How Christ was crucified and what he did, suffered and said on it until he passed away.
Matth. 27, 33-56.
And when they came to the place called Golgotha, that is, the place of the skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mixed with gall: and when he tasted it, he would not drink. And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, and cast lots thereon, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: They have divided my garments among them, and upon my vesture they have cast the lot. And they sat there tending his. And at the top of his head they wrote the cause of his death, saying, This is Jesus king of the Jews. And there were two murderers crucified with him, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. And they that passed by blasphemed him, and shook their heads, saying: Thou that breakest down the temple of God, and buildest it in three days, help thyself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocked him, with the scribes and elders, saying: He has helped others, and cannot help himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He has trusted in God, who will now deliver him, let him be longed for; for he has said, I am the Son of God. In the same way the murderers who were crucified with him reviled him. And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour cried Jesus aloud, saying, Eli, Eli, lama asabthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them, when they heard it, said: He calls to Elijah. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and
put him on a reed and watered him. But the others said-. Stop, let us see if Elijah will come and help him. But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and died. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were rent, and the sepulchers were opened, and many bodies of the saints that slept arose, and came out of the sepulchers after his resurrection, and entered into the holy city, and appeared unto many. But the centurion, and they that were with him, and kept JEsum, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, were sore afraid, and said: Truly this was the Son of God. And there were many women watching afar off, which had followed JEsu out of Galilee, and ministered unto him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jacob and Joses, and the mother of the children of Zebedee.
(1) What happened at the cross is written by all four evangelists, but in such a way that sometimes one reports what the others have omitted. Therefore, before we come to the teaching that is presented to us here, we will first tell the story in this sermon, one after the other, as it happened.
2 When the soldiers brought the Lord to the place of the skull, where public evildoers were to be judged, they gave him vinegar mixed with gall to drink, as Matthew reports. But the word "gall" does not mean gall from living cattle, but a bitter and poisonous herb. With such a drink they forgave the people, as some think, that they died the sooner. But the Lord would not drink it; for he gave himself willingly to such death. So the word "gall" is written in Deut. 29, 18. Ps. 69, 22. Jer. 8, 14. and more.
(3) Then the soldiers immediately crucified him, and two malefactors with him, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
4 But the Lord Christ, as the right priest, who should now perform his office, prayed for those who crucified him and for all poor sinners, saying: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. This prayer, and the fruits it produced, we will hear from the thief. For this prayer was his gospel and sermon, from which he learned to recognize the Lord Christ, that he was the Son of God, and therefore hung on the cross, that he might pay for all the sin of the world, and after his bodily death with God,
*) forgive - poison. D. Red.
his Father, will live and reign forever.
5 Now the evangelists report that Pilate had an inscription made on the heads of the Lord Christ in three languages, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Although this was done according to custom, so that everyone would know why people had been brought from life to death, and others would have been offended by it, it was in the special opinion of the Lord Christ to admonish the Jews, even then, when he was hanging so miserably on the cross, that they should not be offended by such a death, but should accept him as their king. But it was in vain. Therefore such an overwriting outraged them, that they addressed Pilatum about it: He should not write, the king of the Jews; but that he had said: He is the king of the Jews. But Pilate was displeased with them, and would not change the writing, for a perpetual testimony against the Jews, that they would not rest until they had brought their king to the cross.
6th After this act the soldiers of the Lord took Christ's garments, and divided them into four parts; for there were four of them. But the skirt, because it was unstitched, but knitted, they would not divide it, but loosed it. And John says that this was foretold in the Scriptures; he wants to give the impression that it did not happen by chance, but out of the special counsel of God and as an example to the church. For both are shown here, how first of all the world does not allow itself to be satisfied by the fact that it strangles Christians; it divides itself into its goods, as little as they are, and plunders them. As we see not only in the ancient histories, where Julianus and other despots and tyrants robbed the poor Christians of their goods.
But the examples are also before our eyes today, how tyrants and bishops may well suffer that their subjects, against their prohibition, eat meat, hear Lutheran (as they call it) preaching, receive the sacrament in both forms etc.; for then they have cause to force them, to sell what is theirs, or to invade the goods, or they treasure according to their pleasure. But as they get rich or increase with such money, it is also evident that such unreasonable, exorbitant money eats up all that they have, and neither blessing nor happiness is left with them.
