St John 19:1–42
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The Romans prided themselves in adopting Greek culture, language, philosophy, and architecture. If they had been consistent, they would have executed their prisoners with poison. The Phoenicians executed by crucifixion as a more effective form of suppression; leaving a man, half dead, naked upon the cross for days as a public spectacle was a good way to deter nationalist insubordination. The Romans had done it so often they developed it into an art form. Practice makes perfect. For the soldiers, waiting out crucifixions was another boring military detail. Throwing dice to divine the clothing of the dying man was like player poker. Playing games release boredom. Ask any parents taking their children on a car trip.
But something very important was happening in this crucifixion than just another tiresome execution. A solider pierced the side of the dead body and immediately water and blood came out. It was such a strange occurrence that one of the witnesses took an oath that he had actually seen it. 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.
But should we take oaths on such trivial matters? And what was the truth that we should believe? The bleeding of a man’s dead body is hardly an occasion for an oath or belief. Perhaps something unusual had happened, but it was hardly miraculous in the same sense as changing water into wine. There was a medical explanation, even the ancients likely knew it. The lance of the soldier went up through the ribs behind the lungs and struck both the heart and the waters that filled the sack around the heart.
Still, the Evangelist who witnessed the pouring out of water and blood thought it was so important that he swore that it really happen: His testimony is true and he knows he is telling the truth.
The Beloved Disciple, the Mother of our Lord, and the soldiers were standing at the true Temple of God, at the most important Church service the world would ever experience. Golgotha had become a ground more sacred than Sinai and the Cross holier than the burning bush. The Crucified Man was God’s High Priest, offering Himself as God’s sacrificial Lamb in the temple of His own Body. Here was the holy of holies of a temple greater than Solomon’s. They were standing on just the other side of the curtain which was torn in two. Jesus was at one and the same time God’s High Priest, God’s Temple, and God’s sacrificial Lamb.
What the witnesses thought was the end of Jesus was really His triumphant hour. In a matter of hours He would raise the destroyed Temple of His Body in the moment of the resurrection. And with that we who believe in Him would become living stones. The Son of Man had been lifted up on the mountain of the Lord and was now drawing all men to Himself, just as He promised. All the prophets from Adam to John the Baptist were there. Through the eyes of the Beloved Disciple and the Mother of our Lord the whole Church throughout the world and at all times was there, gazing upon the divine miracle. This was not simply another crucifixion, this was the greatest Passover ever celebrated. It was the last Passover, but it is the Passover that never ends. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.
The Passover regulation required that not one bone could be broken. This was especially true for the Lamb that God Himself had selected for sacrifice and who was God Himself. God’s final and everlasting Passover had to be done flawlessly. The words, It is finished, signified that the sacrifice in heaven had been received and God’s people on earth could be drawn through the curtain, that is, the pierced Body of Christ into the heavenly sanctuary.
The soldier with the lance became the assisting deacon at the high altar of the Cross. The body of the crucified victim had to be kept intact since this Lamb of God was going to be placed on the altars of countless churches as the pure and perfect Sacrament. The wound in the side had to be inflicted quickly and with precision. And immediately there came out water and blood. The sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion required flowing water and blood. In the moment of the Cross the Church was being born and washed and presented to Christ as pure and as spotless as He is.
In the death of the Paschal Victim ancient Israel had just come to an end and the new Israel, the Church of Christ, was coming into existence. There would be no more Passovers. For the Passover of Christ who offered Himself up to God was the eternal sacrifice. Those who had been baptized into Moses by the cloud and by the sea were now being baptized into Christ by the river of water flowing from His side. Those searching for the heavenly Jordan had found it. Those who were fed by God in the wilderness were now feeding on God Himself. Here was Christ, the new Adam, giving life from His side to the new Eve, the holy Church, His pure bride.
There at Golgotha Israel was transformed into the church and the Passover was transformed into the Supper of our Lord. Without Word and Sacraments there is no true and complete worship. But there was Christ, God’s eternal Word in the flesh, preaching from His Cross a sermon that no apostle or preacher could ever preach. There were the sacraments flowing in endless streams from His body, flooding the corners of the world with an eternal salvation.
Artists have painted angels into the scene, capturing the water in a baptismal font and in a chalice the blood streaming from the Savior’s wounds and side. Crumbs might fall from the Master’s table, but that precious blood and water, bringing salvation, could never be spilled on profane ground. Flying seraphim cover their eyes before the sacramental mysteries as they cry to one another Holy, holy, holy, is God the Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of His glory.
But that sacred water, which no man nor angel dare profane, flowing from the throne of God’s Cross, has washed guilty consciences clean from sin and that blood has quenched the thirst of sinners abandoned in the wilderness of their own sins.
Every baptized believer is taken to the Cross and plunged into the endless river still steaming from the Victim’s side.
Every communing Christian is drinking the blood streaming from His side.
All Christians who have ever lived still stand at that Cross and say with John the Baptist, O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. On earth we shall not get closer to heaven than in the wounded side of the Redeemer. And in heaven we shall gaze in uninterrupted ecstasy at that wound out of which poured our salvation.
In another place St John spoke of the miracle of the Cross: This is He who came by water and blood - Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood (1 Jn 5:6). So now we have three witnesses to tell us who Jesus Christ really is - the water of Holy Baptism, the blood of Holy Communion, and the Word of the Holy Spirit - and all three find their fulfillment in Jesus.
