IRONIES OF THE CROSS

IRONIES OF THE CROSS Matthew 27 March 16, 2008 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Eliot Spitzer resigned as governor or New York this past week, after being indicted for soliciting prostitution. The irony is that he had became so famous for his strong morality in policy decisions. He was even known as “Mr. Clean.” His enemies now laugh in scorn, his friends cower in shame and we all are diminished by the crash of integrity. And the irony of it all teaches a lesson. In an act of good corporate citizenship, AT&T struck an agreement with New York City's power company Con Ed that whenever demand strained the utility's grid, AT&T would throw a switch, unplug some of its facilities, and draw power from internal generators at 33 Thomas Street in lower Manhattan. That's what happened on September 17, 1977. But the power surge of those generators kicking in also kicked out vital rectifiers that handled 4.5 million domestic calls, 470,000 international calls, 1,174 flights across the nation carrying 85,000 passengers, and the total communications system linking air traffic controllers at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports. For six long hours alarm bells rang inside 33 Thomas Street. But no one heard them. No one was there. You see, AT&T had sent all of its Thomas Street personnel in charge of these rectifiers to a one-day seminar on...how to handle emergencies. What irony! In 1984 300 postal workers received their paychecks three days late--because their original checks were lost in the mail. Ironies can surprise and delight us. They amuse and confuse us. But ironies can also teach us. Let’s try to make that happen as we open our Bibles to Matthew 27 to find the Ironies of the Cross. The One Who is Mocked as King is really the King Jesus had to be crushed. Nearly three years of open, honest, people-centered ministry has upset apple carts all the way to the top of Judaism’s religious hierarchy. Their pompous rule of the people challenged, the Scribes, Pharisees, priests and Sadducees are fearful that Jesus might lead a popular uprising that would bring the wrath of Rome down on them. By chapter 27, Jesus has been arrested, charged before Pilate and tried in a hastily called trial by the Sanhedrin. Many were already calling for his death. Matthew 27:27 – Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They striped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then wove a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, King of the Jews!” they said. What drove these Roman soldiers to such extreme malevolence? Did the obvious disgust that the high priest and the Sanhedrin had toward Jesus infect their attitude? Was it the boredom of their night shift work (it was still dark and early in the morning) make them feel mischievous? Were they just prejudicial toward Jews anyway and the opportunity to torment their would-be king just too tempting? Whatever drove them, mob psychology took over and they mercilessly mistreated Jesus. It was customary to beat suspects who were being interrogated—they believed they were more likely to tell the truth if they were terrorized. But in this vignette, something more than duty was taking place. It was normally just part of the job for the guard, but we’re told they gathered the whole company into the Praetorium for this show. As Satan’s plan continued to unfold, malice and rage and insane persecution broke out. Think Abu Ghraib, My Lai, Dachau, the recent killing in Alton, where four friends brutalized a woman for days, killing her. When evil is unleashed, horrible things happen. It was the devil’s plan, but also the Father’s will to allow such suffering on the part of His innocent Son. We read corporately from Isaiah 53 earlier, but we stopped short of verse 10, where these frightful words confront us: Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer… As Matthew writes these words, somewhere around 60 AD, he knows Jesus is the King. His intended readers know Jesus is the King. For many chapters, Matthew has told how Jesus stands in the royal line of Davidic kingship, how Jesus declares now that He has come the kingdom of God has drawn near and the many parables about the kingdom in which Jesus cast himself as the king. The issue of who the king is was a crucial one at the trial. When He was brought before the governor Pilate cut to the chase and asked Jesus straight up, “Are you the king of the Jews?” In like candidness He answered, “Yes, it is as you say.” Matthew knows Jesus is king; his readers know Jesus is king; we know Jesus is king. Yet here he stands, beaten, gaunt and dripping with bloody sweat and Roman spit. He certainly doesn’t look like a king! He’s defenseless! King’s invest in well-trained guards to surround them and protect them! Jesus is alone and his nearest friend, Peter, is out in the courtyard just now denying he ever knew him. What kind of king submits himself to such malfeasance? There is only one answer – a king who loves his people; a king who knows before God that the only way to save his people is to suffer in their place; a king who, for the joy set before Him, could endure the cross, despising its shame; a king who in mercy and grace would descend voluntarily from his heavenly throne, humble himself, taking the very nature of a servant, and become obedient even to death! That’s the kind of king He was; and that’s the kind of king He is. Such irony! Unrecognizable, costumed in degraded manhood, the real king is serving us. The