WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.600 So we're in the midst of doing a small series on the passion of Christ up to 00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:11.800 next week Easter Sunday and the passion of the cross, the passion of Christ, the 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:17.920 word passion is taken from the Latin term passion which doesn't mean romance or 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:22.400 feeling it means suffering and so we're looking at the sufferings of Christ this 00:00:22.400 --> 00:00:27.719 morning and last year on this very same week we looked at the crucifixion and we 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:31.679 looked at it in a really raw and rugged way we looked particularly at the body 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:37.519 of Christ broken the physicality the brutality but Matthew's account is 00:00:37.519 --> 00:00:42.079 very different than John's in some ways there are no heartstrings being pulled 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:46.799 in Matthew's account Matthew's account is strictly factual if you noticed it 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:52.000 just lays out the details of what happened the wine giving Simon of 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.880 Cyrene, Elijah, the darkness, the resurrection bodies, the temple curtains 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:02.439 he actually doesn't focus on Jesus hardly at all in this account it's about 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:08.519 the details mostly surrounding the cross of Christ but the center of the 00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:14.120 passage is the only moment that he he hones down in on Jesus himself and it's 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:19.039 when Christ calls out my God my God why have you forsaken me and so we'll look 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.600 at the passage just like that first we'll look at what Matthew's trying to 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:26.400 tell us about the details and the details and that's this that the cross is 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:31.200 foolishness and then secondly we'll hone down in on the center of the passage on 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:35.880 Jesus words about being forsaken and I think Matthew there is trying to show us 00:01:35.880 --> 00:01:39.760 that the cross is also the power of God so the cross is foolishness and the cross 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:46.560 is the power of God so first the cross is foolishness of course this phrase the 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:51.280 cross is foolishness or nonsense it comes from 1 Corinthians 1 and it comes 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:56.240 from Paul and Paul says that the word of the cross is nonsense to those who are 00:01:56.240 --> 00:02:01.159 perishing but for those who are being saved it's the power of God what does 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:06.520 he mean well he doesn't just say that the cross is nonsense to those who are 00:02:06.520 --> 00:02:10.840 perishing he literally says the word of the cross and in Greek that little word 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:16.439 is the word logos the logos of the cross and there's two senses to what he 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:20.759 probably means one is that literally the message of the cross is nonsense to 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:24.359 those who are perishing in other words the words themselves the gospel 00:02:24.359 --> 00:02:29.159 preaching the gospel it's nonsense sounds silly to nonsensical to those who 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:34.800 are perishing but there's a further meaning and that's it's not just the 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:39.199 words of the gospel or nonsense but he's specifically referring to the logos of 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:44.520 the cross being nonsense and we know from John chapter 1 that the logos of the 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:50.600 cross the logos is Jesus Christ it's the person of Christ that's who the logos 00:02:50.600 --> 00:02:55.120 is it's the communication the word of God and so what Paul's getting out here is 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.240 that it's not just the gospel that's that's silly or folly to those who are 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:04.400 perishing but it's the man it's Jesus Christ himself on the cross he is the 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:08.800 foolishness he is the silly one he's the nonsensical one to those who are 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:14.280 perishing and that's exactly what Matthew is getting at in the details in this 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:17.960 passage if you if you look to the passage carefully you'll notice that what's 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:23.000 central to all the details in the passage is the mockery it was the mock 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:27.599 it's the mocking that's so central and it occurs at four different levels in this 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.479 passage the first way it occurs even a verse before we started reading this 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:36.759 morning is that the Roman soldiers are the first to mock him in verse 31 it 00:03:36.759 --> 00:03:40.879 says after they mocked him they put on a purple robe they put a crown of thorns 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:46.280 on his head but it goes on they then made in verse 32 Simon of siren carry his 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:50.919 crossbeam now this is actually a way of mocking Jesus because every single 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:55.240 person who's crucified by the Roman crucifixion is forced to carry their 00:03:55.240 --> 00:03:59.519 own crossbeam that's just normal standard operating procedure but this man 00:03:59.519 --> 00:04:03.039 can't do it and that's what they're saying somebody else will carry it for 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:07.039 you why because they're suggesting that he's weak they're suggesting he's weak 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:11.359 but it goes on verse 35 they ripped his garments off of them and then they cast 00:04:11.359 --> 