Why focus on the violence of the cross?
13 See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted. 14 Many were amazed when they saw him—beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know he was a person. 15 And he will again startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not previously been told about; they will understand what they had not heard about.
53 Who has believed our message? To whom will the LORD reveal his saving power? 2 My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! 5 But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! 6 All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people realized that he was dying for their sins—that he was suffering their punishment? 9 He had done no wrong, and he never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.
10 But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and fill him with grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s plan will prosper in his hands. 11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of what he has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. 12 I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.
Is.52-53 (NLT)
Glad u are here for Part 3 of our series, “the Passion of the Christ: Curious? Find out more!” I would like us to key into a part of the Bible, people like me, I would say generally skip over. Don’t dwell on the suffering and violence of the cross. It seems so Catholic to do it. Baptist don’t do that, right? Just go to the part about the resurrection. Even Mel Gibson’s critics can’t get pass the violence of the movie The Passion of the Christ. They too say it was too much to dwell on that alone and not the bigger story of Jesus’ life and ministry. Why focus on the violent death scene? Why the Morbid fascination on the lamb to the slaughter???
But it is also the talk of our city. All of this past week, our city’s headlines are screaming about one thing - Violence! First, it was about hockey violence. Then it was the Madrid bombings. Yesterday, we hear of another big story from Fresno, California, another case of mass murder, perhaps nine people killed by one man. Are you just not sick of hearing all this? I don’t think many of us can’t stand it, stomach it , or take it. Reactions of people regarding the Madrid bombings, with demonstrations denouncing it, and hockey fans too calling for Bertuzzi’s punishment to be severe, the reaction of cops in that Fresno mass murder, where veterans are asking for counselling: Horrible! Why now dwell on death and suffering, why does Mel Gibson want people to see that? Isn’t it enough already, with the real world’s suffering, why watch another violent gore-filled movie? Let’s talk nice… But really, is the world nice?
A. PART OF OUR LIVES
God knows we live in real world of violence, of paybacks, of revenge, blood letting. Nice world? As one sports commentator said this in USAToday.com: “The raw brutality of Todd Bertuzzi’s assault on Steve Moore this week was bad enough, along with the apologists excusing Bertuzzi as a victim, Moore’s broken neck, and the eye-for-an-eye nature of it all. Just don’t call it an unfamiliar picture that has come out of nowhere. Hockey’s culture of violence extends far back to the game’s earliest days, and try as anyone might, little has been done to change it.” That culture of violence is not in hockey, it is in other sports as well. Every summer basebrawl happens, as one guy gets hit by a pitch, the dugouts empty. Remember the Tonya Harding case where she sent people to beat up Nancy Kerrigan and that’s in figure skating. Yesterday, in grades 8-9 kids basketball, violence was brewing notjust among players but among parents too.
Folks we don’t live in a fairy tale world, we live in a world that has a culture of violence, and we are kidding ourselves if we think all is well here. And like that comment from USAtoday, little has been done to change it! Afghanistan is still being bombed, violence erupts everywhere everyday, in homes, on our streets, in our schools where we hear a Filipino kid is killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time by thugs. And God sees it all, and God knows there is so little that humans can do to change it. The end of World War One did not change human hearts, so did the end of World War Two and now years after the end of that wars and more wars are still being fought. Drug wars, with grow-ops spring up everywhere here, that BC is now known as the supplier for Illegal drugs in the USA.
The sad part of ofour sad state of affairs is as USAToday article says “Little will change”. This is proven already. In article entitled “Broadcasters addicted to on-ice violence,” Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star (Mar 12, 2004) said this,
“The TSN guys were saying all the right things. Dave Hodge, Bob McKenzie and Rod Smith all agreed yesterday morning that the Todd Bertuzzi suspension was just and that the NHL must deal harshly with the violence in the game. Then, to illustrate how Bertuzzi’s team fared without him, TSN aired highlights from Wednesday night’s game. The first image? A fistfight.” And with a touch of sarcasm he writes:
“And now back to our regularly scheduled brawling ...”
Little will change... and little can change the darkness and the violence of the human heart. Does God see that?
Zelkovich added these words:
It would be nice to think that somebody in TV might have seen the irony in this, but that would be wishful thinking. The fact is the sports channels are hooked on hockey violence.
Over on Rogers Sportsnet, after its panel spoke out on mayhem, the morning news show featured three fights, including one accompanied by anchor Jason Portuondo’s excited, ``Wade Brookbank dropping bombs with Matt Johnson."
