John: The Suffering Savior
Ministry Associate Calvin Chu preaches from John 19 [read for us in Korean]. Discussion points: The religious leaders saw Jesus as undermining their power and authority and way of life, the chief priests rejected God as king when they accepted Caesar as king, Jesus did not fight to defend himself but accepted his Father’s will for him.
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Scripture reader: [John 19:1-16, read for us in Korean] Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic[b] Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.[c] He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
This is the word of the Lord.
Preacher: Good morning, everybody. My name is Calvin. I also here as giving a great opportunity to share God's Word with you today and we are continuing our series in and John, before we kind of dive into the scripture, I want us to kind of think about this, that something about me that I guess growing up, one thing that I really became introduced to was like film study in my high school class. I had a film class. he's an English teacher, but he also taught film.
And so ever since then, I've kind of like had this like very like amateur, like you know, perspective and interest in, in film. And there's one thing that I think is really interesting that there are a lot of movies that over the years that I've watched that I really like have this thing called the Rashaan Effect. I don't know if you guys are familiar any film buffs out there, but it's, it's named after a 1950 movie by Akira Kasa, which is called Rashi Man. Which is about where the, the name of the effect comes from. And it basically that and all movies that kind of use this effect, tell stories from multiple different perspectives.
And after watching the whole movie, the one thing that's really satisfying about it or maybe not satisfying, depending on how they're using it is you get a fuller picture of the story for using from different perspectives. And so like some famous examples not that this is like the pinnacle of film. but a more recent one was in the last Jedi, which again, I know Star Wars turn is like you're really bringing that one up. The, there's a scene there's actually two scenes, technically one is when Luke is recounting his confrontation of Kylo Ren in, you know, the in when he Kylo is sleeping. and he has like this moment of weakness where he, he's like he senses the dark side in him and he's, you know, pulls out his light saber and think, oh I'm going to like, and the dark side here, but then he like actually in his heart changes his mind. But from Kylo Ren's perspective, he's like he sees his master, you know, with, you know, his weapon been drawn against him. And so like, it kind of tells you different perspectives.
Another famous example is Gone Girl, it's a, that was a book, but it's also a movie in the movie that kind of shows the, like, I guess it was the first half of it's like from the husband's perspective and then like the latter half of it's from like the wife's perspective. I'm not gonna tell you anymore. But that is that's part of it. Memento. I don't know if you guys are Christopher Nolan fans out here. His masterpiece, Memento is like, basically, it's a story that's kind of going both backwards and forwards at the same time. And when it kind of crosses over near to basically at the climax of the movie, you kind of see like the, the whole picture of everything what's happening and you don't know what is kind of true and what is not. So that's one where it's a little bit confusing another one and this is not just the film study. I will get to God's word in just a second.
Another one is Pulp Fiction again, same exact idea, telling story out of time or from different perspectives. So that by the end of it, you get a much fuller picture of the things that are happening in the lives of the characters in the story as a whole.
So why am I bringing this up? As you may recall, Fletcher's last sermon, he was he mentioned that we were going to be talking about the resurrection today which we just read through in, in John chapter 19. and, you know, I really love passages like this because they, set us up for what I, I call passage, sermons that are like, that's like a good reminder sermon. Like, it's like a well worn well known passage that if you, especially if you grew up in the church you go. Oh, yeah. Crucifixion. Like, yeah, we get it like we've seen it. So, like we're ready for, like, just, just give it, just get to Jesus on the cross, get to my sins being paid for by the blood of Christ. And then I can go enjoy my bagel and coffee and then go get lunch or take my after church nap or whatever it is like just don't make this go too long, good reminder sermons.
But I love passages like this because I think if we are able to take a look at it from a different perspective, get our Ramon effect on a little bit here and look at it from different perspectives, I think we actually see something a little bit different. I think we see a, a wider picture of what's happening here. Not adding more than what not trying to correct anything that you may be thinking previously, but just looking at a different angle to see, OK, what can we draw from this if we look at it from a different perspective? And so, for, for me, this is really we were trying to answer. The Fletcher talked a bit about Pilate, the last sermon. So if you haven't, if you've been here, you didn't get a chance to definitely check us out. The sermon is on youtube. So check us out at the CoaH Somerville youtube page when the John chapter 18 sermon.
