Welcome friends, Pastor Brant Bosserman, Trinitas Church. If you're joining us for the first time, we are going to do a Good Friday service, and maybe you've never been involved in one of those before, but the focus is really gonna be on the last moments of Christ's life. It's a heavy service, and the aim and the focus is for us to consider the burden of sin that we bear and that we brought to Christ for Him to take from us and to bear away that we might be justified in His name. I should mention we are gonna be doing a few things that we don't normally do. We're gonna try to put the various pieces of our service up online so that you can do responsive readings with us, with the written material on your screens. Hopefully that works out well. We're doing our best to facilitate worship for a variety of people from a distance. And please bear with us as many of this we're doing for the very first time. All of that being said, we will begin as we normally do. As soon as people grab their printed liturgies, maybe you've got them on your phone and you're following along. And those here can grab their printed liturgies as well as we do a responsive reading from John chapter one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of the men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was the light, which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. Bow your heads with me. Mighty God, it is the common plight of mankind, not only that we are sinners, but in the depths of our souls, we disown and reject you. Your gestures of salvation toward us are not met with ready and willing hearts. Mighty God, rather, as John testifies, all of humanity and even your own, those people, those people from the very kindred and blood of Christ, his own nation, rejected and did not receive him. Mighty God, we know that this is a commentary on ourselves. Lord God, we come on this day out of our free opportunity to worship you with a solemn reflection that we stand ready in ourselves to reject you. Mighty God, I pray that as we make this reconnaissance of our souls, we make this reconnaissance of the old nature that dwells in us even when we are redeemed. We pray, Lord God, that we would be brought to the foot of the cross anew. Glad that our Savior died for us in spite of all, all that we've done to him in spite of our rejection of his gestures toward us of kindness and love. We ask these things, Father, in the name of your Son, Jesus, and by your mighty Holy Spirit. Amen. ♪ Years I've spent in vanity and pride ♪ ♪ Caring not my Lord was crucified ♪ ♪ Knowing not it was for me he died on Calvary ♪ Mercy there was great and grace was free Pardon there was multiplied to me There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary By God's word of last the sin I learned Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned Till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. Now I've given Jesus everything Now I gladly own Him as my King Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span on Calvary. ♪ Mercy there was great and grace was free ♪ ♪ Pardon there was multiplied to me ♪ ♪ There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary ♪ Mercy! ♪ Mercy there was great and grace was free ♪ ♪ Pardon there was multiplied to me ♪ ♪ There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary ♪ Brothers and sisters, having reflected that all of humanity stands in a rebellious stance toward God, we turn now to look in this second reflection at those who stood in the greatest physical proximity to Christ, His very disciples and friends. We consider that Jesus was disowned by Peter, the leader, as it would seem, of the disciples. If you've got your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew 26, verses 69 to 75. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him and said, you too were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before them all, saying, I do not know what you are talking about. When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. A little later, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, surely you too are one of them for even the way you talk gives you away. Then he began to curse and swear. I do not know the man. And immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. With this reflection on our minds, let us turn to confess our own sins. as a distinct act of worship. Please follow along with me using your printed liturgies. I believe we'll have it up on screen as well. And then when we're finished, we'll have a moment of silence to confess our sins individually to the Lord. So please read with me. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our greatest accusations against you ought to be leveled against us. We complain that we cannot see you as we attempt to hide ourselves from your face. We complain that you do not respond to us as we shut out your commands from our minds. We complain that you do not rescue us from pain as we race with all our might to do evil. We complain that our neighbors are cruel to us as we treat you with content. We complain that you have not provided for us as we withhold our worship from you. Father, when given the opportunity, we nailed your son to a cross and repaid his kindness with mockery. Please continue to turn this, our greatest transgression, unto your glory and unto the good of those who love you. By your Spirit, ready our hearts to take up our crosses and follow Jesus. Let us turn now to sing praises to the one who forgives us for our sins. How deep the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the chosen one Bring many sons to glory Behold the man upon a cross My sin upon his shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers It was my sin that held him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished ♪ I will not boast in anything ♪ No gifts, no power, no wisdom ♪ But I will boast in Jesus Christ ♪ His death and resurrection ♪ Why should I gain from His reward I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His words have paid my ransom Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer ♪ But this I know with all my heart ♪ ♪ His wounds have paid my ransom ♪ As Michael just led us in singing, we can't give an answer for why Christ has done what he has done for us, save for his everlasting love, his incomprehensible goodness toward us. It turns out that when Christ was himself being accused and put on trial, he too did not give an answer, but for a different reason. Our third reflection is that Christ was disowned by the priests. That is to say he was disowned by the religious authorities of his day. And Jesus did not but once participate in the least in their trial of him. because it was marked by so much injustice. If you've got your Bibles, turn with me to Mark chapter 14, verses 53 to 65. And we'll read through these verses of Jesus' trial before the high priest. They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put him to death, and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against him, but their testimony was not consistent. Some stood up and began to give false testimony against him, saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands. We heard him say, or excuse me, not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus saying, do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against you? But he kept silent and did not answer. Again, the high priest was questioning him and saying to him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, what further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. How does it seem to you? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death. Some began to spit at him and to blindfold him and to beat him with their fists and to say to him, prophesy. And the officers received him with slaps in the face. ♪ Were you there when they crucified my Lord ♪ Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Jesus was not only rejected by his countrymen, by the religious authorities and his friends, but as in any nation, there were layers of government. Just as we have a federal government and a state government, so too in Jesus's time. So too, there were lesser powers and magistrates. The first of which was King Herod, a local ruler, and he too rejected Christ the Savior. You have your Bibles, turn with me to Luke chapter 23. The scripture is a little bit different than what's printed in your liturgy. It's verses six through 12 that we will read. When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time. Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had been hearing about him and was hoping to see some sign performed by him. And he questioned him at some length, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, accusing him vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating him with contempt and mocking him, dressed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day, for before they had been enemies with each other. When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died My richest gain I count but loss And poor contempt Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Saving the death of Christ my God All the vain things that charm me I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head, His hands, His feet. Sorrow and love flow me, go down. Dear, there's such love and sorrow me. Your thorns compose so rich a crown. He's dying crimson like a rose Spreads o'er His body on the tree Then I am dead to all the gloom When all the globe is dead to me We're the whole realm of nature, mind That we're a prison far too small Love so amazing, so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all ♪ To Christ who won for sinners grace ♪ ♪ By bitter grief and anguish soar ♪ ♪ Be praise from all the ransomed race ♪ ♪ Forever and forevermore ♪ We return to reflecting on that very bitter grief and anguish sore about which we sang. That time when Jesus was set before not only the religious leaders of his people, not only the local government, but by a representative, a representative of the most powerful nation, most powerful empire in the world, Pontius Pilate. Jesus was disowned, disowned by the emperor and empire as well. Turn with me to Mark chapter 15, verses one through 15, and we will read about Jesus' trial before Pilate. Early in the morning, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes and the whole council immediately held a consultation. And binding Jesus, they led him away and delivered him to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, it is as you say. The chief priests began to accuse him harshly. Then Pilate questioned him again, saying, do you not answer? See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer, so Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast, he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. Pilate