Behold the Lamb of God

Index

I) BEHOLD, WE GO UP TO JERUSALEM. Luke 18,

31 — 34. Sermon on Sunday before Lent, by John Quandt 5

II) LENT-OBSERVANCE OP MARY OF BETHANY.

Matthew 26, 1 — 13. Sermon on Ash-Wednesday, by Dr. E. Quandt . . . 12

III) LESSONS ON THE WAY TO GETHSEMANE. Luke

2 2, 31 and 3 2. For the first Week in Lent, by Dr. E. Rueling 23

IV) PETER'S DENIAL. Luke 22, 54 — 62. For the Sec-

ond Week in Lent, by Dr. Wm. Wiener 38

V) THE WAYS OF JUDAS. Matthew 27, 1 — 5. For the

. Third Week in Lent, by Lie. Thoel. G. Leonhardi 50

VI) THE CHOICE BETWEEN JESUS AND BARRABAS.

John 18, 38 — 40. For the Fourth Week in Lent, by Dr. M. Frommel 57

VII) ECCE HOMO. John 19, 5. For the Fifth Week in

Lent, by F. Dransfeld ' 66

VIII) THE TWO MALEFACTORS A MIRROR OF HU-

MANITY. Luke 2 3, 39 — 43. For the Fifth Week in Lent, by O. Brennekam 73

IX) IT IS FINISHED. John 19, 30. On Good-Friday,

by Dr. G. Baur 85

X) JESUS' BURIAL. Luke 23, 50 — 56. Good-Friday

night, by John Quandt 96

'Behold, We Go Up to Jerusalem."

By

John Quandt.

Formerly Chaplain of the Garrison at Danzig Pastor of the Evangelical Church in The Hague.

AN ANTE-LENT SEHMON.

Text: Luke 18: 31 — 34.

"And he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets shall be accomplished unto the Son of Man. For he shall be delivered up unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and shamefully treated, and spit upon; and they shall scourge and kill him; and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, and they perceived not' the things that were said."

Quinquagesima, the fiftieth day before Easter, is an ancient designation for the Sunday immediately preceding Lent. Standing at the threshold of the time commemorative of our Lord's sufferings and death, this Sunday and its appointed Gospel exhort us to prepare worthily to remember the passion of our Lord. Such preparation- is, indeed, necessary. Our thoughts and affections are all too much occupied with the things of this present evil world, so that we are in danger of forgetting the one thing needful. Whoever forgets this one thing needful is a lost soul, in spite of all fidelity to civil, commercial and domestic duties. Men's minds are filled with plans for material successes, but Jesus Christ comes into our midst today with the solemn announcement: "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem." This is the lenten watch-word, authorized by our exalted Lord from his throne on high, and which we must write upon the fleshy tablets of our hearts, lest we perish in the way. Wherefore, "whoso hath an ear to hear, let him hear."

"BEHOLD, WE GO UP TO JERUSALEM."

1. Christ goes up to die for us.

2. We go up to obtain life in him.

O Lord, we, who are here assembled through the power of thy passion, do now renew our covenant of faithfulness to thee. And do thou, as sign and seal of thy favorable acceptance of this our work of praise, say to our hearts: Amen, and speak to them: Peace, peace be unto you.

Over every man's life there is an inscription, which will be read at the last great day by the eternal Judge. Blessed wilt thou be, if thine inscription be not the one which appeared on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN, — Numbered, weighed in the balance, and found wanting. Over the life of the God-Man there is also an inscription, which has been read and interpreted, which is: "For you." For you he is born, for you he lived, for you he gave his life unto death and shed his precious blood.

All this, for me, to prove His everlasting love.

And suppose that he had not given himself for our redemption, what then? O, whither should we flee from the wrath of God? How still the fierce accusations of conscience? How silence the heart's plaintive cry for peace? Over our life's end this inscription would then be written, and only this: "It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment." Even if you had lived ever so nobly, my brother and sister; even if you had escaped every civil and criminal tribunal, nothing of your own could save you from the judgment of God. Certainly not your fidelity to duty, for in that you have failed countless times; nor your morality, for that was too often compromised with your carnal inclinations; nor yet your philanthropy, for love to your neighbor was often the last thing thought of by you. Nor can riches, high position, or social prestige do more to deliver you from the judgment of God than poverty or dire misfortune. Before this unapproachable Judge subterfuge is not possible, nor does excuse avail. There is but one veil to hide the consuming glory of his justice, and to make it possible for the soul to stand before him: Jesus' blood and righteousness.

