Church Sermon - March 9, 2003

HE SUFFERED, DIED, AND WAS BURIED

Rev. John A. Moldstad, Jr.

President, Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Epistle Lesson; Acts 8:26-40
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 5:13-16
Sermon Text; Isaiah 53:7-9

On this day of your Mission Festival, we think of how we confess the Christian faith so that others may know the truth and the way of salvation. And as we read the words of our text, from Isaiah 53, we are mindful of the words in the Apostles Creed, where we confess our Lord Jesus Christ as the one who "suffered, died, and was buried." We use as our text the Messianic prophecy, Isaiah 53, verses 7-9, which reads as follows:

He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet He did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

And who can speak of his descendants?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people

he was stricken.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

"I

wish

I could have gotten in on

Maybe you have said that before, concerning some special occasion. Maybe somebody said that lately, regarding Dan Rather’s interview with Saddam Hussein!

"Wouldn’t it have been

to be a mouse, in the corner,

there listening?"

Someone might suggest this, noting the timing of the interview, before what appears to be an inevitable war?

Shift gears, big time! Who of us, wouldn’t have loved to have been a bird, perched along the side of the road, as the risen Jesus carried on a discussion with those two disciples on the road to Emmaus? The Bible says that He began with Moses and all the prophets, and explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures, concerning Himself.

Who of us, wouldn’t have loved to have been in the audience of the Nazareth synagogue, when Jesus read from Isaiah 61, a prophecy about Himself! On that occasion, we are told that He sat down and began His explanation to the congregation with the words,

"Today

this Scripture is fulfilled

in your hearing."

There’s another conversation we especially would have loved to be in on. Again, the Bible doesn’t tell us all the details. In Acts, chapter 8, we have the account of the Ethiopian eunuch. You recall that the Ethiopian man was returning home from Jerusalem, traveling along the road to Gaza, when the Holy Spirit had Philip, the evangelist, run up to the chariot. Do you remember what the Ethiopian was reading? He was reading from Isaiah. In fact, he was reading the very words that we just read, from Isaiah 53! Philip, we’re told, hopped into the chariot and began explaining what the man was reading! Wouldn’t we have loved to have heard the entire conversation! Yet what the Bible records about that conversation is enough for us to know. We read in the book of Acts:

"Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture

and told him

the good news about Jesus."

So the Bible, itself, informs us that the words we just read from the prophet Isaiah refer to the suffering, death and burial of Jesus.

As we, like the Ethiopian man, focus briefly on Isaiah’s prophetic description of Jesus, the Suffering Servant of God, may we observe these three essential points:

and did so

willingly.

and did so

thoroughly.

and it was done

honorably.

First of all, Jesus suffered and did so willingly. Isaiah says,

"He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet He did not open His mouth;

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

so He did not open His mouth."

Not all suffering is commendable. If you were to violate a law in this community of Madison and had to suffer the payment of fine or a jail term, I don’t think you could expect to receive many congratulatory handshakes. If that’s how it is in this microcosm of community life, how much more isn’t it that way in the court of God’s Justice, and His Law, and His Sentencing? The fact is, you and I, and all people, have deserved to suffer – not just to suffer a slap on the wrist, or a suspension, or even the worst possible tortuous sentence that an earthly judge could throw at us. Because of your sin and mine, against the Almighty Himself, the Judge of heaven and earth could, by all rights, damn us to death in Hell, itself. It’s even stronger than that. Not only could God do this; as a result of sin in the world, that is the fiery reality all people right at this moment face, if they do not (as did the Ethiopian) embrace the work of the Suffering Servant, here in Isaiah.

Is this possibly hard for us, computer aged, 21^st century, Americans to grasp, considering the fairly comfortable and even at times plush, world we live in? One of the more memorable mining accidents in history took place in a gold mine. 47 miners were trapped. By the time rescuers got to them, they had suffocated. They were found dead in the richest room in the world. Doesn’t that, in a way, portray our condition, too, by nature? Even though we, as human beings, can find ourselves surrounded by the fine things this world has to offer (especially compared to many, living in squalor conditions around the globe) we were,

by nature,

doomed to death.

I imagine this is one reason why many, in our world today, do not understand how spiritually lost they are, apart from belief in a divine Savior, for they reason: "I can’t really be so helpless, spiritually. Look at the kind of community I live in. Look at the nice friends that I have and the kind of family that I have." We recall, however, what the Lord had to say to the Laodiceans:

"You say,

‘I am rich;

I have acquired wealth and

do not need a thing.’

But you do not realize that

are wretched,

pitiful,

poor,

blind and

naked."

