Lent 5—Judica
Today we begin the final two weeks of Lent. These two weeks are known as Passiontide. Here our attention turns in earnest to focus on Jesus’ sufferings for us and our salvation. This culminates next week—Holy Week—as we especially ponder Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross on Good Friday. Today’s Gospel sets the tone as it brings us to Jesus’ announcement of His suffering and death: [Jesus] took the Twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him. “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the experts in the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him, spit on Him, flog Him, and kill Him. On the third day He will rise again.” This is the third time that Jesus told the disciples of His upcoming betrayal, suffering, death and resurrection. Not only did Jesus speak in general terms, but He was very specific in the detail. As true God, Jesus is all-knowing and knew exactly the events that would take place. He told the disciples these things so that when they would happen, they would not stumble in the faith but would all the more believe. Such is our Lord’s grace to us!
But what happens next? What are the disciples thinking about/ doing? We find them jockeying for positions in Jesus’ kingdom. It is as if they didn’t even hear Jesus announce His suffering, death and resurrection. They were thinking only of Jesus’ glory and His kingdom and wanted positions of power and glory in it, what they were thinking was some earthly kingdom. But Jesus brings them back to reality. He reminds them of His own work bringing them back to His suffering: that He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. And then Jesus tells them that they, too, will suffer—for His sake and that of the Gospel: You will drink the cup that I am going to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with.
Again: today we begin to turn our attention during these last two weeks of Lent in particular to Jesus’ suffering and death. This was the whole goal and purpose of His coming; there would have been no other reason for the Son, the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity to become also true man except to suffer and die for the sins of the world/ for us and our salvation. The thing to remember is that all that Jesus endured and suffered, He endured and suffered! Jesus, true God and true man, did not have some sort of phantom existence; He was not a robot merely going through the motions/ outward actions. Jesus truly suffered. And His suffering was more intense and greater than anything we can ever imagine. Certainly part of that suffering and agony was what we heard—namely that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to Him and it was precisely for that reason He came.
Today’s epistle speaks about Jesus’ work as our Great High Priest. The Old Testament priests and priesthood all pointed forward to Jesus and His Priesthood and His perfect once for all sacrifice for sin—the one in which Jesus is both the Priest and the One Sacrificed. This is why Jesus came—to offer the once for all perfect sacrifice for all sin: Himself on cross.
So what does the holy apostle write in our text? Jesus’ suffering was real! Our text: In the days of His flesh, He offered prayers and pleas with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save Him from death… Although He was the Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. In the days of His flesh: that’s the time of His earthly life and ministry, the time when Jesus was not making full use of His divine power and authority. How can we not see hear a reference, especially, to Maundy Thursday evening of Jesus in Gethsemane when Jesus prayed [Lk 22.42 ff.]: Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me. And then we read: and being in agony, [Jesus] prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. There are the visible signs of Jesus’ woe and anguish. Jesus’ sufferings deeply affected Him because they were real sufferings and Jesus is also true man so He truly felt them. Our epistle: Christ did not take the glory of becoming a high priest on Himself, but God said to Him: You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. He also said the same thing in another place: You are a priest forever, like Melchizedek. Jesus was appointed our High Priest—remember that’s why He came! Jesus knew that it involved an obedience that was distasteful to flesh and blood; He knew it involved that necessity that He would become the sacrificial Lamb, the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. It would mean the sacrifice of Himself on the altar of the cross. But in His great love for us for us sinners, to save us from sin, death, devil and hell, Jesus came and did it! He came as our Great High Priest to offer that one perfect sacrifice of Himself on the altar of the cross.
Yes, Jesus is the true God—eternally begotten of the Father: You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. But He is also true man and as true man He recoiled at what was ahead of Him. Jesus did not shrink from physical suffering and death but from the agony of taking the sins of the world on Himself. As true God, He knew exactly what it would mean—being forsaken by God, suffering the very pangs of hell. And even though Jesus knew exactly what it meant to be both our Great High Priest and the Sacrifice, the suffering it entailed, He still did it—for us and our salvation.
So what about all His pleadings in Gethsemane? Wasn’t Jesus trying to get out of it as He prayed [Lk 22.42]: Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done? Absolutely not! Yes, He asked the Father to take away the cup; He was recoiling at the sufferings and horrors that lay ahead. He is true man after all, but note the “if”— if it is Your will. Jesus in no way wavered in His determination and desire to do the Father’s will. So in reality, Jesus’ pleadings in Gethsemane show His willingness and that He wants to obey, wants to carry out the Father’s will. If there were some other way Jesus could do the Father’s will and bring about the salvation of the world—well, bring it on; but if not, bring on the suffering so that we sinners could be saved. That’s that perfect unity of will and desire of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—three distinct Persons but one God.
