Good Friday April 18, 2014 Chief Service and Tenebrae Vespers Title: The Cross… the Gospel INI In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The book of Genesis, chapter 3:15. “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The season of Lent: 40 days of penitence, fasting, sorrow, and contrition to prepare souls for a fruitful commemoration of the mystery of Easter… culminating today in the celebration of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ as promised long ago by the LORD God. Tradition has dictated that, during the season of Lent, Christians have givens something up, fasted so to speak, so to be like Christ in fasting and His suffering. What did you promise to give up for Lent? Scripture teaches, If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin (Ecclesiastes 5:4). Maybe you didn’t give something up for Lent this year, but which of you thinks you have never made a vow to the Lord? Who of you believes you have kept your words to the Lord? Have you ever even made a promise and didn’t keep it? I remember the people of Israel once made a vow to the Lord. Moses read to them the book of the covenant. Everyone heard it. They were accountable no matter what. But after hearing it all read, every one of them pledged, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” (Exodus 19 and 24) I’m positive they said it with good intentions, pure motives, and in Godly repentance with full intent of keeping the Words of the Lord! But it wasn’t too many days later when the people built a golden calf and worshipped it as their god. Tell me, how did that go for them? You know the answer… not well. They didn’t get away with it. You’ve made vows too, involving both the LORD and your neighbor… for the Law of God demands love for God and love for neighbor… and you’ve broken them. Remember your baptismal vows? “I renounce the devil, all his works, all his ways,” yet you succumb to the temptations of the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh having a weak and frail will. Remember your marriage vows? “…I pledge you my faithfulness…” yet you commit adultery with other people’s spouses in your heart. Remember your Confirmation vows? “…I pledge to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully”? Then why are you only in attendance at the Lord’s Supper when it’s convenient or when you feel like it, even when the Lord commands “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy”? Why do you let your mind wander while you’re here? Jesus asks such a question of His disciples on the night He was betrayed, “Can you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” What about your promise to God to care for the family and children He has entrusted to you? For God has entrusted you with children, as He wills, and expects you to bring them up in fear and knowledge of Him. And have you been godly examples for your children?” What about for your friends? Have you made promises to friends and then failed to keep them? Have you cared for their honor and reputation? What about, even, the intentions you have declared to yourself to be a better, more positive person, and be cheery and smiley and gracious all the time? How has that been going for you? As God has pledged himself to you, do you even try to be a better Christian every day of your life? Do you think you can get away with it? With all that you’ve done, and all that you’ve left undone? Failing to keep your promises, forsaking your vows, disregarding your vocations, snubbing your Baptism, and sinning against your own God and Father? No, you can’t get away with it. Justice will be paid. Life will be taken. There will be blood… that’s a promise of your God and Father. O Lord, have mercy!

The prophecy of Joel, chapter 2 “Yet even now [even in your sin and iniquity],” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love…” Return, you who are seeped in unfaithfulness. Return to your God Who is faithful to His vows. Return to Him who invites you to behold what great things he has done for you by His love and mercy… Return to the bloody Cross. There God has communicated His anger and wrath against your sin and unfaithfulness, thrusting it upon His own Son. Jesus deserved no punishment, for He kept the Law and vows and promises of God. He was holy, undefiled, set apart from sinners, to do the will of the LORD God for you… because you haven’t kept your word to your neighbor, nor even to God. He did it. Jesus, God in human flesh, did no sin, no deceit was in His mouth. He was the only innocent person ever, yet His was the scorn, His was the shame, His was the suffering He freely chose to take upon Himself for your sake. Jesus knew this day would come, for it was promised of Old. The suffering of Christ was real suffering. What He suffered is what you should have eternally suffered for your sins. He felt every wound, smarted under every pain. His garments were divided among the guards leaving Him in shameful nakedness so that you would be clothed in His holiness. Not a bone in his body was broken that the will of the devil and the power of death might be broken. Those who had pierced Him looked upon Him at His death that you might see Him in life. He was forsaken by God of the tree of death, that you may be nurtured and fed with fruits from the tree of life of His Body and Blood in the presence of God forever. Surely He has borne your griefs and carried your sorrows. He was pierced for your transgressions, he was crushed for your iniquities. His was the punishment that brings your peace… and his are the wounds by which you are healed. Consider these things, my friends… and use them as a mirror that reflects the anger of God over your sins… but even more see the love of God working for your salvation! Oh great love! Love that moved Jesus to carry out the promises of God in giving His own life on the cross. He is the bloodprice for your redemption from sin, death, and the devil! Yes, this is pure Gospel this good Friday, my friends: CHRIST DIED FOR YOU. Go out in joy & be led forth in peace! God has kept His Word. He has had mercy on you and given His only Son. And in the stead and by the command of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN. SDG