So I'm not gonna talk too much about Pilate, but I am gonna be looking at the perspective of the chief priests and the religious leaders and then Jesus and as we look at those things, hopefully, Lord willing, he the spirit will open up our eyes and, and hopefully move our hearts to see the res the crucifixion with a little bit of added color and texture to it. So, before we dive into the, the, the text a little bit more, let me pray for us.
Father God, indeed, I pray that we would see your word with a fresh set of eyes. It is easy for especially those who grew up in the church or have been a part of the church for a long time for us to, to hear about, oh, we're talking about the, the crucifixion and, and sort of gloss over and fill in the blank with what we've heard through Sunday schools, kids, summer adventures, VBS, you know, old sermons that we've heard in the past about it. But Lord I don't, I'm not, I pray that, that is not the novelty brought up from my mind, but really God, that this is your spirit, hopefully illuminating the scripture so that we can see the most important event in all of history this morning through your word. And so God, I pray that you definitely get me out of the way that you get our, our distractions out of the way, the things that we're waiting for to happen, the things that are on the front of our mind just clear it away so that we can see you through your word this morning. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
OK. So yeah, so like I said, Fletcher did talk about Pilate a little bit, but he basically said that he's not like a good guy. It seems like he's a good guy because he's like he's washing his hands from like the sin of, you know, killing Jesus. But you know, at the, at the end of the day, it's, it's actually not so much that again, John eight, John chapter 18, go check that out. But I want to talk about the chief priests.
And so if you may recall the last thing that we read in the, the John chapter 18 passage is where Pilate says to the, the, the the crowd that's before him. He says to him, this is about 1838 Pilate said to him, what is truth after he said this he went back outside to the Jews and told them I find no guilt in him again, Jews, meaning the Jewish leaders. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you? The king of the Jews? They cried again, not this man, but Barabbas now, Barabbas was a robber.
And so we talked a little bit about Barabbas and just how that the idea of Robert, it's not exactly, he was a robber. He was actually actually an insurrectionist. I know, you know, insurrection is a term that's much more in the common vernacular. But until very recently, I didn't really know what it meant, but basically Barabbas, it wasn't just a robber, but he was actually someone who was like causing violence in a direct attempt to overthrow the Roman government. And so basically, they're saying, no, don't release Jesus release this non violent actor. And so from there, we see that the chief priests are so fixated on trying to get Jesus killed.
And so what happens is Pilate says, OK, we're going to order Jesus to be flocked basically to be beaten. And we, we see that, that in verses one through three, that that's what happens. And then in verse four, Pilate went out to them and see and said to them, see, I'm bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. Now, this is the second time within the verse that I read that pot saying like I have found no guilt. He is innocent multiple times. And they're saying, do you wanna release him or the this known violent man, known violent man? OK. So he brings them in, he beats them Jesus up as a way of like, listen this, he's not really what he says. He is like he behold the man. Look, he's just a guy. And are you sure you really want him to be crucified?
Verse six, when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to him, take him yourselves and crucify him for I find no guilt in him again declaring that he is innocent and the Jews answered him. We have a law and according to that law, he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God.
And so from the surface level, it seems like these chief priests, these religious leaders are just a collection of people who take their religion very, very seriously. But in our religion, we have this law, this rule that if you equate yourself with God, if you declare yourself a Son of God, then you must die, you have to die. But the thing is they can't actually kill Jesus because they're under Roman occupation. The Roman Empire actually rules the, the, the Israelite people. So they actually can't, they can, they can accuse, they can bring up capital charges, but they can't actually execute a person. And so they go, well, listen, you, we can't do it. But according to our religious law, this has to happen. And so then basically they bring up this charge and they bring up Jesus to Pilate who has to hear the case.
And so after here's the case multiple times, like I don't, I guys, I don't think this is what is happening here and yet they're so insistent. And so it seems like they're just zealous. They, they have this incredible zeal of wanting to see this blasphemer, this heretic killed. But if you don't know, the chief priest, these religious leaders weren't just like religious leaders, they're also civic leaders, they're also political leaders. And so because they are in this position, they actually have quite a bit of power and authority. And if you've been following along, you actually see that over the, the three years that Jesus has been ministering, he's actually been doing quite a bit to poke holes in their power in their authority.
