Be Gracious To Me

​Good Friday – 2024                                                                        LSB #’s 439:1, 12-15; 447, 425
Text – Psalm 41:10
 
But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, & raise me up, that I may repay them!
 
BE GRACIOUS TO ME
 
For the midweek sermons in Lent, we’ve focused on Psalm 41, written by David, as it concerns himself & Christ.  Although written many years before the birth of our Lord, Psalm 41 speaks history about Jesus.   
During His ministry, Jesus “went about doing good & healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”  (Acts 10:38)   That fulfilled David’s words in Psalm 41: “Blessed is the one who considers the poor” (v. 1) & “he is called blessed in the land.”  (v. 2) 
Jesus was welcomed & loved by the Galilean crowds but not by the Jerusalem leaders.  Many prominent men opposed Him, hated Him, conspired against Him.  This took place according to what David had prophesied in Psalm 41: “My enemies say of me in malice, ‘When will he die, & his name perish?’”  (v. 5) “They imagine the worst for me.”  (v. 7) 
Psalm 41 saw the future of the Lord’s betrayer, Judas Iscariot.  It said in our Lord’s voice, & Jesus even quoted the psalm on the night He was betrayed: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”  (v. 9; cf. John 13:18) 
Tonight brings us to the death of our Lord & to the prophetic words from Psalm 41: “But You, O Lord, be gracious to me, & raise me up, that I may repay them!”   When the Scriptures speak about “lifting up,” or “raising up,” as they do in this psalm,  the first thing that comes to mind is God’s miraculous power of resurrection, by which He makes the dead to be alive again.  
Thus it is written in Psalm 40, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, & set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”  (Psalm 40:2)   To this Paul added, “[God] raised us up with Him & seated us with Him in the heavenly places.”  (Ephesians 2:6)   Yet, there are times when the Scriptures speak about “raising up,” that are not talking about life, but about death.   In particular, “raising up” can be a reference to our Lord’s place on His cross.  Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus repeatedly used “lifting up” & “raising up” in reference to His death by crucifixion. 
Jesus said in the 3rd chapter of John, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”  (v. 14)    Those words speak not about our Lord’s resurrection but about His death on the cross.  
In the same way that the bronze serpent was raised up on a pole for the healing of the rebellious people of Israel, so Jesus was suspended above the earth “for the healing of the nations.”  (Revelation 22:2)   Jesus said a similar thing in the 8th chapter of John: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He.”  (v. 28) 
There again, the “lifting up” or “raising up” of which our Lord spoke was a reference to His crucifixion.  This lifting was in keeping with the words of the prophet Isaiah: “…He shall be high & lifted up...  His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, & His form beyond that of the children of mankind – so shall He sprinkle many nations...”  (Isaiah 52:13–15) 
What happened when the Lord Jesus was lifted up from the earth & suspended upon His cross?  Jesus explained in John chapter 12: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself,” (v. 32) speaking about His death for the sins of the world. 
“But You, O Lord, be gracious to Me, & raise Me up.”   In Psalm 41, as in those other passages, the reference to “raising up” is not so much a reference to our Lord’s resurrection as it is to His death on the cross.  “Raise me up, that I may repay them.”  For what purpose was our Lord lifted up, according to this psalm?  “That I may repay them!”    Repay whom?  
Here’s an amazing thing: Jesus wanted to be raised up on His cross in order to repay
those who plotted evil against Him; to repay those who spoke evil concerning Him; to repay those who imagined the worst for Him & said “in malice, ‘When will He die, & His name perish?’”  (v. 5)   This is a strange way of speaking!  The Son of God worked His vengeance against His enemies in a manner totally unlike the ways we prefer to work our vengeance.  
The kings of the world work their vengeance by sending armies against those who plot against them.  King Saul required from David a terrible & weighty bride price, requiring that it be cut from the Philistines, “that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.”  (1 Samuel 18:25)  
