked about it all during the Lenten midweek services. The women had seen the
Lord’s face when Pilate brought him out in front of everyone with that crown on his head. They could probably still hear the
sound of the scourging. They could probably still see in their mind’s eye those cold metal nails. They were there when the
soldier pierced Jesus’ side with the spear. They saw the men come and put him into a nearby tomb. They knew where Jesus’
body was laid. After all, they followed Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus when they took Jesus’ body to the tomb, and they
watched them roll the rock over the door to the tomb. The women probably never expected to see such terrible violence when
they first met Jesus years before. They certainly never expected to see what they saw this morning. The stone over the tomb
was rolled back. There was no Jesus inside the tomb; instead, inside the tomb, the women met two angels.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw
two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to
her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know
where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know
that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him
to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and
I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which
means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to
my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
(John 20:11–17)
There was Jesus now! He had come back from the dead. He had been publicly humiliated and crucified where all could see, but
now he appeared to Mary, completely alive and well.
Satan had done his worst. Satan tempted Judas with greed, so Judas would betray the only one Satan feared. Satan lured
Judas and finally brought him to the point of selling Jesus for the price of a cheap slave. Satan was at work through the
religious leaders, hardening their hearts so they would not recognize that Jesus is God in the flesh. Satan was at work in making
Pontius Pilate a coward before the crowds. Satan was behind the whips, the shouts, the thorns, the nails, the vinegar, the spear.
Satan was behind it all. Satan had done his worst to this body, and here Jesus stands, talking with Mary, fully alive. Satan and
death can no longer touch him. We know Jesus was not a ghost when he came back, because Mary touched his feet, the
disciples touched his wounds, and he ate fish on the beach with his disciples. Jesus had come back to life in spite of all that
Satan had done to him. Satan attacked Jesus with everything he could. Still it was not enough. So who’s wounded now?
When Satan was abusing Jesus, Satan was only closing the door on himself. If Jesus had not died for us, then Satan could
drag all of us into eternal punishment with him. But Jesus did die. And when Jesus was dead, he was still more powerful than
Satan, because Jesus went down into hell, and there, in a victory parade, proclaimed to all those who had rejected Jesus that he
had won once and for all. Then Jesus came back to us. Jesus returned, fully alive. Jesus is standing here, talking to Mary, and
he shows that he is indeed the living Savior who gives life to all who trust in him. With the last breath of Jesus, Satan was as
good as done. So, who’s wounded now? Satan. But he is not the only one.
1.
A movie came out a few years back called Gladiator. The movie follows a Roman general who is forced to be a Roman
gladiator. For the final fight, this gladiator is terribly wounded before the fight. The guards hide his wound by covering it up
with his armor. Slowly, this wound drained the life out of the gladiator. Hidden wounds are dangerous because they are not
taken care of. We all have hidden wounds. Some of us are battling terrible physical trials, wounds only we can carry. The
wounds you carry around may not be physical wounds, but they drain the life out of you just the same. Rejection can be a
terrible wound. You try hard to be accepted by people at school or by someone you like or by the person you married or by
your own parents or by your children. When you want to be accepted and appreciated, rejection can cut deep. Sometimes we
feel pressure to do things we know we shouldn’t do. Peer pressure at school, the pressure of job security or making
commission—pressure leave its mark. Even worse, at times we wound ourselves. We cut ourselves away from God when we
let the little temptations lead us down dangerous paths. There are many things that cut us down in this world.
Whatever your wounds may be, look to Easter. On the first Easter morning, out of a tomb walks one who suffered the most
deadly of wounds. With several fatal wounds, Jesus should have stayed dead. Yet Jesus would not stay dead. He came out of
the tomb. He came out of the tomb to be back in the world where we need him most. Easter is not just a then-and-there event.
Easter happened almost two thousand years ago, and it comes to us today. Jesus’ resurrection is here for us now. We look to
him and remember all the wounds he suffered. They cut into his body with nails and scourges and thorns. He was cut off from
his closest friends. He was cut off even from God the Father, who forsook him on the cross. No matter how bad those wounds
were, here Jesus is standing outside the tomb among his followers again. He has overcome! He came back into the world to be
alive with us right here, right now.
JESUS OVERCAME ALL HIS W OUNDS SO THAT HE MAY BRING HEALING TO YOURS.
Jesus comes to be with you so that you know that no matter what wounds you suffer, no matter what disasters come your
way, no matter what pain and suffering you bring on others or on yourself, you have one who is with you who overcomes all
wounds.
You may be asking, “If Jesus is supposed to be here with us, why isn’t he here with us?” Jesus told his disciples that he
was going up to be with the Father. In the creeds, we say, “He ascended into heaven,” which means he went up into heaven. He
is there now, speaking to God the Father on your behalf. Jesus is speaking to the Father, and there he is watching over you and
me so that when we are confronted with terrible news, Jesus is already at work to carry us through it. He does not abandon his
people. Jesus never leaves behind a single one of those who belong to him. Jesus is behind the scenes providing for us and
lifting us up in the middle of our wounds with his resurrection power. More than that, if you want to see Jesus standing outside
the tomb for you today, look no further than this altar. Here Jesus not only brings to you his body and blood that hung on the
cross, but He also brings to you his body and blood that stood outside of his tomb. In this body and blood, we have the
resurrection power, the power that overcomes all wounds, because here, Jesus comes to us. Here Jesus will always come to us
until the Last Day, when he will empty every grave.
Now may the peace of God keep your hearts, your minds, and your wounds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.