The show ended with the plays of the day, one of which was, you guessed it, a fight.
Little will change... Does God see that?
Donald Brashear, who was also a vic of hockey violence, now with Philadelphia, said Bertuzzi was just trying to stick up for Markus Naslund, his teammate and friend.
"Yeah, he could have done it differently, but guys throw punches at each other all the time. The way the game is now, you hurt one of our players, we hurt one of yours. That’s the way it is."
That’s the way it is! Little will change!
Is this not a sad commentary on the state of the game? Violence seems to be the way to do it. That’s the world we live in, take it or leave it. It is part of our lives!
As another writer says “…the reality is hockey’s sick culture will remain intact.” Damien Cox of the Toronto Star offers offers this argument as to why he thinks hockey will not change:
Understand that the Vancouver player who put a "bounty" on Moore’s head, Brad May, himself received a 20-game suspension, then the fourth-longest penalty in NHL history, for clubbing an opponent over the head from behind with his stick in November, 2000.
Hockey didn’t change, and that suspension obviously didn’t change May’s eye-for-an-eye mentality, even though it cost him $117,000 in salary.
He returned hardly a chastened athlete. In this case, May challenged his teammates to get even with Moore for a previous incident, and Bertuzzi certainly took care of business.
Indeed, little will change!
At about 7:39 a.m. in Spain, Thursday, March 11, 2004, 10 bombs blew up four trains in a 15-minute span – leaving about 199 dead and 1400 injured. We are given another painful reminder folks this is not wonderland! 9/11 did not teach us to change, the human heart is bent on getting things done their own way, "taking care of business." How are we gonna get people to pay attention, to get justice, says the terrorist. Someone has to die, is their answer. Do we not live in a world that’s addicted to violence, of every form, violence of cheating a pensioner of his or her savings, to the violence of personality attacks such as the character assassinations we see as politicians talk about their opponents, the violence of drunk drivers, home invasions, invasion of a mother’s womb by pro-choice doctors who think they are doing the world a service through violence…
Commenting on the Todd Bertuzzi sucker punch on Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche Damien Cox writes in the Toronto Star (March 11, 2004):
“Somebody will have to die, or at least be confined to a wheelchair for life. Then, all the changes that should be made, will be made. So the next time you’re at your community hockey arena watching teenage boys play, pick out the best player on the ice. Then fast-forward a decade and mentally assign that kid the role of sacrificial lamb for the NHL, the player who will be assaulted on the ice and lose his life or the feeling in his limbs, permanently. His sacrifice will be the impetus that finally changes the NHL forever.”
What a theologian this sports writer is eh? God, I believe, would’ve agreed with Cox’s statement. Christ death is the impetus that finally changes a world addicted to violence. Somebody will have to die, to change this world that believes that violence or the way of the fist, is the ticket to a fair and just world. Even a sports writer can say, somebody will have to die and be assigned the role of the sacrificial lamb, to be assaulted and lose his life, to change this world forever! And somebody did die a death that showed us the violence must stop. That somebody did not cry “I’ll get you for this” as his body is tortured with physical pain. That somebody did not cry revenge but prayed “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” That somebody did not respond with an eye for an eye mentality, instead He taught people to turn the other cheek. He inspired unconditional love, choosing to forgive, to live out grace and showed mercy to those who need your forgiveness. In short He gave us grace.
God looked at our sick violent culture and He knows little will change the human heart. The human heart needs an overhaul, a complete transformation. People, like the NHL do not change easily. Most people live on the raw edge of emotion, not on the edge of grace and of relationships to be restored and people to be redeemed. It was an emotional and tearful Bertuzzi who got up on TV on Wednesday night to apologize. But will that change the world of violence? The next time he steps on the ice, he may be the one lying on the ice with blood splling out. Everyone is out for blood. It was also an emotional Brad May that said there is a bounty on Moore’s head that fuelled the attack on Moore. It was also an emotional Colorado Avalanche coach, Tony Granato who himself was a culprit in hockey violence, that demanded justice and had to be restrained. It was emotional revenge filled terrorists living on yesterday’s pain that gives them the fuel to plan more and more attacks. How can this tide of emotion speak to a world of violence so that the violence can be abated and banished forever?
B. A Corrective to Sin
Jesus’ experience on the cross speaks to us today. Here is a man as Isaiah 53:2-3 (NLT) says of Jesus “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief.” He knows those raw emotions, a man acquainted wth sorrows, he knows the desire to exact revenge, to beat up on people who would beat him up. I believe He could have with a word send everyone he touched him to a very bitter end, yet he refrained, yet He took upon himself their sins. “He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.” Is 53:12
Here Jesus was sent for this.
