Blood, Bath and Beyond. That’s what Easter is all about. It’ s about the promise of a world and a life beyond what we see here on earth. It’s about life beyond the grave. It’s about coming into that life through the bathing and cleansing that happen in Jesus Christ- we are made pure, righteous, and right in relationship with God through Jesus. It’s about blood. There is a bloody, violent reality to Easter that some do not like admit, some do not understand, and some, well some simply don’t know anything about it. But we want you to understand what it’s all about.
Last week I said that if we are going to understand who Jesus was, why he became fully human as one of us, what he did for us that we could not do for ourselves- And if there’s anything we want you to get at Connections it’s Jesus Christ. More than just a historical figure, we want you to get him, to get him in your heart and get him in your life- then we are going to have to understand this past week, this last week, in Jesus’ ministry on earth. Fully 1/3 of all we have written in the gospels, Matthew Mark Luke and John, are from the past week: his entrance into Jerusalem to celebrate the passover feast, his final teachings, miracles and encouragements. His betrayal. His trial. His beating. His crucifixion, death and burial.
Here’s the thing about this past week- it leads inevitably to the cross. That is undeniable. Jesus was historical figure. And he got himself crucified and killed. We would know this even if the bible didn’t exist. What remains is what came after his crucifixion and death. Some say nothing at all. The world keeps turning as it always has. Jesus died, the dream is over. The followers disperse and get on with their lives. It all pointed to a grave.
But others among us say something else did happen. Jesus did not just die, but he rose from the dead. He appeared to the women, and the the disciples, to men walking along a road, to doubters and worshipers who began to believe, even to one who was persecuting and killing those who said Jesus was risen from the grave. The few became many, the many became millions. And therefore, the world has never again simply kept on turning as it always had. the world began to spin in a new direction. A direction that began to undo what had always been. The world began to revolved around a new life, a resurrected life, and resurrected Jesus, and the invitation to step into that life and resurrection.
You see, death became undone because of the resurrection, but first, to get to that resurrection, to turn in that new direction, to have a conversion on such a monumental, metaphysical, and deeply personal level, you first have to go to that death. You have to go into that grave.
And that’s where we’re going today- fun stuff, right! Maybe not fun, how about, fundamentally earth shattering, live changing, everything is different now kind of stuff!
Just as you cannot have Christianity without Christ, you cannot know or begin to understand the life, ministry, and mission of Jesus Christ without the cross. The cross was traditionally a sign of offensiveness, and we should not forget that. It’s a symbol of torture and death. It is the equivalent of putting a gallows or electric chair on our churches and around our necks. Some scholars know all too well this reality of the cross, and reject it.
In a recent book, “Proverbs of Ashes,” the writers find the death of Jesus repellent and hold that it sanctifies violence and submission to evil. They write “To say that Jesus’ executioners did what was historically necessary for salvation is to say that state terrorism is a good thing, that torture and murder are the will of God.” John Crossan adds that he sees the cross as the most unfortunately successful idea in the history of Christian thought. A few years ago it was even suggested that the cross be replaced as the preeminent symbol of Christianity. In its place was suggested a manger. This was offered because it depicted God as serene and vulnerable, and was simply more attractive to people. Even Will Ferrel’s character in “Taladega Nights” said he preferred to pray to little baby Jesus.
Well I agree that the manger is a wonderful symbol of our faith and think that there is certainly room for symbols other than the cross in the church. The manger wonderfully pictures his incarnation and birth. A star declares him the one who fashioned the universe. A fish embodies so much of what Jesus was about and what we are to be about as fishers of men. A cup and loaf of bread would help us to remember the last supper, that Jesus is the bread of life, that his blood is the cup of redemption and our cleaning. You could take an one of the many “I AM” statement of Jesus and use that to tell something about who he was- the vine, the shepherd, the spring of living water, the way the truth and the life, and more.
But the rejection of the cross is a sad misunderstanding of its meaning. Without the cross, without the shedding of blood, we don’t have a savior, without his resurrection, we don’t have a Lord. We have a great teacher, a miracle worker, a leader and a hero, we have so much to celebrate. But, without the cross and the resurrection we have another so called messiah, we have another charlatan who promised a better way, but didn’t follow through. Without the cross we still have the real problem of sin and evil and death in our world and in our lives. We still have a disconnect between us and God.