God does not will that any should perish, but that all should be saved. Therefore, he has erected a lighthouse for the sinking ship of humanity; if it follows this light, its course will lead into the harbor of safety, despite its broken masts and torn riggings. This lighthouse is Jesus Christ; his light is the righteousness in his blood, and it is the only righteousness which avails before God. He hath boime all our sin, otherwise despair would be our lot. For us he strove in Gethsemane; for us he let himself be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver; for us he let Pontius Pilate despise him, Herod scorn him, and Roman soldiers mock and smite and spit upon him. For us he was scourged and crowned with thorns. For us he was crucified. "Behold the Man." And our text shows that he knew beforehand all that should happen unto him. Wherefore, he tasted his bitter pains not once, but a thousand times. All things that were to be done unto the Son of Man were written beforehand by the prophets. "Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." "He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting." Thus Isaiah, the evangelist in prophet's mantle, declared five hundred years before Christ. And David foresaw the tragic scene a thousand years before: "They part my garments among them, and upon my vesture do they cast lots." The passionflower, which blooms beneath the cross, was planted already in David's garden.

"And they understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, and they perceived not the things which were said." With this verse, as a text, and with it alone, ten sermons might be preached. You also may not always be understood. But, see, this was the beginning of our Lord's passion, and its bitter workings have not ceased to this day. For the twelve everything, foretold by prophets and announced by Jesus, was a hidden mystery. They understood it not. And for so many even at this day is everything, said by the Word and its ministers of the passion of our Lord, regarded as an idle tale. Right congenial to them is the carnival of Shrovetide, but very much of a bore the story of the Savior's love and death. O, that not one of you may be reckoned among them. O, that you all, beloved, will hear the tender call of the wounded One, before it is too late. Your time is growing short. It is again passiontide. "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem." Jesus goes up to die for us.

Let us also go up that we may find life in hirn. When the Israelites, as punishment for their sins in the wilderness, were bitten of the serpents, Moses lifted up a brazen serpent, and whosoever looked upon it did not die. Likewise, God has lifted up his Son Jesus Christ, that whosoever looks upon him does not only not die, but receives everlasting life. The difference between those who know Christ and those who do not is altogether incomparable. O, what a difference in the daily life of the Christian and the non-Christian. At the rising of the sun the believer takes the Word of God in hand, to be quickened with the grace of the Highest for the day. Strengthened in the inner man, he takes up the performance of his daily duties: The Lord is his Refuge and Song and Salvation. No anxious care corrodes his heart, for nothing can befall him but what God has foreseen and what will prove salutary to him. If he experiences reverses in his calling, if there are hard times at home, if his heart grows heavy — even a Christian's heart is at times laden with heaviness, — he nevertheless does not despair, for his Savior comforts him: "Cast your burdens upon me; I will care for you." Neither is the Christian unduly exercised about food, or drink, or raiment. His heavenly Father knows that he has need of these things, and with that knowledge he is content. Nor is he ever alone or forsaken. Every moment he may commune with his Lord, and receive blessed answers from the ever-present Spirit. Thus, the believer's day passes, and at eventide he thankfully folds his hands and commits himself into the Lord's gracious care for the night, and rests in peace: For he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Christians are a godly race,

Fill'd with love and power and grace,

Fleeing all that's mean and base, Walking in the light, Keeping truth and right.

My brethren, I have not attempted to bewitch you with an ignis fatuus, nor to picture an impossible paradise. Whosoever believes in Jesus Christ — looks upon the Crucified — shall enter this paradise. Nor think that what I have been saying does not apply to every walk in life. It would indeed be an evil day for our country, if the bone and sinew of every trade and profession were no longer impressed by the truth of Christ. The truth of the Scriptures is adaptable to all classes and conditions. Many have found its comfort in hours of grief and trial, but why wait until "trouble, like a gloomy cloud, gathers thick and thunders loud?"

