Interesting. . . but not a surprise

Ryan Burge has put together a map showing the average church attendance as a percent of the population by state.  While the results are certainly interesting, no one would find them surprising.   The deep red of the South, the dark pink of the Midwest and other parts of the South are all predictable.  The deep red of Utah and Idaho are obviously reflective of the strength of the Mormon presence there.  What is mildly surprising are those states that show the lowest -- Colorado, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, among them.  It betrays the stereotype of Wisconsin, for example, as an average upper Midwest state.  Of course, Maine, Washington, and Oregon are what you might expect.  However, over all it does remind us that even in the dark red states, there is still plenty of room to evangelize.  The numbers are low enough to give us all a sober reminder that the vast majority of the population around us is not deeply connected to the Church.  While some might insist that this does not mean they do not believe, I think it is safe to say that the faith they profess is less than vital if it cannot bring them to hit their church home at least once a month.

Make it so. . .

I read on another blog a bit about the source of the famous line of Captain Jean Luc Picard, "Make it so,"  It turns out that the line is rather old thought not quite as storied as some have wished.  

In the classic series of eleven Horatio Hornblower books, which I love, the phrase "Make it so" appears only once, and not said by Hornblower.

“About that breakfast, My Lord?” said Gerard.
An officer was touching his hat to Fell with the request that it might be considered noon.
“Make it so,” said Fell. The welcome cry of “Up spirits” rang through the ship.

According to others, this was a standard naval phrase used all the time in British heritage navies for hundreds of years. It was, as some have noted, used officially when it is time for an action to occur, but requires the senior officer present to issue the order and officially begin the carrying out of that order. For instance at sunset, the officer of the day is advised "sunset sir/ma'am" and the officer looks at his watch and says "very good, make it so" allowing the ritual to begin and initiating the evening watch routine.   
According to a movie (another favorite), Richard Widmark use the phrase "Make it so." in the film 'The Bedford Incident' (1965).   In the movie 'The Sand Pebbles' In the movie it was said by the character Lt. Collins, commander of the US gunboat San Pablo in China, played by Richard Crenna.  Long before any  of these, in Frederick Marrayat's 1832 seagoing novel "Newton Forster": Newton Forster: Or, The Merchant Service, the line also occurs.  

In the order of command, there is much to the calm voice of the one in charge who issues such a command.  Indeed, the mark of a good commander is that he is calm when everything else is in chaos.  Perhaps it is best to reserve this to God.  He is the calm voice in the midst of chaos created by man stealing himself from His creator by listening to the enticing whisper of the devil against the calm and almost boring Word of God.  Certainly, we might say that the first violence to appear in God's good creation was when Eve sought the counsel of Satan to make it so against the will and purpose of God.  

Some have tried to make the Church and her leaders reactionaries who run and jump and turn on a dime at every movement in the world.  We must act.  Well, maybe not.  The Church is not some wild voice against other wild voices but the voice of calm, echoing the calm voice of God who is never controlled by whim but always works His will and purpose (which does not and has not changed).  The flurry of comments on every political and social development by those who are jurisdictional leaders is not a good thing.  What we need is calm and that calm in the storm of sin and its death is the voice of the Lord addressing us with His Word through the voice of His servant, the pastor.  Though we are gravely tempted to presume that it is our calling and our power to make the things of God so, the One who makes it so is Him whose calm prevailed against the chaos of our willing sin.  God is always making it so.  It may not be fast enough or be the thing that we desire, but it is always exactly what we need and our only hope.  So every Sunday God is making it so -- bringing the lost and condemned from their darkness into His light where redemption and salvation is to be found.  That is the power of the efficacious Word.  It makes it so.  That is the power of the efficacious Sacraments.  They make it so.  It is not about symbolism or a sign of something that is not there but exactly this -- God making it so.  Of course, you only see it by faith.

 

An event space. . .

When I first moved to the South, it was not uncommon for some Church of Christ folk to call and ask about renting the worship space for weddings -- the Church of Christ not using instruments and typically having rather plain buildings.  Yeah, we got some calls.  Not as many as people thought we did but a few.  We have also had people ask to rent the worship space for everything from piano recitals to funeral home sponsored memorial services.  I soon learned the downside to the idea that worship space is not sacred but merely an event space.  It is not that I am unsympathetic to those who find themselves hard-pressed to rent space for performances or family events or a host of other things.  I get it.  But there is definitely a down side to the whole idea that the property of churches is merely event space waiting to be rented. A lot of folks did not get why I thought it was a bad idea to rent out the nave and chancel as if it were merely multipurpose space.

Some continue to be perfectly okay with this.  Some cultivate the idea that their sacred space can and should be used for secular events -- naves and chancels filled with drink bars, food stations, gift tables, dance floors, and all kinds of other things alien to the Sunday morning rituals that occupy the same space.  We wrestle with the same kind of thing for our congregation's music series and make sure that if it is held in the nave, it does not embarrass us or Christ.  There have been some close calls though.  Some do not seem to be bothered by the idea and rather like the whole business of the church as an event space business.  Some count on the revenue earned to pay bills.  In some, including such venues as Washington's National Cathedral, it is this that finances the whole operation.  Furthermore, some justify whatever occupies the sacred space as a "ministry" or some sort or another.  After all, if it brings in the warm bodies and some dollars, how bad can it be?