Basically days earlier, as Jesus was going into Jerusalem, the crowds were cheering Hosanna, Hosanna like putting the palmy, that's the palm center. They were basically cheering him saying this is here is our leader, here's our true leader. And essentially these, these religious leaders like took it personally. They're like, oh, like he's the real leader. Like, what about us like, oh no, this guy is going to be getting all this attention, all this adoration, all this authority, all this power and we won't have it anymore because they're gonna follow him and they're not gonna follow us. And he not only did he do that, he performed miracles, many miracles. And not only that, he also flipped the religious system on its head. He went into the temple, flipped over tables, kicked out the money changers.
And so he's going through and he's undoing, seemingly from the perspective of the chief priest, he's undoing their way of life and he's undermining their power and authority. And so it may seem like it's just a group of religious people who are taking their God's commandments very seriously. But if you look a little bit beneath the surface, you can kind of see, oh, actually, maybe there's a little bit more to the story here. There's a little bit more self-interest in, in what they're trying to say, the, the kind of the story behind the story. In other words, the religious leaders seem to have a personal interest in getting rid of Jesus, his teaching and increasing following or a direct threat to their power and influence.
And so what, what, that's, that's a pretty big thing to bring up here, right? And, and, and I think it's important, like, I guess this is like a law movie with the thing, like, so it's sort of like, you know, you're the jury and I'm the prosecution or I, I'm not a lawyer. I don't play one on TV, but I've watched some TV shows and some movies to know a little bit enough. But basically I'm bringing charge that these, they're, they're actually guilty of self interest. So how do we see this here? Actually, remember that he, multiple times Pilate has said that he's, he's guilty, he's not guilty. He's innocent. The things you're saying he's guilty. If he is not, I have not found guilt within him.
Verse 12, verse John 1912 to 15 says from then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out. If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. And when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at the place called the Stone Pavement in Aramaic Githa. And now it was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour and he said to the Jews behold your king and they cried away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we have no king but Caesar.
Again, if you don't understand the context of what's happening here, it could just be like, oh, they're just, they're just taking the process seriously. But if you actually notice it's actually a very sneaky little way of that. They kind of handle this. Here, there's a couple of things. The first thing is that this phrase, you are not Caesar's friend. Again, Fletcher talked a little bit about this in the chapter 18 sermon, but again, this is Roman Empire. So Caesar was king. Many Caesars a posthumously were, were created to be gods. They were actually seen as like deities, right? So they, they took the leadership of Caesar very seriously. And so anyone that would make himself king to call himself a king, especially if you weren't a Roman citi, Roman citizen, that is high treason, that's almost a guaranteed death penalty.
And so for them to say that to Pilate who was already in a little bit of hot water, you know, with his superiors, he's like, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friends. It's like a very passive aggressive way of like threatening him. It's like if you release this guy who said he was a king, by the way, If you release this guy who said he was a king, then you must not be a friend of Caesar A K A. You must be disloyal to the throne, disloyal to the Caesar A K A. We're gonna go above your head. We're gonna tell the, the, the emperor wouldn't get word to him that you were disloyal and it's gonna kill you or at least get your job, you get your job taken away because there's no way a governor cannot be loyal to the Caesar, to the king. Right?
So this is veiled threat, that says, listen, if you, oh, you wanna release him? Well, I mean, I guess you could release him and if you release him, then I don't know who knows what happened. Maybe Caesar will find out that you don't really care about his power. I mean, I don't know who knows what might happen. And this is velvet. And then right there is really interesting because originally they start off by saying in our religion, in our religious community, in our religious laws, there's a law that says if you equate yourself with God, you must die. And now all of a sudden they switch super sneaky no longer. It's not about religion anymore. Now it's about fealty and devotion and patriotism. How good are you to the throne of Caesar? If you let this sedition go and you see it in the last part it says, shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we have no king. But Caesar again, if you look beneath the surface, there's a little bit more here.