May the coming passiontide bring you life in Christ; and, if you have already found it, may it be deepened and quickened. Let me exhort you: In the coming weeks read again the passion history of our Lord. And having done so in truth and sincerity, there will be none who has remained untouched. In this story of suffering and death, you may find comfort, quickening, peace and forgiveness. Come to Gethsemane; see the drops of bloody sweat on the Savior's brow; they were shed for thee. Come into the high-priest's palace and into the judgment hall of Pilate; in the Savior's sufferings thou wilt find strength to bear thine own. Go thou with him to Herod, and in his majestic silence learn thou to be still in thine own pains. And then go with him on the Via Dolorosa, up Calvary's mournful height, and, standing beneath his cross, do thou say:

O spotless* Lamb, in my stead Thou bowedst thy bleeding head; .

Upon the tree, thou diedst for me, My soul to win, from death and sin.

"It is finished," I hear thee cry, And now I know I shall not die.

Truly, beloved, the gaieties of the world, the frivolities of society, are not consistent with meditations on the passion, not even for a Protestant who needs no longer to fast. For us, if we would be serious-minded and meditative men and women, passiontide must be a tempus c 1 a u s u m, a time of retirement from everything which would at all disturb the heart in its meditation. No man can serve two masters; whoso attempts it will not obtain peace and blessing from the lententide. Could you give yourself to idle pleasures, while your father or mother, wife or child lay a-dying? Behold, a greater, than father or mother, wife or child is here.

"Behold, we go up to Jerusalem." Above the old Judean city the New Jerusalem, the City of Gold, the Rest of the Soul, is shining forth. No passiontide will there be commemorated, for all sighing and suffering is there at an end; instead of the cross will be found the everlasting throne; instead of the crown of thorns the bejeweled crown of glory will adorn the mighty Victor's brow. And when we have entered that City of Light, we shall with great and mighty songs praise him who went up to Jerusalem to die for us, and who in love drew us with him to give us life more abundantly.

When me, my Jesus, thou dost bring To thy heavenly courts above, I'll thank and praise thee for thy love, In favored strains. Hallelujah. Amen.

P. C. L.

II. Lent-Observance of Mary of Bethany

Bv

1) E. Quandt.

ON ASH-WEDNESDAY.

Matthew 26, 1 — 13.

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtility, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

The text for this evening consists of the record with which Matthew opens the story of Christ's Passion. The last verse is the one which every year most impresses me. It is to-night the index to our devotion. "We are led in haste through the palace of Caiaphas, the high-priest, to land presently at Bethany for a quiet Lent-Observance. Bethany, the house of rest. May the Holy Ghost work in us deliverance from earthly cares, in order that God may do his work within us.

Through the palace of Caiaphas to Bethany. The highpriest, the scribes and the rulers of the people are met in council. But in this council we do not find the zeal of that council of the olden days, which Moses set apart to be shepherds over Israel, when he took of his spirit and put it upon the elders, so that the Spirit rested upon them and they prophesied without ceasing. These elders in the palace of Caiaphas were indeed zealous for the law of Moses, according to the letter, but the spirit of Moses had departed from them. They were stiffnecked, uncircumcised of heart and ears, always resisting the Holy Ghost and the most vehemently at the time under consideration. "And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtility, and kill him." Take Jesus! Take him by subtility! Kill Jesus! Can human brains plan such a plot of hell? Certainly, man can do it if he permits Satan to stir up the depths of his heart. The high council in Israel, advised by the wicked one, decides upon the passion of Jesus.

But "take counsel together, and it shall come to nought," — thus the Almighty Council in heaven has always decreed, whenever the plans of the ungodly crossed the ways and purposes of his government. With this mighty word he has split the intentions of man, as the falling rock splits the trees. Wilt Thou, then, Almighty God keep silence? Will not Thy word be heard in the house of Caiaphas: "Take counsel together and it shall come to nought?" We listen in vain — the mouth of the Most High remains silent. At this time the counsels of blind human hatred and divine Love coincide. It was the Father's premeditated plan and will that Christ should be taken and slain, in order that his death and precious blood might bring eternal redemption to the sin-lost world. Only as to the time of the crucifixion did the counsel of malice and eternal Love diverge. The enemies in the palace said: "Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people." But Jesus indicating his Father's counsel and will, says to his disciples, "Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified." And since the highest counsel of God from eternity willed it thus, therefore the high council in Israel h a d to crucify the Saviour on the very feast day. We, therefore, conclude: The high council of Israel, advised by the evil foe, decrees the passion jof Jesus; this council would have come to nought, not a thorn could have wounded the Sacred Head, had not the passion of Jesus been decreed in eternity, in the upper world, in the supreme council of the Holy Trinity.

