The Meaning of Love
Text: Matt 27:42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
On Monday (March 21st 2005) 16-year-old Jeff Weise put his plan in action. He walked up to his grandfather, a local police officer, and his girlfriend in Red Lake Minnesota pulled out a gun and shot them to death. Next he took his grandfather’s police cruiser and armed with guns he drove to his high school with murder on his mind.
Some weeks before he thought aloud to his friends, “it would be cool if I shot up the school.” He felt that finally he would make teachers cringe with fear and shiver when he walked into their classrooms with two loaded guns. Students that teased him would now beg him for their lives and he would just blow them away.
He thought school officials would give in to his demands and he would get the notice of the world. He thought people would panic and be running and screaming as he walked through the school and execute students and teachers at will.
What he did not think about was Derek, the 23 year-old security guard. Derek presented a setback to Weise and slowed him down. Derek and his partner were the first that Jeff Weise encountered when he drove up to Red Lake High. As he walked out of the cruiser and headed into the school building with guns in hand Derek faced him and calmly began to talk to him.
Derek knew what he was doing. He realized that he was going to die shortly and Weise would continue his shooting rampage. However he also knew that by facing down the gunman he would give his partner time to run away and warn the school as well as alert the local police. Derek walked slowly toward Weise and looked him in the eyes. As his partner escaped she heard Derek trying to persuade the shooter to end the violence. Soon she was out of harms way and able to alert the school. Then she heard two shots and she knew Derek was dead. Derek’s unusual courage saved her life and the lives of many teachers and students as it gave them a little time to secure themselves.
Weise killed nine people, injured eight others then turned the gun on himself. Had it not been for Derek the security guard, he would have killed many more. Derek realized to save others he could not save himself. His sacrificial act demonstrates the true meaning of love.
God in His infinite love and unparalleled mercy saw humanity in our condition of despair and depravity, left to the whims of a despotic executioner with murder on his mind. As satan systematically plundered, pillaged, crushed and murdered the human race, what he did not think about was Jesus. Paul the apostle says it like this in Gal 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
One day in the city of Nazareth a teenage Jewish girl was stunned when an angel appeared to her.
Luke 1:26-38 reads “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”
Then in Luke 1:46-49 …Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.”
For thirty years Mary watched as the life of her son began to unfold. And at age 30, Jesus entered public ministry where in Cana of Galilee he turned six pots of water into wine. After this creative miracle He demonstrated the power of God in miracles, healings, deliverances, signs and wonders.
A man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue in Capernaum was freed from that demonic detention center when Jesus said “… Hold thy peace, and come out of him.” Mark 1:25
In Mark 1:30 He healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a burning fever, that had her shivering, confined her to bed and was threatening to take her life.
According to Mark 1:32-34 that evening …they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils in that city. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.
Then Jesus went to other towns in that area and preached to the people there. He cast out devils and healed a man of leprosy. The news spread and people from everywhere sought Him out, even in deserted places and when they found Him, He healed and delivered them.
Again in Capernaum, Jesus was preaching in a crowded house and no one could get in. Four men brought their paralyzed friend on a stretcher and lowered him through the roof to Jesus. Jesus forgave the man of his sins and healed him.
When He was in a boat on the raging Sea of Galilee and His disciples became fearful because the boat was about to be overturned by the massive waves. He spoke to the winds and the waves saying “peace be still.” And there was a great calm. On the mountainside He turned five loaves and two fishes into a banquet feats for 5000 men and their families.
He freed a demonized man who lived in the cemetery, from demon possession.
He raised the twelve-year-old daughter of a man named Jairus from the dead.
Two sisters, Mary and Martha whose brother was dead for four days heard Him say “I am the resurrection and the life. If a man believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live.” With that Jesus went out to the tomb, to the place where they had laid down their hope, to the place where the chilly hands of death had strangled the life out of their brother Lazarus. At the command of the Lord they rolled away the stone and Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus come forth.” Then their hopes and their dreams were restored as their brother defied death’s cruel pangs and rose again.
He taught in parables and delivered the message that God loves humanity. “You cannot put new wine in old bottles, He said.” “Those that are well do not need a doctor” He said. “The Sabbath was made for man, man was not made for the Sabbath,” He said.
“A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand” He said. “No one lights a candle and puts it under the bed but on a candlestick so it can light the whole house” He said. “You are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid,” He said.
“Love your neighbor as yourself,” He said. “Do unto others as you would have them do to you,” He said. “The first shall be last and the last shall be first,” He said. “Whoever wishes to be chief must be servant,” He said.
“ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life” He said.
Then came Palm Sunday in the Spring of AD 28 and the crowds that lined the streets of Jerusalem put their coats on the streets, waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” as the Messiah King rode on a donkey. Some said to Jesus stop them from shouting, but He said, “If they do not shout the rocks would cry out.” Chuck Swindoll said “That would have been the first Rock Concert.”
On that day Jesus went into the temple and chased out the moneychangers and merchants saying, “My house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves.”
He then took His disciples to an upper room where they ate the Passover meal. It was during this meal that He instituted the Communion, saying “this is My body that is broken for you eat of it, and this is My blood that is shed for you, drink of it.”
During the supper He said “One of you will betray Me.” The disciples each asked, “Is it I Lord?” Then satan entered the heart of Judas Iscariot and Judas went out and betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. After supper he took a basin of water and a towel and washed His disciples feet and He declared, “If I Your Lord and Master could wash your feet, so ought you to wash one another’s feet.”
