Opening Prayer
From sunrise to sunset the name of the Lord be praised!
Text: John 18:28–32
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.” Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.
Devotion
Jesus dies not only for the sake of the Jews, but also for us. So He will be judged not only by the Jewish council, but also by the Gentile court of justice. And He will not be killed by Jewish execution, for they bruise the body by stoning, but He will be crucified, as He Himself had said, and as it was foreshadowed with the serpent in the wilderness. Not one bone of the Passover Lamb was to be broken. So we see the righteous Judge of the living and the dead, Zion’s King, standing before Pontius Pilate, the unjust Roman governor who ruled by the fear and cowardice of men. Jesus has watched through the whole night before Good Friday, partly in Gethsemane, partly in Annas’ and Caiaphas’ court during the trial, partly among the shameless servants who mocked and mistreated Him. Now early in the morning He is led bound to Pilate, and the council rulers followed along to ask the governor to confirm their judgment on Him. Pilate can be sure of the matter, they say, because those who rule the high council of righteous Israel do not pass judgment unfairly: “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.” To them He is trash, scum, a leper, a brute, who must be rejected and thrown to the fire, so that He should not pollute all the holy people of Israel. So God the Father allowed them to deal with His only-begotten Son, who is the splendor of all of heaven, and whom the angelic princes worship with eternal reverence. So God’s Son stands on earth. But even now the wings of His mercy are spread even over His accusers and shield them against the lightning flashes of God’s wrath. “If He were not an evildoer,” they say, “we would not have delivered Him up to you.” They should ask all those He freed from unclean spirits, all the healed paralytics, all the cured lepers, all the deaf who could hear, all the dumb who could speak, all the blind who could see, all the dead who had risen, and – what is even more than all this – all the foolish who became wise for the kingdom of heaven, and they will answer if Jesus is an evildoer.
But who, who are the evildoers? And where are they found? You think of Caiaphas and Pilate. Yes, – but they are closer to us than that. I think you know who they are. Look yourself in the mirror, soul! Indeed Jesus is standing in your place. It is your filthy rags He is wearing, your sentence that falls on Him. But more and more see in His humiliation, God’s indescribable and immeasurable love for us men, and learn what salvation awaits all who believe in Him!
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You and will thank You forever for Your deep humiliation and Your unspeakable suffering in our stead. Give us the light of Your Holy Spirit, so that with all the saints we may more and more comprehend the height and depth and breadth and length and know the love which passes understanding (Eph 3:18-19). Amen.
Hymn
Jesus, Judge of every nation,
Under Pilate’s judgment came,
Under Jewish condemnation
Full of mockery and shame!
To the heathen judge He came,
Who knew not God’s Law and name;
To his pow’r Himself to offer
And injustice He will suffer.
Thou, who all the earth art shaking,
From whose face the lightning goes,
Earthly princes quickly breaking,
Like a potsherd that one throws.
As a Man of sin, O Christ,
Stricken, smitten, and despised,
Now abuse Thou standest taking
As a Lamb, our ransom making.
And when death I shall be meeting
In God’s judgment I shall know
That Thou art for me still pleading,
All Thy innocence, bestow;
Speak for me, for I have found
Full salvation in Thy wounds,
So that after earthly sadness
I may know my God in gladness.
Kingo: Jesus, som skal Verden dømme L 325:1.2.8 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Freu dich sehr (ELH 256); alternate hymn: Stricken, smitten, and afflicted ELH 297