Text: Isaiah 50:4-9a
Philippians 2:5-11 (Series C. Passion Sunday)
Ps.31:9-16
Luke 23:1-49
The chief priests and the teachers of the Law were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death.
I know that this isn’t the first time you have heard the story of the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. When we hear it so many times we’re inclined to think of the injustice and the tragedy of an innocent man dying, but at times overlook the violence that lies behind the Gospel accounts.
They did kill him in a particularly cruel, painful and violent way. The Gospels don’t give us much of the detail about what happened to the man who was beaten to a pulp with the cruel whip with balls of lead or pieces of bone on each strand of the whip, was spat on, a crown of thorns pressed on his head, hands and feel nailed to wood, and hung up to bleed and suffocate in utter agony.
The violence of the cross wasn’t something short and swift, it went on for hours. The Gospel writers simply give us the barest outline of what happened that awful day some 2,000 years.
Today when we think of the cross we are more inclined to think of the cross of smooth polished wood, or a piece of jewelry we wear around our necks rather than blood-soaked wood. It’s easy to read this story and miss the violence it contains. But the events leading up to Good Friday were anything but violent.
Today is Palm Sunday we hear of the magnificent occasion when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Jesus riding on that humble donkey, into the city of Jerusalem while children spread palm branches on the street in front of him and those on the side shouting "Hosanna, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord".
Perhaps Palm Sunday didn't make much of an impact on the city of Jerusalem. These were festival days. Jerusalem was crowded. During the Passover it became a large city with the addition of pilgrims and worshippers. And this man riding on a donkey and the cheering crowd probably didn't make a big impression on the City.
But those people who stood on the side knew that something special was happening. Someone special was entering their city. And so they shouted "Hosanna". Amid all the happiness, cheering, and waving of palm branches there was only one who knew that this week would end in violence.
The one who rode the donkey was fully aware that "… the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him … and kill him …". In just a few days he would experience the pain and cruelty reserved only for the worst and most hardened criminals. The crowd that shouted "Hosanna, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" would be shouting "crucify, crucify him."
As they drove the nails in his hands and feet and his blood soaked the wooden beam of the cross, one could hardly believe that they were shedding the blood of God himself, they were wounding the man who had come to save the very people who were striking the blows and driving in the nails. He was dying to save the people who put on the cross.
He was dying for those people who called out, laughed and made fun of him, taunting him to come and down save and himself. This man on the cross did not look like God. But he is God. The apostle Paul summed it up like this:……
He (Christ Jesus) always had the nature of God … Of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness. He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death— his death on the cross" (Phil 2:6-8).
He had it all my friends. But gave it all up. And what sometimes is devastating for us to realize is that he did it for us and because of us. When the great artist Rembrandt came to paint the scene of the crucifixion, he painted his own face on one of those people in mob.
He knew that it was for his sins that Jesus was nailed to the tree. It can be easily said that Rembrandt could have painted every one of our faces in the crowd that day as they called for Jesus death, not just any death, but the worst kind of death. There was nothing sweet and gentle about the crowd that called for Jesus death – they called for the violent and painful death on a cross.
That Negro spiritual song "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" haunts us. One verse says, "Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?" There is only one answer to that question. Yes! It was my sin that crucified Jesus on the first Good Friday.
When we look at the figure stretched out on the cross, or read the story of Jesus death in the Gospel accounts God wants us all to see that it is our sin that is being paid for. He wants us to see that through the violence, the suffering and death of Jesus our peace was being made with God. He wants us to see what lengths God had to go to get rid of the punishment we deserve and to restore our friendship with him again.
The Son of God, Lord of all lords, the creator and ruler of the universe, had it all, and he gave it all up just for us. He became a human like us. I’d guess that’s why the Gospel writers don’t give us a lot of detail about the violence that happened that day. They don’t want us to get sidetracked from the real issue.
They want us to focus on the reason for all the pain and suffering. They want us to see that it was for us that he died. They want us to realize that this death has brought about reconciliation between God and us.
The year was 1927 a man named Asibi, a native of West African, was stricken with the deadly disease, called yellow fever. Thousands died from this dreaded disease. However, Asibi lived. It seems that his body had conquered the disease. Asibi's blood contained the antibodies from which to begin to develop a successful vaccine.
Today doctors and drug companies have developed an efficient vaccine against yellow fever, and their cure has saved the lives of untold numbers of people around the world. Each dose of vaccine, though, can be traced back to one original blood sample - that of Asibi.
You might say that one man's blood saved the lives of millions of people.
You can see how this relates to Jesus. The blood of this one man has saved us and millions, upon millions of others. In a mysterious way, we have been saved by the death of Jesus through faith in his finished work on the cross. Where do go from here? Here is a story to kind of guide us in our final week of Lent.
A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for children running between parked vehicles and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door!
He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest child and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What was that all about? Just what the hell are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money.
Why did you do it?" The young boy was apologetic. "Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," He pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..." With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car.
"It's my brother", he said, "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up." Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and cleaned the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay." Thank you, and may God bless you mister," the grateful child told the stranger.
Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message:
"Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!" God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, God has to throw a brick at us. It's our choice to listen or not.
As we enter Holy Week once again let us recall the love, the suffering, the dying and the rising of our Saviour, let us do so first of all with a humble spirit, and open our heart and listen to what God says.
And secondly, let us enter Holy Week with an open heart, ready to turn away from the things in our lives that grieve God and those around us. Let us take the time to reflect on what kind of relationship we really have with God. Let us recommit ourselves to following Jesus more wisely and closely in everything we say and do.
And thirdly, as we enter Holy Week, we do so with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving for this act of God. Because of the cross and the resurrection, God has given us the assurance that we have complete pardon for all of our sin.
“He is no Fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose”
(Jim Elliot)
God bless us all as we reflect on and celebrate the passion of our Lord.
Amen.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
April 1, 2007