Text: John 18:1-19:42 (Isa
52:13-53:12, 2 Cor 5:14-21)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Everyone is an expert on Christianity.
Some people dismiss it because the Bible is just an old book written long ago that was mistranslated. Of course, people who say this don’t read Hebrew and Greek, nor do they know anything about the vest numbers of manuscripts that we have in many languages validating the accuracy of the texts.
Others say that the Christianity is just a religion of dead white men maintaining power over women and minorities. Never mind the shocking and radical deviation from the ancient world’s view of women as property to be used and abused, the church’s confession that women are created in God’s image, and that a woman gave birth to God in the flesh. And never mind the fact that nearly all of the people mentioned in scripture are not European, that the Church is comprised of the faithful “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.”
Others reduce the faith to progressive platitudes: be nice, don’t be racist, accept everyone, approve of any and all sexuality, don’t judge, etc. And there are those on the right wing who reduce Christianity to being moral and well-behaved: don’t drink, don’t cuss, don’t smoke, don’t dance, stay away from rock music, avoid card-playing, and keep those movies to PG or G ratings.
Still others love to expertly explain that Jesus is a radical: a political revolutionary, an ancient Robin Hood or Karl Marx who stuck it to the man and demanded the destruction of all worldly wealth and institutions.
But what throws a wrench into all of these myths about Jesus is the cross.
If Jesus came to teach us to live one way or another, to give us morals for living, to lead a political revolution, why did He die? If Jesus were just another great teacher, moral philosopher, or religious guru, what was the point of His death in the most excruciating way possible? In fact, the word “excruciating” literally means “from the cross.” How do our skeptical experts explain His suffering, His passion and death?
The cross has a point, and unless people understand the cross, they will never understand Jesus, the Bible, Christianity, or the Church. Without the cross, there is no Christianity. But with the cross, there is a promise that you will rise from your own grave.
No great teacher or master or guru in the history of the world ever rose from the dead, and no-one other than Jesus created such a stir that historical records from outside of the faith reveal that something remarkable happened when Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. The cross – and the tomb – continue to confound and confuse people today, and it separates Christianity from all philosophies and religions. All of them.
There are some people who attack Christianity for being divine “child abuse,” that a twisted divine Father would torture His only begotten Son in order to forgive others. Such people make God out to be a monster. Still others claim to be atheists, but express hatred for God. Churches that want to be politically correct remove their crosses, for the cross continues to offend and scandalize – and rightly so! The cross is even used by exorcists to drive out demons. The cross is where Jesus conquered Satan and won salvation for us. The cross continues to create controversy and stir up hatred. There is no middle ground when it comes to the cross.
The cross was prophesied a thousand years before the crucifixion of Jesus. When our Lord prayed, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” from the cross, He was quoting Psalm 22 – written a thousand years before. This Psalm includes the curious verse: “They have pierced My hands and feet” – written centuries before the Romans invented crucifixion. There are other remarkable references to Jesus’ crucifixion in Psalm 22 as well.
And also Isaiah, in the Old Testament reading for Good Friday, seven hundred years Before Christ prophesies the events of Good Friday, with the Messiah scandalously “marred, beyond human semblance,” “despised and rejected by men,” “a man of sorrows,” “wounded for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities,” and “by His stripes we are healed.” For “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Jesus goes to the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, an atonement for the sins of all, the “Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world.” The Jesus who is scandalous to so many is Jesus the Savior. For this Jesus, the true Jesus, is an indictment of all of us. For only sinful people need a Savior, and only by the shedding of blood, by the death of a victim, can justice be satisfied.
Modern people yammer on and on about justice – the same people who hate Jesus, who despise any kind of legal accountability, who refuse to see in themselves the need for a Savior. But actual justice is served at the cross. The true picture of justice is a perfect man, a man who is God, willingly dying in His own blood out of love for those whom He saves and redeems, exchanging His innocence for our guilt. This is the Jesus that the world hates, and that hatred is indeed what drove the conspiracy to crucify Him.
But the cross is also about mercy: the idea that the guilty should walk away after being acquitted – a promise given to all of us who are baptized and who believe. This is repugnant to the world, and it reeks of exclusivity and privilege, when in fact, it is a free gift offered to all people without distinction. All that is required to appropriate the gift is faith, leading to the acknowledgment of guilt, a contrite heart, and a cry to Jesus for help – seeking the remission of sins by His blood. But that requires introspection and humility – something that the world wants nothing to do with.
And so Christians are the people of the cross. We are sinners who look to the cross for salvation. We are mocked and hated. Nevertheless, we point fellow sinners, even those who hate us, to the cross, to the “ministry of reconciliation,” to the opportunity to become a “new creation” by being “in Christ.”
It is at the cross, just before He breathed His last, where the crucified Jesus said, “It is finished!” He was declaring victory – not over us, but rather on our behalf. Jesus, the “man of sorrows,” the one who was “stricken, smitten, and afflicted” declares His triumph over sin, death, and the devil, shutting the mouths of those who would redefine the Christ as a mere teacher or guru spouting worldly wisdom or mere moralism.
The death of Jesus atones for us. And His burial will deliver one more great scandal and surprise for the entire world to try to explain away, and we will celebrate that very thing on Sunday.
But for now, let us ponder the cross: not merely the sin of wicked men that forcibly pushed Him there, but also the love of God that voluntarily drew Him there. For it is our sin and God’s mercy that put Him there. Let us ponder the greatness of His love for us, His sinless life, His sacrificial blood that defeated the devil by the greatest victory in history. And let us rejoice in the cross no matter what cynics, critics, unbelievers, liars, haters, and know-it-alls have to say about it. For Jesus died for them too.
Sing, my tongue, the
glorious battle;
Sing the ending of the
fray.
Now above the cross, the
trophy,
Sound the loud triumphant
lay;
Tell how Christ, the
world’s redeemer,
As a victim won the day.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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