The Death of Jesus

[0:00] Father, we give you great thanks and praise that because we know the deep love that Jesus has for us, the deep love that you have for us as revealed by his setting aside his glory and divine prerogatives and his appearance as God to take into himself our human nature, to walk amongst us, suffering the trials and temptations, the just plain bother at times of being human, that he was one of us among us and that he died on the cross and bore our punishment, our sin, our shame, all out of love for us.

[0:40] And so, Father, knowing how much you love us, it is easier to say that it is only in your will that we are free. And so we ask that the gospel would be more real to our heart, that we might experience the truth that it is in your will that we are truly free.

[0:56] And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Saviour. Amen. Please be seated. Now, just before we go a bit further into the service, a bit of an explanation.

[1:11] This is Palm Sunday. And it's interesting that over the last few decades, Palm Sunday has become like a very big thing.

[1:22] And we mention it a little bit. But if you look at the ancient lectionaries that go right back to the early 400s, late 300s, and if you look at the English Reformation from the mid-16th century, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem isn't even part of the readings.

[1:39] The whole point of today and for the rest of this week is to think about the cross. So our responsive reading, which we're about to do, will be of the triumphal entry.

[1:51] But then we follow the ancient Christian wisdom that today should be a day where we think about the death of Jesus. And that is, in fact, what I will open the word on, is Jesus' final breath.

[2:04] So by that, as introduction, please look up on your screen and join with me in this responsive reading of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a Sunday, either in the year 30 or 33.

[2:21] And scholars don't know which year, but it was one of those two years that this happened. So please join with me. Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go through the village in front of you, and meet the people who have come on the tide, and hold the earth, and die them for bringing them to me.

[2:49] And if they said anything to you, you shall say, The Lord needs them, and he needs them at once. It would be really neat when we have our own building and there's a screen at the back so I can see what you see.

[3:02] This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, Humble and mounted on a donkey, And on a bolt, the bull and beast of burden.

[3:19] The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. Most of the crowds spread their blows on the road, And the others cut branches from the tree, And spread them on the road.

[3:32] And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, Blessed is he who comes to the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

[3:44] And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, The whole city was stirred up, saying, Who is this? And the crowd said, This is the prophet Jesus, Our pastor of Galilee.

[3:56] Let us pray together the collect for purity. Almighty God, Unto whom all hearts be open, All desires known, And from whom no secrets are hid, Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts By the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, That we may perfectly love you, And worthily magnify your holy name, Through Christ our Lord.

[4:18] Amen. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, The first and great commandment is this, Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, With all your soul, With all your mind, And with all your strength.

[4:35] The second is this, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Amen. Lord have mercy, And write these laws in our hearts, We pray.

[4:49] I invite you to join with me in praying this collect, In the old Book of Common Prayer, It's called the Sunday before Easter, Now commonly known as Palm Sunday. Together, Almighty and everlasting God, Who of your tender love towards the human race, Has sent your Son, Our Savior Jesus Christ, To take upon him our flesh, And to suffer death upon the cross, That all should follow the example of his great humility, Mercifully grant, That we may both follow the example of his patience, And also be made partakers of his resurrection, Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

[5:31] Amen. And this is the last Sunday where we'll pray this prayer, And join with me in praying the prayer for all of Lent. Almighty and everlasting God, Who hates nothing that you have made, And does forgive the sins of all them that are penitent, Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, That we worthily lamenting our sins, And acknowledging our fallenness, May obtain of you the God of all mercy, Perfect permission and forgiveness, Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[6:06] Amen. It looks like the person who was reading the epistle isn't here, So I guess I'll read it. It's Philippians chapter 2, Verses 5 to 11.

[6:20] And it won't be obvious to you when you're looking at it on the screen, But most scholars nowadays consider this to be a, Sort of almost, Whether it was a hymn, Or whether it was what we would now consider a creed, It was, It's written in a poetic form, To make it a bit easier to, To understand and remember.

[6:42] And here it is. Our first scripture reading is from the book of Philippians, Chapter 2, Beginning at the 5th verse. Have this mind among yourselves, Which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who though he was in the form of God, Did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, But emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, And being born in the likeness of men, And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, Even death on a cross.

[7:17] Therefore God has highly exalted him, And bestowed on him the name that is above every name, So 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.

[7:37] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. I invite you to stand for the reading of the gospel text. The holy gospel is found in the good news according to Mark, Beginning at the 15th chapter and the 33rd verse.

[8:02] Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ. And when the sixth hour had come, There was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lima sabachthani, Which means, My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?

