We remember when Jesus, the Lamb of God, was led to the slaughter of His cross as the Sacrifice of Atonement for the sin of the world.

Today’s Readings

Old Testament

Epistle

Gospel

Psalm

Thought for the Day: The Bare Stone and the Loud Sound

As you enter the sanctuary today, the first thing you notice is the void. The altar, which just last night was the site of a joyful feast, now stands cold and bare. The linens are gone; the candles are extinguished. In the LCMS tradition, this bare altar is a visual sermon: it is the body of Christ, stripped of its dignity, laid bare for the sins of the world.

Good Friday is the day we stop trying to "fix" ourselves or bargain with God. We simply stand before the cross and admit that we cannot save ourselves. We see the cost of our rebellion in the silence of the sanctuary and the starkness of the wood.

The service ends not with a blessing, but with the Strepitus—that sharp, jarring sound that echoes through the room. It is the sound of the tomb closing. It is the sound of finality. But for the Christian, that "clack" also signals that the work is finished. The debt is paid. The stone that seals the tomb also seals your pardon. We depart in silence, not because there is no hope, but because the sacrifice was so great that words simply fail us.

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." — Isaiah 53:7