Luther began his journey to the Imperial Diet at Worms during the first week of April 1521. Yet he was by far not alone. The Imperial Herald Caspar Sturm escorted him. Augustinian monk Johann Petzensteiner accompanied him, along with Nicholas von Amsdorf, his Wittenberg colleague and friend. Peter von Suaven, a Pomeranian noble and several students came along. The city of Wittenberg supplied a cart and the University paid him traveling expenses. Judge Justus Jonas joined them at Erfurt. Melanchthon could not go, since he had teaching obligations.
The route took them across the river to Leipzig, whose city council presented him with a gift of wine. From there it was on to Naumburg, Weimar, Erfurt, where he attended University and then on to Gotha and Eisenach, where he was born and would die 25 years later. In Naumburg, he was the guest of the Burgomeister. In Weimar, Duke John, the brother of Elector Frederick, presented him with a gift to cover travel expenses. He there learned of an imperial order to confiscate his books. The herald asked if he wanted to continue. Luther replied that only force to prevent him would stop him from presenting himself before the Emperor.
On April 6, he entered Erfurt, escorted with an honor guard of sixty horsemen. He was greeted with a celebration, complete with public speeches. Luther could not help but compare the reception to the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It was not a very comforting thought. Luther preached to a packed Augustinian church on April 7th, Notes were taken and the sermon immediately published. He would also preach in Gotha and Eisenach. He fell ill in Eisenach, but soon felt better. The procession reached Frankfort on 14 April, where he felt well enough to party with his friends and play the Lute. There Georg Spalatin met him. He told the elector’s secretary: “But Christ lives, and we shall enter Worms in spite of all the gates of hell and the powers in the air … even if as many devils were in that city as tiles on the roofs.”
The Law required that Jesus be buried before the start of the Sabbath Day. So, Joseph takes his body and quickly prepares it for burial, but he does not have time to fully prepare the body. This is why the women were taking spices to the tomb early on Easter morning. They were going to complete what could not be done on Friday.
But remember what the chief priests and Pharisees do on the Sabbath. They go to Pilate and ask for a guard. They know full well what Jesus said and want to make sure there are no shenanigans. At least, none that aren’t their own doing. It seems the disciples have forgotten, but these men remember that Jesus said that no sign will be given but the sign of Jonah. They remember that He said He would be raised on the third day. So, they ask Pilate to station guards at the tomb to make sure the disciples don’t steal the body of Jesus.
Soldiers are stationed at the tomb. It is made secure by sealing the stone. No one will be getting by these soldiers to steal the body of Jesus. If the tomb is to be made empty, the only way it will happen is if Jesus really is who He said to be.
The chief priests, the elders, and the Pharisees act like they do to prevent a faked resurrection. How ironic that this act of unbelief is what will provide strong and compelling evidence of the actual and factual resurrection of Jesus Christ!
As for Jesus? He is resting. He is taking his Sabbath. He is waiting for the morning and His resurrection, His victory march through hell, and His revealing to his disciples. He has completed all that He came to do. And rest assured that His work is totally sufficient to save even you from your sins. Do not doubt but believe. Do not fear, but with boldness and confidence await the glorious resurrection of your Lord. It is coming. He has promised He would rise. And your God does not lie.
This Holy Week, we have traveled with our Lord. In your churches, you have celebrated the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday. You have read again His passion, and tomorrow we celebrate again His glorious Resurrection. We shall rejoice that through His work – His suffering and death – you are freed from all your sin. No longer are you a slave to sin. In your baptism, you are made a child of God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and stand justified before the Father. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
We are all used to darkness falling at the end of each day over the earth, but we aren’t used to it happening at noon. Yet this is exactly what occurred. From noon to 3 pm there was darkness over the land. According to the prophets, darkness was a sign of judgment and of sorrow. And to be sure, judgment is taking place in this darkness. Your sin is being judged right here in this text. And it is taking a toll on the One who is suffering it. Finally, about three in the afternoon, the Man cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus, in His agony, cries out the beginning of the 22nd Psalm. Near the middle of the Psalm, the Psalmist writes:“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.” It is not hard to imagine how this fits Jesus. He is thirsty. He is beaten. His is zapped of all his energy. He is near death.
