LutheranLectionary.org

Series B – Fourth Wednesday in Lent – Wednesday, March 17, 2021 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:28	the gospel text for our evening’s
0:30	meditation is taken from the gospel of
0:32	matthew chapter 27.
0:35	now from the sixth hour there was
0:37	darkness over all the land
0:39	until the ninth hour and about the ninth
0:41	hour
0:42	Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying
0:45	eli eli lama that is
0:49	my god my god why have you forsaken me
0:53	and some of the bystanders hearing it
0:55	said this man is calling elijah
0:58	and one of them at once ran and took a
1:00	sponge filled it with sour wine put it
1:02	on a reed and gave it to him to drink
1:04	but the other said wait let us see
1:06	whether elijah will come to save him
1:09	and then Jesus cried out again with a
1:11	loud voice
1:13	and yielded up his spirit in the name of
1:15	Jesus
1:18	there’s Christ on the cross and he cries
1:21	out
1:22	in hebrew very clear hebrew
1:25	the first sentence first part of
1:29	psalm 22 verse 1
1:32	eli eli lamba bhaktani my god my god
1:36	why have you forsaken me now have you
1:39	ever heard
1:40	anybody say something and then you’ve
1:42	misheard it
1:43	maybe embarrassingly so yeah i think
1:46	back to when i was a kid my dad used to
1:48	tell a story this is my biological
1:50	father he was a
1:51	police officer worked for the baldwin
1:53	park police department
1:54	when i was a kid and he tells a story
1:56	that he was required
1:58	one day to actually go and witness an
2:01	autopsy which sounds horrifying i just
2:05	did
2:06	all right but he tells the story this
2:08	way and i remember hearing it like when
2:10	i was a kid
2:11	that when he was there the uh the
2:14	coroner opened up the chest of the
2:15	fellow that they were doing the autopsy
2:18	on
2:18	and my dad took a look at the lungs of
2:20	the fellow and they were
2:22	as black as asphalt that’s how he
2:24	described them
2:25	and so my father said what’s wrong with
2:27	this man’s lungs and he said oh
2:29	yeah he’s he’s a smoker and while at the
2:32	time my dad was a smoker
2:34	and so my dad tells us the story then
2:36	that he quit smoking
2:38	cold turkey that day well when i heard
2:41	that
2:41	him telling this to somebody i had no
2:44	idea what the phrase cold turkey meant
2:46	and i was rather confused by it i’m
2:48	thinking what did cold turkeys have to
2:50	do with smoking or
2:52	i don’t understand what the connection
2:54	is my dad didn’t smoke cold turkeys he
2:57	smoked marlboros
2:58	you know and my grandma she was a
3:00	camel’s lady you know
3:01	so i didn’t understand what was going on
3:03	and eventually i ended up in kind of
3:05	embarrassingly
3:06	having to ask my mother what the cold
3:08	turkeys were all about
3:10	and she laughed when she heard it and
3:12	then i think about when my wife and i
3:13	were first married
3:14	and we lived in seattle up on capitol
3:16	hill and there was the
3:18	radio you know commercials that would
3:20	come on from time to time you know
3:21	remember the days when they would write
3:23	jingles i don’t really listen to the
3:24	radio anymore do they write jingles
3:25	anymore
3:26	well it was a local fish food seafood
3:30	restaurant that every now and then they
3:32	would get a supply
3:33	of like king crabs and king crab legs
3:36	and so in the jingle they were singing
3:39	about how they had crab legs and
3:41	and the way the refrain went was we have
3:43	crab legs we have crab legs and it was
3:46	supposed to be a joyous thing
3:47	well my wife misheard it and she said to
3:50	me one day
3:51	why do they keep talking about how much
3:53	traffic they have
3:54	and i said traffic what are you talking
3:58	about well they’re singing we have
4:00	traffic we have traffic why would i want
4:02	to go there
4:03	and so you’ll if you think back in your
4:05	memories you probably have stories akin
4:08	to this
4:08	but in our gospel text tonight in our
4:11	meditation
4:12	here we have probably one of the most
4:15	boneheaded
4:16	misheard statements of all time
4:20	there Christ is languishing suffering
4:23	bleeding dying for your sins and mine
4:27	and he quotes in perfect hebrew the
4:30	opening portion of
4:31	psalm 22 and the bystanders
4:35	although they are jewish have no clue
4:38	that he’s
4:39	quoting the scriptures and they hear him
4:42	crying out
4:43	and they think he’s calling for elijah
4:46	and based upon their reaction they’re
4:49	thinking