Lent is a sad time for us Christians, but it was God’s triumphal hour. The evangelists tell us that in the hour of His death the weakened Victim shouted out with a loud voice. In death the weakened Victim became God’s victor and champion. The time of sacrifice is over. He won. The time of sacramental celebration is soon to begin. One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness - his testimony is true, and he knows that he is tell the truth - that you also may believe.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The Romans prided themselves in adopting Greek culture, language, philosophy, and architecture. If they had been consistent, they would have executed their prisoners with poison. The Phoenicians executed by crucifixion as a more effective form of suppression; leaving a man, half dead, naked upon the cross for days as a public spectacle was a good way to deter nationalist insubordination. The Romans had done it so often they developed it into an art form. Practice makes perfect. For the soldiers, waiting out crucifixions was another boring military detail. Throwing dice to divine the clothing of the dying man was like player poker. Playing games release boredom. Ask any parents taking their children on a car trip.
But something very important was happening in this crucifixion than just another tiresome execution. A solider pierced the side of the dead body and immediately water and blood came out. It was such a strange occurrence that one of the witnesses took an oath that he had actually seen it. 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.
But should we take oaths on such trivial matters? And what was the truth that we should believe? The bleeding of a man’s dead body is hardly an occasion for an oath or belief. Perhaps something unusual had happened, but it was hardly miraculous in the same sense as changing water into wine. There was a medical explanation, even the ancients likely knew it. The lance of the soldier went up through the ribs behind the lungs and struck both the heart and the waters that filled the sack around the heart.
Still, the Evangelist who witnessed the pouring out of water and blood thought it was so important that he swore that it really happen: His testimony is true and he knows he is telling the truth.
The Beloved Disciple, the Mother of our Lord, and the soldiers were standing at the true Temple of God, at the most important Church service the world would ever experience. Golgotha had become a ground more sacred than Sinai and the Cross holier than the burning bush. The Crucified Man was God’s High Priest, offering Himself as God’s sacrificial Lamb in the temple of His own Body. Here was the holy of holies of a temple greater than Solomon’s. They were standing on just the other side of the curtain which was torn in two. Jesus was at one and the same time God’s High Priest, God’s Temple, and God’s sacrificial Lamb.
What the witnesses thought was the end of Jesus was really His triumphant hour. In a matter of hours He would raise the destroyed Temple of His Body in the moment of the resurrection. And with that we who believe in Him would become living stones. The Son of Man had been lifted up on the mountain of the Lord and was now drawing all men to Himself, just as He promised. All the prophets from Adam to John the Baptist were there. Through the eyes of the Beloved Disciple and the Mother of our Lord the whole Church throughout the world and at all times was there, gazing upon the divine miracle. This was not simply another crucifixion, this was the greatest Passover ever celebrated. It was the last Passover, but it is the Passover that never ends. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.
The Passover regulation required that not one bone could be broken. This was especially true for the Lamb that God Himself had selected for sacrifice and who was God Himself. God’s final and everlasting Passover had to be done flawlessly. The words, It is finished, signified that the sacrifice in heaven had been received and God’s people on earth could be drawn through the curtain, that is, the pierced Body of Christ into the heavenly sanctuary.
The soldier with the lance became the assisting deacon at the high altar of the Cross. The body of the crucified victim had to be kept intact since this Lamb of God was going to be placed on the altars of countless churches as the pure and perfect Sacrament. The wound in the side had to be inflicted quickly and with precision. And immediately there came out water and blood. The sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion required flowing water and blood. In the moment of the Cross the Church was being born and washed and presented to Christ as pure and as spotless as He is.
In the death of the Paschal Victim ancient Israel had just come to an end and the new Israel, the Church of Christ, was coming into existence. There would be no more Passovers. For the Passover of Christ who offered Himself up to God was the eternal sacrifice. Those who had been baptized into Moses by the cloud and by the sea were now being baptized into Christ by the river of water flowing from His side. Those searching for the heavenly Jordan had found it. Those who were fed by God in the wilderness were now feeding on God Himself. Here was Christ, the new Adam, giving life from His side to the new Eve, the holy Church, His pure bride.
There at Golgotha Israel was transformed into the church and the Passover was transformed into the Supper of our Lord. Without Word and Sacraments there is no true and complete worship. But there was Christ, God’s eternal Word in the flesh, preaching from His Cross a sermon that no apostle or preacher could ever preach. There were the sacraments flowing in endless streams from His body, flooding the corners of the world with an eternal salvation.
Artists have painted angels into the scene, capturing the water in a baptismal font and in a chalice the blood streaming from the Savior’s wounds and side. Crumbs might fall from the Master’s table, but that precious blood and water, bringing salvation, could never be spilled on profane ground. Flying seraphim cover their eyes before the sacramental mysteries as they cry to one another Holy, holy, holy, is God the Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of His glory.
But that sacred water, which no man nor angel dare profane, flowing from the throne of God’s Cross, has washed guilty consciences clean from sin and that blood has quenched the thirst of sinners abandoned in the wilderness of their own sins.
Every baptized believer is taken to the Cross and plunged into the endless river still steaming from the Victim’s side.
Every communing Christian is drinking the blood streaming from His side.
All Christians who have ever lived still stand at that Cross and say with John the Baptist, O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. On earth we shall not get closer to heaven than in the wounded side of the Redeemer. And in heaven we shall gaze in uninterrupted ecstasy at that wound out of which poured our salvation.
In another place St John spoke of the miracle of the Cross: This is He who came by water and blood - Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood (1 Jn 5:6). So now we have three witnesses to tell us who Jesus Christ really is - the water of Holy Baptism, the blood of Holy Communion, and the Word of the Holy Spirit - and all three find their fulfillment in Jesus.
Lent is a sad time for us Christians, but it was God’s triumphal hour. The evangelists tell us that in the hour of His death the weakened Victim shouted out with a loud voice. In death the weakened Victim became God’s victor and champion. The time of sacrifice is over. He won. The time of sacramental celebration is soon to begin. One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness - his testimony is true, and he knows that he is tell the truth - that you also may believe.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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