7th Day of Lent
Dear friends in Christ! In our Lenten services we are examining that great psalm which is a prophecy of the Messiah’s suffering and death; a psalm that is frequently quoted in the NT as being fulfilled in Jesus’ life, suffering and death—Psalm 69. As we see the prophecy of the OT and its fulfillment in the NT, we see the glorious unity of Scripture; we see the one Author of Scripture, namely, the Holy Spirit who spoke by the prophets of the OT and the apostles and evangelists in the NT. As we examine this prophecy of our Lord’s Passion, we are all the more strengthened in our faith in Jesus, that He truly is the Savior of the world, our Savior from sin, death, devil and hell.
In our psalm, we hear our suffering Savior crying out in great anguish. But His crying out is not a complaining or a lament of impatience and certainly not one of despair. He was not forced to suffer, as He Himself says [[Jn. 10.18]: No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. His crying out that we hear in prophecy in our psalm reveals to us the greatness and bitterness of His suffering. We poor sinners cannot rightly understand what the Lord suffered to be forsaken by the Father and the object of His wrath; we cannot comprehend how terrible that suffering was to His holy nature. It is a suffering without compare. But why did Jesus take such suffering upon Himself? What compelled Him, then, into suffering and death? As we examine the few verses of our text this evening, we will see that it was His incomprehensibly great love that drove Him to suffer and die. It was, first of all, a love of God, His heavenly Father; and secondly His love for us sinners.
1. Jesus’ death was not just a martyr’s death; it was not a death like so many others suffered at the hands of evil people. It wasn’t that Jesus merely died as an example to stand up for what one believes. If that were the case; if it were the case that Jesus suffered and died as a victim of circumstance, as a victim of the triumph of evil, our faith, our comfort, our entire Christian hope would be in vain. But the fact of the matter is, is that Jesus’ suffering and dying, laying down His life, was a sacrifice of love, of His love of His heavenly Father.
That’s why our psalm text is so valuable. Whereas the Gospel accounts show us the outward, physical acts of what Jesus endured, the prophecies—like our psalm—tell us what was happening inside of Jesus, in His heart and mind. What is it that we read here that Jesus says to His Father? For Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered My face. Jesus has endured His sufferings because in great love for the Father, He did what the Father sent Him to do and as He willingly agreed to do. In another psalm [40.7], the psalmist records Jesus, the Son of God, the Second Person of the holy Trinity, saying: Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the Book it is written of Me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.” For the Father’s sake, because He willed it and because of the Son’s great, perfect love of the Father, Jesus bore reproach, that is He suffered insult and scorn not only at the time of His Passion but throughout His earthly ministry.
But in love for His Father, for His sake, Jesus, the Son came to this earth. Because God the Father willed it, Jesus, the Son, came to satisfy God’s perfect righteousness for us since we can’t; He came to obtain mercy for us; He came to promote God’s glory; He came to redeem the creation; He came to carry out His commands; He came to establish God’s kingdom. In His love for the Father, Jesus delighted to do His will and, according to God’s predetermined foreknowledge and counsel, He willingly endured the pain, insults and sufferings—because He loves the Father. That’s why Jesus’ sacrifice is a great sacrifice of love. Because God willed it, Jesus willingly, in love, came and for the Father’s sake bore insult.
We poor sinners were in deepest misery on account of our sin. But God had mercy on us. He spoke to His Son, as Luther portrays it in the hymn: ‘Tis time to have compassion. Then go bright Jewel of My crown, and bring to man salvation; from sin and sorrow set him free, slay bitter death for him that he may live with You forever. The Son obeyed His Father’s will, was born of virgin mother and God’s good pleasure to fulfill [#387 5,6]. Christ was obedient; He placed Himself in service to His Father; He brought the sacrifice--Himself.
That love showed itself in willing obedience no matter what the shame, suffering and insult Jesus would have to endure. Jesus says through the prophet Isaiah [50.5,6]: The Lord GOD has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
The depth of Jesus’ love for the Father is seen in how deeply He humbles Himself: Shame has covered My face… and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on Me. In love of His Father, Jesus allows Himself to be loaded down with the shame and guilt of all the sins of all of sinful humanity. Shame covers Jesus face because the full disgrace of the guilt of all of mankind is placed on Him. Here we see what Paul writes [2 Cor. 5.21]: [God] made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us. But in perfect love for His Father, Jesus agrees; it was precisely for this reason that Jesus came to earth. The insults and guilt of those who insult, blaspheme and dishonor God’s holy name by their sin falls on Christ; they are charged to Him. That’s why Jesus must atone for, pay for them by His great anguish and pain.