[8:25] Some of the bystanders, Hearing it, Said, Behold, He's calling Elijah. And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, And put it on a reed, And gave it to Jesus to drink, Saying, Wait, wait, wait, Let's see whether Elijah will come to take him down.

[8:45] Jesus uttered a loud cry, And breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, From top to bottom. And when the centurion, Who stood facing Jesus, Saw that in this way, Jesus breathed his last, The centurion said, Truly, This man was the Son of God.

[9:09] There were also women looking on from a distance, Among whom were Mary Magdalene, And Mary the mother of James the younger, And of Joseph, And of Salome, Salome, I should say.

[9:20] When Jesus was in Galilee, They followed him and ministered to him, And there were also many other women, Who came up with him to Jerusalem. And when evening had come, Since it was the day of preparation, That is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, A respected member of the council, Who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, Took courage and went to Pilate, And asked for the body of Jesus.

[9:46] Pilate was surprised to hear, That Jesus should have already died. And summoning the centurion, Pilate asked him, Whether Jesus was already dead.

[9:59] When Pilate learned from the centurion, That Jesus was dead, He granted the corpse, To Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, And taking Jesus down from the cross, Wrapped him in the linen shroud, And laid him in a tomb, That had been cut out of the rock.

[10:18] And Joseph rolled a stone, Against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene, And Mary the mother of Joseph, Saw where he was laid. This is the gospel of Christ.

[10:29] Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I invite you to remain standing, And join with me in confessing, The Christian faith, With the words of this creed.

[10:39] I believe in God, The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, died, and was buried.

[10:58] He descended into hell. On the third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, And is sitting at the right hand of God, The Father Almighty. He shall come again, To judge the living and the dead.

[11:12] I believe in the Holy Spirit, The Holy Catholic Church, The communion of saints, The forgiveness of sins, The resurrection of the body, And the life everlasting.

[11:23] Amen. I invite you to remain standing, Just as I pray to the Father, That he might lead us into all truth, At this time. Let's pray. Father, First of all, We know that it's hard enough To get just ideas in our head, But you know as well, You know better than we do, Father, How hard it is for those ideas To become real to us, To be something which Shape us, And move us, And draw us.

[11:56] And so, Father, I ask that as we look at These powerful words, In this ancient biography of Jesus, That the words would sink deep Into our hearts, That they would change us, That they would change me, That these words would change My heart and my life, As I pray, They will change the word, The heart and life of those Who are listening.

[12:23] And I ask this in the name of Jesus, Your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. Set my timer.

[12:36] So, I'm going to maybe be, For some of you, A little crass. A little Hillbilly-ish.

[12:50] A little Lower class By Canadian standards. And I'm going to ask you This very important question. Are you born again?

[13:05] Are you born again? You can come to this church, And you can come to the workshops, And the men's group, And the women's group, And you can come to lots of things, And you can learn lots of wisdom for life.

[13:16] And week in and week out, I try to communicate to us How the story of the gospel, And what Jesus did, How if that story becomes real to you, And real to me, It will shape your life, In very, very different ways, And very powerful ways.

[13:32] And I stand by everything that I've said, On these particular matters. But it's very, very possible, To have your life, Not formed now, By the symbol of the almighty dollar, Or the symbol of climbing the greasy pole, Or looking out for number one, Which is another type of the same symbol.

[13:52] And it might be that you, You're no longer controlled by violence, Or recrimination, Or anything like that, That you start to be controlled by a story, That has at its very heart, A story of sacrificial love.

[14:05] And your life will be a better life, If that's the story that controls you, That is both very, very mindful of justice, And its importance, But also very mindful of compassion, And mercy.

[14:16] And your life will be a far better life, If you hear the stories, And you get that out from you. But you could do all of those things, And have a vastly better life, And still not be born again.

[14:29] And the Bible says, If you are not born again, What does it profit you, If you gain all of those other things? Because being born again, Is a matter of life and death. We're going to talk about life and death today, In the gospel text.

[14:42] And it really came upon me, That I will challenge you now, And at the end, Are you born again? Have you invited Jesus, To come into your life, To be your savior and your lord? And if you invite Jesus, To come into your life, To be your savior and your lord, He promises that you will be born again, That the Holy Spirit will do something, In your very center of who you are.

[15:04] That you might not feel it, And others might not see it, But when God looks down, He will see that you have become a new creation, A new creation that is fit for the new creation.

[15:17] Well, We're going to look at a very sad story, About death. Given that every single one of us will one day die, And I'm very conscious as I'm talking to this, That some of you here in the congregation, Have been very touched by the death of somebody, Very, very, within the last couple of weeks, Maybe even attended a funeral, Within the last few days.

