Encore Post: Jesus died late in the afternoon on Good Friday, just before the Sabbath was to begin at Sunset. Two of his secret disciples asked Pilate for his body — Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. They gave him a hasty but rich man’s burial. Several of the women closest to Jesus followed them to the tomb. Joseph rolled a large stone in front of the entrance and they left him there. Later, at the request of the priests, Pilate set a guard and sealed it to prevent the theft of the body. As the second day Jesus was dead began, he was finally at rest.
As God rested on the seventh day of creation, so now Jesus rested on the first Sabbath of the new creation. By his sacrifice on the cross, he destroyed sin and the power of the devil. Soon, when the Sabbath ended, he would break the power of death as well.
As Christians prepare for a joyful Easter celebration, we often miss this moment of quiet and peace. Soon, when sunset comes, the third day will begin. Sometime between that Sunset and Dawn, Jesus rose from the dead, descended to Hell to complete his victory of Satan, and become the first to rise into eternal life. The Church will begin its Vigil of Easter at sunset and sing again the songs of Resurrection.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Pastor Emeritus Fort Wayne, Indiana
Encore Post: Good Friday is the most somber day in the Church Year. On this day, the price of our sin is paid out in full — by God Himself. The ancient plan for our salvation had been unfolding for thousands of years. The descendant of Eve, of Noah, of Abraham and of David was born to the Virgin Mary. The Son of God, the Author of Life himself, became one of us. At the Jordan River, he made holy the waters of Baptism and took on himself the sins of the world. On Mt. Zion, ancient Mt. Moriah, where the Angel of the Lord stayed the hand of Abraham, God’s Son, His only Son, whom he loves, was condemned to die as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Sentenced by Pilate, he began his final suffering and was nailed to the cross. Even as he began to die, the forgiving began — first of those who killed him and then of a thief on a nearby cross.
The greatest mystery of all came at the height of his suffering. The Eternal Son of God cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) in the language of his boyhood. We should not be surprised that we cannot understand this profound moment. Yet we know a few things for sure. We know this very moment was revealed in detail in the Scripture itself. Jesus’ words are a quotation of his father David in Psalm 22, written a thousand years before. We know Jesus felt abandoned by God. His prayers unanswered and alone show he shares fully our humanity. He is like us in every way, which is why his sacrifice for us is possible. We know that it is our sin he paid for on the cross and that price is unimaginably high. We are moved as we extinguish one light after another, remembering the depth of his suffering.
Yet this is not the last word we hear from the suffering of our Lord. As he died, he said, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) Sin was atoned for, the power of the Devil defeated and the seal of the grave soon to be broken. Jesus knew the Father had not abandoned him. He once again quoted his father David in Psalm 31, “into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46) and entered his three-day rest in the tomb.
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.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Pastor Emeritus Fort Wayne, Indiana
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.
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 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)
Encore Post: At the Transfiguration, Jesus appeared to his disciples in his full glory as God. It ends the season of Epiphany where it began, with a theophany — an appearance of God. At the Baptism of Jesus, the Father spoke over his Son from heaven and the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove. Now the Father speaks from the Cloud of God’s Presence and with him is the Holy Spirit.
But that is not all. With Jesus appeared the two greatest witnesses of the Old Testament — Moses and Elijah. God used Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and gave the Law to them through him. God buried Moses when he died. Elijah was the great and fearless prophet, whom God carried into heaven in a chariot of fire. God promised the Messiah to Moses, calling the Messiah a prophet like him. The prophets predicted Elijah would return to witness to the Messiah on the day the Messiah would come.
Now on the mountain of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah discussed with Jesus his Exodus — his departure. As Moses led Israel through the Red Sea to freedom, Jesus would bring us all through death to everlasting life by his death on the cross. Not knowing what to make of it all — Peter offered to set up tents like the people used in the wilderness wanderings. As usual, Peter missed the point.
So the Cloud of God’s Glory appeared on the mountain. In that cloud, the Angel of the Lord led the people by day through the wilderness and showed God’s presence in tabernacle and temple. From this Cloud, God the Father speaks a second time. “This is my Beloved Son,” he said, “listen to him.”
The message of Transfiguration is that Jesus is God, yet He set aside His glory to die for our sins. We should serve God by doing what He says and serving one another.
Encore Post: On the First Sunday after Epiphany, the Church celebrates the day that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.(Matthew 3:13-17) The baptism that John performed was for the forgiveness of sins, so it puzzled John. Why would the sinless Son of God need to be baptized? Jesus told him it was “fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) Like the scapegoat and the Passover Lamb of the Old Testament, John called him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. “(John 1:29)
So, when we go into the waters of Holy Baptism, Jesus washes away our sins (Ephesians 5:26-27) These sins he took upon himself at his baptism and carried them to the cross. When he died, we died to our old life. When he rose, we rose with him to new life. Our sins were forgiven and we need sin no more. (Romans 6:3-11)
When Jesus came out of the water, God the Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) The Holy Spirit also appeared in the form of a dove that landed on Jesus. An appearance of God in this world is called a theophany. At the Baptism of Jesus, all three persons on the Trinity appear in our world. In the readings for the Church Year, the season of Epiphany begins with this theophany and concludes by celebrating another — the Transfiguration.
