Holy Saturday

Sabbath Rest
 

Reading: Hebrews 4:8-11,14-16
A sabbath rest still remains for the People of God. Hebrews 4:9.
On this Saturday-in-between, Jesus lies entombed. For him too it's Sabbath.
In today's reading from Hebrews the apostle notes that even in the Old Testament the really big
Sabbath rest that God intended for the chosen people never happened.
The commandment for full rest on the seventh day of every week was their routine reminder of
God's long range blueprint, namely rest from the hard work of being right with God. Yet they
never got there because of their "hardness of heart," says the writer. They never came to the
place where they could relax, trusting that their transactions with God were also at rest.
Good Friday brings the big sabbath rest for folks harried by hustling their own righteousness.
Jesus dies as the high priest who puts himself on the altar of atonement. Such never-before
temple action breaks open the barricades to the temple's inner sanctum, the mercy-seat of God.
The hard work to get sinners righteous is done. It's time to rest. If there is any action at all, it is
to enter God's inner sanctum "with boldness," as the Hebrews-writer says, and enjoy it.
So on this Saturday-in-between God counsels us to take a deep breath, to sit down, and not do
anything. We too can "cease from our labors as God did from his." So did Jesus. That's what
makes this day Holy Saturday.
Prayer: (from Matthew 11:28-29) You invite us, Lord Jesus, to come to you when we labor and
are heavy laden and you will give us rest. As we take your yoke upon us, we learn from you; for
you are gentle and humble in heart, and we do find rest for our souls. Amen.

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Our Lifelines Written in Our Hands

Reading: Luke 23:44-49

"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Luke 23:46
Siegfried liked to draw hands. Look again at all the hands in the pictures we've been following
around the thorn bramble. Look especially at the hands of the risen Christ.
Though death is clearly behind him, the scars on his hands (and the other scars too) remain.
They do not disappear at Easter. Why not? Because they now are the marks of victory, not
defeat. Though once dead (the scars verify that) he now lives. That highpoint of his life and
work is forever imprinted in his hands.
Pause now for a moment to look at your own hands. How much of your own life's history can
you read there? What stories are written on your hands--the scars, the callouses (or their
absence), the bent fingers, the fingernails (chewed or blackened), the hangnails, the rings on the
fingers (or their absence), the finger-joints, the wrinkles, the moles, the visible veins.
When Jesus puts his life into his Father's hand, it is a prelude to his offering that life to us,
handing it over to us. When he offers us his hand, encouraging us to clasp his in ours, the two
whole lives written in those two hands are joined, and even better, exchanged. His scars for ours
-- but with one significant difference. Our scars signal the mortality still ahead of us. His scars
have death already behind them. Can that really be swapped when he offers his scarred hand to
us? He says so. What a swell swap!
Prayer: (from the Collect for Good Friday) Lord Jesus, you carried our sins in your own body
on the tree so that we might have life. May we and all whom we remember this day find new life
in you now and in the world to come, where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

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Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday

Jewish Kings and Jewish Royal Authority
Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-5

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
2 Samuel 5:4
David had forty years on the throne, the right amount of time to get God’s job done. And what
was that? According to the divine job description “you shall be shepherd of my people Israel,
you shall be ruler over Israel” (v.2). Jewish kings are called to be “rulers over” by being
“shepherds under.” How so “under?” It’s all in the word shepherd, and whose shepherd David
is. The sheep are not David’s; they belong to God. What then is his link with the sheep?
Simple, to keep them alive and well for the One they belong to. When danger threatens, the
shepherd dies (if necessary) so that the sheep survive. He is there to preserve them, not vice
versa.
The pattern of oriental kings in David’s time was the exact opposite. The people were
the king’s property, finally at his disposal. Which is exactly what such kings did--often by the
thousands. At one crucial time (and a few more besides) David switched from the Jewish to the
oriental model for his royal office. Clearest of all is his interaction with Bathsheba and her
husband Uriah. He acts as though he’s their owner, and since that contradicts the contract he
has with God, the consequences are deadly for all concerned.
Good as David was, God needed a better shepherd for God’s people. On this Sunday
before Easter we celebrate just such a genuine descendent of David, an authentic Jewish king,
the final Good Shepherd. We follow him this week on the last mile of the way to the cross.
Here he gives his life for the sheep, and in that very act gives his life to the sheep. When later
this week he’s called “King of the Jews,” that’s what it’s all about. Keep this “Jewishness” in
mind as Holy Week unfolds.
Prayer : You sent us Jesus, dear God, by the way of the cross. That marks him indelibly as your final
Good Shepherd for us. In his Easter victory you called him from death to extend his commission
to us as sub-shepherds, his and yours, to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, to lay down our own
lives for one another. Empower us to do what you’ve commissioned us to be. Amen.

