Meditation for Holy Saturday

The Lord’s Descent into Hell

An Ancient Homily

What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: “My Lord be with you all.” And Christ in reply says to Adam: “And with your spirit.” And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” “I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.” “I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.” (From the Fathers to the Churches, pp. 297-298; cited in For All the Saints: A Prayer Book For and By the Church, vol. III, p. 1037)

Homily for Good Friday

On Good Friday we hear just how God has reversed our woeful predicament of sin and death by giving His only-begotten up to the death of the cross. On this day we hear the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John (chapters 18-19), and here at Hope we got to hear it sung with the magnificent choral setting by Carl Schalk. In addition to pondering our Lord's Passion, we also hear what it means for us in the words of St. Paul: "For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Good Friday's homily this year is titled "Great Reversal."

Click on this link to download and listen to the audio file. The Lord bless you as you prepare to celebrate His victory over death!

Homily for Holy Thursday

The Holy Triduum is absolutely my favorite time of the Church Year, and even of all time. After all, it does usher in our Passover from sin and death to forgiveness and life in Christ Jesus.

This year's homily for Holy Thursday focused on Christ our Passover under the title "Memorial Meal of Receiving Rescue & Living in Love."

Click on this link to download and listen to the audio file. The Lord bless you and keep you!

Homily for Passion Sunday

Holy Week began with the celebration of Passion Sunday (with Palm Sunday Procession). This day's homily, titled "Ready to Suffer," is based on Matthew 27:11-54, the shorter passion reading option for the day.

Click this link to download and listen to the audio file. God bless!

New Sermons

New audio files of recent sermons have been added to my iDisk page. To listen to these audio files, just follow these simple steps:

1. Click on this link. It will take you to my public iDisk page.
2. Select the folder "Hope Sermons."
3. Select the sermon you wish to hear (listed by liturgical day then calendar date).
4. Click the "Download" button and follow instructions for downloading and listening on your computer.

The Lord bless you and keep you!

Holy Thursday - Quote of the Day

"What shall I do with my sins? I do not know. My mind cannot imagine what I might use to wash and cleanse myself. If I took it into my head to wash with water, then the seas and the rivers would not be sufficient to cleanse me. Yet if I wash myself with the blood and water that flowed from the rib of the Son of God, then will I be cleansed, and compassion will be showered upon me." (Ephraim the Syrian, A Spiritual Psalter, #140, p. 221)

Day of Rest and Restoration

Holy Thursday brought a small burst of joy. As we finished Lent and entered the Holy Three Days, we heard the readings of the Passover, the Lord's Supper, and Jesus washing the grimy feet of His disciples.

Good Friday drew our focus to the blessed Cross on which our Savior, the Son of God and perfect Man, suffered and died for our forgiveness, life, and salvation. As someone told me after last night's Good Friday Chief Service, "It struck the right balance between sadness and triumph." That's especially true because we heard St. John's account of the Passion (and this year we added choir portions during the reading), venerated the Cross, heard the Reproaches, and ended the service by singing the somber yet victorious sounding hymn, "Sing My Tongue the Glorious Battle" (LSB 454).

But what shall we do with today, "Holy Saturday," the seventh day of Holy Week?

First, let's recall how Day Six led into Day Seven at the first creation. On Day Six "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). Then, after reaching this crowning achievement of His creation, God rested on Day Seven.

Holy Week follows the same pattern. On Day Six of Holy Week - a.k.a. Good Friday - God the Son recreated humankind, male and female, and restored all people to His image. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15). Through His innocent suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ has restored us and will restore us to His perfect image. "[We] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Colossians 3:10). Yes, because of our Lord's work of re-creation and restoration, we are attaining "to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).

Second, let's recall the first Seventh Day. "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation" (Genesis 2:2-3). The first Seventh Day was hallowed and set aside for rest because God was done with His works of creation. "Holy Saturday," then, is a day of rest - the day when our crucified Lord was done - "It is finished" (John 19:30) - with His work of saving us and rested in the tomb and thus hallowed the graves of His saints.

