Bible Topics – What Does This Mean?

Lamb of God, Pure and Holy

Encore Post: The night God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt, the Hebrews selected perfect lambs from their flocks. They had no injuries, blemishes, or birth defects. These lambs were slaughtered, their blood smeared on their doors, their meat roasted for a feast. That night, the Angel of Death passed over their houses as the firstborn of all Egypt perished.

The evening of the day God delivered us all from sin, death and the power of the devil, the disciples arranged a Passover meal for them and for Jesus. John the Baptist had called him the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He took bread and said, “this is my body given for you” and wine and said, “this cup is the New Testament in my blood.” St. Paul calls him “our Passover, who is sacrificed for us.”

The Lord’s Supper, then, is our New Passover. In it, God gives us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. The Angel of Death passes over us. In baptism, we are united with him in his death on the cross. We enter the Red Sea of death with him and rise to new life when he breaks the seal of our graves.

Once again in Holy Week, we follow the Lamb of God, as he goes to his death willingly. We pray as he takes each step,

Lamb of God, pure and holy,
Who on the cross did suffer…
Have mercy on us, O Jesus.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2018-2024 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Three Days and Three Nights

Encore Post: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday are remembered by the Church from ancient times as the days on which our salvation was won by the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord. She does this with one service that lasts the three days. The Maundy Thursday divine service begins with an invocation, but does not conclude with a benediction. Good Friday services have neither an invocation nor a benediction. The Vigil of Easter on Saturday evening does not begin with an invocation, but ends with a benediction.

The name Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word mandatum — the first word in the Latin translation of Jesus’ command: “a new commandment I give to you: love one another.” (John 13:34) Jesus gave this command at the Last Supper, the night we also remember because he also instituted the Lord’s Supper during that Passover meal. The Maundy Thursday service ends with the stripping of the altar, the lectern and pulpit and removing of the pastor’s vestments. Often the account of the Garden of Gethsemane and the arrest of Jesus is read while this is done. We depart in silence to note the disciples abandoned Jesus.

The day that begins at sunset on Maundy Thursday witnessed the whole of Jesus’ passion and death. We call it Good Friday, because it is the day we were redeemed. It is also the first day of Christ’s rest in the tomb. This second day Jesus was in the grave began at sunset Friday. On Sunset Holy Saturday, the third day begins. The Church meets in a vigil, a service that greets Easter. Often, Christians are baptized during the vigil.

On these three days, Christ fulfilled his promise that he would take our sins to the cross, die to pay their due, make holy our graves by resting in death, defeated Satan and death and rose again to shatter the grave forever. Three days to remember and to thank God for his mercy.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Jesus Faces Off With His Opponents

Encore Post: From Monday to Wednesday of Holy Week, Jesus taught in the temple. His opponents challenged him several times. He told parables against them and warned people about him. First, the priests asked by what authority he did the things he did. Jesus countered by asking them whether John the Baptist was from God. Because they would not answer, neither would he. (Matthew 21:23-27)

Jesus’ three parables were his last attempt to call his opponents to repentance. They were the Parable of the Two Sons, the Parable of the Wicked Vineyard Tenants and the Parable of the King’s Wedding Feast. The point of all three was that his opponents pretended to serve God, but really were disobedient. (Matthew 21:28-22:14)

His opponents responded with several test questions: should we pay taxes to Caesar? Who will be the husband of a woman in the resurrection who was married to seven brothers without having a child? What is the greatest commandment? His answers were so profound, they did not follow up. (Matthew 22:15-40)

He then posed a question to them: if the Christ is David’s son, why does David call the Christ Lord? They did not answer.

The majority of what Jesus taught that week, however, was about his second coming and eternity. In this way, he prepared his disciples for his approaching death. One on the evenings of this week in Bethany, Jesus’ friend Mary anointed him with expensive perfume for his coming burial.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Ride on, Ride on in Majesty

Encore Post: “It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish,” prophesied Joseph Caiaphas, the High Priest. (John 11:50) On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus had healed a blind man, performing a sign of the Messiah. A week before the first Palm Sunday, Jesus was at the Bethany home of his friends, Mary and Martha. The week before, in this bedroom community, he raised their brother Lazarus, who had been in the grave for four days.

This unmistakable sign of the Messiah was done before their own eyes and those of their relatives and friends. People flocked to see him and Lazarus. The priests feared Jesus was going to start a rebellion, proclaiming himself the Messiah. Caiaphas knew what would happen. Pilate would destroy the rebels and level the temple and the city. Rather, one man, this man who called himself the Son of God and the Messiah, would die instead of the people. They did not realize that was God’s will — for an entirely different reason.

The Sunday before Passover did not calm these fears, but intensifies them. Like David had done one thousand years earlier, he rides a donkey into Jerusalem along the road from Bethlehem. It ran through Bethany, Bethphage, through the Mount of Olives, across the Brook Kidron, into the city through a gate into the Temple. The people spread their coats and palm branches on the road before him, sung praises to God and shouted, “Save now! Son of David” (Hosanna) Jesus not only did not discourage them, he accepted their praises. The leaders of the people united in their plans to kill Jesus. He was in their minds a blasphemer and a threat to them and to the nation.