When Jesus told His parable of the tenants, even His enemies knew that the master of the house would be within his rights to “put those wretches to a miserable death & let out the vineyard to other tenants.”  (Matthew 21:41) 
Like the kings of the earth, you & I equally use revenge against those who’ve wronged us.  Even little children understand the idea of payback; adults are usually able to work their revenge more subtly, & more disastrously.  That’s why we’ve heard these sayings “Revenge is a dish best served cold” & “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” 
Not so with the Lord our God!   Where we prefer to work vengeance in acts   against others, the Lord of hosts preferred to execute judgment against His Son.   God was so adamant about cleansing the sin of the entire world, so preoccupied with our salvation, that even the vengeance He sought against His enemies was self-inflicted:
“But You, O Lord, ...raise Me up that I may repay them!”  In answer to that prayer, God the Father lifted up His Son to death, “even death on a cross.”  (Philippians 2:8)   The death of Jesus was divine vengeance over every enemy – including death itself.  
The death of Jesus was not the triumph of His enemies over Him.  When the soldiers at Golgotha saw the earthquake & what took place, “they were filled with awe & said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’”  (Matthew 27:54)   This happened in keeping with David’s prophecy in Psalm 41, written in the voice of Jesus, “By this I know that You delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.”  (V. 11) 
Even though the enemies of God enjoyed the sight of His death, their enjoyment was momentary, so eclipsed & devastated that momentary victory was   by the power of Christ’s resurrection.  We must therefore be exceedingly careful & mindfully faithful when we think of our enemies.  
Jesus died.  All vengeance was worked by God upon the cross.  That’s why our heavenly Father now graciously forbids us to seek vengeance.  Our acts of revenge are nothing less than a denial of Christ & His death!  Through Baptism, you were joined to the death of Christ, as Paul stated: “I have been crucified with Christ.”  (Galatians 2:20)  
In addition, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”  (Romans 6:3)   Thus, because Psalm 41 speaks about Jesus, it speaks likewise about you.  Therefore, these words are also your words: “But You, O Lord, be gracious to me, & raise me up, that I may repay them!” 
What do those words mean when you & I pray them?  We, along with Jesus, already have been raised up on the cross.  Like Jesus, we have our losses & injustices avenged in His blood.  In the death of Christ, all vengeance has been worked by God.  If we seek revenge upon our enemies, our desire for revenge becomes a denial of the cross; a rejection of the atonement. 
God has said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.”  (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19)   Our Lord Jesus taught us, “Do not resist the one who is evil.  But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”  (Matthew 5:39)   The apostle Paul added, “The Lord is an avenger in all these things.”  (1 Thessalonians 4:6)   Will the Lord our God work vengeance for us on the Last Day, when Christ our Lord returns to judge the living & the dead?   Yes, & Amen!  That is why there are Christian martyrs who, even now, plead with God for His victorious return, that He might avenge their blood.  (Revelation 6:9–10) 
We do not need to think of our Lord’s vengeance on the Last Day as something separate from His cross.  The Last Day, rather, is the culmination & the full flowering of that which was completely worked out for us on the cross.  The blood of God’s saints shall one day be avenged (Revelation 6:10) because Jesus was raised up on the cross to work God’s vengeance.  
The death of God’s saints is precious in His sight (Psalm 116:15) because Jesus of Nazareth “bowed His head & gave up His spirit.”  (John 19:30)   Every injustice you have suffered – along with every injustice you have ever committed – finds its fulfillment & satisfaction in these words: “O Lord, be gracious to me, & raise me up, that I may repay them!”  Amen. 
 
 
Jesus, in Your dying woes, even while Your lifeblood flows, craving pardon for Your foes: Hear us, holy Jesus.   Savior, for our pardon sue when our sins Your pangs renew, for we know not what we do:  Hear us, holy Jesus.    When we seem in vain to pray & our hope seems far away, in the darkness be our stay: Hear us, holy Jesus.    When the death shades round us lower, guard us from the tempter’s power, keep us in that trial hour:  Hear us, holy Jesus.  Amen.  LSB 447:1-2, 11, 20.