On the Lord’s Passion, Fourth Sermon

What we owe to your expectations, dearly beloved, must be paid through the Lord’s generous answer to your prayers: that he who has made you eager in asking would make us fit for carrying it out. When we spoke not long ago about the Lord’s passion, we reached the point in the Gospel story where Pilate is said to have given in to the wicked shouts of the Jews that Jesus should be crucified. So when everything had been accomplished that the Godhead, veiled in frail flesh, permitted, Jesus Christ the Son of God was fastened to the cross that he had also been carrying. Two robbers were crucified with him in the same way, one on his right hand and the other on his left, so that even in what happened at the cross there might be displayed the distinction that must be made in his judgment in the case of all people. For the believing robber’s faith was a figure of those who are to be saved, and the blasphemer’s wickedness foreshadowed those who are to be damned. Christ’s passion, therefore, contains the mystery of our salvation. Out of the instrument that the wickedness of the Jews prepared for his punishment, the Redeemer’s power has made for us a stepping-stone to glory. And the Lord Jesus underwent that passion for the salvation of all people in such a way that, while he hung there nailed to the wood, he begged the Father’s mercy for his murderers and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” [a]

But the chief priests, for whom the Savior sought forgiveness, made the torture of the cross still worse with the barbs of mockery. At him, on whom they could vent no more fury with their hands, they hurled the weapons of their tongues, saying, “He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, and we believe him.” From what spring of error, from what pool of hatred, you Jews, do you drink such poisonous blasphemies? What master informed you, what teaching convinced you, that you ought to believe the King of Israel and Son of God to be one who would either not allow himself to be crucified or would shake himself free of the nails that bound him? The mysteries of the law, the sacred observances of the Passover, the mouths of the prophets never told you this. What you did find written, truly and often, is what applies to your abominable wickedness and to the Lord’s willing suffering. For he himself says through Isaiah, “I gave my back to the whips and my cheeks to blows of the open hand; I did not turn my face from the shame of spitting.” He himself says through David, “They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink,” and again, “Many dogs surrounded me; the assembly of evildoers closed in on me. They pierced my hands and my feet; they counted all my bones. But they themselves watched and stared at me; they divided my clothes among them, and for my robe they cast lots.” And so that the course of your own evil deeds might not seem to be the only thing foretold, with no power in the Crucified predicted, you did not read, it is true, that the Lord came down from the cross, but you did read, “The Lord reigned on the tree.” [c]

The cross of Christ, therefore, symbolizes the true altar of prophecy, on which the offering of human nature was to be made through a Victim who brings salvation. There the blood of the spotless Lamb blotted out what had followed from the ancient trespass. There the whole tyranny of the devil’s hatred was crushed, and lowliness triumphed gloriously over the lifting up of pride. For so swift was the effect of faith that, of the robbers crucified with Christ, the one who believed in Christ as the Son of God entered paradise justified. Who can unfold the mystery of so great a gift? Who can describe the power of so wonderful a change? In a moment of time the guilt of long wrongdoing is done away. Clinging to the cross, amid the cruel tortures of his struggling soul, he passes over to Christ; and to the man on whom his own wickedness had brought punishment, Christ’s grace now gives a crown. [f]

And then, having now tasted the vinegar, the produce of that vineyard which had gone bad in spite of its divine Planter and had turned to the sourness of a foreign vine, the Lord says, “It is finished.” That is: the Scriptures are fulfilled; there is nothing more for me to endure from the fury of the raging people; I have endured all that I foretold I would suffer. The mysteries of weakness are completed; let the proofs of power be brought forward. And so he bowed his head and gave up his spirit, and gave that body, which was to be raised again on the third day, the rest of peaceful sleep. And when the Author of Life was passing through this mysterious stage, and at so great a stooping down of God’s majesty the foundations of the whole world were shaken; when all creation condemned their wicked crime by its upheaval, and the very elements of the world delivered a plain verdict against the criminals: what thoughts, what searchings of heart did you have, you Jews, when the judgment of the universe went against you, and your wickedness could not be called back, since the crime was done? What confusion covered you? What torment seized your hearts? [g]

Seeing, then, dearly beloved, that God’s mercy is so great that he has been pleased to justify by faith many even from such a nation, and has adopted into the company of the patriarchs and into the number of the chosen people us who were once perishing in the deep darkness of our old ignorance, let us climb to the summit of our hopes, not sluggishly or lazily. Instead, reflecting wisely and faithfully on the captivity from which we were bought, on how miserable a slavery, at what a ransom, and on how strong an arm led us out, let us glorify God in our body, so that we may show him dwelling in us by the uprightness of our way of life as well. And because no virtues are worthier or more excellent than merciful kindness and spotless chastity, let us equip ourselves above all with these weapons, so that, raised from the earth as if on the two wings of active love and shining purity, we may win a place in heaven. And whoever, helped by God’s grace, is filled with this desire and boasts over his progress not in himself but in the Lord, gives due honor to the Easter mystery. The angel of destruction does not cross his threshold, for it is marked with the Lamb’s blood and the sign of the cross. He does not fear the plagues of Egypt, and he leaves his enemies drowned in the same waters by which he himself was saved. And so, dearly beloved, with minds and bodies purified, let us embrace the wonderful mystery of our salvation, and, cleansed from all “the yeast of our old wickedness, let us keep” the Lord’s Passover with due observance; so that, with the Holy Spirit guiding us, we may be “separated” by no trials “from the love of Christ.” Bringing peace to all things by his blood, he has returned to the height of the Father’s glory, and yet has not forsaken the lowliness of those who serve him. His is the honor and the glory forever and ever. Amen. [h]