What they missed was that Jesus the Messiah was not intent on earthly revolution, but to die for their sins and the sins of the world and rise again to open the tombs of all believers. He agreed with Caiaphas. For weeks he had been warning his disciples that he “had to” to suffer at their hands, be crucified, die and on the third day rise. Throughout the week, he would remind them of it. With the hindsight of being on the other side of the resurrection, we remember these events and sing: “Ride on, ride on, in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die. Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain. Then take, O Christ, Thy power and reign.” (Henry H. Milman, Ride on, Ride on, in Majesty, stanza five)

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Holy Week Overview

Encore Post: On Palm Sunday, Jesus deliberately went to his death in Jerusalem. He could have called upon the countless armies of heaven to save Him, but He did not. Knowing full well what was ahead, He went willingly. Down the road used to bring the lambs for the Passover into Jerusalem, the Lamb of God went to the slaughter. Just as King David rode into the city on a donkey 1000 years earlier, Jesus chose a donkey as his mount. When the crowds acclaimed him Messiah, he received their greeting.

On Thursday evening, Jesus gathered with his disciples to celebrate the Passover. They remembered the night when the Angel of Death passed over the doors of the people of Israel, marked by the blood of the lamb. That night when he gave us the Lord’s Supper, Jesus became our Passover, giving us his body to eat with bread and his blood to drink with wine.

Later He would be led to trial before the Sanhedrin, which met in Solomon’s Temple. Here, the Lamb of God was condemned to die. On the cross, when He said, “it is finished,” God completed the sacrifice for our sin.

What the women found when they arrived at the tomb the next Sunday morning changed everything. The stone was rolled away; the guards had run away, and an angel greeted them. “He is not here! He is risen!” Once it sunk in, the disciples went from sadness to joy. The day of worship moved for Christians from the Sabbath to the Lord’s Day. The very people who ran away and hid for fear of arrest would face arrest, torture and eventually death themselves to proclaim the good news of salvation because of the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.Today we still proclaim the same good news. Now we were redeemed, forgiven, and restored to fellowship with God.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Lazarus, Come Out!

Encore Post: Mary, Martha and Lazarus were close friends of Jesus. When Jesus came to Jerusalem, He often stayed with them in their home in Bethany — a little town two miles away. So, when Lazarus fell ill, it was personal, even more so because Jesus knew his friend would die. Jesus had raised some people from the dead. Yet the resurrection of Lazarus would be one of the greatest of all his miracles and would set in motion the events leading to his suffering, death, and resurrection.

So, two weeks before his own resurrection, Jesus went to comfort his friends. He said the words that touch a chord in our hearts even today: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26) Still he grieved for his friend. Then, even though Lazarus had been dead for four days, Jesus ordered the tomb opened and called Lazarus back from the grave.

Previously, Jesus raised several people from the dead. The resurrection of Lazarus was different because it was so close to where the priests lived. The Sadducees could ignore stories about Jesus as just fairy tales when they happened in Galilee. When their neighbors actually witnessed Lazarus coming back from the dead, they could not dismiss it.

When Caiaphas the High Priest heard about this miracle, he said: “It is better than one man die than the people.” He was right, even though he did not know why. From this moment on, the priests and the Pharisees planned to kill Jesus and Lazarus. A week later, Jesus would ride into Jerusalem in the middle of lambs destined for sacrifice. With his death, he destroyed death, its angel passing over us forever.

Block Post Series

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

If it is God’s Will….

Encore Post: [Forty-Three in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Why does God want us to pray for his will to be done? After all, God can do anything he wants to do . When he speaks, it is done. He loves us, cares for us and wants only good for us. He promises to answer our prayer. Yet Jesus tells us to pray, “thy will be done.”

As with other aspects of God’s nature, the limits of our nature make the mystery of God’s will impossible to understand fully. God’s will will be done eventually, but in this world it is often not done. We can choose to do things our own way. With the world, we often rebel against it. We sometimes do not understand why he allows evil to happen to us. Sometimes we do not even know what God wants us to do.

So, when we ask God for something that he does not promise to do unconditionally, we often pray “if it is your will.” this kind of prayer helps us to accept what God wants for us and trust it will be for our good. In that we have good company. Jesus himself prays that way in the Garden of Gethsemane. (Matthew 26:42). Because he made the Father’s will his own, his sacrifice saved us. Now we pray that God will make his will our own will.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

And He Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

Encore Post: [Twenty-Seventh in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] You say it every time you confess the Apostles’ Creed, “And He suffered under Pontius Pilate,” but what does saying it convey?

Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor who had authority over the use of the death penalty. That is a historical fact. And it is important to show that faith in Jesus Christ, as recorded in Holy Scripture, is historical. We can look at the historical record and see a governor named Pilate who served in Judea, and it was this man who gave the Jews the go ahead to crucify Jesus. This is extremely important to acknowledge, but there are some important theological implications of reciting Pilate’s name as well in the Creed.

We remember from Holy Scripture that Pilate desired to release Jesus because Jesus had done nothing wrong. Certainly Jesus did nothing that required the judgement of death by crucifixion. Pilate judged rightly that the Jews were bringing Jesus to him because they were jealous of him and how the people chased after him.

However, Jesus was before him, and he had to pass judgment. Because of his position as governor, his judgment was as if God spoke the judgement: “I find no fault in him at all.” And that right there is of great theological importance. Pilate, as governor, goes on record to say that an innocent man dies for the sins of the people. That is the Gospel proclamation. The innocent man receives the punishment of death while the sinner goes free. While Pilate wanted to release Jesus, he was getting nowhere with the people. The priests and the scribes had caused a riot to begin. Pilate, being afraid, gave Jesus over to them that they might crucify Jesus.

And in so doing, Pilate allowed the Chief Priests and the Scribes of the Jews to actually fulfill their duties as those who would sacrifice the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Yet, Christ is the Victim and the Priest on this Good Friday at the altar of the Cross.

Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was handed over to the ruthless Priests and Scribes for crucifixion, but facing the cross, Jesus did not blink nor did he complain. But rather suffered under Pontius Pilate that we might be set free from the punishment of our sins and live with Him in everlasting life.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

The Two Greatest Commandments

Encore Post: [Sixth post in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Because God loved us before he made the world (Ephesians 1:3-4), we love God and want to keep his commandments. But where do we start? The Rabbis count 613 commands in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses) alone! While they kept track of each one in great detail and invented traditions to be sure and keep them, they found it helpful to ask each Rabbi for his opinion. “Which commandment is the greatest of them all?” became a common question for disciples to ask their teacher. So it is not a surprise that people discussed with Jesus this question several times. (Matthew 22:36, Mark 12:28, Luke 10:25-28)

Jesus taught that two commandments summarize the whole of God’s Law — “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:45 ESV) and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) In a sense, the second of the two commandments is contained in the first. Every command in the whole of the Scripture will be kept if you love God with your whole heart.

As sinners, we cannot do this perfectly, of course. But we can do some good works because God loved us first, sending Jesus to die so that we might be forgiven. By his Holy Spirit God has created faith in our hearts, so that we can truly love him. So, then, because God loves us, we also love our neighbor as ourselves and in the same way that we have been loved by God. (1 John 4:7-12)

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Nunc Dimittis

Encore Post: [Twenty-Fourth post in a series on the Divine Service] During the time of Distribution the congregation will more than likely sing hymns and spend time contemplating the tangible grace of their Lord Jesus Christ that they just received or will receive in the near future. Once the members of the congregation receive the Body and Blood of Christ, the pastor likely will consume whatever remains of the Sacrament. At that time, the congregation will rise to sing the beautiful song known as the Nunc Dimittis or the Song of Simeon.

St. Simeon originally sang these words when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple forty days after his birth. For the year 2025, the 40th day after Christmas fell on a Sunday, and the church celebrated the festival known as the Purification of Mary and Presentation of our Lord. The event is recorded for us by St. Luke and is the final canticle of the Divine Service.

We should not miss the richness of the event when Simeon first uttered these words, which we now sing after receiving the Sacrament. Simeon had been promised he would see the Lord’s Christ before he would die. We don’t know how long he had to wait for this to happen, but if was anything like the Old Testament, Simeon had been expecting Jesus for a good long while. And finally, he finds Jesus right where He ought to be found, in His Father’s house! And it is with joy that Simeon sings, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

And with what joy you also can sing the same words! For you (in the congregation) have been waiting for this moment. In the Service of the Sacrament we are preparing for the coming of the Lord’s anointed. We sing of his coming in the Sanctus. “Blessed is He who comes!” We sing of seeing him at the altar, In His Father’s House, doing His Father’s Work, as the Lamb of God, in the Agnus Dei. And now we rejoice, for we have not only seen Him and the salvation He brings for all people, but we have received and we are ready to depart in peace.

Luther does a masterful job in his hymn based off the Nunc Dimittis (LSB 938 In Peace and Joy I Now Depart). The Sacrament prepares us to die well. For in the Sacrament we have been granted forgiveness of our sins, which leads us to have confidence in Christ. “Serene and confident, my heart; Stillness fills it. For the Lord has promised me that death is but a slumber.” There is also the tradition of singing this hymn at the deathbed, and if the saint dies, the verbs are then said in the past tense. Let us sing the Nunc Dimittis with confidence and joy upon receiving the Body and Blood of Christ as well as all our lives in Christ, for our salvation has been hand delivered by Christ Himself! Depart in peace!

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

To Block Post Series