At the Cross
August 7, 2011 John 19:17-42
Intro:
I spent a good couple of hours last Monday floating down the Pembina river. It was a beautiful sunny day, the river was warm, and so we set out. If you’re not familiar with the Pembina, it is about an hour west, just past Wabamun lake, in a deep gorge that is incredibly beautiful. It’s a wide river, but mostly calm and mostly shallow, with only a few spots of white water the highest being maybe a foot, a perfect floating river. I rode in this – a little $1.99 donut, which I glanced at more than once wondering if I was crazy to trust my life to this thin plastic, and wondering what I would do if I happened to knick a little stick…
But it worked out well – I wiggled in nice and deep, to keep my center of balance low, and was thankful about 8 or 10 times for two things: first that the large rocks in the river had been made nice and smooth by hundreds of years of water flowing over the top, and second that God designed our rear ends to be mostly padding. My plan worked well, up until the end.
Near our take out point, the water got really shallow and was running over rocks that hadn’t been under water for hundreds of years, because the river was higher than normal. So I decided to abandon the float and walk the rest of the way. I didn’t have great footwear for walking on wet, slippery, rocks, and my legs felt a little funny after a couple hours squished up in my little donut. Now, I didn’t fall, but I got pretty close. A couple or three times. An old pair of Crocs sandals, sharp, wet rocks, in flowing water, shaky legs, all add up to a bit of a tenuous journey.
I read Pastor Sue’s sermon from last week, about building on a strong spiritual foundation of believing in Jesus, and was reminded about how it felt walking on those slippery rocks. How it was tentative, how I had to test each footstep before putting my weight on it – and even then not really sure it was going to hold until I actually did put my weight on it. The bit of panic when my foot did slip, and I had to stabilize myself. And I later reflected, I really wouldn’t want to live life like that.
I want a firm foundation to stand my life upon. Something that will hold fast, that won’t slip, that won’t threaten to sweep my legs out from under me and hurl me head first into a pile of rocks.
I find that in the cross.
Context:
I think God is up to something among us. I’ve been on holidays, but in touch enough to have a positive excitement about the moving of God’s Spirit among us, drawing us together, taking us deeper, and sending us out as His Servants. I sense a new beginning, and am excited to see God answering our prayers that we might know Him and love Him more. And at that beginning is a re-looking at some of the foundations, the basics, the essentials.
And that is why I want to focus our attention on the cross of Jesus today, and on the Lord’s table where, in the words of Paul, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. (1 Cor 11:26).
John 19 (NLT):
We’ve been studying Jesus in the Gospel of John lately, so I’m going to read John’s record of the cross, from John 19. And I want you to listen to the words, but also to the Holy Spirit as He speaks through the words of Scripture, and then I’m going to ask you to share anything that sticks out to you through God’s word.
So they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 18 There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 And Pilate posted a sign over him that read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.
21 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, Change it from The King of the Jews’ to He said, I am King of the Jews.
22 Pilate replied, No, what I have written, I have written.
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said, Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it. This fulfilled the Scripture that says, They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing. So that is what they did.
25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, Dear woman, here is your son. 27 And he said to this disciple, Here is your mother. And from then on this disciple took her into his home.
28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, I am thirsty. 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, It is finished! Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.
31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was the Passover). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35 (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also can believe. 36 These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, Not one of his bones will be broken, 37 and They will look on the one they pierced.
38 Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. 41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Reflections:
Whenever I go to the Gospels to read the crucifixion and resurrection story, it always amazes me how simply and matter-of-factly the writers tell the story. It is beautiful in its simplicity. So as you read along, and listened to the Spirit, which part came alive for you?
The cross for me has long been a place of incredible juxtaposition. On the one hand, and we must never forget this, it is a place of violence, of horror, of unimaginable cruelty. Many of you know and have seen Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ. Many of you didn’t like it, you found it too graphic and gory and disgusting. Many found ourselves turning away, closing our eyes, some even leaving the theatre. Yet on the other hand, it is a place where we see the deepest expression of love from the God of the universe, we see tenderness in Jesus’ words of care for His mother and of forgiveness for those inflicting this horror upon Him.
It is a place where we now understand, following 2 Cor 5, that 19 God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them … 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
So this place of horror is now a place of reconciliation. The instrument of torture and death is now a symbol of forgiveness and life. The hopeless, shifting sand of life without meaning can now be replaced with a foundation that is solid rock.
Come Back To The Cross:
At the cross, we are made right with God through Christ. Here comes the blunt question for the morning – are you right with God? Are you living with Jesus as Lord, or are you running your life your way?
Those are nebulous questions, perhaps too open ended. So let me try to make it more specific. As we stand together under the cross of Jesus, looking up into His eyes as He hangs there and suffers and becomes the offering for our sin, we see Jesus giving absolutely everything. We see God the Father giving absolutely everything – His one and only Son. Does Jesus have your everything? Is your whole life, 100 percent, given to following Jesus and living out your belief in Him?
This is not intended as a guilt question, because guilt and shame can cause us to turn away and run and hide, wanting to get away from the cross and back to the darkness where we feel hidden. And there is where we can make a choice – to run away, or to stand at the foot of the cross. To have all our guilt and shame taken away by Jesus, and to know once again what it means to stand in the love and forgiveness and power of the God of the universe. To see the joy in the eyes of God as we accept this incredible offer of grace and freedom, and as we become so full of love and gratitude that we can imagine nothing less than giving 100 percent of our lives over to this love and power.
And then to be sent as ambassadors, as representatives, as living testimonies of what God has done to set us free and fill us with purpose and significance and acceptance.
Invitation:
What more could God do, short of forcing something upon us? What more could God do to demonstrate His love than to have Jesus become human, die in our place, and then rise triumphant over death? What more could God do that would invite us to love Him in return?
I invite you now to the Lord’s table. It is not a Baptist table, it is the Lord’s. As you prepare in quiet, I want you to imagine yourself at the cross, with this one question: does Jesus have your all – 100 percent?