4:50	whoa wait let’s see if elijah comes to
4:52	save him
4:54	they’re thinking that Christ is calling
4:56	and decreeing and declaring
4:58	for elijah to show up and pull off one
5:00	of the greatest escape acts of all time
5:03	this
5:03	houdini would have been jealous to have
5:05	something like this happen
5:06	and so they’re expecting elijah’s gonna
5:08	show up he’s going to rip him down from
5:09	the cross
5:10	and Christ is going to go
5:15	it’s surreal when you think about it
5:19	it kind of gives off the impression that
5:23	Christ’s suffering
5:26	here is completely subject to almost
5:28	circus
5:29	like and i mean this circus
5:33	like attraction type of gawking
5:37	but while all of this is going on
5:41	and they’ve misheard the words of Christ
5:45	something so important is happening and
5:48	we in our sin
5:51	are practically missing it and so i
5:55	love the fact that here in psalm 22
5:59	have you noticed that psalm 22
6:02	is written from a first person
6:05	perspective
6:08	while they’re expecting elijah to show
6:11	up
6:11	and pull off a houdini trick
6:14	it’s almost as if what we’re hearing
6:17	here is the inner dialogue of what’s
6:19	going on inside
6:20	of the mind of Christ
6:23	and so here again psalm 22 my god
6:26	my god why have you forsaken me that’s
6:30	what Christ
6:30	cried out and that’s what it the eli
6:33	elia lama
6:34	that’s what it says in the hebrew one of
6:36	my seminary profs
6:38	musing on this text one year he he said
6:40	i wonder if Jesus spoke it or if he sang
6:43	it
6:44	because the psalms back then had tunes
6:47	to them
6:48	you know they and maybe that’s the
6:49	reason they didn’t understand what he
6:50	was saying because he spoke it rather
6:52	than saying it because if they’d sung it
6:54	maybe they would have known what the
6:55	tune was
6:57	but it goes on why are you so far from
6:59	saving me
7:00	from the words of my groaning oh my god
7:03	i cry by day but you do not answer and
7:05	by night
7:07	but i find no rest
7:10	and you’ll note the my god my god why
7:13	have you forsaken me
7:15	theologians call this the cry of
7:17	dereliction
7:20	cry of dereliction i think a good way to
7:22	think about it is that if we were to
7:24	consider Christ’s
7:25	sufferings in two different domains if
7:28	you would
7:29	two different ways of looking at it
7:31	there is the physicality of bleeding and
7:33	suffering and dying on the cross
7:35	and don’t think for a second
7:38	that that was an easy thing to do
7:42	the word excruciating that we use in our
7:45	english language comes from the word
7:48	to crucify in fact the romans
7:51	practically perfected a a torturous
7:55	ending for people that guaranteed that
7:58	every
7:59	single moment that a victim was on the
8:02	cross
8:03	as they were dying that they were
8:06	intensely
8:08	intensely feeling pain and agony
8:12	and you know think about the prep that
8:14	Christ went through in order to be
8:15	crucified
8:17	not only was he beaten but he was
8:19	flogged which means he had his skin
8:21	opened up on his back and he was
8:22	bleeding profusely
8:24	punched in the face beaten i mean isaiah
8:27	describes that he’s marred beyond all
8:29	semblance
8:31	and so what they do is they nailed
8:33	Christ to the cross
8:34	drove the nails through his wrist that’s
8:37	really what would have happened the
8:38	the finger the hands don’t have enough
8:40	strength to have it there so
8:42	all the artistic depictions of Christ
8:44	being nailed to the cross through
8:46	through his palms that wouldn’t have
8:47	worked the ligaments would have torn
8:50	because what’s necessary then
8:52	is that the victims on the cross in
8:55	order to breathe when you’re impaled
8:57	like that
8:58	you have to pull yourself up high enough
9:01	that your diaphragm
9:02	can loosen up so that you can actually
9:04	take a breath
9:06	and so between the radius and the ulna
9:08	you’ve got the you’ve got the
9:09	you’ve got the spike there and there’s a
9:11	nerve
9:12	they go have you ever hit your funny
9:14	bone and this one ah
9:16	so every breath that Christ would take
9:19	he would have to rotate
9:21	against the nail pull himself
9:24	up and experience that agonizing buzzing
9:28	feeling that we get when we hit our
9:30	funny bone
9:31	shooting all the way up his arms and of
9:34	course you’ve got
9:35	the rugged part of the cross behind him
9:37	so every single
9:38	breath is excruciating
9:43	that’s the suffering that we’re talking
9:45	about here