I grew up looking at a neighboring town's LCMS church that had been replaced and sold and ended up as a hog house -- minus the steeple.  Wow.  Is that all there is to what happens on Sunday morning?  The problem is that for too many outside of Christianity and even for some of those within, the holy ground of God's presence is no longer special.  It is just space.  Space that costs money and needs an income stream to pay for it.  In the end, though, the blurring of the sacred and secular helps no one and hurts everyone.  For an old coot like me who still gets agitated when guys do not remove their hats or people bring in an armload of drink containers, it is not a small problem.  Down the road we will reap bad fruit from our failure to guard the doors and maintain the integrity of the space.  It will cost us something more than money and we will not be able to get it back after we lose it.

Borrowed and maybe a repeat. . .

This is what passes for church in Germany.  At least in Roman Catholic Germany.  If the link does not work, try this: https://x.com/i/status/1905328689564287102.  In any case, it is worth remembering that the Roman Catholic Church in Germany lost the equivalent of a very large diocese for Rome or, in Lutheran terms, a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, last year alone.  For the first time, fewer than 20 million Roman Catholics live in Germany, according to the 2024 Church statistics published by the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) on Thursday, March 27.  Only some 1.3 million attend Mass.  Ourch.  As it was once said by Sen. Everett Dirksen of the US budget, a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon it adds up to real money.  In church terms, a diocese here and a dioceses here and pretty soon it adds up to some real losses.  There is no room for Lutheran smugness here.  We are bleeding off people at an alarming rate as well.  So the guy in the video presumes that the perceived relevance of the faith in the eyes of those in the pews is the problem.  Translate that to if we don't change we will die.  Lutherans hear and believe it all the time.  We must adapt.  We must change.  We must be relevant.

My question today is if giving into the press to be "relevant" and adapting worship to what some listen to on their playlists will help save the Church or is it killing that same Church?  You tell me.  During all those dark ages of the 1910s through 1950s when we had solemn, predictable worship (sometimes in a language not spoken by the folks in the pews), the numbers were growing.  At the time my congregation was being formed, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod was starting a new congregation every 54 hours or so.  Growth was explosive rather than incremental.  The percentage of those who claimed the faith and were in worship each week was high -- making today's numbers an embarrassment as much as a crisis.  We were growing but, more importantly, we were keeping the folks who joined in worship and in the life of the Church through their faithfulness.  

Today it is highly likely that you could walk into any Roman or Lutheran or Presbyterian or Baptist or non-denominational gathering and find the same song list playing and find a casual atmosphere in a living room sort of setting (where comfort and entertainment are key).  Even when the outline of the liturgy is present, it is there only in a shadow of its former robust self.  Sermons preach happy talk to people who want to be happy and the offensive words of the Bible (sin, death, etc.) are avoided in favor of the promotion of wellness and satisfaction and security.  This was heralded as the way for a Christianity that seemed to have lost its way recover its vitality and life.  Instead, it is literally killing us.  The Baptist Lifeway study indicated that the folks who do not go to church would prefer buildings that looked like churches used to look instead of the bland mall type structures being erected today.  I am convinced that this is also code for the fact that they also want churches to act like churches and not glorified entertainment or self-help venues.  Are we failing to reach those who are not Christian because we are too unlike their everyday lives and choices and tastes or because we are too much like them and have nothing compelling to offer?  Are we failing to keep those we have or keep them in worship more than once a month or so because we have too much liturgy, reverence, solemnity, doctrinal preaching and teaching, music that tells Christ's story, etc.?  

It would seem that in nearly every denomination there is a split happening between those old staid and stodgy folk who want to keep worship and catechesis as it was and those who want to ditch it in favor of something new.  We certainly feel it as Lutherans and so does Rome (if they care to admit it).  I suspect it is far more widespread than other presumed causes for the great divide among us.  We have worked so hard to reconcile and retain the different sides.  Has it been worth it?  In one sense, by keeping both camps in the one church body, we have presented a confusing identity to the people outside us and those in the pew.  Who are we really?  I may be a curmudgeon but I suspect we all know the real answer to that question.  The sad conclusion is not that some want a different, softer, gentler, kinder, more relevant and diverse Christianity but they do not want Christianity at all -- at least the kind that reflects the historic Christian dogma and life drawn from and expressed in the Scriptures.  This is not a fight over what Christianity really is or is not but between those who want to be Christian in every identifiable way that has been expressed before and those who do not.  In my dark days I just wish we would recognize it and part ways.  Then, perhaps, those who want to take Christianity seriously might find a way to heal their divisions and present a consistent, historic, and orthodox faith to the world.

The "ick" factor. . .