Our text contains gruesome words: "oppressed", "afflicted", "slaughter". As we hear those words of punishment, do we say, "That’s what I deserved?" Do we see ourselves (because of our own sins against God’s holy and immutable law, including sins of omission), as being even at the brink of hell’s canyon, like a scared, sheared sheep ready to be cast over, until another sheep,

steps ahead of us and goes quietly (like one sheared) to the slaughter, in our place and even as the substitute sacrifice for the entire world?

What a powerful,

unthinkable kind of rescue!

But that’s what the conversation between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch was all about. You and I have been privileged to be let in on the conversation. We have been blessed to learn, to know, and believe what Isaiah wrote about. By the grace of God, working on and in our hearts through His Word and Sacrament, we have been led to see that Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, suffered, without having committed any sin of His own.

He willingly did so,

for you,

me

and everyone.

He is the Lamb of God, who suffered throughout His whole life and especially on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, so that we sinners could be set free from all guilt, shame and punishment. And notice His loving commitment to His mission, all for you and me!

and did so

More. Jesus died and did so thoroughly. Isaiah writes, "He

was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people

was stricken."

Just think! This is God, we are talking about! - "…cut off from the land of the living." This death He died was so thorough that Isaiah, four verses earlier, calls him "stricken by God, smitten by him." We sing words, like that, put to music by Thomas Kelly:

"Stricken, smitten and afflicted,

See Him dying on the tree!

‘Tis the Christ by man rejected;

Yes, my soul,

‘tis He, ‘tis He!"

But Christ’s rejection was not only by man.

Does it seem, at times, as if the full fury of hell is bearing down on you, for you’re painfully aware of having hurt a fellow worker, a friend, a relative, a spouse, or most importantly, your God? God has given us His Law to remind us of our sins, but don’t forget the beautiful Gospel of Isaiah that continues to resound on Gaza roadways today. The Suffering Servant of God, the Messiah - our Lord Christ - was so crushed for our iniquities that He even died the death of the damned - your death and mine, at the cross!

"God made him who knew no sin

to be sin for us,

so that we might be made the righteousness of God

in him."

Peter writes:

"He himself bore

our sins

in his body

on the tree,

so that we might die to sins

and live for righteousness;

by his wounds you have been healed."

God not only obtained this for you, for me, and for all, when His Son suffered and died at Calvary (even as we are ready to ponder in the days of Lent), but He distributes this saving grace,

in the waters of Holy Baptism, in the preaching and teaching of His Gospel, and in the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. In fact, listen to how Dr. Luther stresses the importance of running to the Means of Grace, for daily comfort and strength. He says, "If I now seek the forgiveness of sins…I will find in the Sacrament or Gospel, the Word which distributes, presents, offers and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross." [LW 40:213]

Isn’t this what your congregation is all about? Isn’t this really what our Evangelical Lutheran Synod is all about? Isn’t this what the Christian faith is continually all about? It is drawing attention to our Suffering Servant Savior. Isn’t this why you named your church here, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Cross? You know the heart and center of our message is:

You know how important it is to focus on the use of the Means by which God, the Holy Spirit, places the benefits of our Savior’s death right into the laps of our souls and has us lean forward and rest on that amazing treasure.

"Come unto Me,

all you who labor

and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest,"

says our Lord.

Pile on another comfort. Consider our final point: Jesus was buried and it was done honorably. Jesus was put to death with criminals, but he was buried with the rich, says Isaiah. In Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph of Arimathea, the owner of the new tomb in which Jesus was buried, is described as being a rich man. Jesus died without dignity, but His burial was made to testify to the honor He deserves. (And we hasten to mention, His resurrection sealed that fact.)

One day you and I will also be buried. Regardless of age, we don’t like to think about it. Maybe not many here have yet bought a burial plot. As believers in Christ, however, we ought to take great comfort in Christ’s own honorable burial. In our ELS catechism, the question is asked:

Answer: "The burial of Jesus assures me that Jesus truly died and thus paid for my sins. Because He rose from the dead, I am assured that my grave is a peaceful resting place from which I also shall arise."

We have been privy to the conversation. The words from Isaiah long ago were brought forward and penetrated the dialogue along the road to Gaza hundreds of years later, as recorded in Acts 8. By God’s grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us through Baptism, we (centuries and centuries later) have been made to see the power of Isaiah’s words for our very own life. We have forgiveness! And where there is forgiveness, we have life and salvation! No matter what troubles come along the road as we travel through life here below, we know this uplifting fact:

"If God be for

us,

who can be against us?

He who did not spare

His own Son

but delivered Him up for us all –

how will He not also, along with Him,

graciously give

us

all things?"

Yes, we’ve been let in on the conversation that has changed history:

No wonder we are eager then, to move from that life-giving, life-changing conversation, to the bold confession of the ancient Christian creed, the confession we have been privileged to know, and the confession we want all sinners to know:

"I believe in Jesus Christ…that

he suffered,

died

and was buried."

Amen.

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

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