For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)

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When I served in the parish in Michigan, I always felt the pressure to make the Good Friday service a somber and subdued service.

But the 1 pm Good Friday service always had 40-50 Lutheran school children bustling into the sanctuary at the last minute. In addition, many of the congregational members came from work and were scurrying into the sanctuary, often during the opening hymn. Finally, the church was often packed. One could hear the clamor of metal chairs unfolding even as I began the liturgy.

All of this commotion made our Good Friday service seem a lot more like an Easter Sunday service! Thus, I began the custom of closing the service each year with the hymn “Christ, the Life of All the Living” (CW114). That hymn is not very somber or subdued! The congregation and all the school children grew louder and sang with even more gusto as at the end of every stanza we sang, “Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus, unto thee!”

We should be subdued about the damning nature of our sin. Jesus was righteous. You and I are not righteous. Think of the harsh words you have spoken to your loved ones. Consider the times jealousy has gripped your heart. Contemplate the shameful thoughts in your mind. We should be the ones, “the curse of God enduring” forever in hell.

But Peter writes, Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus was righteous, but you are unrighteous. Yet the righteous Jesus suffered the punishment you, the unrighteous, deserve. In hymn 114 we sing, “Thou, ah, thou hast taken on thee Bonds and stripes, a cruel rod; Pain and scorn were heaped upon thee, O thou sinless Son of God!” Jesus suffered your hell. Because he was God and man in one person, the Father accepted his suffering and his death as payment for your sin. The Father raised Jesus again to prove that very fact.

Do you still feel shame for past sins? Remember what the Holy Spirit has told you through Peter: Christ died for sins once for all! You are forgiven. You are righteous in God’s sight. Heaven belongs to you. You don’t need to keep beating yourself up to pay for your sin. Jesus already paid that debt. Now your heart can sing, “Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus, unto thee!”

Dear Jesus, when I feel the weight of my sin, when regret overwhelms me, help me to remember that Christ died once for all time and that I do not need to pay a debt that Jesus has already paid. Teach me instead to sing each day, “Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus, unto thee!”

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Rev. Joel Thomford serves Martin Luther College as an admissions counselor.