Good Friday: Tenebrae Service of the Seven Last Words

Good Friday: Tenebrae Service of the Seven Last Words

April 22, 2011 Pastor Lowell Schuetze

Seven words He spoke upon the cross--even in the throes of death when words come hard and only from the inner depths of self.

Seven words--that we might know Him deeply. And dare we not listen, for in knowing him we come to know ourselves; since we are his creation. Formed in the image of God, yet fallen; locked away in hiding like his disciples before us; fearful, lest we too be called to account for the hope that is in us.

Fallen yet lifted up, made over in His image, the one who dies to redeem us. Raised up with Him that we might share in the life of God.

So, Lord, give us ears to hear you, hearts open to receive all that you offer to us. That in knowing you more deeply, we come to know life as you know it to be. And that hearing your words in death, we may be drawn ever nearer to you in life. Amen!

The First Word

Luke 23: 32-38 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" 38There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

"King of the Jews" the inscription reads ? a Roman joke to taunt him and his persecutors. Yet there is much truth spoken in jest--truth far beyond the grasp of sporting soldiers.

Much truth in a crown of thorns for a king who suffers for his people.

Much truth in a reed for a scepter in the hands of a gentle king who turns aside raw power to walk a harder road of peace.

Much truth in the shed blood of a king who takes the guilt of others and bears its weight upon himself.

Only such a king can look into the fiery eyes of hatred and the dull eyes of mindless duty and say from greater strength, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." How is it possible to be so hurt and so forgiving? So misunderstood and yet so understanding? What but the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom? What but the weakness of God is stronger than our strength?

Where comes such strength--to forgive rather than to condemn? To bless rather than to curse?

Please receive this sermon as something to read, reflect on and use as a meditation. Sharing it with others by linking to , Good Shepherd's Sermons webpage or to any of the sermon documents posted there is encouraged. ? Copyright Pastor Lowell Schuetze and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA. All rights reserved.

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Lord, teach us so to live!

The Second Word

Luke 23: 39-43 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Where there is life, there is hope. While yet a breath, a pulse, remains, the grace of God is asked and given. Where there is life there is hope.

Two thieves, his company in death. Strange company for the Lord of Life, meant now as further insult--common criminals whom men feel justified in being rid of. Yet hardly different from the company he always kept and was accused of--outcasts and sinner with whom he shared his gift of life.

Strange company for them too--to be so close in death to Him who opens life. The one, only in inches close to him while in self-pity far removed--ready only to taunt and tempt.

The other, close as we could like to be. "Lord, remember me. Remember me when you come in your kingly power."

Where there is life there is hope--and being in his company--where there is hope there is life, and there already, peace.

"I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise."

Lord, teach us so to die!

The Third Word

John 19:23-27 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

Who could die more destitute--the dice tossed over his last earthly possession--watching his executors divide the spoil? Yet even now his eyes turn toward another, his compassion wrung out for the one who gave him birth in a stable, who cradled him in flight to Egypt, who shared with him their meager living in a carpenter's hut.

Blinding pain, strength ebbing away, nearly gone, still he feels for another, and entrusts to his friend the care of his mother. "Woman, behold your son, behold your mother."

Please receive this sermon as something to read, reflect on and use as a meditation. Sharing it with others by linking to , Good Shepherd's Sermons webpage or to any of the sermon documents posted there is encouraged. ? Copyright Pastor Lowell Schuetze and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA. All rights reserved.

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No inheritance to give but his love--a priceless treasure.

Lord, teach us so to give!

The Fourth Word

Matthew 27:45-46 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Hours of darkness without and within, the weighty silence of God, heaviest on the one given wholly to doing God's will, being God's word.

Days in prayer with the Father, the voice from heaven at his baptism, then the voice of God echoing across the mountain top, a voice like thunder, "This is my beloved Son!"

But now, only silence, oppressive silence. Silence, thick as fog that isolates and cuts one off from anything familiar, anything to grasp, to feel at home with. A dead silence of loneliness, abandonment, pierced only by a cry of despair, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Could it truly be that he felt as I have felt and we have felt in times of darkness, the sheer agony of the absence of God? Could it truly be that he has known the bitter taste of loneliness, helpless despair, the hallow emptiness, forsaken by God and all that matters? He has tasted that and more, and so he knows what it's like to be me and you. He knows what it is to be human!

The nearness to God makes it only more painful. Only he can take the full measure of what the absence of God means and cry out against it.

Lord, teach us so to pray!

