The images of Mel Gibson’s film are still fresh in my mind. I can see him being arrested in the Garden. I can see his trial and the brutal beating. I can see the crucifixion. And I can see the final scene as Jesus walked triumphantly from the tomb. It was a movie that has profoundly impacted our nation, and is now is being shown around the world. It will be interesting to see the affect it has over time.
But it was hardly through its first week when the major television networks were busy putting together programs to debunk the Christian message of a Savior who came to redeem the world. Their attempts would be laughable if they were not the source of so much confusion. No less a New Testament scholar than Peter Jennings — oh, wait a minute, he is just a news anchor who may not have even read the New Testament — spent no less than three hours trying to figure out the success of Jesus and why he still impacts the world today as powerfully as he does. And in spite of the fact that he and others have tried to infect the real story of Jesus with copious doses of doubt, Jesus remains the victor and we are here to celebrate his life among us today. The skeptics are nothing to be concerned about, because as A. W. Tozer reminds us: “Our Lord died an apparent failure, discredited by the leaders of established religion, rejected by society, and forsaken by his friends. It took the resurrection to demonstrate how gloriously Christ had triumphed and how tragically the world had failed. The resurrection demonstrated once and for all who won and who lost.” The reality of Jesus’ life and resurrection will last long after all the arguments of the skeptics have been forgotten. And when he triumphantly returns to earth at this second coming there will be no doubt about who he is and what he has done.
Let’s look again briefly at the last week of Jesus’ life and then move on to his resurrection. I want to look first at his arrest in the garden. Do you remember the scene in the Passion where Jesus is in utter anguish as he prayed? His soul is in torment, but it is not because of the physical torture he was about to experience. He was sweating drops of blood as he thought about having the sin of the whole world poured out on him. He was remembering the words of the prophet Isaiah: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The sins of all the murderers, abusers, sexual molesters of children, thieves, rapists and gossips of the world would be poured out on his innocent and sinless soul. Just my guilt and shame is more than I can sometimes bear; I cannot imagine what it would be like to bear all the sin of the whole world. The torture of the Roman flogging would be nothing in comparison. He is struggling with the will of God, as many of us have done, for the will of God is not always easy. Sometimes he calls us to difficult and painful places. He was struggling with the whole idea of being separated from the Father — something he had never experienced before. He knew that the words of the Psalmist: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me,” would not only be on his lips but become a reality during his atoning death.
One of the pieces that I missed in Gibson’s movie was one of my favorite parts of the story of the arrest of Jesus. Gibson failed to put in one of the most powerful segments of the account found in the Gospel of John. Imagine the scene. A humble country preacher who talked about love and never raised a hand against anyone, and they come for him with a detachment of soldiers. Some scholars believe there may have been as many as 400 - 600 troops and possibly a small calvary. The Gospels tell us that they came with torches, swords and clubs (John 18:3; Mark 14:43). Now remember that Jesus had never breathed a threatening word, and told his followers to love their enemies; that those who used the sword would die by the sword. But they came at him with swords and clubs. Now here is the part the movie left out. John tells us that Jesus approached them and said to them, “Who do you want?” (John 18:4-6). They said to him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Then he simply said, “I am he.” Actually that is an English translation that takes some liberty. The Greek actually only says, “Ego eimi,” or “I am.” You remember the great I AM. It is the name of God. He told them exactly who he was, and when he did, they drew back from him and fell to the ground. The sheer power of his presence had overcome an entire army. They fell down, stunned and overcome by the awesomeness of his divine bearing. He was in absolutely no danger except the danger in which he willingly placed himself. He was in total control at all times. He could have simply walked away, as he did when the crowd in his home town of Nazareth tried to throw him over a cliff (Luke 4:29-30). But he was not set on escaping pain and danger, he was set on doing the will of the Father.
Imagine the soldiers hanging their heads as they told the story of how a hillside preacher overpowered them with his presence, and they had all fallen to the ground when he spoke. Then there was also the incident of Peter cutting off the ear of the High Priest’s servant named Malchus. Malchus had to return to the High Priest, whose name was Caiahphas, and tell him what happened — how one of the disciples cut off his ear, but Jesus put it back and healed it. Every day Caiaphas saw Malchus and had to think of the story of what happened to his ear. He had to think of the man he maliciously condemned to die on a daily basis, because Malchus was in his home serving him. What irony He had to face the fact that Jesus, whom he had condemned to death, had miraculously healed his servant — the very one whom he had sent to help arrest him. What must have gone through Caiaphas’ mind? He could see on Malchus’ face the question of whether they should have arrested a man who would show that kind of selfless kindness — not to mention divine power. That ear must have looked as big as a saucer as it convicted him of his guilt on a daily basis — right in his own home.
