Exposed, Excused And Exulted

Exposed, Excused and Exulted

Today is Resurrection Sunday commonly called Easter Sunday. This is the day when we in the Christian Church commemorate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago.

The resurrection of Christ Jesus is the basis of the Christian Faith. His death is paramount, because by means of his death, he paid the price for our sins and the sins of the entire world; thereby giving each human who enters the portals of this world the right to the tree of life.

His resurrection which we commemorate today, in humility and joy, signifies his victory over death, hell and the grave; for we are told by Holy Scriptures that he descended into hell and on the third day he arose from the dead with all power in his hand. Hence we may say, that this is the day, when we acknowledge and accept that God has given us Jesus Christ his Son as a gift of love; and that we have graciously and gratefully, accepted his gift.

Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday is inextricably tied to the cross. The cross carries the stigma of shame and reproach. This is so because; Jesus was crucified, as a criminal. He was sentence to death, as one, according to the Scribes, the Pharisees and the High Priest, who committed the most grievous crime: making himself equal with God; saying that he himself is Christ the King of the Jews. The cross is sometimes referred to as Dark Calvary, where Jesus shed his blood for us.

My friends this morning, I want you to understand, that Jesus, could have gone straight from the manger to the Cross. He could have gone from Jordon to the cross or he could have gone from the Mount of Transfiguration to the Cross. Instead, he went from Gethsemane to the Cross. It took him less than forty eight hours to make the trip from Gethsemane to the Cross. However, in these few hours of man’s time and not even a millisecond in geological time; His journey accomplished the ends for which it was intended: Exposure and Excused. This could be considered as the reason for the first half of his journey from Gethsemane to Praetorium to Calvary. The second half of his journey would have accomplished Exultation, and this would have been achieved between Joseph of Arimathaea Tomb and Bethany to the Mount of his Ascension.

Let me see if I could let you enter in to the thoughts of this sermon: Exposed, Excused and Exulted. The idea is that by means of the process through which Jesus went, from Gethsemane to the Ascension; he accomplished several things from man and for man. First, he pulled out the intent and the thoughts of man’s heart; in other words, the heart of man was Exposed. Second, by means of what he said on Calvary as he hung on the tree: Father forgive they for they know not what they do; Man was Excused for what he had done to Christ. Third, through Jesus’ completed work He brought Exultation to His Father on behalf of mankind whom he had purchased back by his death. That is to say; when he arose from the dead, he had completed the work which he had been sent to do; he had not failed and thereby exulting God the Father and taking man back to the place where God had intended for him to be. Hence it is fit to say: Man was exposed by his suffering; excused by his dying and exulted by his rising. Praise God.

In order for this sermon to be complete, I must put some meet on the skeleton that I’ve just created. As it is now, it is reminiscent of the valley of dry bones. In Ezekiel 37: 1-3 where we find: The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and behold there were very many in the open valley; and lo they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of Man can these bones live? This skeleton can live, and would live as God breath his breath into it.

Consequently, I would unveil how the true nature of man’s heart was exposed. But first, let me show that Jesus had already stated that there was none good save God, when he spoke to the a certain ruler who came to him and said Good Master what should I do to inherit eternal life. Moreover, he revealed to Peter the unreliable nature of man well in advance of when he said to him: before the cock crow thou shalt deny me trice. So as man hid behind a veil of righteousness, faithfulness and love; Jesus’ task was to remove man from behind the veil and left him bare for the angelic hosts and the other onlookers to see what he truly was mad of. This was dramatized very clearly in Mark 14:51-52 where it states: “And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him : and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.” In the same way how the young men laid hold on this man and he left the linen cloth so Jesus’ walk from Gethsemane to Calvary remove the linen clothe of self righteousness from man and expose him for who he truly is.