From the Pastor – March 2025
Bernard of Clairvaux writes in his famous Lenten hymn, “How pale Thou art with anguish, With sore abuse and scorn! How doth Thy face now languish That once was bright as morn! Grim death, with cruel rigor, Hath robbed Thee of Thy life; thus Thou hast lost Thy vigor, Thy strength, in this sad strife.” … He sings about the death of Jesus. The bright Light of creation, from which all light and life have their beginning, now hangs derelict on the cross. Death has gripped Him and it is a gruesome sight. Gruesome, not only because death by crucifixion is a horrible and nasty thing, but also, and more importantly, because the death of God is unimaginable.
It is all but impossible to fully comprehend this awful fact that God died on that cross. This is not some sort of Greek mythology where gods wrestle and fight with each other, where some gods die at the hands of another and sometimes at the hands of man. Those are all stories, made up fairy tales to entertain and amuse. No, instead, here is God in the flesh, a thing impossible to comprehend in itself, now hanging lifeless by the hands of sinners like you and me. God’s strength is now gone, drained out of Him, and all that is left is the weakness of a dead man, the weakness of the cross.
Lent is for repentance. But repentance is more than just an outward turning from sin. Who among us can truly do that, in a perfect way, so that we never sin again? If that were repentance then we would all be lost. No, repentance has two parts. First it is contrition. That is, true sorrow for our sin. But this sorrow is not just because of fear of punishment. Contrition is sorrow for sin out of an understanding of who God is and who we are in Him. That is why we freely admit that we deserve nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. … But even this contrition is not enough.
That is why contrition does not stand alone. What always comes after contrition is to hear and believe God’s Word of promise for you. It is grasping onto the truth that the weakness of a dead Jesus on the cross is the very Gospel which gives you life. Yes, your sin put Him there; but He joyfully and willingly went to that cross so that through it you might have the forgiveness of that sin, so that you might have life and salvation in the death of God for you.
That is why Zechariah says “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” … Christ’s death is not just the proclamation of the Law. It is not so that God can say, “Look at what you did. I hope you are happy.” It is not so that we leave service on Sundays, church on Good Friday, with tears of shame in our eyes and guilt upon our hearts. … No, the death of Jesus proclaims the Law and the Gospel, while it might in fact bring tears, it brings tears of joy and thanksgiving that salvation is ours through a gift given that we do not deserve.
In Lent we cry out with a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy that the death of Jesus might be for our gain; that the gifts of the cross would not be won in vain. We cry out for forgiveness and life and salvation; trusting in the promise of the Gospel, in the promise of the cross, in the promise of Jesus dead for us. … And then we know for certain that our cries are heard by our Heavenly Father, for the sake of His Son, our Lord; that a fountain has been opened, and that fountain cleanses us from all sin and uncleanness.
This is no mystical or imaginary fountain. But it is one that flows from the crucified body of your Lord. John tells us that in His Gospel “ But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.” … There is your fountain of salvation. It isn’t made-up or imagined, it really did flow from the side of your Lord, from the side of your God, from the side of your Jesus for you. … Blood and water to cleanse you from all your sin.
The death of Jesus wasn’t just to put you back at the starting line with another chance to do things right the next time, so that you could fulfill the Law on your own in order to obtain salvation for yourselves. It was, it is, the very fulfillment of the Law and it is given to you. Christ’s death becomes your death; dead to sin, so that you would never have to die to sin again. … You are already dead to sin, and you are now alive in Christ. Alive through Him; through that fountain that flowed from His side into the font where you are baptized, into the chalice where you drink the blood of the New Covenant shed for you.
This Lent you are called to repent, but that is nothing more than believing that the death of God is for you. It is nothing more than believing that you are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is nothing more than believing that you are forgiven by the weakness of the cross, by the weakness of Jesus, by the weakness of God which is strong enough to cleanse you from all of your sin and uncleanness.
In the name of Jesus.
Rev. Eli