The sins that trouble us in others are usually those that trouble us in ourselves.  It is almost a relief to know that others wrestle with them and that we are not unusual in that regard.  It is a comfort that is false for instead of glorying in the forgiveness that cleanses us from all our sin, we glory in the fact that we are "normal" sinners.   How odd that is!

The sins we talk about most are the ones that have some level of the "ick" factor.  We talk about the things that we could never imagine ourselves doing.  These are the worst sins in our minds.  So if we find homosexuality repulsive, we will talk about homosexuality as if it were the worst because we could never imagine ourselves doing it.  Pedophiles, trans, bestiality, and a host of other behaviors and desires are singled out for the greatest condemnation because of that "ick" factor.  Who would do that?  Not anyone in their right mind, for sure.

Somehow this has translated into a hierarchy of sins judged not according to Biblical standards or even by those affected by these sins but rather a judgment of the "ick" factor.  These sins are the worst because I cannot understand why anyone would do them and neither could I ever imagine doing them myself.  We read Scripture into this judgment and so God becomes, in our minds, a willing accomplice to and a supported of our shock at these distasteful desires and acts.  Sin becomes like foods we would never try.  We would never eat them so they must be bad, terrible tasting, and sickening.  I know about this aspect since I grew up on a farm eating parts of the critters that were never put into styrofoam meat trams and sold in supermarkets.  Ick, indeed.

That is not really how sin operates.  God has not found something bad because He finds them "icky" but judges all sins as evil.  Sure, He notes the consequences of some sins are decidedly personal and do not affect others while other sins always do.  The sin is a sin is a sin -- from the ones which are our personal favorites and we could see everyone doing to the ones we have trouble imagining anyone doing.  We do not need to be saved from the awful and inconceivable sins that we could never imagine ourselves doing but we surely need to be saved from the sins which have become friends and even part of our family because they are so familiar to us.  Disgusting sins are not our biggest problems but the sins that come too easy to us are.

I find that my sins are a problem even more because I do not really consider them to be so bad while the sins of others are not a problem for me because I could never see myself getting caught up in them.  So I spend too much time trying to sort out the "icky" ones from the reasonable if wrong ones.  That is an even worse problem.  God does not ask us how bad our sins are because He find some more distasteful than others but calls out from us the secret and familiar sins we are not sure are so bad and are surely not bad enough that we would ever have to give them up cold turkey.

Having spend much of my life hearing confessions and making my own confession to a father confessor, I know how easy it is to get caught up in the pursuit of this triviality and how hard it is to lament within me the sins that have become my go to behaviors in stress, anger, or leisure times.  To say you are a sinner is to admit the easy sins which you struggle to see as wrong and to strive to give them up.  I wish I knew this sooner.  Think of all the time I could have saved trying to make sure I would not commit the sins I knew I probably would never do and think of all the time I could have spent working on the sins which have become my buddy along the way.

Cooperation in Externals. . .

Even where this is no possibility of doctrinal agreement or unity, that does not mean Christians must turn up their nose at working with other Christians when that work can take place without the compromise of their confession.  At least, that is what we have said.  In the theology of mercy generally viewed by those within the LCMS, this cooperation in externals happens in the areas of human need. Cooperation in externals is shorthand for the way we can legitimately ability cooperate with other entities (whether churches, societies, Lutheran, Christian or not, or even some government agencies) in the work of meeting human needs -- particularly in the areas of hunger, homelessness, refugee support and resettlement, disaster relief work, and caring for the sick, the aged, the infirm, and the hurting.  In so doing, the churches work toward common goals without either implying or giving the impression that unity of doctrine and practice exists or that these will be a part of their work together.  In short, there is no church fellowship (communio in sacris), no joint proclamation of the gospel, and no joint administration of the sacraments (worship). When the groups can retain their doctrinal integrity in order to work on behalf of those in need, it can and should be done.  Where, however, our theological/confessional integrity and the truth of God’s Word are the cost of such partnership, it is our duty to disengage from this common work in externals. Our joint endeavors rest upon the ground of an honest recognition of legitimate doctrinal differences or else they can bear no fruit.

Some have tried to pin the tail on the donkey by discrediting cooperation in externals, insisting that the preservation of our confession was justification for refusing such cooperation in externals.  Others, especially those within progressive or liberal churches, believe that if the witness gets in the way of the confession, the confession must bend.  Typically, however, the progressive wing will cooperate with anyone about anything while the conservatives are seen as the impediments to such mercy work.  There may have been a time when that was correct but it is not now.  Now it is more likely that the progressives will have litmus tests for the partnered work and these tests tend to be about the preservation of the holy grail of LGBTQ+ rights and protections along with the other liberal causes such as climate change, social justice, and advocacy over the actual provision of goods and services.  Add to that the political nature of this work and the NGO status of most of the agencies doing it and you have a recipe for trouble.

