Toppled Temple, Torn Curtain Luke 23:26-49

We’re going to read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion this morning. It’s a story that we’ve heard time and time again. Because of that it can become so familiar that we might miss some of the details.

When I go into an antique store or something I’ll usually go the same way—follow the same path—but if it’s a really good one and I don’t want to miss anything, I’ll circle back and come at it from the other direction. Seeing things from a different angle helps us sometimes.

That’s what I want to do here this morning. The main angle—the way that we usually walk when we tackle this text and talk about the crucifixion, the death of Jesus, the veil that is torn, etc. is to talk about the separation that we have with God. The way that Christ bridges that gap. And that is a beautiful and wonderful and tremendous path.

But sometimes we miss some beautiful things if we only walk into the text from that angle. We end up in our Bible time reading something like Colossians 2:15, and scratching our heads...

Colossians 2:15 ESV

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

What is that talking about? That’s the path I want us to walk this morning. But for us to be able to see the passage from this angle, somehow we need to feel the crippling power of being oppressed.

For those who have endured abuse, you don’t have to imagine. You know what it’s like to say, “that’s just the way it is...” To have someone or something stand over you with such power, crippling, feeling like you can’t breathe, resigned to that.

Or maybe it’s not something you’d classify as abuse but there is a relationship where you always have to walk on eggshells. “That’s just the way it is”...

This could be a controlling boss. A system of government. Anything where you just don’t like it but you feel a little helpless under it. “That’s just the way it is...”

That is what people in this text would have felt. For the common everyday person…like these women that we’re going to read of in this text. There were two big sources of oppression.

The most obvious was Rome. You paid ridiculous taxes to them. They could march in at any moment. Do whatever they wanted to do. They weren’t free. They were over Roman rule.

But there was a smaller power that would have probably felt like an even bigger power in their day. And this one would have felt almost like it was on your side—they weren’t Rome. They would have used Rome’s oppression to gain their own power. That was the temple system.

They were maybe even more oppressive but the people wouldn’t have seen it. And it’s those two systems that are hovering over this entire passage. And you can feel it in the cynical responses of the criminal hung alongside Jesus. The weeping and wailing women. Even the mocking leaders.

Listen in this morning. Try to place yourself there.

Luke 23:26–49 ESV

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

If you don’t know the end of this story…if you have no knowledge of a resurrection…if you’re in this story and it’s Friday…what are you seeing? What are you feeling?

You look over there and see Simon of Cyrene.

Interesting that he’s here, isn’t it?

There should have been another Simon here, shouldn’t there? Simon Peter should have been there to carry the cross, to even die with Jesus, that’s what he said.

But nope. Peter is off in the distance. Abandoned by even one who is supposed to be your best friend.

This Simon will have to do...

Here is Jesus, already bloody, weak from having been beaten and abused for most of the night. Can’t even muster the strength to carry his own cross....this isn’t the whole thing probably…it’s the crossbeam…this big massive log.

Simon is carrying what Jesus, in his flesh, is unable to physically carry in this moment.

I’m speaking here as just an observer, taking in the scene. I don’t know a bit of theology. I’m hearing this story for the first time.

Whoever this Jesus guy is, he’s not one to be emulated. He’s not powerful and strong. He’s not a warrior. He’s too weak to die in triumph.

Another man is carrying his instrument of torture. Pathetic, it seems.

And for Simon, this is just another piece of evidence that tells him he isn’t in charge of his own life. Rome can just come in and make him carry a cross.

And then you see the women

Their world seems to be overturned. They believe this man, Jesus, to be innocent.

What would this have been from their perspective? How helpless would they have felt. Jesus is a victim. He’s a victim of Rome. He’s a victim of the religious system. They believe that He is a great teacher, one who taught about love. One who loved them deeply.

They had placed their hope upon Him. But these rulers and authorities, these powers and principalities, are too strong even for Jesus. The system is too broken. The corruption runs too thick.

Evil wins.

Hope is lost.

Their Jesus is crucified.

You notice the criminals crucified beside him.

What we’re supposed to see here is business as usual. Just three criminals crucified together. A symbol that says don’t mess with Rome.

An from the religious leaders perspective it’s also a symbol. Don’t mess with the holy God. Don’t blaspheme like this Jesus did. Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. This man is enduring the curse.

And that’s why, even more than the other criminals, this Jesus is being mocked.

Even the criminals join in…one of them mocking him. There is a common thread here in 35-43. One thing that they keep shouting at him. “Save yourself!!”

Verse 35…the rulers scoffed and said “if he is the Christ of God, if he is the Chosen One…let him save himself.”

verse 37 the soliders mock him and offer sour wine and say to him… “if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

verse 39 one of the criminals hanging on cross right beside Jesus. “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.”