Today is a day of rest and restoration. Not quite the same kind of day most people have in mind with "To Do" lists chuck full of coloring Easter eggs, scrambling to prepare that Easter dinner, and rushing to the store to find that perfect Easter outfit for tomorrow! The words of Hebrews 4:9-10 provide a nice remedy for our "Holy Saturday" busy-ness: "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his."

It's quite salutary and beneficial to sit back and rest, and let God do the work of His restoration! After all, when this day of rest is ended, and as we hold vigil this evening, we will rejoice and revel in God's new creation, His Easter creation, His restoration to life in His Son Jesus Christ. As Luther teaches us to sing: "You shall observe the worship day / That peace may fill your home, and pray, / And put aside the work you do, / So that God may work in you" (LSB 581:4).

And what work does God work in you on this Holy Saturday? Here's an ancient homily entitled "The Lord's Descent into Hell" to answer that question:

What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: "My Lord be with you all." And Christ in reply says to Adam: "And with your spirit." And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light." "I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise." "I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person." (quoted in For All the Saints, vol. III, p. 1037)

God bless you and keep you - rested and restored - on this Holy Saturday!

The Crucifixion and Love

What great love we have been privileged to celebrate on this Good Friday! Here's a meditation from Pr. Berthold von Schenk that goes to the very heart of our Good Friday hearing, praying, and singing, as we ponder our Lord's great love for us sinners. And if you can find a salutary application of these words to the Issues, Etc. travesty, all well and good. That's my secondary purpose for offering this quote. :-)

When we appreciate how the Cross accomplishes our destiny of union with God, we also realize how essential the Crucifixion was and is. What is the Cross? It is man against God. It is Self against Love. Calvary was selfishness closing in on Love to crush it…. If we want to get at the meaning of the Cross, we must find the interpreter’s stone. During one of Napoleon’s campaigns, a stone was found which made it possible to read the ancient inscriptions. Thus the ancient world was revealed to man for the first time. We, too, must find the Rosetta stone. We must find a word. We must find four letters and put them together so that they spell LOVE. To discover this word is not easy. We must spend years in Bethlehem, in Gethsemane, on Calvary. Not merely as historical events, but we must enter into fellowship with Bethlehem and Calvary. Love cannot be anything else but love. We try to define it but it is as futile as painting a rose. What does love do? Love always gives itself. When love meets self, what happens? Love just keeps on being love. That’s all. Love cannot be cruel, or hate, nor attack. All that love, divine love, can do when it meets its foe is to bare its arms and go straight to the Cross. Suffering is loves only weapon. What happened 1900 years ago? What always happens when men love? From the world’s point of view they fail; they go down; they are defeated.

Just that happened to our Lord. Draw aside the veil. What a failure! His friend betrays Him. His enemies hang Him on the Cross. He dies and is put into a grave. “That’s the end of love,” they conclude. Even His friends thought that He was a failure, for they complain, “We thought He would redeem Israel.” We imagine a crowd standing around the Cross, saying, “There He goes. There goes love.”…

But wait. The grave was not the end. From man’s side it was a failure, but not from God’s. Love cannot die. Like the traditional phoenix, the Christ rose from the ashes of His apparent failure. On the third day He rose again and thereby showed that divine love triumphs over self. From that time on it was possible also for men who love to triumph. The sins of men were expiated on Calvary. But Calvary which unites men with God also draws them up to divine love, so that it now becomes their love. This love, the divine love, the Calvary love, is the only love worthwhile.

From all this we draw a mighty conclusion. Why is it that we so often fail our fellowmen? Why is it that we fail in our church work? Why is it that we fail in our witnessing, in our mission work? It is because we lack the one thing which will save the world—divine love—Calvary love. It does not radiate through us.

It is not our human love that the world needs. This is what the world has been trying to tell us church people for a long time. But we will not agree. We place the blame for our failure everywhere but the right place, and then we keep on trying to foist our human love, tainted with self-interest, on the world, to which it says, “We don’t want it; we don’t trust it. We can be just as good, if not better, outside the church.”

