{"id":1882,"date":"2011-05-08T06:52:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T12:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=1882"},"modified":"2011-05-08T06:52:08","modified_gmt":"2011-05-08T12:52:08","slug":"third-sunday-of-easterchrist-crucified-acts-214a-36-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=1882","title":{"rendered":"Third Sunday of Easter\u2013\u201cChrist Crucified\u201d (Acts 2:14a, 36-41)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A-52<\/a><\/p>\n

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the First Reading, which was read earlier. <\/p>\n

Just a couple of weeks ago we celebrated one of the most important days in the Church year. This day for us is a day that if it were not a part of Christ\u2019s life, then Christianity would be radically different, probably not even Christianity at all. The day I\u2019m referring to is Good Friday. Without Good Friday, without the crucifixion, there would be no resurrection. There would be no salvation of sins. There would be no Christianity. <\/p>\n

Hear these words from St. Peter again: \u201cLet all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.\u201d<\/font><\/i> Let me put it another way: \u201cYou<\/b> crucified your Savior!\u201d That\u2019s pretty much what Peter says to the crowd wondering what all the fire and wind and commotion of Pentecost are about. Everything you\u2019re seeing and hearing \u2013 it\u2019s because of something you<\/b> did when you<\/b> killed Jesus! <\/p>\n

Imagine what that must have felt like when they heard it. The disciples were Christ\u2019s most trusted friends. With the exception of Judas, the disciples could never think of doing anything to harm Christ. And now Peter is telling them that it was they who crucified Christ. A large portion of the crowd might have been present at Christ\u2019s crucifixion, but none of them hammered the nails into Christ themselves. What Peter meant by his statement was that it was their sins that sent Christ to the cross. It was their sins that hammered the nails. It was their sins that kept him on the cross. <\/p>\n

More importantly, it was our<\/b> sins that sent Christ to the cross. It was our<\/b> sins that hammered the nails. And it was our<\/b> sins that kept him on the cross. <\/p>\n

They felt a huge amount of pain at the words of Peter. \u201cNow when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, \u201cBrothers, what shall we do?\u201d\u201d<\/i><\/font> They were willing to do whatever it took to right the situation. They wanted to feel better, if not for Christ\u2019s sake, for their own. The shame they felt was enough to kill them. The disciples, especially, had the utmost respect for their Teacher. There was so much that He taught them, so much more they could have learned. But when they saw their Master crucified, they ran. They hid. They were ashamed and afraid. Now they are together. Feelings of shame and fear overtake them and the crowd. They were greatly troubled that they had sinned against God and killed the Christ. <\/p>\n

The feelings that they felt 2000 years ago we feel today as well. It is hard not to. What if I told you that you alone were the cause of death of the Savior? What would you feel? If only your sins were present, Christ would have died for your sins. Why? Death entered through the craftiness of Satan and ruined what God had created, what had been deemed \u201c good\u201d and \u201cvery good.\u201d There was only one way to purge that death: through the death of an innocent. <\/p>\n

An African convert put it this way: \u201cWhen the story of Christ\u2019s death was first read to me, I cursed Judas and Pilate, the Jews and the soldiers. But when I understood it, I cursed myself, for I, too, have crucified Christ.\u201d No truer words have been spoken. It is easy to place the blame on someone else, as he originally did, though it is very hard to accept one\u2019s own actions, especially if we \u201cdidn\u2019t\u201d do it. We don\u2019t want to be on the hook for Christ\u2019s crucifixion. We love Jesus. We would never want to hurt Him, much less kill Him. Surely this can\u2019t be us! But it is us. We are guilty of Christ\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

Luther put the blame of killing Christ squarely where it belongs \u2013 on himself, on you, and on me. Who killed Jesus? You did. I did. We all did. Confess it, because it is true. What Peter said on the first Pentecost is spoken rightly to us all this morning: \u201cGod has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you<\/b> crucified.\u201d<\/font><\/i> <\/p>\n

So what is left to the Christian, both then and now to do? We\u2019ve already ran in shame. We\u2019ve already mourned and now are taking responsibility for our actions, that we have crucified Christ. There is only one thing left for us: \u201cRepent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/font><\/i> <\/p>\n

Peter here uses the word \u201c\ufeffrepent\ufeff\u201d simply to mean \u201c\ufeffbelieve.\ufeff\u201d This involves a changing of the mind effected by the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel in which an unbeliever becomes a believer. Peter invites the crowd to trust the forgiveness Jesus had already accomplished. <\/p>\n

This repentance is not a condition for receiving forgiveness as the text implies: \u201c\ufefffor the forgiveness of your sins.\ufeff\u201d<\/font><\/i> Such a thought would make forgiveness dependent upon human action. We are \u201c\ufeffdead in [our] transgressions and sins\ufeff.\u201d<\/font><\/i> This repentance is all God\u2019s doing by grace. Peter ties the forgiveness of sins to faith, baptism, and the Holy Spirit. When God empowers believers to share the Gospel, the Holy Spirit works through it to create faith in the hearts of unbelievers and to nourish the faith of those who already believe. <\/p>\n

Unless you are willing to take the rap and be in the company of the real and hardened sinners who killed Jesus, then you are putting yourself outside that astonished group of killers whom He justified by His blood. If you will not confess your crime with the crowd that Peter preached to, if you will not admit \u201cGod has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified\u201d<\/font><\/i>, then you simply will not know the power of His forgiveness, because forgiveness of sin is what Peter proclaims to those who crucified Jesus. <\/p>\n

What about the ones who are not guilty of His death, not guilty of any sins? What about them? Listen to these words from 1 John \u2013 they should sound very familiar to you: \u201cIf we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.\u201d<\/font><\/i> We\u2019re all guilty, whether we want to admit it or not. We are guilty to the very fiber of our being, guilty of crucifying our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by our sins. But even for as guilty as we are, there\u2019s forgiveness. The psalmist writes, \u201cIf You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness<\/b>; therefore You are feared.\u201d<\/font><\/i> You and I, as guilty as we are, have been forgiven of murder. In fact, Christ death brought about the resurrection of our death, because we are born spiritually dead because of our sin. Through His life, death, and resurrection, you and I have been given this wonderful gift of forgiveness, given to us in our Baptism into Christ. <\/p>\n

We have heeded the words of Peter through our baptism. \u201cFor it is by grace you have been saved, through faith\u2026.\u201d<\/font><\/i> Through our baptism, we have been marked as children of God. Through the Lord\u2019s Supper, we continue to sustain our faith by the food which Christ gave to the disciples and to His Church. <\/p>\n

Take heart, for \u201cthis Jesus whom you crucified\u201d<\/i><\/font>, has taken your sin from you. You have died in Christ and have been forgiven all of your sins through His death and resurrection. In Jesus\u2019 name, amen. Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the First Reading, which was read earlier. Just a couple of weeks ago we celebrated one of the most important days in the Church year. This day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18653,9016],"tags":[75975331,48579601,18137],"class_list":["post-1882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-easter","category-sermons","tag-easter","tag-postaday2011","tag-sermon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}