“The Dreaded Cross” David Owens
Text: Luke 23:26-49 2/29/04
Introduction:
A. As you probably noticed, I have titled today’s sermon, “The Dreaded Cross.”
1. The cross was truly something that Jesus dreaded.
2. Jesus did not go to the dreaded cross like a child facing something they dread with kicking and squirming and crying.
3. No, Jesus went to the cross like an adult facing a dreaded thing with courage and calm.
B. What was it about the cross that Jesus dreaded the most?
1. Was it the scorn, the shame, and the humiliation?
2. Was it the physical pain of crucifixion?
a. From what I have heard and read, Mel Gibson’s portrayal of the suffering of Jesus is indeed both accurate and graphic.
b. Jesus truly did suffer terrible physical pain.
c. Beginning with the scouraging and right through his last breath on the cross, there was nothing but unimaginable pain and agony.
3. Certainly Jesus dreaded both the shame and the pain of the crucifixion.
4. I in no way want to minimize those things today by not focusing our attention on them.
5. But to really understand the meaning of the cross, we must get beyond the physical suffering of Jesus, and understand the spiritual suffering that he endured and what it accomplished.
6. In order to understand these things about the cross, I want us to examine three events that took place during the last 18 hours of Jesus’ life.
SCENE #1- THE UPPER ROOM
A. The night before Jesus’ crucifixion, he met in an upper room and ate the Passover meal with his disciples.
1. During the meal, Jesus instituted a commemoration we call the Lord’s supper.
2. Luke 22:19-20, “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’”
3. Now if you know anything about Jesus’ ministry, you know that he was not much on ceremony.
a. In fact, much of the trouble he got into stemmed from his opposition to the traditional, man-made ritual and ceremony of the Jews.
4. Yet, here he instituted a ceremony.
a. He deliberately established an observance that is to have special meaning and is to be repeated by his followers for all times.
B. The ceremony is to be one of remembrance, but notice what it is that his followers are to remember.
1. We are to remember his death.
2. Paul said it this way in 1 Cor. 11:26, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
3. This of all the events Jesus could have chosen to commemorate.
a. He could have commemorated his birth, his miracles, his transfiguration, or even his resurrection.
b. But those are not the things he chose to commemorate.
4. Instead, he chose to commemorate his death, and he did so by initiating a ceremony that focuses totally on his death.
a. The bread we eat symbolizes his body.
b. And the fruit of the vine we drink symbolizes his blood.
5. These emblems are there to help us remember the body and blood that Jesus gave for us as he died.
C. Why did Jesus ask us to remember his death? Because there is nothing more central and important to the redemption of man.
1. So, the Lord’s Supper is a huge road sign that confronts us every first day of the week and points us to the centrality of the cross in our faith and for our lives.
2. God wants us to commemorate the death of Jesus over and over again.
3. His death on our behalf is something we must never take lightly, nor forget.
SCENE #2 – THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
A. After the meal in the upper room, Jesus went with 11 of his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane.
1. There in the garden, Jesus expressed emotions that can only be characterized as anxiety and dread.
2. Luke tells us that he was “in anguish” (22:44).
3. And that “sweat like drops of blood fell to the ground (22:44).
a. Luke’s use of the word “like” may suggest that the sweat merely fell as rapidly as drops of blood.
b. Some, however, propose that Jesus was experiencing a rare physcial phenomenon known as “hematidrosis” (he-mat-tid-row-sis).
c. This phenomena occurs under great stress and results in the rupturing of tiny blood vessels in the sweat glands which produces a mixture of sweat and blood.
4. Whichever the explanation, Jesus, while in the garden, was a man in acute emotional distress.
5. Jesus identified his impending ordeal as the “bitter cup” that he must drink.
a. Three times Jesus prayed, “take this cup from me.”
b. When his disciples, James and John, wanted the top positions in his administration, Jesus asked them, “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” (Mt. 20:22)
c. In the garden, when Peter cut off Malchus’ ear, Jesus responded, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” (Jn. 18:11)
6. It is interesting to note that Luke is the only writer to mention that an angel from heaven appeared to Jesus and strengthened him. (22:43)
7. Someone has said, “Every life has its Gethsemane, and every Gethsemane has its angel.”
8. Isn’t it encouraging to realize that in our most difficult times, God sends the help we need?
B. But what is this cup that Jesus would prefer not to drink?
1. Is it the physical death of the cross?
2. Certainly the impending physical agony of crucifixion would cause great fear and dread, but I have to believe that the cup that Jesus feared so much was something else.
