Speech of the signs

[AI translation] I often have the feeling that we, people of today, have become too complacent, too indifferent to the story of the great Passion. After all, we - most of us who have lived through two world wars - are used to the horrors. We are accustomed to the fact that everyone has his or her cross, which is often heavy. Sometimes so big that you cannot see anyone else's, not even Jesus'! And the whole world fears the possibility of a great Passion, a terrible suffering beyond imagination. So we are used to suffering, to the idea of suffering. Suffering today, for the most part, no longer softens us, no longer breaks us, but hardens us even more. Is it any wonder that many people cannot see the Passion of Jesus in any other way than that, well, Jesus could not avoid the common human fate?! But here, on Calvary, it is quite another matter. This suffering and death is not only a sharing in the general human fate, but also a poignant event: a turning point in the history of the world. The earth shakes, the rocks crack, the veil of the temple splits in two, the tombs open, the pagan centurion falls to his knees before the dead Christ! From Calvary, the effects of this shocking death are already pouring forth into every sphere of creation. Let us now try to hear this word of signs which proclaim the redemptive glory and power of Christ's death!The first sign at the moment of Jesus' death is described in the Bible: "Behold, the veil of the temple is rent in two from the top to the bottom." (Mt 27,51a) This is the most understandable sign. There is great consolation in this! For it is the heavy, lavishly wrought tapestry, the carpet, which separated the innermost part of the temple, the sanctuary, which represented the presence of God, from the rest of the temple. It was embroidered with bark beetles, a symbol of the fact that in Paradise, too, the way to the Tree of Life was guarded by bark beetles with balls of flame. So this curtain was a symbol of sin. Sin is that which, like a vast, impenetrable tapestry, prevents us from entering into communion with God, who is enthroned in glory in the heavenly sanctuary. Only the high priest was allowed to enter beyond the veil once a year on behalf of the congregation. Then only by taking with him the blood of the slain sacrificial lamb and sprinkling it on the top of the ark of the covenant, as a symbol that the sins of the people were covered by the blood of the lamb. Well, that curtain was torn at the very moment Jesus poured out his soul.
In this outward, visible sign, the mystery of the true High Priest actually entering the heavenly sanctuary is depicted. He covered sin with His precious blood, He covered sin. There is forgiveness for all unrighteousness, the way is open to all to the heart of God. With the death of Jesus, the wall of separation between God and man has been broken down. The door of the heavenly world has been opened to the earth. Into this life, separated from God, the air, the life, the power of eternity is now flowing. No longer is the earth separated from the past. The whole world has become God's sanctuary: your home can become one too. The real presence of God makes this world one with the world beyond. The temporal is permeated by the eternal, and the visible is carried by the invisible. I can tell you from experience: there is no longer a depth of earthly life, no more anguish, in which the love of God cannot be well felt. There is no longer any darkness or sickness that is not broken through by the light of the Eternal Light. The tapestry is torn in two: through the crack the earth is filled with God, with new life, with eternity. It can be breathed in through prayer, like fresh air. Let us then open ourselves to the opened heaven: let it pass through, let the power of Christ's death enliven us! Is this not a great consolation?
The other sign is also very telling: "The earth is moved." (Mt 27,51b) This is a great warning. The creation almost groaned under such a terrible burden as the crucified Son of God! The earth almost trembled, as if afraid to open its mouth to receive the blood of Christ flowing down. Almost a pang of grief, a shudder of dismay, rippled through nature. When He dies from Whom, by Whom and for Whom all things in the world were created! The earth trembles, the rocks crack, signs almost akin to the cosmic catastrophe of the Last Judgment take place in creation! For a terrible tension is being balanced on Calvary: the tension between God and man is so great that, when it comes to a meeting, one of the two must die! In this great, fatal encounter, God died for us in Jesus! God did this by taking the whole of evil, of evil, upon Himself in Jesus. He made our ruined, lost lives His own in His only begotten Son. He allowed Himself to be brought forth in Jesus as the evildoer, to be pilloried, accused, condemned, executed! He pretended that He, the Holy God, had done all the evil that you and I have done and are doing all the time. So all the punishment that, according to God's righteous judgment, would be due to us, came upon Jesus like a heavenly thunderbolt. Thus He has redeemed us for His kingdom. Thus God has prepared for us healing in Jesus' wounds, deliverance in His condemnation, forgiveness in His death, and eternal life! That's what happened there, on Calvary!
And look: even the hardest, most solid part of the earth felt this terrible shock: the rocks cracked. Are we the only ones who remain insensitive, indifferent to Him? Is it possible for a human heart to be harder than a rock? Can it be that there are still people here, now, who see the cross, hear again what God has done for their redemption in Christ, and still not be broken in repentance, still not hate sin? Are you still willing to continue that illicit affair with another spouse? Do you still cover up your wickedness? Yes, brothers and sisters, there are those here among you who are able to hide here in the church from the God who holds them accountable for their sins! Those who think everything is fine, because they are always here, enthusiastic about the sermon, but their hearts never start: they are harder than a rock. The heart that does not want to surrender, that does not want to give itself, that cannot soften and break even at the foot of the cross of Christ, is harder, more callous than a rock. The earth trembles beneath you, and if even now your sin does not taste bad in your mouth, if even now you do not hate yourself for it, if even now you do not break down in repentance and humility of confession, then there is no more reason for God to be with you! When "Jesus ... with a loud cry gave up his soul" (v.50), God is also warning us through him: something must happen to us! For the Son of God died for us on the cross!
