Good Friday

(Audio)

John 18:1 – 19:42; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“If a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.” Such was the Law of the LORD given in Deuteronomy 21:23. And, such was the death that Jesus died for you. The charge against Him, nailed atop His cross, read “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Though it was the truth, and though Jesus was truly innocent, the Jews considered His claim to be the Son of God and the great “I AM” to be blasphemy. They had been building their case against Him for some time. They challenged Him when He absolved the sins of the paralytic saying, “Only God can forgive sins.” They accused Him of casting out demons by the power of the devil. And, later, they accused Him of being possessed by the devil. The charge they leveled against Jesus was blasphemy, a crime punishable by death. And, because of this, they considered Him cursed by God, stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God, for His sins. For, “cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” However, Jesus was precisely whom He claimed to be. Jesus cast out demons and healed the sick, not by the power of the devil, but by the authority of the Holy Spirit. And so, it was the scribes and the Pharisees who were the blasphemers, because Jesus was innocent of their charges, and because Jesus is the holy, righteous, Son of God, the great “I AM,” and the true King of the Jews.

The scribes and the Pharisees were cursed by God. The children of Israel were cursed by God. You and I, and all humanity were cursed by God for our sins and guilt, rebellion, and blasphemy. “Because you have done this,” said the LORD, because “you have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat,” “cursed are you;” You shall “return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” You were reminded of that curse forty days ago on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of our Lenten pilgrimage this year, when ashes and dust marked your foreheads as the words of the curse were uttered, “Remember, O Man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” You are a sinner, the child of sinners, and the wages of your sin, what you earn and merit for your sin, is only and always death. However, remember that those ashes which marked your foreheads were not merely a smudge, but those ashes were in the shape of the cross. They were in the shape of the cross because, while the curse was not abolished or taken away, it was paid for, satisfied, and thereby broken in Jesus’ death upon the cross for you and for all humankind.

“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We were all under the curse. There was no escape. Everyone who dies dies because of the curse in his own flesh, for his own sins, both inherited and actual. Therefore, no man’s death could atone for his own sins and break the curse, let alone for the sins of others. Thus, it was necessary, it was the only way, that God Himself must die, the sinless for the sinful, the righteous for the guilty. God the Father sent His only-begotten Son into our flesh to suffer and die for you and me and for all humankind. Jesus “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Jesus “was wounded for our transgressions,” “crushed for our iniquities.” “The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” “Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.” “One has died for all, therefore all have died.” For as by the one man Adam’s disobedience all men were made to be sinners, so by the one man Jesus’ obedience, even unto death upon the cross, all men have been declared to be righteous. “It is finished.” “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Fixed upon the tree of the cross, Jesus was raised up the accursed one for all the world. The fullness of God’s righteous wrath against your sin, my sin, and the sin of all humankind, was poured out upon the sinless One, His Son, until there was nothing left. All we, bitten by the poisonous Satanic serpent, cursed to die, have been redeemed by Jesus as Satan sunk his venomous fangs into His heel. Now, all who gaze upon Him, high and lifted up, in faith and trust, receive in Him forgiveness, righteousness, holiness, and life that cannot die. Do not search inside yourself for this redemption and righteousness. Do not trust in your reasoned decision or choice, your pious feelings and emotions, or even your faith itself, but trust only in Jesus who died upon the cross for you, the objective standard, wholly outside of you, who died for you and your redemption whether you believe it or not, whether you exist or not. This is the LORD’s work, and it is glorious in our eyes.

“Behold! The life-giving cross on which was hung the salvation of the world.” That is why we can call this terrible, cursed, black Friday good. This day is good for you. This day is good for me. This day is good for all the world. Jesus’ death is your death, for you and for all the world, but He did not remain dead. Death could not hold Him, because He was innocent, sinless, and righteous. Therefore it was death that died this day. Whoever believes in Jesus, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Jesus shall never die. For, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come!” “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself.”