(7) But that the soldiers cast lots for the Lord's garment is undoubtedly due to the mobs and heretics. For the holy Scriptures are the garment which our Lord Christ put on, and in which he is seen and found. Such a garment is thoroughly woven and bound together in such a way that it cannot be cut or divided. But the soldiers who crucify Christ, that is, the heretics and the mobs, take advantage of it; they especially have this bad habit of wanting to have the whole garment, and persuade everyone that the whole Scripture agrees with them and is of their opinion. As we see today especially in the case of the devotees of the sacraments, who regard the words, "This is my body, this is my blood," as small words: It is only a single saying. On the other hand, they boast that the whole Scripture is full of sayings that Christ is no longer on earth but in heaven.
(8) This is the way of all the mobs: they form a special opinion without and apart from the Word; this opinion is always fluttering before their eyes, like a blue glass; what they see afterwards seems to them to be all blue and their opinion. But they are rogues, as Paul calls it, Eph. 4, where he admonishes, v. 14, that they should not let themselves be carried away by every wind of doctrine, by the roguishness of men. In Greek, the word "mischievousness" means to play with dice or to be crafty. For just as the rogues master the dice, it must bear them what they will: so also do the mobs and the fanciers with the Scriptures.
Everyone wants to have them whole, and need the cube for this. Now we have to go back to history.
009 And the Lord, hanging on the cross, seeth his mother, and his mother's sister, and John with them, and saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. And to the disciple, "Behold, this is thy mother." At this there is great mockery from all ranks. The chiefs say: "He has helped others, now help himself, he is Christ, the chosen one of God". With such sharp, poisonous words they not only want to mock the Lord, but also to turn the people away from him, so that they will think nothing of him and will throw to the wind and despise all the miracles and sermons they have heard and seen, and consider him a blasphemer. The soldiers, when they were Gentiles and asked nothing of God, mocked him in another way, giving him vinegar as a drink of rennet, saying, "If you are the king of the Jews, help yourself." Finally, the one wicked man comes and blasphemes also, saying, "If thou art Christ, help thyself and us."
010 But the other thief punisheth him for this word. Well, he says, there is no fear of God in you! Thou shalt be in prison; thou shalt not be in heaven till two or three hours have passed. So you have been a bad boy all your life, even as I, and well deserved such punishment; would it not be time for you to consider yourself and your blessedness, and to leave such clumsy words idle? Beginning at such admonition, he turns to the Lord and says, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus answers him, "Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
11. But a terrible darkness comes, which was altogether unnatural and terrible; and the fear of death drives the Lord so that he cries out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Such things the Jews well understood; but so bitter and venomous were they, that they perverted such words unto him, saying, "Behold, now he calleth upon Elias; stop, let us see if Elias will come and help him!"
012 When Jesus therefore knew that almost all things were
When the scripture had been fulfilled, he said, "I thirst. Soon the soldiers took a sponge filled with vinegar and put it around a Ysophen and held it to his mouth.
13 When Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, "All is finished," as if to say, "The world and the devil have done as much as they were able; I have suffered as much as was necessary for the redemption of all men and as was prophesied in the Scriptures through the prophets; now it is finished. And cried with a loud voice, "Father, I commend my spirit into thy hands!" And when he had said this, he passed away.
14 Soon the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, as a testimony that the right sacrifice had now been made to God, and that the law and the sacrifices of the law, which had only been a model for this sacrifice, were to come to an end. For the temple was built in such a way that first of all the people stood there to hear God's word and to sing and pray. After that, there was a difference, like the choir in our churches, where only the priests went in and arranged the service, with sacrifices and other things. This part was called the sacred, so that no one but the holy priests were allowed to enter. After that there was another difference, because the mercy seat was inside; this was called the holy of holies; such a chamber was distinguished from the holy with a curtain, into which no one was allowed to go, except only the high priest, and the same in the year only once, and sacrificed there for his and the people's sin. Now the evangelists say of this curtain that it was torn, as a testimony that such worship should all be over and come to an end; because now the true priest, the Son of God, offered up not the blood of cows or calves, but his own body and blood to God his Father for the sins of the whole world.