How greatly and perfectly Christ loves the Father is seen in how deeply He humbled Himself and did not seek His own honor but the Father’s. This love of the Father drove Jesus, the Son, to His suffering making it a sacrifice of love. So great is the Son’s love for the Father that Jesus did not reluctantly come as Savior and humble Himself and take on this suffering that was necessary and part and parcel of His saving work. Instead, Jesus here says: Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up. Jesus was zealous in His work. Here we note that the disciples remembered this verse as applying to the Messiah after Jesus had cleansed the temple in Jerusalem. The cleansing of the temple, one of the first acts of Jesus’ earthly ministry, was one of the signs that showed that Jesus is the Savior long promised by God. It set the tone for the rest of Jesus’ work, a work ending with His suffering, death but also resurrection—He did His work as Messiah with great zeal; He willingly laid down His life because it was the Father’s will for Him to save lost, condemned humanity.
Even though Jesus was zealous in His work to save us, as being that one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world, it didn’t mean His work was easy. Precisely because Jesus wanted to cleanse the temple with all of its corruption that crept in, because He wanted to check and curb unholy and ungodly conduct, that’s why He became an enemy to the Jews who persecuted and finally killed Him on the cross. Even though rejected by the very people He came especially to bless, Jesus, in love of His Father continued on with His sacrifice. Even though His zeal drained Him of all His strength, Jesus still did not hesitate to go to death—even as one bearing the sins of all-- Shame has covered My face… and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on Me— and so rejected by God; and as one rejected and condemned by people—I have become a stranger to My brothers and an alien to My mother’s children. Jesus suffered death of a cursed one, as the most despised. But what a sacrifice of love! This sacrifice He brings to the Father benefits us!
2. Jesus’ was a sacrifice of love. His love drove Him into suffering and death—His love for His Father in heaven—but also so did His love for us poor sinners.
The very first verse of our text shows us Jesus’ love for the sinner as being front and center of His work. There we hear Jesus as He is on the cross, and the One cursed by God and man praying for His Christians: Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of Me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of Me, O God of Israel. In the midst of His great suffering and offering of Himself Christ does not neglect to pray for His believers. He prays that those who depend on Him for salvation and so put their trust in the true God alone will not stumble in their faith as they see Him, the true God and Savior of sinners, suffering and dying as One cursed by God and man.
Here on the cross Jesus is praying for His Father’s help in carrying out His saving work because the hope, the faith of the believer is in Him. As He faithfully offers Himself up as the one perfect sacrifice for sin, He is praying for help for Himself that He would faithfully and fully offer it up because the believers receive the blessing and benefit His work: Christ suffers in place of the sinner; He gives us His righteousness; through faith we also receive His victory over sin, death, devil and hell. That’s Christ’s love of the sinner that impels Him into suffering and death. That’s what makes His suffering such an incomprehensibly great sacrifice of love.
Christ’s love for the sinner is for all sinners. Paul puts it this way [Rm. 5.8]: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Because He loved sinners, Jesus took on the sin, shame and guilt of all-- Shame has covered My face… and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on Me --even those He knew that would reject Him. That love drove the Son of God to become also a true man and our Brother, even though most would reject Him—which He knew even before He came—and as He says on the cross: I have become a stranger to My brothers and an alien to My mother’s children…I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate speak against Me, and I am the song of the drunkards. While suffering as the world’s Sinner, His one thought was on those whose sins He had taken on Himself—for the believers that they may receive the blessings and benefits of His work; and in sorrow and mourning over those who reject Him and His work—I also made sackcloth my garment –that is, I show myself sympathetic to them and I lament their impending destruction; I heartily wished for and diligently strove for their repentance but they would not. But in both cases there is love, love that drove Jesus to make His great sacrifice and that love allowed Him to endure all He suffered for us and our salvation.
How great this love is for us sinners and the depth of that love, we come to know personally especially now in this Lenten season. Yes, we meet Judas, Caiaphas, even denying Peter and the fleeing disciples, but let us also see ourselves as sinners. Lent gives us special cause to examine our own hearts and lives in the mirror of God’s holy Law and see just how great our sins are and how worthy we are of God’s punishment now and forever. With a true and honest examination of ourselves, we can’t see ourselves as better than a Judas or a Caiaphas or a Peter. Certainly we see ourselves in the same company as them. There is no difference. We are all sinners; by nature we are godless, fallen, enemies of God with nothing good in us. But here in our text and as Jesus actually carries it out in the Passion account we have great cause for rejoicing. Christ’s love for us sinners led Him to make that incomprehensibly great sacrifice of love for us. Behold, the Savior loves us sinners; and for us He gives us His life, willingly, to bring us forgiveness and to reconcile us with the Father. This is love above all love! Let us recognize this wonderful love, rejoice in it and praise God for it from our heart. INJ Amen.