The Hammer Still Rings

Today was Palm Sunday, the first day of what is known as Passion Week. “Passion,” in the older English usage, means “suffering,” and is applied to the week during which Jesus Christ moved inexorably toward the crucifixion. It is a fitting term, in that Christ suffered intensely during the week, knowing that his death was imminent, being rejected by the people he came to save, feeling the pangs of betrayal and denial by his own disciples, being slandered and condemned unjustly in a rigged trial, and of course, being flogged, beaten, and crucified.

Although we mark each step our Lord took that last week before his death, our eyes look ahead to how the week will end: with the death of our Savior for the sins of the world and the burial of his lifeless, sacrificed body in the cold rock of a borrowed tomb. Like spectators who pass an accident scene, we have to look upon the horror even though it repels us; like videos of a great catastrophe on the news, we have to watch. But of course, we are not just spectators or innocent passers-by when it comes to Christ’s suffering: rather, we are the cause of his suffering. Though we were not there to directly flog him, though we swung no hammer to drive the nails into his hands and feet, those brutal assaults on the Lord of lords were endured because of our sins and for the forgiveness of the very sins that caused his suffering.

When I was in high school I sang in our church’s Gospel Choir (Yes, I actually did sing in a choir) and was asked by the choir director to sing one of the verses – solo – (Yes, solo!) on the following Sunday. Without going into the painful details of that self-esteem-shattering experience let me just say that: 1) I was never asked again; 2) I gave up any hopes of a Broadway career; and 3) the congregation came to understand suffering in a new way.

But the words of that verse have stuck with me all these years. They go like this: “Can’t you hear the hammer still ringing; Jesus died on Calvary.”

Now that it is Passion Week, we do once again listen for the sounds of the hammer driving the nails into our Lord’s hands and feet. It’s not that he is still being sacrificed; no, his work on the Cross was completed almost 2,000 years ago and there is nothing more that he needs to do to save us. As Jesus himself declared from the Cross, “It is finished!” But though Christ’s saving sacrifice is done, two things do continue down through the centuries to our day: first, the reason for Christ’s sacrificial death; and second, the benefits of his sacrifice for us.

1. The Reason for Christ’s death: Plainly stated, the reason for Christ’s death is the confrontation between our sins and God’s love for us. Our sinful nature and the sins that flow from us created the need for us to be forgiven and have our guilt taken away to avoid eternal condemnation. We were totally lost and unable to save ourselves, no matter how many good deeds we tried to pile up. But having that need doesn’t mean we had any expectation to find forgiveness; it was only because God loved us so greatly that he did not give up on us, but sent his only Son to die for our sakes. 1 John 4:9 says, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” Mercy triumphed over judgment (James 2:13).

As we pray, fast, worship, and meditate on God’s word, we come face to face with our sins. We realize that we are no less responsible for Christ’s death than were those who physically drove the nails into our Lord. And we realize that we are no less loved than were those for whom Christ pleaded, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

2. The Benefits of Christ’s death: If the ringing of the hammer sounds like the sad notes of a funeral bell tolling the death of a loved one, then it should also sound like wedding bells ringing out a celebration of love and the promise of new life together. For the death of Jesus Christ brought eternal benefits to his beloved bride, the Church (Ephesians 5:25). Those benefits continue for us today: forgiveness of our sins; adoption as children of God; the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us; eternal life with God in a new heaven and earth; and unending joy and peace. These are ours because Jesus accepted the Cross and all that went with it for one reason: to reconcile you and me to God. And these benefits are ours by believing in him.

So, do you look ahead this week to Good Friday? Do you “hear the hammer still ringing?” If you do, then you know your sins and Christ’s great love for you. May you grow in your devotion to our Lord and may you rejoice at the eternal benefits that only he could provide. Those benefits are worth singing about . . . only this time I think I’ll leave the solos to those who can sing!

The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Joel 2:12-13, and John chapters 12 – 20.