In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Grace and Peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in
the truth, for His word is truth. Amen
Sunday of the
Passion/ Palm Sunday (2011)
A Lamb Goes
Uncomplaining
Matthew 27:11-14 (ESV)
Now Jesus
stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the King
of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You have said so." [12] But when he was accused by the chief
priests and elders, he gave no answer.
[13] Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many things they
testify against you?" [14] But he
gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was
greatly amazed.
In the twenty-first chapter
of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, the evangelist relates the account of
our Lord Jesus sending Peter and John into Jerusalem to bring back a donkey on
which our Lord will ride as He enters the city of Jerusalem for His last
Passover; thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah, who wrote: “Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of
When these two disciples
bring the donkey to Jesus they place their cloaks upon it for our Lord to sit
on. As He rode through the gate into the city, many removed their own robes and
placed them on the ground in front of Him or cut palm branches and spread them
across the road, thereby paying our Lord the highest of honors by making for
Him a carpet of robes and palm branches upon which He could ride. As Jesus passes
the crowd, they run in front and behind Him, shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
(Matt. 21:9). The people were overjoyed that Jesus had come into the
city and Holy Scripture tells us that other people who were stirred by the
procession, asks, “Who is this?” and the crowd knew and they quickly replied; “This
is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee” (Matt. 21:11). Thus
began the final week in the life of our Lord Jesus, the week we now call; Holy
Week.
However, as our Lord rode
into the city not all the inhabitants were filled with jubilant accolades
because the Son of David was among them. No, some were celebrating for a much
different reason. They were celebrating because our Lord Jesus was now in the
city they controlled. He was now among the very men who were plotting His
death. We shall see as the week progresses, what began as a jubilant entry for
our Lord the day after the Sabbath ends in His accursed death upon the cross of
Entering the city, our Lord’s week is filled with confrontation
with those who desire to kill Him. Time and again He is confronted and
challenged by the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees and Sadducees;
those who make up the Sanhedrin. Each time He is confronted our Lord foils
their challenge. Each time He exposes their schemes, yet they become even more
resolute to destroy this man who has challenged their power and prestige. Then,
as if to add fuel to the fire, our Lord pronounces seven woes upon His enemies
and declares them to be nothing more than whitewashed tombs, hypocrites of the
worst kind. Obviously, this did not endear Him to them and they are even more
committed to persist in their plan to silence His accusations. Then, as if God
were smiling on them, their desire is met when Judas, one of our Lord’s
disciples, came to them asking, “What will you give me if I deliver him over
to you?” (Matthew 26:15 ESV).
The Sanhedrin must have thought, here is an
opportunity too good to be true. Here, in their midst, is one of the Twelve willing
to betray Jesus, asking them, “What will you give me?” As much as
they had wanted to get their hands of Jesus, one would think they would have
been more than happy to offer a large reward for His capture, but this is not
the case. They offer Judas the paltry sum of thirty pieces of silver; the price
usually paid as a penalty for accidentally killing a slave. Then, with his
money sack filled with silver pieces, Judas leads a large contingent of men and
soldiers to the garden where our Lord sought refuge and strength in prayer. There
the mob lay their hands on Jesus and take Him to the High Priest, Caiaphas, to
be tried. He is found guilty of blasphemy in this kangaroo court, then He is
taken to Pontus Pilate; the secular governor who has the authority to sentence
Jesus to death.
St. Matthew tells us, “Now Jesus stood before the
governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?” (v.
11).
Pilate had been made aware of a series of charges against our Lord, the last of
which was He pretended to be “Christ, a King.” Pilate couldn’t believe the
person who stood before him could in any way be a king. There was nothing
stately about Him, He didn’t have an entourage to accompany Him, no one bowed
or lowered their eyes when He passed; surely, Pilate thought, this man cannot
be a king! Yet Jesus answers, “You have said so.” Our Lord, in
Jewish fashion, verifies what Pilate has asked when He responds, “You
have said so” and then He answers no more questions; remaining silent
throughout the trial.