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Some Stories Seem Never to Finish

Reading: Psalm 107:4-9.

Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town. Psalm 107:4
Garrison Keillor, America's master radio story-teller, once ended a story before it came to any
conclusion. His fans complained. So the next week he asked his audience whether that wasn't
really true--so many lives never getting anywhere, just running on and on and finally run out.
The Psalm reading today takes note of the same thing. People wander all their lives, and never
find their way to the town, to any goal or conclusion. T. S. Eliot said something similar about
modern western culture in his famous line: This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a
whimper.
The Psalmist knows the secret about finishing our life. It is not an achievement, but a gift. The
gift-giver is God. Unless the Lord takes us in hand, we wander, never getting to the town.
Finishing a life is never a chance accident. Only someone who got there before can show us the
way.
When Jesus finished his course, he put his life back in the hands of his Father. His life came to
closure, not with a whimper, but with the bang of Easter. For us whimperers who never get
anywhere, he offers to take us along to his own Big Bang. Not only will he show us the way, he
is the Way. Lives linked to him attain closure, the same resurrection high that overjoys every
whimper.
Prayer: Bring our lives to Christ's Easter closure, dear God, so that our wanderings may cease.
Today's world offers us a myriad of places to go, but they all end with a whimper. Bring us to
your town by the Way that works for everyone, your beloved Son, our brother Jesus. Amen.

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Reopening Closed Cases

Reading: Revelation 12:7-12

The accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our
God. Revelation 12:10
Jesus announces his own "case closed" with his next-to-last breath. If the case against him is
closed, then the same is true for all who trust him. Still, it seems our cases get re-opened daily
here on earth. Some charge, challenge, accusation, some re-indictment coming from other
people calls us to respond.
In today's reading St. John traces this fact of life to the work of Christ's arch-enemy Satan. The
job of accuser is his standard role. When he brings charges against Christians (whose cases
Christ has closed), he becomes a new nemesis. He's the Grand Deceiver, out to con us into
defending ourselves.
You know how it happens. When accused, we knee-jerk our own self-defense; or counteraccuse;
or pass the buck; or deny; or just run. But in all of these "normal" human responses we
are deserting Christ our Public Defender. Abandoning his defense, we re-open our case to sure
defeat.
Today's reading gives heaven's counsel for such situations: "Conquer the accuser by the blood of
the Lamb, by making the Lamb's Word your own testimony." Christ authorizes us to use his
verdict on us for our own testimony when accused in daily life. Doing so we conquer. Reindictment
fails. It's "case closed" again. What a Public Defender to have on your side!
Prayer: We make so little use of your defense in our daily lives, Lord. Worse still, but we often
work for the accuser. Unbind us from being his "angels." Open our ears to your word about us
to use in the courtrooms of our daily life. Put us to work closing, not re-opening the cases of our
fellow sinners. Amen.

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Case Closed Against Us

Reading: Romans 8:1-4

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1.
With no condemnation against those who are "in" Christ Jesus, the case against Christians is
closed too. One axiom of the Christian gospel is that what is now true of Jesus the Christ is also
true of his believers. Paul's little word "in" is the key. When you are "in" him, it's "case closed."
How do people get in on what happens to Jesus? Paul has only one word for that: faith. And
faith means trust. Trust Christ when his "case-closed" happens, and it's true for you. It's yours.
Trust him not, and it's not yours.
In today's reading Paul describes how it all came about. God sent his Son into our sinners'
network. Once there, and willingly there, he also became enmeshed in the lock-step sequence of
"the law of sin and death:" if sin, then death. And thus he died.
But once the law carries out its sentence on an offender, it can no longer touch him. Jesus is the
one flashpoint in our world where the "law of sin and death" is past history. To be in on that is
heaven on earth. It's ours for the trusting. Trust him, and it's yours.
Not only does such trusting get us "out" of the law's jaws, but we get "in" on the Spirit of life, the
death-proof life, in Christ Jesus. "Case closed" on the law of sin and death is freedom. And
freedom is an entirely different case. By faith it's ours.
Prayer: We still argue our own righteousness, Lord God, falling away from the "in" that erases
all condemnation. Bring us back "in" to faith in Christ, trusting that our case is indeed closed, so
we can tend to the other business that you put before us. Amen.