Why was it the early Christians showed such power? It was because Calvary love, the divine love, radiated in their message and in their lives. That love was irresistible. The fascinating story of the martyrs fertilized the acres of the Church. That love alone will build the kingdom of God on earth. That love is the only missionary policy for us to follow. The pure Calvary love will draw men up. It is the only love which achieves a final victory. It is the only love which has an Easter. Any other love leaves just ashes (Berthold von Schenk, The Presence, pp. 70-72).

Homily - Good Friday

What Great Love!
Good Friday
John 18-19 – The Passion of Our Lord

What great love we have just heard! The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is a sermon in itself. But let’s drive the point home even more. What does it mean? Listen to St. Paul:

“God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-7).

Ah, what great love! It’s the life-giving message that the Church has been privileged to proclaim for 2000 years. And why? So that we sinners can rejoice in the great love of our Savior for all eternity. That great eternal love is focused in and flows from the Son of God made flesh, nailed to a tree, and risen again. Here’s how Melito of Sardis, a second century pastor, proclaimed it (On Pascha, 100-105, pp. 65-67):

The Lord clothed himself with humanity,
and with suffering on behalf of the suffering one,
and bound on behalf of the one constrained,
and judged on behalf of the one convicted,
and buried on behalf of the one entombed,
rose from the dead and cried out aloud:

“Who takes issue with me? Let him stand before me.
I set free the condemned.
I give life to the dead.
I raise up the entombed.
Who will contradict me?”

“It is I,” says the Christ,
“I am he who destroys death,
and triumphs over the enemy,
and crushes Hades,
and binds the strong man,
and bears humanity off to the heavenly heights.”
“It is I,” says the Christ.

“So come all families of people,
adulterated with sin,
and receive forgiveness of sins.
For I am your freedom.
I am the Passover of salvation,
I am the lamb slaughtered for you,
I am your ransom,
I am your life,
I am your light,
I am your salvation,
I am your resurrection,
I am your King.
I shall raise you up by my right hand,
I will lead you to the heights of heaven,
there shall I show you the everlasting [Father].”

He [Christ] it is who made the heaven and the earth,
and formed humanity in the beginning,
who was proclaimed through the law and the prophets,
who took flesh from a virgin,
who was hung on a tree,
who was buried in earth,
who was raised from the dead,
and ascended to the heights of heaven,
who sits at the right hand of the [Father],
who has the power to save all things,
through whom the [Father] acted from the beginning and for ever.

This is the alpha and omega,
this is the beginning and the end,
the ineffable beginning and the incomprehensible end.
This is the Christ,
this is the King,
this is Jesus,
this is the commander,
this is the Lord,
this is he who rose from the dead,
this is he who sits at the right hand of the [Father],
he bears the [Father] and is borne by him.
To him be the glory and the might fore ever.
Amen.

Homily - Holy Thursday

Here's tonight's homily for Holy Thursday ... and I absolutely love this icon (never seen it before; just now found it) that brings out the Calvary on the Altar theme that von Schenk drives home!

“Calvary Brought Down to Today”
Holy (Maundy) Thursday
Exodus 12:1-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; John 13:1-15, 34-35

We have left the season of Lent, and now we enter the “Holy Triduum” – the Holy Three Days. The season of Lent has prepared us for this most sacred time by drawing us to our Baptism and by reminding us of the real, spiritual battles we wage against our own sin, our own fallen flesh, the fallen world, and the devil himself. Lent has prepared us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Now we stand at Calvary’s holy mountain to do just that.

Our first reading reminds us of the Passover sacrifice and meal. For any other people, it looked like any other kind of meal. But for Israel, the people of God, it was their meal of deliverance. Sacrifice a lamb, smear its blood on the doorposts, roast and eat that lamb, and off they went – out of slavery and into freedom. Talk about a colossal “eat and run”! But it was God’s way of delivering His people. It was God’s way of preparing them for the greater Lamb who would take on human flesh and blood and take away the sin of the world.