Have you heard of the new black box technology now installed into new cars? It can record upon impact during a car crash as the air bag goes off, how fast you are driving and whether the seat belt is used. It is similar to the black box technology that airplanes have that records flight information and survives air-crashes. So now with this, information about car-crashes can be retrieved from these black boxes. Recently someone in Montreal tried to claim he was not at fault for an accident, claiming he was driving 50 km/h but the black box clocked him at 150 km/h when his car crashed. He is now a convicted criminal. Similarly all of us have built in black box technology and it’s black inside and outside. It convicts us as sinners. What God did for us is that He sent Jesus to absorb our black boxes so we get no conviction of crimes committed against a holy God. So we read from Isaiah 53:
10 But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and fill him with grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
It was God’s will to make Jesus life an offering for sin, it was His will to even the score so that justice is served. Ultimately, to put an end to the violence that no doubt, will go on and on and on, until it all explodes like Bertuzzi’s sucker punch, God sent Jesus to bring an end to hostilities, He showed us the way to heal, to forgive and bring back hope to a world drunk on violence and bloodletting, by giving his life as a sacrificial lamb.
5 But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed!
Someone had to die for the world to sit up and take notice that God loves people and will put things rights between Himself and people who believe violence is the ticket to justice and fairness.
Jesus stands here as a man well-acquainted with sorrows, He knows the bitterest grief and He will not turn you away, He will heal you, by His stripes, by His wounds, he is speaking to us. BY His experience, we know, He understands what each one of us go through. Everyone who has ever lived knows suffering, and I believe that is why Jesus came, took his place among men, for everyone suffers to one degree or another. God shows He stands in solidarity with us who suffer and long for peace and justice. He is not unmoved by our sorrows.
The cycle of violence will stop. But not because the NHL change their ways, or that the terrorists would change. The violence will stop when people see God. Truly see that God loves and have a great future for you, that there is more to life than getting your way. God has promised life will be sweet, Isaiah says “And because of what he has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.” Someone died to take away sin. Hope is reborn.
But we need to see that we have not manage life well. Our own brand of justice such as Bertuzzi’s or the terrorist, payback, it seems, always ends up in more destruction, more lives damaged, in things they cannot take back no matter how hard they wish, regret and pain. Perhaps a number of us here grew up, being familiar with stories of Jesus, but familiarity breeds contempt some say, so we have no clue of how Jesus can change us, we have grown cynical while we suffer under the load of life’s burdens, but Jesus is man who is acquainted with sorrows, He knows what you are experiencing, He knows suffering, the powerful stuff and pressure of family’s expectations, rejection, the butt of jokes, and He still died to take away our sins. Would you turn now to the One who has defeated death, who came for you, who can stop the violence that this world is hooked on? If you do, you know God’s on your side. Jesus chose to suffer,he could have chosen an easier WAY but he suffered to stand with us
C. Grow in love towards the One who feels for us
So don’t skip over the Passion of the Christ. Christ told us to remember his broken body, the new covenant made in his blood. Don’t just rush to the resurrection scene. Like Isaiah said : “And he will again startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not previously been told about; they will understand what they had not heard about.” Many left the movie the Passion startled and speechless. Do you understand now?
No wonder Chuick Swindoll could say that he loves God s much more after the viewing the ultra gory tale of the Passion of the Christ.
Jesus did die for us, suffered for us, at the hands of violent men, the death of a sacrificial lamb, the impetus that will change life on our scarred planet forever. One third of the gospels length is dedicated to it. Remember! Let us not miss how much God truly love, they speak to us, of a God who loves, whose love endures forever. Into our sick culture of violence, God entered in to change our lives! Let us grow in love and worship and adoration for the One who loved us and gave His life for us!
Let me end with this Bible verse, 1 John 4 says
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Why focus on the violence? It is real and it touches everyone, we suffer from a sick world drunk with violence, little will change. So God comes, He sees us reeling in our sin and did something to change the human heart. He took care of business, came and suffered to show a way out, became an offering for sin that we may have life instead of death!
Little has change? No way! The day Jesus died, something change, we know there is a God, a God who does not shy away from suffering, who stands with us, who shares with us His resurrection life, taking away sin, we know, demonstrated on that cross, there is a God who is LOVE.