00:04:16.519 lots for them and every single painting maybe that you've seen of Jesus on the 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:21.639 cross from the Middle Ages or the Renaissance or whatever is is false in 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:26.240 the sense that most of the time they put a loin cloth on Christ on the cross but 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:30.560 there was no loin cloth Jesus Christ is absolutely naked on the cross he's not 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:36.120 wearing anything it was typical and the procedure that women would be crucified 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:41.360 facing the cross as an act of modesty okay after they've beaten them and hung 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:45.360 them on a cross they would at least give them the decency to face the cross but 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.959 men know men were faced outward men were completely naked facing outward and 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:54.759 that's Jesus is naked here this is part of his humiliation part of the scorn the 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:59.480 mockery verse 37 they put up the sign he's the king of the Jews and of course 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:05.199 this is sarcasm right this is not being serious they're joking in this moment 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:08.800 but it's not just the soldiers who are mocking him the second level of mockery 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:13.159 comes from the civilians the bystander so in verse 39 the people that are 00:05:13.159 --> 00:05:17.680 passing by typically what they would do is they would hang crosses they would 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:22.879 crucify people along the road right so it's people walking down a road both 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:27.120 Gentiles and Jews because this is the week of the Passover and their hurling 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:31.560 insults at him but the word is actually more specific than the translators 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:36.480 offer here in our English text the word the little word is called is hey blaspheme 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:41.040 moon right and you can hear it blaspheme moon blaspheme they're not just 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:45.360 mocking him they're uttering blasphemies at him why are they doing that because 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:49.879 they're thinking about his own claims being the king of the Jews the son of 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:54.120 God God incarnate and their blast they're reversing the claims and they're 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:58.199 uttering blasphemies at him and saying look at you now basically is the idea 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:05.000 that's that is getting across further after Jesus cries out to God they think 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.479 that he's possibly caught out to Elijah and what's going on there is that in 00:06:09.479 --> 00:06:14.439 Aramaic the little word the little phrase my God my God sounds like the same 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:18.000 word for the proper name Elijah so all that's happening there is they've 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:23.759 misheard him as they're walking by and when that happens basically in verse 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:29.719 49 a bunch of the people say okay let's sit back and see what happens this guy 00:06:29.719 --> 00:06:33.439 he's called out to Elijah he thinks Elijah is gonna come say save him and the 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:37.560 idea is sit back and pass the popcorn they're treating it like this is an 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:41.159 entertainment like this is spectacle right like this is going to the movies 00:06:41.159 --> 00:06:46.480 it's a particular form of mockery it's not just the Roman soldiers it's not 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:50.599 just the Gentile and Jewish civilians civilians are bystanders but 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:55.879 thirdly it's the chief priests and the authorities of course in verse 41 they 00:06:55.879 --> 00:07:01.400 join in save yourself you fool save yourself are you the king come down from 00:07:01.400 --> 00:07:07.200 the cross if you're the king and then the fourth and final level of mockery the 00:07:07.200 --> 00:07:12.480 criminals in verse 44 it says that the ones that were being crucified next to 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:17.160 him they join in as well and begin to mock him you see the point is that at 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:21.280 every single level of society is being represented here in this picture and 00:07:21.280 --> 00:07:26.400 they're all doing the same thing they're sarcastically mocking him they're 00:07:26.400 --> 00:07:31.120 making fun of them in other words the suggestion Matthew is giving is the 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:35.879 same thing that that Paul's talking about in 1 Corinthians 1 and that's that 00:07:35.879 --> 00:07:45.320 to so many the cross is nonsense the Lagos the man he's a fool he's he's a 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:49.959 God who is weak he's not the king he can't save himself he can't carry his own 00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:55.040 cross beam he's naked and he's ashamed and that's the picture that Matthew's 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:59.319 painting for us meet your king right that's what he's getting across that's 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:06.079 what the people think and John Stodd in his excellent book The Cross of Christ 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:11.000 he asked this question following following Matthew he says what kind of a 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:15.560 religion would have a God who dies in weakness at the hands of his own 00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:21.639 creatures no matter whether the background was Roman or Jewish or both 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:26.879 the early enemies of Christianity he says lost no opportunity to ridicule the 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:32.840 claim that God's anointed one