The assumption behind each of these is that the Christ, the King of the Jews, should be one to preserve self. If you’re really who you say you are then this bad thing isn’t going to be happening to you. If you really are the Christ then you aren’t going to die and suffer and be hanged on a tree.

God’s Chosen One, the Christ doesn’t suffer.

You are suffering.

Therefore, you must not be God’s chosen.

“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land...”

The darkness wins.

Sit in that for a moment. You ever been there? You ever been at that spot when it feels like death has victory? When cancer is more powerful? When broken relationships feel like reality? When the bills are mounting too high? When the powers and principles and rulers and authorities, and all the wickedness…and everything sad and horrible…that’s winning.

That’s what it was in those moments. “The sun’s light failed”.

The most dependable thing. It’s rising in the morning. It gives us light, and heat, and life, and all these good things…it failed.

Failed.

----

But there’s another story that’s running alongside this one. Things aren’t as they at first appear.

The women are weeping and Jesus turns to them and says,

Luke 23:28–31 ESV

But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

What does this mean? Well, what’s easier to burn—green wood or dry wood? Dry wood. And so what is he talking about here.

I think there is much going on, but he’s telling the daughters they shouldn’t be weeping for him. He isn’t the victim. This doesn’t end as a tragedy for him---and potentially not for them either.

If Rome does this to an innocent man, what will they do when Jerusalem, who is not innocent, comes against them? They’ll raze it to the ground. They’ll destroy the temple. This religious system is dying. The religious leaders don’t have the power they think they do. Rome isn’t their puppet.

We see this also in verse 45....the curtain of the temple is torn in two. This part will really preach, right. That curtain is what divided humanity from the presence of God.

But remember how we are looking at this from the other angle? What gave the religious leaders and the temple and all of that it’s power? What were they able to use to hold power over people?

Access to God. They were the means to have access. You want forgiveness, where’d you have to go? These dudes abused that. They were supposed to be dispensers of grace, mercy, love, etc. But they were corrupt.

You know what’s also happening when that curtain is torn in two. They’ve lost their power.

There is a scene in Monsters Inc, The city of Monstropolis is powered by the screams of human children. So, they have to go into their rooms at night and be big scary monsters. Randall, this slithering snake, is the scariest of monsters. One of the best.

But something happens when another monster, Sulley, who is also one of the best monsters meets a little girl, Boo…the one what Randall always scared. They become friends. Sulley discovers that laughter has more power than fear.

At one powerful point in the story Boo, the little girl, confronts her monster—Randall. And Sulley says this to him,

"She's not afraid of you anymore. Looks like you're out of a job."

That is what is happening here. If Jesus Christ is the means of access to God, if the curtain is torn, they don’t have to be afraid. Weep no more, daughters of Zion...

And we see this access in the story of that thief on the cross. I’m indebted to Alistair Begg for this illustration…think about that thief...

Never been in a Bible study, never baptized, never knew anything about church, was condemned as criminal, seems to have lived a terrible life, this guy has absolutely nothing going for him.

And so picture him standing before the gates of heaven...”Why are you here. Why should I let you in?”

I don’t know.

What do you mean you don’t know.

“I don’t know”…the angel grabs his supervisor.

Are you clear on the doctrine of justification, doctrine of Scripture,....on what basis are you here.

“The man on the middle cross said I can come.....”

Friends, that’s the only answer and the only hope any of us have. The man on the middle cross said that I can come. Christ is our representative…he says, “you’ll be with me in paradise because there was something in that man where he was uniting himself—connecting himself to Jesus…I’m not even sure he knew what he was doing…but he was doing it…he was trusting in Jesus’ identity.”

But I want you to see what this does for us as well. I want you to see in this story not only the beautiful and wonderful and magnificent and precious truth that we now have access to God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

But we also see what Hebrews 2:14-15 means

Hebrews 2:14–15 ESV

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

This story looks like a tragedy, but there is more than just Jesus that is dying here. Jesus will be resurrected. Jesus won’t be held in the grave.

But it’s also the death knell to other things. It’s the death of death, is what it is. It’s the death of the religious leaders and their fallen system, it’s the death of the temple system, it’s the death of oppression, and eventually it’s going to spell the death of pain, crying, sin, all of the horrible no good awful things.

It only looks like their winning. But as Colossians says, he is disarming them. He is shaming them. They don’t have the power. They don’t have the last word. There is nothing bigger than Jesus.

In C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia there is a scene in Prince Caspian when Lucy sees Aslan, the great lion—the Christ-figure in the story, once again.

“Aslan, Aslan. Dear Aslan,” sobbed Lucy. “At last.”     The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sitting and half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all round her. She gazed up into the large wise face.     “‘Welcome, child,” he said.     “AsIan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”     “That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.     “Not because you are?”     “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

Friends, nothing but Christ has power over you. Every year we grow, we’ll find Him bigger. B