Untitled Sermon (19)

Scripture Introduction:

A loving man has a dear Son. When I say loving, I mean that this guy is just full of patience and grace. When you look up the word “love” in the dictionary, you not only see that love is a verb but you also see a picture of this guy.

But he also has a neighbor who continually offends him. He blows leaves in his yard, doesn’t take care of his house—dropping property value, he is vulgar and you hear him cussing out his family all hours of the night. Loud parties. In fact just the other night he was burning crosses in his yard and he had some really weird party over at his house. The whole group started threatening his family....deciding to take up some firebrands and threaten to burn his house down. He’s just an absolutely awful man.

And so this man—the one with a dear Son, who happens to absolutely hate his neighbor…comes up with a solution.

I know what I’ll do. I’ll sacrifice my son to keep me from being angry at my neighbor. I won’t be so angry with my neighbor if I can take all my frustration out on my son. I’ll kill him and that’ll make me feel better.

That sounds kind of ridiculous doesn’t it? But it’s precisely this than many believe we believe about the Cross of Christ.

God, angry with humanity, sacrifices his Son to appease His wrath. Here is how one writer puts it:

“How…have we come to believe that at the cross this God of love suddenly decides to vent his anger and wrath on his own Son? The fact is that the cross isn’t a form of cosmic child abuse—a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offense he has not even committed”.

Maybe Scripture will give us an answer. What you’ll notice in the text that we are about to read is talk of Passover and a Passover lamb. It’s the language of sacrifice. Will it give us an answer to our question?

Is the idea of Jesus’ being a sacrifice to appease the wrath of God, is that cosmic child abuse?

Luke 22:7–23 ESV

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.

Sermon Introduction:

How does this text show us that what happens at the Cross is not cosmic child abuse? Simple. Jesus isn’t a passive part of this story. He willingly died for us. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.

This text can help us clear up two misconceptions. One, that God has somehow caused Jesus to do something that He is not willing to do—so it’s something akin to child abuse.

Secondly, that Jesus is somehow causing God to do something that He did not want to do—save humanity. As if Jesus steps in and does something that the Father is reluctant to do; namely, forgive.

The problem with the analogy I gave earlier is that the son in the story is just an innocent little boy playing with his monster trucks and dad decides to sacrifice him to appease his anger towards an unrepentant neighbor.

That’s not what happens in the gospel. And I want to show you that this morning. I want you to see this morning that Jesus died on behalf of sinners. His blood shed is a new covenant. And I want you to leave not only knowing what that means but celebrating the freedom that Jesus gives.

The first thing we need to look at is verse 7-13. And here we see that Jesus was in control.

I. Jesus was in control

Now, I’ll confess that I really labored over this part of the passage—probably more than I should have, there are controversial things and I could really get lost in the weeds on stuff in verses 14-23. I mean there is content there that really split the Protestant Reformation into at least 3 different factions…even today we are divided over it. So I maybe should have spent more time unraveling some of that…but I just couldn’t get around verses 7-13.

It’s not difficult to understand what is going on. That is all pretty straight-forward. It’s Passover…I’ll explain that in just a moment…for now just know that it’s an important meal, a religious ceremony, that every good Jewish person had to observe, and so you have in the background Judas is conniving and the Jewish leaders are trying to figure out how to kill Jesus…but then Luke takes on a 7 verse detour to tell us something he could have told us in maybe a sentence:

Jesus told his disciples to prepare passover meal, and they did it.

But Luke is adding a ton of details to the scene. And that’s what has me tripped up a bit. Luke, you’ve got a limited amount of parchment paper. You only have so much ink. You have a mountain of stuff that you can tell us about Jesus. Why are you telling us all of this?

Where do you want us to prepare it…he’s teasing the story out...

Behold when you enter the city there will be a man with a water jar (okay that’s kinda strange, you’d usually expect that to be a woman) but when you see this guy follow him....then enter his house…and then tell the master of the house, “Teacher says where is the guest room so that I may eat Passover with my disciples. And when you say that he is going to show you a large upper room…it’s going to be furnished....the stuff you need is going to be there. And so when you find all that..prepare it.

And then we have verse 13…which I think is what Luke was wanting us to get to...”And they went and found it just as he had told them”…that’s it…that’s the significant point…that’s why it’s drawn out like it is. “And they prepared the Passover” is just the bare facts. Luke could have just said that…but he wants us to see with our eyes…he wants us to see this vivid picture “it was just as he told them.”