[15:45] But, This is the text as we go through Mark, And it's not a bad thing, In fact, it's a very good thing, To think about death. So please join with me, We're going to be looking at Mark chapter 15, In fact, we're only going to look today, At Mark chapter 15, Verses 33 to 37, The death of Jesus, Next week we'll look at the burial, And the resurrection of Jesus, And just to recap, What's just going on, You know, immediately before this, Is that Jesus has been scourged, With whips, Often historians report, That people could be whipped, Right until the bones were shown, And then he was taken to, Just as in nowadays, You know, Tim Hortons or McDonald's, Look for a high traffic area, To set up their business, The Romans look for high traffic areas, To do their crucifixions, And so Jesus was taken, Just outside of the city, On a major road, To find a very high traffic area,

[16:46] Where they could crucify Jesus, And he's crucified, Between two thieves, And he's mocked, And now the story continues, Verse 33, And I'm going to use, That little Netflix series, Giving the story scenes, To help us to enter into it, Hopefully better, And the first scene, Scene number one, Is the creator, Darkens his creation, Scene one, The creator darkens his creation, Verse 33, It goes like this, And when the sixth hour had come, There was darkness over the whole land, Until the ninth hour, Now, How is the date for Passover determined?

[17:30] I know that's not something, That most non-Jewish people, Ever think about, But the date for Passover, Is set by the first full moon, After the summer, After the spring equinox, So March 20 or 21st, And the very first full moon, After that, Is when Passover begins, And that's why sometimes, Passover is at the same time, As our good Friday, But most years it isn't, Because we set it up always, To be on a Friday or a Sunday, Passover can begin, On any day of the week, And now what that means though, Is that this cannot be an eclipse, When it gets darkened, Scientifically, It cannot be an eclipse, Now, I got this from, The Wikipedia, So it, Not Wikipedia, I got this from the internet, So it has to be true, But what I understand, From the internet, Is that there cannot be an eclipse, When there's a full moon, That it's impossible, So what you see here,

[18:30] Is a miracle of darkness, You see here, A miracle of darkness, Listen to what it says again, And when the sixth hour had come, There was darkness, Over the whole land, Until the ninth hour, Now Mark doesn't say, That God did it, But he reports that it happened, And we know, That only God, Could do something like this, It's very powerful, You know, If you believe, That, The neo-Darwinian theory of evolution, And you believe that, Without any type of theistic underpinnings, You believe a philosophy, That's known as naturalism, Then really, There is no meaning, In anything, There's no meaning in the universe, And things don't represent anything, Other than themselves, And we can't really live in a universe, Without meaning, So that would just mean, That we try to put, Hang meaning, On different things, But Christians believe, That all that exists, Was created by the triune God, And because everything that exists,

[19:32] Is created by the triune God, And the Bible tells us, You know, The heavens declare the glory of God, And the firmament proclaims his handiwork, You know, The psalmist says, You know, When I look at the stars, And wonder about them, Then, You know, What is man, That you would even think about him, Consider him, And then it goes on to talk about, What it means to be a human being, And we human beings, At a very deep level, Know that the story, Of the eastern religions, That at the end of the day, Creation is a problem, And that we're all destined, To be at one with God, Or the naturalistic underpinnings, Of the west, That at the end of the day, There is no meaning, And all that happens is death, And we can't really live like that, We put meaning in there, We're meaning creatures, But what the Bible teaches us, Is that the reason we long for meaning, Is because there is meaning, And the reason that we have a sense, That there's something about a forest, Which isn't just that there's trees there, That there's something powerful,

[20:36] When you look at a forest, Or you look at a mountain, Or you look at a, You look at a baby, Or you look at a very, Very old person, With all of their wrinkles, And you have a sense, That you're looking, And there's a meaning there, About something, And if you think that, Then you're close to what's really true, And so when we know, We know what it means, When there's darkness, How many of us, Have gone to a funeral, On a beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful sunny day, And just felt that it's wrong, It should be dark, And cloudy, And rainy, I know there's been times, I've come to church on a good Friday, And it's just beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, And it feels like, It's not the right type of outside, For what we're celebrating, Inside the church, So we know, What darkness symbolizes, We don't have to go through, Looking through the Bible, Darkness, Means sadness, It's connected to death,

[21:39] Often it's connected to a sense of judgment, Or guilt, And so as Jesus is hanging on the cross, In the last couple of hours, Before he will breathe his last, In and around Jerusalem, God makes the world dark, And all of the people there, Who were far more quick and easy, In understanding that there is meaning, They would have felt, The unnatural darkness, And it's very interesting, It doesn't record the same degree of mocking, After the darkness comes, Now I don't know if that's just an editorial technique, And whether they still mocked, We're going to see with the wine and all, That there's a bit of mocking there, But it's almost as if, Those who were the tormentors of Jesus, Have a sense of something, That's gone on, That shouldn't be, That this darkness, And maybe it's like in the book of Exodus,

[22:39] A darkness that can be felt, The creator turns the world dark, As his son, Hangs upon the cross, Now if what happens next in the story, Happened to one of us, It would be deeply, Deeply, Deeply disturbing, It would be something, That we actually would maybe not tell anybody about, Or if we did, It would only be like our best friends, It would be something we wanted to cover up, Look what happens next, It's verse, Scene two, Verse 34, Jesus knows, He has been forsaken, By the father, His father, Jesus knows, That he has been forsaken, By the father, His father, Listen to what it says, And at the ninth hour, It's dark, And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, Lema sabachthani, Which means, My God,

[23:40] My God, Why have you forsaken me? We don't know if he said it once, Or twice, Or three times, We don't know if he said it in Greek, It's in Aramaic, We'll talk about that in a moment, And some Hebrew mixed in, And Mark provides the translation, Now, What do I mean when I said, If this happened?

[24:07] I don't know how many of you, Have been with a loved one, When they've died, Or just with anybody, When they've died, And if you were, Around a hospital bed, Waiting for the person to die, Because you know they're going to die, And if a few minutes, Before they died, They cried out, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?

[24:29] That would rock you, It would rock, It would rock an atheist, It would rock a Buddhist, A Muslim, I mean a Hindu, It would rock a Canadian, Anybody, If you saw your loved one cry out, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?

[24:49] It would be so disturbing, We wouldn't want to tell, The family members, What our loved one had just called out, Isn't that true?

[25:04] It might in fact be one of those things, That if our loved one said it, It would haunt us for years to come, We'd wonder, What went on with our loved one, That they would call out, And say that, Just before they died, Now, The historical accuracy, And reason to believe this, I mean one of the reasons you can believe, That this is, That this really happened, Is if you just realize, This is something you cover up, This isn't something you talk about, Not unless you come to see, That it has some other meaning, Would be very distressing, Very frightening, It would cause us to worry, About our loved one, It would frighten us, It would mean that we pity them, And you know what, We would think less highly of them, If we'd always thought, That our dad, Or our mom, Or our sister, Or our brother, Or our child, Was a really good person,

[26:05] And to have them cry that out, Just before they're dying, We would think less of them, Now, This is very important, Because, Well, It's going to be very important, For all sorts of reasons, In some ways, This is the climax, One of the climaxes, Of the whole gospel, And, And it's important, Because you'll listen, To many, Many people, And many, Many churches, And at the end of the day, What they fundamentally teach, Week in and week out, Is, Is that Jesus, Is a good example, And the sermons, You know, You might go to a church, And they talk all the time, About Jesus, And they talk all about, The time, All the time, And all about, How good an example he is, If this happened, He's not a good example, Then that can't be all, That Jesus is, Who wants to copy that?

[27:00] Nobody, And, And for people to talk about, Somehow it's just like, As if Jesus is, It's not so much, Jesus is death, We just sort of get over that, Very quickly, That what we're really looking at, When we're looking at Jesus, Is that, You know, There shouldn't, Don't get, You forget all about that, Violence stuff, I mean, It's all about victory, Where's the victory, In that?

[27:19] If that's all you understand, About Jesus, I mean, Obviously I think Jesus is an example, And obviously I think there's a victory, But if that's how you fundamentally, See Jesus, It doesn't fit with this, In this moment of his death, In fact, If Jesus hadn't risen from the dead, Then this would actually be a perfect story, To tell, About the problem of evil, Think about it, It would be a perfect story, To tell about the problem of evil, Say, You know, Look at this, This is why I'm not a Christian, This is why I'm not a Muslim, This is why I gave up on all of that, What we see here, We see bad things happen to good people, We see waiting for God to help, And he doesn't do anything, We call out to him, And he just remains silent, The darkness even reveals, The emptiness of the universe,

[28:20] It's darkness, Not light, You know, You look at this, And you think to yourself, Why didn't he do something different, So he could have lived a little bit longer, Maybe had a wife, And had some children, Rather than dying, You know, Abandoned, And forsaken, And childless, And naked on a cross, He should have chosen to live longer, To stay alive, He should have gotten over all this God stuff, And look at this, The evil people do evil things, And nothing happens to them, They keep on living while he dies, It doesn't get judged, The evil, They just go on, And drink their wine, And do whatever they're going to do, And cause more evil, And the virtuous, And the innocent hide, Or need to look on from a distance, Like those other women, They can't even come close, And Jesus himself, He bears witness, That God has forsaken him, And how can you believe, In a God like that, If there is no resurrection, From the dead, That is the story, Of the gospel,

