The 2011 film We Bought a Zoo was based on the true story of a British man named Benjamin Mee. In 2006 Mee and his family purchased and moved into a 30-acre zoo. In his book with the same title, Mee says that his new “neighbors” included “five Siberian tigers, three African lions, nine wolves, three big brown European bears, four Asian short-clawed otters, two flamingos, a Brazilian tapir called Ronnie, some large boa constrictors, and a tarantula.”
The zoo was dangerously rundown. Mee was faced with a series of challenges, including dealing with a rat infestation, and finding enough money to feed the animals. On the fourth day of their new lives, the jaguar escaped, endangering the neighborhood. Despite the difficulties, Mee and his family restored the zoo into a place of beauty and safety that provided healing for themselves and for their surrounding community.
But it wasn't easy. Mee admitted, “There were lots of times when I thought, ‘What have I done?’” So why did he buy and remodel the zoo? In the film version, Mee (played by Matt Damon) says something that gives us a clue. He is giving some advice to his son, who has trouble understanding girls. Take a look (show video: “20 Seconds of Insane Courage): “Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.” (Mark Batterson, All In, Zondervan, 2013, page 79; www.PreachingToday.com; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmMFIganRQY)
I love that line, but it’s more than just a great line from a movie. It’s something that can change the trajectory of your life, your family, and our sick society. If we’re going to turn things around in a world that has gone mad, in a culture that is becoming more and more hostile towards the things of God, then we’re going to need some of that “insane courage”. We’re going to need some of that “embarrassing bravery”. We’re going to need bold followers of Christ, who are not afraid to do what the world considers “crazy”.
But How do we get that kind of courage? How do we find the bravery to follow Christ and to stand for Him in a world that opposes Him? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Mark 15, Mark 15, where we’ll see how some of Christ’s followers found that courage literally at the foot of the cross.
Mark 15:1 And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. (ESV)
The chief priests had condemned Jesus to die for blasphemy, a capital offense in Jewish law, but the Roman authorities prevented the Jews from executing any of their own criminals. So they had to bring Jesus to Pilate, the Roman Governor, to get Jesus executed. Only Rome did not recognize blasphemy as a capital offense. So the chief priests came to Pilate with a different charge, namely that Jesus claimed to be “the King of the Jews”. Now, that was a capital offense in Rome’s eyes, because only Caesar was king and for anybody else to claim such would be high treason.
Mark 15:2 And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” (ESV)
Literally, “YOU say.” It was a cryptic response, indicating a kingship different than what Pilate had implied.
Mark 15:3-5 And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. (ESV)
Pilate was amazed, because Jesus did not try to defend himself like so many other prisoners had done. Isaiah 53 says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Pilate questioned Jesus’ claim to be king, not really believing the charges the chief priests brought against Him. Even so, Pilate turns Jesus over to be crucified.
Mark 15:6-15 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. (ESV)
Pilate was afraid of losing his job. He had a tenuous relationship with Caesar to begin with; so if the Jews rioted, Pilate would be removed from office. That’s why he gave in so easily, even though he had already declared Jesus innocent of the charges brought against him.
Pilate lacked the courage to stand for what he believed. He wanted to avoid a riot, so he was “wishing to satisfy the crowd”. Warren Wiersbe says, “Pilate did not ask, ‘Is it right?’ Instead, he asked, ‘Is it safe? Is it popular?’ (Dr. Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary). There is no courage here! – Just a man afraid of the crowd and afraid of losing his job.
My dear friends, if you want to find some of that “insane courage” that can change the trajectory of your life and our culture, then don’t question Christ’s sovereignty like Pilate did. Don’t doubt that Jesus is indeed Lord, because it will only make you afraid of the crowd, as well.
More than that, if you’re going to find the courage to change your world, don’t mock Christ’s sovereignty like the soldiers did. Don’t make fun of His claim to be King of your life.
Mark 15:16-20 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. (ESV)
Here they are, mocking a man already severely beaten. Jesus had already been scourged according to verse 15. Dr. John Grassmick says, in scourging, “the prisoner was stripped, often tied to a post, and beaten on the back by several guards using short leather whips studded with sharp pieces of bone or metal. No limit was set on the number of blows, [and] often this punishment was fatal (Bible Knowledge Commentary). That’s Jesus’ condition when these soldiers get him.
He was near death, and on top of that there were several hundred of these soldiers ganging up on Jesus, one severely beaten man. Verse 16 says it was “the whole battalion”, which ordinarily was about 600 men. Again, there is no courage here – just brutality, just senseless violence.
You see, we don’t find courage in our position (like Pilate had), nor do we find courage in our own brute strength and power (like the soldiers had). So from your position, whatever it is, don’t question Christ’s sovereignty; and in your own power, don’t mock Christ’s sovereignty.