In our second reading we hear how the Old Testament Passover becomes our New Testament Passover. We too have a sacrifice and a meal that sets us free. To folks outside the Church, it looks like a pretty poor meal indeed – only a little bite of bread and a small sip of wine. But to God’s redeemed people, to us, it is our Lord’s Meal of deliverance – freeing us from our own sin, our own fallen flesh, our fallen world, and even from Satan himself. And all of this because of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You see, He was sacrificed and roasted on the Cross; His blood was smeared on the doorposts of the Cross. And off we go, out of slavery in our sin and death and into the freedom of forgiveness and the light of God’s life.

Then, in our Gospel reading, we hear of the great love of our Savior Jesus Christ. It happened in the hustle and bustle of celebrating the Passover meal. Jesus took off His outer garment and wrapped Himself with a towel. He poured water into a basin and got down on His hands and knees to wash His disciples’ calloused, sweaty, dirt encrusted feet. What great love! What great sacrifice! And then our Lord gave His new commandment: “that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

All three of these things converge into one in these Holy Three Days. The Passover sacrifice and deliverance; our Lord’s Meal of Body and Blood for forgiveness and life; and our Lord’s command to love one another with the sacrifice of oneself: they all combine into what one pastor once called “the Calvary Love.” Let’s listen to Pastor Berthold von Schenk (The Presence, pp. 88-92).

Mark well this amazing situation. Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Altar in the city of Jerusalem at the time of the great feast. What was uppermost in the mind of the people in Jerusalem? Was it not fundamentally the idea of sacrifice? That is the word which echoed and re-echoed through the streets.

It is before the final sacrifice, the culmination of all sacrifices, that Jesus says: “This is My Body, given for you.” Then He speaks these important words: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Sacrificial words in a sacrificial setting, at a sacrificial moment. There can be no doubt that when Jesus instituted the Sacrament He associated it with the sacrifice of the Cross.

Now listen to Paul again, “As often as ye do this, ye do show forth the Lords death till He come.” Holy Communion and Calvary are always linked together. We cannot add to Calvary. We cannot repeat it. How then, is our Communion related to the Sacrifice of the Cross? We can get some help by taking note of the Jewish sacrifice. There were three parts. As in the Jewish Temple sacrifices there was the presentation of the victim, the slaying of the victim, and the taking of blood into the Holy of Holies, so in Christ these all were fulfilled.

At Bethlehem the Lamb was presented
At Calvary the Lamb was slain.
At the Ascension the Lamb ascended into the veil and now has our High Priest and Advocate presents forever the sacrifice once offered upon the Cross.

Calvary, then, is now in Heaven, an eternal fact, where the Master Himself, in His risen and glorified Body, with His wounds shining more brilliant than all created light, obtains mercy for you and for me. And the Altar?—Here we have under the veils of bread and wine, the same Body once crucified, now risen and glorified. And in Communion, as nowhere else, the believer is caught up in this great continual act, this timeless offering of the one sacrifice on the Cross.

The Church on earth and the Church in heaven is one Church. It cannot be broken up. The Body of Christ cannot be torn asunder. On the Cross the sacrifice was perfectly offered. Now our Lord continually pleads this sacrifice. At the Altar the Christian Church pleads the same offering which our Lord is continually offering in heaven, only now under the veils of bread and wine.

Remember, there are not two sacrifices. There is one sacrifice, the same sacrifice, in one Church, presented and pleaded before the Father. The sacrifice of Christ cannot be divided into two parts. Therefore, at the Altar we touch Calvary. The same Body which was offered then is present at the Altar; and every time I communicate I show forth His death, the same death. I link myself to it, and Calvary becomes a reality. At Communion we are actually on the mount called Calvary. We see it all. Some of us stand, as did John, in mystified wonder; others, like Mary, in love and tears; some, like the soldiers; and others, still, like the Centurian [sic], and say: “Surely, this is the Son of God.” The Lord’s Supper is not the symbol of the death of Christ, but it is the personal appropriation of the person of Christ in His death. The Communicant takes the crucified Saviour into Himself as the bread and wine serve as carriers…. This is what Paul meant when he said: “Is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10).