The reality is that most conservative Christian churches would be glad to cooperate if their noses were not held to the grind wheel of sexual practice, gender identity, global warming, political advocacy, and work that comes on the government dime.  In effect, the progressive churches have substituted the preservation of these stands and causes for doctrinal ones.  The ELCA is certainly more interested in shared communion with those who believe nothing is really there to be received in the Sacrament than they are talks with Missouri who believe the Real Presence instead of the real absence but it is equally true that the ELCA is more interested in doing just about anything with anyone so long as the sacred tenets of sexual freedom, gender identity, climate change, and social justice are preserved.  That translates into a truth (at least how they would express it) more important and more essential than God's own truth about who He is and what He has done for us.  In this respect, we are at an impasse.  The progressives do not want to work with anyone who will not affirm their unscriptural beliefs and the conservatives do not want to work with anyone who will not respect their Scriptural ones.   Maybe at one point in time the conservatives were the problem in the area of cooperation in externals but today the progressives have made it impossible for us to work with them even opening a can of soup without wearing a rainbow flag on our lapels.

Clown suits. . .

As long as I am making admissions, I will confess to at one point participating in the making of a tie-dyed chasuble.  It looked positively 1970s!  Oh, well.  I grew out of it and own and have worn a host of tastefully designed vestments.  I should have loaned a few to Notre Dame clergy at the opening extravaganza of that renewed building.  Instead they wore clown suits.  Some have presumed Masonic leanings and others have their theories but I think it is mostly bad taste and the foolish idea that vestments (like buildings) are a canvas for the inventive to play out their weird ideas.  

Even worse than the design are the colors.  Are they merely primary colors or are they supposed to remind us of the rainbow and all that this symbol now means?  It is art brought low, down to a very low common denominator.  The crayola box of 8.  It would seem that France learned the lesson early on -- don't mess with Notre Dame (at least on the exterior).  I only wish the Roman Catholic Church had learned the same lesson.  The interior became a fanciful exposition of our vain attempts to be relevant and the whole thing is embarrassing.  The altar, the pulpit/ambo, the sacred vessels, and the vestments represent the triumph of fancy over faith, of test over taste, and of a blank canvas over history.  Notre Dame is like the door you open from the outside only to be sure you opened the wrong door based on what is on the inside.  At best it is whimsy over stature but at worst it is chaos.  Art serves not beauty but the Word, not with what we could do but what we should, and not with as trial but as representation of the eternal.  

The designer did not try to hide his efforts.  The problem is that nobody was bold enough to admit what now everyone is thinking.  Clown suits.  Such things not only demean and make mockery of those who wear them, they also demean and mock the seriousness of the faith of the ages.  God gives us His best and we return the favor by offering Him whimsy and goofiness.  In art and music, architecture and design, vessels and vestments, we need to remember that these are not canvases for our own self-expression but offered to God and used for His purpose within the Divine Service. 
 

Heart of education. . .

There seems to be two minds in education today.  One path seeks to educate people for pragmatic purpose, to raise up technicians with skills that sell.  This has been going on for a very long time and is nothing new by any means.  In this view, education must be judged most of all by its ability to prepare its students for real life, that is, for work.  Business and industry certainly love the idea that the job of the school and teacher is to impart life skills that are marketable and employable.  The other path seems to believe that the job of education is to unfold the flourishing of the self, to help the student get in touch with himself or herself, complete with feelings, desires, wants, and thoughts.  In this view, education helps the student get in touch with the real self and is rather personal and individual.  We hear about this kind of educational thought among those who would believe a school should not threaten the student with thoughts or opinions that would contradict the student's own held truth.  Such schools are safe places where nary a challenging or opposing view is encountered.

Small, though growing, is the resurgence of the older idea of education.  Whether you call this a classical or liberal arts education, it is not at all a repristination of old ideas once fostered in Greco-Roman history.  Rather, this view has as its starting point the belief that the present is inextricably tied to the past.  If you wanted a phrase to summarize it, the heart of this view of education is that it is the education of the heart.  The point and purpose here is not to impart simple facts or skills but a worldview with morality among its chief values.  To find out more about this, you might read Edith Hamilton's 1942 book Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes which is still a key book in the renaissance of classical education in America.  There was a time it mattered little the trajectory of the child's future -- all children read the great classics in literature, were given a grounding in the history of Western Civilization, taught language and rhetoric, even Latin along with math.  So farmer or teacher or banker or preacher, the school provided more than mere technical skills and certainly something different than a place for self-realization.

Wisdom is acquired by extracting the lesson of history within the framework of the Greco-Roman foundations of Western Civilization according to the Judeo-Christian witness of faith and morality.  In our cancel culture world, this is not quite what most schools or most educators believe.  Whether it is the consequence of abandoning the classical and liberal arts ideas of education or not, we have never found ourselves today with the problem of raising over-educated children.  Schools are failing just as their time is being co-opted by social concerns and experiments trying to fix what they found missing in the home or to counter the work of the parents instilling instead progressive ideals.  It is not merely for the sake of religion or particular creed but also for the maintenance of the republic that education matters.  As so many others have said, unless we can regain control of education, the last best hope for America may well be lost as we forget what it means to be classically trained within a liberal arts curriculum to produce informed, responsible, and self-controlled citizenry.  

The death of a pope. . .

