Audio recording Sermon manuscript: There are three great festivals that the Christian church celebrates every year: Christmas, Easter, and today’s festival of Pentecost. During these festivals we often learn and speak about the significance of them. Therefore, with Christmas, we learn how very changed the universe has become by the Son of God being joined to our human race and born of the Virgin Mary. By this union of God and man in Jesus Christ we have been intertwined with God. At Easter we consider the way that Jesus achieved atonement and justification for all people, for all sinners. He suffered and died on the cross on Good Friday. He rose from the dead on Easter. Because of him all who believe in him will overcome sin and death and rise again to new life. So what about Pentecost? Before we speak about its significance for us, perhaps we better briefly speak about what happened. Whereas most people can tell you what Christmas and Easter are about, they get a little hazy with the events of Pentecost. The timeline goes like this: On Easter Sunday Jesus rose from the dead. He appeared to his disciples on many occasions, in rather unusual ways. For example, he didn’t seem to walk down the street or go from one place to another like a normal human being. He appeared to his disciples in a room where all the doors and windows were locked. He appeared to two disciples on the road, but they didn’t immediately recognize him. For forty days Jesus did this. Then he ascended into heaven. Fifty days after Easter Sunday is when the events happened that we heard about in Acts. The disciples and many Jews from around the world were gathered in Jerusalem for the Old Testament feast of weeks. While they were all gathered together there was a strange blowing of wind, tongues of flame, the ability to speak in other languages, and Peter testified that the only Savior of the world was the one whom these Jews had crucified about seven weeks prior. Peter told them that although they had crucified the Lord of Glory, they and their children should believe in him, be baptized, and be saved. And so it was that 3,000 were baptized that day. Thereafter they continued to gather to hear God’s Word, to pray, to eat together, and grow in grace. These are the events of Pentecost. What is the significance of this festival? There are two things that are especially important. First, we learn more about the Holy Spirit. Second, we learn more about the Christian Church. We’ll begin with the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is a festival that is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the word “spirit” we might just think of an energy or a force. That’s not altogether wrong, because most certainly the Holy Spirit works within a person. But this “spirit” is not just an energy. He is true God—just as much God as the Father or the Son is. With the three persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is not talked about as much. The Bible has much more to say about the Father and the Son. The prayers we pray in Church are most often addressed to the Father, sometimes addressed to Jesus, much less so to the Holy Spirit. Our chief hymn today is unusual in the way that it is a prayer to the Holy Spirit: “Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord.” The vast majority of our hymns are not addressed to the Holy Spirit. This is not an accident. It is not dishonoring the Holy Spirit. It is a recognition of the Holy Spirit’s proper work. On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit manifests himself in the rushing wind, the ability to speak in tongues, and the divided flames of fire. But of whom does the apostle Peter speak, when he stands up to address the crowd? He does not speak to them so much about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit causes the apostle Peter to speak about Jesus. He urges the people to call on the Name that is above every name so that they too may be saved. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, by

 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: King David was an exceptionally keen observer of mankind. There is nobody else who even comes close understanding the way that people are, except, perhaps, the apostle Paul. But I’m quite sure that even Paul learned what he knew from David’s psalms. So I’d like to begin today with some of David’s thinking concerning man. The psalm I’d like to look at is Psalm 36. The Hebrew wording is a bit obscure for the very first verse of this psalm, so it gets translated in different ways. I prefer the older translations where the psalm begins this way: “My heart showeth me the wickedness of the ungodly.” The source for David’s knowledge of wickedness is none other than his own heart. So what does he learn about wickedness in that heart of his? Answer: There is no fear of God before his eyes. The lack of the fear of God is the only way that we can make sense of sin at all. If we feared God we would be too frightened to do anything against his commandments. It’s when the cat’s away that the mice will play. The thought of punishment for what we do