OPEN: There is a phenomenon that is quickly sweeping through our country that’s called the “Cancel Culture.” It’s a mindset that demands that if anyone says or does something that someone else finds offensive, THAT PERSON must be silenced and destroyed. As a result people have lost their jobs, their careers, their reputations, and have even had their lives threatened. There’s a mob mentality out there that attacks people… even for things they did 20 or 30 years ago.
It’s happened to Politicians, Candidates for the Supreme Court, Actors, Comedians, Media types, Business people and even cartoon characters and children’ books (Dr. Seuss; The Muppets). They’ve ALL faced being cancelled because somebody got offended.
Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t people who should have been cancelled years ago, but this “Cancel culture” seems driven by a kind of “self-righteous” hatred that’s kind of scary.
Actually though, this desire to destroy others is as old as mankind. Cain … cancelled Abel; Joseph’s brothers… attempted to cancel him; Jezebel tried to cancel Elijah… and it went on and on throughout Bible history.
However, no one has faced the “cancel culture” more than Jesus. It was the cancel culture that put Him on the cross. A cancel culture that hated Jesus so much that it killed Him! And when He was nailed to the cross, people rejoiced because Jesus had finally been cancelled. (Idea gained from an article by Harold Rutledge, the Buffalo Christian Church in Buffalo, IN)
But unlike others who have been cancelled by Culture… Jesus wasn’t a victim. The attempt to destroy Jesus had been planned (BY GOD) for centuries.
In fact, that was one of the major themes in Biblical preaching. Peter preached: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know — this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” Acts 2:22-23
Paul wrote: “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” I Corinthians 15:3-4
The cross had been planned. Jesus’ death had been on purpose. And the cancel culture… did exactly what God pre-determined they would do. It was all part of God’s design!!!
(PAUSE) With that thought in mind, I want to look at the 4 events that John tells us about, as Jesus hung on the cross. These 4 parts of the crucifixion story are important to God. They are there in this chapter because God wants them there. In other words: there’s something here God wants us to see!
1st – we’re told that the soldiers gambled for Jesus’ TUNIC the foot of the cross. “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.’ THIS WAS TO FULFILL THE SCRIPTURE which says, ‘They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.’ So the soldiers did these things” John 19:23-24
Notice, it says “this was to fulfill the Scripture…”
OK… but why? Why had God even bothered to make this a prophecy? Well, we’re not told, but I’ve got a pretty good idea. Despite what you may have seen in various paintings and movies Jesus was totally naked on the cross. When the Romans crucified people, they stripped them bare. Their intention was to cause as much suffering as possible, including embarrassing their victims by exposing them, and robbing them of any form of modesty or decency.
Now when Jesus was arrested he didn’t have much… just his clothing. And some of his garments were easily divided. But His tunic was valuable. To cut it up would have been senseless, and so they gambled for it… winner take all.
But still the question arises: WHY? Why would God prophesy about people casting lots for his garments? And my suspicion is this: God wanted us to focus on Christ’s clothing. He wanted us to remember Jesus was naked on the cross.
ILLUS: In her book “The Hiding Place” Corrie Ten Boom told of her experiences in the Nazi prison. She wrote: “every Friday the Nazis made the prisoners completely undress for medical inspection. The women were// humiliated// having to march by the grinning guards. On one of those mornings “yet another page in the Bible leapt into life for me. “He hung naked on the Cross.” I had not known – had not thought… the paintings, the carved crucifixes showed at least a scrap of cloth. But this, I suddenly knew, was the respect and reverence of the artist. But oh – at the time itself, on THAT OTHER Friday morning – there had been no reverence. No more than I saw in the faces around us now.
I leaned toward (my sister) Betsie, ahead of me in line. Her shoulder blades stood out sharp & thin beneath her blue mottled skin. “Betsie, they took His clothes too.” Ahead of me I heard a gasp. ‘Oh Corrie. And I never thanked Him…’”
You see, at that moment, Betsie and Corrie realized the shocking truth: when Jesus died on the cross, he experienced all the shame and embarrassment that THEY had come to know, because He had died for them!
The 2nd incident we notice at the cross is Jesus turning Mary over to John safe-keeping. “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” John 19:26-27
Now, just on a human level, you can understand John including this in his gospel. Jesus had just entrusted Mary to his care. It was an honor and a privilege – and he would have wanted to share that. But nothing in Scripture is there… just because the writer wanted it there. Everything that is written in the Bible is there because God put it there.
Now, this was ONE of only 7 things that Jesus said from the Cross - so you know it’s got to be important. There’s something here Jesus wanted us to know
The Catholic church believes this statement by Jesus was there to show us how superior Mary was compared to others. Catholicism believes Mary was the Mother of the Son of God. So they make statues of her, and they pray to her! And they proudly proclaim that “Mary is the Mother of the Son of God (so) she far surpasses all other creatures, both in heaven and on earth." (Vatican II)
I DON’T THINK SO!
First, Mary was a sinful person just like you and I (ALL HAVE SINNED). She was honored to be chosen as the woman who would take care of Jesus, but not because she was superior to others. Mary was chosen because she could be trusted to do what needed done.