15) Such a rupture of the curtain happened in a great earthquake, in which the rocks were torn apart and many saints' graves were opened, from which many saints' bodies rose after the resurrection of Christ and appeared to many in Jerusalem.
and have undoubtedly preached about Christ and given testimony that he is the Christ and the true Messiah. These have gone to heaven with the Lord Christ into eternal life, just as Enoch before him, and Moses and Elijah after the flood. For God has always wanted to preserve such hope of resurrection from death in His Church. But here, with the Lord Christ, it has happened in greater numbers.
016 Now the centurion that stood by the cross, and others, when they saw the earthquake, and other strange things, were afraid, saying, Verily this is the Son of God. And all the people who were present and watching, when they saw what was happening, they beat their breasts and turned back.
The gospel writers tell us that so much happened on the cross until the Lord died. But there is too much to be told in one sermon. Therefore, for this time, we will take no more than these two pieces before us: the first, why the evangelists include more Scripture than usual in the history of Christ's suffering; and the second, from the cross, why God inflicted such death on His Son.
(18) First of all, the fact that the evangelists have written so much about the whole history of Christ's suffering is because they want to counteract the annoyance that such suffering entails and that the disciples were particularly tempted by. For behold, not only the unbelieving Jews, but also the disciples of Christ themselves, are greatly vexed by the fact that Christ dies so shamefully and miserably. Both of their thoughts were: If he were Christ, he would again help up the decayed, miserable, troubled kingdom. As you can see, such thoughts remain in the disciples even after the resurrection, since Christ now wanted to go to heaven and leave this life on earth here. For just then at the Mount of Olives they asked him: "Will you at this time again establish the kingdom of Israel?
19When the Lord came into the hands of his enemies and was strangled on the cross, the hope they had for his glory fell.
have even gone away. As the two disciples who went to Emmaus freely confessed and said, "We hoped he would redeem Israel," as if to say, "It is finished; we hoped far otherwise than we now meet. The Jews fell even deeper into such distress. Because the Lord died so shamefully and would not save himself, neither miracles nor preaching helped; they considered him a deceiver and defied him: If he were the Son of God, if he should come down from the cross, they would believe in him. In sum, they both, the disciples and the Jews, although they were of different minds toward the Lord (the Jews were bitterly hostile to him, the disciples loved him dearly; the Jews rejoiced in his misfortune, the disciples were sorry and displeased about it); yet they both thought that it was now over with him, that he was not the true Messiah.
(20) But where did such a judgment and angry thought come from? Elsewhere (nowhere), because they had left the Scriptures out of sight and had not diligently meditated on the prophets. For it is written in the prophets that Messiah shall die and suffer, Isa. 53; it is written that he shall be counted as one of the transgressors, Isa. 53; it is written that his table companion shall betray him and sell him for thirty pieces of silver, Ps. 41, Zech. 11. It is written that the soldiers shall divide his garments and cast lots for his skirt, Ps. 22. It is written that when he complains of thirst, they shall give him vinegar to drink, Ps. 69. It is written that none of his legs shall be broken, but that his body shall be opened with a spear, Ex. 12, Zech. 12, etc. If the disciples and Jews of the prophets had taken the scriptures before them and studied them diligently, they would not only have been unhappy about such suffering and death, but they would also have taken comfort from them and decided: Because this man is so, as the Holy Spirit prophesied beforehand through the prophets and in the Psalms, that he cannot lie nor be lacking, he must be the true Messiah. But since they leave the Scriptures out of their sight, they cannot help being astonished; it sweeps them away like a flood, so that they lose Christ altogether.
. Because the dear apostles have learned from their own experience what harm it has brought them that they have left the Scriptures and have not followed them, they therefore always refer to the Scriptures in history. As if they wanted to say: It seems ridiculous that this Son of God and the true Messiah should be the one who hangs so miserably on the cross, with whom the soldiers deal so mercilessly and do so much evil. But do not fret about it. See what the Holy Spirit has prophesied about Messiah through the prophets so long ago, and you will find in the work that this Jesus is the true Messiah, and that Messiah should not have had it any other way here on earth. For it is certainly true that he who does not abide by the word will not be able to resist even the slightest distress. The word alone must sustain us; otherwise it is absolutely lost with us.