Instead, even in your weakness, openly acknowledge Christ’s sovereignty in your life. Clearly and publically declare your allegiance to Jesus as your King. Look at the women who gathered around the cross. As Jesus is being crucified, verse 40 says…
Mark 15:40-41 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. (ESV)
Unlike the male disciples, who all shamefully fled, here are some women standing by Jesus even as He is being nailed to a cross. Tell me: who demonstrates real courage here? Pilate? No. He was afraid of the crowd. The soldiers? No. They were several hundred strong, ganging up on one severely beaten man. Do you know who had the real courage? It was these women, who followed Jesus and ministered to Him. They were not afraid to openly acknowledge their allegiance to Christ as their King. And look at Joseph of Arimathea.
Mark 15:42-47 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. (ESV)
That took courage! Up until this point, Joseph of Arimathea had been a respected member of the Jewish council that had condemned Jesus to die for blasphemy. John 19:38 says he was a secret follower of Jesus, so he obviously did not approve of their decision, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Now, just a few hours later, he comes out into the open to claim the body of Jesus, a bold confession of his loyalty to his crucified Messiah.
Dr. John Grassmick says, “His action was bold because: (a) he was not related to Jesus; (b) his request was a favor that would likely be denied on principle since Jesus had been executed for treason; (c) he risked ceremonial defilement in handling a dead body; (d) his request amounted to an open confession of personal loyalty to the crucified Jesus which would doubtless incur his associates’ hostility. (Dr. John Grassmick, Bible Knowledge Commentary).
Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple no longer. Now, he openly declares his allegiance to Jesus as his King despite the risk to his personal reputation. You see, true courage does not come from the position you hold or the power you have. True courage comes when you…
BOW BEFORE CHRIST AS YOUR SOVEREIGN.
True courage comes when you submit to His Lordship over your life. It comes when you live in obedience to His commands. It comes when you let Jesus have His way with you and your family.
Bill Farrell, in his book Why Men and Women Act the Way They Do, talks about a family vacation in Hawaii where his son Caleb has been watching other children climb a tree, crawl out on a limb, and jump into the river 30 feet below. Then Bill watched his son swim across the river, climb the same tree, wait his turn, shimmy out to the end of the branch—and freeze.
“It's okay, sweetie,” Bill’s wife, Pam, called out. “You're safe. Just jump.” No response. “I'm at the bottom, honey. It'll be all right. Just let go.” But her female voice wasn't working. Caleb started to crawl backward off the branch.
That’s when an alarm went off in Bill’s heart. The risk was slight, but the damage to his self-concept could last for years. So in his most authoritative voice, Bill called out, “Caleb!” He looked around, and Bill told him to climb back out. He did. “You're thinking about this too much,” Bill told him. “You already know it'll work, so I'm going to count to three, and you jump. Ready?” Caleb nodded.
“One. Two. Three.” Caleb took flight, splashed down, and surfaced triumphantly, whooping it up. He swam over to his dad and gave him a high five. Bill told him he was proud of him, and they hugged in celebration of his victory over fear. (Bill Farrell, Why Men and Women Act the Way They Do, Harvest House Publishers, 2003; www.PreachingToday.com)
Caleb found that victory over fear in submission to His father, and that’s where we find it, as well. When we submit to our Heavenly Father, and to Jesus Christ, His Son, we can overcome the fears that hold us back, and we can do things, we can do insanely courageous things that will absolutely change our lives and our world.
We can do things like talk to a neighbor about Jesus, or go on a missions trip, or give more than we normally dare to give. We can do insanely courageous things like admit when we’re wrong, or forgive that person who hurt us, or lovingly confront that family member who is destroying his or her life through poor choices.
If you want to find that “insane courage” that will absolutely change your life and your world, then you must submit to the Lord; i.e., you must jump when He says jump. That kind of courage comes when you bow before Christ as your Sovereign.
But that will not happen until you learn to trust Him. You will not submit to the Lord, or anybody else for that matter, until you come to the place where you have absolute confidence in Him. So in order to bow before Christ as your Sovereign, you must…
BELIEVE IN CHRIST AS YOUR SUBSTITUTE.
You must trust the Lord who took your place on the cross. You must put your confidence in the One who died for you.
First, trust in the One who was punished instead of you. Jesus being crucified instead of Barabbas (vs.15) is a beautiful picture of this. Barabbas was an insurrectionist and murderer, who was awaiting execution. He was probably a Jewish zealot who was not afraid to take up arms against the “Roman occupiers”. Well, at Passover time, it was Pilate’s custom to release one Jewish prisoner. Pilate had hoped that the crowd would ask for Jesus’ release, but they asked for Barabbas’ freedom instead. Barabbas who had been tried and convicted of murder was going to be set free; while Jesus, who was declared innocent, was going to be crucified on the cross meant for Barabbas.
Let me tell you: all of us, like Barabbas, are condemned sinners, condemned to die because of our sin. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:32), and “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But Jesus, the innocent one, the only one without sin, died in our place. He was crucified on the cross that we should have died on.