Upon hearing His cry and thinking Jesus is calling Elijah, He is given some sour wine to drink. Then the people wait. They want to see if Elijah will save Jesus. Of course, he won’t because Jesus isn’t crying out to Elijah. He is crying out to God. His very Father. Jesus cries out once more and gives up His Spirit.
To those there watching, it would seem that’s all there was to it. Until the earth starts shaking. And rocks break apart. Even more, a short distance away something even more dramatic was taking place: In the Temple, the curtain that separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place is ripped from top to bottom! It was no longer necessary. Our sins have been atoned for once and for all. No more blood of bulls and goats need to be shed. The blood of Jesus has been poured out for you. It is what we read in Hebrews 9: “But when Christ appeared as a high priest…he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
In this dark hour, at the death of our Lord, we may rejoice. For your sins are atoned for. Your guilt is washed away. You are redeemed.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
After his Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem a few days ago, our King is now made ready to take his throne. He is given a scarlet robe, a crown, and a scepter. He is hailed as King! But hold on, for details matter.
Our King is delivered to be crucified into the hands of the masters of cruelty that were Roman soldiers. After they whip Him, these soldiers strip Jesus and put a scarlet robe on Him. Scarlet is the color of royalty. They place a crown upon His head, but it is no jeweled piece of metal, but rather thorns twisted together. And I doubt seriously that any care was taken to place it carefully. A symbol of power is given to Jesus: a reed that was to resemble a scepter. And then the King is mocked. Spiting on Jesus, these scoundrels bow and proclaim, possibly with laughter and scorn in their voices, “Hail, King of the Jews.”
After they have their fun, they lead Him away to be crucified. They force another man to carry the cross, and finally, at long last, they arrive at the throne room. But hardly anyone noticed. Interestingly, Jesus is crucified at Golgotha, the Place of a Skull. A hill that was shaped and looked like a skull is under the feet of Jesus when he is killed. And just before they crucify Jesus, they offer Him gall, a bitter drink of herbs mixed with wine. But He did not take it. No, Jesus was there to suffer for the sins of the world. To suffer hell in your place. He would not have this drink null His senses or numb his pain.
Finally, Jesus is crucified. The sign of His sentence is put over His head: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. The King has taken His throne, but even still, the mocking does not end. Now it is the turn of the passersby and the robbers crucified with Him.
Listen to their blasphemy against Him! Hear the devil tempting Him even here at the cross! “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” Alas, for Jesus to rebuild the temple in three days, He first had to be destroyed. And notice their assumption that He would be seeking self-preservation. They think that surely if this man were the Son of God, He would use his power to save Himself!
The chief priests and elders take their turn in mocking Him: “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.” The reality is they don’t believe He saved others. If they did, they would already believe in Him. And since many of them still refused to believe after the Resurrection, then they are lying about what they would believe if He came down off His cross. Here the teachers of the Law understand so little of what they were experts in, they do not see that the fact that Jesus is God and it is precisely because He is the Son of God that He doesn’t come down off the cross! In order to save you, He cannot save Himself.
God would have been just to zap every one of these blasphemers. But in His mercy, on the cross and listening to them do it, He is winning forgiveness for them. For all who have and all who will sin against Him. They may not trust in Him for this salvation, but from Judas to Pilate to the people here mocking, the battle is being waged on their, and our, behalf.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
I feel for Pilate. He’s in a tough spot. He knows that Jesus is before him out of spite. But at every attempt to free our Lord, the chief priests and elders would rile up the crowd. Even up to risking a riot erupting before him!
Yet there was also a custom. The governor would release a criminal to the crowd. So seemingly in a move of desperation, Pilate offers the worst of the worst for them. An insurrectionist. A man who was guilty of the very thing Jesus was being falsely accused of. His name was Barabbas. Are you aware of what the name Barabbas means? Son of a father. While Jesus usually uses the term Son of Man for himself, he is the Son of God. He is the true Son of the Father.
So, Pilate gives the Jews a choice: He can release to them the terrorist Barabbas or the actual Son of the Father. Pilate must be thinking that, given this choice and even with their leaders’ hatred of Jesus that they will ask for Jesus to be released. Surely, they wouldn’t ask for and receive a murderous rioter. But given the choice between the Son of Man and the son of a father, the crowd chooses Barabbas.