Pope Francis died at age 88, the Pope some saw as a humble reformer who sought to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and others saw as undoing the integrity of what is believed by his words and actions.  "Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis," Farrel said in a statement on Vatican News. "At 7:35 am Rome time, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father."  The pope's death comes one day after Easter when a frail Francis greeted thousands in St. Peter's Square after the Mass of the Resurrection.  It was not really a surprise given his health issues and recent and lengthy hospitalization. 

While it is not here my place to judge the faith of his heart, it will be the place of those inside and outside the Roman Catholic Church to make judgments about his legacy.  Popes either strengthen or weaken the faith and either leave the community they steward in stronger or weaker condition.  While some may point to statistics of attendance or membership or even finance as the markers of his success or the evidence of his failure, the real issue is the faith itself.  Was it clearly confessed?  Was the confidence both within the church body he led and its witness to those outside confirmed in orthodoxy, vigor, and truth or not?  God will judge the heart of everyone who dies and without the cover of Jesus' blood He will judge them according to their sins.  Those who are now preparing to bury this man will also prepare to find another Pope and it is in this that the test of their mettle will be found.  If they have courage, they will find someone who can restore confidence in the basic teachings of creed and confession, basic clarity in the morality of right and wrong, basic confidence in the truth of the Scriptures.  If they do, he will not look much like Jorge Bergoglio and much more like the man he succeeded.  

While I have no horse in this race, every Christian benefits from someone with doctrinal orthodoxy and a pastoral heart and if you have to choose, choose doctrinal orthodoxy over a pastoral heart that has no foundation in the Word of the Lord that endures forever.

 

He is not dead. . .

Isaiah 65:17–25

¹⁷“Behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
²⁰No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
²¹They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²²They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
²³They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
²⁴Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Psalm 16; antiphon: v. 10

¹Preserve me, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
²I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”

³As for the saints in the land,
they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.

⁴The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.

⁵The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
⁶The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

¹¹You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

1 Corinthians 15:19–26

¹⁹If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ²⁴Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Luke 24:1–12

¹On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ²And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” ⁸And they remembered his words, ⁹and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹²But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

 

 

Latin, 5th cent.; Tr. John Mason Neale, 1818–66, alt.;

Commissioned by Grace Lutheran Church, Clarksville, Tennessee,

to the glory of God and in thanksgiving for 22 years of faithful service
by Cantor Rocky T. Craft on the occasion of his retirement;

That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright
by Benjamin M. Culli

Another silent holy day. . .

After His crucifixion, Jesus' body was laid in a nearby tomb not His own.  A rushed job of burial having been completed, the people were free to celebrate the Passover Sabbath. Just as His body remained in the sepulcher, the memory of Jesus last hours remained on the minds of the disciples throughout Holy Saturday (Matthew 27:59-60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:53-54; John 19:39-42).  Other than this, the day is largely silent.  Until the resurrection of Christ, there was not much to think about but His death.  Indeed, we all are in the same boat.  If Christ had never been raised, “your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). The disciples had scattered and run when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:50), watching in fear from the shadows His suffering and death, and through Holy Saturday hiding for fear of also being arrested (John 20:19). They had much to consider -- Jesus witness and death, the betrayal of Judas and his suicide, the betrayal of Peter and his place among them not to mention the promises of Jesus about His resurrection.

The only biblical reference to what happened on Holy Saturday is found in Matthew 27:62-66. After sundown on Friday—the day of Preparation—the chief priests and Pharisees visited Pontius Pilate. This visit was on the Sabbath (the Jews reckoned a day as starting at sundown) and in the shadow of one of their highest holy days. They risked it all to ask Pilate to place a guard over Jesus’ tomb. In spite of everything that had happened, they still remembered Jesus saying that He would rise again in three days (John 2:19-21) and wanted to do everything they could to prevent even a rumor of that.  Even the guards could not prevent God from fulfilling His promise and so the women who returned to the tomb Sunday morning found it empty. 

The Vigil is technically not a service of Holy Saturday but the first liturgy of Easter.  Even before the light dawns, the people of God gather to recall how the Lord has kept His promises of the past and to anticipate Easter's light with the vigil that acknowledges this resurrection. 

Who calls this Friday good?

On this Friday before Easter we commemorate commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus and His death at Calvary. It has been called various names -- Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, and Black Friday --but most of us know it simply as Good Friday.  It is not called good because what happened was good but the fruits of this day are good fruits for us and for our salvation.  The centrality of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus can hardly be overstated.  St. Paul considered it “of first importance” that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised to life on the third day, as God had promised in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3).  This is a creedal statement that bears to the heart of what Christianity is.

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

On Good Friday, we stand in awe of Him who willingly suffered and died by crucifixion to pay the price for our sin.  He is both offerer and offering, giving Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (1 John 1:10).  Easter does not erase what Good Friday is but is the acknowledgement that what was promised has been fulfilled and the sacrifice offered accepted as payment in full.  In German, for example, the day is called Karfreitag, or “Sorrowful Friday.”  Truly it is that.  As the hymns remind us -- who can pass by that cross without being moved to sorrow for the sin for which He suffered there.  It is good only because of what that suffering accomplished and not because it was not hard to see, hard to proclaim, and hard to observe.  Yet, observe we do for there is salvation in no other than in Him who was crucified for us.  

