Sermon Prepared for Messiah Lutheran Church
The 2nd Wednesday in Lent, evening service
– 3/14/01
by Gregory S. Kaurin
Associate Pastor for Spiritual Care and Development
Text: John 18:38-19:7
The
Sermon:
The Scourge of the Land
Go to: sermon menu
– or – archive
– or – home page
The sound of Lent on
which we meditate tonight is the sound of the whip, the scourge.
An old proverb that
I believe to be true is this: “Blood that is spilt never sleeps.” [Using a
stiff stick and cushion in the back a volunteer creates the sound of the whip,
four times.] After Cain killed his
brother God called to him saying, “Cain, your brother’s blood cries out to me
from the earth!” “Blood that is spilt
never sleeps” [four sounds of the whip].
Maybe it’s something
like Edgar Allen Poe’s Telltale Heart.
Violence, blood, sorrow, grief—none of these can be eternally repressed,
or held in. They must come to light;
they must cry out; they do not sleep.
The Bible promises
that things hidden, whether good or evil, will be revealed. If no time or nowhere else, they will be uncovered
ultimately by the light of God.
“Blood that is spilt
never sleeps” [four sounds of the whip].
That sounds like a call for justice.
It sounds like it calls for revenge.
“Blood that is spilt never sleeps” [four sounds of the whip].
When we speak of
Jesus’ blood, two moments come immediately to mind: his Last Supper, and the
blood on the cross. But the cross is
not the only thing stained by Jesus’ blood.
There was another instrument that took part in his suffering and death.
Whether he was tied to
a post or stretched out on a frame, Jesus was scourged with the leather cords
of a Roman whip. The Roman whip did not
just raise welts. There were several
kinds. The most simple was a
several-corded leather whip with knots at the end of each strand. The more harsh whips had bits of bone, metal
and sharp stones embedded or tied to their strands. There was one whip that had its own name. It was called the “scorpion” because it had
hooks attached to the end of each cord!
Regardless of which
one was used on Jesus, they all bit into the flesh, cutting deep, stripping
away skin and spilling blood. It was
not uncommon to die from the scourging alone.
In Jesus’ case, it may be the reason that he died in a matter of hours
on the cross—instead of the days it often took—because of the blood spilt on
the ground of the whipping post.
“Blood that is spilt
never sleeps” [four sounds of the whip].
Jesus’ blood does not sleep. It
cries out from the whip and from the grounds of the Roman guard where it
dripped.
His blood is, in
fact, a call for justice, God’s justice.
But if it calls for revenge, then it is the kindest revenge the world
has ever known.
In the other gospels
the scourging was lumped together with his crucifixion. John carefully showed how Pilate hoped to
placate the crowd. Maybe it would be
enough to do the initial part of the crucifixion, the scourging. The cracking whip, the ridicule, the
bleeding stooped man in front of them, looking beaten and ridiculous in robe
and thorned crown, maybe that would be enough for the crowd?
But, no. Matthew tells us that the crowd called out,
“His blood be on us…and on our children!”
How right. How true. His blood was on the whip, on the clothes
and fists of the soldiers, on Pilate (no matter how well he washed his hands),
and it was on the people, and the nations, and on us—their children!
You’ve probably
heard the idea that each sin nailed and was nailed Jesus to the cross. We can also imagine each violent act, each
hate-filled word, thought or action that we’ve done is a part of that leather
cord, cracking and soaking into the blood of Christ. “Blood that is spilt never sleeps” [four sounds of the
whip].
I think that Jesus
cried out loud in anguish during the scourging …for more reasons than the pain
alone. I don’t know for sure; the Bible
doesn’t say. It’s hard for me to hear
it, to imagine or think about it, but he probably did.
But his cries,
whether silent or aloud, are heartbreaking.
The sound of the cracking whip, it makes me sad…and angry. It makes me feel profoundly guilty.
How can I keep on
doing the things that hurt him? the things for which he suffered? like another
piece of sharp bone and leather that bit into his suffering flesh, and was
soaked in his spilling blood? If blood
that is spilt never sleeps, then for what does the blood of Christ cry? If it cries for justice, what justice? How can these people, these nations, how can
I survive God’s justice? How can I be
made right before God?
There is only one
way: for God himself to take my scourging as Jesus, as a man, to look out over
the sea of faces—but to know each of those faces, each of our faces…me…you…by
name. And then he says, “Father,
forgive them. Forgive him. Forgive her.”
Blood that is
spilt…never sleeps [four sounds of the whip].
Christ’s blood never sleeps. It
is always crying out…for forgiveness…God’s forgiveness. Amen.
Go to: sermon menu
– or – archive
– or – home page
To send comment or question:
(please put sermon title “Scourge of the Land” in the subject line) mailto:[email protected]