If you know the history of God's people with kings, then you know that in, in first Samuel as Samuel is beginning to kind of meet reach the end of his life, the twilight years at the end of his ministry, the the the Gods people go to him and say, Samuel anoint us a king like our neighbor so we can be like them. And what he says, a a as, as Samuel is actually be kind of reaching the end of his life. He actually says, oh, where's my quote here? Oh, no. Oh dear. I will give you the gist of it. OK. Basically the gist of it is that he Samuel at the end of his life is saying, you know, you should, I, I will, I will pray for you because of what you did. You devoted yourself to this king. You wanted this king. When at the end when they first call for a king, God responds to Samuel says, they are not rejecting you and asking for a king, they're not saying that you are not doing a good job. God says Samuel, he says they are rejecting me because I am their true king.
And so again, if you think about this, from the perspective of the chief priests, for them to say that we have no king but Caesar, it is yet another rejection of God as king to say, we have no king except for this human installed leader to say that is the only king that is the most important king, that is the top of the hierarchy of the driving force in our lives. It is a flat out rejection of who God is. Oh here it is. Sorry, it's ok. Sorry what the Lord said. The Samuel, obey the voice of the people and all they say to you for, they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
If the chief priest had really been interested in a religious purity, right? They would never have said that Caesar is the only king that they have. If they were really about maintaining God's commands, they would not have rejected God as king declaring undying devotion to Caesar and Caesar alone. We have no king but Caesar is just again, religiously wrong from that perspective. And so their thought process again, they switch it, they actually rejecting their religion. Now they're choosing the path of least resistance. They go, ok, I guess the religious law isn't going to work. What about political law? And that's what's gonna get us, what we want.
I watched the show, uh TV, show called The Dropout. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with it. It's about Elizabeth Holmes who was the CEO of a company called Finos. She's was a brilliant person. She got into Stanford and she was studying chemical engineering and while she was there, she got this brilliant idea that she's going to, she's like, what if we could just test blood with just a single finger prick and we could do multiple tests. And it was a great concept. It was a really, really great idea and, and it was just like, and she had, and she actually drops out of Stanford commits her whole life to it and she's able to get all this funding from all these investors, like millions and millions of dollars.
At one point, her company were up $4 billion because she was gonna have this machine that was like this, you know, inspired by her love of Steve Jobs and Apple Computer. She was like this, this pretty box that you're going to put your, your finger in. You would get one drop of blood and run all these tests and everyone that like heard her was drawn in by how magnetic she was and how much, how smart she was. She was on the cover of like ma many magazines. If you go look her up in Elizabeth Holmes, it's really interesting and basically what had happened was that she started with an idea and she convinced people that it was going to happen. But very quickly she went on very quickly over time. It seemed that actually she wasn't actually going to be able to achieve it. And so rather than living up to it rather than admitting defeat rather than being honest and truthful, but that it wasn't going to work again.
The shows a drama, but, you know, it seems relatively based in some sense of truth. She basically had to keep lying and cheating pretending that her machine was going to do this faking results also so that she could maintain that power. All she could maintain that image of who she was and who she told the world that she was so that people could keep investing in her, keep loving her, keep following her.
And this to me feels a lot like what the chief priests were like. They had a sense of who they were. They worked really hard to get there to get to the top of their community, to the top of their religious community, top of their political community. And all of a sudden this new young hotshot, the young age of 33 he's coming. This young whippersnapper is getting all this attention, getting all this authority, getting all this power and they go, I don't like that. Oh, and he's, he's, he's actually doing miracles. He's healing people don't like that. So then all of a sudden they go, how do we get rid of him? Go the religious route? OK. Then work, go the political route. Let's really put the pressure on this guy Pilate because we know he's, he loves, he loves putting people to death, he'll do it.
And so that to me is just, that helps me fill in the background of what was happening in the community there. And, but now we're gonna look at Jesus, right? I think, I think you can see ladies and gentlemen, the jury. I think you can see that there is a quite a bit of self interest that you could draw out from the scriptures here. But then what about Jesus? And so from Jesus perspective, again, it's hard to know exactly what Jesus was thinking and feeling. But I think if we look at scripture and again, outside of this passage specifically, I think actually, we can see a bit quite a bit from, from the scriptures.
