The Cosmic Collision
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The Cosmic Collision
Introduction: Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas, 1844.
Edmond Dantes, Fernand, Mercedes.
It’s the story of a man named Edmond Dantès – a kind, innocent, honest, and loving man. Though naturally intelligent, he is a man of few opinions, living his life instinctively by a traditional code of ethics that impels him to honor his superiors, care dutifully for his aging father, and treat his fellow man generously. Dantès is filled with positive feelings, admiring his boss; loving his father; adoring his fiancée; is faithful to his shady best friend; and even attempts to think kindly of men who clearly dislike him.
It’s the story of a man named Edmond Dantès – a kind, innocent, honest, and loving man. Though naturally intelligent, he is a man of few opinions, living his life instinctively by a traditional code of ethics that impels him to honor his superiors, care dutifully for his aging father, and treat his fellow man generously. Dantès is filled with positive feelings, admiring his boss; loving his father; adoring his fiancée; is faithful to his shady best friend; and even attempts to think kindly of men who clearly dislike him.
But then he’s framed and accused of a crime he didn’t commit and spends the next 21 years in a solitary prison. And while in prison, Edmond undergoes a great change. He becomes bitter and vengeful as he obsesses over the wrongs committed against him. When his only friend dies in the jail, so too dies his only remaining connection to another human being. Even after his escape from prison, Edmond loses the capacity to feel any emotion other than hatred for those who have harmed him and gratitude toward those who have tried to help him. He moves through the world like an outsider, disconnected from any human community and interested only in carrying out his mission of revenge. And the rest of the story shows Edmond feeling satisfied with each person he punishes.
It begs the question: how are we supposed to respond to injustice? How are we supposed to respond to evil? Is there a way to respond that doesn't leave us bitter and that doesn't require our own evil to accomplish?
If there is any religion that can relate to suffering, injustice and betrayal – it is Christianity. Just like the Count of Monte Cristo, our passage, this morning, is all about betrayal. In fact, everyone in the story is rejecting or betraying Jesus. There are Jews, Gentiles & Romans. Pagan as well as religious bible believing people form the mob that came to arrest Jesus.
You've got Judas – the most obvious betrayer – but you also have Peter who just doesn't know what to do – going berserk and draws his sword on the mob. Essentially, Peter is saying, “we've got to do something. We've got to save you.” And notice what Jesus says, (look at verse 11) – this is the Father's doing. God is betraying him too. Jesus says that this betrayal is ultimately the Father's doing.
Here we see, God cutting Jesus off – here is Jesus' moment of greatest weakness and impotence and yet it is also his moment of greatest strength and power. He embraces his impending death with strength and confidence. How does he do it? How do you do it? How do you embrace injustice & suffering with strength and confidence? How do you even go as far as Jesus did – to forgive and pray for your enemies?
And how does resurrection fit in? In a world full of suffering and injustice, how or where do we see and experience resurrection?
As we look at this story of the betrayal of Jesus, want to think about 3 things: 1) the cosmic tension; 2) the cosmic resolution; and 3) the Reward of Resurrection.
1. the cosmic tension
In this story, we see Jesus holding back his glory—his strength—in favor of weakness. In fact, he shows us what it looks like to be the most powerful weak person in the history of the world. He says, “I am exhibiting my enormous strength through my weakness.” And then he goes on to highlight for us the cosmic tension. It's a tension that humanity has struggled with since the beginning of time and it's one that is still difficult today. Look at verse 11.
What is the cup? This is the part of the Bible that we modern people don't like – in the OT, the image of the cup refers to the cup of God's wrath. The cup represents divine justice. It is God's displeasure and fury poured out on sin. And Jesus says that he is going to drink this cup – and that it is being given to him by his Father.
It is his father that is giving him the cup. Fathers are supposed to be good. They are supposed to protect their children. They are supposed to be loving. In fact it was Jesus who in said of fathers, “9 which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
But when it comes to Jesus – instead of bread and fish, his father gives him a cup of poisonous wrath and fury. Yet somehow Jesus is able to see the goodness of the Father and the necessity of the cup at the same time. This is where we struggle, isn't it? How can God be both just and yet forgiving? It's all tied up in his goodness.
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
– When Moses asks God to show him his glory, he's asking God, “who are you. Let me see who you are.” Did you catch God's response? Look at verse 19, “I will make all my goodness pass before you...”
When Moses asks God to show him his glory, he's asking God, “who are you. Let me see who you are.” Did you catch God's response? “I will make all my goodness pass before you...”
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
– Then down in chapter 34 when God passes by here's what his goodness looks like, did you catch it? It looks like both forgiveness of sin and punishment of sin. Isn't this a contradiction. How can God “forgive iniquity and transgression and sin”but also “by no means clear the guilty”? God is saying that his goodness is somehow defined by mercy and justice.
Then down in chapter 34 when God passes by here's what his goodness looks like:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
God’s goodness looks like both forgiveness of sin and punishment of sin. Isn't this a contradiction. How can God “forgive iniquity and transgression and sin”but also “by no means clear the guilty”? God is saying that his goodness is somehow defined by mercy and justice.
Now how do you respond to that? We have trouble don't we? We have trouble making sense of how both of these things can co-exist at the same time. It's the cosmic tension of how God can be both just and forgiving.
