Last Sunday we celebrated the transfiguration of our Lord. Jesus was changed before Peter, James and John and was revealed to be the Son of God in all His glory. They descend from the mountain, and Luke writes that the days have drawn near for him to be taken up. And so, he sets his face toward Jerusalem - toward Golgotha, that is.
As we travel through Lent, we cast our eyes on the cross of Good Friday, with hearts that anticipate the joy of Easter. Our eternal salvation hinges on this journey of Jesus. But we have nothing to fear. His face is set. He is determined. Nothing will keep him from laying down his life and accomplishing our redemption.
During the season of Lent, we put away our Hymns of Praise and our Alleluias from our worship liturgies as we journey with Jesus to the cross. This makes them all the more joyful when we bring them out again in all their glory on Easter morning. We put them away because Lent is a time of deep reflection, a time of repentance, when we peer into the dark corners of our lives, places perhaps where we had hoped the light of day would never shine, and see there the sin that Paul says so easily entangles. It is a time to confess all before our all-knowing and loving God.
Recognizing our sin, and knowing God’s judgment makes Lent a wonderful time also to reflect on the great sacrifice that God made in offering the life of His only Son on the cross. The blood shed by the innocent Son of God cleanses us from sin, removing our guilt and God’s righteous condemnation. “God made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1).
Our Lenten journey leads us to the cross, but it doesn’t end there. Thanks be to God there is Easter resurrection on the other side. Christ in all his glory has defeated our enemies of sin, death, and the devil! Although we put away our Hymns of Praise and the Alleluias from our liturgy, our inner joy is not suppressed as we journey with Christ to His crucifixion. There is a reason we call the day He died, “Good Friday.” Our sins have been atoned for. And Easter looms on the horizon.
My song is love unknown,
my Savior’s love to me,
love to the loveless shown
that they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I,
that for my sake
my Lord should take
frail flesh and die?
Here might I stay and sing;
no story so divine,
never was love, dear King,
never was grief like thine.
This is my friend,
in whose sweet praise
I all my days
could gladly spend!
My Song is Love Unknown
LSB 430
- Pastor