Bible Text: John 18-19 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus
The soldier pierced His side and blood and water flowed out. On Good Friday, they see God dead. That is what we see tonight, what we meditate on. We will close this service singing the hymn, “O sorrow dread, our God is dead.” The German is “Gott selbst ist tot. God Himself is dead.” That’s not a figure of speech. God Himself was dead. He was buried in the grave. Jesus is God, He is the eternal Son of the Father, and the whole fullness of God dwells bodily in Jesus Christ. It is beyond comprehension, but it’s true: our Maker was dead on Good Friday.
And that is all our theology. Everything St. Paul says about the depravity of man, the enormity of our sin, God’s wrath against us, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, our justification not by works of the Law that you have done but by faith in Him, all of it is commentary on this horrible and beautiful reality, God Himself is dead on that cross, and His dead body is buried in a tomb. Theologians will debate in their lecture halls about original sin, about free will, about whether or not our works can contribute to our salvation, but on Golgotha there is no debate, no question, no doubt at all – you want to see what you are capable of: Behold the Man. He is God. And He is dead. That’s what you are capable of.
Water and blood flowed from His side. This is the proof that He is dead. You pierce the pericardial sac that surrounds the heart and you pierce the lung beneath, and you get water and blood flowing out. In all four Gospels, the apostles stress the actual death of Jesus, they go into detail about His burial, the linen grave clothes, the spices, the myrrh. The earth shakes, the temple curtain is torn in two, the centurion shouts, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” When Joseph of Arimathea comes to ask for Jesus’ body, Pilate is surprised that Jesus is dead so soon and has a centurion confirm it. Because this is the great shock.
The resurrection is not a shock. Jesus is life. “I am the Life of the world,” He says. He is Light. “The light shines in the darkness.” That He lives, that He rises from the dead on Easter Sunday, that is necessary, it’s obvious, it’s the inevitable consequence of Who He Is. The shock is not Easter. The shock is not that Life lives. The shock is that Life is dead on Good Friday, that Life is buried in a tomb. That Light has become darkness.
We confess it so simply, “He was crucified, died, and was buried.” But if we took the time to meditate on this awful truth, we would never think to nurse our pride or think so much of ourselves. My sin killed God. That’s the reality you have to let sink down in your heart. The pride by which I judge others and compete with them, it killed God. The lust that urges me to satisfy my sinful pleasure. God is dead because of it. My petty worries, my feeling sorry for myself, my doubts of God and His care for Me, look and see your God is dead because of it. Judas’ betrayal highlights my own greed, Peter’s denial my own cowardice, the soldiers mocking Jesus mirrors my own impiety, the criminals joining in mirrors my own thirst for man’s approval, the pride and powerplays of politicians, Pilate’s cynical words, “What is truth?” recounts my own doubts and materialism. The Holy One, the Creator, God Himself, is dead because of you.
But at the same time you didn’t put Him there. Not all your praying, not all your sorrow, not all your pleading could possibly result in God dead on a cross. He is dead on that cross and buried in that tomb, not because sin is so powerful that it took Him and killed Him. He is dead, because He is Love and that Love drove Him to consume all sin and evil and corruption and death into His Life and let it kill Him. Jesus insists on this again and again. From His first trip to Jerusalem, and every time He entered it afterward, they tried to kill Him. And they could not. “I have power to lay my own life down, and I have power to take it up again. This command I have received from My Father.” “My hour has not yet come,” he says over and over again. But when the hour comes for His death, the soldiers shrink back in fear and Jesus has to insist three times that they take Him. They are afraid to do it. Jesus urges them on. Peter cuts off Malchas’ ear, and Jesus says, “Put your sword in your sheath, shall I not drink the cup My Father has given Me?” Pilate says, “Don’t you know that I have authority to crucify You?” And Jesus says, “You would have no authority over Me at all, unless it was given to you from above,” unless I gave it to you. No one takes His life from Him. He gives it because He wants to.
If Jesus, God Himself, dead, teaches you your sin, it teaches you far more God’s victory over your sin. It’s a victory He won for you. In the battle of life vs. death, the victory cry is “It is finished.” When you have labored long and hard, when you have competed and sweat and the victory comes, the thing to do is shout. And Jesus shouts. And then dies.
Tetelestai, It is finished, is not simply a statement about His suffering. That is not the “it” of “it is finished.” The it is sin, the it is death, the it is hell. Jesus shouts because He’s destroyed them all, and then He dies, and when you look at Him in Spirit dead on that cross, see exactly that, victory. Join your shout with His. His victory is yours.
How could He want anything for you but life if He is dead for your sin? How could He want anything but your communion with God, when He chose to hang there alone, a corpse on a cross? How could He want anything but your forgiveness, when He was condemned for you? How could He want anything but your vindication, your good report in heaven, when He endured the betrayal and denying and mocking till He was dead?
O sorrow dread, our God is dead, but even more, O love how strong thou art to save, thou beddest Him within the grave, whose word the mountains rendeth. If today your mind is preoccupied with work and fun and future, or if the cry of your Creator on the cross seems distant because you have other things that are worrying you and take precedence in your mind, or if you are weighed down by guilt, or if life’s daily monotony leaves you empty, then join Mary, join John, join the centurion, join Joseph and Nicodemus, see your God dead, let the awful and beautiful reality sink deep into your heart – the Creator of everything you enjoy, the Creator of your body that you take so much care over, the One whose world you inhabit and whose stuff you are borrowing for a time, the One who holds your life in His hands, His body is lifeless, God gave the life of God for you. How could He possibly show you more vividly the horror of your sin and the truth of His love?
Water and blood flowed from His side. This isn’t simply a medical proof of death. It is your God telling you that His death is for you, that it washes you clean in the baptismal waters, where you died with Him and now live for Him. The artists for going on two millennia have depicted the truth by painting angels with chalices capturing the blood that flows from His side. When you come to this altar and receive here the body and blood of Jesus, think of what you are receiving – this is the body of your Creator who was once dead on that cross for you, it is the blood of your Maker, that poured from His side, one drop of which is more precious and more powerful than all the world and all its sin. There is no love that could bind you closer to your God, there is no sin that can stand between you and Him, it is finished, thank God, Amen.