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"Case Closed" Against Jesus

Reading: John 19:8-12

When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then be bowed his head and gave up
his spirit. John 19:30.
What did Jesus mean with the words: "It is finished''? The Greek word St. John uses is a
courtroom term. It means "Case closed." Whose case? The case against Jesus? Yes, but there's
more. Take another look at the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate.
As John reports it, we soon see that Pilate himself is on trial. When Pilate tries to enmesh Jesus
in his own power game, Jesus reminds Pilate of the "game" being played on him. (John 19:11)
He's accountable to God for his political office. What he does with Jesus will bounce back in
God's verdict on him. Pilate thinks he's in charge, and only Jesus is on trial. From one angle
that's true, but the roles are also reversed: Pilate on trial, Jesus the judge.
So it should not really surprise us that it is Jesus, not Pilate, who pronounces the "case closed."
Only the one on the bench, the judge, can close cases. Well then, is Jesus the one in charge or
the one being charged--and executed? Answer: Yes. Both are true.
The charge against Jesus was: He says he's King of the Jews. How do you test that? Jewish
kings are shepherd-kings. Not until such a king dies so that the sheep may live, do we have the
evidence to close the case. Jesus dies so that others may live. He truly is the King as charged.
Case closed. Pilate, and all of us, need just such a king--for dear life. Thereby our case is
closed.
Prayer: You are guilty as charged, Lord Jesus, guilty of being our king. Anyone associating
with sorry-looking sheep like us has to reckon with the consequences, and you did. Not just
once on Good Friday as our Good Shepherd, but today and tomorrow as well. Our life depends
on that. Amen.

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Forty Days for Nineveh

Reading: Jonah 3:1-10

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
Jonah’s own track record is not exactly a model to follow. When called by God to “go at once to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it,” Jonah boards a ship headed in the other
direction. He flees not only his job assignment, but also to get “away from the presence of the
Lord.” But God manages the oceans too and Jonah is beat before he even gets on board. It just
takes him a little longer to get his directions straight.
So he arrives in Nineveh and proclaims its doom. But not right away. There is a forty
day grace period. Forty days to get a particular job done. That is, “to turn from their evil ways
and from the violence that is in their hands.” And much to Jonah’s own surprise, and later
dismay, they actually do it and “God relent[s] and change[s] his mind.” Jonah wanted them
wiped from the face of the earth. So did every Israelite of his day, given what Nineveh had done
to them and to most of the rest of the world.
After a few more episodes between the pouting prophet and his gracious God, Jonah
finally catches on. If God can be merciful to one rebellious prophet, why not to Nineveh with its
mega-populace of equally “dumb” citizens. In our fits of (pseudo-) righteousness, we wish all
real sinners to get the ax right now, apart from any forty-day waiting period. Not so God. He
offers us “time enough.”
St. Paul picks up this Jonah accent in Romans 2: “Do you not realize that God’s kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance?” When such repentance happens, we are told, there is joy in
heaven. For that too, Jesus says, we are to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it [already] is
in heaven. Christ’s way of the cross is about that too. Joy about repentance? Why not? For
Jonah, for Nineveh, for us, it is a turn from death to life. If that’s not grounds for joy, what is?
Restore unto us the joy of our salvation, dear God, beginning with our joy in repentance. First of
all, our own repentance, then also that of others. You have joy in heaven about our turn-around
and return to you. Overjoy us in the same way in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reading: Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
Jonah’s own track record is not exactly a model to follow. When called by God to “go at once to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it,” Jonah boards a ship headed in the other
direction. He flees not only his job assignment, but also to get “away from the presence of the
Lord.” But God manages the oceans too and Jonah is beat before he even gets on board. It just
takes him a little longer to get his directions straight.
So he arrives in Nineveh and proclaims its doom. But not right away. There is a forty
day grace period. Forty days to get a particular job done. That is, “to turn from their evil ways
and from the violence that is in their hands.” And much to Jonah’s own surprise, and later
dismay, they actually do it and “God relent[s] and change[s] his mind.” Jonah wanted them
wiped from the face of the earth. So did every Israelite of his day, given what Nineveh had done
to them and to most of the rest of the world.
After a few more episodes between the pouting prophet and his gracious God, Jonah
finally catches on. If God can be merciful to one rebellious prophet, why not to Nineveh with its
mega-populace of equally “dumb” citizens. In our fits of (pseudo-) righteousness, we wish all
real sinners to get the ax right now, apart from any forty-day waiting period. Not so God. He
offers us “time enough.”
St. Paul picks up this Jonah accent in Romans 2: “Do you not realize that God’s kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance?” When such repentance happens, we are told, there is joy in
heaven. For that too, Jesus says, we are to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it [already] is
in heaven. Christ’s way of the cross is about that too. Joy about repentance? Why not? For
Jonah, for Nineveh, for us, it is a turn from death to life. If that’s not grounds for joy, what is?
Restore unto us the joy of our salvation, dear God, beginning with our joy in repentance. First of
all, our own repentance, then also that of others. You have joy in heaven about our turn-around
and return to you. Overjoy us in the same way in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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The Vinegar of Daily Life

