April 14, 2006 Matthew 27:45-54
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?” When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
In John 3:19-20 Jesus said, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” It is the very nature of darkness to hate the light. The two do not mix. That is what makes this night of Good Friday so strange and eery for us. Here God’s Word exposes us to the Person we call the Light of the World - Jesus Christ - surrounded by darkness and hanging on a cross. What is even worse is that darkness overtakes the Light. For three hours - from noon to three, Jesus is surrounded by dark people in a dark world. It’s a disturbing picture and a disturbing feeling - even for people who are used to living in the darkness - because in this picture - the darkness is felt. Ironically however, it’s this Troubling Time of the Passion - these three hours - that exposes us to what the cross and the Christ - the Light of the World - is really all about. The expose comes after the darkness is done - out of Jesus own words and the words of those who see and feel what happens. So sit in your witness stand and watch what the Light has to say - in the midst of darkness.
After Three Hours of Darkness, We Witness
I. The actions of the world
One of the more interesting Bible passages in the Bible is Paul’s description of creation in Romans chapter 8. It reads,
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. . We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (19-22)
It is interesting to me to see how Paul personifies the “innocent bystander” in this whole mess that we have gotten ourselves into. Who is that innocent bystander? It’s creation. The sun, moon and stars - as well as the sky, land, sea and the creatures who live in this world didn’t do anything to be under the curse of sin. Man did. Yet they have to suffer under God’s own active curse on it. God says that as the end times near the decay of the world will have more and more problems. I’m not bringing this up to have a sermon on global warming - but just to indicate that the creation is under the control of God - and the curse of man as well.
Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise us to see creation with a seemingly active participation in the story of the crucifixion. God works with creation to do two things in today’s text. It becomes dark and the earth shakes. Darkness was used and described in a variety of ways in the Old Testament.
• Exodus 10:21-22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.
• Exodus 14:19-20 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
• Job 3:3-4 “May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’ That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it.
Earthquakes also were used to show God’s power as well -
• Exodus 19:16-18 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently,
• 1 Samuel 14:15 Then panic struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.
It should be no surprise then when these two aspects were placed side by side by people - denoting an overall sign of God’s judgment and strength.
• Psalm 97:1-6 The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.
God had on more than one occasion used the miraculous wonders of creation - things like darkness and earthquakes - to help His people achieve victory over their enemies. Darkness would make it impossible for God’s enemies to see what they were doing. Earthquakes would take away the foundations of what God’s enemies stood on - enemies like Korah - who were swallowed by the very earth that stood beneath them.
Therefore, when God had creation turn dark and the earth quake - His message was being symbolized. God was present. God was powerful. God was not happy. Nobody needed ears to hear it or hands to feel it. All you needed was two feet to stand on or two eyes to see it that SOMETHING SUPER NATURAL was going on here. God was speaking through His creation.
II. The words of Christ
If anyone didn’t know the history of the Old Testament - the first words of Christ which he speaks after the darkness really clarify what this darkness was signifying. 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?” Earlier Jesus had say, “FATHER, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Yet here He uses a different address - He calls His Father, “God.” The Father - Son relationship had ceased, as the Father forsook the Son.
Isaiah 59:2 explains what this is all about. “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Being separated from God denotes a broken relationship as a result of sin - so that God hides His face from you and doesn’t listen to your cries. This ultimately comes to a culmination in what Jesus described as hell. Hell occurs when God says to someone, “depart from me” or “away from me.” It is described in Scriptures as “eternal darkness.” With this statement, Jesus was stating that God had withdrawn His presence from His one and only Son. The eternal relationship of the Trinity was broken for a moment - and Jesus was suffering. We can hear it in His question.
The question “why” also tells us something else - that Jesus didn’t do anything to EARN such treatment. He had done nothing wrong - there was no sin that should have separated them. This is the question of someone who is confidence in His own righteousness - who feels a right to defend himself. Yet they are also words of faith. In crying out to God - He was looking to His God for answers - for hope - for vindication from His situation which He did not deserve to be in. He was hoping that through His loud cries and prayers God would hear and come to His rescue. This is the epitome of faith. As Christians, we show wonder at Paul and Barnabas who were able to sing praises to God while their hands and feet were in stocks in prison. How much harder would it be to still look to God for help - while He was putting you through hell? These words give us witness to a Son who never forsook His Father - even while His Father forsook Him. Jesus shows us what the ultimate faith does - one that can praise God as God and look to Him for help - even when He seems to be treating you like the devil and punishing you for something you didn’t do.