Therefore, from now on, “we regard no one according to the flesh.” That is to say, how can we regard anyone as unforgiveable, forsaken by God, undeserving of love, mercy, grace, and charity? For, we were no better, we were cursed, and likewise we and all have been forgiven by Jesus who became the curse for us to set us free. Truly, no man is our enemy, for we all share but one and the same enemy, Satan and his demonic horde. What we have received from the LORD in forgiveness and redemption, let us not withhold from others and all for whom Jesus also died. For, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation, the Gospel proclamation that, in Christ, God has reconciled the world to Himself. “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us.” Let our attitude and message to our friends, our neighbors, our enemies, and the world be thus: “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

If not even death can hold you, then of what have you to be afraid? Oh, your enemy, Satan, tempts you with many temptations to rob you of your confidence and trust in Jesus. What do you fear not having? What do you fear losing? What is it that the devil has convinced you is more important to have than Jesus? Is it wealth and possessions and creature comforts? Is it the success of your children in sport, college, career, comfort, and worldly security? Does your fear of loss, or not having, does your fear of suffering and death, tempt you put your trust in men or money, the government, or yourself? Do you, in your mad striving to get, to have, and to keep the things of this world, sell your Lord Jesus and your salvation for a pot of stew? Do you fear and hate your neighbor, no matter who he or she is, because you fear not having, or losing, what you have? If so, repent. Such fears and emotions and motivations are the curse from which you have been freed. To permit them to rule you is to sell yourself back into slavery once again, and to make Jesus’ suffering and death in your place foolishness. Jesus “died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.”

No, but you are a new creation in Christ, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died. […] From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. […] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” All those born again and made new in the blood of Christ in holy baptism are nourished and sustained by His Word, His body, and His blood. These are the life-giving fruits of Jesus’ crucifixion upon the tree of the cross, become for us now the Tree of Life. Jesus became accursed for we who were cursed that we might become the blessed of the LORD once again. He, who knew no sin, the LORD made to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. Truly, this Friday is good for you, for me, and for all humanity. Don’t keep it to yourself.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Holy (Maundy) Thursday

(Audio)

John 13:1-15, 34-35; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; Exodus 12:1-14

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you.” This is the Word of the LORD, and truly it says it all – I will pass over you. I will spare you. I will redeem you from sin, guilt, death, and from Satan, the grave, and from hell. I will do it all because I love you, and you will remember that I did it and that I do.

Oh, I know. You think that you did something by killing the lamb, by preparing it, by eating it, and by smearing its blood upon the doorposts and lintels of your homes saying, “I will,” “I did,” “I do.” But, don’t be a fool. The blood of the lamb only caused the LORD to pass over your sin and guilt because He attached His Word of promise to it proclaiming that it would, the very same reason the fruit of the Tree of Life gave life, and the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil brought death. Fruit trees do not bestow life and death anymore than do lambs, unless the LORD says that they do. And so, the Passover is the LORD’s work, not yours. Likewise, salvation, redemption, and justification are the LORD’s work, not yours. They are His work of love for you and for the world that you might be restored to Him and live with Him again, now, and forever.

Indeed, the entire sacrificial system of the Jews was a gift of the LORD’s love that there might be a way in which He could spare them the wages of their sin, death, for a time, in order that He might still abide with them in His holy Presence and love and not consume them and destroy them in His holiness and righteousness. The blood of bulls and goats caused the LORD to look away from their sin and guilt because He said so – period – but, only for a time, hence those sacrifices had to be repeated again and again, year after year. Of this the Preacher to the Hebrews proclaims, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” This is most certainly true. The LORD knew this, but He had a plan in mind, a mission: He would send His only-begotten Son, His beloved, into your flesh to become a man, to suffer and die as the true, only, and final sacrificial Lamb that would actually take away the guilt of sin forever and restore you to a right relationship with your God, your Father, forever – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Couldn’t God just forgive and forget? Well, in short, no. It’s not a matter of will, but it is a matter of the LORD’s holiness and righteousness. You see, this is something that is, for the most part, lost on Christians today. Generally speaking, we do not understand, we do not remember, what it means for God to be holy and righteous. That God is holy means that He is utterly distinct, separate, other, and in a class by Himself. This really isn’t that hard to comprehend if you only consider what the LORD says about Himself: In the beginning there was God, and nothing else. All things that are are because of Him. This means that the LORD is before all things, distinct, the source, cause, and creator of all things. In the beginning, our First Parents were in complete harmony and unity with God in His holiness; they were holy and righteous. However, their sin, and our sin, have made us something other than God, separate from God, and thus unholy. God couldn’t just forgive and forget, for His holiness and righteousness and our unholiness are simply incompatible. Yet, the LORD demands that you be holy, as He is holy. Since God’s own holiness and righteousness will not permit Him to simply forgive and forget, if we are to be holy, then He is going to have to do something to make us holy once again. For this reason the Son of God became the man Jesus, that He might die for our sins and shed His blood to make us clean and holy once again and be restored to a right relationship, a relationship of holiness, with God.

