The text this morning is from the Acts of the Apostles, the second chapter:
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them:
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And Peter isn’t ashamed to let anyone know it, even the very people who were responsible for crucifying our Lord. Now, this perhaps is a complicated question: who crucified Jesus?
I say it’s complicated because it depends on your perspective. Sadly, due to the racism of the age and the economic lack that the Jews faced, the Jews were blamed by the Ancient Christian church, and this perhaps unfairly. The Jews were judged as crucifying Jesus based solely on the fact that people hated them; they were displaced, having no homeland of their own after Jerusalem was destroyed, they were poor, having no trades which were useful to others, they were religious outsiders, for they did not share the Roman pantheon of gods, much less seeing Caesar as god.
Were the Jews guilty? Yep. No question. The Pharisees grew jealous of Jesus’ popularity. The Saducees didn’t like Jesus’ focus on the life which was to come. The High Council thought His followers would start a rebellion, which would make the Romans nervous and twitchy and they would destroy the entire state. So, they all conspired together to make sure that, even if this Jesus was the Messiah to come, it wouldn’t be on their watch. It wouldn’t be their fault.
But some people say it wasn’t really the Jews. It wasn’t their fault. They were goaded into it. In fact, the Jews really couldn’t kill anyone at all, not with the Romans breathing down their necks. The Jews had given all that deathly power to the Romans, and so people say that it’s the Romans’ fault. That was pretty en vogue when I was growing up. I mean, it certainly was Pilate who sentenced Jesus to die, even after his wife warned him off. It was the Roman soldiers who beat and whipped and mocked Jesus. It was a Roman centurion who supervised every hammer of the nail into His flesh. The Romans were barbaric in this torture, making sure to use fear to keep their subjects in line rather than good government and the prospering of all the people. The Romans were definitely guilty.
But there’s one group that isn’t usually mentioned when we discuss who is responsible for the death of Jesus. We’ve got the Jews, they were guilty, and Peter says that to Jews. We’ve got the Romans, they were guilty, and Peter says that to the Romans. But you are guilty of the death of Christ, and Peter says that to you, too, today.
No, you weren’t there 2000 years ago. But the stain of Adam’s guilt continues to be passed on from father to mother to child. And it infects you. And like a stone thrown into a still pond, the sin of Adam sends ripples throughout your life, marking you sinful, disturbing the righteousness that should have been yours but never will be by your own works. More than that, the stain of sin makes every bit of you, from beginning to end, sinful, and then makes all that you do sinful and unclean in thought, word, and deed, everything you do and everything you fail to do.
It was because of you that Jesus went to the cross. For your sin, the Son of God would lay down His life. For your sin, the Son of God would be crucified. For your sin, the Son of God would be forsaken by the Father and counted as the worst sinner who ever existed. Not having sin of Himself, He took into His flesh the sins of murder, adultery, covetousness, theft, lying, disobedience, blasphemy, idolatry, and works-righteousness. The Man who knew no sin would become sin itself and suffer the consequences. You killed the Lord of Life, for that which is in you and that which you do. You killed Him.
Yet, you did not force Him. You did not reach up into heaven, grab God by the neck, and demand that He make satisfaction. He did this willingly. Sin must be punished severely, worthy of hell itself, and the Lord took it upon Himself to suffer this for you. You were busy trying to save yourself. Every human tries this; but every human will fail. This is our sad state. Yet, while we were still sinners, while we still ungodly, God died for us. He laid down His own life. No one has the authority to take the life of the Lord unless He willingly lays it down.
You are so loved by your Creator that He would die for you, because of you. The Son of God had in His eternal plan this purpose, that His death would declare your righteous and free you from all of your sins. He knew that Adam would fall from grace; He knew that Adam would stain you; He knew that you would commit sins because you would be sinful. And so, from before the beginning of time itself, the Son of God decided to save you by providing the sacrifice required. He would not sacrifice you; He would lay down His own life.
This, I think, can be heard in two ways. Law and Gospel. If you think about it, with the words, “Jesus Christ died in your place for you,” you could certainly hear this as Law. You have sinned, you have fallen short of the glory of God, and so Jesus died for you. By your sin, you crucified the Lamb of God. And if you don’t believe this, stop listening to the rest of this sermon, because it’s not for you. You are guilty of the Lord’s murder, and if you are not repentant, nothing else I say will matter.
If you are repentant, if you are sorry for your sinful nature, if you are sorry and sorrowful for the things you have done, if you want to do better, be better, be righteous, then hear that Jesus died for you. Hear the sweet, sweet Gospel, that the Lord loved you so much that He would do anything for you, even go to the cross, scorning the shame of it all. You are forgiven by His death, and you are vindicated with the promise of everlasting life by His resurrection. And He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
So, what shall you do? If you are cut to the quick, what shall you do? Can you offer your Lord anything for this? Can you buy into the forgiveness He offers? Nope.
Even to receive the forgiveness of sins, God provides the way. You cannot save yourself. No sacrifice you make would ever avail to achieve the purpose of your salvation. And even the sacrifice that our Lord Jesus made is nothing unless it able to come to you.
Are you repentant? Good! This is good, and this is a gift of the Holy Spirit that you believe that your Lord is good and gracious and abounding in steadfast love. But how does the graciousness of God come to you? How does the cross come to you? It comes by the Lord’s promised means, the means of grace. It comes in your Baptism, where you were washed with the hand of Christ, given a clean conscience, having your very soul washed white in the blood of the Lamb. It comes through His Word, where you learn of what the Bible says about you and what it says about your Jesus. And it comes in the Supper, where the flesh and blood of Christ strengthen you unto everlasting life. This is all gift, straight gift, pure gift. And this is not your doing, but the Lord’s.
Who killed Jesus? The Jews. The Romans. You. And Jesus. Jesus laid down His life for you as a gift, a straight gift, a pure gift. And this is not of your doing, but of the Lord’s own doing, His own will, His own reasons, even His very love to forgive your sins. Your sins are forgiven, and because of that gift, you shall indeed eternal life, for He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alelluia! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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