Perhaps some what to deny or clean up the cross so quickly because none the gospels dwell on a description of the crucifixion. But the absence of detail is not neglect, but rather, it is simply unnecessary. All that was needed were the words, “Jesus was crucified,” and the writers of the gospels conveyed to their first readers all they needed to know. They had heard the screams, they had watched men die, they had seen the bodies taken down and buried. This was a public event, and the public was all too familiar with the sign of the cross as one of rejection, pain, scorn, and shame. It was the lowliest death possible. To us seems like an off-handed remark to be skimmed over, was a reality of life Jesus’ day. And we know in shocking detail the reality of this death sentence.
Crucifixion was widely known throughout the ancient world. It’s practice stems back so far that some 1500 years earlier the book of Deuteronomy taught that crucifixion was such a heinous death that anyone who was crucified was cursed of God. The logic went that if anyone was crucified they must have been so evil, so wicked, their crimes so unforgivable, that they deserved this type of torture and death.
By the time of Jesus the Roman empire had begun to employ crucifixion widely. We are told such account as the 800 Pharisees who were crucified by Alexander Janneus in 76BC. The rebellions of Sparticus literally lined the Appian way with crosses.
Crucifixion was not done behind closed doors, that would betray the whole point of sending a message to the masses. No, this was the most public display. A man sentenced to crucifixion would be stripped down naked and beaten. A man would have his arms shackled above is head, helpless to move or protect himself in any way. The crucifier, one who job was to execute criminals in this fashion, would beat them with a whip fashioned of leather straps, weighted and lined with metal and bone fragments. The whip would come down across the victims shoulders, back, buttox and legs. The weights would literally tenderize the man like a chunk of dead meat. The straps would be drug across the flesh, stripping skin, then muscle, and even bone, until the victim was flayed while alive. They developed such skill at this that a phrase was coined, the 39 lashes. 40 would kill a person, so they could get them as close as possible to death with actually killing them. It is written that Jesus didn’t even look like a man after his flogging, that he was unrecognizable.
As if this wasn’t enough we know of the special treatment Jesus received. the mocking, the ridicule, the crown of thorns, pulling out his beard, covering his wounds with a robe, only to rip the robe off again.
The victim was then to carry their cross through the streets- again, a ritual of public humiliation and shame. One to the place of crucifixion the victim would be ropes and nailed to the cross. The spikes were driven through the hands, or more commonly the wrists, so the the flesh would not just tear away and allow the victim to fall from the cross. the cross was then dropped into a hole. The full weight of the victim hanging on those nails. Then, slowly, death would come. From blood lose, from coronary failure, most often from suffocation. If things were taking too long the legs would be broken, and the victim would lose their ability to support their weight, and to breath, and they would die.
In the case of Jesus, and in the fulfillment of prophesy, just at no bone was ever broken in the passover lamb, his legs were not broken. Instead, a spear was trust into his side, releasing a flow of blood and water, evidence that his heart and lungs had been run through.
When we endure the worst thing we can imagine, we call it excruciating It is from the word to crucify. There was nothing else like crucifixion. No other adjective would suffice to describe the pain. Many of you have seen the movie the passion. Many protested it a glorification of violence. it went too far, it showed too much. I’m into saying you need to see, but if you did see it, it doesn’t go too far. In fact, it doesn’t go far enough. For what he showed to us on a movie screen, we know, in it’s basic movements and presentation, actually happened.
You will occasionally hear stories that perhaps Jesus passed out, and in any case, he wasn’t really dead. This is simply unthinkable. If there was anything the Romans did well, they killed people. If the beating didn’t do it, the crucifixion would. If the crucifixion for some reason didn’t do it, being run through with a spear would finish the job. If being run through with a spear didn’t do it, try being wrapped up in a suffocating burial cloth, laid in a tomb, and shut off from the world. Although it certainly sounds odd to say this, you can rest assure that on Good Friday, Jesus was dead. He was really, truly, physically dead.
