The Cross in Hi-Def

I. Introduction - A 911 Response

Open your Bibles

Opening Illustration

As some of you know, I am a paramedic and have worked in the fire and EMS service for the last seventeen years—years which have been filled, for better or worse, with plenty of practical jokes among good friends and coworkers. In public service practical jokes become something of a competition to see who can get the best of who. For instance, I may or may not have stapled all the clothing of another crew to the ceiling of our station, or on another occasion when my partner and I listed our coworkers car for sale on CraigsList—for $500. His voicemail maxed out within 30 minutes of that post...

So, after a round of successful pranks, the other crew at my station decided it was time for some payback. One night, around 2 AM, my partner and I were responded for a 911 call. We groggily tossed on our uniforms and made our way to the ambulance, let our dispatch know that we were responding, activated our lights and sirens, and began to make our way down the road. In my sleepy haze I instinctively reached into the breast pocket of my uniform where I kept my cell phone and I felt something…weird. And as I pulled my hand out, out leapt the biggest toad I think I had ever seen, straight at my face. As I shrieked in sheer panic, not realizing what it was my partner whipped his head around to see what was the matter. All he could make out in the pitch black was something now leaping his direction at which point he careened our ambulance back and forth across all four lanes of the road.

Slowly we gained control of our ambulance and our reactions, and we ran our call—our little tag-along in tow for the entire run.

That little toad managed to elicit different responses that night—my partner and I responding in total shock and terror, and the other crew in side-splitting laughter as we recalled our near-brush with death.

Just like there were different responses to that toad, in our passage today we’ll see four distinct responses to the cross. And this is what I hope you’ll walk away with by the end of our time together today:

Our response to the cross is shaped by the things that rule our hearts.

Let’s take a look at our passage

Luke 22.3-6; 47-53

PRAY

II. Background - Immanence of the Cross

Before we jump into the four responses it’s important that we get a grasp on the context of our passage. These events didn’t occur in isolation but transpired as part of the larger story of Salvation occuring in Luke.

This passage occurs during passion week (the week preceding Easter). Specifically, these events took place on the Wednesday before the Friday Jesus was crucified.

The religious leaders had already settled the matter in their own hearts to put Jesus to death

Jesus had fully prepared His disciples that His death was immanent. Celebrating passover, Jesus connected His death with Old Testament Scripture and God’s plan for salvation.

For each person in Luke’s account of Jesus’ betrayal, the cross upon which Jesus would be crucified was quickly fading into view—becoming an immanent reality rather than a distant possibility.

III. Body - The Four Responses

Judas - Responding With Misunderstanding

[Locate]

Luke 22:3–6 ESV

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

[Explicate]

When Judas considered the cross he thought the cross was a thing for financial gain, not for eternal profit.

The Gospel of John tells us that Judas had an unhealthy love of money which drove him to thievery (Jn. 12.6).

The parallel account of our passage in Matthew tells us that Judas was not simply the benefactor of the charitable hearts of the chief priests, but that he leveraged Jesus for financial gain, “what will you give me if I betray Him to you?”

Because of Judas’ unrepentant greed, when “Satan entered” him, Satan had no need to control Judas’ every action, thought and word, he simply leveraged Judas’ natural bent to accomplish his plan of execution.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Luke points out that Judas “was one of the number of the twelve” - Take a moment with me and feel the weight of that statement. For three years Judas experienced closeness with the Son of God. For three years he witnessed Jesus’ miracles, His wisdom, His power. He sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him teach and preach and call people to repentance. For three years Judas was privileged to look on the face of God. But in the end he failed to recognize the eternal weight of mercy that had been offered to him.Because greed ruled in his heart, he misunderstood the gain the cross could bring him and traded his eternal profit for a mere 30 pieces of silver.

[Apply]

Like Judas, Some of us also misunderstand the cross. Though he could not see its true value some of us see it as fire insurance—that thing that bought us into heaven even if we only made it in with a singed bottom. We see it as something which at one time in the past brought us gain but that has no persistent worth. We neglect the value of daily repentance, daily forgiveness, and the indispensible spiritual strength which comes from keeping our eyes fixed on the cross.

The Religious Leaders - Responding With Anger

[Locate]

Luke 22:4–5 ESV

4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

Luke 22:52 ESV

52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?

[Explicate]

Throughout the gospels we repeatedly witness the religious leaders frustration with Jesus. They have amassed for themselves wealth and power and status and authority and all of these things were being threatened by the teaching of a lowly, uneducated son of a carpenter. They were incensed. They were threatened with the loss of the status quo—their worldly comforts—and when they finally devised a plan to put Jesus to death, they angrily looked to the cross for retribution.