[29:20] And every single one of us, Should leave this place, Right now, We are fools, If that is the story, Of this text, Or is there something else, Going on in this story, If you could put up my first point, That would be very handy, Jesus drank the cup of wrath, That you deserve, And now, By grace alone, Offers you, His life-giving cup, Of the new covenant, Actually, If you just, Those of you who have Bibles, If you turn back, To Mark chapter 14, Verse 36, It's not going to be on the screen, Because I forgot to ask,

[30:21] That it be put on the screen, So you just have to listen, Or look in your Bibles, Mark chapter 14, Verse 36, And Jesus is in the garden, Of Gethsemane, And it's a very, Very powerful scene, He collapses, He literally collapses, In anguish, And the cry of his heart is, Abba, Father, All things are possible, For you, Remove this cup from me, Yet not what I will, But what you will, And what is this cup?

[30:53] It's an Old Testament image, That's in quite a few books, And it's an image of judgment, And of sin, And it sort of imagines, That at the end of your life, That all throughout your life, Every time you do something, Which is wrong, Or every time you should do something, Or could have done something, And it was right, And you fail to do it, Every time, It's as if God takes, The blackness of that, The darkness of that, The foulness of that, And he makes it into a drop of liquid, And it's not just the evil, That you do, The evil either by what you do, Or what you fail to do, It's not just the evil, That goes into the cup, Because then that might actually sound, As if we could somehow amass the evil, And become more powerful and evil, And we all know, That there are many people that we know, Who would love to be made more powerful, With evil, There are people who walk this earth, Who try to devise ways, To consume more evil,

[31:55] That more evil they may be, And more powerful they may be, And we meet those people, And maybe at one time, We were one of those people, But God is God, And so it's not just the evil, Which goes in the cup, But the shame, That should be with the evil, The guilt that goes with the evil, And God's judgment, That goes with the evil, And the evil, The shame, The guilt, And the judgment, All go in the cup, And at the end of my days, When I see God face to face, He gives me the cup, And I must drink it, Because it is me, And it will unmake me, And when Jesus has that cry, At the beginning, Just a few hours before this happens, What he is saying, Is that in a sense,

[32:55] There is my cup, But it is possible, By the grace and mercy of God, This was something which was hinted at, In prophecies, Throughout what we now call, The Old Testament, And our Jewish friends call, The Torah, Or the Tanakh, That my cup, Could be poured into his cup, And it's a little bit, Maybe like a Harry Potter world, You could keep pouring, Between the cups of my cup, And yours, And yours, And yours, And yours, And yours, And it all goes in one cup, And when Jesus cries out, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?

[33:34] That is the moment, That he drinks the cup, And he experiences, Separation from God, Because he is drunk, Well here's the thing, If you were to look, In heaven, For Jesus' cup, It would be like this, Empty, He never sinned, And so on the cross, When you hear him cry, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?

[34:14] You hear him, Having drunk your cup, But you know, If that was all the gospel is, It wouldn't be much of a gospel, What is it I say, In my attempt to explain it, He drank the cup of wrath, That you deserve, And now by grace alone, Offers you his life, Giving cup of the new creation, Just before all of this happened, Jesus instituted a ceremony, That he wanted his followers, To do after his death, And resurrection, We're going to celebrate it today, In obedience to him, We're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, And if you have your Bibles, This is in how Mark 14, 22 to 25, He describes it, When he institutes it, He says, And it says, As they were eating, Jesus took bread, And after blessing it, Broke it and gave it to them, And said, Take, This is my body, And he took a cup, And when he had given thanks, The cup has wine in it,

[35:16] And when he had given thanks, He gave it to them, And they all drank it, And he said to them, This is my blood, Of the new covenant, Which is poured out for many, And in his death and resurrection, When Jesus calls out, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?

[35:33] He has drunk the cup, That you deserve, The cup of wrath, And he doesn't just offer you his cup, An empty cup, He offers you his cup, The cup of the new covenant, The cup of a new relationship with him, And not just a relationship with him, I can have a relationship with my barista, Who works for a month or two or three, And then goes on and I have receive them, Again, that's not the type of relationship, It's a covenant, It's like marriage only far beyond, It's a new relationship with him, As my God and my king, My savior, He is my elder brother, God is my father, The whole, It's a completely new world, That is offered to me, And that I am invited to remember, Every time we have the Lord's Supper, Every time we have the Lord's Supper, We confess our sins just before it,

[36:33] Because we are remembering, That he drank the cup of his wrath, And we have a sip of the new wine, Because we remember, That he is inaugurated, And invited you and me, Into this new covenant with him, And that leads me, Before we move on any further, Are you born again?

