The reading of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Matthew:
The sermon:
✠ Psalmody: Psalm 22:19, 21; 1a; Psalm 73:23b–24, 1–3; Psalm 22:1–8, 17b–18, 21, 23a, 31; Psalm 69:20–21; Matthew 26:42b
✠ Lection: Zechariah 9:9–12; Philippians 2:5–11; Matthew 26:1—27:66
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
By the blessed Gospel according to St. Matthew, we heard much this morning. We said much. We numbered ourselves among many a great sinner, confessing their words as ours, bundled with them like chaff prepared for the eternal fire if there were no One to save us, to change our hearts and minds to something different; different toward God; different toward one another. Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord, for He has done what is needed. We heard much better about Him than of ourselves, for in this great Passion story, the Sun of Righteousness rises upon us. We have heard of things greater than our betrayal of Christ, of being numbered among the crowd, of denying Him in our lives, by fleeing from Him after failing to keep watch with Him. What is greater is Him. He betrays not the betrayers, but dies for us. He willingly numbers Himself among sinners, becoming sin for us. He denies us not but intercedes before the Father on our behalf. He flees not, neither leaves nor forsakes us in our deepest need, but stands faithfully by our side as a dear Husband willingly gives His own life for His beloved Bride. He keeps watch when we open our eyes and we close them, both in nightly sleep and in the sleep of death. St. Matthew carries us on that glorious journey through those final hours of our Lord’s life strewn with the dark shadows of our sin, but he writes with the inspired hope that we focus not on them, but upon the Bright Morning Star Who dawns in our hearts to scatter the darkness with His light of blessed suffering and death.
By the Holy Spirit, St. Paul also bestows upon us divine enlightening, further insight into what we have witnessed by St. Matthew’s witness to us. By the epistle to the Philippians, behold the great treasures waiting to be mined out the Passion story and the Word of humiliation, crucifixion, and glorification. Behold, the mind of Christ, His willingness and joy of mind upon others, the mind that He gives to be our own; to change us from doomed self-centered chaff to wheat of benefit to those in need. The mind of death focuses on itself, for in order to keep the living heart trapped, it must be constantly reminded of deathly things. But the way of Life is in the mind of Christ Who bestows life that it, and not death, is experienced both now and forever. Give no place to the mind of death, but let the mind of Christ, the mind of Life, rule your days and nights. Scatter the darkness with thoughts occupied by the truth of His light. He has won this life, this benefit, this privilege for you to have His mind. It is His will.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation. Jesus, the Eternal Son from Heaven, possessing all the power, and the kingdom, and the glory of the one and only true God, did not deny His own deity, His equality with God, His unity with the Father, for the pleasure of the great and mighty God is to pour out grace and mercy upon helpless sinners Himself personally. Jesus could not consider taking up His Father’s will, as the sacrificial Son, to be robbery. Jesus is our Help indeed. He did not deny the substance of Who He Is, but made Himself of no reputation among us. He sought not the worldly, vain recognition, status, or securities, nor the dying dainties for which man longs with covetous hearts. He lived with the pure mind that discerns the things of this world for what they are and for what they can never be, for your salvation is the more valuable possession to be gained.
Being in the form of God, He came taking the form of a bondservant. He lived and died for the better prize of man’s soul. He lived and died for others. He never fell into the traps that ensnare us, but kept His clear and bright eyes upon the Father’s will, the salvation of others, and the path on which He would tread in order to win it. Oh, the wonderful glory and good news for us that God came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many!
He came in the likeness of men. Therefore, we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. He perfectly endured the trials of this life, having now obtained the prize of a righteous life, which He bestows upon you in your baptism into Him as He rose up out of the Jordan, overcame Satan in the wilderness, wielded authority over demons, disease, and dreadful seas, and went up to Jerusalem to be your unblemished Sacrifice once and for all. No sins need further payment. The shed blood of the God-Man poured upon your lips is sufficient to cleanse you unto all eternity.
For this purpose of redeeming you, of winning you back from sin, death, and the devil, the Gospel witness proclaims how He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. We can spend no time in thinking that Jesus shouldn’t have had to do this. That fact is completely irrelevant with where we are and it is not the mind of Christ. His mind is that, in full knowledge of every shred of our betrayal of him, of all our adulterous ways while His Bride, of our denial of Him into all the halls of our life as our Savior, His mind kept purely upon the task of serving as only God in the flesh can do and no one else. He brings relief where we see none is deserved. He is the unearned Gift that doesn’t seek to be earned. He is the story not too good to be true, because He Himself the Truth, and the Way, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Him and He has gladly provided that Way atoning for all your sins by means of His shed blood.
God bled and died so that you may eat of His flesh and drink of His blood for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Lay hold of this joyous truth that you are redeemed by the God of grace Who endured all things. He is the crucified One, for you, therefore God has also highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow either by force or in joyful thanksgiving and praise. The Father shines with bright delight that His only-begotten Son suffered and died for the sake of undeserving sinners. That is the way of God. Blessed be His Name forever and ever! Join in your Father’s pleasure, for again this day, behold, your King comes to you, so that every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Jesus is glorified because He has done all this. He is glorified because He trod the path that He did. Let us join with the angels, with all the company of heaven, and with all the saints upon the earth in glorifying the crucified Christ with shouts of thanksgiving now and forevermore.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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