Encore Post: Childbirth was an exciting and frightening event at the time of Jesus. Many children and their mothers died soon after a birth. When both mother and child survived the ordeal, God’s law required male children to be circumcised on the eighth day following their birth. After forty days — when the greatest danger to the life of the mother and the child had passed, they were to present themselves at the temple to make a sacrifice. For the woman, this sacrifice made her clean again and able to return to worship God.
During the time of Jesus, rabbis gathered in the temple in the court of the women, the closest to the Holy of Holies, a woman was allowed to go. They would take each child in their arms and bless them. So it was that the Holy Spirit directed Simeon to Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. The Spirit revealed to Simeon that Jesus was the coming Messiah. By the prophecy given to Him, Simeon pointed to Jesus’ mission to save both Jews and Gentiles and to the cross. Simeon’s song of joy is still sung by the church in worship.
Anna was a prophetess, like Miriam and Deborah, one of very few women God used to speak to His people. She likely served in the temple to help with a variety of tasks. In her devotion to God, she also saw Jesus and had the privilege of telling everyone that the Messiah had come.
On February 2, the Church celebrates the presentation of Jesus in the temple and the singing of Simeon’s song, known as the Nunc Dimittis. We also sing this song every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Encore Post: About one hundred years before Jesus was born, the Jewish people rebelled against the Greek king of Syria and won their freedom. To this day, the Jewish people celebrate that event during the season of Hanukkah. At that time, people from the area around Jerusalem and Bethlehem settled in Galilee and built little towns like Nazareth. Likely the grandparents or great-grandparents of Mary and Joseph settled there. When the Roman rulers of Palestine required all its peoples to register in their home towns, Joseph and Mary had to travel the 80 to 90 miles to Bethlehem on foot. The census was an achievement of pride for Augustus Caesar. The emperor had it inscribed on his tombstone. It likely took decades to complete — especially on the edges of the empire and in its client kingdoms.
When Mary and Joseph arrived in the small town of David, there was no room for them to stay in any of their homes. The word the King James Version translated “inn” means something more general that a place to rent a room. It means more like, “guest room.” So likely one of their relatives let them stay in the stable — actually a fairly warm and somewhat private place to give birth in that day. The people of Bethlehem had built their homes into the caves on the hillside, a very efficient way to maintain steady temperatures year round and protect people and their home animals from the elements.
Our traditional crèches show the scene more like it would have been if Jesus had been born in medieval Germany rather than Roman First Century Judea. Because most people in the middle ages could not read, art work told all the stories of the birth of Jesus together in one scene. They often include a baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, a manger with hay, cattle, sheep, donkeys and camels, shepherds, wise men and their gifts. Yet it is unlikely that the original scene was that crowded. Most families in that time and place likely would have, at most, a donkey and sheep — no cattle.
Shepherds were common folk, looked down on as working-class people are looked down on today. Those on the night shift would not be a group to which an announcement from the throne of God would be made. Yet the angel, God’s ambassador, announced the birth of his son, chose them.
Martin Luther summed it up in a Christmas Sermon:
If Christ had come with trumpets sounding; If he had a cradle of gold, His birth would have been a stately thing. But it wouldn’t comfort me. So, He had to lay in a poor girl’s lap and be scarcely noticed by the world. In that lap I can come to see Him; In this way He now reveals Himself to the distressed. Yes, He would’ve had greater fame, if He’d have come in great power, splendor, wisdom and high class. Yet, He will come some day, in another way, when He comes to oppose the great nobles. But now He comes to the poor, who need a Savior.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Pastor Emeritus Fort Wayne, Indiana
Encore Post: On the 6th of July, the church commemorates the prophet Isaiah. If you have never read the front part of the hymnal, I highly recommend it. The Church sees the good in remembering the saints.
Isaiah did what every other prophet did: speak the word of the Lord to the people, even the kings of his day. He preached the Law of God, proclaiming that judgment was coming on Judah and the northern kingdom in the form of the Assyrians, and later the Babylonians. He preached to them repentance. But Isaiah also offers much gospel and forgiveness from the Lord. We only need to look to Isaiah 40. But even before that we see throughout his book that he preaches Law and Gospel.
In the three-year lectionary of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, we find Isaiah’s book is used on a whopping 77 Sundays. That is over 50% of the Old Testament lessons, when you consider the season of Easter replacing OT lessons with readings from Acts.
Perhaps we should ask why Isaiah is so prominent in the lectionary. Perhaps it is because Isaiah preaches Christ’s kingdom in a way that the Gospels preaches it. Some even called Isaiah “the fifth Gospel” because Christ and His work come through so clearly. Even the name “Isaiah” conveys Christ. His name means “YHWH’s Salvation”. And it is no surprise that two of Isaiah’s favorite words to use in the book are the verb “he shall save” and the noun “salvation”.
Isaiah’s prophecies of Christ are quite clear, and perhaps that is why we like him so much. Isaiah also is quoted a number of times by the Gospels too, and Isaiah 52 and 53 are highlighted in Acts as the text that converted the Ethiopian Eunuch.
So we in the Church give thanks to the work that the Lord did through His prophet Isaiah, as we remember and commemorate Isaiah today.
