Good Friday Vespers

Good Friday

April 10, 2020

Text: John 19

            “He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.  For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled… ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced’” (John 19:35-37; ESV).

            When you look upon Jesus crucified for your sins, what do you see?

            The soldiers made quite a spectacle out of Him, arraying Him in royal purple, mocking Him and striking Him.  Then they gambled for His clothes.  What did they see?  An object of scorn and contempt.  A job to be completed.  A piece of meat to nail to the wood and then discard like yesterday’s garbage. 

            Pilate saw Him as a predicament.  He saw before him a righteous man, having done nothing deserving of death.  But he also saw before him a riotous crowd clamoring for blood: “Crucify him, crucify him!” (v. 6), and laying out the matter quite clearly for the beleaguered governor: “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend.”  It is this man’s demise, or your own, Pilate, for “Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar” (v. 12).  Pilate sees no other way.  He must sacrifice Jesus to save his own neck.

            What do the crowds and the chief priests of the Jews see?  A man humiliated, to be sure.  But not One to be pitied.  He was, for the crowds a bitter disappointment.  He who healed the sick and raised the dead, reduced to this?  This cannot be Messiah.  And as for the religious leaders?  They see a threat to their place and their nation, to their power and their lives.  So crucify Him!  And get on with it.  We have to get this done so we can get home for the Passover and the Sabbath.

            What of those who loved Him, now standing at the foot of His cross?  Confusion and pain written all over their faces.  His dear mother, living her worst nightmare, can do nothing for her Son, who is doing everything for her.  The sword pierces her own soul and rips her apart.  Mary, the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene from whom He cast seven demons… they do what they can to comfort Mother Mary, even as their own eyes flood with tears of grief and despair.  And John, the disciple Jesus loved… He’d left everything to follow Jesus.  Now what?... Now what?

            They all see the darkness.  They all see the blood.  They all see the suffering and the nakedness and shame of it all.

            What does Jesus see? 

            He stares death and hell in the face and willingly goes into them.  Why?  For you and for the world.  He finds Himself between two thieves and sees that this is right where He belongs, in the midst of sinners and dying for sins.  He sees His Father’s wrath, and drinks the cup of it to the very dregs. 

            And all the while, His eyes are dead set on us and on our salvation.  All the while, His eyes are filled with compassion and with love. 

            He beholds His mother and the disciple He loves, and He gives them to one another, a mother to a son, a son to a mother.  This is what His death is accomplishing.  He sets the solitary in a family (Ps. 68:6).  He gives us a Mother, the Church, and He gives Mother Church children and a Holy Ministry.  He gives Himself into death for the life of the world.  He gives forgiveness and rescue, wholeness and healing, to sinners as the fruits of His death are administered in His Church.

            For the joy set before Him, He despises the shame of His suffering (Heb. 12:2).  He endures it.  It is all worth it to Him.  To be faithful to His Father.  To redeem and save you for Himself. 

            What does the Father see?  He sees His own sacrifice of His beloved Son, to bring it about that many sons should enter His glory (Heb. 2:10).  He sees the atonement complete, His wrath for sin staid, His righteousness satisfied.  He sees the faithfulness of His only-begotten who went to hell and back to accomplish His saving will.  He sees that it is finished, as His Son commends Himself into the Father’s hands.  He sees the people He loves and desires for His own, cleansed of their sins. 

            What does the Spirit see?  He sees Himself breathed out of the Savior’s mouth as Jesus bows His head in death.  He sees the work of the Savior to be proclaimed and given to sinners for the forgiveness of their sins, for bringing them to faith in Jesus and restoring them to the Father.  He sees the Church He has called, enlightened, and sanctified, gathered at His bidding to receive the Paschal Lamb.  He comes on the wind of the Word, in the blood and water, to give you sight, that you may see.

            So what do you see when you look upon Jesus, crucified for your sins?  You see that that is how serious your sins are, that it takes that to make atonement for your sin and guilt.  But so also, you see your redemption, your ransom paid in full, your reconciliation with God, your sins forgiven.  You see your righteousness, your life, your eternal salvation. 

            And where do you see Him?  Not in your pious imagination, but in the things He has given, in the things He poured out for you.  In the blood and the water.  In the chalice and the font.  With your ears in the preaching and the Words on sacred page.  By grace, you see in this dying man your King.  Beholding His wounds, you confess of Him: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).  That is what you see when you look upon Him whom you have pierced.  John bears witness, and you believe.

            By the way, what does the devil see in the crucified Christ?  He thought he saw a victim, but now he sees it all quite clearly.  Christ crucified is his utter demise.

            In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.