Illustration: 2007 Forrest Salcido – we demanded justice! If we've been the victims of injustice then we can totally relate to the cup—we even demand it. If God is good, then he must bring about justice. We can understand how he gives the cup, but we can't understand how he can be a Father. A Father wouldn't let his children suffer.
But if we've had a life of relatively little suffering then we struggle to understand the cup. We think God should just forgive. “If he's a Father, then there's no way he has a cup.” And even deeper, if we are the ones who cause suffering then we desperately want the God who forgives.
But he's both. See it's not a contradiction of God's attributes. He's good and yet his goodness contains both forgiveness and justice. And deep down we know this don't we. Jesus is able to keep both of these in harmony because he knows that to be good, God can't overlook sin and injustice and yet because he's good he must forgive because none of us measures up. God's goodness is both of these things. Both are true.
So what do we do with it? How does this relate to us? This is great that Jesus holds this tension, but what are we supposed to do?
2. The Cosmic Resolution
Most of us can easily relate to Jesus in this passage, can't we? Some of you have experienced deep betrayal at the hands of someone you never thought would betray you. You know you should forgive, but you lack the strength and desire to do so. In fact, hearing me talk about forgiveness this morning might just make you feel more bitter towards the person who has hurt you. And so the question you might be asking is “how can I ever forgive?” What we want most is to protect ourselves from being betrayed again.
And here's the reality – when you've experienced injustice, your desire is to get even – just like Edmond Dantes. Because we have a deep sense of justice, when someone wrongs us, we can't just shrug it off. There is now a debt that needs to be paid. When you are the victim of injustice, you’ve got only 2 options:
you can make the person pay down their debt (usually by taking out of the person's hide through vengeance). If you respond this way, evil will spread into you and begin to harden you. The greater the injustice, the larger the debt and the harder you will become.
The other option is that you can forgive, but forgiveness is enormously difficult b/c if you choose to forgive, then you are choosing suffering – you absorb the debt that is owed. Although forgiveness is difficult, it is the only way that you will not grow hardened. It is the only thing that does not perpetuate evil. Forgiveness means you must restrain yourself and travel the road of humility and weakness. Forgiveness is the way of the cross.
2) The other option is that you can forgive, but forgiveness is enormously difficult b/c if you choose to forgive, then you are choosing suffering – you absorb the debt that is owed. Although forgiveness is difficult, it is the only way that you will not grow hardened. It is the only thing that does not perpetuate evil. Forgiveness means you must restrain yourself and travel the road of humility and weakness. Forgiveness is the way of the cross.
How do we do it? The answer for all of us is in verse 14, did you catch it the first time? “It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.” See the Father, in his goodness has a cup. And the Father, in his goodness poured out his cup on Christ. The one man died for the many. The one man is the answer to the cosmic tension – he provides a cosmic resolution.
At the beginning of the Bible we read about how God took a man and placed him in a garden and put a tree in front him and asked him to be obedient. The repercussions of his failure were cosmic. They include all the rejection and betrayal that each of us experience. But then Jesus comes along and here we see God place him in another garden – and a different tree in front of him and asked him to be obedient; to climb upon that tree and be crushed, to be rejected by his friends, rejected by his enemies, even rejected by God.
And he did it. On the cross, justice and forgiveness collide. In the person of Jesus on the cross the goodness of God is fully realized. It is on the cross that we see this cosmic tension resolved – where justice is served and forgiveness is possible. It’s the cosmic collision.
3. The Reward of Resurrection
And something amazing happened because Jesus was able to perfectly hold these two things in himself. When God saw this perfectly obedient and faithful son, this beautifully loving and forgiving man – who was forgiving sinners right up to the end, God had no choice to reward him. It would have been unjust for him not to reward such a beautiful life, such beautiful obedience and faithfulness.
And so, after 3 days he raised him to life. God rewarded Jesus with resurrection. But his resurrection is proof of something for us.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
– Christ’s resurrection is proof that forgiveness is a reality. It is your proof that you have been forgiven by God.
Christ’s resurrection is proof that forgiveness is a reality. It is your proof that you have been forgiven by God.
On the cross Jesus was betrayed so that we might be reconciled to God. And his resurrection proves it is true! Your sin cost him everything. As you begin to realize Jesus' love and commitment to you in light of the costliness of your sin—if you can begin to believe that it is you who deserved the cup – not Jesus—then you will be able to be weak in ways you never thought possible. Jesus drank your cup—he paid your debt to God so that you might be accepted by God. And He calls you to go and do the same for others. If you can get your heart around this, you'll find that you are able to forgive wrongs you never thought you could.
Take a look at the cross. It is where forgiveness and justice meet. And the one who hangs there has promised never to leave you nor betray you. But he calls you to take up your own cross. To find your strength in weakness. To suffer injustice and to offer forgiveness. To love your enemies. To die to yourself. And as you embrace him and his cross – you will see how much you need forgiveness yourself and you will find that you want to forgive, that you want to love and that you want to enter into the sufferings of others.
And each and every time you forgive, you are giving the world a glimpse of resurrection because Resurrection lies at the intersection of weakness, mercy and forgiveness.