Reading: John 19:28-29

When Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am
thirsty." John 19:28.
This text includes two qualifiers as Jesus asks for a drink: knowing that all was finished and to
fulfill the scriptures. We meditate on the second qualifier today, the other one tomorrow.
With the words "I am thirsty" Jesus is fulfilling the scriptures. Which ones? In Psalm 69:21,

King David bemoans to God that his adversaries "gave me poison for food, and for my thirst
they gave me vinegar to drink." As Jesus walks the circle of thorns, he replicates David's life,
and ours as well, taking into himself all the vinegar that adversaries pour into our lives.
Yet the greater adversary that sinners confront is not just mean people, as bitter as that cup
indeed can be. There is, as the OT prophets say, a more deadly cup confronting all the children
of Adam and Eve. It is the "cup" of God's own rebuke. Divine vinegar, you might say.
Before we can ever drink the "cup of salvation," someone has to take that other cup. On the
cross, Jesus is taking it, taking it willingly. He drinks our vinegar, and in its place puts into our
hand the cup of salvation. That cup, by contrast, is sweet -- like fresh water after vinegar, or like
honey, the Bible's sweetest metaphor. He invites us to "taste and see how gracious the Lord is."
.
Prayer: Lord, the vinegars of daily experience have not left our lives. Pour into our cup the
sweetness of your salvation, that cup of gladness, the cup of Christ's new covenant with us.
Amen

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Thirst-thorns That Never Go Away

Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (Begin at "Therefore...")

"A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to...keep me from being too elated." 2
Corinthians 12:7.
Saint Paul had a thorn that he could never get rid of. Since he links it with the word "flesh," his
favorite word for sinners walking away from God, it must have been something more than a
physical disability.
His own Greek term for it portrays not a thorn sticking into him, but a thorn sticking out from
him. It was some place in his life where his own sinner-self was all too visible. What was it
really? He never says. So let's imagine.
Let's imagine that it was one of the seven thirsts, the primal drives that characterize us all. One
of Paul's thirsts he could never quench. It always managed to take control of him instead of vice
versa.
When he begged God for its removal, God always said: "You are going to be stuck with it. But
don't worry. My grace will cover you. My power will fill the bill as I continue to cover your
weakness." Upon hearing this he then pivots and starts boasting of his weakness. If it's Christcovered,
it's a plus.
The thorns of our poorly-managed thirsts need not terrorize us either. We too cannot keep our
sinner-selves from showing. How drastic is that? Depends on what we do when it happens.
Cope with it on our own and we're guaranteed losers. Link it to the power of the crucified and
it's taken care of. A done deal. Like Paul, we too are authorized to link our weaknesses to
Christ and join in Paul's feisty boast: "When I am weak, then I am strong!"
Prayer: Thorns not only hurt, dear God, they choke out our lives as they entwine us. Enliven us
with your grace to counteract the thorns that never seem to go away. Your grace is sufficient,
and covered with it, we are sufficient too for whatever is at hand. Amen.

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And God Sent Dryness

Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and
said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
Matthew 4:2-3
Jesus is led, St. Matthew tells us, by God's own Spirit into the wilderness, the dry God-empty
desert. Why does God send dryness to his No.1 beloved Son? Why does God send us daughters
and sons into deserts? If we are God's children, why those wildernesses, those parched deserts?
It doesn't compute.
The tempter makes a very plausible proposal: If you are God's Son--better still, since you are
God's son--why should there be any dry periods in your life at all? And if they do arise, then
shouldn't your status give you privilege for getting rid of them? It all seems so sensible.
But the One whose Son he is is not a God who flees the wilderness. Instead he enters our
wilderness-world. And once there he empties himself of all divine privilege, the divine perks.
Why? So that he may pour them into us, the real empties. His words: "I thirst" signal the last
chapter of his total emptying--for us, into us. Finally on the cross he is the fulness of God filling
us empties.
Not surprisingly, this Son of God does not exempt his disciples either from going back into the
world's wildernesses. Nourished by him, we get wilderness assignments, for and with others
who know only dryness and are dying in their deserts. He is the Word that comes from the
mouth of God, a promise to live on, no matter how deadly, how demonic, our desert.
Prayer: Nourish us, God, in our deserts today. Open our eyes to see your Son joining us in our
dry places. Feed us with his Word so that as we flourish, the desert, too, blossoms where you
have sent us to serve. Amen.

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