That’s Not Fair

Good evening and welcome to what I hope and pray will be a very special and meaningful time of worship for all of us as we gather together in God’s house on this Good Friday evening to commemorate and dare I say even celebrate the earth-shaking, sin-breaking, history-making events that took place nearly 2000 years ago on a skull-shaped hill located just outside the city of Jerusalem, a hill called Calvary in the Latin language of the Romans and Golgotha in the Aramaic language of the Jews.  The theme that I have chosen for our consideration tonight is “That’s Not Fair!”  That was a recurring phrase that was heard around the Meyer household when our 2 daughters were growing up.  Sometimes when we would forbid them from going somewhere or discipline them for something they’d done wrong, they would come back at us with that exclamation: “That’s not fair!”  To which my standard reply would be, “I’m sorry, but life isn’t always fair.”

Well, throughout Christ’s Passion, the phrase “That’s not fair” could have been repeated numerous times.  And tonight I want to focus upon some of those times in the hopes of helping us appreciate more than ever the injustice and unfairness that Jesus endured for us, all so that we could be his forever.

OPENING HYMN – 126, vv. 1,2,4 (HS) “The Old Rugged Cross”

  1. It’s not fair that Jesus should wash His disciples’ feet.

SCRIPTURE READING: John 13:4-5

He (Jesus) got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 

MEDITATION #1:

The night before Jesus was crucified he gathered with his disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem to observe the Passover with them.  When they arrived one of the first orders of business would have been that a servant – in fact the lowest servant in the household – would wash their feet, feet that had been dirtied from the dusty roads they had travelled that day.  But there was no such servant present.  And interestingly Luke tells us in his Gospel that at one point a dispute broke out among the disciples as to which one of them was the greatest.  My opinion is that this argument started as they began to debate which of them was going to wash the others’ feet.  And though Luke does not specifically tell us that it was this argument that prompted Jesus to do what he does, I’m pretty convinced it was.  For while his disciples bicker with one another, he, the Master and Leader of the group, assumes the role of the lowest of all servants and proceeds to wash the dirty, smelly feet of his followers.  And all we can say is, “That’s not fair” that the One whom John identifies in the Book of Revelation as the King of kings and Lord of lords should have to perform such a lowly, menial task.  But regardless of whether it was fair or not, that’s what Jesus did.  And he did it willingly; he did it tenderly; he did it lovingly.  So we pray:

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, it troubles us that you who were so great had to stoop so low to teach your disciples a valuable lesson in humility and service.  Please forgive us when we think ourselves better than others and help us through the power of the Holy Spirit to be willing to figuratively wash the feet of others and thus give them a clear picture of what your followers look like and do.  In your name we pray.  Amen.

HYMN – 72, vv.1,3 (HS) “Make Me a Blessing”

  1. It’s not fair that the disciples should fall asleep.

SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 26:36, 40

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray”… Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.

MEDITATION #2:

The disciples had failed Jesus miserably in the upper room with their arguments over which of them was the greatest.  And now their failures continue in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus, knowing all that was about to happen to him over the next 18 hours or so, is beginning to feel the pressure.  So he begins to look for a little moral support and prayer support from his disciples, and though their spirit was willing, their flesh was weak.  And they fall asleep on Jesus, not once, not twice, but three different times according to Matthew and Mark’s Gospels.  And again, we want to cry out “That’s not fair!”  It’s not fair that the One who was always there for his disciples should not have them be there for him when he needed them the most.  It’s not fair that the One who never let them down should be so blatantly let down by them.  Oh, if we had only been there!  We wouldn’t have fallen asleep on Jesus.  We wouldn’t have let him down, right?  Doubtful, for we can’t even begin to count the number of times we have done just that, the number of times we have disappointed him, hurt him, offended him.  And so we pray:

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, while it’s so easy for us to point a critical finger at the disciples for falling asleep when you needed them the most, a good honest look at ourselves will reveal that there have been plenty of times when we have let you down.  Please forgive us, move us, and inspire us by your willingness to go to the cross for us to take more seriously your command to deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow you.  And may we do it all for your glory, Jesus.  Amen.