But then came the trial of Jesus. He was actually put through six separate trials — three of them religious and three civil. First he appeared before Annas, a priest in high position. Then Jesus was put on trial before Caiaphas the high priest. Then he went on trial before the entire Sanhedrin — a sort of religious Supreme Court. He was then taken to appear before Pilate, the governor of Jerusalem. After Pilate had heard the case, he sent Jesus to Herod, the governor of Galilee. Then he was brought back to Pilate again. All of these trials were illegal. Those involved broke their own laws in the way Jesus was tried. There was never an actual charge brought, and they had nothing of which they could accuse him. They were all false accusations that would not hold up in any real court. Jesus had done nothing wrong. The only thing of which they accused him was that he said he was God. Matthew tells us the story: “But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ ‘He is worthy of death,’ they answered. Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him. . .” (Matthew 26:63-68). That was why Jesus died, because he told the truth about being God. Earlier he said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:6-7).
We have three choices when faced with the words Jesus spoke. We can believe he was insane, like the guy in the psych ward who says that he is God. We can think that he was lying and trying to swindle people with his claims. Or we can actually believe what he said. Lunatic, Liar or Lord. Those are the choices. But how could someone who was insane bring health to the minds of so many throughout history, including people in our world today? How could he be a liar and at the same time inaugurate the highest form of morality known to the human race? The witness of millions of lives who claim to have experienced him leaves only one option — to believe that he was who he said he was: the one and only Son of God.
The gruesomeness and torture of the beatings of Christ are well portrayed in the movie The Passion. The flesh would have been torn from his body, and his spine may have been exposed and his ribs would have been broken by the metal in the Roman “Cat of Nine Tails” whip. The spikes of the crucifixion would have gone through the medial nerve and caused agonizing suffering. His ankles would have been crushed by the spikes. The suffering of the cross was so great that a special word was developed for it; it is the word excruciating. It literally means “out of the cross” — the suffering that comes out of being on a cross. But there was one reason, and one reason only that he endured all of that. He did it for you.
Who killed Jesus Christ? The Romans? The Jews? No, it was you and I. Your sins and mine put him through his passion and death. He could have avoided it all and sent us all to hell, after all, we were the ones who deserved to be punished and die for our own sins. But he willingly endured it all. He took the punishment for the sins of the whole world upon himself. The Bible says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author 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. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3). The word that burns like a beacon in that passage is the word “joy.” It seems so out of place. What was the joy that was set before Jesus? It was that he would rise from death, redeem the world and atone for its sin, making it possible for us to come to God. The joy was that he would again sit in victory on his Father’s throne and know that he had overcome sin, death and hell. The kingdoms of the world would become the kingdom of our Christ, and he would reign forever and ever. Listen to this amazing scripture: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). The Bible says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
But all of the suffering would have meant nothing if Jesus had not walked out of that tomb on first Easter Sunday morning. The thing that the skeptics cannot explain is that more people believe in Jesus Christ, and have had their lives changed by him today, that at any other time in history, and the number is growing every second. The atheists and skeptics have not been able to turn people away from Jesus. The people who claim to be Christians and yet live corrupt lives have not been able to turn people away from Jesus. The superstitious people who use Jesus like a magic charm cannot turn people away from the true Christ. The failure of the church cannot turn people away from Jesus Christ. And there is only one explanation: He is alive. He crushed the serpents head, stomped on death and walked out of the grave to prove that he was exactly who he said he was.
The Gospel is being preached in some strange places today — on movie screens, in scientific journals and on radio talk shows. Newsweek, which is not exactly known for its fair treatment of Christianity, says, “The risen Christ is the center of the Christian faith. The mystery without which there would be no church, no hope of eternal life, no living Christ to encounter today. No other historical figure has ever made the claim that He was raised from the dead. It was this appearance of the resurrected Christ that lit the flame of the Christian faith. It wasn’t the morality of the Sermon on the Mount, which enabled Christianity to conquer Roman paganism, but it was the belief that Jesus was alive. He’d been raised from the dead.”
As our scripture today said: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).
I just read the story online of a guy who sold everything in order to place a bet in Los Vegas. The article explains: “A British man who has sold all his possessions, including his clothes, will stand in a rented tuxedo on Sunday and bet everything on a single spin of the roulette wheel. If he wins, he doubles his money. If he loses, he will be left with only the television crew documenting his every move.” His net worth is $138,000 after he sold everything. He is doing that today, Easter Sunday. If he wins he will have a lot of money. If he loses he will be broke and naked.
May I suggest that you are making the same gamble? Some of us are betting everything we have on the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose from the grave so that we might live forever. Some of you may be gambling that it is all just a nice story. If those who believe in Christ are wrong, they lose nothing. If those who do not believe in Christ are wrong, they lose everything — and worse. Even if those who doubt are right they have gained nothing. But if those of us who believe in Christ are right, we will inherit the kingdom of God and eternal life.
Where are you placing your bet today?
If you want to be sure that you know where your life is headed in eternity, and you want to experience the reality of the risen Christ in your life today, I invite you to pray the following prayer with me:
“Dear God, I believe Jesus was who He claimed to be — your Son, and that he proved it by rising from death. Jesus, thank you for dying for me on the Cross. I realize that only your love could save me and I accept your free gift of salvation. I want to know you and follow your plan for my life. As much as I know how, I ask you to come into my life. Amen.”
Rodney J. Buchanan
April 11, 2004
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
