“Everything Must Be Fulfilled That Is Written About Me”
Luke 24:44

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Palm Sunday—March 29, 2015

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“Gone with the Wind” is considered one of the greatest motion pictures ever produced. But the surprising truth is, this classic movie was pieced together very haphazardly.  The movie mogul David O. Selzneck kept firing directors and scriptwriters.  The script was completely thrown out several times, until finally no one knew what the script was supposed to be.  Eventually the actors just started making up the script themselves as they went along.

Sometimes it seems that the events of Holy Week might have developed in the same way as “Gone with the Wind.”  Maybe Jesus really didn’t know what he was getting himself into.  Maybe things didn’t work out the way he expected.  Could it be he was overwhelmed by the situation, that he didn’t intend to die on the cross?  Perhaps Jesus was just making up the script as he went along.

After he rose from the dead, Jesus said to his disciples, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”  Jesus was not making up the script of Holy Week as he went along; Jesus knew the script of Holy Week, because he wrote the script of Holy Week.

According to his own plan of salvation, Jesus Christ willingly gave his life for you.  “I am the Good Shepherd, Jesus says, “and I lay down my life for the sheep.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”  “For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

By his self-sacrifice, with the ransom of his own life, Jesus earned for you the greatest blessing possible: forgiveness of all your sins and eternal life in heaven.  And why did he do it?  St. Paul says in Titus, “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”  Why did he do it?  Why did he lay down his life for you?  Because of his mercy, because of his kindness, because of his love, for you.

Jesus wasn’t making up the script of Holy Week as he went along.  He knew full well the sacrifice that would be required to earn your salvation.  He willingly made the ultimate sacrifice for you.  As the book of Hebrews says, “He did away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” 

“This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”  Jesus was not making up the script of Holy Week as he went along.  According to his own plan of salvation, Jesus Christ willingly gave his life for you.  Jesus knew the script of Holy Week, because he wrote the script of Holy Week.