Away from the palace of Caiaphas! Our souls cannot endure to dwell with those who hate peace. But this lesson we take with us:

THE PASSION OF CHRIST, ALTHOUGH INITIATED BY SATAN AND HIS HELPERS, WAS PREORDAINED FOR THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD BY THE ETERNAL COUNSEL OF GOD.

Down to Bethany! "My soul longeth for the courts of the Lord." The deed of the woman of Bethany, the benevolence of Mary toward her Lord, as a lent observance, shall be preached in the whole world, wherever the gospel of the crucified Saviour shall come; it shall be preached here to-night. Hear it, beloved, listen with open hearts, stretch forth your hands to pick the most beautiful of roses among the thorns of the Passion.

15 A LENT-OBSERVANCE OF MARY OF BETHANY.

1) It is an observance of burning love.

2) It appears foolish in the eyes of the world.

3) It is blessed by the Lord.

I.

"Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat." Blessed words, swelling with music! Listen to the sweet strains. They sing of the lent observance of Mary of Bethany, they praise it as a celebration of burning love.

Mary of Bethany, aside from Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the three pillars, Peter, John and Paul, is the most touching figure among the followers of Jesus. We do not know much about her. But we learn of three festive hours in her life; for these we bless her.

At one time Jesus, the Prophet, entered her home at Bethany. Martha took much pains to wait on Jesus. Mary, however, considering only the one thing needful, chose the good portion. She sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to his teaching. Her heart was thirsting to drink the message of salvation from his divine lips. This was the celebration in honor of Jesus, the Prophet, a celebration of childlike faith.

The second time she expected Jesus, the King, at Bethany, He whom the Lord loved, Lazarus, was sick. She together with her sister, sent for the Master. But Jesus tarried, Lazarus died, and Mary went to his sepulchre to weep. In the midst of her mourning she had trusted in the royal power of her divine friend, she had observed a celebration of hopeful confidence. This is evidenced in her confession at the feet of Jesus, when the Lord came, apparently too late: "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Yet the Lord did more than she had dared to hope; he raised Lazarus from the dead. Behold a feast of fulfilled hope.

Today Jesus has come to Bethany, n o t a prophet with words of life; not a king with miraculous power. He has come as a highpriest, to give Himself as a sacrifice. Today Mary does not observe a feast of faith, not a feast of hope, but a feast of burning love.

As the high priest, on the way to offer himself as a sacrifice, Jesus tarries at Bethany. The Evangelist plainly states that Jesus made this last sojourn in intuition and presentiment of his approaching passion: "The Son of man is betrayed tj be crucified." That Mary also saw in him the Lamb of God innocently slain on the 'cross, Jesus Himself indicates, by saying: "In that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial."

Now how strange! Of the disciples it is written that in spite of all the predictions of Christ's sufferings and death, "they understood none or these things," and "this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." Of Peter even, the chief among the twelve, we hear that with regard to Christ's testimony in the last night he said: "Lord, this be far from Thee." Whence then has Mary the understanding of the approaching passion? How is it that while no one else knows of or notices your pain and sorrow, yet mother knows and notices it? How is it that while no one else realizes the ailments and wants of the babe in the cradle, yet mother finds them out? It is the working of true love.

Indeed, I am sure that all of the disciples and followers loved Jesus, but none with the burning love of Mary. She musingly remembers his words, the words concerning the baptism with which he was to be baptized, on account of which he was straitened, till it should be fulfilled. She meditated in her heart all that which the fore-telling of his sufferings had accumulated. Her loving soul connected with all these much of the evil devices of the high council as had from time to time reached her ears. With a keen eye she looked into the countenance of the Holy One of God entering her home. Love does not calculate. Love feels, and feels more safely than all calculation can show. Her burning love detects the beginning of Christ's passion.

