Personalizing the Passion
Personalizing the Passion
Community Good Friday Service
April 9th, 2004
Introduction
Good Friday is a day that we reflect on what Jesus did for us as He suffered and then died on a cross. This year that is made a little easier for us with the Mel Gibson movie, “The Passion”. All of us that have seen the movie have probably already been reflecting on why it happened and why He did it. I have seen it several times and each time I experienced a different perspective and then application to my own life. That is what we want to do today, personalize the passion of Jesus to our own lives.
-In order to do that I want to approach the passion from three different angles; the event, the reason, and our response.
The Event
-This is probably the area we already know most about. We know about how He was delivered to Pontius Pilate, was beaten beyond human recognition and then went to the horrible Roman crucifixion.
-The Romans crucified many people. It was such a brutal death that it wasn’t used on Roman citizens. Tradition has it that Paul was beheaded because he was a Roman citizen.
-Our Scripture reading from Psalm 22 reveals the statements of Jesus on the cross.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning? [1]
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 “He trusts in the Lord;
let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
/since he delights in him.” [2] /
(compare that account the gospel account)
-While watching the passion it seemed like it was just too much to put on any one person. They nearly beat Him to death then He was placed on a cross, nailed up like a shingle and not treated like a man.
-I wonder if Jesus didn’t suffer more internally in Gethsemane than at the hands of His captors.
-He had a big decision to make. He had a real option and He sweat blood literally.
Amos 8
9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your religious feasts into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
/[3]/
-We know about the event so I will go on to the;
The Reason
-Jesus came in a way that nobody expected.
-Born as a man through the Virgin Mary, lived as a man, didn’t want to be king or emperor, and then died.
-If He was the Son of God, how could He die?
-The Jewish people were looking for a Messiah that could deliver them from the tyranny of Rome and return them to their former state of glory as in the time of David and Solomon.
-He focused on the hearts of men and women instead of institutions and governments.
1 Peter 1
10 /Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. [4]/
-What a mystery! What an oddity!
-What could possibly accomplished by His death as a criminal?
-Our Scripture reading of Isaiah 53 tells us why He did it.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
/the iniquity of us all.[5]/
-This has been referred to as “THE GREAT EXCHANGE”.
-The whole idea of who killed Jesus is a moot point.
-His purpose in living was to die.
-The people thought that Jesus was being punished by God when in reality our sin was being punished.
-He was doing it for us.
· Jesus chose us over the pain (He endured the cross for the joy set before Him, despising the shame)
· Jesus identified with us in our sin and failures
· Jesus took our sin, sorrows, sickness, pain and rejection
· Jesus reconciled us to the Father by His blood and now the message to all men and women is that you can be forgiven.
Our Response
-All of us need to decide how we need to respond to the passion of Jesus.
-What does all of that mean to you?
-Each of us in our own way need to acknowledge not just whether we believe it but whether or not it matters to us.
-I encourage you to get alone and talk to the Lord about what He did for you.
-Have you personalized it?
-Go see the movie and maybe take a friend.
-I have the strong sense in my heart that God wants to get this message out and He allowed Mel Gibson to give us a tool.
-Has His passion changed you? / Have you said “yes Lord”, you didn’t suffer and die in vain on my behalf?
-In what ways do we need to receive what Jesus did for us.
-In what ways do we need to follow the example of Jesus and lay down a part of our lives.
-We need a Gesthemane/A crucifixion/Resurrection
-We live on this side of Easter.
prayer
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[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ps 22:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ps 22:6). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Am 8:9). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Pe 1:10). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[5]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Is 53:4). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.