And so in John 19 9 is actually, I think this is actually really, really telling. And so this is Pilate entering the headquarters, Pilate, he entered the headquarters, his headquarters again said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. So p told him you will not speak to me. Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? And Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin again, Jesus is kind of going back and forth with Pilate a little bit and he's kind of just done. He just kind of sees the writing on the wall. He he can sense this is, this is not going to turn, this is gonna go how I expected it. And so he's just silent, but what makes him speak? He speaks when Pilate makes it about himself, about his authority.
He's like, don't you understand again, similar to the chief priests. Don't you understand that I have this power? I have this authority. I can end you. I can choose to release you. I have the, the ironies. He actually doesn't because he has actually pinched in terms of there's like a riot beginning to happen outside. He actually doesn't have this authority. And Jesus was wants to correct him of the notion. You do not have authority. The only reason that you have any semin any feeling of authority is because the one from above has brought you to this place.
And I wanna correct, I wanna be, be clear here, there's actually two statements, actually, two people being talked about from above is talking about God. And so there's a lot of linguistic reasons why you can kind of see where that's happening. But basically, unless it, the it is actually the situation, not necessarily the authority, you would only have the situation, you only have this feeling of authority because of what's transpired. All the, all the events that have come to this point that make you feel like you have this power that comes from above. And therefore he who delivered me has the greater sin. He's talking about those who, you know, put him in that place. And there's some debate in terms of the, the commentary. So, but that's another sermon for another day, but I do want to clarify that. But here Jesus is, wants to correct Pilate.
Theologian D A Carson says, even the worst evil cannot escape the outer boundaries of God's sovereignty. Yet God's sovereignty never mitigates the responsibility and guilt of moral agents who operate under divine sovereignty. While their voluntary decisions and their evil rebellion never render God utterly contingent. In other words, Jesus through all of this, from this moment, all the way to the cross. He understands that behind all of this is the hand of God. That's not to say that he was whistling on the way that he was like happy. He's like, oh, this is God's plan like this is happy, this is great because we know Jesus was pained, knowing that this moment was coming.
In Mark 14. I'll read it for us. This is Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. They went to the place called Gethsemane. And he said to the disciples sit here while I pray. He took with him, Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful. Even to death. Remain here and watch and going a little while further. He fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, Abba Father, all things are possible with you. Remove this cup from me yet not I what yet, not what I will but what you will. And he came and found them sleeping.
And he said to Peter Simon. Are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is, is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. And again, he went away and prayed, saying the same words and he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy and they did not know what to answer him. And it came to the third time said, are you sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners rise. Let us be going. See. My betrayer is at hand.
So from jesus' perspective, at this moment of the Garner assembly, he, he's incredibly agonized. He knows his fate is coming. He knows the result of all of these events is coming and he even though he knows it is the hand of God, it is the will of the Father. It is still incredibly difficult for him. It's still incredibly painful for him. And so again, we're, we're trying to do the Ramon effect here. So let's really think about from Jesus' perspective, what is happening here? So imagine with me, if you will, the perspective of Jesus, imagine you're 33 for some of you like, oh, that's a long ways away for some of you like, oh, that would be great. 33 would be really nice. Yeah, that would be me. You just spent the last three years doing with a team of 12 colleagues, a missions team, if you will and you've been going around doing great things, performing miracles, teaching people truth, seeing life change, you would have developed incredible relationships with this team of 12 and yet the whole time as you're making these memories, as you're telling these jokes while you're fishing or cooking or whatever, you know, that one of them is going to betray you.
One of your, the 12 closest people in your whole life in the whole world. They're going to at one point turn their back on you and yet you keep going and they're going to betray you for some money because of their own perspective of what they want you to be eventually and on the path to there, you know that one of your best friends, like one of the inner circle of that 12 as you're getting on the worst night of your life when you are in shackles, you are being brought up on false charges of facing the trial of your life. That one of your best friends is not gonna deny you once, is gonna deny you three times as you're breaking bread, as you're joking as you're performing these miracles, you're gonna see this person. You go, you know what in it? In three years, in two years, in one year, in a couple of days, you are going to turn your back on me. You're gonna have this Bravado thinking you were gonna be so loyal. So, you know, tight and close with me and yet you're going to turn your back not once, not twice, three times.