Did God have to do this? Well, yes and no. No, by no right or force did God have to sacrifice His Son to make us holy. In truth, He would have been fully righteous to destroy us and to completely and wipe us from His memory. However, God is love. Love is an essential quality of our LORD. God’s love is the reason there is something instead of nothing. God is love. And, greater love is not possible but that a man should lay down his life for his friends – and so, love is sacrifice. Therefore, God so loved the world in this way: He sacrificed His Son Jesus out of love for you to restore you to holiness and to Himself. And God’s Son, out of love for you and for His Father submitted Himself to humiliation, suffering, and to sacrificial death to make you holy once again.

In a final display of His love for us, Jesus instituted this Lord’s Supper for His disciples, and for you and I, before He suffered and died for our sins. In St. Luke’s narrative of the Last Supper Jesus says, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” The original Greek is more poignant: “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you.” It is that word desire that communicates the depths of God’s love Jesus poured out that night and in His subsequent Passion and death. It was the LORD’s passionate desire and love to restore you to holiness that carried Jesus through the terrible events of Holy Week.

As in love for you the Son of God humbled Himself to become a man, so Jesus in love for you took on the role of a servant. He removed His outer garments, tied a towel around His waist, and bent down and began to wash His disciples’ feet. It was customary for those who were otherwise clean to have their feet washed by a servant before eating, but not by a rabbi. The exchange between Peter and Jesus is revealing. Rightly did Peter protest Jesus washing his feet out of respect and reverence for His teacher. Likewise, when Jesus explained to Peter that He must wash him in order for him to have a share with Him, Peter zealously desired that His entire body be washed. But, Jesus’ meaning is that the cleanliness He bestows is not a matter of dirt being removed from the body, but of the stain of sin and guilt being washed away in His holy, innocent shed blood. Thus Jesus answered Peter, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with Me.” Only he whom Christ washes and cleanses from sins can have part with Christ: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

Then, after serving His disciples by washing their feet, symbolically foreshadowing His washing them in His blood on the cross, Jesus celebrated His final Passover supper with them. It was in the context of this Passover meal that Jesus interpreted the bread and wine to be His very own body and blood: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me’.” “In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying: ‘Drink of it, all of; this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me’.” Through these clear, precise, performative, and creative words Jesus transformed the Passover Supper into the Lord’s Supper in which He, the Lamb of God’s own offering for the sins of the world, would cleanse and absolve, nourish, strengthen, protect, and send His disciples, His Church, for the life of the world. God so loved the world in this way: He gave His only-begotten Son. Jesus so loved you in this way: He willingly laid down His life in sacrificial service for you that you may live in Him. “And when I see the blood,” says the LORD, “I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you.” I will pass over you. I will spare you. I will redeem you from sin, guilt, death, and from Satan, the grave, and from hell. I will do it all because I love you, and you will remember that I did it and that I do.

And, now He sends you bearing His love, to love one another, as He has loved you saying, “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jesus has washed you and made you clean. In your holy baptism you have been given a share in Him, in communion with Him. Now you may, indeed you must, love others with His love which you have received, give to others with the gifts you have received from Him, and forgive others with the forgiveness you yourself have received as a result of His boundless love for His Father, and for you, and for all the world. No, your love is not a work that you do, but it is Jesus work done for you, to you, in you, and through you. You share with Him, in communion and partnership with Him, this work of love for your brothers and sisters in Christ, for your neighbors, for your enemies, and for all. Do this in remembrance of Him, to the glory of God the Father.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Palmarum (Palm Sunday) / Sunday of the Passion (The Second Sunday In Passiontide)

(Audio)

Matthew 21:1-9, 26:1 – 27:66; Philippians 2:5-11; Zechariah 9:9-12

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Today God’s Son makes His way to the mountain of sacrifice, the Lamb of God’s own offering for the sins of the world. Today, Abraham’s son is spared, and so are you and all the spiritual children of Abraham. Today is the day Abraham rejoiced to see when he spied the ram caught in a thicket and quickly exchanged it as a substitutionary sacrifice for his son Isaac. Today Jesus entered Jerusalem as had Jehu and Solomon before Him, riding on a donkey, with cloaks and palms strewn upon His path. He is the Anointed of the LORD, the LORD’s Messiah and Christ, a man after the LORD’s own heart like His father David. He is the LORD’s Servant, the true King of a kingdom not of this world, who leads His subjects into battle with Satan and defeats him by dying for them and their guilt. He is the Blessed One who comes in the Name of the LORD. He is God’s salvation and deliverance from sin and death and the devil.