The chief priests and elders
begin a flood of vicious accusations against our Lord, but He opens not His
mouth. Our Lord Jesus is standing in the Praetorium in front of Pilate and His
accusers, yet He answers not a word. Then when the flood of their accusations
subside and their voices fall silent, all eyes turn to Jesus, but remaining
silent He simply stares at the governor who was sitting on his judicial chair
eager to hear our Lord’s response. Failing to hear a response, Pilate asks Him,
“Do
you not hear how many things they testify against you?” (v. 13). Yet
even this veiled threat does not deter our Lord, He remains silent.
A Lamb goes
uncomplaining forth,
The guilt of
sinners bearing
And, laden
with the sins of earth,
None else the
burden sharing; (LSB 438)
The prophecy of Isaiah is
fulfilled: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like
a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah
53:7 ESV).
In this trial justice is absent, she has taken a
holiday, the innocent would be found guilty and condemned.
As we read the account of our Lord’s trials, we are
appalled at the treatment He received. His sham trials anger us as we witness
injustice prevail over the innocent. However, before we complete our review of
this sad trial, it will become clear that we also stood there with His
accusers. Holy Scripture foretells of this sad trial when in the words of
Isaiah, we read: “Surely he has borne our grief’s and carried our sorrows; yet we
esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4 ESV).
We may not have been there in person, but we were there none-the-less, silent
and unwilling to take up His defense, for we hid our faces from Him and
esteemed Him not (Is. 53:3).
As the crowd shouts crucify Him! Pilate shrinks from
doing his duty. Knowing in his heart that Jesus was innocent, he never-the-less
releases a murderer and then washing his hands, declaring, “I am innocent of this man's
blood; see to it yourselves” (Matthew 27:24 ESV), he has our Lord cruelly
scourged and sent to be crucified. Thus our Lord;
Goes patient
on, grows weak and faint,
To slaughter
led without complaint,
That spotless
life to offer.
He bears the
stripes, the wounds, the lies,
The mockery,
and yet replies,
“All this I
gladly suffer.” (LSB 438).
The crucifixion of our Lord would be easier to
understand if it had been planned and promoted by godless heathens. However, we
discover that the instigators and executioners of this crime of the ages were
made up of highly respected people.
First, they were the leaders of the nation of
Secondly, the crucifixion of our Lord, although
planned by His own people, could not be carried out by them; Roman law would
not permit it. Thus His crucifixion was
actually performed by pagan Romans whose governor feared a riot and cared not
about the life of a single Jew.
Thirdly, although our Lord’s crucifixion is plotted by
Jews and carried out by Romans, it would not have been necessary if Adam had
not disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and brought sin into the world. Adam’s
sin is inherited by all men and filled with this sin, man is unable to obey the
Law of God and live a sinless life. Furthermore, man is unable to save himself
from sin; he needs a rescuer and if it’s not him, then who? Thus, man cries out
with
Hypocritical church leaders blinded by envy and pagan
soldiers who knew only how to carry out orders, executed our Lord, but it is
our sins, and our sins alone, that sent our Lord Jesus to the cross; our sins
of commission and omission, our sins of hate and jealousy, our sins of pride
and envy, our sins of coveting and theft, our sins of slander and lying, and
our sin of ignoring the unselfish effort of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave His
life to save us; taking our sins upon Himself on the cross, thereby saving us
from those very sins. This is the reason our Lord was crucified, so He could
rescue us from the wages of sin, eternal death.
Weak and exhausted from the beating He endured at the
hands of Roman soldiers; our Lord Jesus is forced to carry His own cross to the
place of His execution. Once there, He is nailed hand and foot to that rough
wooden cross and implanted in the ground to hang before all
For those who have been called, who have been given
the gift of faith to believe in the atoning sacrifice of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ; we give thanks for our Lord’s sacrifice. We know that His death
on
This Lamb is
Christ, the soul’s great friend,
The Lamb of
God, our Savior,
Whom God the
Father chose to send
To gain for us
His favor. (LSB 438) Amen.
May the Peace of God which passes all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.