wrong is mysteriously absent from our minds. That’s why we are willing to break God’s commandments. We do not fear him. We’ll get away with whatever we want to do. David continues: “He flatters himself in his own eyes until his abominable sin be found out.” Despite our lack of fear, despite our sins, we go about most our days feeling like we’re not too bad of people. Sure, we sin. We’re disappointed with ourselves. But it’s not that big of a deal. We’re all in this together, and if I compare myself to others, I’m probably doing a better job than they are. This train of thought will keep chugging along for who knows how long. There’s only one way to make it stop: “He flatters himself in his own eyes until his abominable sin be found out.” When what we have done in secret, when what we’ve done that we don’t want anybody else to know about, finally comes out—to others or to ourselves—then our self-flattery collapses. It takes a heavy dose of reality, an unmistakable sign of badness, to make us stop flattering ourselves. But this is rare. We get so good at lying to ourselves that we can become impervious to the truth. David continues: “The words of his mouth are unrighteous and full of deceit. He quits being wise and doing what is good. He plots harm on his bed. He puts himself on an evil path. He does not hate what is evil.” We lie to ourselves. We lie to others. We know what we are supposed to do, and we don’t do it. All the while we flatter ourselves in our own eyes. At this point there is an abrupt shift to a totally new topic. He looks in a new direction. David sings: “Lord, your mercy reaches to the heavens; your faithfulness, to the skies. Your righteousness stands as strong as the mountains. Your judgments are like the great deep. You save both man and beast, O Lord. How precious is your mercy, O God! The children of Adam find refuge under the shadow of your wings.” At the beginning of this Psalm David is looking in here: “My heart showeth me the wickedness of the ungodly. There is no fear of God before his eyes.” Then he looks to his God and he says, “Lord, your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and your faithfulness unto the clouds.” In here is wickedness and deceit. In him is mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, and judgment. This is not surprising. We are talking about two very different things, are we not? We are one way. God is another. We all know this. But when it comes to salvation, we necessarily are putting mankind and God together. What is the bridge that we need to build between us and God, between us and our justification? The answer is that there is none. It’s like it is in David’s psalm. First he describes man. Then he speaks of God’s mercy. There is an abrupt shift. There is no conjunction, no link. The only way that we are saved is by God’s action, by God’s mercy, quit apart from ourselves. There’s nothing that can be done with man to ma

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 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The psalmist says, “For you, O Lord, are the most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.” Again, it says, “The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory is higher than the heavens.” In one of our songs in the liturgy we sing something similar: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth! Heaven and earth are full of your glory!” God is glorious. The Christ is glorious. The apostles had thought on Holy Week that this glory had only just begun for Jesus, and therefore also for them, his friends. Holy week was a good week for Jesus until that terrible night when he was betrayed. He had ridden into Jerusalem with palms and praises. He had routed his enemies who tried to slip him up with trick questions. So when Jesus tells them on the night that he was betrayed how he was going away from them, sorrow filled their hearts. The believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the one God had promised from the beginning. This Christ is supposed to be king. How can there be this talk of him going away? A kingdom was going to need to be built. How could it be built without a king? This is the concern that Jesus is addressing in our Gospel reading today. He was going to go away. He wasn’t going to remain with them in the same way that he had before. He was going to die, be resurrected, and ascend to the right hand of God the Father. But he was not going to leave them as orphans. He was going to send the Holy Spirit, whom he calls the Counselor or the Helper. Surprisingly, they will be better off when Jesus goes away, because if he did not go away the Holy Spirit would not come to them. But if he goes away he will send the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit would lead them into all the truth. Jesus told the apostles that he had many things that he would like to say to them, but they could not yet bear what he had to say. This is because the disciples were still stuck in the notion that Jesus was going to create an earthly kingdom. They thought that he would be like King David. He would kick out the Romans and