HYMN – 285, vv.1,2 (LW) “Chief of Sinners, Though I Be” 

III.             It’s not fair that Jesus should be arrested.

SCRIPTURE READING: John 18:2-3, 12-13  

Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons…Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 

MEDITATION #3:

   When you hear of someone getting arrested, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?  You probably wonder what terrible thing they did to get themselves into such trouble with the law.  Maybe they got busted for making meth.  Maybe they got caught driving under the influence of alcohol.  Maybe they beat up their wife or molested a child or committed rape or even murder.  Jesus had done none of those things.  In fact, if anything, he had done only things that should have been commended by those enforcing the law.  He had healed the blind, the sick, the lame, the deaf, the lepers.  He had fed hungry multitudes with hardly any food at all until they were all satisfied.  He had even raised the dead.  So when we picture Jesus being manhandled by the Roman soldiers and arrested, it makes us want to cry out: “That’s not fair!”  And indeed it wasn’t.  Yet from heaven’s perspective it was necessary in order that the ball of Jesus’ Passion might really get rolling so that he could accomplish his mission and all that was necessary for our eternal salvation.  Let’s pray:

PRAYER: Lord, we are humbled and awestruck by your plan of salvation – a plan that required the perfect and sinless Son of God to be unfairly arrested, unjustly tried, and ultimately crucified, all so that sinful and unworthy human beings like us who have violated your laws more times than we could ever remember might receive a heavenly pardon for all those infractions and the undeserved gift of spending eternity with you.  Amen.

HYMN – 119 vv. 1,4 (LW) “O Dearest Jesus, What Law Have You Broken”

  1. It’s not fair that the crowd should reject him.

SCRIPTURE READING: John 19:14-15

It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

MEDITATION #4:

   The Jews should have known better.  For centuries they had been waiting for the Messiah, God’s chosen Deliverer, to appear on the scene.  The Old Testament Scriptures had contained more than 300 very specific prophecies pointing ahead to what this Messiah would be and do.  He would be born in Bethlehem.  He would come from the line of David.  His mother would be a virgin.  He would be known as Immanuel, which means “God with us.”  On the one hand, he would be a conquering king; on the other hand he would be a suffering servant.  Sadly, over the course of time, the Jews chose to ignore the prophecies that portrayed the Messiah as a suffering servant and instead latched only onto those that foretold he would be a conquering king who would defeat their enemies, who at the time of Jesus would have been the Romans.  And when Jesus made no moves in that direction since he had not come to defeat our physical enemies but rather our spiritual ones, they rejected him and wanted nothing to do with him.  To which we would say, “That’s not fair!”  It’s not fair that the One who fulfilled every one of those more than 300 Old Testament prophecies should be rejected.  It’s not fair that the One who left the glory and perfection of heaven behind to come down to this dirty, imperfect, sin-filled world should be treated so cruelly by the very ones he came to save.  It’s not fair that Heaven’s Son should be scorned and abused as though he were the devil’s child.  And so we pray:             

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, how can we ever repay you for what you did for us?  You took the worst that this world could throw at you – rejection, hatred, scorn, and abuse – all so that we might have as clear a picture as possible of the lengths and depths you would go to in order to rescue and redeem us from our sins.  May we offer a fitting response to such overwhelming love, devotion, and sacrifice and may that response be seen in all that we think and do and say as your children in the midst of this dark and dying world.  In your name, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

HYMN – 116, vv, 1,2,3 (LW) “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”

  1. It’s not fair that Pilate should condemn him.

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 23:20-24

Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him! For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.” But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.  So Pilate decided to grant their demand.

MEDITATION #5:

Throughout history people have viewed Pontius Pilate in a variety of ways.  Some, of course, have seen him as a coward who lacked the moral courage and integrity to do what he knew in his heart was right.  And that was to let Jesus go.  Others have felt sorry for him for they see him as a man who found himself between the proverbial rock and hard place, meaning that no matter what he did he was going to make somebody very upset.  Still others, especially the female side of humanity, have insisted that if he’d only listened to his wife who’d had a dream about Jesus and sent a message to her husband warning him to have nothing to do with this innocent man, things would have turned out much better for Pilate.  Regardless of how you feel about this Roman governor who found himself right smack dab in the middle of something he really didn’t want to be a part of, there’s no getting around the fact that his ultimate decision to have Jesus crucified even though he could find him guilty of no crime or wrongdoing deserves one of the loudest shouts of “That’s not fair” that we can possibly muster tonight.  Yet it happened because it was part of a much bigger plan that God had designed to bring forgiveness, hope, and eternal life to a sea of humanity that simply was not worthy of it.  So again, we pray:

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, our hearts grow heavier and heavier as our service continues tonight as we contemplate the incredible injustice and extreme unfairness that was heaped upon you on that first Good Friday so long ago.  At the same time, though, we rejoice in knowing that because of what you did for us and what you endured for us, we will never have to face the wrath and justice of God that we know we deserve for our sins.  So thank you, Jesus.  From the bottom of hearts, thank you!  Amen.