One Who Appeared to be Utterly Powerless is Transcendently Powerful Isaiah saw it all coming, more than 700 years before it happened: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter…(Isaiah 53:7) The Romans had three state-sanctioned forms of execution available to them, but crucifixion was the most horrible and agonizing, just as the Jewish crowds urged them to do. No Roman was every crucified—only foreigners. Read Matthew 27:35-40 (TWO SLIDES) The Romans had three state-sanctioned forms of execution available to them, but crucifixion was the most horrible and agonizing. Just as the Jewish crowds urged them to, the Roman authorities chose to crucify Jesus. Crucifixion was viewed as despicable and extremely shameful. No Roman was every crucified—only foreigners. Children were taught to never even talk about it, and parents avoided mentioning it in front of them. There really is only one word to describe the one condemned to crucifixion, no matter how horrible the crime he committed: victim. One without hope. One who is utterly powerless. That’s exactly how Jesus appears here. But that is when He is at His best. You know, when we’re working hard at a project or a task that is demanding we not look our best in the process. Illustration of work project – man came looking for the “pastor.” I didn’t look like the pastor he expected. He admitted he was a salesman; I said I was “in the middle of something.” May I suggest a bit of a strange thought? Jesus was in the middle of something—He was giving His human life for the world that He loved. Isaiah 53 says He had no beauty or majesty, He was despised and rejected, He was familiar with suffering; He was like one from whom men hide their faces. Jesus had explained to the Pharisees much earlier in His ministry that if they would “Destroy this temple” He would raise it again in three days. They, and His disciples, were clueless about what He meant. Following His resurrection the disciples finally understood that He was speaking about himself. You know, the Temple was the meeting place between God and worshiping humanity. It was the place God said He would meet with them. He said it was to be the place where sacrifices would be made and accepted. Jesus was saying, “I am the Temple.” He is the place where God and man truly meet, where man is reconciled to God. He is the sacrifice that redeems sinful humanity. The irony is that while He was at His weakest, hanging on a cross in humiliation and shame, it was THEN that He was most powerfully at work in the very thing for which He came. He was then and there in the very act of letting the temple be destroyed, and then raised again. The secret of God’s power in Jesus was that when it was most forcefully at work, when the task was taking all that He had to give, when He felt and looked least attractive, least appealing and least powerful—that was when He was at his most powerful. And, may I add, that’s the way it is for us, too. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Therefore I will glory in insults and persecution and tribulation, so Christ’s strength may be manifest in me. That’s a far cry from the triumphalism we hear in a lot of Christian circles. Some believers are duped into thinking that if anything goes wrong or feels uncomfortable in our lives, we have failed somehow to live out our faith. Take a look at Jesus on the cross. ‘See any health or wealth there? It’s certainly not obvious! Brothers and sisters, it is when we are weak and worn in our service to the Master that we are strong in Him. In our most impotent, burdensome times He is mightily at work in us and through us. It is when we are at our most worn and most homely that God will use us—provided we’re living for Him. Do not fall for the pagan doctrine of triumphalism. We are not promised comfort and ease in this life. We are promised it in the next life, and we are given God’s sure word that we will have all the strength and vitality we need to weather this life’s storms in our commitment to Him. And, while I’m at it, don’t you listen to the devil’s line, either. He will come at you when you are at your humanly weakest and tell you you’re hurting because God doesn’t love you or take care of His children. In his book “The Sacred Romance”, John Eldredge recounts the true story of a Scottish discus thrower from the nineteenth century. He lived in the days before professional trainers and developed his skills alone in the highlands of his native village. He even made his own discus from the description he read in a book. What he didn't know was the discus used in competition was made of wood with an outer rim of iron. His was solid metal and weighed three or four times as much as those being used by his would-be challengers. This committed Scotsman marked out his field the distance of the current record throw and trained day and night to be able to match it. For nearly a year, he labored under the self-imposed burden of the extra weight, becoming very, very good. He reached the point at which he could throw his iron discus the record distance, maybe farther. He was ready. The highlander traveled south to England for his first competition. When he arrived at the games, he was handed the official wooden discus—which he promptly threw like a tea saucer. He set a new record, a distance so far beyond those of his competitors that no one could touch him. For many years he remained the uncontested champion. Something in my heart connected with this story. So, that's how you do it: Train under a great burden. Hebrews 5 says Jesus, during his life on earth, offered up prayers with loud cries to the One who could save Him from death. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. When we are weak we’re strong. The One Who Apparently Can’t Save Himself Saves Others In verses 41-42 the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders have joined the mockers. In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.” What did they mean when they said He saved others? You know, goalies make diving saves, if you’re working on a computer, and you’re smart, you “save” your data, we “save” for a rainy day and boxers are “saved” by the bell. The religious leaders had watched Jesus for months and had seen Him saved people from diseases, shame, adultery and even death. Now they dared Jesus to do something for Himself for a change. But they weren’t sincere, of course; it was all derision. Before Jesus was born, Joseph was told by the angel, You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. [webmasters note: Matthew 1:25] That’s the mission of Jesus. And His hanging on a criminal’s cross, waiting for the moment when He’d draw His last breath, was not evidence that He’d failed. Jesus reasoned in John 12:27, Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?” No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. The One Who Cries Out in Despair is the One Who Trusts God Perhaps their most malicious comment comes in verse 43: “He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The people are speaking irony again and don’t know it. He said He was the Son of God simply because He was the Son of God. And His suffering does not nullify His identity. When we go through Gethsemane experiences neither do we who are God’s sons through faith lose our identity. In fact, when we suffer for His namesake it proves our identity. In the garden Jesus was truly at His wits end. There He cried out to God, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. [webmasters note: Matthew 26:39]  Was this weakness, despair, pain, feeling rejected? YOU BET IT WAS! Just because Jesus knew the magnitude of what it would mean for Him to obey God, doesn’t mean the temptation to avoid it wasn’t real. Don’t think for a moment this was not genuine emotion on Jesus’ part. He was already feeling the full force of what was coming to Him. His cry reflects His deep awareness of the separation He is about to experience as His Father turns His face from Him. Don’t forget, the Bible says that He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be become the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus was hurting, but He was not faithless. Listen, true and genuine faith will never be afraid to be honest before God. He desires truth in the inner parts (Psalm 51:6). If you are denying before anyone, especially God who knows you inside and out, how you feel, you are not living in truth. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Now, as Jesus feels the full weight of the world’s sin on His own soul, He experiences a devastating sense of being abandoned by His Father. So much is here, of course, and I think until heaven we will not fully understand it, but what Jesus felt was separation from God. Why? Theologically, it’s very simple. Sin cannot remain in the presence of the Holy God. When Jesus became sin (or our sin’s atonement) He was necessarily driven from the eternal intimate fellowship He’d always had with the Father. The pain Jesus experienced was very real. And He was very honest about how He humanly encountered it. So we listen in on cries of pain and abandonment. It’s embarrassing to us, it’s hard to understand. We want Jesus to not be that vulnerable. But it’s all part of His decision to take on Himself humanity. With the flesh and blood He also took the vulnerability, the pain, the risk. Please take from this angle of the suffering of Christ the simple truths staring us in the face: God is holy and cannot abide sin—He even rejected His own Son in the face of it. God is understanding, and He’d much rather have you run at Him with your doubts, your raised fists and your disappointment at God not being what you thought He should be rather than remaining in denial. Living for God isn’t all holy glamour—we’re not in heaven yet. Draw on the resources He’s given you to cope, to fight and to be at peace in Him when the battle rages around you. Standing before us in Matthew 27, disguised as a guilty criminal and a powerless, humiliated man is really the almighty God. The crude irony is: this One who looks like a lamb being slaughtered is actually the one of whom Colossians 1 says, “By him all things were created…created by him and for him…he is before all things, and in him all things cohere. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the first-born from the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things…by making peace through his blood… (Colossians 1:16-20) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11) When the beatings are over, the murderous crucifixion is completed; after He is resurrected and reunited with the Father; and when this gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world, as a testimony to all nations, the end will come. Then, as Revelation 17:14 triumphantly declares, He will be recognized for who He is: Lord of lords and King of kings. What irony! The One who is mocked as king is really the King! The one who appears to be utterly powerless is truly transcendentally powerful!     [Back to Top]