make all the Gentile nations pay tribute. They, as his friends, would be given high positions in the government. A new and glorious day was dawning. It was morning again in Jerusalem. Blow the trumpets; raise an army! Let’s get this glory show on the road. But this was not how Jesus would have it go. This is not how it did go. No armies, no purple robes, no parades of goosesteppers. Without these things we can’t help but think that the whole enterprise was downgraded. It went from being a great kingdom to be a merely spiritual kingdom, which, to many minds, sounds like a pretend kingdom. Meanwhile, what happens to these apostles? According to tradition Peter is crucified upside down. Andrew is crucified on an X shaped cross. Thomas is skinned alive. Paul is beheaded. What kind of kingdom is this? It hardly appears to be even an imaginary kingdom. But appearances can be deceiving. That which is seen is temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. What is given to the apostles, and therefore also to the Christian Church even down to our own times, is not a step down from a physical kingdom, nor is it something imaginary. It is such a kingdom that triumphs over all enemies. Psalm 2 is a very important prophecy about Christ’s kingdom. In this psalm it says, “Why do the nations rage? Why do the peoples grumble in vain? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers join together against the Lord and against his Christ. They say, ‘Let us tear off their chains and throw off their ropes from us.’ But the one who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. He speaks to them in his anger and in his wrath he terrifies them. He says, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, on my holy mountain.’” The kingdom of Christ is such that the greatest nations cannot do anything against it. The Lord laughs at them when they try to resist him. In Daniel chapter 2 there is a

Audio recording  Sermon manuscript: Marketers are always trying to get people to buy their products. Perhaps you remember a couple often used phrases by the inventor Ron Popeil. With his kitchen gadgets he would say, “Set it and forget it.” And when he was working on his pitch he would say, “But wait, there’s more!” Consumers want things that will make their life easier. They want to get as much as they possibly can for their money. Marketers try to make the consumer believe that their life will be better by buying their product. They’ll be happier, have more time, and save money. Church membership is something that can be marketed. A person can make a pitch that belonging to this church or that church will make a person happier. The folks of Ron Popeil’s generation seemed to understand this. That was the generation that tried to make church feel like movie theaters, sound like soft rock concerts. They added coffee bars and book stores. Coming to church was supposed to feel like going to the mall—a place that many people would rather go to than to a church. But the marketing doesn’t have to be so intense and expensive. The marketing can be that the people are really friendly, and a person can make friends there. 100 years or so ago, being a member of a church and coming to a church was a way to make business connections and get customers. That made it beneficial to be the big church in town with the prominent, rich members. This kind of stuff works in a sense. If a marketer is perceptive enough and clever enough then the church can turn into the hot new thing. But you always need to have that clever marketer. Where is Shopko? Where is Sears & Roebuck? At one time these places were on the cutting edge. Now they don’t exist. They didn’t keep up with the times. So if a church decides that it wants to play that game, it better be ready to constantly reinvent itself. But these sorts of things are really like those people who were selling merchandise in the Temple. Jesus drove them out with a whip, overturning their tables. He said, “It is written, ‘My house is to be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it into a den of robbers.” The Temple itself saved no one. The merchandise saved no one. What was important about the Temple was that it was a place to have fellowship with God. So also, church membership at this place or that place saves no one. Church membership at this congregation does not save you. There is only One who can save you. The Scriptures say, “There is no other name given under heaven by which we may be saved than Jesus.” So churches are not supposed to exist for their own sake. If churches exist for their own sake—to get bigger, to get famous, etc.—then they have lost sight of the reason why they exist. Christian congregations exist so that the saving truth may be made known, so that people may believe that truth, and through faith in that truth be saved. What belongs in our congregations is truth and nothing but the truth. If people believe that truth, then God be praised. If people do not believe that truth, then so be it. Altering the truth so as to make people believe it might be good marketing. It might make the congregation grow. But no earthly congregation exists forever. What will exist forever are the people whom we are called to serve with the truth. All those people will either live forever in heaven with Jesus, or they will be thrown into the lake of fire—which is where we all deserve to go, but Jesus has saved us from that fate. What is important is that we be a place of truth, not a place that caters to whatever a person might want to hear. So let’s hear the truths that our Scriptures have to teach us this morning. In our Old Testament reading we are told that God is compassionate. His mercies are new every morning. And yet we will bear a yoke. Our face may be thrust down into the dust. We may be filled with disgrace. But even though the Lord brings grief, he will show compassion on the basis

Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The relationship between shepherds and sheep is not a relationship of equality. Shepherds are one thing. Sheep are another. Their roles are not interchangeable. It is also not the case that sheep need to have their say in what is going on. They are not asked for input on where they should go or what they should do. All the decisions, or at least all the good decisions, are made by the shepherd. I say “good decisions” because the sheep are able to wander away, get lost, and manage to get eaten by wolves. but none of these things are in the sheep’s best interests. All the good decisions are made by the shepherd who leads the flock into good grazing land, who keeps them safe from predators, and so on. The Scriptures speak in several places about God being the Shepherd, and his people being sheep. For example, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul.” Then we have the readings we have heard this morning. In Ezekiel God says that he is the Shepherd who will seek out his sheep. Ezekiel was a prophet who lived later than most of the prophets that we are familiar with. He was a prophet while God’s people were at an exceptionally low point. Their nation had been decapitated. All their leaders had been taken away to live in Babylon. Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed. This was a time of clouds and thick darkness. But God would shepherd them. In our Gospel reading Jesus says that this Shepherd who gets talked about in the Scriptures is him. He is the Shepherd whose rod and staff comfort you. He is the Shepherd who will gather his people from all the places where they have been scattered. Jesus knew Psalm 23. Jesus knew Ezekiel. He wasn’t pulling illustrations out of thin air when he says, “I am the Good Shepherd. … I lay my life down for the sheep.” So when the Scriptures speak about the Lord being the Shepherd, we need to know that is talking about Jesus. I began today by speaking about the great inequality that exists between the shepherd and the sheep. Let’s apply this to our relationship with Jesus. In our reading from Ezekiel, it is clear that Jesus’s sheep are not all neatly gathered together with a bow on top. God is emphatic as he preaches through Ezekiel. He says, “I, I myself will seek the welfare of my flock and carefully search for them.” The shepherd has work to do because of the way that the sheep are. One has gone over here. Another has gone over there. He pulls in these sheep wherever they might be found so that they may be safe under his protection. This shows us that God is not the way that he is often understood to be. Oftentimes God is thought of as sitting alone on a throne very far away. It is up to us to make our way to him. We also do this with the idols we falsely worship. The god of success and personal glory sits high up on a throne very far away. It is up to us to work hard and never give up so as to make our way to him. So, for example, those who choose to worship the God of athletic greatness have to do their prayers, listen to their Scriptures, and make their sacrifices every day. Their prayers are their dreams of success and glory. Their Scriptures are the motivational speakers they listen to, or the songs that they have put on their playlists. They listen to these Scriptures while they make their morning and evening sacrifices of punishing their body in the gym. Folks don’t think that this is worshipping gods, but as our Large Catechism says, “Whatever we cling to with our heart, that, for us, is our god.” So whatever we devote our heart, soul, strength and mind to—that obviously is our God, whether we recognize it or not. Of course none of these idols, or false gods, actually exist. There is only one God. And he is very different than the false gods of people’s imaginations. In fact, it’s almost the opposite. False gods are always demanding more of us. On

