Jesus Identified with Sinners

Matthew 27: 45-56, Luke 23: 34-43, John 19:25-27

What are your favorite three words? I’ll be there. or how about, maybe you’re right, or this one, I trust you. This one always seems to get me in trouble, go for it…

How about 3 word quotes that are meant to be motivational such as “Be the change”, “Never give up”, “Think before speaking”, “Chase your dreams”, or “Be the light”.

Then you have the three word quotes that are full of love, like “Love conquers all”, “Love your enemies”, one of my favorites, “Seize the day”

Or you have famous three word quotes from movies...

Bond, James Bond...

I’m walkin here...

Sir, yes sir...

or my favorite, and I’ve said this to Major Monica many times...

You complete me.

Well, I don’t know about you, but my favorite three words are simple. I Love You. I have to tell you, my heart skips a beat every time Major Monica says that to me. Even after 32 years of being together, I still get butterflies when she smiles at me and says I Love You.

But there are three other words that are important to us, and they are the first three words Jesus spoke from the cross. This morning, we are going to look at three passages of scripture that will show you:

Jesus identifies with a sinners darkness

Jesus identifies with the sinners uncertainty

Jesus identifies with the sinners separation from God

But before we get started, let’s pray.

So, to start with, we need to look at our first passage, Matthew 27:45 “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.” so according to this verse, darkness falls across the land. I can almost hear Vincent Price as he says, “Darkness falls across the land...” but for three hours the entire earth was dark, but here is the thing, it was in the middle of the day, it wasn’t sunset so what happened? There are many explanations for this Phlegon was an historian long ago, he was born about 80 AD. He is credited as writing two books during his life, but there is little known about him except for the fact that he references Christ in his books. In one of his references, he says, ““In the fourth year, however, an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour, day turned into dark night, so that the stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake toppled many buildings of the city of Nicaea.” This is a direct reference to scripture that refers to when Jesus was on the cross. The interesting thing is that there was no reference to an eclipse before this time. But he says very clearly that the day turned into night and you could see the stars. What you have to look at is the fact that the bible states that from the 6th hour to the 9th hour. According to Jewish time, that would make it high noon. So could you imagine the sun disappearing from noon until 3 and it would seem as if it were night and you could see the stars. There is only one explanation to this, and that is that it was an act of God. Those historians that claim this was an eclipse need to look at the evidence, this could not been an eclipse as it was noon. When was the last time the moon covered the sun at noon? The other thing to consider is the time that the darkness lasts. A full eclipse only last 7 minutes and 31 seconds. Now don’t take my word for it, I’m am far from being a mathematician, I had to ask the internet for that one. Based on the speed of the rotation of the earth and the moon and the sun, this is the answer they gave, that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Looking at that information, it’s not an eclipse, it lasts from the 6th hour to the 9th hour - that’s 3 hours not 7 minutes and 31 seconds. This is an act of God.

I find it interesting that the bible always refers to darkness as a direct reference to sin. Romans 1:21 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 13:12 “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. The deeds of men apart from God are called the works of darkness.

Matthew 8:12 NIV84

But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 22:13 NIV84

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The answer to this darkness is Jesus. Jesus is often referred to as the Light of the World, something to think about is that Christ died in darkness to deliver us from darkness. Christ show pity on us by going to the cross and dying for you and me. There is a beautiful piece of music written by Bandmaster Dean Goffin that is entitled “Light of the World”. This band piece was written after Bandmaster Goffin saw a painting of Jesus standing at the door of our hear knocking, and it features these words, “O Jesus, thou art standing outside the fast-closed door. In lowly patience waiting to pass the threshold o’re” I would like a video for you of this piece, this is “Light of the World”.

(Play video)