John 19:28-30
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We are back again, to one of the most holy nights in the Christian Church year, the night where we read through the story of Jesus, and His crucifixion, His death on the cross, and his crowning and glory. And every time I go through this night, something else pops out to me. Just recently, reading through this, I realized, the sacrifice that Joseph of Aaron mithya and Nicodemus made, taking Jesus down from the cross. Not only would they have been seen in a negative light going after Jesus. But notice the little detail that the high priests did. They did not go into pilots headquarters, because they didn't want to be defiled for the feast the next day. But Joseph Nicodemus, they love Jesus enough to touch his body, to prepare him for death, and miss the feast. Their love for the Savior, shines out in that little detail of peace that I had missed up until this week. That's part of reading this passage, every single year, you grow a little more familiar. You notice things that are a little different. You see the power that Christ has for us. Over the season of Lent, we have been exploring another passage, the Lord's Prayer is looking at the different pieces and what it means for each one of us, taking it line by line all the way through from Our Father who art in heaven. All the way up to the final passage, which is,
but deliver us from evil. Isn't that the perfect prayer for the crucifixion, but deliver us from evil?
Is that not what Jesus did? The night that he tricked Satan into letting him come into his territory.
That's what the cross is, after all, it's a trick. It's an invasion.
By a warrior king is entering into the territory of the enemy, to destroy him. Deliver us from evil. Martin Luther explains it in this way. We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven, would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation. And finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to himself in heaven. But deliver us from evil. There's actually a debate among scholars about the best way to translate that petition from the original Greek, we have the traditional one that we've all memorized that comes down the traditional way. But there's actually the right in front of the word evil, which means it could also be translated to deliver us from the evil one. Not just evil, generally. But Satan, himself. Deliver us from evil is a summary of the Lord's Prayer, gathering everything together all our wants and desires and our needs and saying God save us from everything. And especially Satan, himself. Because he does not want God's kingdom to come among us by God's grace and mercy. He only wants our doom and our destruction is the enemy that hounds us day and night harasses us in our thoughts, desires and our actions. He whispers in our minds to undermine God's word and take us from the Christian faith that he has Powerful, he is real, and he is dangerous. Deliver us from evil. And tonight, we celebrate the day our King Jesus entered into his domain to destroy him.
That is why we call it Good Friday. Because on the cross, Jesus tricks death
into swallowing THE LORD OF LIFE. Jesus walked face first, into the stronghold of Satan, to destroy it from within. Tonight, we celebrate the crowning of our King on his glorious throne, the cross by his death there he destroyed the power of sin and death over us. But deliver us from evil. That's what his death is. It is not a tragedy. It's a horror, though it is brutal. It's a triumph. Victory. crowning glory, where Jesus begins his defeat of sin, death and the devil. And it's why at the very end, Jesus cried out, it is finished. Jesus himself says that it is his glory. In John chapter 12, verse 23, he says, And Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. And only a few chapters later, use cruciform. In the Gospel of Mark, we see something very similar. The familiar story of where James and John go to Jesus, and they asked to sit at his right hand and his left when he comes into his glory. And Jesus responds, that's not for you. But those who are prepared for you. Mark 15 records this. And the inscription of the charge against him read the King of the Jews. And with him, they crucified two robbers, one on his right, and one on his lap. The cross is the glory of Jesus Christ, the triumph over sin, death and the devil and invasion of the devil's kingdom to destroy his stronghold and ruin his power, finalised by the resurrection to come on Sunday morning.
The glory of Jesus for us is His death on the cross. This is why when St. Paul goes out to the Corinthians he proclaims for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. That's the power of God for you. The wisdom of God for you the salvation of God for you. Similarly, in Colossians chapter two, he writes, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgress trans passive trespasses. by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. The cross is where he nailed our sins and destroyed the power of the rulers, the authorities the powers, even Satan himself by climbing up onto that grisly and glorious throne, what power? What salvation? What joy deliver us from evil. Tonight, we look at the cross and we ponder it again. Sometimes, we like to look at the cross and mourn. Every once in a while I have gone to a a service where we look at the crucifixion. And we kind of act like it's a funeral for Jesus. Who have you thought about it that way before We're all we all gather together and we look at the cross and we're supposed to mourn and be upset and feel bad. Grieving like we lost our friend. That's not what it's about. Tonight we celebrate. Tonight, we remember that we celebrate that we did not need to be nailed to that tree. Jesus took our place. We celebrate that Satan's power no longer has dominion over us. Jesus nailed it to the cross. The victory begins now. That is why we celebrate on Good Friday. And remember the joy of the cross the triumph of our Savior, it happens now. And it's also why we can be hopeful when we face our own deaths.
Because Jesus destroyed death. It certainly can hold us that Jesus Himself even entered into the tomb. He marched into death through the cross and paved the way through the grave. And because he did that, we can look at our own deaths and say, This is not the end. Even our Savior die, he paved the way for us. He paved the way through the enemy's stronghold, so that we can live forever with Him. We know that all who are in Christ follow his path, we follow the pattern, everyone who is baptized into him. The Crucifixion is just the beginning. Jesus was crowned on the cross destroyed our enemies there. Now, this does not mean that the cross should not cause us moments of hesitation and maybe some pain. Because we also when we look at the cross, we can see not just our victory, but the price that our sin deserves.
Because that is what we deserve. Right? The penalty for sin should cause us just a little bit of sadness, but not for our Savior and for ourselves.
Because we still live in these sinful bodies.
We still face our own sinfulness every day. And so when we look at the cross, sadness we should feel is repentance.
causing us to turn from our sin in gratefulness to the victory that our Savior won by facing this terrible death. Because the cross is that a warrior king enters the enemy's stronghold, and Satan watches as the Savior destroys his power. It's the destruction of our death for salvation. The cross is how Jesus delivers us from evil. In his name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai