THE POWER OF THE NAIL
Colossians 2:13-14
(A 6” nail was handed to every person as they entered the worship center that morning)
This morning as you entered, you were presented with a gift – a nail. Go ahead and look at it while I am speaking. Feel it, grip it, weigh it, push its point against your hand or wrist. It’s not too different that the nail used to affix Jesus to the cross. – just about one inch shorter.
Last August, about 40 of us from our church were in Mexico building a house for a family. As I was helping put the roof on the home, I noticed a difference in a hammer and nail in my hand as opposed to some of the others from our church who have true carpentry skills. I noticed the difference, I am sure that they noticed the difference and I know that my thumb noticed the difference! It all depends upon whose hand the nail is in.
That’s true of a lot of things in life. A basketball in my hand is worth about $19. Put that same basketball in Lebron James hands and its worth $19 million a year. Put a bat and ball in my hands and it might be worth $13. Put that ball and bat in the same hands of Vladimer Guerrero, and it becomes worth $13million a year . A golf ball and club in my hands is worth about $100. In the hands of Tiger Woods, it is suddenly worth $100 million. It all depends upon whose hands it’s in. Give me a hammer and nail and I can tack down a shingle. Put a nail in the hands of Jesus and he can bring salvation to all of mankind. That’s the power of the nail.
Of course, the kind of nail we are talking about today was the final step in the most awful way to die in the first century. Though the Roman army were experts when it came to crucifying people, they considered it such a brutal way to die that no citizen of Rome could be executed in that manner. The Romans had three ways of executing condemned prisoners. The most honorable way was by the sword, or decapitation. That was the way, according to tradition that the Apostle Paul was executed. It is also the way that John the Baptist died as well as James, the brother of John. A second way criminals were executed was by burning them alive. As horrible as that is to imagine, the Romans believed it was more humane that death on a cross. That gives us some glimpse of the agony Jesus endured on our behalf.
The final day of people who shared the fate of Jesus began with a brutal beating. After they beat you, they mocked you. After mocking you, they stripped you. After stripping you, they humiliated you. And finally, they nailed you to a cross, while you were still alive – while your family and your loved ones and your enemies watched. Try to imagine watching something that awful happening to your father or your brother or your husband or your son. Yet, in the midst of that horrific day, the most amazing thing occurred. The salvation of mankind – the redemption of creation was won.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins ,having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
When Paul wrote that passage of scripture in the letter to the church at Colossae, he depicted the fact that Jesus went to the cross powerless but when his body was taken down, he was all-powerful. Notice what was accomplished by the power of the nail. People dead in sin were made alive. The written code against us was cancelled. All of the charges were taken down and nailed to the cross.
The terminology Paul uses in interesting. He makes both a legal and a financial reference. Legally, the written code represented the list of charges stated in a court of law against a criminal condemned to die. In the ancient world, those charges were written on a slate of wood and it was then nailed to the cross above the head of the condemned man. Financially, in the ancient world, if a debtor could not pay a debt, the amount due was written down and charged against the one owing money. Until it could be paid, that man was thrown into a debtor’s prison and might remain there the remainder of his life until the debt was settled.
Those two thoughts illuminate this beautiful chorus we sang when I was a teenager.
“He paid a debt he did not owe
I owed a debt I could not pay
I needed someone to wash my sins away;
And now I sing a brand new song
Amazing Grace, all day long
Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.”
In a moment, we are going to experience communion. The elements of the bread and the juice await us – but, before we celebrate we must understand that we have no joy today apart from the power of the nail.
When The Passion, was made, the director chose to not show the face of the man who takes the mallet and hammers the nail into the hands and feet of Jesus. All one sees is the strong, brawny hand of the soldier gripping the hammer and then driving it down. It was later revealed that the actor swinging the nail was actually the director of the film, Mel Gibson. He understood what we must understand today. It was his sins that nailed Jesus to the cross. It was also my sins and your sins that nailed Jesus to the cross.
May we reflect on that reality this morning as we prepare to enter into the communion experience.
The Taking of the Bread
The last meal Jesus ate before going to the cross was a Passover meal with his disciples. For some 1,500 years, the Jewish people had been remembering the night the angel of the Lord passed over their homes in Egypt. The meal is comprised of strange recipes and flavors – all designed to teach a lesson of the care and protection of God. Salt water reminded them of the tears shed while in slavery. Bitter herbs reminded them of the harsh life they led. Fruit pastes with cinnamon reminded them of the bricks they built and constructed with. The lamb reminded them of the sacrifice of blood that saved their first born child of death. The flat bread reminded them of the haste with which they left Egypt and of the purity to which God called them to live. Along with that, the four cups of wine were taken throughout the meal to remind them of the promises of Exodus 6:6-7.
It was a recipe designed and developed to invite people to taste the Lord and see that He is good. (Psalm 34:8). That night, Jesus took a centuries old tradition and infused it with new life and meaning – and we recall that today. More than anything, it reminds us that communion is a call to understand that following Jesus is serious business. Nothing less that his own body was required that we might have everlasting life. When Jesus cried out, “Tetelestai”, “it is finished” – he was stating that at long last, the requirements of a holy God for payment of sin had been met – people dead in their sins now had new life – the work Jesus had been sent to do was not complete. All of that was made possible because of the power of the nail.
The Taking of the Cup.
That night, Jesus not only broke the bread but he also drank from the cup and said, “This is my blood that is shed for you”. The rule for an acceptable sacrifice was clear. The writer of Hebrew said that apart from the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin”. The veil that separated God and mankind of torn apart from top to bottom because of the shed blood of Jesus.
Conclusion
Two successful brothers, once closed, had a falling out. Though their land was adjacent to one another, they had not spoken in years. One of the brothers hired a carpenter and explained what he wanted built. He told how in recent days that his brother had bulldozed down a levee that held back a creek of water. Once it was down, the meadow that once stood between the two lands was now filled with water. The brother told the carpenter that he wanted him to take the lumber he had in his barn and to use it to construct an eight foot high fence between his land and his brother’s land so that me might never have to look at him or his land again. He left for a trip after giving clear instructions to the carpenter. Upon his return, he found the carpenter making his finishing touches. To his astonishment, however, he found no fence built. Instead, a bridge had been constructed over the water, connecting his land with his brother’s land. And, he saw that same brother whom he had not spoken to in many years approaching with tears running down his face. He embraced his brother and said, I have done so many things wrong to you over the years. But, look at what you have done. You have built a bridge between us and reconnected me to yourself. That is what we celebrate today. And, God has now called each of us who know him to build bridges with others on his behalf.
