Will We Embrace Christ’s Cross…As Our Cross?

 

Good Morning Friends,

 

Last night my wife and I attended a Maundy Thursday service at church. Last year we participated online and shared a meal with desert serving as the communion elements. But this year in a designed worship space as we listened to music and scripture readings designed to open our hearts to a receptive state of what transpired in Jerusalem as Jesus was ending this special mission journey. The time was at Passover almost 2000 years ago and the events included the last supper, betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, and death of Jesus. This was played out in the readings. As in years past, the service actually never ended. The service concluded but also continued in us in silence for us to reflect on until Sunday. So today we continue looking at the redeeming, atoning, and sanctifying blood of Jesus Christ. We know that life is in the blood and that the blood of Christ gives life…that the Lamb of God was slain as a sin offering so we might live…that the Lamb of God was slain so that our sinful life might die with Him on the cross. There is a great exchange, and it is as if our sin is drawn out and we are given a transfusion of blood drawn from God’s Holy blood bank. But the image needs to be personalized and a question remains. Will We Embrace Christ’s Cross…As Our Cross?

   
 

Scripture: Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

 
 Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 (NRSV)

 
 

See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished at him—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals— so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate. Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

  
 

Isaiah 52:13—53:12 (NRSV)

  
 

  
 

After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, “I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.” Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people. Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. The woman said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself. Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. Jesus answered, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said.” When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed. Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.) Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.'” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.” After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

  
 

John 18:1—19:42 (NRSV)

  
 

You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God

  
 

1 Peter 1:18-23 (NRSV)

  
 

Message: Here on this Good Friday, we have a quadruple helping of scripture readings to help us remember the most important day in the most important life ever lived. The day is prophesied in Isaiah and described in John and reflected on in Peter. And in a way it helps us to walk with Jesus to Calvary as we too carry a cross. Our Lenten journey has ended, and we have a pause designed to help us reflect on our own cross to bear. And I wonder how you view it…and how you react to your cross in awareness of the cross of Jesus.  Is it like the hideous, most brutal instrument of death ever conceived in the cruel mind of man or possibly a symbol of atonement and salvation… a symbol of suffering love of a man found innocent and yet still crucified…?  Friends, here we are awash in the most important blood ever shed…the most precious blood offered for life to be transformed. Our crosses can be like the two symbols of the Cross…a symbol of sin in our lives that will surely kill us or a symbol of transformation. Friends, there is no sign, no icon, no mark, or image manifested more enduring than the Word made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ on the cross. So too, the image of our sins is to be transformed. Believe differently. Do not try harder for today our Lenten journey has ended. Now we are to let our sins die, where Jesus dies… Now we are to believe that the curtain to the Holy of Holies has been torn open making God accessible to each one of us. Now we are to share a life of love and a faith that will last forever, even as we await the resurrection. For those who like intrigue and conspiracy theory plotlines you will be right at home with today’s scripture, for there is no greater drama than the veracity of Jesus. There is no greater story line than how the Word made flesh puts it all together. On that Good Friday so many years ago, Christ was declared guilty by the Jewish religious leaders. And people began to believe that he was only a crazy carpenter. Still even Pilate and the thief on the cross and the executioner testified to Jesus’ innocence. If Jesus had lived it would have been different, but he died and that was the plan. But for the people his dying was evidence that he was guilty, as guilty as sin. Sure, Jesus had called the lawmakers vipers, fools and hypocrites. Sure, they did not want to change. They wanted to keep power even at the cost of more lies. But here is the deal. They did not know the power of God. And God would testify to Jesus’ innocence in the form of an empty tomb and that would stir the hearts of the people and that would birth the church and that would change the verdict. Friends, at the Last Supper Jesus talks to his disciples in the Upper Room about love and joy. He is talking about the joy set before Him to endure the cross. He is talking about the love we are to have in our lives as evidence of His resurrection. The message is that in times of trials and tribulations we are to experience God’s provision through good fellowship, good heritage, good counsel, and good hope. We are to experience the riches of our spiritual inheritance secured in the joyful resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, we too look beyond Friday when it appeared that Jesus was guilty, and we too are to look beyond the resurrection for the journey continues, but it must always include the cross.

 
 

And So, the story of the cross like the story of the resurrection is to be completed in each of us with Christ as the center of it all. Our crosses we are to bear are to be different than the Cross of Jesus but there is to be a connection too as the sin in us dies and we turn to embrace the love given and received.
After the backwash from the events we are to go back to what we were doing before but changed in a way to help us to live the life of abundance believing in what Christ makes possible. We are to recognize the enemies of joy and claim freedom from them and victory over them for the greatest good possible. Friends, we are to be completed together in Christ for the glory of God and our own salvation. The truth of our lives is to be found in Christ. And so, the truth, the only meaningful fact about my life and yours is how Jesus lives on in us. It is that important and is ultimately the only thing of which we will not be ashamed. And it cannot be a tale or fib or yarn with embellishments or worse yet a lie, for that does no one any good. No, I am thinking about and I hope you too feel a desire and joy growing inside that spills over into the lives of others along the lines of those who walked on the road to Emmaus on Resurrection Sunday. I am writing about how Jesus changes each of us when we lift him up and talk about what he has done by laying down his life in love for us. And the beauty is that Jesus appeared to people after he was glorified in a resurrected body and that means he can appear to us as well though the Spirit if we look for Him in our interactions with others carrying the burden of a cross.

 
 

Pray that we recognize the symbols and significance of the journey. Pray with thanksgiving that Jesus endured the cross and paid for our sin in full. Pray we see the love of God at work for you and for me in the experience of Lent and of Holy week. Pray we believe.
Pray
with thanks that the cleansing of our sins, the cost of our salvation, the confidence given helps us to enter God’s presence. Pray we establish a connection on the cross, linking heaven and earth to transforms us. Pray Jesus’ conquest and victory over sin revealed in His character will now be in us as we claim the new covenant…a promise sealed in blood and love and forgiveness that transforms. Pray we realize that the resurrection validates our own salvation, faith, and hope. Pray we experience the power of empty. Pray we are then filled with joy. Pray we consider the story of how we each came to know Jesus.

  
 

Blessings,

  
 

John Lawson