Dumfounded, Pilate asks, “Why, what evil has he done?” Notice the crowds do not answer the question because there is no evil that Jesus has done. So instead of answering, they only shriek all the more, “Let him be crucified!” Jesus has done nothing but good. And in an unenlightened, morally upside-down world, this is precisely the reason that He must be opposed, slandered, and, finally, killed.
And just as the guilty man is let go to be free among the people, the just and righteous Son of God is condemned to death. He is to die for the same people that are crying out for his blood. Pilate understands that Jesus is innocent and tries to absolve himself by washing his hands and claiming to be innocent of the blood of Jesus. But because he too is a sinner, he is just as guilty as the Jews who answer, “His blood be on us and our children.”
On that day, Pilate didn’t want to be responsible for the injustice of condemning an innocent man to death. Meanwhile, these Jews were happy to see Christ murdered. But what does it mean for us today to have the blood of Jesus be on us and our children? Simply this: Since He is the Christ, He has taken all our sins upon Himself, even those of Judas, Pilate, the crowd, and Barabbas. And He has been crucified for them, as we will hear shortly.
And now? You are washed clean by the blood of Christ. The holy, precious, and innocent blood of Jesus spilled because of your sin.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Part 1: Jesus before Pilate and the Death of Judas (Matthew 27:1–14)
Already at this point in the lesson, Jesus has endured some week. It began with what looked like a coronation. People meet Jesus as he comes into town and are throwing palm branches onto the ground before him. They are shouting, “Hosanna!” Shouting essentially, “Save me!” And those who witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead were still bearing witness to what Jesus had done. Could things get any better? Then again, do you remember how the Triumphant Entry reading ended? Listen again to what the Pharisees were saying to one another: “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him”
There is also the fact that the One coming in on the donkey has repeatedly said he must die. And the Pharisees are happy to help that happen, if only they could find someone to help them. And find someone they did with Judas. For a measly 30 pieces of silver, Judas agrees to hand Jesus over to those who hate him and want him dead. And on Thursday night, he does just that. But by Friday morning, he regrets what he has done. He has changed his mind. But the Scripture doesn’t say he repented. Nonetheless, feeling the weight of what he has done, he goes to the chief priests and elders, silver in hand, and confesses his sin. And while Judas may have been looking for absolution, he finds none. These men, whose duty it was to care for the people of Israel, have no compassion for Judas. In their hatred of Christ, they dismiss this remorseful disciple. They tell him to go and deal with this himself. Judas throws the money at their feet and leaves.
Judas, in his despair, does not seek his Lord. Perhaps he feared what would happen if he did. He sought those who hated Jesus and was treated with contempt by them. And now, instead of looking to Jesus for absolution, he takes their advice. And to make matters worse, he decides that he must be the one to pay for the curse he has put himself under by betraying innocent blood. He judges himself guilty, sentenced himself to death, put himself on a tree, and hangs himself. He knows the Law. He knows the penalty. And so, he takes it all upon himself. He condemns himself and dies for his own sin.
In his actions, Judas committed treason against his King. But his King, who through His parables and His actions so often demonstrated the vastness of His mercy and would certainly have forgiven him of even this, is not who Judas turns to. He decided it was better to suffer himself for what he had done instead of casting his burden of guilt on the One he betrayed. The very One who had come to take the sin of all the people, even Judas’, upon his own shoulders to forgive it.
Yet our King’s journey has a long way to go. He is carted before Pilate where He confirms his identity but refuses to defend Himself against all the accusations. Soon, his sentence if pronounced.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Most, and perhaps all of you, heard at least a portion of our Lord’s Passion account today. Beginning tomorrow, I will begin a five-part series of devotionals based on Matthew 27. Each day will provide a link to the Scripture and the devotional. Each day will focus on the portion of the narrative for that day, but I hope that you will see how they all fit together.
May God bless you this Holy Week. May you be gathered with your fellow saints often this week and hear of what your Lord has done for you. May you recognize and repent of your sin. And may you be comforted with the absolution given to you by our gracious God.
