Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. From Philippians 2:
8-11 -
8 And being
found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God
has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above
every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The contrast is sharp today. We
began with celebration as the people welcomed Jesus with a victor’s
celebration, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Palm branches wave, coats are placed on the
ground to soften the donkey’s footfalls, and the energy is palpable in the
crowds. It’s a royal welcome for the perceived King of Israel, one worthy of
standing in the footsteps of King David centuries earlier.
But, behind the scenes, the fix
is in. The Jewish leaders are conspiring to kill both Jesus and Lazarus, who is
physical evidence to Jesus’ Divine power and Godly authority. Biding their
time, the Pharisees decided to wait until later in the week, putting their evil
plan on hold to avoid a riot. By the end of the Gospel reading, Luke has lead
us away from the celebratory entrance to see their murderous plans come to
fruition. Jesus is convicted by Pilate who is swayed by the shouts and cries of
the people – likely the same ones who just days earlier welcomed Him. “Hosannas”
are replaced with “Crucify!” He’s taken
out to be put to death. Finally, over
and against the Father’s silence, Jesus commends His Spirit to His Father.
In all that, perhaps the most
stark and defining sentence is this: “So Pilate decided that their demand
should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for
insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to
their will.”
Jesus, the wholly innocent Son of
God, is traded for the completely guilty insurrectionist and murder. The
innocent is sentences as if He were guilty; the guilty is set free as if he
were innocent.
There is a word for this:
redeemed. To redeem is to buy back. The guilty man’s life is redeemed by Jesus’
innocent life.
At the risk of overly humanizing
this event, I wonder what the formerly-guilty-but-now-freed man thought as he
walked away? Was he throwing the first-century equivalent of high fives to his
fellow cronies and rebels? Or, did he leave Pilate’s palace a changed man? Did
he look back in wonder at the One who took his place? Did He see Jesus for who He
was, the Innocently condemned man? Did he leave Pilate’s home asking questions
about who this Jesus was? Did he come to faith in Jesus, seeing that Jesus
didn’t only take his place on the cross for a physical death, but for an
eternal death as well? For that matter, what of Jesus? Did Jesus look at the
now-redeemed man with longing in His own face, knowing what He was about to
face? Wash His face filled with love, compassion and mercy for this man? Was
Jesus reserved with willing submission to the corrupt authorities to redeem
this one who, thought guilty, is still loved by God?
Obviously, I don’t have answers
to those questions, and if we were to go too far down that rabbit hole, we
would miss the point: both at Pilate’s home and then at the cross, Jesus takes
the place of a convicted man who sinned both against God and his neighbor.
But Jesus doesn’t just take the
place of that murderous insurrectionist. In that unnamed man with whom Jesus
trades places, see yourself. Jesus took your place under the Father’s wrath –
not just the temporal wrath of the government, but the eternal wrath of the
Father against sin. Jesus takes the place of every man, woman and child,
suffering what our sins deserve. That is what Paul means when he writes “He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.” He takes your place to redeem you. Your guilty verdict, your
punishment, your death, your separation from God caused by your sins, your
cross – they all become His. He takes them from you; He takes the place of you
under God’s perfect, holy wrath. Jesus is the perfect substitute for you.
“Therefore” – that’s an important word.
It indicates that because one thing happened, another can take place: because
of this, then that can happen. God’s plan of salvation had been in place for
millennia, since Adam and Eve’s forbidden bites. It was foreshadowed in Abram’s
willingness to sacrifice his son. It was foretold in the Passover as blood was
painted over the doorposts of the Israelites and the angel of death passed over
those homes. It was anticipated in the countless animal sacrifices, repeated
over and over for the sins of the people of God. It was prophetically spoken
through the mouths of holy men of God and in the holy offices of prophets,
priests and kings. When Jesus entered Jerusalem that holy Sunday, people were
expecting might and strength and glory, revolution and referendum. What God provided
was one, final and perfect sacrifice in His Son. Jesus entered Jerusalem as the
obedient Son of God. He would be crowned – with thorns. He would be called king
– mocked as such by Romans and Jews, who both denied His heavenly Kingship. His
throne would be a cross.
Therefore - remember, therefore: because
of this, because He went the way of the Father’s will for the salvation of the
world – therefore, God has exalted Him and given Him the name above every name:
Jesus Christ, Lord, Son of God, Savior of the World.
You confess this, along with
Paul, perhaps with that unknown murder with whom Jesus traded places, and certainly
with the thief on the cross who pleaded Jesus remember him in paradise. You
join the centuries of Christians who rejoice in God the Father’s gift of
sending His Son to redeem the world. As Christ submitted Himself to the Father’s
will through His death on the cross, we submit to Christ’s Lordship. Called by
the Spirit through the Gospel, united in the body of Christ in the Christian Church,
we kneel at the Table today, joining with saints in heaven and on earth,
confessing the body and blood of Christ is truly present in this meal, for you,
for the repentant, for the one who recognizes the gravity of their sins, for
the one who knows the fullness of Christ’s love and death, trusting this
forgiveness is for you.
This week is the culmination of
salvation history. Thursday night, we remember both His maundatum, His
commandment, to love one another as He loved us, and His New Covenant in His
Flesh and Blood. We call Friday “Good Friday.” It hardly seems “good” to us.
Good is derived from the Old English for “God.” It is God’s Friday. God’s means
of rescuing and redeeming creation coming to its crescendo of fulfillment with
His surrendering His only-begotten Son to be our Savior. Saturday, Sabbath Day,
was traditionally a day of rest that Jesus sanctifies with His rest in the
grave. And then Sunday, Resurrection Day, the Sign of Jonah is fulfilled and
the Temple of Jesus’ body is restored.
That’s to come. Today, we are
still on this side of the cross – the place where Jesus died for you.
Amen.
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