The whole sacrifice of Calvary is focused to a point at the Altar. It is brought home and made a reality as I kneel to receive the true Body and Blood given and shed for me. Then it was offered on the Cross, now, in heaven triumphant—through the bread and wine. Here I truly touch Calvary, which is now being pleaded by my High Priest. Here I find the secret whereby I can touch my God, the secret whereby divine love can also be born in me and thus radiate through me into the lives of my fellow-men.

Here at the Altar I find love. Here, as I touch Calvary and the pure love of Golgotha radiates in and through me, I can say, “Take me, Lord Jesus. Take also my body, which I am willing to break for Thee; take also my blood which I am willing to shed for Thee. I offer my whole life to Thee through Thy dear life by which alone I can be saved, by which alone I can help bring to salvation my wife, my children, my home, my friends.”

At the Altar is the cresset where we get our fire of the Calvary Love. How this love is needed! We have lost much of it. We have to invent all kinds of methods to attract the people. We must advertise, we must entertain. Why? Because the Church has lost its way to the Altar it has also lost its way into the heart of the world. For the pure love of Calvary alone can save the world. It is that love for which the world is aching. But we must first recapture it ourselves.

Let us find the reality of Calvary, of love, by the way of the Altar. There we can again touch the wounds of Christ; and by touching the wounds of Christ, we shall touch the wounds of the world.

May God grant us a joyous celebration of these Holy Three Days as we find Calvary brought down to today at the Altar. In the name of the Father, and of the X Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Holy Triduum Hymn

Here's a great hymn for the "Holy Triduum" (Holy Three Days). Sure helps put everything - including these past couple of days - in proper perspective!

Sing, my tongue the glorious battle;
Sing the ending of the fray.
Now above the cross, the trophy,
Sound the loud triumphant lay;
Tell how Christ, the world's redeemer,
As a victim won the day.

Tell how, when at length the fullness
Of the appointed time was come,
He, the Word, was born of woman,
Left for us His Father's home,
Blazed the path of true obedience,
Shone as light amidst the gloom.

Thus, with thirty years accomplished,
He went forth from Nazareth,
Destined, dedicated, willing,
Did His work, and met His death;
Like a lam He humbly yielded
On the cross His dying breath.

Faithful cross, true sign of triumph,
Be for all the noblest tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thine equal be;
Symbol of the world's redemption,
For the weight that hung on thee!

Unto God be praise and glory;
To the Father and the Son,
To the eternal Spirit honor
Now and evermore be done;
Praise and glory in the highest
While the timeless ages run. (LSB 454)

Bearing the Cross of Christ

A brief devotional reading from Martin Luther on this Tuesday of Holy Week:

The cross teaches us to believe in hope even when there is not hope. The wisdom of the cross is deeply hidden in a profound mystery. In fact, there is no other way to heaven than taking up the cross of Christ. On account of this we must beware that the active life with its good works, and the contemplative life with its speculations, do not lead us astray. Both are most attractive and yield peace of mind, but for that very reason they hide real dangers, unless they are tempered by the cross and disturbed by adversaries. The cross is the surest path of all. Blessed is the man who understands this truth.

It is a matter of necessity that we be destroyed and rendered formless, so that Christ may be formed within us, and Christ alone be in us.... Real mortifications do not happen in lonely places away from the society of other human beings. No! They happen in the home, the market place, in secular life.... "Being conformed to Christ" is not within our powers to achieve. It is God's gift, not our own work.

He who is not crucianus, if I may coin a word, is not Christianus: in other words, he who does not bear his cross is no Christian, for he is not like his Master, Jesus Christ. (A reflection on the cross; cited in For All the Saints: A Prayer Book For and By the Church, vol. III, p. 1011.)