It is perhaps the darkest week of the Church Year. But do not fear: Sunday is coming.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
Sermon on Philippians 2:5—11 Palm Sunday 28 March 2021 Our Hope Lutheran Church
Text: “Think the way Jesus thinks. Even though he was fully God, he did not think to assert his equality with God, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a slave, being born fully human. Being human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, to the glory of God the Father.” (translation by Robert E. Smith)
Intro: Ride on, ride on, in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die. O Christ, Thy triumphs now begin O’er captive death and conquered sin.
The Ministry of Jesus is full of contrasts. Jesus, as both God and Man at the same time has a right to use all his power as God, yet he performed no miracle for thirty years. When he first performed miracles, he did just enough to create faith in him — and then told those who saw them to keep quiet. He lived in every way like we do and performed most of his ministry the way we do. Then there was the Palm Sunday – and its lead up.
“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. In this bedroom community, he raised their brother Lazarus, who had been in the grave four days. On Palm Sunday, he did not calm the fears of his opponents, but intensified them. Like Solomon had done one thousand years earlier, he rides a donkey into Jerusalem along the road from Bethlehem. The people spread their coats and palm branches on the road before him, sung praises to God and shouted, “Save now! Son of David” 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. He must suffer and die —and rise again.
A few decades or so, everyone was encouraged to think, “What would Jesus do?” Jesus answered that. Die … that is what he would do. We heard last week Jesus ask James and John if they would do same. Are we ready to die with Jesus?
Paul urges us to think like Jesus thinks.
a. Serve God above all things.
b. Put the welfare of others first.
c.Set aside personal glory.
The world prizes glory, fame, honor above all else.
a.We celebrate the rich, glorify entertainers and athletes.
b. We dream of being like them, work hard at it, and sometimes try to take shortcuts.
c. We think that people are troubled because they lack self—esteem.
d. Some preachers play to this culture, insisting God wants to make Christians rich.
e. Self—service ends in conflict, quarrels and discord.
Jesus thinks differently.
a. He set aside all His glory and was born to Mary.
b. He took our nature and went to the cross.
c. He died so that we might live and rose that we might live forever.
d. He is with us to strengthen us for our journey.
e. So… Think like Jesus thinks.
Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die; bow your meek head to mortal pain, then take, O God, your pow’r and reign.
As you know, I have three fellow pastors writing posts for our modest site. That has been a great blessing, for it has made it possible to have enough material to share something each day — either new or from the post series we’ve run in the past. The embarrassment of riches overflows this week. Between us all, we will be running from two to four posts a day and sometimes written forms of at least two sermons. Typically, I keep people up on this activities by posting links on multiple forums on multiple social media platforms. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that for all of the posts this week.
If you want to keep up, we invite you to visit the blog’s main feed each day this week: http://whatdoesthismean.blog. There is also a subscribe feature available in the left column of all our posts. I’m not sure how well it works, since no one who uses it has told me yet. 😉 In theory, it should email you the title and a link to it each time we post. It could be intense this week. Let me know what you think.
May God bless your meditation on the sufferings, death and resurrection of our Lord — this week and always!
Dear saints, this morning we enter the third and final stage of Lent: Passiontide. On the Gesima Sundays, we introduced a period of penitence. With the first four Sundays in Lent, we intensified that penitence and began examining ourselves. This brings us to this morning. We explore and begin to commemorate the suffering, the Passion, of our Lord. The lessons from today through Good Friday highlight the enormity of our sin and iniquity. They show us the tremendous Sacrifice for the ugliness of our sin in light of the holiness of that Sacrifice. Thus, as we rightly tremble under the gravity of our sinfulness, we should still have a quiet joy in our redemption as we gather and worship. Even on Good Friday.
The lessons from Genesis and the Epistle to the Hebrews build to the Gospel. In the Old Testament, Abraham, the man who was reckoned righteous before God because he believed what God had promised him, is told to sacrifice his son on a mountain. Isaac, who would also know what had been promised through him, was to be the sacrifice.
On the third day of their journey, Abraham tells the young men with him, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Let me be clear here: Abraham is not lying to them. He is confident that he will return with Isaac. When they come to the appointed place of sacrifice, the altar is built. The wood is laid out, Isaac is bound to it, and the knife is raised to fulfill what was commanded of Abraham.
Realize this also: Abraham is an old man. Isaac is a young man. If he wanted to, Isaac could have easily kept himself off the altar. But he did not. He feared, loved, and trusted God. He honored his father. He was willingly laid on the altar as a sacrifice. Sounds familiar, does it not?