HYMN – 97 (LW) “Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed”

  1. It’s not fair that Jesus’ Father should forsake him. 

SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 27:45-46

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.  About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “”Eloi, Eloi,” “lama” “sabachthani?””–which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

MEDITATION #6:

Moments before Jesus died, he experienced something that he had never experienced before.  Somehow, in some way that we finite human beings can’t begin to fathom, the 1st Person of the Trinity, the Father, separated himself from the 2nd Person of the Trinity, his Son, and abandoned him, turned his back on him.  The 2 of them along with the Holy Spirit had enjoyed a sweet intimacy and unity with one another from before time began.  What could have possibly broken that intimacy?  What could have possibly prompted the Father to forsake his Son like that?  It’s the same thing that has broken our intimacy with God, the same thing that has severed us from the One who made us.  And that extremely divisive factor is sin.  “But wait a minute,” you may be thinking.  “I thought Jesus was sinless.”  And indeed he was.  He lived his entire life without once violating any of God’s holy laws.  But on the cross that changed.  Listen to how Isaiah puts it in the 53rd chapter of his book, the 6th verse: “…and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  The Message, which is a very modern paraphrase of the Bible renders it this way: “And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.”  So from the Father’s perspective, on the cross Jesus was viewed as the greatest sinner who ever lived.  And the Father, who is so pure and so holy that he cannot bear to look upon sin much less be in the presence of it, did the only thing he could do that day.  He turned away from his Son and allowed him to experience the God-forsakenness of hell, all so that we would never have to know what that feels like.  And all we can say in response to that is: “That’s not fair!”  Let’s pray:

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, where would we be without you?  What would we do without you, for we have no way of saving ourselves?  There is no other recourse.  There is no other way.  So even though it was far from fair, thank you for providing the way for us so that rather than being separated from God for all eternity we might enjoy perfect, peaceful, and eternal fellowship with him through you.  Amen.

HYMN – 115, vv.1,3,4 (LW) 

VII.          It’s not fair that the righteous should die for the unrighteous.

SCRIPTURE READING: Isaiah 53:5

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

MEDITATION #7:

I want you to picture a courtroom.  A young man with a sordid background has just stood trial for the heinous and brutal murder of his girlfriend.  The evidence was stacked against him.  The prosecuting attorney did a masterful job of laying out the premeditated nature of the crime and the jury had been convinced.  But the obvious became even more obvious when this young man confessed, albeit without even the slightest bit of remorse, that he was the one who had committed this atrocious crime.  The verdict of guilty had been handed down by the jury and now it’s the day of sentencing.  The judge bangs the gavel and pronounces the sentence: death by lethal injection.  But in the crowd a man leaps to his feet and says to the judge, “No!  Please don’t take this man’s life.  Take mine instead.  Allow me to die in his place.”  Every eye in the courtroom turns to see who this man is and all are shocked to see that it is the father of the girl who was murdered.  If that really happened, there would be a universal outcry both inside and outside of that courtroom that would proclaim the obvious: “That’s not fair!”  It’s not fair that the one who committed the murder should be allowed to go free.  It’s not fair that the innocent father should die for the guilty criminal.  It’s not fair that the righteous should die for the unrighteous.  And yet that’s exactly what happened at the cross when Jesus took our place and bore our sin and received our punishment not for any crimes against his Father that he committed, but for all the ones we’ve been guilty of.  And so we pray:

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, we thank you for these moments that we’ve been able to spend here tonight reflecting upon the injustice and unfairness that Jesus endured on that first Good Friday nearly 2000 years ago.  It grieves our hearts to know that he did all of that for unworthy, undeserving, sinful human beings like us.  May our response be that of the closing verse to the hymn we sang just a few moments ago: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”  Amen.

HYMN – 505, vv.1,2,3 (LW)

THE SLAMMING OF THE BIBLE TO SIGNIFY THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY – read “Tipped Scales” in Passion with a Purpose booklet followed by Isaiah 53:3, 7-8:  

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering…He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth…  he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.” 

CLOSING CHOIR ANTHEM – “Within the Shadow of the Cross”