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

Holy Week draws our attention to our Savior's extreme Passion and excruciating Crucifixion. What a marvelous love our Lord Jesus has shown us as He laid down His life for sinners such as us! The hymn "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" (LSB 449) leads us to ponder just these things, namely, our Savior's Passion to save and redeem us as it begets true adoration from us back to Him.

O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown.
O sacred Head, what glory,
What bliss, till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call Thee mine.

What Thou, my Lord, has suffered
Was all for sinners' gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
And grant to me Thy grace.

What language can I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever!
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never,
Out live my love for Thee.

Be Thou my consolation,
My shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy passion
When my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee,
Upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfold Thee.
Who dieth thus dies well. (LSB 449)

Homily - Palm Sunday

Look, the Humble King
John 12:12-36 (Procession Gospel & Alternate Holy Gospel)

It was a ticker-tape parade for a battle that would come several days later. The King was entering His domain. So the color purple on the altar reminds us of our King’s true royalty. “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” But our King had no special attraction about Him. “He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him” (Is. 53:2). On this Palm Sunday we behold an unattractive King, a King without worldly pomp, a humble King. And while this King may be humble on earth, both then and now, He brings us into His eternal majesty. Look, the humble King!

Look at Him humble on a lowly donkey. St. John’s version of the procession into Jerusalem is quite simple: “And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it.” But this was no mere happenstance. The other Gospels tell the story of Jesus making preparations to ride on this donkey. He sent two of His disciples to find a young donkey, untie it, and bring it to Him. Jesus knew what He was up to. Earthly kings and rulers ride on whites stallions or in Lincoln Continentals or bulletproof limousines. But Jesus? He’s a different kind of King, a humble King. He rides on a donkey not even full-grown. He rides in His ticker-tape parade on a borrowed little Chevy pick-up truck. Look, the humble King!

The prophet Zechariah had foretold this lowly procession. He prepared the Jews then and us now for our humble Messiah. “Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Jesus never intended to come into the world in majestic, splendid, awe-inspiring pomp and circumstance. He never intended to come in the ways of the world. So, we dare not expect Him to come in majestic, splendid, awe-inspiring ways in our day, either. He did not come to teach businessmen the successful methods of business. He did not even come to cleanse society of the riff-raff of drunks, thieves, gamblers, or perverts. No, He came to bring salvation, not a social agenda. Leave the social agendas to earthly rulers and workers. Jesus brings the Gospel of salvation—the Gospel of forgiveness and life in Jesus, the Gospel meant for everyone from earthly rulers to businessmen to society’s riff-raff, including politicians who get exposed as perverts. The Gospel of salvation in Jesus may and does indeed bear fruits that benefit society; and that’s very good. But Jesus’ mission was to bring heaven to you, not turn this present earth into heaven. Look, the humble King on His lowly donkey!

Look at the humble King with His bewildered disciples. His disciples did not understand these things at first. Even Jesus’ inner circle, His trusted cabinet, did not grasp what He was doing and saying by riding on a donkey. Sure, they knew He was the Savior. Peter had confessed Him as “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:16). They had heard Him teach the people and tweak the super-religious Pharisees. They had seen Him perform His miraculous signs. What on earth was He doing riding a donkey? That they just could not—or maybe would not—understand.

And we are just like them. King Jesus comes in lowly, humble fashion, and even today His followers do a doubtful double take. Jesus comes in the lowly, humble waters of Baptism. What do His followers do? Seek some other, man-made, more spectacular source of strength and life with God. Jesus comes the lowly, humble words of Absolution spoken by the mouth of a pastor. What do His followers do? Rely on themselves to create their own clean hearts and forgive themselves apart from the spoken words of Jesus’ forgiveness. Jesus comes in the lowly, humble meal of Communion. What do His followers do? Treat the meal as if nothing of consequence were happening in the eating and drinking or forget that eternal life comes through this very Meal. We disciples do not understand all these things.

