Mark 15:25-39
"24 Hours that Changed the World: The Crucifixion"
We tend to sometimes forget that the Crucifixion was the ultimate form of torture, and it has never been equaled.
It was a terrifying death.
Seneca said that if you knew there was a likelihood you would be arrested and crucified, it was better to commit suicide.
Cicero called crucifixion the "extreme and ultimate punishment of slaves" and the "cruelest and most disgusting penalty."
Part of the cruelty of crucifixion was the emotional as well as the physical torture.
Yes, Jesus' physical agonies were beyond imagining.
But the emotional agonies were horrible as well--the humiliation of being stripped naked, with all bodily parts and functions exposed for the taunting gaze of the public.
The mixture of blood and sweat and urine and feces created a nauseating stench.
These smells of death kept even the families of those crucified at a distance.
Victims were typically left hanging, or their bodies were taken down and left on the ground near the cross for the animals to devour.
We usually think of Jesus on a Cross high up from the ground.
But now it's believed that most crosses were between six to nine feet tall from bottom to top.
That would mean that when Jesus was crucified, His feet were probably only two feet from the ground.
When Jesus was crucified, the people passing by Him "insulted him, shaking their heads and saying, 'Ha!...'"
In Matthew's Gospel we are told that even the thieves that were crucified on either side of Him, taunted Him.
Jesus hung bleeding, naked, dying; yet there was no compassion.
In essence the people said, "You thought you were really something--look at you now!
You said you were the Messiah; you are really nothing!"
What's the saying?: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
How has that worked for you in your life?
The words of others really do hurt us, do they not?
Many of us have long since forgiven and forgotten most of the insults which were thrown our way as children, but a handful of them are harder to let go.
About the time we think we have forgotten them, they resurface to stir up old feelings of anger or hurt or pain or shame.
When we are insulted and harassed by others, we can turn to Jesus, Who knows the pain that words can bring.
When we are treated cruelly, when we are wrongly insulted, Jesus understands.
According to Luke's Gospel, the first thing Jesus did on the Cross was to look from the Cross at the soldiers casting lots for His clothing, at the priests pointing to Him with disgust, at the crowd hurling insults and pray for their forgiveness: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing."
And Jesus not only forgave those who killed Him but He also made excuses for them.
We aren't accustomed to making excuses for the people who are hurting us.
If Jesus was able to forgive those who slaughtered Him; how much will He forgive those of us who come to Him for forgiveness, salvation and new life?
Have you ever felt as if your sins were just too awful for God to forgive and accept you?
Have you ever thought your sins were too big for God?
Jesus is much BIGGER than any sin we ever commit.
We serve a mighty BIG God!!!
And as Christians, as those who have accepted Christ's forgiveness--we are to live BIG lives.
Following His Resurrection Jesus commissioned His disciples to "preach forgiveness."
And in Matthew Jesus said, "love your enemies and pray for those who harass you."
Jesus not only taught us how to face those who taunt us; He demonstrated it as He prayed from the Cross.
How are we doing at following Christ in this way?
Are we growing?
Is our walk with Christ enabling us to become "Bigger" people...
...more humble, more quick to forgive, more loving, more filled with grace and understanding...
...more like Christ?
Are we forgiving those who hurt us, insult us, talk behind our backs, even bully us?
We really can't do it on our own; we must ask for Jesus' forgiveness in order to forgive.
In His death, Jesus acted as our High Priest.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man; this is a title which points to Jesus' role as the "representative human being."
Jesus was "God in the flesh" revealing God to us; but He was also fully human, representing a new humanity that reflects what we are meant to be as human beings.
Jesus offered a sacrifice to atone for our sins, to reconcile us to the Father.
He didn't offer a goat or a lamb--He offered Himself.
In the Old Testament, God made provision for the people to make amends and be restored to a right relationship with God.
As early as Genesis Chapter 4, we see human beings bringing sacrificial offerings to God.
They could do this by making sin offerings or guilt offerings.
If you had violated God's will, you brought a special offering to the Lord to say, "I'm sorry for what I did, oh God. Please accept this offering as an expression of my remorse and my repentance."
This was a regular part of worship.
Then, once a year, on the Day of Atonement--Yom Kippur--there were special sacrifices.
Even before there was a Temple, there was a tent in which people met; and within the tent was the throne room of God.
It was surrounded by a curtain; and inside was the ark of the covenant, the throne of God.
Once a year the high priest offered a bull as a sacrifice for his own sins and the sins of his family.
He would offer a goat as a sacrifice to God on behalf of the people, saying, "God, with this goat's blood I offer this sacrifice, a living creature dying that You might forgive these people.
