Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Nov 17

17 November 2020

Text: Matt 27:11-32

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Today’s  reading is an event of history unique to the world: when God was put on trial and executed by sinners who became God’s judge, jury, executioners – and cosmic benefactors of this grossest miscarriage of justice of all time.

These events are so monumental and dramatic that the tradition of the Passion Play has grown up around the world. In the 1970s, an attempt was made to create a rock music passion play that put a skeptical spin on these events, telling the story from the perspective of Judas, a play and movie called “Jesus Christ Superstar.”  The passion of Jesus is a narrative with one perfect Hero, along with a cast of villains.  But it also reads like a tragedy, only with the ultimate plot twist that ends with the triumph of good over evil.

The governor – actually the imperial judge at our Lord’s trial – is Pilate.  In spite of being the pinnacle of Caesar’s power, he is weak-kneed and terrified of the people that he governs by means of the mightiest army in the world.  He willingly finds the innocent guilty – which is just about the most despicable act that can be committed by a judge.

We also meet Barabbas, a domestic terrorist who is on death row for taking part in murderous riots and attempted revolution.  His name means “son of the Father” in an ironic spin on the One who will die in his place.  And we see the elders of the Jews, using their version of the media to whip up public sentiment against Jesus even to the point of supporting Barabbas the terrorist.

The soldiers were also villains.  They tortured Jesus like common thugs instead of warriors worthy of the uniform of the finest military forces in the world.

And in this drama, we are there too.  We are villains whose sins put our Lord on the cross.  But we are forgiven villains – for whom our Lord dies out of love, to give us forgiveness, and to cure us from death.  We judged God and put Him to death, but He judges us and gives us life.  The crucifixion was a miscarriage of justice that results in our justification.  And by our Lord’s passion, death, and burial, Satan has been vanquished.  By our Lord’s resurrection, we see a preview of our own rising again to eternal life which is His gift given to us from the cross.  Thanks be to God!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.