Passion Sunday “Wilderness Walk: Death”
April 10th, 2022 – Luke 23:42-43
42And [the criminal] said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43And [Jesus] said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Receive from God the eternal life you have not deserved, not the eternal death you have, and peace with God be yours through the blood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Wilderness Walk. That has been our theme throughout our 2022 Lenten season. Walking with the Israelites through the wilderness of the desert after God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Walking along-side them in Scripture and learning from their experience truths about our own human nature. We also have been learning about who God is in the process. God has not changed, so we can expect that how He was then, He is now, and He will be forever.
The God who we have heard about leading, rescuing, forgiving, and providing for the Israelites in the wilderness, is the same God who we hear about today who journeyed to the cross and was killed. He is the same God who is now alive again and ruling as King over our world, and who always will be.
We learned that God was the one leading the Israelites in the wilderness. He went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Where they were going, He led the way and went first.
He leads the way and goes first for us, too.
He does the same for us today.
He already journeyed into Jerusalem. The place that should have been, and is still, a symbol of our eternal perfect home. He humbly rode into Jerusalem to be praised as king and to die. Yet, the place Jesus journey into that day we celebrate today was also the place He rose from the dead to continue the eternal life that is to come for us all one day.
Our life in the wilderness of this life He has already lived.
He has already gone before us through it all. Life, death, and resurrection.
He has journeyed through temptation, lived a perfect life, done the righteous deeds we ought to have, endured suffering – He has fully LIVED. He has walked through the wilderness of this life all the way to, and through, death itself.
Death. The great unknown. The one journey we do not come back from. The last great voyage from this world to the next.
Death. The greatest and longest-lasting plague on humanity.
Jesus has gone ahead of us through the wilderness of life. He suffered the thing that makes the wilderness so dangerous – dying.
He has gone through death, through hardship and betrayal, to paradise – eternal safety and goodness.
Not only has He done it all – as a testament to His power – He has done it all for you, for us – a show and action of His great love for you and me. He loves you.
What does that mean today for you and me? What does that mean for you later in the week? What does that mean as we sit in church right now hearing this very message?
It means that no matter what you encounter, what hardship you face, what hopelessness overcomes you in the face of loss, anxiety, or fear, you have hope in Him to cling to every step of the way. Hope that He will make all things right and new.
We know that Jesus came into our wilderness and carved a path through it that gets us to the perfect place we need to be. He opened the gates of heaven through His death on the cross.
Imperfection. Evil. Falling short. Sin. All of that which dwells inside of you is forgiven and released from you and you will be in paradise. You are forgiven.
Are you perfect? Do you deserve to be in paradise?
Are you somewhere between the thief on the cross and Jesus? No matter your sin, no matter your imperfection, Jesus’ journey through the cross means that on the day of your death He says to you who have heard this message “today you will be with me in paradise.”
Go in peace. Have no fear. Your destination is set and certain in His death applied to you in water, word, and sacrament. Journey through the wilderness of this life, suffering evil as He suffered, but you will have an eternity of blessing in paradise to come.
Eternity praising Him,
Hosanna! Is translated into English in a few different ways. Literally, it is a compound word made up of the words free us and we plead. Fitting words to cry out to God in whatever situation knowing He has promised freedom and a very real eternal life to come.