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    Mar 29, 2013

    The Path to Victory...Runs through the Cross

    Passage: John 18-19

    Preacher: John Repsold

    Series: Path to Victory

    Keywords: life, eternal life, lose your life, good friday, crucifixion

    Summary:

    This Good Friday message looks at how everyone around Jesus that day of his crucifixion chose themselves rather than Jesus. But Jesus, God to us, lost his own life so that everyone around him could find eternal life.

    Detail:

    The Path to Victory Travels through the Cross

    John 18-19

    March 29, 2013

     

    It was the darkest of days so many years ago when we stripped and tortured God to the death.  There were many self-possessed actors in the celestial drama that day that it is difficult to determine whose role should be nominated for an Oscar.  There were SO many candidates.

     

    Of course there was Judas Iscariot.  He certainly stands out, even in this crowd thick with treacherous players.  He’s known Jesus at as close a range as anyone in this drama.  He was chosen to a cabinet post in Jesus’ administration as Secretary of the Treasury.  I would have thought that Matthew, the tax man, would have been first in line for that highly responsible position.  But Jesus had given him a personal invitation to join his inner circle.  And then he had honored him as keeper of the coins. And He never once confronted Judas about his embezzlement of their ministry monies though it happened repeatedly…and Jesus knew it.

    But as we all know, Judas Iscariot got tired of waiting for Jesus to take charge.  Jesus’ timing and plans for the redemption of sinners got in the way of Judas’ designs for ruling.  He sold his friend, his mentor, his coach and guide…he sold God in human flesh…for 30 dirty, worn and average coins.  Coins…in exchange for the Christ. 

     

    Annas, and his son-in-law, the high priest, Caiaphas, you will hear more about later. These two rank right up there with the best of the bunch that day.  Given the privilege of leading the hearts and souls of the entire nation, they had spent the last few years growing their hatred for the God they claimed to serve. God seems so much more manageable when you don’t have to face him in a real man. Spending your life arguing theology and making up rules that give you more power over people can actually be fun…until God comes along and messes it all up.

                So these two top dogs on the religious totem pole had some tough choices to make:  us…or Him.  They would either lose the crowds and something of their own power and prestige…or they would make sure Jesus became the loser.  Save themselves and what they had worked a lifetime for; that was their final answer.    

     

    Speaking of the religious establishment, there were a few bit actors who turned in stunning performances.  Remember all those religious soldiers and officials who went on that midnight raiding party to find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane?  For a bunch of no-names, they sure turned in a memorable performance. There they were, all armored-up with swords and clubs, ready for a rumble with less than a dozen blue and white collar disciples with Jesus that night. Their first encounter with Jesus wasn’t exactly a big confidence-builder.  When they demanded to know which of them was “Jesus of Nazareth,” they were literally knocked off their feet by his simple self-identification as the “I am,” the same God who had appeared so long ago to Moses in the burning bush.

    Then there was that one poor chap in their number who just about lost his head that dark night.  Peter, who apparently couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a sword, somehow managed to perform an ear-ectomy on that unsuspecting temple guard…all without anesthetic.  So once again, Jesus, not afraid to get his hands bloody in order to perform yet another miracle, steps in with kindness, puts the hand of God’s power on that severed ear and restores it to pristine condition.  The poor fellow probably even heard better than he had in years after that act of love towards one who was determined to be Jesus’ enemy. 

                And what did that man and his buddies give in return?  Maybe they all felt they had to look the tough-guy part.  Maybe there were bonuses or promotions riding on that night’s hunt.  Maybe with the big religious bosses watching, the race was on to see who could be more brutal.  We’re not told the motivations.  We just know their movements. 

                One of their no-names, when given an opportunity to look good to his superiors, slapped God…Jesus… on the face.  Apparently he hadn’t liked the painfully revealing answer Jesus had given in response to his boss’s arrogant and accusatory grilling.

    And so the abuse of that long night and day began.  The other religious goons would blindfold Jesus and then sucker-punch him at will. Like a bunch of grade school boys torturing a stray alley cat, they hissed their hatred for the only man who had just miraculously healed one of their number.

                These men chose to save their careers, their positions, their hatred, their arrogance and their own peer-approval rather than save the sinless Son of God from injustice, torture and a brutal lynching.  That was their final answer:  crucify the Christ, not my sinful heart.

     

    There were dozens of other church and state types who stood silently in the gallery adding dead weight to this run-away freight train of a trial.  They were railroading Jesus down the certain track of crucifixion.  How many pure-bred Pharisees who had heard Jesus tell the parable of the Good Samaritan just stood there on the other side of the room as the “robbers” of dignity beat and pummeled this blindfolded celestial Traveler?  How many members of the Sanhedrin watched but said nothing about the travesty of justice that they were responsible to oversee that night? Not even two competent, credible witnesses could be found to give corroborating witness to a single supposed sin of Jesus.  They couldn’t do it because he wasn’t a sinner like they were.  Self-righteous Saul of Tarsus may well have been in that group along possibly with secretive Nicodemus who only had the courage to identify with Jesus in the secrecy of his own home and that at night. 

                Every one of these “leaders” chose to “save themselves” instead of save the only truly innocent man they had ever known.  Jesus, on the other hand, kept choosing to lose his own life that he might save them! 

     

    So Jesus gets shipped off next to the political powers of the prevailing Gentile Romans—to King Herod and Pontius Pilate.  Gentiles like them would only make Jews like the religious leaders “unclean” during their Passover celebration.  So the religious leaders refused to even go into Pilate’s palace.  Never mind that their hatred sent Jesus into that very center of Gentile iniquity, allowing him to be tortured and abused by pagan, Gentile hands. 