Then there was a sign at the moment of Christ's death, the words of which are much more difficult to understand than the others. We read, "And the graves were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had died were raised. And coming out of the tombs, after the resurrection of Jesus, they entered into the holy city, and appeared to many." (Mt 27,52-53) I do not want to go into detail, to dissect the heart-stirring mystery of which this terse report is a description. I don't know who those who came out of the opened tombs were, what they did, how they lived on, what it means that they appeared to many. All this is hidden from us. Obviously, that is not the point of this verse, but rather that the effect of Christ's death penetrates beyond the world of nature into the world of death, and there becomes manifest as the power of life. In any case, this scene proclaims the majesty and power of Christ's death. When Jesus 'cried out with a loud voice and gave up his soul', it is not the final chords of a tragedy that are heard, but the overture of a triumphant new beginning, the prelude to a new creation. Something is not ending, but beginning. With Jesus' death, a door is not closed, but opened. Life does not close, but opens. That horrible death there on Calvary does not mean the end of life, but the end of the reign of death, so that it can no longer hold man in bondage! Just when death seems to be winning! Jesus enters death, and at the same moment dead men rise from the dead!
What is really happening is what He Himself once spoke of: the strong man with the strong arm breaks into the house of the strong man with the strong arm, overcomes him and takes away all his weapons (cf. Lk 11:22). The tomb will be closed over him, but it will be opened over his own! In His death we all receive life again! His death breathes the fragrance of life on all believers. A Jewish friend of mine told me that during the Second World War, in a German death camp, hundreds of people were waiting to see what would happen to them, when a big fight broke out around the camp, and soon a foreign soldier appeared in the camp. He went up to the prisoners in line, including him, and said: "You are a free man!" my friend said, a sentence he would never forget. "You are a free man!
Well, that death on Calvary addresses you too: You are a free man! Do you understand? You are free! Death is no longer lord over you. The power of sin is broken, no longer strangles you! No more bad habits, no more inherited curses, no more fears that cannot be broken! Sin can be confronted, death, Satan. You can refuse to obey him and turn from him to the victorious side of Jesus! His death is to you as the prisoner's opening of the prison door! This is what this mysterious sign proclaims at the moment of His death: 'The graves will be opened'. The great triumphal hymn of Easter joy has already begun here, on Calvary!
In the end, the greatest miracle and the most shocking sign there, on Golgotha, was the centurion who, seeing the descent and what had happened, was terrified and exclaimed with emotion, "Truly, it was the Son of God!"(Mt 27,54c) This is the real power of the cross, the attraction of Christ crucified, to lift a human heart from the darkest depths of unbelief to Himself, to bring a hostile soul to its knees before Him. This centurion, who here bears witness in the darkest hour to the divinity of Christ in place of the scattered army of disciples, is the first of the vast host that will soon gather round the cross to worship the crucified and risen Christ! What happened to this centurion? We read that he "saw what happened". He saw that royal passion, that shuddering supplication for the remission of sins, that self-conscious disposition of Paradise, the three hours of darkness, the damnable agony of abandonment to God, the dropping of his head into the sleep of death, and the giving up of his soul with the Father's name on his lips - Yes, the vision of all this kindled faith in the soul of this unbelieving, heathen man.
(Heb 12:2) If you ever doubted God, His love, take a long, hard look at the cross. There you will always find God bowing down, the deepest expression of His love! You can see God in a million things: in the rushing waterfall, in the gushing stream, in the inexpressible solitude of the wilderness, in the radiant splendour of the starry night. God is everywhere. But when you look at Jesus on the cross, you can almost look into God's eyes and see through his eyes into his heart. What God has in his heart for you, you can see in Jesus dying on the cross for you!
This astonished testimony, "Truly this was the Son of God!" expresses today the joyful, humble assurance that God is indeed here among us! God has bent down to us, God has embraced us. Let him lift you up, let him cleanse you! Let God lead us to new life, bless us and sanctify us! Let Him love you. And go out, proclaim, show people by your actions how much God loves you! Come, then, let us join the great army led by this Roman centurion, and let us also recite our profession of faith and our vows:
His Son the Father of love
The Father of Love gives His Son to the agony of the cross,
For us, for us, that He may be enough,
Our Lord, our Lord and our Saviour.
Jesus, who suffered for us,
That we might live, you have gone to our death:
To you, to you we give heartfelt thanks,
To death, to death, we remain thy faithful.
(Canto 339, verses 5 and 7)
Amen
Date: 4 April 1958 Good Friday.