answered them saying, do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? For he was aware that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. Answering again, Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with him whom you call the king of the Jews? They shouted back, crucify him. But Pilate said to them, why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, crucify him. wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them. And after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. Stricken, smitten, and afflicted See Him dying on the tree It's the Christ by man rejected Yes, my soul, it's He, it's He It's the long-expected prophet, David's son, yeah, David's Lord. Proofs I see sufficient of it, He's a true and faithful Word. Pierced and crushed for our peace, by His wounds we're healed. The Father gave His Son to save, the Spirit He has sealed. Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning, was there ever grief like His? Friends through fear he's caused disowning, foes insulting his distress. Many hands were raised to wound him, none would interpose to save. But the deepest stroke that pierced him was the stroke thy injustice gave. Pierced and crushed for our peace, by His wounds we're healed. The Father gave His Son to save, the Spirit He has sealed. Ye who think of sin belightly, Nor suppose the evil great, Here may view its nature rightly, Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed, See who bears the awful load, It's the word the Lord's anointed Son of man and Son of God Pierced and crushed for our peace By His wounds we're healed The Father gave His Son to save The Spirit He has sealed Lamb of God, for sinners wounded, sacrifice to cancel guilt. None shall ever be confounded, who on Him their hope have built. refuge of the lost. Christ, the rock of our salvation. Christ, the name of which we boast. Here we have the rock of our salvation, Christ, the name of which we pose. The refuge of the lost. Christ, the rock of our salvation. Christ, the name of which we bow. As we turn to our sixth reflection, in the sixth passage that we'll read this evening and preach through it, We need to consider a few things in this series that began on Palm Sunday just earlier this week. We learned a wonderful truth on Palm Sunday that Jesus can be really present at worship, really present when he is bodily absent through his Holy Spirit, his sacraments, and through your brothers and sisters at church themselves. As we turn our reflections in another direction, we are struck with another mystery. We can be really absent. We can be really absent at worship even when we are physically present. The first truth that we considered on Palm Sunday is a life giving mystery. It's what gives us peace that Christ can be with us under the end of the age and always, even if we don't see him. This latter reflection that we can be really absent when physically present is a sheer tragedy that lies at the heart of Jesus' passion. At the heart of this reflection, we will see that Jesus is betrayed by Judas. It's very rare for us in any way to identify with Christ's betrayer. But what we'll have to consider today is that Judas was from the beginning really absent, even when he was present. What we will have to consider today is that not one of us is so far from the disposition of Judas as we think. With this difficult thought in mind, let's bow our heads and pray. And when I'm finished praying, we'll read through the scriptures and sing a short verse afterwards called the Gloria Patri to acknowledge this as God's word. Bow your heads with me. Mighty God, it is a solemn reflection that we are often absent from you. Even when we are in proximity to our brothers and sisters, to your sacraments, to the worshiping body, very often our hearts are far from you, the Lord, whom we praise with our lips. Mighty Lord and God, I pray that as we make this reconnaissance of our own souls, as we look at the disposition of those men who are closest to you, I pray, Lord King, that it would ever be with a view to considering what a burden you bore for us. Lord, with a view to considering that in spite of the depths of darkness, the depths of evil that we have committed against you, you have still yet loved us and called us your friends, even when we took the disposition of enemies. We ask these things, Father, in the name of your Son, Jesus, and by your mighty Holy Spirit, amen. We turn to the Gospel of John chapter 13. We are going to read the verses that immediately precede what we read on Sunday. Verses 21 to 30, if you've got your Bibles, please follow along. When Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit and testified and said, truly, truly, I say to you that one of you will betray me. The disciples began looking at one another at a loss to know of which one he was speaking. There was, reclining on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him and said to him, tell us who it is of whom he is speaking. And he, leaning back thus on Jesus' bosom, said to him, Lord, who is it? Jesus then answered, that is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him. So when he had dipped the morsel, he took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly. Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose he had said this to him. For some were supposing because Judas had the money box that Jesus was saying to him, buy the things we have need of for the feast or else that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel, he went out immediately and it was night. This is God's word. Thanks be to God. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. world without end. Amen. Amen. Brothers and sisters, as we discussed on Sunday, the scene before us is that of the Last Supper. If you don't know what's going on right here, Jesus and his disciples are actually celebrating what would seem to be an early Passover meal. They've let their guards down. It's a feast after all. They're reclining as one would in the ancient world when celebrating a feast and intending to be around for a while. There would be several courses in this meal, several different glasses of wine, traditionally drunk. several different dishes presented in the course of the evening. In this particular passage, we only encounter three of the disciples. One, Judas Iscariot. Two, Simon Peter mentioned by name. The third is a little more subtle. Verse 23 tells us about a disciple whom Jesus loved. Several times in the Gospel of John, we have a reference to this disciple whom Jesus loved. The answer for who this disciple is is not that difficult to decipher. It's the Apostle John. You see, there were only three disciples in the inner circle of Christ. Peter, James, and John. The disciple whom Jesus loved isn't Peter because Peter consults with him and asks him to pose a question to Jesus about who the betrayer would be. We also read later in John that this disciple whom Jesus especially loved is the very author of the book that we're reading. And that he was to outlive all of the other apostles and that he did. Clearly we're not speaking therefore of John's brother James who was the first apostolic martyr in Acts chapter 12. So what we have then is Judas, Peter and John. What I'm gonna lay upon you today is this thought. This is a story about three men who never make it to the heart of the worship service begun that evening. Though they dine with Jesus, they never make it to the heart of worship. The one worship service where a sacrifice is offered that actually takes away sin. All of these men, all of these men are absent. They're absent. Let us begin with Judas. Judas is a man absent at the Last Supper though present. He is perhaps what many people would call a sociopath. A sociopath is described or defined rather as someone having extreme antisocial behaviors, Sociopaths are interested only in their personal needs and desires without concern for the effects of their behaviors on others. My wife and I recently watched the documentary about Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. At one point after his trial, a leading intellectual who befriended him while he was in jail was able to talk to him about the trial. And Ted communicated that he was dumbfounded, that after having pled guilty and already being sentenced, he still had to sit through. He had to sit through testimonies from his victims and their families as to how he had ruined their lives. And he just didn't see the point. When we consider Judas's treachery on this evening, it's hard to imagine that he was any less cold in his soul than this modern serial killer. Verse two tells us of chapter 13, that during the supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him. See, the whole thing starts with this preface. Judas has already done the deed. We know from the other gospels that he had already engaged in a plan with the religious authorities to trap and to betray Jesus. Just imagine the gall, the disassociation of himself with his context and reality in this shell of a man. Present in the body, yes, present in the body, but without a soul. His soul, far from this man whom he's about to betray. See, this man sells for 30 pieces of silver, the most remarkable human being in human history, because he was not merely man, but God in the flesh. I want you to put yourself in Jesus' shoes for a moment, if you can imagine doing that. Jesus has before him the stress and the angst the deep trouble in his spirit, verse 21 says, for this burdensome task before him. And in those last moments where all of us, all of us would be anxious and stressed, he has to spend his last several hours with a man who houses the devil and who's determined to betray him. It's even more chilling when you consider the intimate interaction between the two. Jesus dresses down, as it were, to undergarments and a towel, and he washes his disciples' feet, including his betrayer. He goes on in the passage we just read to feed Judas with his own hands, dipping bread into a cup or a bowl of probably fruit puree of dates and raisins and wine, and even reaches it out and extends it to place in his mouth. Jesus even speaks directly to and about Judas. And Judas seems not to comprehend. Seems not to comprehend that perhaps it really is about him after all. In verses 11 and 18, Jesus says to the disciples, not all of you are clean. I know the ones I have chosen. Is this missing Judas? Does he not hear Jesus saying, I know about you? It's because although he's present, he's really absent. See, in verse 21, it says this, truly, truly, I say to you that one of you will betray me. Perhaps he's even thinking in his own mind, the sarcastic thought, you fool, I already have. You don't know about me. I'm right underneath your radar. Even after Jesus