What saved the disciples then? What saves us now? “When Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about Him and had been done to Him.” Only after Jesus suffers the betrayal, the denial, the mock trial … only after He suffers the sentencing, the flogging, the cross-carrying … only after He is spiked to the rough wood and hangs there for six hours, suffocating, burning with agony … only after He dies a wretched criminal’s death … only after He lies lifeless in the tomb … only after He rises from the dead—only then do we understand these things. The King came to suffer, die, and rise again. The King came not to bring earthly health or wealth, power or prosperity. No, the King came to bring treasures far more valuable, much longer lasting: life and peace with God. You can’t put a price on that! But you may receive it—simply receive it; receive it in faith—just as you do with any free gift. Look, the humble King with believing disciples!

Look, the humble King despised by proud Pharisees. The Pharisees put Jesus’ name on the “Jerusalem’s Most Wanted” list. He committed no crime, no treason, and no terrorism. He didn’t even hurt anyone. But the Pharisees plotted and schemed how they might rub Him out and kill Him. You see, Jesus had stolen something from them. He took away their religion. They spoke good things of God, but then they despised God’s works and God’s people. They looked down on other people for not being, well, as important or religious as they. Of course, they could not judge people’s hearts. But that did not stop them from seeing the outward differences or problems and then judging in their own hearts. Their own hearts did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Their own hearts trusted in themselves and their own efforts to please God. That’s what Jesus took from them. And He did it by raising the dead, by loving and forgiving sinners.

Our lowly, humble King takes away our self-centered religion too. He tears down everything in us that makes us think we belong to ourselves. He tears down everything in us that makes us think we are better than others, by what family we come from, by what church we attend, by what standing we have at work or in the community. He takes it all away and nails it to the cross in His own body. And in return He gives us His life—a humble life, a servant life, a life that receives eternal gifts from God, a life that seeks to serve God by serving whatever humble person crosses our path.

Look, our humble King revealed in His dying and rising. The Greeks came to Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Perhaps they only saw Jesus from a distance as He entered Jerusalem. No doubt, they wanted a face-to-face meeting with the Lord of Life, a personal encounter with the humble King. Philip told Andrew; Andrew took Philip, and they both told Jesus. King Jesus responded with a mini-parable: “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” How would the Greeks see Jesus? In His dying and rising. How do we see humble King Jesus? In His dying and rising. “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” That’s where He paid the price to bring you into life eternal and the never-ending kingdom of God. He died, went into the ground, but then came out alive. And now humble King Jesus bears much fruit in you by delivering the fruit of His dying and rising to you.

Dr. Luther put it this way: “If I now seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ … in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either. But I will find in the sacrament or gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross” (AE, 40:214). No, we cannot go back to the cross to find forgiveness—no, we weren’t there when they crucified our Lord, and we can’t go there in time or space. But King Jesus can and does bring the fruits and benefits of His cross to us. Look, humble King Jesus enters His new Jerusalem, His Church, riding humble and mounted under bread and wine. Here He enlivens and strengthens us. Here He resuscitates and sustains us. Here He reigns for us.

As an excellent new hymn says: “Now He who bore for mortals’ sake / The cross and all its pains / And chose a servant’s form to take, / The King of glory reigns. / Hosanna to the Savior’s name / Till heaven’s rafters ring, / And all the ransomed host proclaim / “Behold, behold your King!” (LSB 444:4) Amen.

A bit more on fasting

With Holy Week beginning this Sunday, Palm Sunday (Palmarum), it is good, right, and salutary to continue the Lenten fast. Here's a nice little explanation on fasting from my good friend, Pastor Weedon. May God bless us all with a prayerful, solemn Holy Week as we prepare for the true feast of the Resurrection of our Lord!

Is there a LUTHERAN way to fast?