9:47	but we’ll note that there are plenty of
9:49	human beings who have experienced that
9:50	kind of death
9:52	and those who would mock and scorn
9:57	the sacrifice of Christ all too joyfully
10:01	point that out as if somehow
10:03	it’s not enough that his suffering
10:06	physically while other people have done
10:08	it
10:09	and this is where the cry of dereliction
10:11	comes into place
10:13	and you’ll note that with the sun
10:15	darkened
10:16	moon can’t even give its light
10:20	the earth itself is going to shake and
10:22	quake when Christ
10:24	gives up his spirit but the big
10:28	suffering here is the separation from
10:30	god the father
10:33	god made him to be sin
10:36	scripture says your sin
10:40	my sin and so the cry of dereliction
10:43	reveals to us
10:45	that in the midst of all of this Christ
10:47	truly taking our sins upon himself
10:50	that now the face of the father has
10:52	turned away from the son
10:55	and this is the greatest agony that
10:58	Christ is going through now
11:04	my god i cry to you by day but you do
11:06	not answer
11:07	and by night but i find no rest
11:10	and as you’re reading psalm 22 here
11:14	if this is really a depiction of
11:15	Christ’s inner dialogue and i really am
11:17	begin
11:18	becoming convinced that it is you have
11:21	to kind of throw into the mix
11:23	with each of these thoughts Christ is
11:26	pulling himself
11:27	up taking in a breath
11:30	letting himself down
11:33	taking a you know exhaling coming back
11:36	up
11:37	taking a breath there’s a rhythm to it
11:41	and in the midst of this god the father
11:44	having turned his
11:45	face away from the son the son then says
11:48	yet you are holy
11:50	you are enthroned on the praises of
11:51	israel at no point does Christ’s
11:54	faith in the father flag
11:58	in you our fathers trusted they trusted
12:00	and you delivered them to you they cried
12:02	and they were rescued in you they
12:04	trusted and they were not put to shame
12:06	but i am a worm and not a man scorned by
12:09	mankind
12:10	and despised by the people all who see
12:12	me mock me they make mouths at me
12:14	they wag their heads he trusts in the
12:17	lord let him deliver him let him rescue
12:19	him
12:20	for he delights in him and you’re going
12:22	to note here that with
12:24	graphic detail explicit detail
12:29	things that Christ could have had no
12:30	control over
12:32	at least in a human way of speaking
12:35	it is all recorded here
12:39	hundreds nearly a thousand years before
12:41	Christ
12:42	was conceived in the womb of the virgin
12:44	mary
12:47	so he’s describing from a first-person
12:50	perspective
12:52	how they’re wagging their heads at him
12:55	in fact the very words that they are
12:56	using to mock him he trusts in the lord
12:58	let the lord deliver him
13:00	let him rescue him for he delights in
13:02	him
13:03	and now back to the inner dialogue and
13:05	you have to take a breath
13:08	yet you are he who took me from the womb
13:11	and you made me trust you at my mother’s
13:13	breasts
13:15	on you i was cast from my birth and from
13:18	my mother’s womb you have been my god
13:21	be not far from me for trouble is near
13:24	and there is none to help many bulls
13:28	encompass me strong bowls of bashan
13:30	surround me they open
13:31	wide their mouths at me like ravening
13:34	and roaring lion
13:36	and poured out like water and all my
13:38	bones are out of joint
13:40	my heart is like wax it is melted
13:44	within my breast my strength is dried up
13:47	like a pot shirt and my tongue
13:49	sticks to my jaws and you lay me in the
13:53	dust of death
13:54	dogs encompass me a couple of company of
13:57	evildoers encircles me they’ve
13:59	pierced my hands and my feet
14:02	i can count all my bones they stare
14:06	and they gloat over me they divide my
14:09	garments among them and for my clothing
14:11	they cast
14:11	lots have you ever stopped to think why
14:14	are these not part of the red letters
14:19	they should be but you o lord do not be
14:23	far
14:23	off o you my help come quickly to my aid
14:27	deliver my soul from the sword my
14:29	precious life and the power of the dog
14:32	save me from the mouth of the lion you
14:34	have rescued me from the horns of the
14:36	wild oxen
14:37	and then i will tell of your name to my
14:39	brothers in the midst of the
14:41	congregation i will praise you you who
14:44	fear the lord praise him
14:45	all you offspring of jacob glorify him
14:48	and stand in awe of him