[36:57] Are you born again? This isn't just a beautiful and moving story, It's real, It's as real as death, And you don't have to feel like you're born again, You don't have to know exactly what, Here's what it is, It's a matter of you, You know, It begins with the will, It's like in a friendship relationship, Where it goes from the sense that you become friends, Where there's some things, Whether spoken or unspoken, About the fact that you are friends, Because you see each other on a regular basis, Or it's a little bit like, It's just moved beyond love, And maybe attraction to that moment, That one or the other says, Will you marry me?

[37:37] And the other one says, Yes, And then that there's a covenant, Which is sealed, That takes place, Whether it's just before the state, Or before lots of witnesses in a church, And in the sight of God, And one says to the other, They pledge the deepest of themselves to each other, And say, You know, I, George, Give myself to Louise, And Louise gives herself to me, Or, You know, Whatever, And we enter into something, Which is just different than just a friendship, And it's very, Very deep, And very, Very real, But it begins with a reality, And then there's words that articulate it, And some people, They've always been Christians, And that's good, That's what we hope for all of our children, And others, We know that there's a specific time, But it all begins by acknowledging these realities, And acknowledging that there is a cup of my wrath, That one day I will die, That one day I will realize that all my life, I have been running far from God, And want God far away, And that that's, That's, That just means I will experience the wrath of, Have to drink that cup of my wrath,

[38:38] And it begins with, And it continues with believing that Jesus has done something for me, That I can't do for myself, And it involves me, See, Considering that I don't want to have my life be something, Which is just on my own, And completely and utterly still, And quiet, Or open rebellion against God, That I, That does, I don't want death to be the final word about me, I don't want the cup of wrath to be the final word about me, And then you decide that you want to do something, And it's not just having stories, Although stories are profoundly important, It's when you, With your heart, And with your lips, Or at least in your mind, You call out to Jesus, And say, Jesus, Would you come into my life, And be my savior and Lord?

[39:20] And when you do that, He says yes, And you are born again, And, And so I just want to say to you, And to you, Are you born again?

[39:37] And if you don't think that has described you up until now, Or you never even really knew you had to do that, You just thought you could go through liturgies, And rituals, And think of stories, And try to improve your life, You know, A friend of mine was talking to some young men, Who, Believe it or not, Were led by Jordan Peterson, To start considering the Christian faith, And they were talking to him, And my friend said to him, Listen, You know, You can listen to Jordan Peterson, And all it'll mean, Is you have a really neat bedroom, And you're in better shape, And you're better emotionally, But that doesn't count anything, Unless you're born again, It's the same with us, And I just would invite you to call on the Lord, And ask that he would be, Jesus would be your Savior and your Lord, Thank him for drinking the cup that you deserved, And for offering this cup of a new relationship, Which we remember, And recommit to every time we take the Lord's Supper, We will finish the story, There's still,

[40:37] There's humor, There's maybe some mocking, Maybe some help, And another miracle, And a confession, Which we'll look at very briefly, As we finish this story, Look at scene number three, Scene number three, Lost in translation, Lost in translation, Verses 35 and 36, And it goes like this, Some of the bystanders, Hearing it said, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani, Behold, He's calling Elijah, And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, Put it on a reed, And gave it to him to drink, Saying, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Let's see whether Elijah will come to take him down, Probably said in a mocking way, And it comes in translation, You know, I don't know how some people ever figure out how to speak English, Some of you, I know that there's at least one person here, That English was the fourth language they learned, And I just marvel, I don't know how on earth they figured out English, There's so many times where the same sound means very different words,

[41:39] That you can tell when it's written, But you can't tell when it's spoken, Not very easily, And so, Depending on your language, The word for God here also sounds like Elijah, And so it's lost in translation, And it's not clear whether they're trying to be helpful, Whether they're trying to be mocking, You know, What's going on here, But they get confused, It's lost in translation, They don't realize that he's talking to God, The God who's forsaken him, Not Elijah, And then this next bit is something which is more powerful in the original language, But, But, But, Not as obvious in English, And it touches this final moment when he dies, You know, If you've never been with somebody who has died, It is on one level like the movies, You watch their breath, And then they breathe, Their last, And then it's after that,

[42:41] You might notice a change in the body, Or the eyes, But you sort of watch, And you're waiting for that last breath, And that's what now happens to Jesus, It's the final, It's called, The scene is scene number four, It's verse 37, The final breath of Jesus, And it goes like this, And Jesus uttered a loud cry, And breathed his last.

