Sermon for
Good Friday, April 3, 2026
Grace and mercy to you from the One Who
was despised and rejected by men, a man who knew grief, who was well acquainted
with suffering. Amen.
John 19:33-42 33But
when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break
his legs. 34Instead, one of
the soldiers pierced his side with a spear.
Immediately blood and water came out.
35The one who saw it has testified, and his testimony is
true. He knows that he is telling the
truth, so that you also may believe. 36Indeed,
these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not one of his
bones will be broken.” 37Again
another Scripture says, “They will look at the one they pierced.” 38After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to
let him remove Jesus’ body. When Pilate
gave him permission, he came and took Jesus’ body away. 39Nicodemus, who earlier had come
to Jesus at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about
seventy-two pounds. 40They
took Jesus’ body and bound it with linen strips along with the spices, in
accord with Jewish burial customs. 41There
was a garden at the place where Jesus was crucified. And in the garden was a new tomb in which no
one had ever been laid. 42So
they laid Jesus there, because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and the tomb
was near. (EHV)
Our Lord; was crucified, died, and was
buried.
Jesus
once told His enemies, “How can someone enter a strong man’s house and take
his goods, unless he first ties up the strong man? Only then can he plunder his house.” (Matthew
12:29) As we remember Jesus’ suffering
and death, it certainly appears that a strong thief bound Jesus and made a
mockery of that dear Son of God. To the
world, it looked like sin, death, and the devil had finally accomplished the
impossible and destroyed the Messiah.
Yet, as most people will
admit, looks can be, and often are, deceiving.
Therefore, while the Jewish leadership cautiously began to celebrate
Jesus’ death, and Pontious Pilate assumed he had squashed a rebellion, the
reality was far different. Indeed,
Pilate couldn’t put down a rebellion because the only rebellion that put Jesus
on that cross was the devil’s rebellion against God that began in the Garden of
Eden. In addition, while the Jews
plotted to prove that Jesus was truly dead (which is something we all readily
admit), the death of God’s Son wasn’t the end of the story. Rather, it was exactly why Jesus came into
the world.
The devil had failed to
get Jesus to sin. Satan had failed to
persuade Jesus to turn aside from His goal of bearing our sins unto death. We can even say the devil failed to trick his
allies into upending God’s plan, for God’s plan all along was that Christ’s
real victory would come only when Jesus
Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord; … was crucified, died, and was buried.
When Jesus was nailed to
that cross, we can imagine the devil celebrating a potential conquest, but for
Satan, this crucifixion was a trap. The
devil along with his unbelieving allies in the world considered Jesus the enemy
they wanted to destroy. However, it is
in Jesus’ death that Satan’s power is forever crushed. The writer to the Hebrews testifies, “Therefore,
since the children share flesh and blood, he also shared the same flesh and
blood, so that through death he could destroy the one who had the power of
death (that is, the Devil) and free those who were held in slavery all their
lives by the fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15) Thus, when we see Jesus on the cross, it is
neither a tragedy nor defeat, but the culmination of God’s rescue plan that set
us free from the devil’s deceptions.
Throughout
Jesus’ approximately thirty-three years on earth, He was living as a Man for
you and me. Throughout those years,
Jesus resisted all temptation, obeyed every law, did perfectly whatever His
Father in heaven willed, and never once failed to do what is right and
good. That perfection was lived so that
you and I could be credited with righteousness, a righteousness not of our own
but that which Jesus lived for us.
Certainly, the devil tried his best to turn this effort of our Savior
aside. However, unlike the first Adam in
the Garden of Eden, the second Adam would not be denied in doing the will of
His Father in heaven.
Therefore,
innocent of all sin, Jesus was crucified not for His own guilt, but for
ours. Consequently, while the devil and
the world mocked and jeered God’s Son, Jesus’ death was paying for our sin and
crushing any ability or right the devil had to accuse us of sin. Forever after, the devil is silenced before
God. In the Garden, God had promised the
Deceiver, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your
seed and her seed. He will crush your
head, and you will crush his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) When Jesus declared, “It is finished,” God’s
promise was now fulfilled. Yes, Jesus
was wounded for our transgressions, but the devil lost the war in his rebellion
against our Creator.
In
his great Easter hymn, Paul Gerhardt wrote, “The foe in triumph shouted when
Christ lay in the tomb; but, lo, he now is routed, his boast is turned to
gloom.” It is possible that when Jesus
was laid to rest in the tomb, the devil may not yet have admitted what Jesus
had accomplished in death, but by His death, Jesus took away our
condemnation. Therefore, the devil can
no longer control those Jesus has won to His Father’s kingdom by faith. Satan can no longer accuse anyone before
God. St. Paul was moved by the Holy
Spirit to write:
Even when you were dead in your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ by forgiving us
all our trespasses. God erased the
record of our debt brought against us by his legal demands. This record stood against us, but he took it
away by nailing it to the cross. After
disarming the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them by
triumphing over them in Christ. (Colossians 2:13-15)
The
words of the prophet Isaiah assure us that Jesus’ victory over sin, Satan, and
death was never in doubt. Seven hundred
years before this crucifixion, Isaiah wrote: “The punishment that brought us
peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) And, “Because you made his life a guilt
offering, he will see offspring. He will
prolong his days, and the Lord’s gracious plan will succeed in his hand. After his soul experiences anguish, he will
see the light of life. He will provide
satisfaction. Through their knowledge of
him, my just servant will justify the many, for he himself carried their
guilt.” (Isaiah 53:10-11)
Jesus Christ, God’s
only Son, our Lord; … was crucified, died, and was buried.
What does this mean for you and me today? It means that no devil, or any other being,
can ever again accuse God’s children of sin.
It means that because this isn’t the end of the salvation plan but the
height of Jesus’ conquest of God’s enemies, therefore, you and I will not die
but live. Though our bodies may likewise
have to be laid down in the grave, like Jesus, our Easter resurrection will
also soon be at hand, for though Jesus truly died, He yet lives and reigns from
His Father’s side in the throne room of heaven.
Thus, by His death and resurrection, Jesus has turned our death into the
entrance to Paradise. You see, “There
is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of
life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)
So, who is Jesus? The explanation of the Second Article of the
Apostle’s Creed reminds us: “He is my Lord, Who has redeemed me, a lost and
condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the
power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood
and with His innocent suffering and death.”
In the ultimate victory over evil, to be proclaimed with power on the
third day, Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord; … was crucified, died,
and was buried. Amen.
Glory be to God alone, He
himself carried the sin of many, and he intercedes for the rebels. Amen.
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