the Savior ended his life on the cross this idea 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:38.519 was crazy in the Roman world this is well illustrated by a graffito from the 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:42.840 second century which has been discovered on a hill in Rome and it's on the wall 00:08:42.840 --> 00:08:47.079 of a house and most scholars considered this to be the first painting of Jesus 00:08:47.079 --> 00:08:52.399 being crucified after his death in the early centuries it's the first 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:57.319 surviving picture of the crucifixion and what is it it's a caricature it's a 00:08:57.319 --> 00:09:02.039 crude drawing that depicts a man stretched out on a cross with the head 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:08.719 of a donkey see and look that Paul what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 1 and 00:09:08.719 --> 00:09:12.120 what Matthew is painting a picture for us here doesn't stop in the early years 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:16.599 it's consistent throughout all of history that the cross is foolishness it's both 00:09:16.599 --> 00:09:20.319 the response of religious and non-religious people throughout all 00:09:20.319 --> 00:09:25.799 of history for instance Islam rejects the idea of Jesus on the cross because it 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:31.159 says that it's inappropriate no prophet of God could be crucified and killed in 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:37.360 such a weak way and so what the typical idea in traditional Islam is that 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:42.120 Jesus actually never did die on the cross someone took his place before he 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:45.480 was hung most of the time they say Simon of Cyrene he actually was the one that 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:49.120 was crucified so Jesus was never actually killed so but it's not just 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:57.759 Islam Gandhi the beloved Gandhi in 1894 he said this I might accept Jesus as a 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:02.960 martyr as an embodiment of sacrifice as a divine teacher but not as the most 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:08.600 perfect man ever born who died on a cross for the death of sin his death on 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:11.720 the cross might be a great example to the world but that there is anything 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:16.679 like a miraculous virtue in it I will not accept that okay but it's not just 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:21.679 religious responses in modern history it's also it's also non-religious 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:27.200 responses probably the most important atheist that's ever lived is a god by 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:32.360 the name of Friedrich Nietzsche who is a German philosopher who lived up to the 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:36.960 early 20th century and he wrote a very famous book called the Antichrist and 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:42.759 this is how he describes the cross in the book he says that human happiness is 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:49.879 the feeling that power is increasing right and so that means that the most 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:54.480 harmful thing for human happiness is an active sympathy for the ill 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:59.440 constituted and the weak and this means for Nietzsche that Christianity above 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:03.680 all above all religions above all ideas above all philosophies has taken the 00:11:03.680 --> 00:11:08.080 side of everything that's weak in the world everything that's base everything 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:12.320 that's ill constituted it is the religion of pity he says it preserves 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:17.639 what is right for destruction and it thwarts the laws of evolution and he 00:11:17.639 --> 00:11:21.720 says that the center of it all is a contemptuous God on a cross weakness 00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:26.200 incarnate okay so this is the religious and they're non-religious but you can 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:32.399 see that in every part of history both ancient and modern the cross is foolish 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:38.320 ness right so today we hear the cross is unjust it's cosmic child abuse it's 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:43.639 barbarism it's ultimate weakness it's a weak religion with a weak God at the 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:48.279 center of it it's foolishness Paul nailed it in 1st Corinthians 18 118 that's 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:52.480 exactly what people many so many have thought about it throughout all of the 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.079 centuries and this is how Stott summarizes that whole picture up he says 00:11:56.079 --> 00:12:01.000 he's reflecting on the fact that the Christians adopted the cross as a symbol 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.679 of their identity in the early centuries of the church and he says the 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:09.000 Christians choice of a cross as the symbol of their faith is more surprising 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:14.039 when we remember the horror with which crucifixion was regarded in the ancient 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:18.000 world we can understand why Paul's message of the cross was to many of his 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:23.559 listeners utter foolishness and madness how could any sane person worship as a 00:12:23.559 --> 00:12:27.839 God a dead man who's been justly condemned as a criminal and subjected to 00:12:27.839 --> 00:12:32.480 the most humiliating form of execution this combination of death crime and 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:38.039 shame puts him beyond the pale of respect let alone the pale of worship and 00:12:38.039 --> 00:12:43.679 so stott asked why would people cling to the cross so that's point one the 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:47.559 foolishness of the cross why would people cling to the cross the foolishness 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:54.120 the Logos of God and point to the power because the cross Paul tells us is the 00:12:54.120 --> 00:13:00.000 power of God so the cross is foolishness to some but to those experiencing 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:05.079 salvation the cross is the power of God why did so many cling to it in the 00:13:05.079 --> 00:13:08.479 midst of this this very same picture that so many have called the cross 00:13:08.479 --> 00:13:13.359 foolishness throughout all the centuries the cross changed the world the cross 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:17.919 revolutionized life around the Mediterranean the cross started a 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:22.519 revolution the cross has turned the world upside down it's changed the 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:27.200 entirety of our culture all because of what happened here at Golgotha in the 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:31.080 first century and why is it where is the power what is it about this that is the 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:35.759 power of God that Paul saying in the midst of a world that sees something so 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:41.480 foolish and so weak hanging there on the cross what is it well first what we 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:46.600 know what this means is that the cross just like Jesus life is incredibly 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:51.759 divisive right it's incredibly divisive people come before the cross and they 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:57.320 either bow in its shadow or they trip over it and stumble it's always been 00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:03.200 incredibly divisive the Romans the Jews the Gentiles the criminals the 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:08.279 authorities the bystanders Gandhi Muhammad and Friedrich Nietzsche all 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:13.120 could not handle it all could not they stumbled over the cross right and you 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:20.480 know what that means that means at some level in first encounter the cross is 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:27.519 foolishness to every single human being to all of us because because just like 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:32.240 they did in the first century humans measure success we measure achievement 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:36.159 we measure the idea of what it means to be powerful according to the cultural 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:41.399 standards of our time right the Jews expected the Messiah the Son of God the 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:45.279 King of the Jews to come in to march straight to Rome to start a political 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:49.039 revolution and to take over to restore the kingdom of God that's what they 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:54.399 expected right and it's the same exact expectation of the Son of God that 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:59.319 Friedrich Nietzsche has of a modern man he expects power he expects competition 00:14:59.319 --> 00:15:03.079 he expects revenge right he expects somebody to come in and take what's 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:07.800 theirs right it's the basic notion of power that you see in a toddler it's 00:15:07.800 --> 00:15:13.320 easy it's simple it's the notion that I'm gonna get what's mine it's the notion 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.879 that's at the heart of every single human being it's human nature this is our 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:20.759 idea of power right and so it's not surprising that at some level every 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:24.320 single human being in all of history has come up against the claims of the cross 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:29.640 come up against the man of power and said that's not power that's weakness that's 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:35.879 foolishness right because that's human nature that's human nature but the cross 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:41.720 the cross subverts all ideas previous ideas in history of what it means to be 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:46.120 powerful of what it means to be strong of what it might mean to be the Messiah 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:52.319 and what it says to us is that power the power of the gospel the power of God is 00:15:52.320 --> 00:16:01.680 actually victory by losing victory by losing oh my what kind of power is this 00:16:01.680 --> 00:16:06.360 where is this power so the two things briefly about this power what is this 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:10.720 power it's first the power of choice and it's secondly the power of forgiveness 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:16.640 so first the power of choice now if you paid careful attention to the to the 00:16:16.640 --> 00:16:21.080 text and particularly to the mockings and the text maybe you started to catch on 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:27.080 that Matthew just like Mark in his writing of the passion is intending this 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:32.680 to be seen as ironic right it's ironic it's it's not just supposed to come 00:16:32.680 --> 00:16:39.800 across at face value but it's ironic look have you read the rest of the story I 00:16:39.800 --> 00:16:46.520 bet you have have you read the chapters that come after this one just think 00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:51.600 about the mockery the mockery is this from from the Roman soldiers Jesus you 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:55.439 said you're gonna tear down the temple and in three days you're gonna build it 00:16:55.439 --> 00:17:01.159 back up again look at you now right but did Nietzsche read the rest of the story 00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:06.440 did you read the rest of the story look what happens in three days the power the 00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:10.920 man of God the power of God on the cross what does he do he resurrects from the 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:16.480 dead okay of course right what does this mean this means that the mockery is 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:21.000 ironic because the cross the man on the cross the law goes on the cross he's 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:30.960 there because he wants to be you see this is voluntary he the idea here that 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:36.720 Matthew's painting is he's not being crucified he's chosen to do this it's 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:41.720 not simply passive he's commanding it and he made that very clear it wasn't a 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:45.680 secret that's that's why they're able to mock him like this because the fact 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:49.720 that he had determined this to be the case was not a secret right just listen 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:54.360 to these verses and mark 9 the son of man he had already predicted will be 00:17:54.360 --> 00:17:59.680 betrayed into the hands of men and they will kill him and in three days he will 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:04.600 rise again because Jesus said that just the chapter before this as he's eating 00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:09.199 a Passover meal with them he says he said to the disciples Jesus said do you 00:18:09.199 --> 00:18:14.519 not know that the son of man is about to be handed over to crucifixion to death 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:20.159 and the disciples respond by saying no no not you not the son of man you can't 00:18:20.159 --> 00:18:23.399 go you can't die right and this is what he said do you remember what he said 00:18:23.399 --> 00:18:31.439 said to them do you not know that if I wanted I could call upon my father and 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:39.880 he would send 12,000 angels to my aid in a moment right look if you're willing to 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:43.000 read the text what you see here is this isn't this is an utter weakness this is 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:47.080 the man of power that's put himself on the cross this is voluntary this is 00:18:47.080 --> 00:18:51.880 voluntary condescension it's Iran the mockery is ironic and you don't even 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:55.680 have to go to the end of the Gospel of Matthew to see that you don't even have 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:58.720 to go to the end all the way to the resurrection because it appears in our 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:03.839 own text you see in verse in verse 54 the centurion the head of the soldiers 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:07.839 there's an instance where Matthew's offering us something of a tragic humor 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:12.799 episode because what happens when Jesus commits himself to the Father when he 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:19.240 gives up his spirit all of a sudden there's an earthquake rocks split open 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:25.640 darkness descends over the land people that had once been dead are now walking 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:31.240 around in the city and the curtains temple is torn into and the centurion 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:36.680 is reflecting on all this in this moment and he says this must have actually 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:42.840 been the son of God you see it's ironic it's a trap it's tragic humor look they 00:19:42.840 --> 00:19:47.160 crucify a lot of people in the ancient eras in the first century and nothing 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:52.160 like this picture ever happens nobody else that they had ever crucified had 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:57.560 ever at the moment of his death split rocks open caused an earthquake caused 00:19:57.560 --> 00:20:00.680 resurrected bodies to appear in the city of Jerusalem but it never happened 00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:04.880 before right this is not this is not the normal death of a man being 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:10.920 crucified and that's because this is voluntary condescension God become man 00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:20.200 in other words Jesus let death swallow him so that he could destroy death from 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:25.559 the inside out that's the purpose that's the point right so that's the first 00:20:25.559 --> 00:20:29.799 thing the second thing and the final thing is the power of forgiveness and 00:20:29.799 --> 00:20:36.960 most important the power of forgiveness at the very center of this passage is the 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:43.759 cry Jesus cry in Aramaic my God my God why have you forsaken me and the the 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:47.319 common the translators won't quite go far enough with what's happening here 00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:53.319 because it's not a cry the word that's used there for the Jesus's 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:58.279 voice the sound of his voice is that's the only time that word ever appears in 00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:02.720 the entirety of the Bible and it's much more in English the best thing we can do 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:08.559 with it is just to say miserable scream it's loud it's torturous it's 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:15.240 despondent okay it's not just a cry it's a scream it's torturous and one of the 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:20.079 things to notice that is that look if you're trying to perpetuate belief in 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:25.240 Jesus Christ a man who is crucified on a cross as the Messiah as the Son of God 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:31.359 in the first century what you don't do is you don't include this episode you 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:35.599 don't include the part where Jesus all of a sudden cries out in despondent misery 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:40.039 and Aramaic why have I been forsaken right that it doesn't it doesn't look 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:46.599 like power it looks like weakness right and why is it there because it happened 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:50.839 the only way we can account for this being in the text is that it happened 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:56.720 and that they're trying to give a true account of precisely what took place it 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:02.920 happened now this this is not what when when people in the past have thought a 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:06.279 lot about this people like Nietzsche and others and they've looked at this the 00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:11.440 forsaken son Jesus Christ being forsaken at the cross and said basically you see 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:17.440 this is foolishness his own father gave him up this is this is this is proof 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:20.920 this is what it looks like for Christianity to be broken to not work 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:26.440 right but first this is not a plan going wrong okay because what's happening 00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:30.240 here actually is that this is the fulfillment of the Old Testament 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:36.200 prophecy okay when Jesus cries out and says my God my God why have you forsaken 00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:43.160 me he's quoting he's quoting from Psalm chapter 22 and this is in Psalm chapter 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:48.080 22 is a psalm with David and just like all the Psalms of David when David writes 00:22:48.080 --> 00:22:52.519 a psalm when he writes a prayer he's typically talking about something that's 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:56.759 happening in his own life something's bad has happened to him and he's praying 00:22:56.759 --> 00:23:03.480 he's grieving over it and but this song this song Psalm 22 is unusual and Old 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:07.680 Testament scholars will talk about this a lot they'll say look for all the other 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.799 Psalms of David we can figure out exactly what it was that David was so 00:23:11.799 --> 00:23:15.799 upset about that was causing him to write these prayers and these Psalms but 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:21.160 not Psalm 22 because in Psalm 22 he says things like this my God my God why 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:28.000 has thou forsaken me my garments have been stripped from me my bones have been 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:33.200 broken my heart is melted you laid me in dust you've laid me down in the ashes 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:40.000 of death this never happened to David he there was no experience in David that 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.600 makes sense of this right it's prophetic it's Christological you see what it 00:23:46.600 --> 00:23:49.720 means is that when Jesus cries out on the cross my God my God why have you 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:54.519 forsaken me that this is the fulfillment of the gospel that was 00:23:54.519 --> 00:24:00.279 preached beforehand this is the God who has the power over history you see this 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:04.960 has been prophesied of old but even more than that 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:10.039 secondly what does this mean what does it mean what does it mean for Jesus to 00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:16.799 cry out for father to have forsaken the son what does that mean this is 00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:22.200 impossible to penetrate into to suppose that we can get out what it means for 00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:28.079 the son to be forsaken by the father it's a cliff that we cannot jump over but 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:32.639 the image that we're given in the passage is that as soon as this happens 00:24:32.639 --> 00:24:36.480 darkness descends upon the land and again what's happening that this is a 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:40.960 fulfillment of the Old Testament you see anytime in the Old Testament that God 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:46.919 showed his wrath on on numerous occasions he would blot out the son he 00:24:46.919 --> 00:24:51.159 would cover the son in hell is often described or Hades in Old Testament as 00:24:51.159 --> 00:24:55.359 the place of outer darkness and you see what we're being given in this passage 00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:59.399 is a physical manifestation of what it might have been like for the son to be 00:24:59.399 --> 00:25:03.679 forsaken it's utter darkness what it's saying to us in this moment when things 00:25:03.679 --> 00:25:08.399 become dark as it's saying that this is the son entering into the hell of hells 00:25:08.399 --> 00:25:17.479 and this makes sense and here's why when Jesus says the words my God my God this 00:25:17.479 --> 00:25:24.199 is the language of the covenant my God you see God had come to Abraham in the 00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:28.480 Old Testament and he has said I will choose you and you will be my people I 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:32.000 will make out of you a great nation and I will say to you you will be my people 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:37.319 you will call me my God right the people are to say my God and I will say back to 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:42.039 you God says my people this is the language of the covenant and when God 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:46.559 made the covenant he said to the people of Israel and to the people that it 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:52.080 actually applies to everyone who's ever been created as children of God do this 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:58.000 obey me love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength live 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:03.159 under my commandments keep the Torah do what I've commanded you and love me and 00:26:03.159 --> 00:26:07.199 you will live and you will be blessed right and what happened you know if 00:26:07.199 --> 00:26:10.199 you've read many of the stories in the Old Testament you know that time after 00:26:10.199 --> 00:26:15.559 time time after time the people cry out my God my God but it's not because they 00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:19.359 deserve it every single time they fall every single time they break their 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:23.079 promise every single time they break the covenant and you see what's happening 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:30.159 here Jesus Christ is the only man under heaven who ever entered into this world 00:26:30.159 --> 00:26:35.159 and obeyed perfectly he's the only man who ever came into this world and did 00:26:35.159 --> 00:26:38.519 exactly what he was supposed to do who obeyed the law who loved the Lord his 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:42.119 God with all his heart soul mind and strength he's the only one who's ever 00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:47.240 done it and that means that he's the only man in history who ever had the right 00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:54.480 to actually say my God my God he's the only one who ever actually could say you 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:59.319 truly are my father my God and had the right to do so based on his own 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:04.160 perfection but the only one who ever had the right to do it at the time that he 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:09.960 does it instead of hearing you are my son all he gets is the deafening silence 00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:20.400 of the divine wrath you see why because he stood in our place what's happening 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:28.759 here is the power forgiveness the God man standing in our place look this is 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:34.120 this is so anti-modern and so not popular and so controversial for me to 00:27:34.120 --> 00:27:38.240 say in the 21st century world but what the cross is demanding and why it's so 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:42.000 hard to look at the cross is anything else but foolishness is because what 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.480 the cross is demanding of every single human being in the entirety of the world 00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:49.039 when they face up to it when they come up to get sit is to is for them to 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:54.799 recognize that they are guilty that they stand before God as a sinner deserving 00:27:54.799 --> 00:28:00.359 of the wrath of God and that's what makes it so difficult to say power of God 00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:04.640 instead of foolishness right it's so much easier to say foolishness because 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:09.600 foolishness doesn't require you to determine yourself to be guilty but 00:28:09.600 --> 00:28:12.259 that's exactly what the cross is the cross is the pronouncement to every 00:28:12.259 --> 00:28:17.560 single human being that you are guilty and at the same time that you were loved 00:28:17.560 --> 00:28:23.280 incomprehensibly but in order to get the second half the love incomprehensible 00:28:23.280 --> 00:28:27.759 you have to face up to who you are you fat have to face up to your guilt I was 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:32.720 listening to a pastor recently talk about a story of a man who had committed 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:38.160 adultery and he had cheated on his wife and he came to a kind of a typical 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:41.279 modern therapist and he was talking to the therapist and they knew each other 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:46.200 well and he said you know I've cheated on my wife it's happened more than once 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:52.360 and the problem is most of all I don't feel guilty and she's she said well 00:28:52.360 --> 00:28:56.839 what's so wrong what's the problem this is beautiful this is a gift this is 00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:00.799 freedom if you don't feel guilty that means you're not constrained by the 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:04.399 relationship it means you don't have to be burdened it means you can let go it 00:29:04.399 --> 00:29:08.559 means you can move on if you don't feel if you don't have a feeling of guilt and 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:12.639 what's to hold you back right you can do what you want right and this is what 00:29:12.639 --> 00:29:16.639 the guy said to her he said I get what you're saying but actually I thought 00:29:16.639 --> 00:29:20.559 that that's what it would be for me but actually it makes me despair that I don't 00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:26.279 feel guilty and he said the sense of guilt is all that I had left to tell me 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:29.839 that there was something above me that actually mattered that there that there 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:33.439 was a good that existed above me something transcendent that could actually 00:29:33.439 --> 00:29:39.919 call me out of my weakness right you see the sense of guilt for us moderns for 00:29:39.919 --> 00:29:44.119 us 21st century people is one of the last things we have left in our culture 00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:49.439 that actually affirms for us that there is a transcendent God you see as much as 00:29:49.439 --> 00:29:54.079 we hate to feel guilty guilt points you to the fact that there is truly a good 00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:59.399 outside of you a transcendent a standard a perfection something that is making 00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:03.440 demands of you from the outside and at the same time what guilt says to us is 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:10.440 that there may actually be hope that somewhere somehow somebody is perfect 00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:16.080 maybe there's hope that we can get out of this mess right that's what the sense 00:30:16.080 --> 00:30:21.200 and the feeling of guilt says to us Christianity's answer is that that 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:28.680 answer is the logos of the cross which is foolishness and power the man the man 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:32.960 of power on the right he's that he is the answer to this great problem it's 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:39.200 called the great exchange see us Lewis calls it that he who knew no sin became 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:45.360 sin for us you see so that and here's the second half of the exchange while we 00:30:45.360 --> 00:30:51.480 were still sinners we became righteousness in God it's the great 00:30:51.480 --> 00:31:00.480 exchange he for me I for him he bore my sin so that I get his righteousness look 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:04.319 we'll just close with this we're out of time it's so important to know and to 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:10.120 remember here the difficult truth that Jesus is not wearing anything on the 00:31:10.120 --> 00:31:17.799 cross that he's naked and that he's ashamed why this is an image in a picture 00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:23.960 of what it means for him to be forsaken because what he's doing here is he's 00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:30.279 putting on exactly what Adam bore in his sin you see the picture of what it means 00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:36.039 to be a sinner in the very first moment of the curse is what it's to be naked it's 00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:40.119 to be naked and ashamed it's to realize that this is not right something is 00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:46.759 wrong with me and that Jesus Christ is the second Adam he's the last Adam he 00:31:46.759 --> 00:31:51.279 bore everything that Adam merited in his sin so that we could have his 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:56.440 righteousness only the God man could possess a power like this the power 00:31:56.440 --> 00:32:04.480 forgiveness Nietzsche was so wrong you see so wrong why did he do it why did 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:08.519 he do it it's not enough to simply say and we're actually closing with this 00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:13.079 it's not enough to simply say he did it for the forgiveness of sins it's not 00:32:13.079 --> 00:32:17.359 that's actually not enough that's the legal aspect of the cross and that's so 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:23.519 beautiful and so true his guilt our guilt born in him we get his righteous 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:27.359 that's the legal aspect but there's more why did he do it you get this the 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:32.599 slightest image of why when the temple curtain is torn into you see the temple 00:32:32.599 --> 00:32:37.720 meant that God's presence on this earth is restricted it's isolated not because 00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:40.799 he doesn't have the power to be everywhere he does but because of sin 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:45.319 because of curse he only comes down and meets humanity in one place that's the 00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:50.000 covenant what's happening here is that when the temple is torn into at the 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.440 cross of Christ it's an announcement that God came to make his presence 00:32:54.440 --> 00:32:58.919 universal with human beings all of humanity all over the place all the 00:32:58.919 --> 00:33:02.919 time you see the point he didn't just come to be the legal representative for 00:33:02.919 --> 00:33:09.039 your sins yes he did that he came for you not just for your sin but for you as a 00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:14.639 person he came to get you you see and so every time you come up against the cross 00:33:14.639 --> 00:33:19.639 what you have to say what you have to tell yourself is you have to use two 00:33:19.639 --> 00:33:27.399 little words you have to say for me what is this what is the verb aratio the 00:33:27.399 --> 00:33:33.920 flagellation the beating with a whip with shards of bone and metal what is 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:38.799 the naked crucifixion with splinters upon his back what is the suffocation that 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:43.919 he underwent it's physical brutality it's for me but even more he went into 00:33:43.919 --> 00:33:49.359 the hell of hell is the abyss of the abyss forsaken by the father total 00:33:49.359 --> 00:34:01.480 exile why the answer for me you have to say to yourself for me and so this week 00:34:01.480 --> 00:34:08.320 this week in our tradition we and I promise this is literally the closing 00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:14.360 this week in our tradition we say in our tradition every single Sunday's Easter 00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:20.440 Jesus Christ is alive he died once for sins and at the same time the world and 00:34:20.440 --> 00:34:25.000 the church in the world in our culture sees a specific date for Easter every 00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:30.080 every year that that that the world recognizes it's a celebration of spring 00:34:30.080 --> 00:34:36.080 of winter turn to spring of resurrection and that's okay and we and at the same 00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:40.279 time we profess every every Sunday's Easter right but this week does offer 00:34:40.279 --> 00:34:45.799 you an opportunity to reflect it is a sacred week by so many across the world 00:34:45.799 --> 00:34:50.400 and even when children who don't who think that this is foolishness or don't 00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:53.759 know about it at all you know they pick up that Easter egg they draw some bunny 00:34:53.759 --> 00:34:58.799 on a sheet of paper somewhere at some park or something maybe just for a 00:34:58.799 --> 00:35:02.960 moment just like at Christmas time they'll put down the reflection on the egg 00:35:02.960 --> 00:35:07.639 and they'll think what is this image of the stone rolled away of the cross what 00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:12.019 is this mean and they'll ask their parents and the answer is that Jesus 00:35:12.019 --> 00:35:18.840 Christ is for us he's for the world he came for sinners so I invite you to 00:35:18.840 --> 00:35:26.159 reflect this week on the cross for me for us let's pray father we thank you 00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:33.279 for the crucifixion for the death of the Son of God because in him we have been 00:35:33.279 --> 00:35:37.079 made righteous if we would only see our guilt and believe Lord we ask that 00:35:37.079 --> 00:35:41.159 whether we've listened to the gospel once or a million times that you would 00:35:41.159 --> 00:35:45.719 awaken us to the fact of the power of God it's unbelievable there's nothing 00:35:45.719 --> 00:35:50.519 like it it's never been replicated no one has ever come close to being the 00:35:50.519 --> 00:35:54.159 power of forgiveness that Jesus Christ is for us and so we ask Lord that you 00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:59.879 would help us to own it I pray this in Jesus name amen