 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: On the evening of Easter Jesus appeared to his disciples. He said to them, “Peace to you.” We have a hard time grasping what Jesus says to us here. It is almost standard operating procedure for us to not think very highly of something when it does not seem to be needed. We don’t appreciate health until we are sick. We don’t appreciate good weather until we’ve had weeks of gray skies. So it is also with peace. There’s another problem with peace: we use the word too much. The same thing happens with the word “love.” Using words a lot seems to degrade the meaning of them. We want world peace. We want peace for our times. The hippies had a peace sign. So what is peace? Is it being cool? Is it the advance of modern civilization? Is it non-violence? Peace is a grand word, again, like the word “love.” Both of these words loom large in God’s plan. Heaven is a place of peace and love. Practically all the blessings that we use have the word “peace” in them. “Grace, mercy, and peace to you…” “The peace of God that surpasses all understanding…” “The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” All these blessings are actually quotations from Scripture. It is God’s will that you should have peace. That’s why he does what he does—so that his people may be blessed with peace. So peace is grand and heavenly. At the same time peace is simple. Babies understand peace. When babies are hurt or frightened they cry in a certain way. It is a very sad thing when babies cry like that. We want to comfort them. And we are very thankful and joyful when that baby is blessed by peace. Mom picks him up and familiarity floods the baby’s senses. He knows the smell, he knows the feel, he hears the sound, he knows he’s safe. Peace is simple. At the same time it is profound. Jesus says, “Peace to you.” Peace is bestowed upon the disciples by the Jesus whom they know. He shows them his hands, his feet, and his side. This is the same Jesus who hung on the cross and died. Now he is there, they know him, and he is giving them peace. As far as how they felt, this was a great change and a great blessing. Prior to this they had no peace. Not only were they severely disturbed by what had happened to Jesus, whom they had thought was the Christ, but they were concerned for their own skin. The doors were locked for fear of the Jews. The peace that Jesus brought them was not unlike the peace that a mother gives her baby. At the same time, Jesus’s peace is powerful. A person might wonder, how long is this peace going to last? Forever and ever. Do you see his hands and he feet? He died for your sin. He was raised for your justification. The apostle Paul says, “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Things have changed. God is no longer angry at us for our sins, having punished our sins in the Lord Jesus. Death has lost its sting. It is not the expression of terror and wrath that it otherwise would be as God’s punishment for our sin. This is because we are no longer under the Law. If we were under the Law, then it would howl and cry out for our punishment. If we were put on trial, and the things that we have done were brought up for judgment, then we would prefer that the mountains fall on us rather than face the shame. And we haven’t even said anything about the punishment that justice should demand. According to the Law there is only peace where the Law has been fulfilled. If the Law has not been fulfilled there is only wrath and punishment. Along these lines let us notice again Jesus’s words and his actions. He says “Peace to you.” He doesn’t say “Wrath to you” or “Woe to you.”  If the Law and our actions were the deciding factor, then there would be no way for him to say “Peace to you.” He’d have to say, “Woe to you.” Honesty and truthfulness would demand it. But Jesus honestly and truthfully says, “Peace to you.” That is an authoritative word. He can say it, and he

 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: There is a man named Elon Musk who is very busy. He owns and oversees several companies. Tesla and Space X are the most famous. For a brief time this year he surpassed Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, as the richest person in the world when his stock prices went way up. The reason why Elon Musk is so thoroughly believed in that people are prepared to throw their money at him is because he is so forward looking. He is looking for the next big thing. There is one project of his that seems to be more along the lines of science fiction than what is actually possible. He’d like to make a direct connection between our brains and computer systems by implanting wires into our skulls. This would mean that we could control computers just by thinking. We wouldn’t have to use our fingers (which Elon Musk likes to call “meat sticks.”) This would give human beings even more power than they already have with our current, slow, keystroke by keystroke communication with computer systems. It also opens up one more possibility that is relevant to Easter. This is where it seems to be really far out. If this project works as well as Elon Musk is hoping it will work, then human beings might be able to save their consciousness on machines. It would be like how we save documents and pictures on our computer or on the cloud. Perhaps it would eventually be possible to download consciousness to another body after this body wears out. A person could perhaps extend his or her consciousness indefinitely. The goal is eternal life. This goal is an