And 2nd – Jesus didn’t address her as His mother. Jesus said “WOMAN behold your son…” In His entire ministry Jesus NEVER once referred to Mary as His “mother.” The only other time He addressed her was in John 2 where Mary asked Him to help at the marriage feast. He replied: “WOMAN, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2:4
Jesus’ words to Mary are recorded here at the crucifixion to remind us of two things. 1st - Mary was the woman who gave birth to Him at Bethlehem, so, it was Jesus’ responsibility as the oldest son to make sure that she was taken care of… that was His job. BUT 2ndly, Jesus was very careful to avoid calling her HIS MOTHER because there was a danger of people making Mary into some kind of deity to be prayed to and who might be seen as “surpassing all other creatures, both in heaven and on earth.” THAT WAS NOT INTENDED TO HAPPEN!
(PAUSE) The next phrase Jesus cried out from the cross was “I THIRST.” “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.” John 19:28-29
Was Jesus thirsty?? (PAUSE) Oh yeah… His thirst was real. It was one of the torments of being nailed to the cross. And it was prophesied because God wanted us to know His sufferings were real.
But now, in Mark 15:23, we’re told that at a DIFFERENT time where… “they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.” Jesus refused this drink? Why? According to one commentator: “the design of (this drink of wine & myrrh) was to intoxicate, that (those being crucified) might not feel their pain and misery” (John Gill)
You see, Jesus went to the cross to experience pain, and THIRST, on our behalf. The wine and myrrh would have removed the pain and suffering. And so He refused to drink that liquid.
John Stott, (The Cross of Christ) wrote: “In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing around his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time, after a while I have had to look away. And in imagination I have turned instead to the 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 laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of His. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering.”
And at the last, all the suffering and all the pain were summed up in one phrase “’It Is Finished’ and he bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” John 19:30
IT IS FINISHED??? What did that mean? It meant that His task was completed. Everything He’d come to do - it was FINISHED!
Someone once noted that this phrase “It Is Finished” was a legal term which meant “PAID IN FULL”
ILLUS: A few years ago I took out a loan and bought my Chevy Malibu. This August I will make my last payment on that car. In August, the car loan will be PAID IN FULL. My payments will be… FINISHED.
Romans 6:23 tells us the “wages of sin is death.” Our sins came at a price - and the price was OUR death… or the death of SOMEONE ELSE who could take our place. And that’s what Jesus came to do: to take our place; to pay the price; to die for our sins.
And when Jesus did that for us, it was finished. The price for our sins was paid in full. And all we had to do to accept His free gift was 1) to believe that He was the Christ, the Son of God who came to die for our sins. 2) Acknowledge and repent (turn away from) our sins. 3) Confess Jesus was now going to be our Lord and Master – essentially accept His total ownership of ourselves and all that we own. 4) Be buried in the waters of baptism and rise up a new creation in Christ. 5) And decide to live for Him.
From that day on… our sins were completely abolished.
Now, that brings me back to the CANCEL CULTURE. The cancel culture of our day doesn’t forget your sins. In fact, (according to the NY Post) there are a few groups on twitter who have “made it their civic duty to scrutinize the actions of average people and public figures alike, shedding light on previously overlooked or unknown incidents” (https://nypost.com/article/what-is-cancel-culture-breaking-down-the-toxic-online-trend/)
In other words, it doesn’t matter how long ago, or how obscure your past sins may have been - if they don’t like you - they’ll find that sin and do everything in their power to embarrass you with it. For people like that, there’s no forgiveness, there’s no mercy. And they’re kind of like Satan in that way. Someone once noted that “Satan knows your name but calls you by your sin.” In other words, it doesn’t matter how long ago you may have committed that sin, Satan will always be there to call out your name and remind you of how you failed. His objective is to cancel you and destroy your hopes and dreams.
It doesn’t matter how many good things you’ve done to erase the past, Satan will always bring it back up … again and again.
But once you’re forgiven things change. Jesus makes it so that your debt of sin has been paid in full. So, while it’s true Satan knows your name but calls you by your sin, once you’re forgiven, God knows your sin but calls you by your name. In other words (once you’re forgiven) God doesn’t know you by your sins, He knows you by your name. And God forgives, and He forgets those past sins.
CLOSE: She was crazy. Everyone knew it because she had the habit of talking to herself in public and it was known that she believed she even talked to Jesus - and was spoken back to. A new preacher came to town and, hearing of the crazy woman, thought that he might be able to make her face reality.
One day, as he saw her walking down the street he spoke to her and eventually got around to asking, “I hear you talk to Jesus.” “Yes,” she replied. “Jesus and I talk for just hours and hours.” “Would you do me a favor?” the minister began. “Could you ask Him something for me?” “Why of course,” the old woman responded. “Would you ask Jesus what the last sin was that I confessed to Him?” “Certainly,” she replied.
The next day, the preacher saw the crazy woman just down the street and so he approached her asked, “Well, did you talk to Jesus last night?” “Why, I surely did,” she squealed. “What did He say was the last sin was that I confessed to Him?” the preacher coyly asked. “Why, He said He didn’t remember.”
INVITATION