I come on their behalf, pleading with You to forgive their sins and remember the sins no more."
Once the goat was offered for the sins of the people, the priest would take a second goat and figuratively place the sins of the people on it.
This was the scapegoat, and it was sent out into the wilderness.
The people came to understand that, just as that goat had gone away, never to be seen again, their sins had been carried away.
Now, for those who will accept His forgiveness, Jesus is our Scapegoat once and for all.
And not only that:
Jesus is our burnt offering.
Jesus is our meal offering--Christ is the perfect grain of wheat without the leaven of sin.
Jesus is our peace offering; His sacrifice produces peace between those who accept His offering and God.
Christ is our sin offering; for those who believe, Jesus' sacrifice has destroyed the old humanity (our old identity in Adam) which is the root of sin.
Jesus Christ is our guilt offering; Jesus' death not only puts to death, for those who believe, our old selves, but also forgives us from all our sin and cleans our consciences.
On that Cross, Jesus gave Himself wholly to God as an offering on our behalf, to win God's mercy for us.
Pastor Adam Hamilton writes, "Years ago, while on a family vacation, my younger daughter took all the spending money she had for the entire trip and used it to buy me a ball cap for my birthday.
She was so excited to give me the cap.
When she gave it to me and I realized she had given up all her spending money to buy it, I was moved to tears.
The hat was an expression of her love, an expression that included real sacrifice.
My daughter is now grown; but I still treasure that dirty, stained, and well-worn cap.
I never look at it without smiling and remembering how much my daughter loves me.
And this is just a ball cap.
In Jesus' sacrificial offering to the Father, He gave Himself to win our forgiveness and God's mercy.
His nail-scarred hands are a perpetual reminder to the Father of Christ's sacrifice for us.
His offering has won God's favor."
Recently, I was at a conference where Reverend Leonard Sweet was teaching, and he brought up an interesting, no fascinating image of Christ on the Cross.
He points out that on that Cross, with His hands and feet nailed to the wood.
As He hung their naked, with the people throwing insults at Him--Jesus sang!!!
Can we get our minds around this?
Many of us have missed this song, and for many reasons.
For one thing, we have separated Jesus' final Words on the Cross--"My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?," "I thirst!," and "It is finished!" into separate phrases, when in reality, they are really all parts of one song, the Greatest Song ever Sung in the History of the World!!!
We have heard the cry of "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" as a despairing scream from the depths of divine abandonment.
But the real story is probably quite different.
First of all, these words--"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"--are the famous opening lines to Psalm 22.
Second, the Psalms are a hymnbook.
They were meant to be chanted, not stated.
In fact, a good Jew always sang the Psalms, never just spoke them.
In other words, in times of trouble or uncertainty, you and I might hum or sing.
Jesus sang Psalm 22!!!
And so, I've ask Butch to put Psalm 22 on the screen so we can look at all the stanzas, because while Psalm 22 begins as a climb up the mountain of tribulation, it ends with a cheer.
It is a song of triumph!!!
As the Roman soldiers nailed Jesus to the Cross, Jesus was singing the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and transcending His tribulation and torture with a musical commentary on what everyone was doing.
Jesus was connecting the dots.
No wonder, at the end of our Gospel Lesson for this morning, when Jesus finished singing, the Roman Centurion said, "This man was certainly God's Son."
Let's look at Psalm 22...
This is what was happening on the Cross!!!!
And as Jesus sang this victory song, the earth quaked, and the most sacred Temple curtain was ripped to shreds--the very curtain that once blocked the entrance to the Temple's holiest room--the place where the ark of the covenant was--God's earthly home!!!
No longer could God be contained or controlled by space or time.
Jesus has gone before the mercy seat of God, has made atonement for the sins of the human race, and has reconciled us to God.
For those who will believe and accept Christ's offering for us--there is no longer a chasm between us and God!!!
As we are told in Hebrews: "Christ has now become the High Priest...He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of the created world.
With his own blood--not the blood of goats and calves--he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever...
...Therefore, brothers [and sisters], since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God...having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse a guilty conscience..."
This is the Good News!!!
The words "good news" are a literal translation of the Greek word "eungelion," which was used at a specific time for a specific reason and at a specific place.
The specific place was the village square where the community gathered.
The specific time was after the battle had been finished.
The specific reason was to cry out at the top of your lungs: "Good News!!! The Victory has been won!!!"
The victory over sin, death and the devil has been won on the Cross by Jesus Christ!!!
We no longer need be in slavery to these things.
Christ has died to set us free!!!
This is the story of God, of Jesus Christ.
And it's the story of the saved; of the Church.
Is it your story as well?
Amen.