Matthew continues by telling us that Jesus cried out in a loud voice. John tells us what those words were - “it is finished.” (John 19:30) This simple word in the Greek - teteletai - was what the Greeks would write when a bill was paid in full. Jesus didn’t just say these words, He shouted them to the world. They reveal to us what this cross was all about. It was about redemption - about making a payment. What was the payment for? Paul writes in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” The payment wasn’t being made to Satan - but to God - to pay for the curse that God had laid on Adam and Eve if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. The law said, “the soul who sins is the one who will die,” and so Jesus came to pay the payment that we owed to God - the perfect life we should have lived and the eternal hell that we should have suffered in. It was payback time. Jesus declared to us on the cross, “it is finished!” Paid in full! What an earth shattering event! Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” There is not one sin left to pay for. Whenever you suffer in this world, it’s not because God is making you pay for something you did. God does allow things to happen to you as a result of sin - but it doesn’t PAY for sin. Jesus already paid for sin. What a comfort these words - right after and in the midst of darkness - bring to light!
III. The response of the witnesses
As we listen to these words and see these sights through the eyes of faith - the meaning seems so obvious to us. Yet there were those who saw the same things and heard the same things, but only with their physical eyes - and they just didn’t get it. When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” Now, you have to wonder what these people really thinking, and who they actually were? Were these just people who didn’t know Aramaic? Or were they Jews who were just making fun of Jesus? In waiting for Elijah to come - from the prophecy of Malachi - were they still looking for one last from miracle for Jesus to conjure up prior to his death? It doesn’t matter. As Jesus said these words, it was as if He were speaking a foreign language - even if they did understand it. Instead of looking for salvation FROM Jesus - they were looking for salvation FOR Jesus.
This shows us the condition of unbelievers. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” No matter how many times they look at the cross and hear the Word of God - all they see is a poor man being unjustly crucified. They feel sorry for him - and talk about how wicked the Jews and the Roman soldiers were for crucifying Jesus. They say, “it’s too bad somebody didn’t step up to save Jesus from this terrible fate.” When Jesus walked past the professional weepers on the way to the cross - what did He say to them?
• Luke 23:27-31 “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
The message of the cross for us is not, “feel sorry for Jesus” but “be sorry for what YOU have done.” This judgment on Christ will bring judgment on you if you do not repent. This message of the cross did not only fall on deaf ears.
• When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Another text says that they proclaimed, “surely He was a righteous man.” Others walked away beating their breasts after all of this happened - realizing that what they had done - what had happened was a terrible thing. Ironically, this happened to the centurion and the soldiers - the last people you would expect to be intimidated by anything. It brought about great fear and sorrow over what THEY had done.
As you stare at this cross - and see the earth shake - the sky turn dark - and hear Jesus cry out, “why have you forsaken me,” doesn’t it bring about the same response in you? If you think about it - Jesus didn’t deserve this treatment. Each and every one of us ought to beat our breast - because Jesus didn’t deserve to go through this hell. He was a righteous man - the Son of God. The eyes of faith do not look at this cross and expect salvation FOR Jesus. The eyes of faith look at this ugly sight, and ironically find salvation FROM Jesus - because we realize that Jesus was going through what WE deserved. When we hear Jesus cry, “it is finished,” it proves to us that He was who He claimed to be the Son of God. For Jesus Himself said, “the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost. I didn’t come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” When we look at this cross - through the sorrow and tears of what we have done - we see proof that Jesus was who He claimed to be - the Christ.
I bet you could count on two hands the number of times a blind person has been called to witness a crime. Why? You usually need eyes to testify that you SAW what happened. It’s hard to see anything in the dark. As the darkness closed around Jesus this night, it was impossible for anyone to see much of anything. But through the eyes of faith - the darkness and the words of Jesus are a witness to us as to what is actually happening. In the midst of this darkness - the light of salvation was shining the brightest - as we see Jesus carry out His greatest act of love - the act of redemption for the sins of the world. Instead of looking for salvation FOR Jesus - in the midst of the darkness - we witness the Light of the world - and we find salvation from Jesus. Amen.
