Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, let our faith in Your blood be firmly grounded in the truth of Scripture. Amen.
Text: John 19:31–37
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
Devotion
As conquering Lord over death Jesus gives His spirit into the Father’s hands and His body to the grave. Yet He feels the rending pains in the moment of death, for that too was part of the wages of sin (Rom 6:23), but then the suffering is over, and now “He bows His head.” Life has left His holy body. The soul has gone to paradise. How now do the angel hosts meet Him? But what do death and hell say now? Won’t they finally admit defeat? Indeed it is over, the victory is the Lord’s and — ours forever!
Our Passover Lamb is sacrificed, but now the soldiers come to break the legs of the two thieves. Won’t they also break His? The Scripture forbids it (Exo 12:46). His body shall not be maimed; they may not harm it. But by doing this they shall fulfill yet another Scripture passage (Zec 12:10), — so the whole Bible is joined together in Christ – and they shall pierce His side, so that the fount of life for our souls flows out of His heart. The Lamb had to be sacrificed for us, but we shall also be able at all times to sprinkle His blood on our hearts against the angel of death. “Immediately blood and water came out,” John says, and in his Epistle he writes: “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood… For there are three who bear witness … the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one” (1Jo 5:6-8).
“Just as a rib was taken from the side of sleeping Adam and made into a woman, whom he describes thus: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’; in the same way Christ the heavenly Adam fell asleep on the cross and from His side blood and water flowed out, the sacraments of the new covenant, by which He builds up His Bride, the Church, and the Apostle says of this: We are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Augustine).
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. “He died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” it is as sure as God is truthful. How certain John is about it, and Paul and all the Apostles! But just as certain is the testimony of the Apostles and the whole Scripture, that we who are baptized into Him have received a share in the blood and the water which flowed from His side in death. Our faith has such a sure foundation, and so solidly we can hope for eternal life through the death of God’s Son. But whoever does not believe, and whose heart does not receive it, makes God a liar in the highest revelation of His love and treads the blood of God’s Son under foot. God preserve us from this!
Closing Prayer
I thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your death, for the blood and the water from Your side, for the full and certain atonement, and for the holy Means of Grace, through which You make me a partaker in Your salvation. You know I fervently long for You. You know I pray to You heartily for a place among the poor sinners who stand beneath Your cross and are cleansed by Your holy blood. You know how precious these fountains of life are for my soul. You know how happy I am to live in Your Church on earth, and to be nourished there. But O Lord Jesus, sin and unbelief are still so strong in me! O precious, faithful Savior, increase my faith, and let me die daily with You and live in You. Lord Jesus, be my life. Sanctify me, and wash me, and kindle the fire of Your love in my poor soul. O how blessed I would be if I could from the heart live for You! Grant me grace, O grant all of us grace, kindest, sweetest Savior. Amen.
Hymn
Be Thou my consolation,
My Shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy Passion
When my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee,
Upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfold Thee.
Who dieth thus dies well!
And when I am departing,
O part not Thou from me;
When mortal pangs are darting,
Come, Lord, and set me free:
And when my heart must languish
Amidst the final throe,
Release me from mine anguish,
By Thine own pain and woe.
Clairvaux/Gerhardt: O Sacred Head L 334:4-5 ELH 334-335:8-9 tr. Composite;
tune: Herzlich tut mich verlangen