[43:06] Now, Now, What's not quite caught here, Is that it's a, I'm not going to burst your ear, But it's a loud cry, It's something he shouldn't be able to do, Given that he's, He's been whipped, To maybe the point of bone showing, And lost all this blood, And is being dehydrated, And bleeding profusely, From the nails, Into his wrists, And into the ankles, Just above the feet, And, And, And, And in the original language, There's two things that go, Are going on with it, The first thing is that it, It sounds like it's a cry of victory, And, And scholars wonder if it's him saying, It is finished, Which is recorded in John, But the other thing is, That it's, Well, Well, Here's the thing, If you could put up the next point, That would be helpful, For you and me, Death is not an option, For Jesus, Entering death, Was his quest, Of love and mercy,

[44:07] For you and me, Death is not an option, For Jesus, Entering death, Was his quest of love and mercy, What I'm trying to get at here, Is that, I cannot not die, I cannot not die, Neither can you, I mean, Christians, You know, Some of us won't die, If we're alive, When Jesus returns, But apart from that, Which is the end, And the beginning, Human beings don't have a choice, I mean, Maybe we can do some things, That speed up our death, Or slow our death, But it's not an option, We, In Canada, We're trained to think, That death is what happens, To other people, And that somehow or another, It's an option for me, And every day I wake up, I'm saying, I'm not going to die today, You know, But at the end of the day, You can say that every day, And someday you're going to die, Because death is not an option, But what this cry, From the cross, Is, That, And because he came to die, We don't know what it would have meant, If he'd still be alive today, But the implication is, That Jesus actually, He couldn't die, Unless he chose to die,

[45:10] Not chose to die, The way made, Is choosing to die, But he literally, And I mean literally, He couldn't die, And this call, And it's communicated, And hinted at, And in the structure of the Greek, Is that, He's chosen, To do, What couldn't, Happen to him naturally, He chooses to die, If you could put up the next point, That would be very helpful, On a Friday afternoon, Death swallowed Jesus, On Sunday, It was discovered, That Jesus had swallowed death, On a Friday afternoon, In the year 30, April in 30, Or April in 33, It looked as if, Death swallowed Jesus, He truly died, On Sunday, Going a little bit ahead in the story, It was discovered, That Jesus had swallowed death, And,

[46:13] You know, That is why, We'll talk about this more next week, The grave is a bed of hope, For Christians, It's sad, And Christians should, Should feel completely free, To cry their eyes out, But, But we know that, We are in him, Who swallowed death, And that when we say, Goodbye to our loved one, Who is in Christ, We really, Truly, Literally, Can say, See you later, Not farewell, Now there's a final miracle, And that takes place, In the next scene, The father tears down the curtain, Verse 38, And the curtain of the temple, Was torn in two, From top to bottom, Now what this is saying here, Is that as Jesus, Jesus has now died, And in the whole,

[47:14] Old Testament, In a sense, Has been pointing, And bringing us to this point, The whole Tanakh, And Torah, Has brought us to this point, And God, Had communicated, How in a sense, Inaccessible he was, And that he could only come, Through the mediation of priests, And through sacrifices, And where in a sense, He was most, Completely and perfectly, Which was in the Holy of Holies, That could only be entered, Once a year, But only by the high priest, And only after solemn sacrifices, And solemn preparation for it, Could that be done, And that way to see, In the very presence of God, Was always covered with a curtain, And it is that curtain, Which is torn, And it is not torn, From the bottom up, That a human being, Could do it, It is as if God, From heaven, Reaches down, And takes that curtain, Himself, That curtain, That he had requested, That was be made, And he takes that curtain, And he tears it, From the top to the bottom, So that the way, To the Holy of Holies, Is now open, There is a new way,

[48:17] To be in God's presence, And it is through faith, In his son Jesus Christ, The beloved son, The beloved son, And then a surprising confession, The next and final scene, You know, It's really interesting, Now it shows a little bit, You know, I, I sometimes, I have to confess, I have a guilty pleasure, Of sometimes watching, JP Awakening on YouTube, Some of you are now, Going to write me off, Many of you have never heard, Of JP Awakening, But he's a, If you've seen him, He's a muscular guy, With very, Very white, Looking very, Very white, With long red hair, And a beard, Looks like a hippie, And, And, He began as a, Wellness guru, And a spiritual coach, Type guy, Ended up accidentally, Discovering that if he spoofed it, He could make more money, So he started spoofing it,