I remember in high school the first time I heard the story of the cross spelled out in great detail, sparing none of the blood, betrayal, or brutal honestly of the event. As a Christian listening to that I began to get very angry with all the people who participated in the crucifixion. I was mad at Judas for betraying Jesus. I was mad at Peter for deny him. I was mad at Herod, and Pilate, and the religious leaders. Why did they kill my Lord? I found myself even being to get mad at Jesus. Why didn’t you call down those legions of angels, I thought to myself, those people deserved it. Why did you have to die, those people deserved to die!
But as I grow in my faith, in my understanding of myself and the human condition, I’ve come to understand more and more: I’m those people. How often have I betrayed my savior with my words and actions? How often have I denied Him when I should have spoken boldly? How often have I tried to pass the buck of responsibility? The truth is, my sins put Jesus on that cross every bit as much as those peoples did. I needed something that I couldn’t provide for myself. I needed a savior.
We don’t like to admit that we need a savior. It goes against our nature, and it really goes against our Western ideals. We do not like to believe that we deserve condemnation. We don’t think our sins are all that bad. We hold on to the hope that somehow we’ll be good enough. Somehow we’ll earn God’s favor. And yet all of us, in our rare moments of honesty with ourselves, admit that we are helpless.
The story of the cross isn’t one of those people and the things they did to Jesus. It’s the story of Jesus, and what he did for us people. Paul puts it this way in Ephesians:
“God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ so that you who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.”
In his blood we are washed clean and our sins atoned for. In his blood, we, who were far from God, have been brought near. We, who were strangers to God because of our sin, can be called the children of God.
Easter isn’t primarily about believing in Jesus and the cross.
You see, Easter is about Jesus believing in you!
It’s about Jesus believing in the good plan of his Father in heaven.
Believing that there really is a penalty to be paid.
Believing the world was worth it and shouldn’t go to hell.
Believing in the ones who would put their faith in him!
You need to understand this. The cross is not a cosmic crap shoot. It is not the sad sacrifice of a God who was at his wits end and did not know what to do with people who kept turning from him, who kept turning to sin, who kept messing everything up. It is not the pitiable death of a disillusioned deity whose real plan for redemption backfired. Jesus is not at the mercy of his betrayer and deserters and captors and accusers and crucifiers! Jesus did not go the cross hoping maybe this would do something about sin. Jesus did not go to the cross hoping maybe this will somehow fix death.
The cross was not an accident! His death did not mess up the plan. This is not plan B. You see, sin messed up the plan! Death messed up the plan! A broken relationship with God messed up the plan. The plan was for a life in communion with God. The plan was for a life that never tasted death.
All of this, all that we’ve looked at, is part of the plan to get us back on that track. Jesus prayed to the Father in preparation for the cross. Jesus prayed for those he said would believe in Him. Jesus told Peter to put down his sword. Jesus let himself be handed over to the soldiers. Jesus did not defend his rights when he was wrongly accused. Jesus said in no uncertain terms that he laid down his life on his own terms.
He declared that no one took his life from him but that he gave it willingly.
He died knowing he was going to battle the gates of hell.
He died knowing he would rise from the grave before he was dead.
He did knowing his followers would launch his church and change the world.
If you are here today, if you are hearing these words, if you have been on this journey of faith, then I can only conclude that Jesus died believing in you. Believing that his death would actually bring you life. He died knowing you.
Knowing you inside and out, from before your birth, to this very moment, to what you will be one day. He knows you better than you know yourself. He died believing in you.
He died as the passover lamb, the perfect one. The one who would fulfill the plan for redemption and reconciliation with God. He died as the lamb to pay the price of our sins and to begin righting all the wrongs of the world. he died to conquer the grave and conquer death so we would have life. He goes where we could not go to do what we could not do to be what we could not be but what all of us need.
To be our savior, and to be our Lord.
Jeremy Riddle - Sweetly Broken
To the cross I look, to the cross I cling
Of its suffering I do drink
Of its work I do sing
For on it my Savior both bruised and crushed
Showed that God is love
And God is just
Chorus:
At the cross You beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees, and I am
Lost for words, so lost in love,
I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered
What a priceless gift, undeserved life
Have I been given
Through Christ crucified
You’ve called me out of death
You’ve called me into life
And I was under Your wrath
Now through the cross I’m reconciled
Chorus:
In awe of the cross I must confess
How wondrous Your redeeming love and
How great is Your faithfulness
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