The Lord is at that bittersweet moment in His earthly ministry. Judas has just left to betray Him, and Jesus knows that he will despair and ultimately drop into the eternal condemnation of hell. Yet, at that very moment, Jesus is on the final leg of His journey to the cross, and as He goes to receive the punishment for sin, He goes in the sure knowledge that His work will make manifest the infinite, forgiving love of God for humanity. This bittersweet moment reveals the motivation of God’s plan to declare us righteous for the sake of Jesus’ perfect life and innocent death and to begin the work of making us righteous and fit for the heavenly place by the work of the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament. All this is God’s doing, and this fact gives us courage in the bittersweet moment of this life.
Many heard Jesus’ word and saw His miracles and yet did not listen and did not see that He was and is God, our Savior, because they were looking for another, more fashionable savior. By God’s grace, He has worked faith in our hearts, so that we have heard and seen and believed. By that same Word, He draws us together in His flock to guard and keep us unto eternal life.
