Divine Sorrow

²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. ²¹When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  John 16:20-21

C.F.W. Walther writes about this Gospel:  

"Jesus shows the disciples how their faith should be examined and exercised, and thus strengthened and preserved until they enter into eternal joy...  

Divine sorrow, not worldly sorrow, is the way to the joy of faith on earth...

True faith is not a passive adherence to the truth of everything in the Bible.  Even a person who does not have a broken heart can do this much.  True faith is a divine power worked by the Holy Spirit to comfort Christ's own in firm confidence against all uneasiness of conscience over sin, God's wrath, death, judgement, and hell. It is that power by which a person is born again, love of sin is rooted out of him, his heart is purified and renewed, and the love of God and neighbor is poured into his heart... 

This wonderful change cannot take place in any person as long as he remains comfortable in his sins... 

Without the birth pains of true repentance, faith does not come into the world.  As God said, if true faith, with its heavenly joy, is to come into a human heart, the person must first 'know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of Me is not in you' (Jeremiah 2:19)."

Jesus Among His Disciples

19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” 
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 
26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”  John 20:19-29

We haven't seen Jesus have we?  We are among those blessed ones who did not see, and yet we believe.  Our lives are also filled with unbelief, though.  Our sinful actions prove it.  We do not fear, love and trust in Jesus for all good all of the time and we do not love our neighbors as ourselves.  So, what are we to do?  Where are we to go?  How can we see the pierced hands and side of our risen Lord so that we may believe?

Thanks be to God, the same Holy Spirit that Jesus breathed onto His disciples 2000 years ago has been given to us as well.  The Holy Spirit gives us faith through the water and Word which covered us in our baptism.  The same body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ which was given on the cross is available for us to see and touch as we eat and drink it in, with, and under the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper.  In these places Jesus comes to us.  We can now see Jesus through our new eyes of faith.  We have been given the faith to trust our Lord's Word and the witness of Thomas and all who have seen the risen Lord before us.  

Jesus is still here for us today.  He is where two or three are gathered in His name.  He is in the reading, study and meditation on His Word.  He is in the Sacraments.  He is there forgiving us when our pastor absolves our sin in His name and for His sake.  Jesus is never far away.  Repent, return to Christ, remember your baptism and believe.    

He Is Risen

He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

I know that my Redeemer lives; What comfort this sweet sentence gives! He lives, He lives, who once was dead; He lives, my ever living Head. He lives to bless me with His love, He lives to plead for me above. He lives my hungry soul to feed, He lives to help in time of need. He lives triumphant from the grave, He lives eternally to save, He lives all glorious in the sky, He lives exalted there on high. He lives to grant me rich supply, He lives to guide me with His eye, He lives to comfort me when faint, He lives to hear my soul’s complaint. He lives to silence all my fears, He lives to wipe away my tears He lives to calm my troubled heart, He lives all blessings to impart. He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly Friend, He lives and loves me to the end; He lives, and while He lives, I’ll sing; He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King. He lives and grants me daily breath; He lives, and I shall conquer death: He lives my mansion to prepare; He lives to bring me safely there. He lives, all glory to His Name! He lives, my Jesus, still the same. Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives, I know that my Redeemer lives! Samuel Medley, 1775 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in me, even though he dies, will live."  John 11:25 In our baptism we share in His death, His resurrection, and His life.  Our old selves were drowned in baptism, and we were resurrected with a new life in Christ.

The Burial of Jesus

 ³⁸Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.  ⁴⁰Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴²Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.  John 19:38-42

Here lay our Lord's dead body wrapped in spices and strips of linen laying in a tomb.  Look and see how far our God, Jesus, was willing to go for us.  

IT IS FINISHED

     Painting by Stan Hamilton

 ²⁸Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." ²⁹A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. ³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  John 19:28-30

Jesus had completed the task he had come to earth to do.  He had conquered sin, death and hell for us.  In three days He would conquer death. 

The Lamb of God

²⁹The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  John 1:29

Did you eat lamb last night?  Perhaps you did if lamb was on your menu or you attended a passover sadar.  Then again, if you partook of the Lord's Supper yesterday at a Maundy Thursday service, you ate the body and drank the blood of the Lamb of God.  In the words of Luke 22:19-20 Jesus, 

took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.  

This feast was prepared before the beginning of time in order to bring us the Lamb who was slain on the cross some 2000 plus years ago today.  Jesus came and died on the cross so that the angel of death would pass over us on account of His great sacrifice.  As we meditate on Christ's sacrificial death today, we are horrified about what our sin has caused, but we take comfort that Jesus willingly died on the cross for us so that being joined in His death through our baptism we will never be dead to God again.  

Behold Your King

"SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, 'BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'"  Matthew 21:5

A humble God and King, what a thing to ponder.

Jesus Hid

Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.  John 8:59

Does God hide?  How could Jesus hide Himself?

Usually the ones doing the hiding were the sinful creatures, not God. After they fell into sin, Adam and Eve hid from God. Moses hid his face from God, because he was afraid to look at God.  But here we have Jesus, God's own Son, hiding.  How can this be?  Why didn't Jesus just call in His angels and use His divine power to defeat these men?   The answer is found in who Jesus is.  

Jesus is perfect.  He knew no sin.  Yet, he took our sin as His own.  When He came to walk the earth, He humbled himself and became sin for us.  He went the way of the cross, not the way of glory, because He loves us poor miserable sinners.  He had to hide from the sinners seeking to kill Him, because he was taking their guilt onto Himself.  

Man desires to kill God and replace Him with something else, but Jesus came to do the replacing.  He came to take our guilt and our place on the cross and thus replace our sin with His righteousness.  He came to replace our punishment with eternal life in Heaven.  Jesus didn't have to hide, He chose to hide for you and me.  He doesn't need to hide anymore.  Through His Holy Spirit He reveals Himself and His Father in His Word.  He is seen in Baptism and in the Lord's Supper.   Oh taste and see that the LORD is good.