Jeremiah 11:18-20; 1 Timothy 6:12-14; St Mark 14-15
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
It was their custom to celebrate the Passover together. After all, they had become as family, brothers in bond, and soon to be, in blood. And so they prepared it as the Teacher had instructed them. As it was in the beginning and so it is now, all things happen according to His Word.
And when it was evening, He came with the Twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray Me, one who is eating with Me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to Him one after another, “Is it I?” It is sort of a strange question. Ought a man not know if he was about to betray the Son of Man?
Jesus knows. The Lord made it known to Him and He knew, as Jeremiah said. He knows because He prays the Psalms: Even My close friend in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted his heel against Me (Ps 41:9). The Scriptures are not only theological but anthropological. They teach not only about God, but the truth concerning man. The disciples don’t know because they neither know the Scriptures nor the power therein. They do not look intently into the mirror of the Law and truly know themselves.
So they all ask because they all feel guilty. And they feel guilty because they are guilty. This is the weight of the Law. It always accuses. It always condemns. It could have been anyone of them. At some point they all thought about it. Betrayal would have meant a return home. It would have meant money in the pocket and no more being run out of towns, no more sleepless nights, no more danger from exposure or famine or sword.
The life of an itinerant preacher, a disciple of this Rabbi, was not easy. The spirit may indeed be willing, but the flesh is oh so weak. Like a deployed soldier holed up in some mountain village, longing for normalcy and peace, each of them at some point ached for the comfort of home. Even St Peter asked, We have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? (Mt 19:27). They had yet to learn contentment and where true comfort lies.
And in the face of real danger their macho oath to die with Him rather than deny Him is worthless. They cannot stay awake even to pray. Peter fumbles around with his sword. They all flee. And John Mark, in an image harkening back to the Garden of Eden and the shame of our first parents, ran away naked. Perhaps more than the physical punishment, is this, the emotional abandonment more difficult to bear.
Yet shall He die for them, for He is their Captain and their Mediator. He shall lay down His life for them. He shall bear the insults, endure the slander and the lies. Though He committed no evil, He will receive the just punishment under the Law, both of the Roman Court and of the heavenly. He will make the good confession, not for His own sake, but for yours. He would not save Himself, but He will save others, precisely by going to the Cross. He shall climb the Hill of the Skull and allow the Devil to do his worst to Him until he is completely spent and Satan falls on his own sword.
This is His victory; His defeat of death and hell and the powers of the devil. He has conquered. And He gives this to you. It comes only by way of His Cross and Passion, sharing in His death and resurrection, having fellowship in His persecution. It comes through the watery grave of Holy Baptism in which you are marked with His crucifix; drowned and died.
The Christian life is a fight, dear ones, as St Paul reminds young St Timothy. Life lived under the Cross is lived in constant struggle. Not only against principalities and powers, but sometimes against flesh and blood; most often your own. It is always easier to deny. Always easier to acquiesce. Always easier to remain silent. The flesh is weak. And it doesn’t merely want contentment, it wants luxury. It wants to boast of it own accomplishments and milestones; of perseverance and achievements.
But the Introit for tonight puts into your mouth the prayer of St Paul, Far be it from me to boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6:14). This is the vesting prayer of the pastor when putting on the pectoral crucifix. This is the good confession. It is your prayer each morning and evening when you mark yourself with the sign of the Holy Cross in the Triune Name of God. It has been given to you that you may speak it back to the Father and before men. For it is only in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that the accusations of the Law are silenced. There, in His own flesh, He put to death your sins of flesh and soul. This Cross marks you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.
And it is the preaching of the Word of His Cross that brings comfort to your grieving consciences and peace to your wounded hearts. By these He covers your nakedness not with inadequate fig leaves sewn in shame, but with the robe of His own righteousness; His redeeming and bloody flesh in which there is no shame or guilt. You are justified by faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ, your Passover Lamb.
And behold, it is here, reclining at Table with Jesus, your conscience accusing you, your weak flesh tormenting you, that in mercy and love He takes bread, and after blessing it with His Word, gives it to you saying, Take, eat; This is My Body. And so also with the Cup: This is My Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Once again this evening, dear Cross-tians, your Lord Jesus bestows upon you the spoils of His victory; He gives you to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life, the Tree of His Cross. In Him is salvation, life, and resurrection from the dead; by Him are you redeemed at set at liberty.