Yes! The Augsburg Confession disdains the distinction of meats, and does so solidly based on Colossians But that doesn't mean that Lutherans didn't and don't fast. If we remember that fast mean "to go hungry" the solution is apparent: skip meals! It's not a matter of what FOOD you give up for Lent, but a matter of what MEALS and feeding (as in snacking!) you set aside. If one follows the typical Western fast, one eats but 1 and 1/4 to 1/2 meals per day. This is not done to impress God, but to train our bodies (that our belly is not our boss) and to free up time for prayer and money for charity. I bring this up again because we are preparing to enter Holy Week. During this week as we give time to specially contemplate the Passion of our Lord, the discipline of fasting is highly appropriate for all who can safely do it. A complete fast on Good Friday suggests itself to allow for total concentration upon our Lord's self-immolation for our salvation. Fasting is such a blessed discipline and is a bodily form of prayer - as we are reminded that no earthly food can satisfy the hunger of the human being, which is ultimately a hunger for the Blessed Trinity - to whom be glory forever!

Great Holy Week Hymn

I had never sung this hymn before this week. But now that my Kantor has been introducing it to us, I can't imagine preparing for Holy Week or going through Holy Week without it. The hymn is "No Tramp of Soldiers' Marching Feet" - #444 in Lutheran Service Book.

The tune, "Kingsfold," has taken just a bit of effort to nail down for singing, especially because, as my Kantor says, my ear wanted to sing something else at a couple of points. :-) But I have come to realize that with sturdy, durable hymns, good things come, not for those who put little effort into learning their hymns, but for those who do have to put some effort into learning and singing their hymns. Quite often the best and sturdiest hymns and hymn tunes - the ones that stay with you and put spiritual meat on your bones, so to speak - are the ones that take some time and effort to learn!

But back to the hymn itself. Once learned, this tune seems to have both a regal and a marching quality to it. Perfect for Holy Week as we ponder our Lord's kingly procession into Jerusalem without customary regal fanfare, and then as we can almost hear the tramping feet of soldiers marching to arrest Jesus and deliver Him to Pontius Pilate, and then as we raise the rafters of heaven in singing of our Lord's Easter victory.

The truly glorious thing about this hymn is how it immerses us in the humility of Palm Sunday, then takes us through our Lord's Passion, and, in the final verse, elevates us to the genuine victory procession of our Lord's Resurrection. By the way, a humble suggestion to any organist, pianist, or keyboardist who plays this hymn: Verse 4 should be played as regally and triumphantly as possible! ;-) And throughout the hymn, we keep singing of our King of glory and, in each verse, repeating the words: "Behold, behold your King!"

I find it quite fascinating that each verse places those words on quite different lips. In verse 1, the Palm Sunday crowd joyously cries out. It's the only thing that heralds the King's coming. As the rest of the verse says: "No tramp of soldiers' marching feet" and "No sound of music's martial beat" and "No bells in triumph ring, No city gates swing open wide." Our Lord's Palm Sunday entry is oh so humble.

In verse 2, it's the very stones that cry out, "Behold, behold your King," reminding us of Jesus' words that if we humans keep quiet, His creation will certainly sing His praises. The children cheer, the palms are strewn along the way, and, most powerful of all, "With every step the cross draws near." Even if we were to keep silent, or be forced into quietude, the King still receives His due praised for what He has done for our life and salvation.

Then, in verse 3, the statement "Behold, behold your King!" takes on the ironic note of Pontius Pilate's utterance as he hands Jesus over to crucifixion. The joys of Palm Sunday have faded. The thorn replaces the bloom and leaf. "The soldiers mock, the rabble cries, The streets with tumult ring." The cheery joys of Palm Sunday quickly transform into the jeering, chaotic din of Good Friday. What beautiful poetry!

But the genuine climax and meaning of the line comes out fully in verse 4, as "heaven's rafters ring" and as "all the ransomed host proclaim 'Behold, behold your King!" The verse resumes the cry of "Hosanna to the Savior's name," but on the other side of the Resurrection. After all, once our Lord rose again, He revealed what it all means. He bore the cross for us mortals, and He took on the servant's form in order that we may raise the rafters of heaven for all eternity in singing, "Behold, behold your King!"

It's a great holy week hymn, and I highly recommend learning it, if you haven't already. It will be well worthy the time and effort it takes. The pictures and poetry of the text gives much to ponder, and you will likely find yourself humming the tune to yourself long after you've sung the hymn in church or in your prayers.