Though He was in form and essence God, at His Father’s bidding He made Himself nothing and took up the form of a servant, being conceived and born as a man that He might suffer and die for the sin and guilt of all humankind and redeem them. There is no higher kingly duty and vocation than to die for his subjects, just as there is no higher love possible than to lay down one’s life for his friends. Yet the kings of men are the exact opposite of such humility and sacrificial service. When Israel cried out for a king like the nations around them, the LORD gave them precisely what they asked for. “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you,” says the LORD; “He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.” He will take, and he will take, and he will take…. Did you catch that? Such is the way of the kings of men.

However, a true king is the servant of his people. The children of Israel were to have the LORD as their king. He would care for them and protect them even as the Good Shepherd knows His sheep, seeks them when they stray and get lost, and brings them safely home, even to the point of laying down His life for His sheep. But, the kings of men are not true shepherds, but hirelings who abuse and take advantage of the LORD’s sheep and flee when the wolf comes. Not so our Good Shepherd and King Jesus. Thus Jesus enters the Holy City in lowliness and humility as a Servant King. He processes, not to Herod’s throne or Pilate’s, but to the throne of His cross. He is robed in humility, scourged and torn for the sin and guilt of His people, crowned with cruel thorns and pierced with biting nails. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep and saves them from the lion’s jaws. He does not take, and take, and take, but He gives, and He gives, and He keeps on giving, even when mocked, spat upon, scourged, crucified, and rejected and abandoned by all. The crowds that praised Him on Palm Sunday were right to sing Hosanna, God Save! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD! But, they were wrong about the kind of king He would be. Jesus is King, but He is not a king like Saul, or even David, but Jesus is the LORD’s Servant and true King, His anointed Messiah and Christ, and He lays down His life for His people, even for those who reject Him.

Christ the King comes to take His throne. He rules from His cross for you and for all the world. The Word from His mouth kills and it makes alive. His holy, innocent blood cleanses from the uncleanness, disease, and death of sin and guilt. The water that pours from His pierced side is healing and forgiving and restoring. Throughout His ministry He cast out demons, healed diseases, and raised the dead, all the while taking the world’s sin and guilt upon Himself. This is how the true King rules and reigns. Laying down His life for you and all humankind, He died for you. His death in your place He gives to you; it is your death, even as His resurrection is your resurrection. Now, raised from death and ascended to the right hand of His Father, He reigns through His Church exorcising demons, healing, and raising from the death of sin and guilt in Holy Baptism, feeding, strengthening, protecting, equipping, and sending through His Word and Spirit and Supper.

His reign is for you, and His reign is through you. By Thursday evening, the crowds that received Him today began to reject Him. When He was arrested in Gethsemane, even His closest disciples and friends began to fall away. But, He continued on alone, for them, and for you, and for all the world. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Thus, Passion Sunday is a perplexing day, beginning in Palm Sunday joy, but quickly turning to Thursday’s betrayal, Friday’s trials and crucifixion, and Saturday’s burial in the tomb. Such is your fickleness, hardness of heart, and unbelief, and such is your God’s love for you that He would send His own Son to die for you that you might be restored to Him and live. Though He dwelt in unity and glory with His Father and Holy Spirit, He humbled Himself to become a man that He might be your King and Redeemer. He was rejected and abandoned by all, even His closest disciples, friends, and family. When the women came to the tomb Sunday morning, they came to anoint a dead body. It was necessary. Jesus had to be forsaken by humankind and by His Father and die alone – for the wages of our sin is only and always death. Moreover, ultimately, no one was saved because they saw His miracles, His power over demons, His healings and resurrections – all who saw these things still abandoned Him and considered Him dead. Truly, as Jesus said to Thomas after His resurrection, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

This is good news for you and for me. Oh, we might like to dream about what it would have been like if we were there. We wouldn’t have rejected Him. If only we could have seen what they saw and heard what they heard, we would believe. Don’t kid yourself. Besides, that’s not the point. The point is that Jesus did all this for you. God did all this for you. God the Father sent His only-begotten Son into your flesh that He might be your King and Redeemer by suffering and dying for your sin and guilt. He did this for you, wholly apart from your faith or unbelief. It’s an objective fact. Because of this, His Father raised Him up and bestowed upon Him the Name that is above every name, “that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This, too, is an objective fact, wholly apart from your faith or unbelief.

