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You ever wonder what day of the week man was made? Count it. Man was made on a Friday. That’s when God created Adam and Eve. And on what day of the week did God choose to sacrifice the second Adam? On a Friday.
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, see him dying on a tree. ‘Tis the Christ by man rejected. Yes, my soul, ’tis he, ’tis he. Tell me, ye who hear him groaning, Was there ever grief like his? Friends through fear, his cause disowning, foes insulting his distress. Many hands were raised to wound him. None would intervene to save. But the deepest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice gave.
Oh, we’re all about justice, aren’t we? If we don’t get it, we cry foul. And yet, injustice was given to the Son of God. That you might receive forgiveness. Jesus, our dear Lord and God, allowed all of that suffering and all of that mockery and all of that shame to be done to him for the sake of the Father’s justice for you. That you may be declared righteous. You who have not one right thing within you or me.
Everybody focused on the unclothed and naked king as he hung upon the tree. Because of our piety, we have all the crosses in the world with Jesus having somewhat of a rag or towel around his midsection. There were no rags or towels around his midsection on the cross. He was utterly defamed and humiliated in his nakedness. And he had shame placed upon him. Your shame and my shame. The shame that you and I have known since we were little. The shame we’ve tasted. The shame we’ve heard. The shame we’ve participated in. All was laid upon the shoulders and the heart of the Son of God.
And isn’t it interesting? Here he hangs between two horrific thieves, but they don’t get the mockery and the degradation. For all of the focus of hatred… And all of the revenge is upon him, the second Adam. All the dishonor, all the humiliation and degradation find their consideration only in him. Think about it. When our Lord was opening his mouth, he was mocked by the crowd, by the men who hung with him beside him. Every time he asked for something, they would mock him. He desired a drink, they gave him vinegar mixed with gall. He sincerely and humbly prays for you. And the people around him shout out, if you really are the Son of God, come down!
And he remains in all of his ugliness. Or should I say, all of your ugliness. He remains on that accursed tree with you there. Naked, completely exposed to the Almighty and Holy God. No mercy is given to him, even though at every turn he gave mercy. See? To the woman at the well, to the prostitute Mary Magdalene, to Peter when he denied him, he reinstated him and gave him mercy at every turn.
No one else was dressed up on that day and mocked by the soldiers except your Lord. It is interesting in your and my life when we live it out. Oh, we dare not let anyone see what really lurks in our hearts. We play the cover game. And we pick up at every turn the fig leaves that we’re told to let go of. We pick them up because we think we can cover ourselves better than God can cover us. Because the fig leaves are of our own imagination and mind. We can cover ourselves just like Adam and Eve thought. And yet they still felt shame in the garden after they had sinned. Because fig leaves don’t take away shame. Fig leaves don’t cleanse guilt. Fig leaves only hold it in and allow it to get infected, create pus, and create cancerous death.
To the godless and unbeliever, they cry out, Amen! Let me stand before this deity with merely my fig leaves. I care not. He has nothing to point to me. And yet you, and yet I, cry out, To hell go my fig leaves. Let all of my righteous acts that I do to impress people and show them how holy I am be damned. For they will not bring me solace in the night. They won’t comfort me when I realize how dark and dead I am on the inside. They won’t hold me and comfort me. They will always leave me naked and ashamed. Just as the man who hung up on the tree for you.
And yet what are his words that he speaks to you from the tree? He speaks these words to you. It is accomplished. It is finished. There is nothing more that needs to be done. Don’t let Satan twist it in your mind that you’ve got to do more. Because only if you do more will you really be pious. Only if you do more will God really love you and everyone will shout out what a great Christian you are. Really doing more than what was already done for you. He said it is accomplished. He did not say it is partially done. The rest is on you.
When he said it is finished, he is saying sin is blotted out. You’re free. No more shame. No more guilt. God’s wrath has been appeased. His justice has been served. No more. Death has been overcome. That which is clinging to each one of us. Every time you look in the mirror, you see it draw a day closer. It has been overcome. And the kingdom of heaven, which is way far away from us now, has been brought near and is open to us because he said, it is accomplished for you.
Now though we may stand naked and afraid, we’re covered. But not with the cloth of fig leaves. We’re covered with his flesh. We’re covered with his blood. Just as Adam and Eve thought they had covered themselves with their fig leaves, did God slay an animal and they wore that animal on their person and God was pleased.
So you… Cast aside the things you think are worthy of God’s admiration or acceptance and take up what was given to you at your baptism. The flesh and the blood of the one who hung a curse for you on the tree. Then you know. Then you know you are covered and there is no doubt or fear. We are adorned with the most beautiful garment of salvation. But just as Adam and Eve walked around and looked at the skins that they wore and knew something died in their place, that they may be right with God.
So every time you see that font and eat that flesh and blood in the supper, you know something was sacrificed for you. On this sixth day of the week when man was created, the second Adam was sacrificed for all that you and I may wear not what we think is right, but what he deems as full and complete and finished. In the name of Jesus, amen.