Then they went to a place called Gethsemane where there was a garden and He began to tell then that He was about to be arrested and tried and He would die. He admonished them to watch and pray. As His soul became exceedingly sorrowful He took Peter, James and John and began to pray “Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless not My will but Thy will be done.” As he prayed He began to sweat blood.
Then came the temple guards led by Judas Iscariot with swords and spears to arrest Him. Judas walked up to Him and kissed Him. Jesus said “Judas are you betraying Me with a kiss?” All His disciples fled and He was arrested and taken to the high priest’s palace to the religious leaders to be tried for blasphemy. For He had said that He was the Son of God. They questioned Him and tried to get testimonies but the witnesses contradicted each other.
The high priest then asked Jesus directly “are you the Son of God?” And Jesus answered “I am.” The high priest then tore his own clothes in anger and said “There is no need for further proof.” And they all agreed to condemn Him to death. Then they began to spit on Him and to punch Him in the face, to tug at His beard and to mock Him.
Peter was nearby warming Himself at that courtyard’s fire. He was questioned three times about being a follower of Jesus. He denied Jesus three times and then the rooster crowed twice.
The religious leaders turned Jesus over to Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, to be crucified. After Pilate had tried to determine why the Jews wanted Jesus executed he could find nothing worthy of death. So he said, “I find no fault in this just man.” They cried “Crucify Him.” Then Pilate offered them the opportunity to choose between Barabas and Jesus, but they still insisted that Jesus be crucified. So because Pilate wanted to please the people he released Barabas and condemned Jesus to die by crucifixion.
The Roman soldiers whipped Him, tortured Him and then made Him carry a heavy wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem up to the place they called Calvary where they crucified Him between two thieves.
T.D. Jakes in his devotional titled Love on the Cross writes: “ To fully understand the precious effect of Jesus’ blood, we must take a look back at Calvary’s bloody banks.
As the eclipsed sun tucked itself behind the trembling ground, a still wet cascading blood of a loving Savior, Jesus’ love was so awesome that it could only be depicted by the morbidity of His dying. Allow this preacher a…final glimpse at the only hope his soul has of Heaven.
Brush a tear from a face full of thanksgiving and look at His bruised, mutilated and lacerated body. Look at the 33 year old body that could have been the object of some loving lady’s desire. The body that was filled with such youth and potential now hangs from the cross like a slab of unused meat.
From His beaten back to His ripped torso, we see a wounded knight without armor. His garments lie crumpled on the ground, the object of the desires of His villainous guards who now gamble up their leisure moments, waiting on the death angel to flap his wings in the face of the Savior.
Ignore the ice-cream social pictures of modern artists who portray a sunning Savior, basking in divine light before an alabaster sky as He gazes listlessly and lovingly out at a dying world. Ignore their imagery of a prince clad in some magical loincloth that seems, even in the pictures, to be somehow superimposed on the body of this spiritual celebrity. When you look at this icon of grace, remove your religious glasses and you will see a sweat-drenched, trembling, bleeding offering.
That crucifixion was a debauchery and degradation so horrible that it embarrassed the sun into hiding its face and made the ground tremble at the nervous sight of the King of glory.
He hung dying as if He were the bastard son of Mary, not the King that He was—dying like a thief in the night! His body, twisted and mangled, was held to a tree and suspended by nails as if some Marquis de Sadetype sadist had relished torturing the innocent.”
On the cross we see not only a suffering Lamb, a sacrifice for sin, a mutilated man or a dying hero, but on the cross we see a graphic demonstration of God’s infinite love.
Like a blood hound on a trail satan could smell the thrill of victory, he relished the moment he had been waiting thousands of years for, the moment when he would crush all the hopes of humanity as the Last Adam would be forced to succumb to the power of death.
In mockery satan put words into the mouths of the onlookers: “He saved others Himself, He cannot save.” Yes indeed in order to save us He could not save Himself. He had to die. It was the only way. He had to die on that cross. He was not the only one that was ever crucified but He is the only one whoever died the way He did. He was the only one ever born to die and He died the death of everyone that ever died and will ever die in those hours on the cross.
He died the death of the woman who was brutally raped and strangled by a serial killer. He died the death of every unborn baby whose life was snuffed out by forceps or burnt out by saline solution in its mother’s womb. He died the death of every man whose body eventually succumbed to crawling cancer cells that second by second eats away at human flesh and poisons every tissue, organ, cell and molecule of the human body until in a state of uncontrollable weakness to retaliate he dies.
He died on the cross not as a hero to onlookers but as a suffering, defeated, abandoned and rejected man. The devil thought he had it all figured out. He was certain that the human race was doomed but what satan did not think about was Sunday morning.
The story does not end there. On the third day all the powers of hell with synchronized and concentrated powers could not hold the Savior down. All the legions of demons under satan’s command could not orchestrate an offensive adequate to block this advancing Redeemer.
All the fallen angels, reserved in chains until judgment day tugged at their bonds trying to free themselves to help satan and his forces rally to stop what was about to happen. Never before was all of hell on high alert like it was on that day. The powers of darkness were running out of ideas. It seems like the inevitable was at their doorstep. Nothing they could think of or do was helping. The tomb was about to burst open.
You see there was a power that satan had underestimated in this whole equation. He knew God was omnipotent, that God created all things. He knew God could destroy all things. He knew God could control all things. He knew of that power but what he did not think about was the power of God’s love.
It was love that caused Jesus to leave heaven’s glory and come to earth. It was love that nailed Him to cross. It was because of love that He died and was buried. And now it was love that caused Him to burst out of the tomb on that first Easter Sunday morning.
