1.
Please pray with me.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing
in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. From
the viewpoint of Pentecost, Peter helps us to understand the crime, the
criminals, and all who are involved. Who is involved in this Good Friday murder
scene? God the Father is involved. Jesus is involved. The Jews are involved.
Pontius Pilate is involved. Anyone else? Peter addresses his hearers on
Pentecost saying in Acts chapter 2, “This Jesus . . . you crucified and
killed by the hands of lawless men” (v 23). And the well-known spiritual
won’t let it go: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” (LSB 456:1). The answer: “They crucified
my Lord. Yes, they did. But, yes! You! Me!” We crucified the Lord, just as
Peter said.
2.
The physical murder weapons in this crime were the
scourging, the nails, the cross. But, the weapon behind those weapons was sin,
the sin of all humanity. That murder weapon accuses us all. The net of guilt
reaches everywhere, all the way back to the first man who lived, and all the
way forward to the last person who will yet live. That means you and I are also
caught in the net of guilt. What a
terrible weapon we have with our sin. The weapon is turned on ourselves. It’s
all there in our heart—malice, hatred, greed, lying, gossip, slander, pride,
and self-righteousness. All these things set our lives on a course of death.
3.
Look how we step out on that course of death with our words
and deeds. Look what murders marriage and family life—lovelessness,
selfishness, unfaithfulness, words and deeds that stab and wound. Look what
murders life in the workplace—greed, envy, jealousy, dishonesty, making a god
of material things. Look what murders life in the Church—grudges, hard
feelings, neglect of Word and Sacrament, lack of participation, the attitude of
“I’m not available for anything.” And we are the murderers.
4.
After a killing rampage across our lives, sin kills us. “The
soul who sins shall die” (Ezek l8:4). “The wages of sin is death”
(Rom 6:23). Sin is thorough. It’s the weapon of total death—spiritual,
physical, and eternal death. Even then sin isn’t finished. Listen to Peter: “You
killed the Author of life” (Acts 3:15). Has there ever been a greater
crime? You killed the Son of God! We were there when they crucified our Lord.
The murder weapon is our sin.
5.
What’s the reaction? “Now when they heard this they were
cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers,
what shall we do?’ ” (v 37). Do you hear the concern, the alarm, and the
panic in those words? There was no question of the verdict. They knew they’d
been caught holding the smoking gun. And their desperation echoes in the hearts
of each of us.
6.
But listen. Here’s the reason to call this Friday good. It’s
here in Peter’s answer for those first hearers and for you and me. “Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (v
38). Doesn’t that make you breathe a huge sigh of relief? Do you know what that
means? It means sin, that lethal weapon, has been neutralized. It means there’s
hope. There’s a way out of death. There’s forgiveness!
7.
What we see on Good Friday is sin at large—evil, injustice,
pain, suffering, and death. But Peter tells us God is in control of everything.
Sin is carrying out its terrible mission, but Peter tells us it all has to
serve God’s purpose. Peter says in Acts chapter 2 that it all happened with
God’s “definite plan and foreknowledge” (v 23).
8.
What’s God doing here? One of our Lenten hymns puts it well.
“ ‘Go forth, My Son,’ the Father said, ‘And free My children from their
dread Of guilt and condemnation’ ” (“A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth,” LSB 438:2). The Son answers, “Yes,
Father, yes, most willingly . . . I’ll do what You have asked Me” (st. 3).
So Jesus goes to the cross with all our sin and guilt. He “[bears] our sins
in his body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24). He suffers the death that follows
sin, more than physical death, the death of hell. He tastes death for everyone
(Heb 2:9). This is the Father’s wrath and judgment on our sins, but borne
willingly by his Son, all for our salvation. Because Jesus was guilty with our
sin, the Father declares us not guilty. The theological word for that is justification. The practical meaning for us
is this: because God made Jesus to be sin for us, he now sees us without sin.
Because Jesus suffered hell for us, we don’t have to go to hell. How do we know
for sure? Acts 2 says, “God raised [Jesus] up, loosing the pangs of death,
because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (v 24).
9.
Over the darkness of Good Friday we see the dawning of
Easter, the rising glow of the sunrise—acquittal, new innocence, a new life
with God. This day is all about murder,
death, our death, inflicted by our sin. This day is all about his death, for
us, in our place. So bask the amazing verdict. Look at the cross and hear
Isaiah’s “not guilty”: “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was
crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 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” (Is 53:5–6). Hear St. Paul: “In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7). Hear the “not guilty” from
St. Peter: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the
unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18). Hear the verdict
from St. John, “The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1
Jn 1:7). This is God’s good work through that bloody, sin-scarred cross.
10.
St. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized” (v 38). See
in your repentance godly sorrow for sin and then forgiveness of sin through
faith in Jesus. See in your Baptism all God has to give. You are born again to
be a child of God. You are reconciled to God. You have forgiveness from God. You
have new life with God. See in all of this the gift of the Holy Spirit, who has
worked repentance in you. The Holy
Spirit, who made you alive with God in your Baptism, who continues to keep you growing
as a person who is no longer dead, but alive in Christ.
11.
This day is all about death, our Lord’s death. But more than
that, it’s about how he died. “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). “Father,
into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Lk 23:46). Good Friday ends in death
for Jesus, but a release for us. This
is the story of Jesus, Peter, and each of us. Amen.
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