May God grant us grace so to pass through this holy time of our Lord’s Passion that we may obtain the pardon of our sins, peace of conscience, a restful heart, and a blessed tranquility of soul.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
It was their custom to celebrate the Passover together. After all, they had become as family, brothers in bond, and soon to be, in blood. And so they prepared it as the Teacher had instructed them. As it was in the beginning and so it is now, all things happen according to His Word.
And when it was evening, He came with the Twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray Me, one who is eating with Me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to Him one after another, “Is it I?” It is sort of a strange question. Ought a man not know if he was about to betray the Son of Man?
Jesus knows. The Lord made it known to Him and He knew, as Jeremiah said. He knows because He prays the Psalms: Even My close friend in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted his heel against Me (Ps 41:9). The Scriptures are not only theological but anthropological. They teach not only about God, but the truth concerning man. The disciples don’t know because they neither know the Scriptures nor the power therein. They do not look intently into the mirror of the Law and truly know themselves.
So they all ask because they all feel guilty. And they feel guilty because they are guilty. This is the weight of the Law. It always accuses. It always condemns. It could have been anyone of them. At some point they all thought about it. Betrayal would have meant a return home. It would have meant money in the pocket and no more being run out of towns, no more sleepless nights, no more danger from exposure or famine or sword.
The life of an itinerant preacher, a disciple of this Rabbi, was not easy. The spirit may indeed be willing, but the flesh is oh so weak. Like a deployed soldier holed up in some mountain village, longing for normalcy and peace, each of them at some point ached for the comfort of home. Even St Peter asked, We have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? (Mt 19:27). They had yet to learn contentment and where true comfort lies.
And in the face of real danger their macho oath to die with Him rather than deny Him is worthless. They cannot stay awake even to pray. Peter fumbles around with his sword. They all flee. And John Mark, in an image harkening back to the Garden of Eden and the shame of our first parents, ran away naked. Perhaps more than the physical punishment, is this, the emotional abandonment more difficult to bear.
Yet shall He die for them, for He is their Captain and their Mediator. He shall lay down His life for them. He shall bear the insults, endure the slander and the lies. Though He committed no evil, He will receive the just punishment under the Law, both of the Roman Court and of the heavenly. He will make the good confession, not for His own sake, but for yours. He would not save Himself, but He will save others, precisely by going to the Cross. He shall climb the Hill of the Skull and allow the Devil to do his worst to Him until he is completely spent and Satan falls on his own sword.
This is His victory; His defeat of death and hell and the powers of the devil. He has conquered. And He gives this to you. It comes only by way of His Cross and Passion, sharing in His death and resurrection, having fellowship in His persecution. It comes through the watery grave of Holy Baptism in which you are marked with His crucifix; drowned and died.
The Christian life is a fight, dear ones, as St Paul reminds young St Timothy. Life lived under the Cross is lived in constant struggle. Not only against principalities and powers, but sometimes against flesh and blood; most often your own. It is always easier to deny. Always easier to acquiesce. Always easier to remain silent. The flesh is weak. And it doesn’t merely want contentment, it wants luxury. It wants to boast of it own accomplishments and milestones; of perseverance and achievements.
But the Introit for tonight puts into your mouth the prayer of St Paul, Far be it from me to boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6:14). This is the vesting prayer of the pastor when putting on the pectoral crucifix. This is the good confession. It is your prayer each morning and evening when you mark yourself with the sign of the Holy Cross in the Triune Name of God. It has been given to you that you may speak it back to the Father and before men. For it is only in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that the accusations of the Law are silenced. There, in His own flesh, He put to death your sins of flesh and soul. This Cross marks you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.
And it is the preaching of the Word of His Cross that brings comfort to your grieving consciences and peace to your wounded hearts. By these He covers your nakedness not with inadequate fig leaves sewn in shame, but with the robe of His own righteousness; His redeeming and bloody flesh in which there is no shame or guilt. You are justified by faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ, your Passover Lamb.
And behold, it is here, reclining at Table with Jesus, your conscience accusing you, your weak flesh tormenting you, that in mercy and love He takes bread, and after blessing it with His Word, gives it to you saying, Take, eat; This is My Body. And so also with the Cup: This is My Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Once again this evening, dear Cross-tians, your Lord Jesus bestows upon you the spoils of His victory; He gives you to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life, the Tree of His Cross. In Him is salvation, life, and resurrection from the dead; by Him are you redeemed at set at liberty.
May God grant us grace so to pass through this holy time of our Lord’s Passion that we may obtain the pardon of our sins, peace of conscience, a restful heart, and a blessed tranquility of soul.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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