Sin cannot be wished away.  The law cannot be satisfied by empty promises or failed attempts to keep its word.  We are prisoners of our sin and because of that sin we are also prisoners of death.  This is the law that must be spoken for the cross to make sense and it is to this law we proclaim Christ the innocent Lamb who became sin for us that we might be saved once for all. The day is not called good because of what happened on the third day (the Resurrection) but because it is here we see how God can be "the just and the justifier” of those who trust in Jesus (Romans 3:26). 

Psalm 85:10 sings of a day when “righteousness and peace” will “kiss each other” and this is that day -- the day when the cross was borne by the innocent for the sake of the guilty, the righteous for sinners, the Lord of life for those marked with death. This Jesus did not of our coercion or compulsion but willingly -- taking our divine punishment upon His own innocent shoulders.  “For the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus endured the cross on Good Friday, knowing it led to our redemption and the reign of God's righteousness and peace.

Not even Christmas is in all four Gospels but the events of Good Friday are recounted in all four Gospels of the New Testament and occupy the bulk of each of those Gospels. In each of these Gospels, Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper with His disciples and put on trial before Pontius Pilate.

"Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people." (John 18:12-14)

Taken before the Sanhedrin, Jesus was falsely accused and convicted of blasphemy and sent to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, for the sentence of death to be carried out.  Jesus did not cower nor deny the truth but chided them for their deceitful ways.  "I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.” (John 18:20-21)

Pilate was uncomfortable through it all.   “What is truth?” he asked Jesus. A man of fear, he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!”  Barabbas had blood on his hands but Jesus had no blood except ours and though Pilate was fearful, he found no way out and condemned Jesus to crucifixion.

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.

Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”

In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. (Matthew 27:32-44)

Crucified between two thieves who deserved their fate, Jesus was nailed to the cross.  "Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left" (Luke 23:33-34)  He hung on the cross for six hours, during which time He spoke seven last words. At about 3:00 pm, He gave up His spirit.

"It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last." (Luke 23:44-46)

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness covered the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lemasabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” They ran for a sponge, filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.  If Elijah showed up this would be something to see. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

  At that moment, the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Matthew 27:45-56)

So wrote St. Peter, who had denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed:  "He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24)  If he could believe it for his sin, why should we not believe in Him also?

 

Thursday we eat. . .

On this day the Church recalls Christ's "mandate" and so some name this Maundy Thursday---"maundy" being a shortened form of mandatum (Latin), which means "command."  It was on this day that our Lord commanded His disciples to love one another as He had loved them and displayed this love in the unthinkable act of footwashing.  Peter found it impossible and protested that the Lord should wash his feet but Jesus would have not backtalk.  Either you meet the Lord on His terms or you have no part with Him.  Peter got that part and though he did not have a clue about what betrayal he would show to Jesus the next day, Peter would be with Christ now no matter what.  "Not my feet only," but all of me was his brave show of solidarity.  But this is not about the cleansing of the outward body but about sin -- the dirt that cannot be escaped and that only Christ can wash clean.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another" (John 13:34).

Jesus never commanded His disciples or us to wash feet.  His command was and is to love as He has loved us.  Footwashing was an example -- a symbol, if you will.  Surely even more distasteful than washing someone's dirty feet is forgiving them as Christ has forgiven us, caring for their needs before our own as Christ has done for us, and dying to self for the sake of another as Christ died for us.  Love is definitely not easy.

Holy Week takes an even more somber and mystifying turn as Thursday continues. From Bethany, Jesus sent Peter and John ahead of Him.  He told them how they would find the Upper Room there in busy Jerusalem where they would prepare for the Passover Feast Jesus wished to eat with them one last time. Before sitting and eating a common meal, much less the Passover, they must be clean.  So on the evening after sunset that Thursday, Jesus washed His disciples' feet so that they would be prepared for all that He was to do for them. Jesus was blunt.  This would not be repeated again before the events of His suffering and death which He had predicted would be fulfilled: "I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." (Luke 22:15-16)

The words which John the Baptist spoke of Jesus would soon be fulfilled.  As the Lamb of God, Jesus was about to be sacrificed but this sacrifice would also become the meal that would continue to bestow the fruits of His sacrificial death.  Jesus did not command them to wash feet but He did insist that they "do this in remembrance of Him" until the day would dawn when He came to feast with them again.  This was the fulfillment of the Passover and the unleavened bread and the cup of blessing would take on new meaning as He said "This is My body" and "This is My blood."  "Do this often in remembrance of Me."  St. Paul would flesh out the meaning of all of this for all time by reminding us that the bread which we break is the communion in His flesh and the cup we bless is the communion in His blood -- not a symbol or a sign but that real flesh and real blood that is our real food until He comes to bring even this to its eternal consummation.  Love one another and abide in Christ's love through the fellowship of His table.  That is the legacy of this night which we live out forgiving one another in Christ's name, caring for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and gathering together as His people to feast upon His flesh for the life of the world and His blood that cleanses us from all our sin.

