John 19,16-30. Good Friday

✠ We preach Christ and Him crucified ✠

Iesus Nazarenus rex Iudaeorum

John 19,16-30 2115 

Karfreitag 031 schwarz

Agape, Chionia, Irene, Virgins, Martyrs at Thessalonia, 304 ✠ 

3. April 2015 

1. O Silent, blessed Good Friday! O Evening after a hard day’s work, O Lovely Evening Star after darkness filled the day! O Divine Rest for sinners! O Hope of eternal life, O Blessed End of suffering, passion and tears! O Lord, have mercy on us in Your reign and keep us in Your great peace from which all joy and hope grow. O Lord Jesus, have mercy on us and grant us Your peace (Löhe 157).  Amen. 

2. »So Pontius Pilate delivered Jesus over to the chief priests to be crucified. Then they took Jesus, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read: „Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.“«  

3. Jesus’ preaching was fulfilled on Karfreitag. The Synoptic Gospels record on four different occasions where Jesus said He would suffer, be crucified and die (Matthew 16,21; 17,22-23; 20,17-19; 26,1). Tonight, as we remember our Lords crucifixion, His final words from the cross „It is finished“ reveal two truths:

1. The crucified Jesus is proclaimed as the King of the Jews throughout all the world. 

2. The Scriptures are fulfilled in His suffering.

3. Jesus provides for and begins to build His Church while He hangs on the cross (Wenz ¶ 3). 

4. It is obvious from even a cursory reading of the New Testament Scriptures that Jesus truly is the King of the Jews. His words and actions showed that He is the Son of God sent from heaven who human ancestry descends from the royal line of King David. But Pilate made the claim official when he had an inscription (titulum) written and placed above Jesus’ head when He was crucified. It was common for the Romans to place the criminal’s crime upon his cross so that passers by would know why the person was being executed by the Roman State. Jesus’ criminal offense was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek: מנצרת, מלך היהודים ישו, Iesus Nazarenus rex Iudaeorum, Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων, thus in English: „Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews“, and as it is commonly rendered today upon crosses and crucifixes with the abbreviation „INRI“. 

5. „Jesus is the King of Israel, in who all the prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled: the prophecy of the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His people, the prophecy of the King who establishes God’s law, the prophecy of the water by which the sinner is sprinkled for the remission of sins. The king of Israel, hung on the cross and saved His people and all the world through the sacrifice of His life“ (Wenz ¶ 17).

6. „The world has never seen such a king. He was sent from God the Father and enthroned as the King of kingss. His reign is His love; His power is His sacrifice, His judgment is His mercy, His fruit of eternal life is for all who believe in Him“ (Wenz ¶ 18). 

7. „Jesus was proclaimed as the King of Israel in fulfillment of the promises of salvation spoken by the Prophets“ (Wenz ¶ 19). 

8. The Gospel according to John records four specific Scriptures that Jesus fulfilled during His crucifixion. The Roman soldiers cast lots for His seamless tunic; this was prophesied in Psalm 22: »They divide My clothes among them and cast lots for my garment« (Psalm 22,18). Jesus said: »I thirst«; this was prophesied in Psalm 69: »They put gall in My good and gave Me vinegar for My thirst« (Psalm 22,15; 69,21). The Romans did not break His legs or any other bones in His body; this was prophesied in Psalm 34: » God protects all His bones, and not one of them will be broken« (Psalm 34,20). Finally, the Romans pierced His side; this was prophesied in Zechariah 12: »I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierce, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son« (Zechariah 12,10). 

9. While Jesus suffered on the cross, He made sure His mother was provided for after His death and departure. Jesus commends His mother into the care of young John the Apostle; John took care of Mary until she died and years later he wrote the Holy Gospel that bears his name. What Jesus does for Mary, He does for His Church. Jesus provides for His Christians. The apostles were scattered, hiding and in fear on Karfreitag, but days later they were gathered together, sent to proclaim the gospel and they travelled throughout the earth preaching the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ.   

10. Beloved John tells us: »When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said: „It is finished!“, and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.« This final statement from Jesus is not a cry of defeat, but a simple and powerful proclamation of victory. Jesus’ suffering and humiliation under the law is over. The sin of the entire world has been purchased. The ransom price has been paid, and the Heavenly Father’s wrath and anger against sin and the sinner has been sated. The gospel leaves sinners in overwhelming joy. The gospel brings us to the foot of the cross and shows us Jesus, the Lamb of God, the King of the Jews, who has redeemed us back to God.

11. Behold, the Son of Man, the King of the Jews, hangs lifeless on the cross. Jesus suffered and died for you. Your sins, all of them, are forgiven. Eternal life is now yours. Salvation is given unto you. On the cross, Jesus reconciles you back to God the Father. Jesus has made peace between God and us. Behold, Christ crucified for you. 

12. Karfreitag draws to a close with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus asking Pilate for the body of Jesus so they might bury Him before the day of Preparation arrives at 6 p.m. Friday evening. Pilate consented, and they placed Jesus in a new tomb that was in the garden near Calvary (John 19,38-42). Sometime between His death and resurrection Jesus descended into hades. John Chrysostom describes Jesus’ harrowing of hades: 

Let no one fear death, for the death of our Savior has set us free.

He has destroyed it by enduring it.

He destroyed hades when He descended into it.

He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.

Isaiah foretold this when he said:

‘You, O hades, have been troubled by encountering Him below.’

Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.

It was in an uproar because it is mocked.

It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.

It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.

It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.

Hell took a body, and discovered God.

It took earth, and encountered Heaven.

It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.

O death, where is thy sting?

O hades, where is thy victory? (Chrysostom in an Easter sermon preached in 400). 

13. Beloved John tells us in his Apocalypse why Christ’s descent into hades is important: »When I saw Jesus, I fell a His feet like a dead man. And He placed His hand on me, saying: „Do no be afraid; I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and hades!“« (Revelation 1,18). 

14. May the Christ was crucified, died, was buried and descended into hades. Karfreitag ends in darkness and shadows, but behold Light is dawning and the Bright Morning Star is about to arise and shine upon all the earth!   

15. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Who loved the world so much that You gave Yourself up for us all, we remember this day Your suffering and sacrifice for Your fallen creation, so that by Your death none should perish, but everyone who believes on You has eternal life.  Amen. 

Which is poured out for everyone.

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 2011 Cambridge University Press. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand. 

Wenz. Armin. A sermon preached on John 19,16-30 on Karfreitag, 10. April 2009. Copyright © 2009 The Rev. Dr. Armin Wenz. Translation © 2011 The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind.