WEBVTT 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:07.560 So, Lamentations. Now the Bible is full of songs, and for example the book of Psalms has 150 of them. 00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:13.720 ! The Song of Solomon is a very well known love song. But the book of Lamentations is also a song. 00:00:14.540 --> 00:00:23.460 But it's a song of suffering. It's a dirge. It's what you would sing if you went to a funeral when everyone wears black. 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:31.339 And it was written when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 586 BC by the Babylonian army. 00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:38.420 And you can read the events a bit more in 2 Kings chapter 25, where it's all quite matter of fact. 00:00:39.120 --> 00:00:41.480 You read that King Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed the city. 00:00:42.540 --> 00:00:47.600 But in the book of Lamentations you hear what that felt like from the inside. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.320 And the suffering was horrific. 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:57.960 So there was a two year siege, which led to famine. 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:03.600 And as a result, the people ran out of food. 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:05.819 And you can imagine the situation grows desperate. 00:01:07.219 --> 00:01:10.960 You actually see in chapter 2, verse 20, there are cases of cannibalism. 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:15.599 As mothers are forced to eat their dead babies. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:21.239 And eventually the situation gets so desperate that the king is forced to flee one night. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:21.919 He's captured. 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:23.859 And as a result, the city is taken. 00:01:24.659 --> 00:01:27.699 And it is systematically destroyed. 00:01:28.579 --> 00:01:31.099 So priests are slaughtered in the temple. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:33.459 Leaders are killed. 00:01:33.459 --> 00:01:37.839 And buildings are just deliberately destroyed. 00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:42.219 It is the willful, systematic destruction of an entire civilization. 00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:51.780 And this song of Lamentations is divinely inspired to articulate the grief they felt at that. 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:54.879 So it's actually a very carefully composed book. 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:56.439 Chapter 1, we can't see it in English. 00:01:56.579 --> 00:01:57.799 But it's actually an acrostic. 00:01:58.320 --> 00:02:01.320 So every verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:03.260 So verse 1, A, verse 2, B, etc. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:08.719 And at one level that probably just helped people to memorise the poem. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:14.340 But there's a sense in which this is giving us the A to Z of suffering. 00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:17.060 It's giving us the totality of it. 00:02:18.099 --> 00:02:21.120 And if you look at chapter 1, the song is about a woman crying. 00:02:22.219 --> 00:02:27.400 Verse 2, she weeps bitterly in the night with tears on her cheeks. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:30.300 In verse 16, we hear her speak. 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:36.139 She says, I weep, my eyes flow with tears. 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:41.839 So you've got a picture of a woman sitting out in public somewhere on a park bench maybe. 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:47.359 And she is sobbing in full view of everyone. 00:02:47.859 --> 00:02:49.239 This isn't just a kind of tear in the eye. 00:02:50.259 --> 00:02:52.619 And she is utterly inconsolable. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:55.879 Nobody can stop this woman crying. 00:02:55.979 --> 00:02:57.259 So listen to some of the things she says. 00:02:57.339 --> 00:03:01.000 Verse 2, she has none to comfort her. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:06.800 Verse 7, there was none to help her. 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:11.379 Verse 9, she has no comforter. 00:03:12.539 --> 00:03:16.180 Verse 17, there is none to comfort her. 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:20.319 Verse 21, there is no one to comfort me. 00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:26.659 Now, I don't know you, but I have had some low points in my life. 00:03:26.659 --> 00:03:29.919 But thankfully, I have never been able to say that. 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:38.199 And then in verse 12, which is what I want us to focus on, this woman dramatically calls to us. 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:44.319 As we walk past her, she asks for our pity. 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:45.139 So have a listen. 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:50.039 She says, is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:56.139 Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow. 00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:01.000 So suddenly, she starts talking to us. 00:04:01.979 --> 00:04:03.939 She talks to the passers-by. 00:04:04.379 --> 00:04:08.319 In verse 12, I think it captures a moment that we can all relate to, can't we? 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:11.139 So haven't we all had this experience where we're walking somewhere, 00:04:11.699 --> 00:04:16.100 and we approach someone sitting on the street who we know is going to ask us for money, 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:20.280 and they look at us, and we've got that split-second decision, haven't we? 00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:22.020 What are we going to do? 00:04:22.860 --> 00:04:28.439 Are we going to pass them by, or are we going to stop and give them our attention? 00:04:28.620 --> 00:04:31.840 And it is something that we can, yeah, we do lots of. 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:34.140 It struck me, sitting on a bus recently, 00:04:35.260 --> 00:04:40.439 we're bombarded, aren't we, by needs, by calls to us to pay attention to suffering. 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:47.759 So there's the effort, isn't there, if you text this number to donate £5 to help Sharif have a blanket for winter. 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:54.339 And I know if I stop and think about Sharif and the £5 in my wallet for too long, 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.199 I will sort of feel some compulsion. 00:04:57.399 --> 00:05:01.779 And so we develop coping strategies to try and avoid it. 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:03.560 We become experts at passing by. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:07.339 Apparently the charity sector has a name for it. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.120 They call it compassion fatigue. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:14.560 They know that if we have, if we're exposed to too many examples of suffering, 00:05:14.699 --> 00:05:17.759 we just sort of psychologically switch off. 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:21.199 We shrug our shoulders and get used to it. 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:23.699 But that's the picture in verse 12. 00:05:23.840 --> 00:05:26.959 A woman is sobbing, she is in great distress, 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:30.480 and she cries to us, 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.040 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? 00:05:35.019 --> 00:05:36.340 Look and see. 00:05:36.340 --> 00:05:37.579 And so really that's what I want us to do this morning. 00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:38.800 I want us to look and see. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:46.219 I want us to slow down and to peer at this woman and see what we can learn here. 00:05:46.379 --> 00:05:49.099 Please don't pass this woman by in verse 12, I want to say. 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:52.199 Please listen to her. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:54.639 She invites us into her grief. 00:05:54.899 --> 00:05:56.000 I'm going to ask three questions. 00:05:56.500 --> 00:05:58.199 Firstly, whose grief is this? 00:05:58.740 --> 00:06:00.099 Secondly, why is it unique? 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:02.200 Thirdly, will you pass it by? 00:06:04.520 --> 00:06:09.000 So as we look at this woman, it's important that we don't misidentify her. 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:13.540 So we may be tempted to think that we know who she is. 00:06:13.620 --> 00:06:18.280 After all, her city has been destroyed and her children have been killed. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:21.000 And so we think, well, this is the victim of war. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:26.240 This woman represents the suffering people that we meet all around us. 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:33.379 And so we may conclude that verse 12 is really a call for us to kind of step in towards the world's sufferings. 00:06:34.779 --> 00:06:38.920 And if that was the case, then this woman's face is the face of the refugee on the 10 o'clock news. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:43.120 And it's the mother who lost her children in the Paris attacks. 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:51.040 It's the Syrian refugees who are going to be spending this winter in a huge camp, separated from loved ones. 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:56.600 And so verse 12 would then be telling us, don't pass by their suffering, give to Oxfam, and so on. 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:59.439 But I want to say no, that is not who this woman is. 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:02.079 This woman isn't any old woman. 00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:08.019 And the book of Lamentations isn't describing any old suffering. 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:10.899 This woman is God's people. 00:07:10.899 --> 00:07:13.919 She is Jerusalem. 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:16.979 Not any old city, but the city that God chose. 00:07:18.539 --> 00:07:22.060 And the book of Lamentations describes the sufferings of God's people. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:27.560 But we need to say even more than that, because this woman is experiencing a very particular kind of grief. 00:07:29.139 --> 00:07:33.019 Now, as God's people, we can face all kinds of suffering, can't we? 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:36.279 Loved ones can die. 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:38.599 We can be made redundant. 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:42.000 Our children can walk away from the faith. 00:07:43.140 --> 00:07:45.020 We can get attacked on the streets. 00:07:45.180 --> 00:07:47.420 All kinds of sufferings can come into our lives. 00:07:47.580 --> 00:07:54.400 And yet, the wonderful thing is, as believers, is that in those times, we can know God close to us. 00:07:54.820 --> 00:07:57.100 And God, our Heavenly Father, caring for us. 00:07:57.760 --> 00:08:00.180 But that is not what this woman is describing here. 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:02.220 Look at what she says. 00:08:02.220 --> 00:08:14.320 Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:24.680 This woman's sufferings actually aren't caused by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army. 00:08:25.819 --> 00:08:33.980 They are inflicted by the Lord himself on the day of his fierce anger. 00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:40.680 This woman is under the curse of God. 00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:45.060 God is angry with her. 00:08:45.059 --> 00:08:57.159 This woman is voicing for us what it feels like to be God's chosen one, but cursed by God. 00:08:58.199 --> 00:09:04.899 The cry in verse 12 is the cry of someone suffering under God's curse. 00:09:04.899 --> 00:09:10.220 And when we realise that, we begin to hear another voice here in verse 12, don't we? 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:12.379 There is another speaker here. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:20.059 This verse is not just articulating the trauma of the Jews in 587 BC. 00:09:20.299 --> 00:09:23.279 It is voicing for us a deeper trauma. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:25.840 A deeper judgement. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:30.820 And it is the trauma that is at the heart of the Bible's entire message. 00:09:31.259 --> 00:09:37.480 In which God sends his son to suffer for the sins of his people. 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:40.320 To bear the curse on their behalf. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:49.399 And in, not 587 BC, but in AD 30 something, the son of God bears the curse on the cross. 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:56.139 And so in the destruction of Jerusalem, we have prefigured for us the destruction of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:09:58.079 So whose grief is this? 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:05.360 This sobbing woman actually becomes for us a window into the sufferings of Jesus Christ. 00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:14.860 In her sobs, we are meant to hear the experience of someone being cursed as a covenant breaker. 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:18.899 And so they are best heard on the lips of Jesus Christ as he hangs on the cross. 00:10:20.259 --> 00:10:24.059 So, this woman isn't an advert for Oxfam. 00:10:25.059 --> 00:10:29.620 This isn't the voice of a refugee on our TV, as needy as those causes may be. 00:10:30.079 --> 00:10:32.699 This isn't even Christians being persecuted in Syria. 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:36.819 This is Jesus speaking to us this morning in verse 12. 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:38.559 And he says to us, 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:47.340 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by, look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow? 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:51.800 So secondly, why is this unique? 00:10:52.920 --> 00:10:58.800 So as Jesus calls for our attention here, you can see, can't you, that he is accenting the uniqueness of his suffering. 00:10:59.580 --> 00:11:04.960 Look and see, is there any sorrow like my sorrow? He's asking. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:08.560 And the assumed answer is no. 00:11:10.780 --> 00:11:17.420 No, there is no sorrow that can be compared to the sorrow of Jesus Christ. 00:11:17.419 --> 00:11:21.979 The prophet Isaiah has a title for the Messiah. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:23.360 You may remember it. 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:26.059 He calls him the man of sorrows. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:31.259 And this verse calls us, in this verse, Jesus calls us to explore this. 00:11:31.319 --> 00:11:34.639 What is it that makes Christ's suffering so unique? 00:11:34.699 --> 00:11:37.519 And let me flag up four areas. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:38.519 Let us try and think. 00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:43.839 How can we calculate and compute what it was that Jesus suffered? 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.560 So firstly, think of the how of his sufferings. 00:11:48.759 --> 00:11:50.280 So I hope you know some of the basics. 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:56.379 Christ's sufferings involves a violent and a bloody death. 00:11:57.700 --> 00:12:04.480 He died by crucifixion, not by electric chair or by lethal injection, which would be very smooth processes. 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:10.240 It was a form of death that the Romans developed to maximise the pain, 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:17.200 to horrify people, to emphasise the pain and the shame of death. 00:12:18.379 --> 00:12:22.000 Death and crucifixion becomes a long, drawn-out affair. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:29.000 And we shouldn't gloss over the real, physical dimensions of Christ's sufferings. 00:12:30.220 --> 00:12:32.519 His body was broken. 00:12:34.620 --> 00:12:38.580 His hands and feet were pierced through with nails. 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.720 A crown of thorns dug into his forehead. 00:12:45.860 --> 00:12:49.740 He experienced the stigma of having spit in his face. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.759 He was offered sour wine to drink. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.639 That wasn't to relieve him of his pain. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.500 His ears heard the taunts of the crowd. 00:12:59.620 --> 00:13:02.139 His eyes saw people gaping at him. 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:05.139 His beard was plucked. 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:07.080 His back whipped. 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:09.700 His clothes taken from him. 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:13.440 His friends utterly deserted. 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:14.340 And we could go on, couldn't we? 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:15.420 That's a little bit of the how. 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:20.700 But think next of who it is who is suffering here. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:27.100 The person hanging on the cross is no ordinary person. 00:13:27.100 --> 00:13:30.740 This is an eternal person. 00:13:30.740 --> 00:13:35.100 This is a divine person. 00:13:36.659 --> 00:13:45.639 This is God the Son, who from before the foundations of the world enjoyed blessed fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:50.039 This is God the Son, who made everything. 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:57.139 This is God the Son, who stands at the centre of angels' worship, who is hanging here. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:07.179 This is the perfectly blessed Son, without any needs, without any wants, incapable of suffering in himself. 00:14:07.179 --> 00:14:10.179 That is who is suffering here. 00:14:11.359 --> 00:14:13.500 This is happening to him. 00:14:14.219 --> 00:14:18.639 These are the sufferings of a person of infinite glory. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:32.879 And when you begin to appreciate that, you start to feel like we're just floating over 70,000 fathoms of suffering beneath us. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:41.100 Kids, you know sometimes when you're using calculators, and you do a sum, and you keep multiplying it, and it ends up with that letter E on it, 00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:45.340 because it can't compute the figure that you've come up with anymore. 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:49.800 Well, it's like that, as we try to add these things together, because we can go on. 00:14:49.860 --> 00:14:51.340 Think of why it is he is suffering. 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:59.200 The answer scripture gives is he is taking the punishment, not for his own sins, but on behalf of others. 00:15:01.540 --> 00:15:04.180 He is receiving the punishment that others deserve. 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:06.720 And so this opens up again another whole dimension of his suffering. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:08.680 So he is an innocent man. 00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:11.319 It is an innocent person suffering. 00:15:12.219 --> 00:15:16.139 Now we may know examples of someone suffering innocently for a crime they didn't commit, 00:15:16.479 --> 00:15:20.039 but actually no one has ever suffered completely innocently. 00:15:20.699 --> 00:15:24.000 They may not be guilty of the crime, but they're guilty of all kinds of things ultimately. 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:29.019 Jesus is completely perfect, with no corrupt desires. 00:15:29.439 --> 00:15:32.120 Sin never had the slightest influence over him. 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:40.159 Think how that must aggravate his sufferings, as he has made sin for us. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:44.459 And when you put the how and the who and the why together, 00:15:44.579 --> 00:15:46.519 and think of the what of his sufferings, 00:15:46.779 --> 00:15:48.159 our minds begin to boggle. 00:15:50.199 --> 00:15:52.679 Now sometimes memorials can be designed, can't they, 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:56.480 which powerfully convey the sort of scale of suffering. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:58.899 I remember going to Washington DC, 00:15:59.139 --> 00:16:03.000 and seeing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:04.899 I don't remember that much about it, 00:16:04.899 --> 00:16:09.019 other than being impressed by the number of names on there. 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:12.879 So there were 58,000 Americans who died, 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:13.759 and they're listed there. 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:15.679 And the way that they're all kind of written, 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.179 and the kind of quality of the stone, 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.519 really leaves you feeling, 00:16:18.659 --> 00:16:20.639 wow, that was a large loss of life. 00:16:21.980 --> 00:16:24.059 And I'm sure there are ways in which we could 00:16:24.059 --> 00:16:29.080 convey what it was for 6 million Jews to die in the Holocaust. 00:16:29.080 --> 00:16:33.240 But we forget, or we can easily forget, 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:35.420 that each individual American war veteran 00:16:35.420 --> 00:16:38.540 didn't experience 48,000 deaths. 00:16:39.780 --> 00:16:43.540 No one Jew experienced 6 million deaths. 00:16:44.700 --> 00:16:47.500 But Christ shouldered the deaths 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:49.800 of a crowd that cannot be numbered. 00:16:51.900 --> 00:16:54.740 It is as though a whole holocaust of suffering 00:16:54.740 --> 00:16:56.860 fell upon his shoulders. 00:16:56.860 --> 00:17:01.700 The sins of the world are intensified 00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:05.180 and focused on that one person. 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:11.079 And what's more, his sufferings are so great 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:14.240 that they satisfied divine justice. 00:17:16.500 --> 00:17:20.099 No one has ever suffered in a way 00:17:20.099 --> 00:17:23.160 that has actually satisfied divine justice. 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:26.820 He drank to the bottom, 00:17:27.320 --> 00:17:29.940 the bottomless cup of God's wrath. 00:17:31.860 --> 00:17:33.940 Even the damned in hell 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:37.040 do not know what it is to suffer 00:17:37.040 --> 00:17:39.200 and satisfy God's justice. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:41.779 For all their suffering, 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:44.860 they will never quench it and exhaust it. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:47.880 But Jesus Christ did. 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:51.260 It is finished, he said. 00:17:53.660 --> 00:17:56.680 That is why Christ's divinity is so important 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:58.040 to understanding his sufferings. 00:17:58.560 --> 00:18:02.160 His divinity bore up his humanity. 00:18:03.080 --> 00:18:04.580 We mustn't think that 00:18:04.580 --> 00:18:07.540 Christ's divinity made his sufferings easier. 00:18:07.539 --> 00:18:12.839 No, his divinity bore up his humanity 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:14.420 so that it was capable 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:18.680 of absorbing that much suffering. 00:18:20.779 --> 00:18:22.980 I mean, a normal, a human nature 00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:24.659 without that strength of the divine nature 00:18:24.659 --> 00:18:26.940 would just disintegrate at all this judgment. 00:18:27.980 --> 00:18:29.799 His divinity doesn't lessen it, 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:31.019 it actually heightened it 00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:33.759 so that he was capable of bearing more. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:39.019 His divinity made his suffering much, much worse. 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:41.420 When any other man would have had to stop 00:18:41.420 --> 00:18:44.299 and been unable to take any more, 00:18:44.700 --> 00:18:48.539 Jesus Christ took more and more and more. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:49.759 So look and see, 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:53.259 is there any sorrow like Christ's sorrow? 00:18:54.059 --> 00:18:57.079 Is there anything anywhere in this world 00:18:57.079 --> 00:18:58.640 remotely close 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:01.700 to what the man of sorrows endured 00:19:01.700 --> 00:19:05.440 on the day of the Lord's fierce anger against him? 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:07.900 The sorrow of Christ is truly unparalleled. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:12.259 Similes and metaphors don't get us close. 00:19:13.800 --> 00:19:15.500 No martyr, no warrior, 00:19:15.840 --> 00:19:18.200 no Hollywood story that they tell us 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:20.120 gets us close 00:19:20.120 --> 00:19:22.080 to what is taking place 00:19:22.080 --> 00:19:23.440 on Calvary. 00:19:23.780 --> 00:19:27.400 It will always remain a holy mystery for us. 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:29.759 And yet all this, 00:19:29.820 --> 00:19:32.640 the Son of God voluntarily undertook to suffer. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:36.340 He was not obliged to do this. 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:39.080 He was not forced to bear this heavy load. 00:19:39.940 --> 00:19:42.140 He freely chose to do so. 00:19:43.220 --> 00:19:44.240 So thirdly, let me ask you, 00:19:44.280 --> 00:19:45.540 will you pass it by? 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:47.840 Will you pass it by? 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:50.019 There is a tragedy in this verse. 00:19:50.600 --> 00:19:52.640 And there is a tragedy in the book of Lamentations. 00:19:53.360 --> 00:19:54.560 But the tragedy in this verse 00:19:54.560 --> 00:19:56.019 is not where we might think 00:19:56.019 --> 00:19:59.500 the tragedy is not 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:01.139 the sufferings of Christ. 00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:05.359 Yes, there is no sorrow 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:06.740 like Christ's sorrow 00:20:06.740 --> 00:20:07.900 which the Lord inflicted on him 00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:09.119 in the day of his fierce anger. 00:20:09.720 --> 00:20:10.859 But that is not the tragedy. 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:13.500 The tragedy is there 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:15.019 in the first line of the verse. 00:20:15.019 --> 00:20:18.500 Is it nothing to you 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:20.799 or you who pass by? 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:24.160 That's the tragedy, isn't it? 00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:27.119 It's the tragedy of people 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:30.639 passing by these sufferings. 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:33.879 Treating them as nothing. 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:35.259 Being aware of them. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:38.039 But them having no effect. 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:40.980 And the Gospel writers 00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:41.819 described it, didn't they? 00:20:41.859 --> 00:20:43.220 So in the reading from Matthew 27 00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:44.220 you may have noticed 00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:45.980 as Jesus was crucified 00:20:45.980 --> 00:20:46.899 we're told about 00:20:46.899 --> 00:20:47.680 passers-by 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:48.740 who derided him 00:20:48.740 --> 00:20:49.819 wagging their heads 00:20:49.819 --> 00:20:50.740 and saying 00:20:50.740 --> 00:20:51.559 if you're the Son of God 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:52.799 come down from the cross. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:54.339 So these men 00:20:54.339 --> 00:20:55.940 saw the sufferings. 00:20:57.579 --> 00:20:59.019 They were with an earshot. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:01.799 But they saw him hanging there. 00:21:01.879 --> 00:21:03.839 They saw the sky go black. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:05.779 They felt the earth quake. 00:21:07.679 --> 00:21:09.399 But these passers-by 00:21:09.399 --> 00:21:10.439 didn't stop 00:21:10.439 --> 00:21:12.159 and take in what was happening. 00:21:14.179 --> 00:21:15.459 Jesus tells a famous parable 00:21:15.459 --> 00:21:16.639 about passing by, doesn't he? 00:21:16.659 --> 00:21:17.599 The Good Samaritan 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:18.959 remember the man lying 00:21:18.959 --> 00:21:19.839 on the road to Jericho 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:20.699 a Levite 00:21:20.699 --> 00:21:21.839 and a priest come along 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:23.539 and they see the need 00:21:23.539 --> 00:21:24.679 and they pass by 00:21:24.679 --> 00:21:26.119 onto the other side 00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:26.839 of the road. 00:21:26.859 --> 00:21:28.399 And when you pass someone by 00:21:28.399 --> 00:21:30.559 it implies being close to them 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:30.959 doesn't it? 00:21:31.859 --> 00:21:33.059 So it assumes 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:34.599 that there's some proximity. 00:21:35.639 --> 00:21:37.740 So it's one thing, isn't it? 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:38.480 To see suffering 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:39.240 on your television 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:40.200 and to kind of 00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:41.399 not really do much about it. 00:21:41.419 --> 00:21:41.980 But there's another thing 00:21:41.980 --> 00:21:42.399 to have someone 00:21:42.399 --> 00:21:43.460 on your doorstep suffer 00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:45.200 and not do something about it. 00:21:45.419 --> 00:21:46.720 You're passing them by them 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:47.599 in a different kind of way. 00:21:48.059 --> 00:21:48.799 And the tragedy 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:50.200 described in this verse 00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:51.759 isn't just a one-off 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:52.419 back then. 00:21:53.399 --> 00:21:54.299 It is a tragedy 00:21:54.299 --> 00:21:55.839 repeated in the millions 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.519 across England today. 00:21:58.779 --> 00:21:59.700 It's a tragedy 00:21:59.700 --> 00:22:00.720 that can be taking place 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:01.819 in this very room. 00:22:03.059 --> 00:22:04.839 You see, 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:07.519 you pass by 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:08.480 the cross of Christ 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:09.839 when it means 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:10.819 very little to you. 00:22:11.879 --> 00:22:13.200 You hurry on your way 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:13.859 and you treat 00:22:13.859 --> 00:22:14.960 what Jesus did there 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:16.079 like it was nothing. 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:18.019 And there may be 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:19.460 tribes in the Amazon rainforest 00:22:19.460 --> 00:22:19.839 somewhere 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:20.700 who aren't passing 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:21.599 by Jesus' death 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:22.319 because they've not 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:22.940 heard of it. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:24.859 But that is not true 00:22:24.859 --> 00:22:25.480 for us in England, 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:25.919 is it? 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:28.539 We have Bibles galore. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:31.440 We know this story 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:31.960 very well. 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:33.000 We may be forgetting it 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:33.759 gradually and gradually 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:34.800 but it's not forgotten. 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:36.240 If anything, 00:22:36.320 --> 00:22:37.220 it is still too 00:22:37.220 --> 00:22:38.000 over-familiar. 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:42.180 And Jesus says 00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:43.019 to us in England, 00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:44.420 is it nothing to you, 00:22:44.620 --> 00:22:46.420 all you who pass by? 00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:48.460 And yet, 00:22:48.700 --> 00:22:49.120 here's what's 00:22:49.120 --> 00:22:49.800 really tragic. 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:52.299 Every one of our reasons, 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:53.799 every one of your reasons 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:54.259 this morning 00:22:54.259 --> 00:22:55.279 for passing by 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:56.200 these sufferings 00:22:56.200 --> 00:22:58.319 is utterly illogical. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.799 We avoid Christ 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:04.079 because, 00:23:04.659 --> 00:23:05.919 just like the beggar, 00:23:06.339 --> 00:23:07.680 we think he wants 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:08.859 something from us. 00:23:08.859 --> 00:23:12.799 If I stop 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:13.539 and hang around 00:23:13.539 --> 00:23:14.879 thinking about Jesus 00:23:14.879 --> 00:23:15.839 for too long, 00:23:16.479 --> 00:23:17.579 he's going to start 00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:18.759 making my life awkward 00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:20.079 and he's going to start 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:21.279 messing up the things 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:22.000 I really like 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:22.939 and taking my money 00:23:22.939 --> 00:23:23.819 and making me 00:23:23.819 --> 00:23:24.759 rather boring, 00:23:25.139 --> 00:23:25.779 we tell ourselves. 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:27.219 And so I'm too busy, 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:27.779 I'm too busy 00:23:27.779 --> 00:23:28.559 to think about Jesus. 00:23:29.019 --> 00:23:30.319 I've got bills to pay 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:31.219 and I've got a family 00:23:31.219 --> 00:23:31.740 to bring up 00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:32.819 and there's all these things 00:23:32.819 --> 00:23:33.319 I've got to get 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:34.159 all my house sorted, 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:35.559 I've got friends to see, 00:23:35.819 --> 00:23:36.659 I've got enough sorrow 00:23:36.659 --> 00:23:37.259 of my own 00:23:37.259 --> 00:23:37.979 to worry about, 00:23:38.099 --> 00:23:38.359 thank you, 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:40.419 without inconveniencing myself 00:23:40.419 --> 00:23:41.439 by thinking about 00:23:41.439 --> 00:23:42.439 these sufferings 00:23:42.439 --> 00:23:43.939 and that is where 00:23:43.939 --> 00:23:45.579 the tragedy really lies. 00:23:47.619 --> 00:23:48.759 Why is Jesus 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:49.819 calling to you 00:23:49.819 --> 00:23:50.359 this morning 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:51.299 from verse 12? 00:23:54.639 --> 00:23:56.639 Jesus isn't trying 00:23:56.639 --> 00:23:58.000 to get something 00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:59.179 from you this morning. 00:24:01.139 --> 00:24:02.859 Jesus isn't asking 00:24:02.859 --> 00:24:03.859 for your help. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:06.779 He's not asking 00:24:06.779 --> 00:24:07.599 for your money 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:08.819 or your time. 00:24:10.179 --> 00:24:11.619 These sufferings 00:24:11.619 --> 00:24:12.839 aren't calling 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:14.179 for you to come 00:24:14.179 --> 00:24:15.839 and do anything, 00:24:16.179 --> 00:24:16.779 for you to come 00:24:16.779 --> 00:24:17.459 and fix 00:24:17.459 --> 00:24:18.219 or for you to come 00:24:18.219 --> 00:24:18.859 and solve. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:20.659 He is calling out 00:24:20.659 --> 00:24:21.099 to you 00:24:21.099 --> 00:24:22.279 to help you. 00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:24.399 He wants you 00:24:24.399 --> 00:24:24.859 to look at 00:24:24.859 --> 00:24:25.740 these sufferings 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:26.539 because these 00:24:26.539 --> 00:24:27.899 sufferings alone 00:24:27.899 --> 00:24:29.899 can rescue you 00:24:29.899 --> 00:24:31.079 and can fix 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:32.439 all the problems 00:24:32.439 --> 00:24:33.980 that flood our lives 00:24:33.980 --> 00:24:34.639 as humans. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:37.860 these sufferings 00:24:37.860 --> 00:24:39.200 alone are what 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:40.600 can cure you 00:24:40.600 --> 00:24:41.140 this morning. 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:42.100 And so He wants you 00:24:42.100 --> 00:24:42.780 to pay attention 00:24:42.780 --> 00:24:43.240 to them 00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:44.320 because these 00:24:44.320 --> 00:24:45.380 alone will fix you. 00:24:47.860 --> 00:24:48.920 And even as Christians 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:49.380 this morning 00:24:49.380 --> 00:24:50.860 we are quite capable 00:24:50.860 --> 00:24:52.220 of passing by 00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:53.100 the sufferings of Christ, 00:24:53.180 --> 00:24:53.460 aren't we? 00:24:53.460 --> 00:24:55.500 when we sin, 00:24:56.360 --> 00:24:58.160 when we deliberately, 00:24:58.840 --> 00:25:00.220 willfully indulge 00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:00.819 in sin, 00:25:01.539 --> 00:25:03.059 when we lose 00:25:03.059 --> 00:25:03.700 our temper 00:25:03.700 --> 00:25:04.980 or when we 00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:06.200 indulge in lust, 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:08.740 Christ's sufferings 00:25:08.740 --> 00:25:10.019 are of no consequence 00:25:10.019 --> 00:25:10.759 to us. 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:14.160 When we're flooded 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:14.759 with fears, 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:16.779 when we find ourselves 00:25:16.779 --> 00:25:18.400 fretting and fretting 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.539 about certain situations, 00:25:20.539 --> 00:25:23.159 or we are hypersensitive 00:25:23.159 --> 00:25:24.659 and self-absorbed 00:25:24.659 --> 00:25:25.980 about how others 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:26.899 are thinking of us 00:25:26.899 --> 00:25:29.440 or how we're perceived, 00:25:31.180 --> 00:25:31.759 it is as though 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:32.579 we are treating 00:25:32.579 --> 00:25:33.940 the cross of Christ 00:25:33.940 --> 00:25:35.000 as though it's nothing. 00:25:36.279 --> 00:25:37.579 Look and see 00:25:37.579 --> 00:25:38.740 what Christ 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:40.240 has done for you. 00:25:41.180 --> 00:25:41.779 What are you 00:25:41.779 --> 00:25:42.759 worrying about? 00:25:44.879 --> 00:25:45.799 When we can't be 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:46.920 bothered to show up 00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:47.420 to things, 00:25:47.539 --> 00:25:48.539 the cross is nothing. 00:25:48.539 --> 00:25:50.399 When we're, 00:25:50.399 --> 00:25:50.440 when we're, 00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:52.500 all kinds of 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:53.279 Christian conditions 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:53.980 in our lives 00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:55.240 and sinful conditions 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.119 show this. 00:25:58.059 --> 00:25:58.399 And I'm sure 00:25:58.399 --> 00:25:59.200 the people at the cross 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:00.720 rationalised 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:01.420 why they were 00:26:01.420 --> 00:26:02.119 passing by. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.240 I'm sure the Levites 00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:04.700 and the priests 00:26:04.700 --> 00:26:05.559 in the Good Samaritan 00:26:05.559 --> 00:26:06.639 rationalised 00:26:06.639 --> 00:26:07.220 why it was 00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:07.659 they had to 00:26:07.659 --> 00:26:08.399 pass him by. 00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:09.899 And we likewise 00:26:09.899 --> 00:26:10.779 develop all kinds 00:26:10.779 --> 00:26:12.099 of good reasons 00:26:12.099 --> 00:26:13.279 to justify 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:13.839 what it is 00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:14.299 we're doing. 00:26:14.920 --> 00:26:15.500 And I wonder 00:26:15.500 --> 00:26:16.139 what it is for you 00:26:16.139 --> 00:26:16.559 this morning. 00:26:17.339 --> 00:26:18.139 I wonder how 00:26:18.140 --> 00:26:19.200 you rationalise 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:20.820 passing by 00:26:20.820 --> 00:26:21.720 Jesus' death 00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:23.020 on the cross. 00:26:25.080 --> 00:26:26.080 Can you see 00:26:26.080 --> 00:26:27.080 how irrational 00:26:27.080 --> 00:26:28.880 those reasons are? 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:31.960 It is irrational 00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:33.440 to devote your life 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:34.140 to trivia 00:26:34.140 --> 00:26:35.880 and to the minutia 00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:37.320 of things that you do 00:26:37.320 --> 00:26:39.480 while this account 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:40.780 of God the Son 00:26:40.780 --> 00:26:42.280 becoming flesh 00:26:42.280 --> 00:26:43.400 in order to suffer 00:26:43.400 --> 00:26:45.420 on the cross 00:26:45.420 --> 00:26:46.220 is ignored. 00:26:46.220 --> 00:26:47.779 And so Jesus 00:26:47.779 --> 00:26:48.380 calls us 00:26:48.380 --> 00:26:50.240 to resolve 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:51.740 to resolve 00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:52.500 to stop 00:26:52.500 --> 00:26:53.759 passing him by. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:54.440 Martin Luther 00:26:54.440 --> 00:26:55.420 said I feel like 00:26:55.420 --> 00:26:56.240 Jesus died 00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:57.079 only yesterday. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:26:59.460 And that's what 00:26:59.460 --> 00:27:00.120 we need to cultivate 00:27:00.120 --> 00:27:00.519 isn't it 00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:01.039 as Christians 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:01.660 we need to 00:27:01.660 --> 00:27:03.039 find ways 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:04.120 of cultivating that 00:27:04.120 --> 00:27:05.920 we need to 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:06.640 develop ways 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:07.079 of taking 00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:07.779 these sufferings 00:27:07.779 --> 00:27:08.259 in that is what 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:08.960 the Lord's Supper 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:10.440 regularly celebrating 00:27:10.440 --> 00:27:11.019 the Lord's Supper 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:12.079 is designed to do. 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:13.599 we need to meditate 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:14.779 on that more 00:27:14.779 --> 00:27:15.779 we need to 00:27:15.779 --> 00:27:17.339 reflect in our prayers 00:27:17.339 --> 00:27:18.279 and delivery 00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:19.019 and pause 00:27:19.019 --> 00:27:19.879 to think 00:27:19.879 --> 00:27:20.639 and to thank 00:27:20.639 --> 00:27:21.199 Christ 00:27:21.199 --> 00:27:22.639 who was crucified 00:27:22.639 --> 00:27:23.480 for us. 00:27:23.919 --> 00:27:24.059 Friends 00:27:24.059 --> 00:27:24.619 these sufferings 00:27:24.619 --> 00:27:25.259 of Jesus Christ 00:27:25.259 --> 00:27:26.339 under Pontius Pilate 00:27:26.339 --> 00:27:27.299 outside Jerusalem 00:27:27.299 --> 00:27:28.279 are everything. 00:27:29.939 --> 00:27:30.720 These sufferings 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:31.119 give us 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:32.619 everything we need 00:27:32.619 --> 00:27:33.279 as Christians. 00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:35.359 Peace with God 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:36.919 a clear conscience 00:27:36.919 --> 00:27:37.980 the Holy Spirit. 00:27:39.139 --> 00:27:39.939 So let's stop 00:27:39.939 --> 00:27:41.279 passing them by. 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:42.740 look and see 00:27:42.740 --> 00:27:45.119 if there is any sorrow 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:46.240 like my sorrow 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:47.559 which was brought 00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:48.019 upon me 00:27:48.019 --> 00:27:48.639 which the Lord 00:27:48.639 --> 00:27:49.599 inflicted 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:50.599 on the day 00:27:50.599 --> 00:27:52.160 of his fierce anger. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:54.440 Let's pray together.