[49:19] Anyway, Then he's become, Anyway, He became a Christian, Just within the last week, Like, If you'd looked at guys on YouTube, That were going to become Christians, You wouldn't have picked him, Like, You wouldn't have, And he became Christian, In a really, Interesting way, Because he, He shares, If you look at the video, Of how he mocked, And mocked, And mocked Christians, And thought, Christians were like, People still trying to use, Like, Really ancient technology, In a modern technology world, But as, As the world, He just saw more and more, Evil in the world, And he was recoiling from evil, And he realized one day, That when he recoils away from evil, He's recoiling towards something, And he started to realize, It was the Christian God, He became a Christian, And, My conversion was a miracle, And so was yours, Nobody's conversion,

[50:21] Is ever merely an act of their will, And we see this, Most remarkable confession, In this final scene, It's called, The first to see, And confess, It's the final scene, Scene six, Verse 39, The centurion, Who stood facing Jesus, Saw that in this way, He breathed his last, He said, Truly, This man, Was the son of God, And, Many people, Had sort of seen, That Jesus might be God, Because of his miracles, But everybody thought, That as Jesus suffers, And dies, That this is a sign, That he definitely, Wasn't anything like that, And this pagan, Who would have worshipped, The pagan gods, Who supervised, The death of Jesus,

[51:22] By crucifixion, Seeing Jesus' crucifixion, And his final cry, In the midst of the darkness, Has this miraculous confession, Truly this man, Was the son of God, If you could put up, The final point, That would be very helpful, Your only hope, In life and death, Is the death, And resurrection of Jesus, If there is, A Muslim friend, Watching this, I want to announce, To you, If you understand, That this really happened, Is your only hope, In life and death, Is not Muhammad, But Jesus, If you were a Buddhist, Or a Hindu, Who is watching this, If you were a good, Secular Canadian, And you were watching this, Or you were here, Your only hope, In life and death, Is the death, And resurrection of Jesus, And ask him into your life, To be your savior, And your lord, And you know,

[52:25] The stories, Will begin to change your life, But it's not just the stories, It's his real presence, And it's the presence, Of the Holy Spirit, His presence with you, As you live your life, And people can begin, To understand from the inside, The profound emotional power, And beauty of the gospel, That when you have times, That you have been abandoned, And you have been, You have been betrayed, And you have been left alone, And you have been a mock, That you can pour out, Your heart to him, And he knows, What you are going through, Because he has gone through it himself, You can pour out, Your heart to him, You can come to him, For comfort, Because he knows that, You can let him rule, Because he is, He is, Because he loved you, So deeply, Who else could you trust, To rule in your life, Than him, And you can come to him, For courage, To do hard things, Because you know, That death does not win, Injustice does not win,

[53:27] The devil does not win, And so you can be inspired, To do courage and justice, And you know, That death is not the final word, I invite you to stand, Let's pray, Father, Father, I gave my life to you, Through Jesus, Many, many years ago, And I ask, Father, That you make it more real, To my heart, Every day, That Jesus drank, The cup of wrath, That I deserved, And offered me, Not just in his empty cup, But his, His cup filled, With the blood, Of the new covenant, That he offered to me, And can make me, A part of this covenant, That goes, Into the new heaven, And the new earth, That begins today, And goes into the new heaven, And the earth, New earth, Father, May you bring this truth, Home to my life, And may you help me, Father,

[54:27] To be so gripped by it, And so walk with Jesus, And be in step with the Holy Spirit, That I am comforted, That I am, That I am challenged, To be courageous, And to do hard things, And I am challenged, To do things, That bless this city, And bless the world, And that I am challenged, To share the gospel, Father, Please make it real, To my hearts, And the hearts of those, Who are here, And if there are any here, Now, Or those watching now, Or those watching downstream, Lord, If they have not, Given their life to you, And they feel that tug, May that tug, Well, May that tug, Pull them, And may they, Use this time now, To call out to Jesus, To be their Savior, And Lord, And so, Father, We ask that the, That Jesus would, Be our Savior and Lord, That he would be the Savior and Lord, Of this congregation, And that we would live in a way, That honors him, And delights him, Knowing that one day, Father, We will be in your presence, In the new heaven, And the new earth, And that, Time when we close our eyes,

[55:29] And say farewell, To our loved ones, On this side of the grave, Will be the same moment, That we open our eyes, In your presence, And we see your smile, And hear you say, Welcome.

[55:42] We ask these things, In the name of Jesus, And all God's people said, Amen.