old one, and its predecessors have not worked out very well. About thirty years ago there were people who were very excited about cryogenics. This is where a body is put into a deep freeze in the hopes that eventually technology will advance to the point where they can be resurrected. Thus there are a few dozen bodies moldering away in freezers in a warehouse in California. The ancient Egyptians also believed that they could preserve a person’s body. They began the practice of embalming bodies several thousand years ago. Despite Hollywood, those mummies have never yet come back to life. But even if these things could work and would work, the resurrection that they promise is still a far cry from the resurrection of Easter, and Jesus’s resurrection that is promised to those who are his. Those like Elon Musk, who are searching for eternal life, are looking for a mere continuation of this present life. There is no fundamental change that takes place. Things just continue on like they always have. The hope, even for those whose lives might be extended in this way, is to just make the most of it. With Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, there are most certainly fundamental changes that make post-resurrection life very different from pre-resurrection life. Jesus’s resurrection was not just a return to “normal.” When you are resurrected, it also won’t be a return to “normal.” So today let’s explore what Jesus’s resurrection means and the way that it changes our life. First of all, when Jesus died the devil was defeated. When Jesus rose, we were able to know that and make use of it. To speak about Jesus defeating the devil is about as fundamental as we can get when we are speaking about our life. The bible speaks of the devil as the prince of this world. He has many powers and authorities. Since we are born in sin, we naturally belong to him, and we serve him as we carry out his will. The change that took place in Adam and Eve with their fall into sin makes us all subject to the devil. And even when we have been converted and baptized, we find it all too easy to return to our submission to him. But while we are weak, Jesus is strong. His death broke the devil’s power completely. The devil no longer has any real power. He has no rights over anyone. The only way that he has any power whatsoever is by lying. He has to steal people away from Jesus with his lies, falsely convincing them of wh

 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Tonight I’d like to consider something that Peter says in our epistle reading: “Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, because Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” First, I’d like to speak a little bit about suffering. We know from the Bible that suffering is the consequence of the fall into sin. With sin came death and everything that leads up to death, including pain, sickness, and disease. Psychological and spiritual suffering came with the fall—the worst of which is the feeling of alienation from God. There is also emotional suffering. Right from the get-go human beings have tried to alleviate suffering to the greatest extent that they could. Right after Adam and Eve sinned they tried to alleviate their shame by making some clothes for themselves. From that time forward we have applied all the gifts and abilities that God has given to us to eliminate suffering wherever we might find it. One invention after another has reduced our toils and troubles and pains and sickness. Just think about it. We don’t have to walk anywhere. With our HVAC systems we are never cold nor hot. Gadgets and devices of all kinds make it so that we never have to exert ourselves while doing chores. There are also all kinds of drugs that can address disease, pain, and even our moods. Now there is nothing unclean about these things unless they contradict God’s commandments. They can all be sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. We shouldn’t deliberately shun them like the Amish do. There’s nothing in God’s Word that says we should do that. However, let’s not pretend that this way of living hasn’t had a powerful effect on us. When we are trained from the moment of our birth that suffering is bad and it must be eliminated, then it will be much harder to believe what the Bible says. For example, Jesus says that we are to take up our cross and follow him. The cross was the Roman government’s way of inflicting capital punishment in a particularly painful way. It was reserved for slaves and non-citizens. Capital punishment for Roman citizens was beheading—a much quicker and less painful way to die. So Jesus is calling us to a life of suffering. But this is not a life of suffering simply for suffering’s sake. It’s not like everything gets turned upside down where suffering is good and joy is bad. Suffering is still sad and hard, but it can be blessed, good, and holy. Suffering is also not something that we should go out of our way to find. Peter says, “it is good to suffer, if it is God’s will.” Again, I might mention the Amish. God is not better pleased with us if we use some gadget or don’t use