extends to him the morsel, he says to him, what you do, do quickly. who knows if Judas heard Jesus saying, hurry back Judas, and was really thinking, yeah, you bet, I'll be right back. You've got no idea what I'm doing. Friends, I want you to know that the darkest enemies of the gospel, the darkest enemies of Christ have always been Christians who are present in the body, but absent in spirit. We read this terrifying statement in verse 26. See, on Sunday, we learned that in the Lord's Supper, the Spirit of God really operates on believers when they receive it in faith. We learned this. Some people reluctant to believe that something is actually wonderful occurring in the sacraments are sometimes struck by the opposite of what occurs when you come into face-to-face fellowship with the Lord. and you're really absent in your soul and have no real faith in him. See, this passage tells us a dark truth about the opposite occurring. Verse 26 says, so when he had dipped the morsel, he took and gave it to Judas. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. We have learned in our reflections on Leviticus that, see, bread was a means of the tithe, and it's a way of turning your work into the words of God. Bread goes into the lips and the mouth of the priest, and the word of God comes out on the same lips. When this is performed again and again in vain, we read in this passage that Satan goes in through the lips with the morsel. And he comes out again when Judas uses those same lips to kiss Jesus goodbye forevermore. Judas never makes it to the cross. He eats and runs, he dines, dashes. There are dangers, we're told in scripture, of tasting, rejecting, and deriving no benefit from the things of God. In our men's study, The Godly Man's Picture, Thomas Watson, quoting several other ancient theologians, writes this, apostates are worse than those who are openly wicked. The apostate, says Tertullian, seems to have put God and Satan in the balance, and having weighed both their services, prefers the devil's service and proclaims him to be the better master. I would simply ask all of you this question, when you pray, whether it be in private or public, when you read the scriptures, when you come to worship, do you more often than not come with a cold, numb, angry, critical, checked out disposition? See, the scary thing is that the evil of being absent, even when we're present, does not belong only to the one we know is the bad guy in this story, Judas. belongs to two others who we might count as heroes. We must consider not only Judas's absence therefore, but Peter's absence at the last supper. If you read the gospels, the man you read about named Peter is a man who is trapped in an existential mission to be great, important, and a man of consequence. Yes, he is the first to confess that Christ is the Son of God, amen, and Jesus commends him for this. But he sees his relationship to this Son of God, this King of the Jews, as that of a savvy political advisor who needs to be there to help Jesus be a little more hardcore. He really does believe that Jesus is the Savior. but he also really believes that he needs to save him. This bizarre disposition of Peter's is reflected in his confession of Christ as the son of God earlier in the gospels. After Jesus asked the disciples, who do you say that I am? And Peter valiantly declares that he is the son of God, the savior. Jesus began to share that he must die. And we read in Mark 8, 31 to 32, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. What do you think he said? Saviors don't die, they save. The son of God doesn't get rejected by anyone. He opens up a can and does the rejecting. You're not boosting morale here, Jesus. And in the midst of whatever Peter was saying, we read that Jesus turning around and seeing his disciples, he turns his back on Peter. He rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's. Hear what Jesus said to this Christian. You become the voice piece of my enemy. All of your objections are really all about you. See, there's a certain type of disciple who always finds the wrong Bible verses at the wrong time to justify the wrong behavior. One gets the impression that if Peter could just have read the very gospels, even in that moment, he would be able to identify himself in the narrative as a problem. But in the midst of living it, he just can't see it because he's absent. His head is in the clouds, ever daydreaming. about his own vision for the Savior, rather than having his heart conformed to Christ. Let me tell you what this means at the Last Supper. At the Last Supper, we read this about Peter. After Jesus announced that he would be betrayed, there was reclining on Jesus, bosom, one of his disciples whom he loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him, that's John, and said to him, tell us. Tell us who it is of whom he is speaking. You ever wondered why Peter asked John to do that? One obvious answer is that John has a special relationship to Jesus that Peter knows he doesn't. And in fact, at the end of the book, we can see that Peter envies. He's frustrated that John is gonna live longer than he will. He's frustrated by this proximity to Christ that John has. There's probably another reason why Peter gestures through John. He doesn't want Jesus to know what he's up to. What do you suppose Peter would have done with that knowledge? Satisfies curiosity? No. The obvious answer