But before the knife could strike, the angel of the Lord halts everything. “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know thatyou fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” The angel of the Lord here is none other than the Second Person of the Trinity. It is Christ before His incarnation. He says, “I know,” and, “from Me.”
Abraham then lifts his eyes and sees what had been hidden from both him and Isaac until that moment: A ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Three days of anguish is now relieved. Willing to sacrifice his only son, a substitute is given. The ram was the sacrifice offered on the mountain and, just as he said, he and Isaac returned to the young men. He names the place, “The Lord will provide,”for on that mountain it shall be provided.
That it that shall be provided is none other than Christ our Lord. He is the perfect Lamb that all the blood of bulls and goats sacrificed in the sacrificial system pointed to. He is the substitute that atones for our sins and suffers the just penalty that we deserve. And as He does this, He enters the Holy of Holies not made with hands as our Great High Priest. He carries in His hands His perfect blood as our Sacrifice. Christ Jesus, as both Priest and Victim, purifies our consciences from their dead works and enables us to serve the living God. And as we heard in the Epistle, He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgression committed under the first covenant.
This brings us to the Gospel for this morning. It is the final half of a conversation between Jesus and the Jews. He again wrangles with the Pharisees and just before our lesson, it is reported that some of the Jews believed in Him. But the confrontation ends as stones are picked up to stone our Lord.
Jesus uses strong rhetoric here. He says these genetic children of Abraham are, in fact, no children of Abraham at all. He tells them their father is the devil, the father of lies. Our Lord says that they do not love Him because they do not love His Father. That they do not understand what He says because they cannot bear to hear what He has to say.
The Jews respond with blasphemy. They slander Jesus, saying that He is a Samaritan and has a demon. He denies having a demon and tells them that all who keep His word, that is, guard it in faith and obey what it bids, will never see death. Demonstrating that the Jews do not understand Jesus, they charge that He must have a demon because Abraham and all the prophets died. They do not understand that all the saints live eternally even though they die. Even if their bodies have returned to dust and they await the bodily resurrection on the Last Day. Finally, they ask if Jesus thinks Himself greater than Abraham.
Jesus answers them saying, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
The Jews are incredulous at this. “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?” Of all the things Jesus does and says that they do not understand or comprehend, they do understand Jesus’ response: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”They understand that Jesus is claiming to be their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of the living and not of the dead. And because they do not believe Jesus is the I AM, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
He leaves the Temple because His hour has not yet come. But the hour for Jesus is coming soon. He will soon be delivered over to the Pharisees and run through a sham trial. He will be brought before Pilate and the crowds will coerce Pilate into turning Jesus over to be crucified. Just as our Father intended.
Jesus is the Pure and Holy and Patient One. Pure in that He was sinless. Holy in that He is God Incarnate. Patient in that He does not condemn or smite the people of His day, or ours, for hardheartedness, faithlessness, or ignorance. Rather He suffers and is rejected. That suffering and rejection is not confined to the cross but is throughout His earthly ministry.
The Latin name for this Sunday is Judica. It means ‘judge’ or ‘vindicate.’ It is what we hear in the Introit: Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge.
Our Lord will soon be vindicated. He will be judged as pure and righteous. And He will be condemned and crucified on the cross. Beginning today, many congregations with crucifixes and small to medium-sized crosses have them veiled with a black veil. The cross is the place where our Lord sorrows and suffers. Ultimately, it is where he gives His life for us. Why cover that? Because the cross also reveals our Lord’s divinity. It is where we see Him winning our salvation. It is where He bestows to us His Body and Blood in the Sacrament. At the cross are beauty and joy. And we are unworthy to look directly at it. So, in humility, these congregations deny themselves those depictions so that their attention would be drawn to it and remember that we currently see dimly in a mirror. But also rejoice that one day we will see Him face to face.
The next two weeks are the most solemn days in the Church Year. In them, you will see just how much and in what way your Lord loves you. Indeed, the God of heaven and earth submits Himself to death that you might be delivered from your wilderness exile and go into the Promised Land He has prepared for you in heaven. May God bless you as you traverse Passiontide and approach our Lord’s death and burial, rejoicing in His Resurrection. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