                Pilate gets first crack at Jesus.  And in all honesty, he comes out looking a whole lot closer to the hero than the villain in this day of horror.  Early on, despite false accusations that Jesus had opposed paying taxes to Caesar, Pilate realized Jesus had done nothing deserving of death.  He tells the crowd as much, but the train of injustice and hatred has already left the station.  The crowd will hear nothing of Jesus innocence.

                When Pilate hears Jesus is a Galilean, he sees his own exit strategy developing.  Since Herod, the King of Galilee, was in Jerusalem at his palace at the time, Pilate orders Jesus taken to Herod.  Why take the heat when you can pass the buck?

                Herod is a curious fellow, literally.  Several times the Scriptures talk about his interest in seeing Jesus do something miraculous (Luke 9:7-9; Luke 23:8). Herod is your classic dabbler in spiritual truth.  Every now and then, something catches his attention spiritually, so he dabbles in a little of this and a little of that.  This day it would be Jesus, just as long as Jesus cooperated with a miracle or two.  His interest faded about as fast as it had been aroused when his questions to Jesus only met with silence. Bored of the game, he chose to mock rather than defend Jesus, the only truly innocent subject of his rule in the room at the time.  Facing the anger of a crowd of his Jewish subjects, he chose to save himself through the use of scorn and ridicule.  He mocked Jesus’ divine kingship by dressing him in one of his own elegant robes and sending him back to Pilate looking like a disgraced looser of a destroyed kingdom.  

    It was a move that had unintended consequences.  Herod and Pilate became friends that day because they chose to save themselves rather than do justice to the only truly just subject in their entire realm.  Jesus once again chose to lose his life that even they, mocking, pagan Gentiles, might have the opportunity of life eternal through his death.

    Pilate once again tries to calm the mob and release the Christ.  He gives them a no-brainer of an option:  release Barabbas, a convicted murderer and insurrectionist who had probably cost a number of people their lives already, OR release Jesus who had never so much as broken the least of Roman laws and had instead pulled people back from the dead.  I’m sure Pilate chuckled at how he had outsmarted the jealousy of the religious leaders with this little turn of events.

    What a surprise it must have been to hear the crowd call for the release of a convicted murderer instead of a falsely accused miracle-worker.  Thinking that maybe some blood-letting might bring a little sense back to the mob, Pilate tells them he will “punish” Jesus with a torturous flogging.  But once the crowd realizes they have Pilate on the run, their riotous behavior surges forward into full-blown hatred. 

    A murderer is released. 

    An innocent man is tortured. 

    A governor shrinks back into injustice. 

    A crowd becomes guilty of murder. 

    And Jesus lays down his life on purpose so that lost sinners will one day take up eternal life by faith.

     

    One is driven to ask, “Is there no one in this cast of players that day who stood strong for truth?  Is there no one who said “no” to injustice?  No one who cared more about the perfect life of God in human flesh than they cared for their own safety or social standing or even silence?

     

    The sad truth is that NO ONE that day chose to lay down their life, or even any part of their life, to save the perfect Son of God. 

    • Every one of Jesus’ 12 apostles either abandoned him and ran or hung back in the silent shadows. 
    • Peter, literally cursed and swore that he didn’t even know Jesus when confronted by simple servant girls and gate keepers.
    • Mark fled naked from the Garden of Gethsemane rather than be hauled in along with Jesus.
    • John tagged along and even got VIP access to places none of the other disciples could during this long and brutal night and day of hatred.  But he said and did little or nothing to link himself with Jesus when his friendship was most needed. 
    • Simon the Cyrene had traveled some 900 miles to get to Jerusalem and the Passover celebration that year.  Merely an innocent bystander trying to figure out what was driving this crowd’s blood-lust, Simon was conscripted from the people lining the streets to watch as Jesus, mutilated by the torture and beatings, drug his heavy, rough cross through the streets of Jerusalem on his way up to that horrible execution site of Golgotha, the place of the skull.  Why Simon protested is unclear.  Simply getting that close to a man so disfigured by torture was probably reason enough.  He had to be compelled by threat of force from the Roman soldiers to even help Jesus carry the cross.  No one came forward willingly to even help lighten Jesus’ load of suffering and shame…no one. 

     

    What can possibly explain the hatred, the brutality, the fear and the gross indifference by so many to a man who had never done evil to anyone but instead had brought only help and healing? 

     

    Everyone that day chose themselves, everyone but Jesus.

    Everyone that day chose to “save themselves” as Jesus chose to lose his life.

     

    That is both the horrific and glorious truth of Good Friday.  None of us, had we been there, would have been any different than all those we’ve seen who were there that day.  None of us would have come forward to defend or assist or even accompany Jesus.

    With all the demons of hell and all the evil of mankind arrayed against Jesus our Savior, the only one who lay down his life that day for anyone was the One who did not have to.  In the face of taunts from his most hate-filled creatures, the Creator of the Universe ignored their cowardly calls to “save himself” and instead answered the call of His Heavenly Father to save lost sinners…to save them…and to save us. 

    As Paul so clearly says in Romans 8, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

    As I Cor. 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 

     

    The road to victory passes through the cross of Jesus Christ for every human being.  Whether we are selfish sinners of the 21st century or participants in the crucifixion of Christ in the 1st century, all must face their sin at the cross of Christ.  There we will find our selfless God laying down his sinless life in order to take up our sin, satisfy for all time the justice of God, and offer to every one of us salvation through personal faith in the finished work of Jesus of Nazareth, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).