Then, having fulfilled all things promised in the Passover and made this meal a foretaste of the eternal yet to come, Jesus took His disciples out of the Upper Room and to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus and the disciples were to pray.  Our Lord prayed in agony to God the Father so that His words were accompanied with "his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44, ESV). The disciples were too weary to pray and their eyelids closed in sleep when they should have been praying that they remained faithful for the rest of the story yet to come.  Jesus chides them gently and urges them not to choose sleep over the needful preparation before the test of their souls to come.  He had hardly finished before they saw what He was talking about.  There, in Gethsemane, the quiet of prayer was interrupted by the clanging of a brute squad come for ugly business.  Jesus was betrayed with a kiss by Judas Iscariot and arrested by the Sanhedrin. It struck the guard as too easy but Jesus goaded them into doing their terrible duty.  Then He was taken to the home of Caiaphas, the High Priest, where the whole council of the Sanhedrin had gathered to begin making their case against our Lord.

Before the sun rose and as Jesus' trial was getting underway in the kangaroo court of His enemies, Peter denied knowing his Master three times.  The denials seemed to fall easily from his lips but when the rooster crowed Peter could not remain any longer.  Weeping he ran, a shell of a man, who hoped and prayed and waited for the mercy of God to rescue him from his own prison of shame, guilt, and despair.

The events of Thursday of Holy Week are recorded in Matthew 26:17–75, Mark 14:12-72, Luke 22:7-62, and John 13:1-38.

Silent Wednesday. . .

The Scriptures are silent about what Jesus said and did on this day.  That is the reason for the name, Silent Wednesday.  But this also has another name.  Recall how Judas had entered into a bargain with the leaders of the temple to betray Jesus.  So on this day, perhaps Judas was doing some reconnoitering.  He was watching from the shadows, spying on Jesus.  So this day is also called Spy Wednesday.  Judas was secretly watching for a chance to turn Jesus over to the chief priests and what better vantage point than to follow Jesus with the rest of the disciples.  Even as some call this day Silent Wednesday and others call it Spy Wednesday, still others call it Black Wednesday.  This is the name of the shadows for all that is deceitful and dare not see the light of day happens in the shadows and in secret.  In contrast Jesus did everything openly and taunts those who were His enemies by goading them into agreeing that He was with them in the temple and taught openly among all the people.  

No, not too many things to say about this day and probably we all need a pause.  The days to come will not be quiet or silent and the spying will gave way to a betrayal with a kiss right in front of God and everybody.  But not yet.  So pray that you and I are ready and prepared for all that the light exposes.  Pray that we stand openly with Christ whose mercy will not disappoint us.

Holy Tuesday. . .

On the morning of Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus and his disciples made their way back to Jerusalem. They probably passed the withered fig tree, and Jesus addressed again the subject of genuine faith that lived on the inside and not simply on the outside of a man.

Back at the Temple, the religious leaders cleaning up Jesus' mess and plotting against Him.  They were offended at how Jesus had established Himself as a spiritual authority and challenged their own authority as the religious leaders of God's people Israel. They put their heads together and organized an ambush to capture Jesus and arrest Him and silence Him but Jesus evaded their traps.  It did not stop Him from issuing a warning upon them: 

"Blind guides!...For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness...Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?" (Matthew 23:24-33)

Later in the day Jesus took His disciples to the Mount of Olives.  Sitting due east of the Temple, this is a vantage point that overlooked the whole of Jerusalem. Here, Jesus spoke what we have come to call the Olivet Discourse, words that surely caused alarm bells in the minds of His disciples.  Who would not have felt anxiety over talk of Jerusalem's destruction and the end of everything as they knew it.  More parables were spoken by Jesus when the disciples would have preferred some plain and clear talk about the future.

Scripture tells us that it was on this day that Judas had gone to the Sanhedrin and negotiated to betray Jesus and turn Him and the other disciples over to their authority.  Whether Judas had an inkling of what they were going to do or not, Jesus knew the heart of His disciple and was not surprised (Matthew 26:14-16).  Then, after a very long day of confrontation and warnings about the future, Jesus and His disciples returned to Bethany to rest for the night.

The tumultuous events of Tuesday and the Olivet Discourse are recorded in Matthew 21:23–24:51, Mark 11:20–13:37, Luke 20:1–21:36, and John 12:20–38.  Jesus knew where the week was going and that His hour had come and He warned His disciples even more urgently that He would soon be betrayed and crucified (Matthew 26:2).  Still, He continued to teach. A man among men, Jesus is not without feelings and not above the pain of betrayal working itself out and the cross ahead of Him and the plotting and planning of the religious leaders of the day against Him.  But where was His heart?  It was for you and me and for the salvation of the whole world.  His shame, humiliation, testing, betraying, crucifixion, and death was not for show but in order that we might be saved.  Our minds may be on taxes due or momentary problems we are facing but His mind is on us and has always been on us even as the days moved closer to His passion and death on the cross.