Now maybe you already see it and I was just being dense. But I kept juggling this question over. Why tell us this. And then I thought of some TV shows. In particular I started thinking of a show I used to watch called The Blacklist. The main character is a criminal mastermind and there would be scenes almost like what we see here. “You’re going to go into this area and there you’ll find this guy wearing this hat, and a newspaper, and he’ll have a watch on his right hand, and then you’ll follow him into this building, and there you’ll see this plant, and then you’ll have a guy throw ninja throwing stars at you, and then you’ll duck them and then you’re going to meet this Norwegian fella named Gary…he has a little piece nicked off of his ear…and Gary will then take you out to this shed and in that shed you’ll find a little box and in that little box you’ll find a key swallow the key...

Okay…that’s enough...

Why do they do that on The Blacklist? What’s the reason for putting that in the story? Because they want us to know that even if it all seems like chaos, Red, the main character, is in total control of the situation. It’s giving security.

I mean you walk into this situation without that prior knowledge and Gary with the missing ear and the throwing stars are going to throw you for a loop. But if you’ve prepared beforehand you’re thinking that the guy in charge knows what he is doing. He’s not a victim of circumstance.

That’s why all of this is here. It is to show us that what is happening…this Passover meal…everything around it…is happening according to plan. But that tells us something else.

Jesus is willingly going through all of this. We’ll see this a bit more now when we talk about this Passover lamb that had to be sacrificed...

What is the Passover lamb?

In verse 7 we read that “it came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed”

The passover lamb comes from the story of the Exodus. When God delivered the Israelites through the final plague on Egypt they were required to select a two-year old male lamb without defect. The head of the household was to slaughter the lamb at twilight, taking care that none of its bones were broken, and apply some of its blood to the tops and sides of the doorframe of the house.

God said that when He saw the lamb’s blood on the doorframe of a house, He would “pass over” that home and not permit “the destroyer” (Exodus 12:23) to enter. Any home without the blood of the lamb would have their firstborn son struck down that night (Exodus 12:12-13).

Thus it was custom every year during this time to commemorate this passover meal. It was a picture and a symbol of God’s rescue. They were to eat this meal in haste—as a symbol of their leaving Egypt quickly on that night. And for a passover meal they would have four main elements:

unleavened bread, wine, bitter herbs, and a roasted lamb.

That is the background for this meal that Jesus is having with his disciples. But as you scan through this you notice something missing. Now in the gospel of John we know that this cup that Judas dips in with Jesus is the cup of bitter herbs…and we see the bread and we see the wine here in the gospel of Luke. But the “roasted lamb” is missing.

Now, did they actually eat a roasted lamb and it’s just not recorded? Possibly. People have gone to really strange places, in my opinion, trying to explain this. Some have said that Jesus must have been a vegetarian. I guess that’s possible. But I don’t really think that is why there isn’t a mention of the lamb. I think the gospel writers aren’t mentioning a lamb—even if there was one present—and Jesus isn’t honing in on a lamb, because he himself is the lamb.

That’s why it’s so important in verses 7-13 that we see Jesus as directing this whole thing. This lamb is different. This lamb speaks. This lamb is directing the whole thing. He’s a willing sacrifice.

We’ll see this more in the next section.

“And the hour came”…that’s more than just “it’s the time of night when this needs to happen. This is what the gospel of Luke has been building to. The thing which Jesus has been marching towards.

“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”.

Earnestly desired is an expression of intense longing. It’s his last night. And he wants to be with his friends. Certainly, we see his humanity here. He loves these men that he has spent this time with. And Passover was a picture, a celebration, of God’s rescue.

Certainly, as Jesus looks around at the table to his disciples he is thinking about all that Passover means. He not only sees the shadow—the preexistent Christ would have been present with the original passover—but here now he sees the fulfillment.

And that’s what, I believe, he is so excited about. It’s gospel time. Yes. It’s suffering. Yes, that will be horrendous. But these are the types of things that we have where the author of Hebrews is able to say, “who for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross”.

I can’t help but think about this moment as well…knowing everything he knows is going to happen. Peter is going to betray him. The other disciples are going to walk away in their own way. He will be abandoned. They will fall asleep in his moment of greatest need.

He knows the ups and the downs. He knows that a few years later Peter is going to end up being a hypocrite and need to be rebuked by a guy named Paul. Jesus knows about all the failures and falls and mess ups and boneheaded things they will do from this moment until their death.

And yet those are not his focus. His focus is on this meal. Because what is taking place here means far more than all those points of human weakness and even rebellion. Jesus’ delight to save overcomes these.

