THE CROSS

By Dr. Eric C. Stumpf, Senior Pastor

St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – Munster, IN

John 19:17-18, 30 + Good Friday + 21 March 2008

             The focus of Good Friday has been before us from the beginning of Lent.  At St. Paul’s we begin Lent is the rugged cross draped in purple.  The wood used is from an old Christmas tree.  It wasn’t because we could not afford nicely cut wood, but it was to make a statement.  The Jesus we welcomed at Christmas with celebration and presents is the same Jesus we crucified on the cross bearing our sins.

            When we consider Good Friday there are some temptations that we should be aware of.  There is the temptation to sentimentalize the whole event.  Certain scenes are favored, e.g., the carrying of the cross, Jesus’ words, “I thirst,” and Jesus giving charge of his mother to the disciple John.  There is also the temptation to dwell on the horrors of the cross.  The roman philosopher Cicero wrote about crucifixion as, “…the cruelest and most hideous punishment….”  Descriptions laced with medical terms are used to describe the slow suffocation, the inhuman pain and agony for the victim.  There is also the temptation to encourage people to “weep” for Jesus.  One TV preacher once remarked that a Good Friday sermon is not successful unless there are crumpled, tear stained tissues left in the pews.

             Yet, we should remember Jesus’ own words to those who would sentimentalize this day.  Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me;  weep for yourselves and for your children.  Weep for our own sins, believe on the one who died for you and at the end of your weeping, there is good new, “it is finished.”

 It Is Finished

            The phrase “it is finished” is readily recognized as one of the seven last words of Jesus from the cross.  But what does it mean?  Did Jesus mean his life was finished?  No.  We know how the life of Jesus continued.  Jesus died, was buried, but on the third day the tomb was empty.  Jesus appeared to his disciples and numerous other people for a forty day period after his resurrection.  Jesus met with the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, ate and drank with them.  The life of Jesus was by no means finished.

             What was finished?  Was his suffering finished?  We might be tempted to say yes.  He would no longer be slapped by soldiers, whipped, and speared.  That part was done;  however, according to Matthew 25 whenever we see the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the destitute, the sick, and the imprisoned, i.e., those who suffer, we see Jesus.  Jesus is not removed from the suffering of his people, he is not without feeling and compassion in our own suffering.

             What is finished?  Are the prophecies of old completed?  Jesus ministry was a constant fulfillment of prophecies, promises God made to His people so they could identify the Savior.  But after Jesus said it was finished the fulfilling of those promises continued.  Even in his death and burial, when Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus in his own new tomb, prophecy was being fulfilled, He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Is. 53:9  Still there were other prophecies yet to be fulfilled.  Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. (Ps. 16:10)  this was fulfilled when Jesus bodily rose from the grave free from all corruption.  When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train;  you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious – that you, O Lord God, might dwell there.  (Ps. 68:18)  this was fulfilled when Jesus ascended into heaven.

What Then Is Finished?

            What was finished was Jesus’ redemptive work for the salvation of mankind promised to our first parents and pass down through the generations.  What was finished was his atonement for the sins of the world.  What was finished was the complete sacrifice acceptable to God for our eternal salvation.  Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.  He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Heb 7:27) 

             Once when I was visiting a family the mother told me how excited their little girl was to have the pastor come and visit.  She had worked hard all day tiding up her room and was very excited about showing her dolls and other precious things to me.  So one of the first things I did was to go up with her to her bed room so she could show me her dolls.  As she was showing things to me I moved toward her closet to get a better angle at her bookcase.  She must have thought I was going toward the closet to open the door.  When she saw me moving toward the closet she blurted out, “Don’t open the door, I put the mess in there.”  When we try to clean up our life we think we are successful because we’ve hidden the mess in some closed place.  But our sins are still there, even if we think we have hidden them pretty good.  Real cleaning means exposing all the dirt to be cleaned.  The little boy who falls and scrapes his knee and puts his hands over the scrape refusing to have an antiseptic placed on it because it will hurt, is not protecting the wound.  Though it may be our human nature to cover up sins, God would have us confess them and assure us that through the healing power of Christ’s atonement our sins are forgiven.

             What was finished was sin’s power over us to lead us to death.  The good news is in Christ our sins are taken away and we are healed.  The good news gives us God’s restorative grace and new life.  There is a commercial on television that always gets a chuckle from me.  It begins with a man leaning on a hospital counter.  He’s dressed in surgical scrubs and talking on the telephone.  You over hear his conversation.  “All you need to do is place a 3 inch incision under the third and fourth rib.  It’s really very simple.”  You think he was talking to another doctor, but the next picture shows a rather befuddled and slightly scared man sitting at his kitchen table holding a steak knife saying, “Shouldn’t you be doing this?”  The irony is that we would never think of operation on ourselves to cure our ills;  yet, countless people think that they can take care of sins, save themselves, gain eternal life, by themselves.  The death he died, he died to sin once for all;  but the life he lives, he lives to God.  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6:10-11)  Our salvation is complete in Jesus who said it is finished.  Amen.

SDG