Oh my dear friends, that’s somebody you can depend on, so trust Him. Trust the One who was punished instead of you.
Second, trust in the One who saved you instead of Himself. As Jesus was hanging on the cross, the religious leaders mocked Him (vs.31), saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.” Well, the irony is, they were exactly right. In order to save others, Jesus could not save Himself. If Jesus would have saved himself from that cross, then all of us would die in our sins. As it was, Jesus chose to save you and me instead of Himself. He chose to die for our sins, so we wouldn’t have to.
Oh my dear friends, that’s somebody you can depend on, so Trust Him. 1st, trust the One who was punished instead of you. 2nd, trust the One who saved you instead of Himself.
And third, trust in the One who opened the way for you to God by shutting Himself off from God. When Jesus was on the cross, He cried out (vs.34), “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” For the first time in their eternal existence, Jesus experienced the unthinkable horror of separation from God, who cannot look on sin. Up until this point, God the Son and God the Father were inseparable, having enjoyed intimate fellowship from all eternity past. Now, when God the Son takes upon Himself your sin and mine, God the Father turns His back on His own Son and unleashes the fury of His wrath on Him because of that sin. The skies turned dark and the Son was forsaken, but look at what happened as a result.
Mark 15:38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
When Jesus closed Himself off from His Heavenly Father, He opened the way for us to come to His Heavenly Father. The curtain of the temple separated sinful humanity from a holy God. No one was allowed to see beyond that curtain, much less go there. But when Jesus died on the cross, God Himself tore that curtain apart. Did you notice it say, “from top to bottom”? Now, all who trust in Jesus, His Son, have full and free access to the God of the universe. Hebrews 10 says, “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain” (Hebrews 10:19-20).
Oh my dear friends, there is only one way to respond to such love and grace. It’s the way the lead executioner responded, the Roman centurion, who oversaw the crucifixion. Mark 15:39 says, “When the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way [Jesus] breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” The centurion came to believe and trust the One who died for His sins, and that can be our only response.
Believe in Christ, who died on the cross as our substitute. Trust the One who was punished instead of you. Trust the One who saved you instead of Himself. And trust the One who opened the way for you to God by shutting Himself off from God.
John Lennox (an author and professor of mathematics at Oxford University) tells a story about touring Eastern Europe and meeting a Jewish woman from South Africa. The woman told Lennox that she was researching how her relatives had perished in the Holocaust. At one point on their guided tour, they passed a display that had the following words written on it: Arbeit macht frei" (or "work makes free"). It was a mock-up of the main gate to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The display also had pictures of the horrific medical experiments carried out on children by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. At that point of their tour, the Jewish woman turned to Lennox and said, “And what does your religion make of this?”
Lennox writes:
What was I to say? She had lost her parents and many relatives in the Holocaust. I could scarcely bear to look at the Mengele photographs, because of the sheer horror of imagining my children suffering such a fate. I had nothing in my life that remotely paralleled the horror her family had endured.
But still she stood in the doorway waiting for an answer. I eventually said, “I would not insult your memory of your parents by offering you simplistic answers to your question. What is more, I have young children and I cannot even bear to think how I might react if anything were to happen to them, even if it were far short of the evil that Mengele did. I have no easy answers; but I do have what, for me at least, is a doorway into an answer.”
“What is it?” she said.
I said, “You know that I am a Christian. That means that I believe that Yeshua is the messiah. I also believe that he was God incarnate, come into our world as savior, which is what his name 'Yeshua' means. Now I know that this is even more difficult for you to accept. Nevertheless, just think about this question—if Yeshua was really God, as I believe he was, what was God doing on a cross?
“Could it be that God begins just here to meet our heartbreaks, by demonstrating that he did not remain distant from our human suffering, but became part of it himself? For me, this is the beginning of hope; and it is a living hope that cannot be smashed by the enemy of death. The story does not end in the darkness of the cross. Yeshua conquered death. He rose from the dead; and one day, as the final judge, he will assess everything in absolute fairness, righteousness, and mercy.”
There was silence. She was still standing, arms outstretched, forming a motionless cross in the doorway. After a moment, with tears in her eyes, very quietly but audibly, she said: “Why has no one ever told me that about my messiah before?” (John Lennox, Gunning for God, Lion, 2011, pp. 141-142; www.PreachingToday. com)
God Himself entered our pain, so He could deliver us from it. God suffered in our place, so we could experience joy in His place forever!
Oh my dear friends, that’s someone you can trust. So please, trust Him with your life. Believe in Christ as your substitute, and bow before Him as your sovereign.
I close with these words from Dr. John Stott. He wrote: “I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I turn to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me. He set aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. (John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ; www.PreachingToday.com)
As you consider the cross this morning, I urge you, turn to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure there. Trust the One who died for you, and give yourself completely to Him.