Our text continues: Although He was the Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. Jesus’ life was marked by that perfect obedience. He honored God with childlike obedience. It wasn’t as if Jesus was ever disobedient to the Father—remember that perfect unity of will and desire among the 3 Persons of the Godhead—but He was called to obey to an extent never experienced. Jesus learned the full cost of obedience. Here Jesus, during His earthly ministry and even in His sufferings is obedient to the Father and rightly experienced how difficult it is to offer God that perfect obedience. But Jesus did it—even though He recoiled from the sufferings He would have to endure.
As we enter this most intense time of Lent and ponder Jesus’ holy sufferings, we ask ourselves: Why and how could Jesus endure these sufferings He would have to endure? The short and simple answer is: He always had before His eyes the necessity of carrying out the will of God—which is also His will—of carrying out to full completion the counsel of God’s love toward us sinners. So, yes, as true Man Jesus truly recoiled in horror at what was before Him but what was even greater was doing the will of the Father: Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. So although He was the Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered—He learned as man, in His human will, which continually and freely submitted to His divine will. As God and Man Jesus rendered perfect obedience and so His is the perfect once for all sacrifice for sin.
Our text continues: After He was brought to His goal, He became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys Him. Jesus was brought to His goal—that means that the Father answered Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane: Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. Yes, the Father did not spare Jesus from the suffering of the cross that was causing Him such dread and anguish; it was not the Father’s will, and so it was not Jesus’ will since He wanted to do the Father’s will. But Jesus’ prayer was answered, He was brought to His goal, as on the cross Jesus said [Jn 18.30]: It is finished. Jesus perfectly carried out the Father’s will. He brought about the salvation of the world precisely through this suffering that He was recoiling from as He offered prayers and pleas with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save Him from death. So what happened? The Father did not relieve Jesus from the cross but He readied Him for it! St. Luke records [Lk 22.43]: Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven strengthening Him.
What does that mean? –It means that in Jesus and in Jesus alone is our salvation. Because of His absolute perfection and perfect obedience Jesus is the source of our salvation—a salvation that is ours by grace through faith in Jesus. Dear Christian, let us comfort ourselves with Jesus’ perfect obedience and merit and let us give Him the obedience of faith. Through faith in Him His perfect obedience and holiness is ours. Jesus is the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys Him.
What tremendous blessings flow to us because of Jesus’ perfect and obedient suffering! One great comfort we see in Jesus’ sufferings is His perfect submission to the will of His Father and at the same time His perfect devotion to us and our salvation! How easy it would seem for Jesus to look out just for Himself and forgo the agony of injustice and physical pain! But He doesn’t. He is God; His will is the will of God. He loves us and does everything to save us from sin, death and hell.
And, on top of that, when we are in the midst of our sufferings, we can be certain that Jesus knows exactly what we are feeling and enduring because He Himself, all alone, went through sufferings more severe than we can even imagine. And He knows how to help us through them. Earlier the holy apostle writes about Jesus [2.18]: For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. When we are in trial and suffering, we know and can go to Jesus who will help us in the right way and the best way in and through our sufferings. He’s been there! Let us go to Him in prayer. That is a glorious exercise of faith. Instead of just giving up and despairing and turning our back on the Lord, we, dear Christian are led and strengthened by the Holy Spirit to recognize our sufferings as something the Lord is allowing to come upon us that He wants to work through for our spiritual good. Looking at Jesus, we see that, yes, the Father did not take the cup of suffering from Jesus but that He had to drink it down to its very dregs; but He did strengthen and ready Jesus for what He had to endure. Won’t He also do the same with us? As we strive to submit our will to the will of God, yes, it will often be difficult and unpleasant but He will strengthen us, be with us and bring us through. May our prayers, even as we cry out with loud cries and tears always be: Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. This is our honor and praise of God.
The temptations and sufferings Jesus endured were real; our temptations and sufferings are real; we face true battles. But God is with us in them, prepares us for them and helps us through. And when we fail, which we will do, Jesus has prevailed; He gives us the perfect forgiveness and salvation. The blessed fruit of His suffering—it was all for us! INJ Amen.