 

Holy Monday. . .

After Sunday's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, what happened next?  Surely some of the people were expecting something big -- a King to sit on David's throne and free them from their slavery to Caesar.  But Jesus aiming for something bigger than a people's revolt -- nothing less than the fulfillment of every promise, every Old Testament prophecy.  This Monday was the final Monday under the shadow of death.  A week from now Easter would be the Monday news.  But not yet.   You and I already know that outcome but the disciples then did not and even we are often oblivious to the details, focusing on the big events.
The march of Jesus to the cross would not be some silent journey.  There were things left to do before the armed guard would come for Him.

The Pharisees had ordered Jesus to silence the crowd that laid down the palm branches and shouted Hosanna to the Son of David.  In five days another crowd would need to be silenced but that one was calling for Jesus to be crucified (Luke 19-37-39). The Gospel of Mark tells us that by the time Jesus came into Jerusalem it was already late. Jesus headed to Bethany with the Twelve, only a mile or so away at the foot of the Mount of Olives (Mark 11:11).  On Monday, Jesus and His disciples happened upon a fig tree  full of leaves but without figs. It was not a fluke that it was completely fruitless since it was not yet time to bear fruit.  A couple of months should have seen the figs but for now you might expect the bud of that fruit.  In what could only have surprised and confused His disciples, Jesus cursed the tree for being fruitless, and it withered immediately.  Where was Jesus' patience and compassion so often displayed to people who did not deserve it and surely the tree could not be blamed.

But this was not about a fruitless tree, more about a fruitless generation of people who followed the rites with an outward faith but whose hearts were empty of faith.  So this moment was a teaching moment for His disciples -- faith even the size of a mustard seed could move mountains when it is aligned with God’s will (Matthew 21:21-22).  They would need such a faith for the coming days.  Then to the courtyards that surrounded the temple and Jesus found more to upset Him.  The irreverence for the Lord's House of Prayer was revealed by business as usual.  Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers, driving out the business as usual and accusing the merchants making a living on the requirements of the piety,  accusing them of making His Father’s house a “den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46).

The money changers were providing a necessary service -- changing coin into the Hebrew coin for the temple and selling animals for the sacrifice on this holy day of the Passover but it had consumed the religious authorities and corrupted them.  They made their living on the requirements of the law.  Jesus’ rebuke of the money changers was clearly directed higher than the merchants and right at the temple leadership — and they knew it (Luke 19:47-48).

For the first time. . .

For the first time in my adult life, I will not be leading the Palm Sunday procession or reading the Passion or celebrating Maundy Thursday or preaching Good Friday or bring the first light in at the Vigil or leading the people of God in singing again the Alleluias of Christ risen from the dead.  So, let me be honest.  I am not sure how to feel about this.  It is not as if I am suggesting that I am the only one who could do these.  I am not and everyone knows that.  But it has been my calling to do these since 1979 (roughly from vicarage on) so this is all new to me.  Thankfully, the rites and readings that form Holy Week and Easter are not new.  They are entirely predictable (that is the value of a lectionary).  So I will leave most of my Holy Week and Easter posts to simply let the Word speak and the music that accompanies that Word sing us through the march into Jerusalem, to the Upper Room, to the cross, to the tomb, and then to empty tomb.  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

 

 

 

Matthew 26:1—27:66

¹When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, ²“You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, ⁴and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. ⁵But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

⁶Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, ⁷a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. ⁸And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? ⁹For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” ¹⁰But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. ¹²In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. ¹³Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁴Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

¹⁷Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” ¹⁸He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” ¹⁹And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

²⁰When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. ²¹And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” ²²And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” ²³He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” ²⁵Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

²⁶Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. ³¹Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ³²But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” ³³Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” ³⁴Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” ³⁵Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” ³⁹And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” ⁴⁰And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? ⁴¹Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴²Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. ⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. ⁴⁸Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” ⁴⁹And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. ⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. ⁵¹And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. ⁵²Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. ⁵³Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” ⁵⁵At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. ⁵⁶But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

⁵⁷Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. ⁵⁸And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end. ⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, ⁶⁰but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward ⁶¹and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” ⁶²And the high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” ⁶³But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” ⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. ⁶⁶What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” ⁶⁷Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, ⁶⁸saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” ⁷⁰But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” ⁷¹And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷²And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” ⁷³After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” ⁷⁴Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. ⁷⁵And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

¹When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. ²And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

³Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, ⁴saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” ⁵And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. ⁶But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” ⁷So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. ⁸Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

¹¹Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” ¹²But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. ¹³Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” ¹⁴But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

¹⁵Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. ¹⁶And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. ¹⁷So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” ¹⁸For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. ¹⁹Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” ²⁰Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. ²¹The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” ²²Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” ²³And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

²⁴So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” ²⁵And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” ²⁶Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

²⁷Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. ²⁸And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

³²As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. ³³And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ³⁴they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. ³⁶Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. ³⁷And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ³⁸Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ⁴²“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

⁴⁵Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. ⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

⁵¹And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵²The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, ⁵⁶among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

⁵⁷When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud ⁶⁰and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶²Next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ ⁶⁴Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.