(22) For this reason, everyone should flee these groups and enthusiasts as the devil himself, who lead us away from the Word and the Scriptures out of human thoughts, as the pope, the sacramental enthusiasts and others do. For this is called being led away from the rock onto a quicksand: the more one desires to stand there, the deeper one sinks, and it is impossible that one could finally resist falling. For God's word alone is the right, stable rock, on which one can certainly stand. Whoever then wants to go right, let him see that he has God's word. Therefore, when Christ speaks:. "This is my body, this is my blood," believe, and do not follow the deceivers who say: It is only bread, it is only wine. When Christ says, "He who believes in me shall never see death"; believe this, and do not follow the pope who directs you to the sacrifice of the Mass, to holy intercession, and to your works; then you can be sure of your cause, and you will be free from trouble.
Now we will also say a little about the other part, that the Son of God, our dear Lord and Savior, by God's special counsel, had to die on the cross, which was considered by the Jews to be the most annoying and ignominious death, and far, far more detestable than the gallows or the wheel with us. For this reason that,
in the fifth book of Moses, v. 22, 23, 21: "If anyone has committed a sin worthy of death, and is thus put to death by being hanged on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall bury him that day; for a hanged man is accursed by God, lest you defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance."
(24) Whether God pronounces such a severe judgment on the hanged because of the future fall, that His Son Himself should be so seasoned; or because of the past accident, that man fell in disobedience to God in Paradise and ate of the forbidden tree, there is nothing special about the latter. This is the greatest and most necessary thing, that we should learn and realize that God curses all those who die on the wood. Because Christ also dies on the wood, it follows that he also became a curse and is called cursed. How then the devil and the world especially impose such a death on him, which is called a cursed death by God himself. But how this is to be understood, and whether we are to be comforted or angered by it, we will hear from St. Paul; for he acts on this very saying of Moses, Galatians 3, and says thus, vv. 13, 14: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, when he became a curse for us. For it is written: Cursed is every one that hangeth on wood: that the blessing of Abraha might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.
(25) Let us diligently consider this saying. Paul contrasts the two words, "curse" and "blessing," and leads us behind him to the promise made to Abraham, when God said, "Through your seed I will bless all the families of the world. For there we must conclude: If all the generations of the world are to be blessed through Abraham's seed, then all the generations of the world must be under the curse; otherwise what need have they of the promise of blessing? Again, such seed, through which the blessing is to come, must be the blessed seed alone, since God is not angry with it, but since there is only grace in it, and since God is not angry with it.
Now it is certain who this Abrahamic seed is. Now it is certain who this seed of Abraham is, namely, Jesus Christ, born of Mary the Virgin, the only begotten Son of the Father; he alone is full of grace and truth. All other people, from the first Adam to the last, are full of disgrace because of their nature, God is angry with them, he is hostile to them, there is no blessing but a curse with them. Cause, they are all sinners.
(26) But how is it to be done? The blessed seed of Abraha is hung on the wood, because God has said about it: Cursed are all those who hang on the wood; therefore it is no longer called the blessed seed, but the cursed seed. As Paul says these things, "He has become a curse. Why is that?
We, because of our sin, are a curse and in God's disgrace. Christ, the only begotten, is full of grace and truth. Now how does he get the wood? Why does he throw himself under the curse of God? Why does he allow himself to be crucified? For our sake, says Paul; he became a curse for us, he bore God's wrath, and wanted to pay for our sin, so that we might come to blessing, that is, receive the Holy Spirit, be freed from sin and become children of God. For here it is as with a poor beggar who owes much and cannot pay; but another who is able takes him on, and becomes guarantor and debtor himself; he must pay what the poor man owes. As Paul very finely says, Rom. 8, 3.It was impossible for the law to help us from sin and death; therefore God helped us in such a way: He sends His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (that is, God's Son became man, taking our flesh and blood), and God condemned sin in the flesh, through sin (that is, God absolved us from sins through His only begotten Son, who became a sin offering, and was to pay for sin, and thus bring the blessing of Abraha upon us who were under the curse); as Paul finely interprets himself, 2 Cor. 5, 21: "God made him who knew of no sin to be sin for us, that we might become in him the righteousness that is before God."
