Good Friday April 15, 2022

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Good Friday

John 18-19

April 15, 2022

“The Only Answer”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

There are many ways to make the world a better place and we Christians should always be doing our best to lead the way in making the world a better place. We can work together to do all kinds of things like protecting and preserving God’s creation (you know…not littering, recycling where we can, planting gardens and growing food, planting trees, etc.). We can work to find new cures to illnesses (you know, support a place like St. Jude’s or others who works to find cures, or become doctors and nurses who take care of those who are sick, etc.). We can work together to find new innovation to make life better (better medicine, better cars, better computers, better technology, etc.). We can support Christian hospitals, schools, orphanages, mental health facilities, and the list goes on. Yes, we can and should do these things. We can all work to make the world a better place and this is precisely our job as Christians—to serve our neighbors in love.

Most people in the world can agree on this. Even unbelievers agree on this. Who doesn’t want the world to be better? Very few don’t. But there is one glaring difference between Christians and non-Christians on this point. Christians fully understand that no matter how hard we work the world will NEVER, EVER be without sin and evil and suffering. We certainly want to work with all our might to relieve suffering as much as possible and make the world better—but ultimately we have NO answer to the root of the problem. Sinners will continue to be sinners. Go ahead and beat yourself up all you want and discipline yourself all you want and beat and discipline others all you want. You can’t stop it. There will continue to be jealousy, hatred, violence, immorality, stealing, greed, sickness, disasters, and death. And no amount of “social work” will ever, ever answer the real problem. There is only one ultimate answer to making this world right again and to making people right again. And I mean truly right. Righteous. Right before God, that is, and right with God. Like “Garden of Eden” right again. All things bright and beautiful and good and true.

There’s only one answer for that—Jesus Christ on the cross. In the bulletin I printed Article 1 from The Smalcald Articles, part of our Lutheran Confessions. Here are the first few lines: “The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification. He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and God has laid upon Him the iniquities of us all.”

Luther uses there the verse from Isaiah 53 that we heard tonight. All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Later he also uses verse 5, “and with His stripes we are healed.” And then Luther gives us these words, “Upon this article everything that we teach and practice depends.”

Everything we teach and practice depends on this one and only answer to sin. It depends, in other words, on the back and shoulders of Jesus. He is the only one strong enough to carry this great burden needed to make the world not just better—but right again. And if it ever happens that Jesus Christ’s death on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter morning isn’t the answer we’re depending our lives on—then all is lost. We can work our whole lives to save the world but if Jesus isn’t the ultimate answer then it’s all for naught.

So consider well these words right now on this Good Friday, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” and “with His stripes we are healed.” Your iniquities. And the iniquities of everyone else in the world. The iniquity of us all. They’re all laid on Jesus. Your sins—every misuse of God’s name, every swearing, every curse and cuss, every angry tantrum, every hateful word, every lustful thought, every crude joke, every evil and unclean thing you’ve watched on a screen, every lie and half-truth and false word you’ve told, every prayer you haven’t prayed because of your arrogance and pride, every worry you’ve worried because you don’t trust God—basically all of you He has laid on Jesus. There you are—the stripes on His back from the whip. There you are—the nails through His hands and His feet. There you are—the thorns on His head. With His stripes YOU are healed.

And you are. You are healed. In God’s great mercy, He has given you faith in and through this Word—“with His stripes we are healed”—you believe it and have been baptized into this very same Jesus who is the only answer for you. The eternal answer to every single one of your problems. Surely He has borne your grief. Surely He has carried your sorrows. He was wounded for your transgressions. Upon Him was the punishment that has brought you peace. With His stripes you are healed. He is your answer, your first and chief article to all of life. He is the One who makes you right.

And not only you. He also is the answer for the sin and death of every other single person in this world. We can and should help our neighbors in every way possible—we should give money, food, water, shelter, support, comfort. But it’s all for naught if they don’t get this ultimate help—the first and chief article—that their sin also has been laid on Jesus and with His stripes they are healed.

Every person you see in this world, every person who sins against you, every person who makes you angry, every person who wrongs you or hurts you, every person who annoys you—the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of them all. All of them. Your Mom. Your Dad. Your children. Your husband. Your wife. Your sister. Your brother. Your grandchild. Your next door neighbor. Your friend. Your teacher. Your student. Your customer. Your boss. Your President. Your fellow Church member. The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit. He is the only answer to the root problem of this world. He did the work. He finished the work. And He rose from the work in victory Sunday morning. Now we get to go with Him into this world and make it a better place. As we wait for the day when He comes again to make this world a perfect place.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.