“Crushed For Our Iniquities”
Text: Matthew 26:14-56
4-14-2022
In the name of Him who was crushed for our iniquities, dear friends in Christ. During Holy Week when we speak of the “passion of Jesus” there’s a tendency to view it in rather narrow terms. Quite often we only think of Christ’s suffering when He was beaten, whipped, or nailed to the Cross. But those only focus on the physical agony He endured. I’m not suggesting that His bodily pain wasn’t horrific. It certainly was. However, there was much more to it than that. And when we see the bigger picture of His suffering on our behalf, it will leave us in awe of the extreme anguish our Lord endured for our sake. It will also fill us with gratitude for what Jesus endured to save us. That crushing load first began pressing down on Him in the garden on Maundy Thursday. So it’s good for us to “Go To Dark Gethsemane” as we just sang, and understand the significance of what took place there. As we’ve done throughout this season of Lent, there are pictures in your bulletin to assist in your meditation.
It was no mere coincidence that Jesus chose this place for His passion to begin and you’ll see why as we learn more about its function. Gethsemane is located across the Kidron Valley directly to the east of Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives. As the name indicates, it was a popular place to grow olive trees because the soil is well suited for it. St. John calls it a “garden” in his Gospel, but it wasn’t like your vegetable garden. Rather, think of an orchard where trees are grown for their fruit; in this case, olives. It was a common practice to build a stone fence around such a garden and to keep within it the tools you needed for tending the trees and harvesting the crop.
And that leads then to the name. Gethsemane is the Greek form of a Hebrew word that simply means “olive press.” And here’s how the oil extraction process went: The ripe olives are put into a large, dished-out stone base. There’s a vertical millstone that fits in the base and rolls around it in a circular pattern. You can see a picture of one on page 12 of your bulletin. The olives are put in the base and crushed into an oily paste by the millstone. The paste is then put into woven baskets and stacked in a pile. That pressure alone causes the oil to begin oozing out. This is the first pressing, producing the purest oil. Next, the baskets are placed in the actual press that you see in the bottom photo. Heavy stone weights are attached to the beam, which are then lowered onto the baskets forcing out more oil. This is the second pressing. Then more weight is added to extract the remaining oil for the third pressing. The oil from the first pressing was dedicated to the Lord because it’s the purest and the best. The second pressing was used for cooking. And the third was used for fuel in their oil lamps. Hang onto that because we’ll come back to it in a little while.
Now, Jesus didn’t choose to go to Gethsemane simply because it was a secluded place where He could pray. The oil pressing that took place there was the perfect illustration of what was about to happen to Him. As He went off by Himself to pray, Matthew tells us “He began to be sorrowful and troubled.”(v.37) Jesus knew what lay ahead of Him and it was a pressure that weighed heavily on His heart and mind. Normally, Jewish people stood to pray, but under the crushing spiritual load that was pressing down on Him, He fell face down and pleaded with God the Father for another way to bring about our salvation. If there was no other way, He would submit to God’s holy will.
Imagine the loneliness Jesus felt when He went to His closest friends and found them sleeping rather than praying along with Him. Then came the crushing betrayal by one whom Christ truly loved. You see, He didn’t want Judas to become a puppet of the devil and lose his soul, and yet the betrayer chose to join in this satanic plan. To add insult to injury, he kissed Jesus to identify Him to the soldiers. A sign of close friendship was used to bring harm to Jesus. And then, in fear, ALL of Christ’s friends abandoned Him. But that abandonment was nothing compared to what He would endure on the cross when His heavenly Father turned His face from His beloved Son as Jesus took upon Himself the punishment and condemnation we deserved for our sins. As Isaiah had foretold, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”(Isaiah 53:5)
That crushing load was pressing down hard on Christ’s soul. With each minute that ticked by there in Gethsemane the pressure was increasing. But He knew that it was all necessary in order to bring about our salvation. He knew that the crushing weight of abandonment, betrayal, and suffering for our sins would produce something wonderful for us. It’s interesting to recall that the first pressing of those crushed olives was the purest and best, so it was dedicated to the Lord. And in a greater sense, that’s what the crushing load on Jesus produced. The innocent suffering and death of the holy Son of God produced the purest and the best. The end result of Him being crushed for our iniquities was the precious oil of His atoning death, which was dedicated to God as an acceptable offering on our behalf. As verse 11 of our Old Testament reading says, “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”
Now, because of what Jesus did for us, we don’t have to endure that crushing load to pay for our sins. When He died on the cross, He declared that the crushing was finished. There is no more penalty to be paid for our sins. And yet, as believers in Christ we are simul iustus et peccator. That’s a Latin phrase that Luther used regularly to describe how we’re simultaneously saints and sinners. Through His holy Word, God applies the pressure of His Law to convict us of our sins. With it He crushes our sinful pride and evil desires. And with that pressure He seeks to produce in us the “oil” of His righteousness. Confession to God may very well feel like it’s crushing your heart and soul. But the forgiveness of sins cannot be yours without it. Submitting ourselves to the Father’s will allows the righteousness of Christ to flow into our crushed souls. That precious oil of salvation produces in us holy living which is then dedicated to the Lord for His use. With it He produces blessings to our lives and to our neighbor.
Ever mindful of that crushing load that He was about to endure; Jesus instituted a Holy Supper to assure us of the forgiveness He produced for us. In the Sacrament of the Altar, He offers us the very body and blood that was crushed on the cross for our iniquities. In that bread and wine, we receive Christ’s righteousness, which makes us holy. Our faith is fed and nourished so that we may live in the joy of His salvation. As we ponder His agony in the Garden and His suffering of body and spirit on the cross, may our hearts be filled with loving gratitude for our Savior. And may we join together in praising God that by it He has produced for us the oil of gladness for our souls in knowing that eternal life is ours by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!