The Fifth Word

John 19: 28-29 After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), "I thirst." A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.

No phantom, this Jesus. No divine apparition masquerading as a man. This figure hanging limp upon a cross is a man. His suffering is real and tangible--a tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth, his strength dried up like a potsherd, parched with thirst, given only vinegar to drink.

There are those who seek to honor him as God by making him less a man--untouched by pain, himself above any human suffering. But he is not so, thank God! He is as we are--when he is cut he bleeds, he feels the sting, the pain. He knows better than we what it is to be deprived, to hunger and to thirst. He is human as we are, thank God, for only so can he redeem us.

Now every hungry one can know him as a brother. Every suffering one, every hurting one, every helpless one. Every hapless victim of terror, whose world is shattered in an instant, scattered and dismembered. Every victim of oppression and brutality, tasting only the inhumanity of man. All these can know him as a brother. Every thirsty one given only vinegar to drink can know him as a brother, for he has entered into the heart of human suffering to redeem us there!

Lord, teach us so to be!

Please receive this sermon as something to read, reflect on and use as a meditation. Sharing it with others by linking to , Good Shepherd's Sermons webpage or to any of the sermon documents posted there is encouraged. ? Copyright Pastor Lowell Schuetze and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA. All rights reserved.

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The Sixth Word

John 19: 30a When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished."

Not a weary sigh, broken by defeat--rather one word, "Tetelestai!" A shout of joy as one at the end of years of struggle. Struggle with his enemies, struggle with the Prince of Darkness. Struggle with his followers--so slow to grasp, slow to trust, slow to comprehend what he is about. Struggle with the Father's will, struggle with himself.

Now, at last, the moment of triumph--a shout of victory "Tetelestai!" "It is finished!" It is complete, it is done!

The Word made flesh has spoken, the Father's will is done, and now the shout arises. The victory has been won!

Lord, teach us so to do!

The Seventh Word

Luke 23: 44-46 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." And having said this, he breathed his last.

It's the darkness! A mysterious darkness, an uncomfortable darkness. No, no! That's too light a word. A disquieting darkness--making people stop in the midst of what they're doing and look around. Look out at the horizon, puzzled. Look up at the sky, perplexed. Look up at the sun in full eclipse and feel a primal shudder of foreboding.

An eerie darkness so out of place like the whole creation appalled, struck speechless--dumfounded! The songbirds suddenly stop that singing. And all those taken-for-granted sounds that form the normal backdrop of life cease--noticed now only by their absence.

An eerie and disquieting darkness, like the whole world has to stop and take note of what is happening. What is done is done for all. The Temple veil is torn asunder, where once but one man dared venture into the intimate presence of God--and then but once a year. Now the Son has opened access to the Father--for all! For always!

Now we too dare call "Father," and know his presence, and know his care and rest ourselves in him.

So Jesus lays back his dead as on a pillow, and enters into prayer--a prayer taught every Hebrew child from infancy, like "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep." A simple, childlike prayer, "Into thy hands I commit my spirit." But now, as intimate, as trusting. "Father-- Abba--more like `Daddy'--into thy hands I commit my spirit."

Reaching in to summon every ounce of strength, and reaching out with every grasp of trust, he gives himself wholly to the Father--obedient all the way, all the way to death, even death on a cross.

His whole being cries out, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit."

So he prayed and breathed his last.

Please receive this sermon as something to read, reflect on and use as a meditation. Sharing it with others by linking to , Good Shepherd's Sermons webpage or to any of the sermon documents posted there is encouraged. ? Copyright Pastor Lowell Schuetze and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA. All rights reserved.

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Lord, teach us so to trust, so to pray, so to die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So darkness reigns, invincible it seems. The Light of the World plunged into deepest darkness. The Lord of Life obedient, even unto death, which seems the master. And yet, the mystery--shrouded in death and hidden in darkness--God is at work. God's will is done and our redemption won.

Save by God's might alone, the light shines still--the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it! The light shines still, though none are there to rejoice in it, to revel in its glow or to expect its rising.

All remains to be shown and celebration awaits his resurrection.

Lord, make us so to rise!

Amen.

Please receive this sermon as something to read, reflect on and use as a meditation. Sharing it with others by linking to , Good Shepherd's Sermons webpage or to any of the sermon documents posted there is encouraged. ? Copyright Pastor Lowell Schuetze and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA. All rights reserved.

H:\GSLC_WEB\SERMONS\gslcSermon110422goodFri_PastorLou.doc

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