Can we not see this same thing for us? “Fear not, little flock it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. And here we see it is not only the Father’s good pleasure but the Son’s good pleasure…his earnest desire.

He not only willingly dies…he joyously and willing sacrifices.

Now as we get into Jesus’ administering of the Lord’s Supper this, sadly, is one of those places where churches have divided for years. How sad is this? But it’s reality. And yes, he joyously and willing died for people who would argue about the way to commemorate his joyously and willingly dying for us.

I’ll just quickly tell you what some of these difficulties are here. 1. When Jesus talks about dividing it among themselves…does this mean there is a common cup, or did they have their own cups and it was spread out that way (kind of like how we do it when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper).

The big argument though is what does Jesus mean when he says “this is my body”. This split the Reformation in the 16th century. I’ll give you some nerd words and their basic meaning…then we’ll try to get at the major point of this passage…then be finished.

A Catholic view is that “This is my body” literally means that this is his body. They believe in what is called transubstantiation. That means that miraculously when they partake of the Lord’s Supper…the elements of the Eucharist (and if you’ve ever wondered where that comes it comes from the Greek word for “give thanks”)…so the elements are converted into the body and blood of Christ…and only the appearance of bread and wine remain.

Other denominations believe in what is called consubstantiation. Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, believe in this view. This means that Christ is really truly present in the elements but not in a way in which it changes the elements. You aren’t literally drinking his blood or eating his flesh. But he is with, in and under the bread and with, in, and under the wine.

Another view is what is called the Memorialism view of the Lord’s Supper. Baptists typically hold this view. This is that the elements are symbolic representations of the body and blood of Jesus. It’s only a picture of what Christ has done and when we do it we remember Him.

There is a fourth view that is called the spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. It’s similar to Memorialism but makes a point that Christ is spiritually present in the elements and administration of the Lord’s Supper.

For me personally, I would reject transubstantiation for sure. I don’t think it’s necessary and it just doesn’t seem to fit with what is the purpose of this text. Shocker, I’m not Catholic.

But I think there is some attraction to a consubstantiation view. I get it, and I appreciate the emphasis upon the presence of Christ…he really is present. But I at the end of the day I’m probably closer to a spiritual presence—memorialism view.

I think we Baptists can sometimes rob it of some significance…by fighting with other denominations. There is “nothing magical happening here”…this isn’t really turning into blood and flesh…okay…but what IS happening? There really is something going on and the gospel is being proclaimed.

And so whatever you mean when you say that Christ, through the Spirit, is present when the gospel is proclaimed…that’s what I mean.

Because THAT is what this whole thing is about. THAT is what Christ is doing here. Speaking of the new covenant in his blood.

This is often called the Last Supper…but I think it might be better for us to call this the Last Passover. Because Jesus fulfills everything the passover was pointing to.

The lamb—his blood, saves from our sins. From death. From the wages of sin.

The body—broken, given for us.

The rescue, the redemption, the freeing from bondage.

No, this is far from cosmic child abuse. This is a Son who out of love for His Father, out of love for His Father’s glory, out of love for humanity, out of love for you and I, he willingly and joyously lays down HIs life so that we might have life.

John Stott is correct:

The Father did not lay on the Son an ordeal he was reluctant to bear, nor did the Son extract from the Father a salvation he was reluctant to bestow. There is no suspicion anywhere in the New Testament of discord between the Father and the Son, ‘whether by the Son wresting forgiveness from an unwilling or by the Father demanding a sacrifice from an unwilling Son.” There was no unwillingness in either. On the contrary, their will coincided in the perfect self-sacrifice of love.

Do you know what this means? It means the Father isn’t reluctant to save you. The Son isn’t forced to redeem.

It’s not as if the Father was in heaven raging against humanity and Jesus stepped in and said, don’t kill them dad. Kill me instead. Pour out your wrath on me instead of them.

No, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

Who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all..how will he not also graciously give us all things?

And it’s not as if the Father was up in heaven saying they blew it, but man I still love them, a sacrifice has to be made. Son, tack out the trash. You need to go down there and save them. Alright, fine dad. But just because you asked.

No, This is my body…given for you. This is my blood…poured out for you.

Joyously. Willingly.

This lamb speaks.

And he speaks a better word. The new covenant. That you are united to Him by grace alone, through faith alone. Applying the blood of Christ. How does this new covenant become yours…much the same way as in the OT. You apply the blood of the lamb.

Our sin separates us from a God who loves us. We are rebels. We’ve turned away.

Isaiah 53:4–6 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This lamb speaks. But does he speak for you? Are you united to Christ?