This, however, would be a realization of the approach of the passion only, not an understanding of the passion itself. We think too little of Mary, if we think that she loved Jesus as her friend only. Nay, she loved him with the love of a poor sinner. It was her heart's delight to drink from the lips of the living Saviour, the words of life; it was her highest glory to behold his miracles. But at the sweetest words, at the most glorious miracle, her soul did not rest. She longed for a Saviour, dying for her; a high priest, atoning with his own blood. She knew that such a one was promised by Him, who could not lie. She knew the words of Isaiah: "Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." She foresaw that if this prophecy was to be fulfilled, there was one only who could fulfill it and this one was Jesus. Therefore, when she saw him turn in at her gate, she longingly looked into his eyes and read it from his features: "It is he." And while her heart bled over His going to the death, at the same time it rejoiced, since He was to die for her sins.

Might love like this, absorbed in Christ's passion, be satisfied in meditation? Indeed not. A love which receives the highest, must at the same time give the highest. He does so much for you, it ponders, what will you do for him? Lukewarm love would have thanked lukewarmly, burning love must thank intensely. Mary takes the alabaster box containing the precious ointment, and pours it upon his head, glowing in the passion-splendor of his wounds. To him, who was about to suffer for her, she consecrates her most precious possession. Had she possessed anything better, she would have sacrificed it with like readiness. Some interpreters have said, that in the sacrifice of the ointment she meant to symbolize the sacrifice of her heart. Not only her heart, however, but her all, her whole life she gave with this ointment; the ointment flowed down from the Lord, and in the ointment her life.

II.

"But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, to what purpose this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor." To what purpose this waste? Does not this question, following the service of love, sound like the croaking of the raven after the sweet strains of the nightingale's song have died away? How painful an experience: The Lent-observance of burning love is foolishness in the eyes of the world.

In the eyes of the world, did I say? Ah, it would seem here as if it were sucn in the eyes of the congregation, the church. His disciples are indignant at Mary's sacrifice. They are not all disciples, indeed, who bear that name. The beloved disciples do not speak as disciples should. One of them, John, at a later time than this record, reports that the inspiration came from Judas Iscariot, the traitor. Judas then already had surrendered himself to the devil. The devil is the prince of this world. Not the spirit Satan, not the church, the w o r 1 d was questioning thus indignantly: "To what purpose is this waste?" The world deems it foolishness, this Lent-Observance of Mary! They call that waste which Mary had done at the instigation of love. "This ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor," they calculate. There a loving heart — here a calculating mind. There piety of heart, which cannot do otherwise in view of the sacrifice of the God-Man than to sacrifice self. Here a piety of reason, which considers it the highest deed of love, to honor the Lord in giving to the poor. Mary stands for the church. Judas, and the disciples seduced by him, for the world. Lent- Observances in the sense of Mary are foolishness in the eyes of the world, because a self-sacrificing Saviour, as well as a heart sacrificing itself to the Saviour, are against the reason and calculations of the world.

The world calls the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, "waste." To what purpose the incarnation of God, the sufferings and death of the Holy One of God, the redemption through his blood? Thus the world calculates. To what purpose all this, since the world can be happy without Jesus.

Of course, if in the eyes of the world, Christ's sacrifice is nothing, lent-observances, in whatever form they be, must needs appear foolishness also; most foolish, however, must appear a heart which gives itself a sacrifice to Christ. To give to the poor, in this act the world sees some sense; but to surrender to the crucified Saviour in glowing devotion, this is foolishness in its eyes.

Are you surprised at this? I am not. The religion of the world has no room for sacrifice, neither for the sacrifice of Jesus nor for the sacrifice of a broken heart. It has no room for sacrifice at all. Why not? Because the world neither knows the depths of grace, nor the wretchedness of sin. Only after he has learned to realize the depth of his sinfulness, and after he lias been impressed with the power of grace, i. e., after he has turned his back to the world, does the odor of Mary's ointment become a sweet savor to man.

As long as this change has not taken place in the heart, and the world refuses to recognize the sinfulness of sin, or to realize the graciousness of grace, the Lent-Observance of Mary of Bethany is foolishness in its eyes.

III

"When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial for her."