some gadget. We should not make up good works for ourselves, and then feel good about the suffering that those self-chosen works might cause us. That is not suffering for doing good. But God will, indeed, give us our crosses to bear if we are his disciples. These normally come in our everyday walk of life. God puts us all in families. Inevitably there will be hard times in those families. How do you react when you are mistreated? Do you forgive? Or do you seek some kind of payback? Or, what is much more common, we will rationalize our payback by convincing ourselves that we are teaching them a lesson. If we allow this one irritation to pass, then we’ll become a doormat, so we better teach them a lesson. So everybody teaching everybody else a lesson with their sour faces, sharp responses, and tit for tat. Of course, these things can easily grow until we hate each other. It doesn’t need to be this way though. If we would only cover up the faults of our loved ones and let the mistreatment roll off our back, there wouldn’t be these blazing fires. Also, all along the line, if either party will only humble themselves, and quit teaching the other a lesson, how quickly the fire would be knocked down! Peter, a lit

 Audio recording Sermon manuscript: I remember one of my seminary professors telling the classroom of future pastors that Good Friday is not a funeral for Jesus. That is to say, it is not an opportunity to open the vein of sentimentality and let it gush all over everything. There is a way of observing Good Friday where we feel good about feeling so bad about what happened to Jesus. In a way we hold up a mirror, while watching the sad scene with Jesus, to look at our own tears streaming down. The conclusions we draw is that we must be rather tenderhearted and good people—after all, just look how sad we are. Luke tells us in his Gospel about Jesus’s surprising response to some sentimental women who were following him while he was carrying his cross to Golgotha. It says, “A large crowd of people was following Jesus, including women who were mourning and wailing for him. Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. Be sure of this: The days are coming when they will say, “Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never gave birth, and the breasts that never nursed.”’” In this way Jesus ruined their pity party. They were having a nice time feeling sorry for the man, and then he has to make himself so unpitiable. What a jerk! I bet their tears dried up real quick. There is a different conclusion that we should draw on Good Friday than that we are ever so tenderhearted. Paul says in our reading, “We have come to this conclusion: One died for all; therefore, all died.” This is a very different conclusion. Instead of feeling like pretty good people, who have gone out of their way on this Good Friday, to attend Jesus’s funeral and to feel bad about he has been mistreated, we are confronted with this stark claim that we have died. And why have we died? Because we were irredeemable. God says in Jeremiah 17:9 that the human heart is deceitful beyond measure. It cannot be cured. It cannot even be understood. Feeling good about yourself for how you are feeling bad about something is crazy. But it is just part and parcel of our standard operating procedure. Our flesh is always looking for its own advantage. It looks at something or someone and says, “What can I use you for?” Thus we might look at the cross of Christ. Can I somehow get an emotional reaction out of this? I’ve seen many an individual at a funeral who resents the preaching of glad tidings of great news. It interrupts their feasting on their own sadness that they had been enjoying. Or how about how we snarl and snap and bite at our God when he tells us to do something good. As children we would get enraged at our parents for telling us to do something—some chore or whatever. That is sheer madness! Why should we resent it when what they are telling us to do is good and helpful? All of God’s commandments are for our good. So why do we get ticked off when he tells us we should pray to him or that we should not despise preaching and his word, but gladly hear and learn it? And when he tells us that we should be faithful to the spouse whom God has given us? Or that we should be content with the wealth that he has given us? Or that we should be generous and help others? Why do we hate God so much? It is as the Bible says that our heart is desperately wicked. It’s so wicked that we will never get to the bottom of it. And so don’t allow yourself the cheap luxury of believing that you are a pretty good person for how bad you feel about everything that happened to Jesus. That is a lie. What you are looking for is some proof within yourself that you must be one of the good ones. After all, just look at the tears. Do not allow yourself to draw that conclusion. Consider, instead, the conclusion that Paul makes: “One died for all; therefore, all died.” You hate God so much, and, specifically, you hate God’s commandments so much, that there was nothing else that could be done with you. You had to be put dow