is that Peter is going to use lethal force to stop this betrayer. If you had any doubt of it, consider what we're about to read when Jesus is actually being arrested. But knowing that Peter is going to use force, consider Peter's mental state at the Last Supper. We learned on Sunday that it was a message about the coming of the Spirit and a new commandment about loving your brother that Jesus says, no man has loved anyone so much as this, that he lays his life down for his friends. What was Peter thinking the whole time? Was he checked out, not even hearing the importance of Jesus having to die? Because he had his own ideas. Well, so it is after that most majestic sermon in John chapters 13 through 17. Jesus is indeed arrested, betrayed, betrayed by Judas. He is surrounded by a cohort, a Roman cohort, that's about 600 armed men. Apparently, the high priest servant, Malchus was there. And Peter takes out his sword, and strikes Malchus on the ear and cuts his ear off. Peter was ready to go to war. He didn't think Jesus was hardcore enough to do it himself. Remarkably, this Peter decides to wield his sword on the one blasted person present who wasn't dressed like a warrior, just like people like Peter always do. Pick a fight with the one guy there who's not actually a man of war. Jesus looks at him and says, put the sheath, the sword into the sheath. The cup which the father has given me, shall I not drink it? Peter, you've been checked out. You've been present, but you've been absent. Peter's absence and lack of understanding makes for a threefold denial of Christ before the end of this story. And I'll tell you what, Peter never makes it to the cross because Peter had not been in so many respects present at the supper. But there's one more man to consider in this story, the man that might seem to be the hero next to Jesus. This disciple whom Jesus loved, John. Let me describe for you this man, John, prior to the Last Supper. John and his brother James longed for proximity to their Lord. This was a good thing. It was a grand thing. It was something for which they were zealous. Mark 10, 35 to 38 says this, James and John, the two sons of Zebedee came to Jesus saying, teacher, we want for you to do for us whatever we ask you. And he said to them, what do you want me to do for you? What a remarkable response that Jesus would even indulge this. But these two men really do love him. And they said to him, grant that we may sit. one on your right and one on your left in your glory. But Jesus said to them, you do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? And they said, we are able. They didn't know what he was talking about. Remarkably here at the Last Supper, where do we find John the apostle sitting? He's either on his right or his left because he is close enough to lean into Jesus' chest and to whisper a question in his ears. Who knows if this John thought that the episode of feet washing that occurred before the meal was maybe that baptism Jesus was asking if you could handle. Who knows if these men thought that this cup in the Lord's supper was the cup that Jesus had asked if he would be willing to drink. Friends, there's a sort of love for Christ that we can all have. Where we have only ever come to him for his comfort, but never come willing to be challenged. John loved his Lord. He wanted to be comforted by him, but he wasn't ready for the challenge of his baptism in his cup. I just ask you in this time of trial, do you only ever pray for deliverance and never pray to be made into a warrior who can withstand? Do you only take Jesus's promise that his burden is light as an indication that there's no burden at all? Or do you acknowledge that there still is some burden to be borne? See, John might seem to be the hero in this story because he actually does make it to the cross. He has a proximity to his dying Lord, such that Jesus can even look down on John and entrust the care of his mother to John. But he only got there for one reason, because of his anonymity along the way. The priests, we read in one of our reflections, they were hearing, for anyone who had a Galilean accent, and what this means is that John didn't speak a word in the threefold trial of Christ. He offered no intercession for his character as being impeccable, his miracles as having been real. There is, in this last episode, no identification with Christ at all, because that would have gotten him killed with Jesus. Friends, I am led to believe if there had been a live stream of the cross, John would have likely been behind his computer, then anonymous, anonymous at the sacrifice. Jesus had just preached in his last sermon, greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends, and not one of Jesus's friends, including John, thought to acknowledge him in his trial, that they might lay their life down for him. I want to lay upon you this thought. John forewent, as all of us would, the greatest imaginable privilege that anyone could have ever had. All four gospels are clear in telling us that there were two men on Jesus's left and right hand in his glory, which is his moment on the cross, and it was two criminals. Let me tell you all something. We are all going to die, every one of us, from injury or infirmity. My question for you is this. Would you like to die alone? Or would you like, if it were possible, to die with Jesus right next to you? Looking over at you like he did to one of the men on the cross who came to accept him in their last breaths. Would you like to die with Jesus speaking to you as he did to that man today? you're gonna be with me in paradise. Would you like to die alone? Or with Jesus physical presence and audible voice telling you, you're gonna be with him. John was absent. He was present by some local proximity that day, but he was absent as regards his request to sit on Jesus right hand. Friends, worship isn't just how we feast, it's how we die. Worship isn't just how and who we're near when we feast, it's who's with us when we die. If the proverb is true in Proverbs 18, 24, that there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother, let us all reflect that Jesus died with no such friends, ourselves included. Man's great accusation since the fall, an excuse for not believing in God, is that God is absent or nowhere to be found. This is nothing but the narcissistic blindness of madmen like ourselves who have taken pains to be absent from God ever since we hid in the bushes in the garden. Trinitas Church, what this means is that regardless of your opinions or how you feel about why we are divided right now, regardless of who you blame or what explanation you assign to it, here's the truth. This right here might be the most honest and accurate worship service in which we have ever partaken. This might be the most true to the form of our hearts Have we always been absent in secret ways? Have we always been absent more than we have been present? Have we always been absorbed with our self and our vision of greatness? Have we always wanted a savior who would only comfort us and never challenge us? Have we come close to outright betrayal? The truth is we know that we all have. Christ's burden on the cross. Christ's burden on the cross is not just the hostility of all of humanity as his enemies, it is also the burden of our embarrassment and social distancing from the one, from the one who went to save us. His burden was bound up with our real absence. On top of all of that, Jesus on the cross bore the just wrath of God that we deserve for so spurning God's own son. And there he stood on that Friday, that Friday, which right now seems like the worst of all Fridays. That's where he stood bearing the wrath of God and the sheer rejection and hostility of all mankind. We call this Friday good because although we were absent from Christ in his greatest hour, although we were not that friend who sticks closer than a brother, our Lord Jesus Christ goes with all of us. He owns all of us in our darkest moments. This is why we call this Friday good and he does so, bearing us up as his children, giving us life in his death. Let's bow our heads and pray to him. Mighty God, theological mysteries are one thing. To believe that you are really present when our eyes do not see you, we're too inclined to set that aside as food for theologians. Thoughts about theology as opposed to as opposed to the heart of our worship and the belief that you are really here every Lord's Day. When we take this seriously, Lord God, it becomes the more clear that we like Peter, we like John. God, we pray not like Judas. We are too often absent, even when our bodies are present. For this, we pray for forgiveness. We pray that as we go into the next couple of days, we would be able to search our hearts, what you mean to us, what it means to be near to you, what it means to worship you in spirit and in truth, so that when we come together again, we may praise you with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength for the victory over death and the redemption you have purchased. and the wonderful miracle of the resurrection. In Jesus' name we pray, Father, by your Holy Spirit. Amen. Thrown upon the awful tree Lamb of God, your grief I see Darkness veils your anguished face None its lines of woe can trace None can tell what pangs unknown Holds you silent and alone Silent through those three dread hours Wrestling with the evil powers Left alone with human sin Gloom around you and within Till your pointed time is nigh Till the Lamb of God may die Hark the cry that please aloud, Upward through the whelming cloud, You the Father's only Son, You His own anointed One. You are asking, Can it be? Why have you forsaken me? We turn to our final reflection, not Jesus's mere social rejection, not simply his condemnation, but his death. I'm gonna read Matthew 27, 38 to 51. When I'm finished, I will say, and all God's people said, and you will respond with a final reading of verse 54. If you have your Bibles, please grab them, follow along. At that time, two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads and saying, you are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, He saved others. He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel. Let Him now come down from the cross and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He delights in Him. For He said, I am the Son of God. The robbers who had been crucified with him were also insulting him with the same words. Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani, that is my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, this man is calling for Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave him a drink. But the rest of them said, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. And all God's people said, Now is the centurion, and those who