Good Friday 2007
Good Friday
Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 4:14–16; 5:7–9; John 19
April 6, 2007
“Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”
Introduction: On the Cross, Jesus Was Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by God So That We Are Accounted Righteous, Healed, and at Peace with God. On this most sacred and holy day, we stand in solemn silence at the foot of the cross.
Outside, in most of the world, life goes on as if nothing happens, as if nothing happened two thousand years ago. The world remains blind to the things of God, and it remains indifferent to Jesus Christ and the cross. But today we shut the world out, for it has no place here. Today we open our eyes, our ears, and all our senses to the one great reality of which we sing in the Good Friday hymn “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”: Sing first verse: Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, See Him dying on the tree! ’Tis the Christ, by man rejected; Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He! ’Tis the long-expected Prophet, David’s Son, yet David’s Lord; Proofs I see sufficient of it: ’Tis the true and faithful Word. (LSB 451:1)
This verse was portrayed graphically by King David in Psalm 22. Written around 1000 BC, this psalm is a virtual photograph of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, our Lord. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v 1). “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’ ” (vv 6–8). “I am poured out like water” (v 14). “My tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (vv 15–18).
Therefore today, as these things have happened and they have been handed down to us by the Apostles so that we would know and believe, we meditate on this profound truth. Knowing what God has done through His Son Jesus Christ we confess together: On the Cross, Jesus Was Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by God So That We Are Accounted Righteous, Healed, and at Peace with God.
Jesus is stricken, so that we are accounted righteous. The way in which Jesus was stricken is truly striking! He was stricken by God, his Father! Isaiah, writing in about 700 BC, gave his own photographic description of the events of Good Friday, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Is 53:3–4).
Why would God strike his own Son? In the mystery and wonder of God’s love for us sinners, he desired to place the punishment we deserved upon his sinless Son. “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Is 53:5). Only through Jesus’ passion, suffering, and death in our place and as our substitute could God’s wrath against sin be appeased, and His justice fulfilled. In Jesus we are accounted righteous before God the Father! As the hymn continues: Sing verse two: Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning, Was there ever grief like His? Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting His distress; Many hands were raised to wound Him, None would intervene to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him Was the stroke that justice gave. (LSB 451:2)
Now that justice has struck Jesus, it can no longer strike us, and God declares us righteous in His sight because of what His Son, Jesus Christ has done for us. What a mystery of unfathomable love is before us! Knowing what God has done through His Son Jesus Christ we again confess together: On the Cross, Jesus Was Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by God So That We Are Accounted Righteous, Healed, and at Peace with God.
Today, we also see that Jesus is smitten, so that we are healed. “So 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’ ” (Jn 19:16–19).
The details of Christ’s suffering are well-known to us all: the spitting, the scourging, the blows, the crown of thorns, the nails in hands and feet, the pierced side. The Old Testament clearly states that “he who is hanged [on a tree] is accursed” (Deut 21:23 NKJV). Being smitten by the hands of the Jews and the Romans was not a pretty sight. It still causes people to recoil as they react to its film portrayal in the movie The Passion of the Christ. Yet we must not look away, because it is through Him and His suffering and death that we are saved. So we continue to sing verse three. Ye who think of sin but lightly Nor suppose the evil great Here may view its nature rightly, Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed, See who bears the awful load; ’Tis the Word, the Lord’s anointed, Son of Man and Son of God. (LSB 451:3)
The real smiting was from God the Father, so that now we are healed! The healing for us is complete, it is done. We did not bring it about. Jesus did!
John, the beloved disciple, gave his eyewitness account. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (Jn 19:28–30). Knowing what God has done through His Son Jesus Christ we again confess together: On the Cross, Jesus Was Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by God So That We Are Accounted Righteous, Healed, and at Peace with God.
This day we see that Jesus is afflicted, so that we are at peace. In Hebrews 4, we learn that “since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (vv 14–16).
How can the affliction of Jesus bring us peace? Because Jesus has passed through life, death, resurrection, and ascension into the heavens at God’s right hand, we have a high priest who pleads our case at the throne of grace. As our Brother, he sympathizes with our frail natures. As our Lord, he offers us mercy in every situation and place. He himself is our peace. And thus the hymn concludes: Here we have a firm foundation, Here the refuge of the lost: Christ, the Rock of our salvation, Is the name of which we boast; Lamb of God, for sinners wounded, Sacrifice to cancel guilt! None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built. (LSB 451:4)
Isaiah knew the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is 53:6). David knew the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time. “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. . . . Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it” (Ps 22:27–28, 30–31). John knew the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time. “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. . . . ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced’ ” (Jn 19:34–35, 37). The writer of Hebrews knew the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (5:8–9). You and I know the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time. He did this for you and me!
On this most sacred and holy day, we stand in solemn silence at the foot of the cross. Knowing what God has done through His Son Jesus Christ we confess together: On the Cross, Jesus Was Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by God So That We Are Accounted Righteous, Healed, and at Peace with God.
The peace of God, which transcends all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds, in true faith in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.[i] Amen.
----
[i] Rev. David R. Nehrenz
