Brent Kuhlman

Betrayed. Deserted. Arrested under false pretenses. Kangaroo courted. Slandered. Reputation ruined. Barabbas the murderer set free. Innocent Jesus sentenced to death. Head bashed in. Thorns pierce it. Spit pelts His face. Ripped and torn to shreds is His back from the floggings. His entire Body bathed in Blood. Mocked. Ridiculed. A laughingstock. Then come the iron spikes. Hammered through His hands and feet. Nailed to the Cross. Oh, the physical, mental, and spiritual agony! What would you do to people who treated you like this?

Hire a lawyer and take them all to court? Start throwing punches? Shouting outrageous expletives? Promising a bitter revenge?

But not Jesus. As He bears the sin of the world and all of its punishment in His Body, He prays. Prays for mercy. Doesn’t curse those who crucify Him. He does what is unthinkable. Quite outrageous. He prays to His Father to forgive them. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

His life ends the way it began. It’s all about forgiveness. To Joseph the angel declared: “You are to give Him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins” (Luke 1:21). Dying under the weight of the world’s sin, their sin, your sin, He saves His people, the world and you from your sins.

Jesus doesn’t rear back in revulsion and bark out derogatory salvos. No anger. No grudges. No mumbling under His breath. No request for millions of angels to wipe these losers out and put an end to His agony and bloody death. No fire from heaven to burn up these murderers and morbid onlookers who jeer with cackling voice. No bitter resentment to pay back hatred with more hatred.

Instead, Jesus embraces all sin into Himself as the only sacrifice that atones for it all. His Body is sin soaked. And He carries it to the grave to bury it in the black hole of His tomb. Jesus buries the hatchet with His enemies. He prays for those who hate Him. He begs His Father to mercy them. That His death may be their life.

The prayer is answered. One of the criminals is brought to faith when he hears these forgiveness words. And his faith prays: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The prayer of Jesus is also answered when the Roman centurion confesses: “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

His prayer is answered time and time again as you confess your sin and receive the spoken Word of the Gospel through faith. “Your sins are forgiven.” “I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

This Word of Absolution Jesus speaks from the Cross creates His Body, the church. And by this Word Jesus fills the church chock full with the forgiveness of sins to give away freely and completely. The Large Catechism teaches: “everything in the Christian church is so ordered that we may daily obtain full forgiveness of sins through the Word and through the sacraments” (LC II:55, Tappert).

Jesus meets your needs. He knows your felt needs better than you do. Better than any market survey or any church consultant can pawn off. Jesus meets your needs with the remission of sins won by His very good Good Friday death. It doesn’t cost you a dime. No six-figure salary to pay up front. Jesus just dishes the treasure of heaven in words that flow freely from the lips of men whom the church calls and ordains.

Put into the church through Holy Baptism, you have been given to generously receive the fruit of Calvary’s Cross in many ways. One way is through the Holy Absolution. You confess and you are absolved.

Forgiven, you freely forgive. Forgiveness springs from God’s heart to you in Christ. You forgive those who sin against you just as heartily. After all, God doesn’t treat you as your sins deserve. He deals kindly and forgivingly with you because of Jesus’ Blood shed outside of Jerusalem and His prayer for mercy.

God forgives you your trespasses. Therefore you forgive those who trespass against you. Parents forgive their children. Children absolve their parents. Husbands forgive the sins of their wives. Wives forgive their husbands. Brothers – sisters. Sisters – brothers.

What’s given in the liturgy of the church is also given out in the liturgy of your vocations where you live, move and have your being. No slick man-made programs. No bargain basement deals from big business. Just the peace of God that gushes from the wounds of the Good Friday Jesus. A peace that passes all understanding. A peace that keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

In the Name of Jesus.