28, So both are upon Christ: that he should become a curse, and after that a sin, that is, a sin offering, since all men's sin, and consequently the wrath of God and shameful death, lie upon him, for our salvation, that we may thereby be redeemed and set free. As John the Baptist therefore calls him a little lamb, that is, a lamb for slaughter and sacrifice, appointed by God to take away the sins of the whole world. And the Lord Himself says, John 12:32, "If I am lifted up, I will draw all things to Myself"; and John 3:14, 15: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so shall the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And Paul says: He knows nothing, nor wants to know anything, except Christ crucified. For he was crucified for this cause, that he might sanctify, redeem, and justify us, who through sins, death, and the tyranny of the devil, should have abode and perished for ever.
29 Who then will resent the cross? Who will consider such death shameful? Who will not thank God from the bottom of his heart that his Son hangs on the wood and takes upon himself the curse that belongs to us because of our sins? He hangs there like a cursed man, to whom God is hostile, whom God puts to shame, distress and fear. This is done, says Paul, for my sake and yours, so that we may come to blessing. For if the curse were to remain on us, we would be deprived of blessing; but here comes the blessed Seed, and takes away from us the curse that is upon us, and the blessing that he has, he casts upon us. Because he wanted to become a curse for our sake, no other death was due to him than this death on the wood, since God's word preaches that it is a cursed death.
(30) Learn these distinctions well, so that you do not judge according to what you see with your eyes, but according to what the word of God tells you. According to outward appearance, the death of the Lord Christ is an ignominious death and, as God Himself calls such death, a cursed death; the wood in which He dies is a cursed, accursed wood. Why
but? Because all our sins are attached to it. For sin and curse, or God's wrath, and all misfortune belong together. Then Isaiah says: "Many will be angry with him, for his form is uglier than other people's, and his appearance than the children of men"; item: "We saw him, but there was no form that we could have desired him. He was the most despised and unworthy, full of heaviness and sickness. He was so despised that people hid their faces from him. Therefore we esteemed him nothing." Behold, this is the outward appearance, and it is impossible for reason to judge otherwise, because God calls him cursed who dies on the wood. The wood is cursed; he who hangs on it is cursed. The reason why he hangs on it is also cursed. For the curse belongs to sin; and the more sins there are on the Lord, the greater the curse.
(31) But what follows from this, that Christ, the blessed seed, should die an accursed death, and become a curse to us? Paul says in very good words that it happened because of this that the blessing of Abraha came to the Gentiles, and that we thus received the Holy Spirit. There is something else, because we can see with physical eyes. The eyes resent such a shameful death, cursed by God, but it is a blessed death for us, which takes the curse from us and brings God's blessing upon us. The wood, which in itself is a cursed wood, is a blessed wood to us, a noble, delicious altar, since the Son of God offers Himself to God His Father for our sin, and lets Himself be seen as the right, eternal priest, who therefore comes to the cursed wood and makes it a blessed altar for Himself, so that we may be freed from sin, come to God's grace and become His children.
That is why the ancient teachers had such fine thoughts about the cross and the cursed wood. There in paradise, they say, a beautiful tree caused us to fall into sin and death; here is an old, withered tree, yes, a cursed wood; but it causes us to be delivered from sin and come to eternal life. For there hangs the Son of God
with outstretched arms as a testimony that he does not reject anyone, but gladly accepts everyone and, as he says in John 12:32, wants to draw all things to himself. His head stretches toward heaven and shows us the way to eternal life. His feet hang down below him and toward the earth; for he treads on the head of the old serpent that creeps on the earth, the devil, and takes away all his power. Because he, the dear Lord Christ, hangs there, and pays for our sin with his death and does enough; he becomes a curse for us: thus the devil loses his power.
walt, who has been given power over us for the sake of sin.
Therefore, let us learn here to know and praise the gracious will and heart of our Father in heaven toward us, who did not spare His Son, but gave Him up to death, and to the death of the cross, and made Him a curse, so that we might receive blessings, be freed from sins, receive the Holy Spirit, and through Him become the children of God and be eternally saved. May God grant this to us all, Amen.