But, blessed are those who believe and trust in Him. For you, your King Jesus came, not only then, but He comes to you now under the humble and lowly forms of bread and wine to forgive you anew, to strengthen your faith, to protect, preserve, equip, and send you as His subjects, His people, His very own body, to reign with Him here on earth and in heaven – “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Still, your reign with King Jesus is no more glorious in the eyes of men than was Jesus’ ministry and cruciform coronation on earth. As many rejected Jesus, so will you be rejected because of Him. If you will be Jesus’ disciple, then you must take up the cross appointed for you and follow Him. Truly, the life of a Christian is a cruciform life. You will be mocked, ridiculed and rejected by the world, your neighbors, friends, and family. In humility and lowliness you will endure hardship, want, suffering, even persecution, and, finally, death. But, because your King has endured these for you, and even now He accompanies you through them, you will persevere. And, already, there is laid up for you a crown in heaven that will be placed upon your head on the victorious day of resurrection – a crown that can never be taken away. Therefore, be comforted and have hope in the truth that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Let us follow in the way of our King Jesus, the LORD’s Suffering Servant, this Holy Week through rejection, betrayal, suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial, and let us rejoice in the victory and redemption He won for us as we celebrate His glorious resurrection on Sunday. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you!” “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Lenten Vespers In the Week of Judica (Lent 5)

(Audio)

Matthew 27:27-61; Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Betrayed by His trusted friend, abandoned by His closest disciples, handed over to suffer and die by His God and Father, Jesus became like Joseph in Egypt, like Jacob fleeing Esau, like David hiding from Saul, and like Elijah in the midst of the prophets of Baal – utterly forsaken, alone, waiting to die. Once Pilate had ruled and washed his hands of Him, the entire battalion of the Governor’s soldiers gathered around Jesus. They stripped Him naked, put a scarlet robe upon Him, crowned Him with a crown of thorns and beat it into His skull with cudgels, and they put a reed in His hand as a standard as they mocked Him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and spat upon Him and struck Him on the head.

I believe that C. S. Lewis captured this well in his allegorical fantasy The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when the Christ-figure Aslan permitted himself to be bound and sacrificed as a substitute for the young Edmund, who had betrayed him, that the boy’s life might be spared. The witch and her demonic hordes bound the great lion to the stone sacrificial altar, gagged him, shaved him of his glorious mane, and beat him mercilessly before she finally killed him by plunging a cruel stone blade into his great heart. It was not enough that she should kill him, but she wanted to mock, torment, and humiliate him as well. The sheer evil and wickedness of the witch and her demonic hordes was revealed in the sacrifice of Aslan, just as it was in the sacrificial death of Jesus.

While you and I were not the ones doing the mocking and the spitting. While you and I were not the ones tearing the flesh off of His back, arms, and legs with each lash of the whips, driving the thorns into His skull or the nails through His hands and feet, nevertheless, you and I were complicit with those demonic hordes and with the devil himself, and it was for your sins and rebellion, and for mine, that Jesus was mocked, humiliated, scourged, pierced, crucified, and died. We betrayed Him. We abandoned Him. We were ashamed of Him. We were scandalized by Him, just as much as those whose hands, mouths, and voices mocked, ridiculed, cursed, and murdered Him on the Friday we now can call Good.

Jesus is the LORD’s Servant, and though He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, though He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, we considered Him stricken, smitten and afflicted by God. He just isn’t what we had expected, what we had hoped for. He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, no beauty that we should desire Him. But, it was we who were wrong. Our sin, transgressions, and iniquity prevented us from seeing the wisdom and the glory of God. We were deceived in the beginning, taken in by a lie, and still we struggle to believe the Truth. We regularly call good evil, and evil good. We require new eyes and new ears, a new mind, new reason, a new heart. For this Jesus died. Behold, He is making all things new!

It was the will the LORD to crush Him that you might be saved. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. You are the fruit of Jesus’ Passion. You are His offspring. Jesus continues to serve His Father even as He continues to serve you, interceding for you and sending you His Spirit that you may be fruitful and glorify His Father. You glorify the LORD by bearing His fruit – for the fruit of a tree or a vine is not for the benefit of the tree or vine, but for the benefit of others. So also are you the fruit of the True Vine Jesus Christ, the LORD’s Suffering Servant, for the life of the world.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.