14:49	all you offspring of israel
14:53	so what does it all mean it’s a little
14:56	portion of the agony of Christ
14:59	luther in writing on the sufferings of
15:02	Jesus
15:04	in his apostles talks about the
15:06	importance of
15:07	rightly meditating on the sufferings of
15:09	Christ
15:10	if you were to merely look at them as
15:12	some kind of an example to follow in
15:13	your own life you know
15:15	when you’re having trouble or whatever
15:17	then you’re going to note that following
15:19	the example of Christ will not give you
15:21	comfort
15:22	because each and every one of us we know
15:24	firsthand that our sin
15:26	is well damnable and when we hear the
15:31	law of god
15:31	preached when the law of god does its
15:35	work
15:35	well over and over again we are
15:39	made to feel guilty our hearts are
15:41	pricked
15:42	and you’ll note that when god’s law does
15:45	its condemning
15:46	work you have to find
15:49	some way some way to find
15:52	some peace on some comfort but you’ll
15:55	never find it from the law
15:57	the law cannot comfort you but the
16:00	sufferings of Christ
16:01	can when you recognize that what is
16:04	happening here
16:06	in the midst of this like circus-like
16:10	environment people expecting Jesus to do
16:12	a magic trick
16:13	and have elijah come and rescue him and
16:16	free him so that he can take a bow
16:18	like houdini in the midst of all of this
16:20	what was really going on
16:21	here was that Christ was forsaken
16:27	so that we would never be as we deserve
16:31	and when we see the agony that he’s
16:33	going through and we hear the inner
16:35	dialogue
16:36	from psalm 22 then you’re going to note
16:39	that sin begins to lose its luster
16:43	sin begins to not look so
16:46	fun anymore when we consider the
16:50	magnitude of the suffering that Christ
16:51	had to go through including
16:54	the very father himself turning his face
16:57	away from Christ
16:59	my god my god why have you forsaken me
17:02	and so luther rightly points out that
17:05	when we rightly see that here
17:07	what is happening is is that Christ is
17:09	suffering
17:10	in our place that he’s bleeding and
17:12	dying
17:13	taking on the wrath of god and being
17:16	forsaken
17:17	because that’s exactly what your sin and
17:19	mind demands
17:21	be the penalty but that he did it for us
17:24	did it in our place
17:25	did it so that we can live this then is
17:28	the thing that we can put against
17:30	the guilt that we feel when we
17:34	consider our own sin when we hear the
17:37	law of god condemning us
17:39	and saying that those who do such things
17:42	do not have eternal life and you say
17:46	yeah but
17:47	what about me i’ve done such
17:51	things then know that Christ’s bled
17:54	died here forsaken so that you would be
17:58	adopted
18:00	abandoned so that you wouldn’t be
18:04	and that’s the whole point and you miss
18:06	it if you
18:07	are distracted by the yahoos who can’t
18:10	even hear correctly what Jesus
18:12	is saying you don’t even know their
18:14	bible well enough to know that he was
18:16	quoting
18:17	the psalm and so
18:20	as we consider our meditation here the
18:23	misheard
18:24	words of Jesus don’t let that distract
18:27	you
18:28	come back and let you hear his words
18:31	rightly so that then you can think along
18:34	with Jesus
18:36	and hear his inner dialogue that is
18:38	recorded for us
18:40	in the passage that should be full of
18:42	red letters because
18:44	these are the thoughts of Christ himself
18:46	the words that he spoke from the cross
18:49	written from a perspective of the one
18:51	who was suffering bleeding and dying for
18:53	you
18:53	and although he was made to be sin and
18:56	god laid on him the iniquity of us
18:58	all you’ll note that in the midst of all
19:00	of this Christ
19:02	never despaired of the faithfulness of
19:04	god
19:05	and that god would rescue him and that
19:08	god would vindicate him
19:10	and because Christ has done all of these
19:12	things
19:13	god is faithful to forgive us our sins
19:16	to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
19:19	it is the glory of god
19:21	to pardon our iniquities all because of
19:24	what Christ
19:25	has done for us in our place in the name
19:28	of Jesus
19:30	amen

If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to: Kongsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Ave NW, Oslo, MN 56744 We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message, and, again, thank you for listening.