Pious Lutheran

Give Us Barabbas , 1910 Jesus takes the place of a Criminal Jesus took the place of Barabbas Jesus took our place His blood is on us and on our children I really appreciate the story of Barabbas. Barabbas is legitimately a criminal; he’s an insurrectionist and a murderer. Jesus is charged with insurrection, but is innocent and everyone knows it. Barabbas deserves to die, but he goes free. Jesus deserves to live, and he is crucified. Jesus takes the place of a criminal. This story of Barabbas is actually a very beautiful parallel to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This was the most solemn feast among God’s people in the Old Testament. This was the one day of the year when the high priest entered the holy of holies in the temple or tabernacle. On this day two male goats were taken. One of those goats was to be taken for the sin offering, and the other was the scapegoat.The goat which was to be offered for sin was sacrificed and its blood was sprinkled in the temple to make atonement be...

The Chief Priests Take Counsel Together, James Tissot, between 1886 and 1894 The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sins The Pharisees sought salvation by the appearance of holiness Judas, did likewise Often so do we Though the Jews mocked it, our salvation is by the innocent blood of Christ We have now entered into the holiest week of the year in which we meditate upon the death and resurrection of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. We do this not because we like to feel sad, and really we’re not particularly sad this week; we’re not trying to manufacture feelings of sorrow. In fact the focus of this week is the Gospel; this week is the heart of Christianity. This isn’t a sad week, it’s a holy week, and therefore it’s a reverent week. With great reverence we reflect upon the crucifixion of our Lord in order that it might be seared into our minds and hearts that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sins. Unfortunately not all believe this, and it’s often the case that many try to manufa...

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem,  Pietro Lorenzetti, 1320 Palm Sunday is a profoundly beautiful day in the life of the church, it’s also a very strange day, confusing to many people. Is it a day of jubilation to celebrate that Jesus is our King, or a day to remember the passion of our Lord? The answer is yes, it’s both! Jesus is the King who comes to save us. Our confusion lies in trying to reconcile both accounts. We have a grand procession and yet the cross is veiled in black. We sing All Glory Laud and Honor and we sing A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth.  Our confusion is nothing new. The Jews in Jesus’ day were confused as well. Some of Jerusalem greeted Jesus like a king, laying down not just cheap palm branches, but laying down their cloaks on the filthy road for a donkey to walk on. Our clothes are cheap today, so we hardly notice this detail, but they were expensive treasures in Jesus’ day. Later that same week some of Jerusalem demanded that Jesus be executed, shouting o...

  At first glance Palm Sunday appears to be a very confused day. It moves very rapidly from the grand procession singing “All glory, laud, and honor to you redeemer King,” to a 15 minute reading of Christ’s passion from Matthew. The two elements seemingly stand in stark contrast to one another. In order to make sense of all this we mustn't see these two events in isolation, but both within the context of Holy Week. Jesus did indeed enter with a grand procession and singing, as a King, One who rides on in majesty to defeat an enemy. He does come as King, with pomp and show, but the grand purpose of His entrance was to die. Jesus rides on in majesty to die. Jesus’ entrance on Palm Sunday is majestic and beautiful. “ Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! H...

These days many of us are feeling like prisoners, prisoned to our own homes. We’ve been exiled and our freedoms have been lost. Exiled from stores and restaurants, exiled from weddings, funerals, and family reunions, exiled from our church families even. For a long time we’ve taken our freedom as Christians in America for granted, assuming we will always be free to do as we please. But as the past few weeks have made abundantly clear, such is not the case, our freedoms can very quickly be lost when we’re prisoners of fear.  So in these monumental times, let us remember that God “ makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations, and leads them away. ” Kingdoms are like grass that will wither and fade. But, remember God’s promise! “ As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. ” We need not be prison...

Last Sunday marked a shift in Lent, when the Jews picked up rocks so that they could throw them at Jesus. Today marks an even greater shift in the mood of Lent. We’ve gone from Christian warfare as Jesus fights for us and we join in the battle against Satan, to Jesus’ suffering and death. We’ve gone from the triumphal entry with all of its fanfare, to shouts of murder which lead to Jesus being scourged and crucified. Today begins Holy Week. When you hear the account of Jesus being betrayed, unjustly accused, tortured, and sentenced to death it might upset you. Jesus shouldn’t have died! This riotous crowd is ridiculous! Jesus is innocent, He shouldn’t die! So we, like Pilate, place all of the blame on that bloodthirsty crowd and excuse ourselves of any guilt. We wash our hands with Pilate and say, “ I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood. ” But the truth is, no one is innocent of this righteous man’s blood. Innocence. The world is apparently full of innocent people, right? Ev...

2 ½ months ago, on the first Sunday of Advent, we read this same gospel account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  At that time, we read it with the expectation of Christ’s birth, that our King is coming; Christmas is coming! Today, we read it on the last Sunday of Lent, just days before Good Friday and the crucifixion. So the joy with which we read this text is a little bit different, but there is still joy on this Palm Sunday. For today we recall that Jesus our King humbly entered Jerusalem to victoriously save us. On that first Palm Sunday, Jerusalem must have been absolutely abuzz with the news of what Jesus had done! Jesus had “ cried out with a loud voice “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died (Lazarus) came out, his hands and his feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” ” The crowd that was gathered around Jesus now on Palm Sunday “ had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the to...