3. After all, many people have faced terrible deaths with courage, including many early Christians
4. Not to mention the fact that once Jesus died, he knew he would be raised to life in three days.
5. I believe the cup that Jesus dreaded was the cup of God’s wrath.
6. Throughout the Bible, “the cup of the Lord” is employed as a symbol of God’s wrath.
7. Here is a sampling of texts:
a. Ps. 75:8, “In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.”
b. Rev. 14:10, “The wicked will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.”
8. The cup God had given to his own Son was a cup full of the Father’s justice and wrath against man’s sin.
9. To drain that cup to the dregs was the purpose for which Jesus had come.
10. It was the bitter cup that he feared, yet it was that bitter cup that he voluntarily drank.
SCENE #3 – GOLGOTHA, THE PLACE OF CRUCIFIXION
A. Let’s read from Matthew 27:45-46, “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachthani?’ – which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
1. Jesus was crucified at the third hour (which was 9 am), but when the sixth hour arrived (which was noon), it became dark for three hours.
2. It must have been an eerie darkness.
a. I remember experiencing a complete eclipse of the sun at midday.
b. It was so odd to see a clear, bright sky, and yet have such dimness.
c. But I’m sure that the darkness that occurred during Jesus’ crucifixion was far greater than an eclipse.
3. It is interesting to note that at the birth of Jesus there was brightness at midnight, but at the death of Jesus there was darkness at noon.
4. Also, it is interesting to see the parallel that there were three days of darkness in Egypt before the Passover lamb was sacrificed, and there were three hours of darkness at Golgotha before the Lamb of God died for the sins of the world.
B. I believe that the darkness at the cross had great significance.
1. In the Scriptures, “darkness” is often symbolic for separation from God who “is the light and in whom there is no darkness at all.” (1 Jn. 1:15)
2. Jesus, himself, referred to hell as “outer darkness” (Mt. 8:12) since it is excluded form the light of God’s presence.
3. Therefore, I believe that the darkness that occurred at the cross symbolized the withdrawal of God because of the sin-bearing act of Jesus.
4. In Galatians 3:13, Paul wrote that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”
5. And in 2 Cor. 5:21, Paul wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.”
C. As Jesus hung on the cross in darkness, he sensed the weight of mankind’s sin, and for the first time he felt the effect of sin which is separation from God.
1. At that moment he uttered those words, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me.”
2. James Stalker spoke of this cry as “a cry out of the lowest depths of despair. Indeed it is the most appalling sound that ever pierced the atmosphere of the earth. It cannot be heard even at this day without it causing a cold shudder of terror.”
3. Don’t those words of Jesus pierce your very soul?
4. They are a quote from the twenty-second Psalm which contains a number of prophesies about the crucifixion.
5. Did this cry of Jesus indicate that he lost faith while he was on the cross? Certainly not!
6. His cry does express his situation and certainly connects him with our human experience.
7. So often when we face bitter tragedy, there comes a time when we feel that God has forgotten us and abandoned us, and we may cry out a similar cry.
8. But the truth is that God is there for us and we need only to turn to him and he receives us.
9. The last words spoken by Jesus express his turning to God, “Into your hand do I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:43) and “It is finished.” (Jn. 19:30)
Conclusion:
A. The cross certainly was something that Jesus dreaded, and yet the writer of Hebrews wrote, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2)
1. Jesus endured the cross because he knew that it was essential for our redemption.
2. Jesus knew that the cross was a bitter cup of God’s wrath, but he drank it.
3. Jesus knew that as he hung on the cross he would bear the weight of our sin, but he endured it.
4. Why did he go through all of that? Because he loved us and he continues to love us.
5. 1 John 3:16, (similar to Jn. 3:16), “This I s how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
B. Because of Jesus’ love, he endured the cross with its horrifying physical, emotional and spiritual pain.
1. I hope this lesson enables you to better appreciate the sufferings of Jesus.
2. I hope that we will be prepared to share the good news of Christ with others. The good news is that God is not counting men’s sins against them if they love Jesus and trust him.
C. Let me end with this poem:
I stand before the cross and wonder. I stand before the cross and fear.
I kneel before the cross and weep. I pray before the cross and rejoice.
To know the cross is to know Christ. To feel the cross is to feel Christ.
To gaze at the cross is to gaze at Christ.
To carry the cross is to be a Christian, and not until then.