And it so happens that after that happens, you were brought before your community leaders, the people who would be the equivalent to your CoaH kids teachers when you're 12 years old and you're sitting under their leadership and they're teaching God's word to you. They, you're learning from them. They are going to be the ones that are calling for your crucifixion saying that you are a blasphemer saying that you are against God saying that you hate God. The people who use had so much respect for. They're now at the top of that level and they're gonna be the ones that bring up false charges. They're saying that you're trying to overthrow the government, those CoaH kid kids t shirts, you know, they're not going to mean much at that moment and these charges will be clearly false, but they are insistent that you must die.
And the flogging the beating, the the first beating is not enough. And after this, this the, the the government official who they bring you to so that you can have those charges who repeatedly say this man is innocent. He has done nothing wrong. You guys got it incorrect. You, I wanna release him, you gotta release him. You guys need to calm down. He's not who you say he is. And those coa kids teachers who you sat with for years are the ones that are saying nope, crucify him, crucify him. We have no king. He is not our king in the name of religious purity. They're gonna call for you to be crucified on these false charges.
And instead, when faced with a decision, do we release you who is innocent of sedition of this, this fake charge that you're trying to overthrow the Roman emperor. They instead choose the man who has already incited violence against the Roman government. You as the innocent person are going to be sentenced to death. When the person who has done the worst version of your crime is being released all in the name of religious purity and a convenient but false devotion to the Roman Empire.
And then the second beating comes, it's the type of beating that comes because it's considered merciful to expedite your death on the cross because of the death on the cross is going to be slow and painful as it is. So the much kinder thing, much more kind Roman thing to do is to beat someone to nearly death. So that when they die on the cross, it's a little bit faster. So there's, you know, no, it doesn't take as long so we can, they can get back home to their kids before dinner, so to speak.
And while you hang on the cross, you'll see strangers, community members your leaders mo you laugh at you say if you were really God, wouldn't you save yourself? And as you're on the cusp of dying for the first time in all eternity passed, you feel distant from the Father. You experience his wrath for things that you did not do all for the reason. Because your death is the only thing that can save people. The people who are mocking you in that moment, the people who hate you, the people who cheered for you a few days earlier. And the people who now despise you and for people many years later who will say, yeah, I am a sinner. I recognize my need for a savior and for all the bad and horrible things that you and I have done.
Jesus knew that this was the only way. And as you're going through your life, you're playing this out in your mind. Every miracle you perform every lesson that you teach, every meal that you serve. This is something that has been building up, the knowledge that you have that this moment is coming and yet you persist. And the moment of weakness that you have is that you say Father, please let this cup pass if it is your will, but if it is not your will, then your will be done. Not mine. Is this how you would do it?
I know I wouldn't, I would be the type I need to speak to all of your managers, every single one of you. And I need, I need to go to the higher manager. I go all the way to the CEO because I mm mm I reject this. No, thank you. I will kick and scream and I will fight and say nope, nope, nope, nope, no, no, no, no. You're a liar. No, you are, you, you just change it up. You're talking about religion now. You're talking about politics. No, no, no. Yet, Jesus, through all of it, is quiet. Most commentators agree that this is a reference to Isaiah 53 which talk about the sheep who is slain and I'll read it for us here.
Verse 6 to 8. All we like sheep have gone astray have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us. All he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that has led to the slaughter like the sheep that is before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth by oppression and judgment. He was taken away. And as for his generation who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living stricken for the transgression of my people. This is our savior, the moment that he recognized and he knew which was through all of it. He says, I'm moving forward so I can save my people so I can bring restoration to my beloved, my created so that we could reconcile so we could fix what was broken in the garden.
And he says, I know that the only way to that is an incredibly painful, incredibly, embarrassing, incredibly horrible death. And he says, yet, not my will, but the will of the father. And so my friends, brothers and sisters in Christ. I ask you, will you choose the position of power and authority? Will you choose the path of convenience to get what you want at the cost of rejecting Jesus? Because we face that every single day, every single moment, we have that opportunity to say yes, Jesus or crucify Jesus.
Will we waste the blood of Christ? Not that we could waste the blood of Christ, but functionally in our lives. Are we ignoring that sacrifice? Are we ignoring what he endured? Are we ignoring every single day, every single moment that he was thinking about his people in our restoration? When we say no, I, I just, I like my position in life. I like that. I like this relationship. I like this status. I like my income bracket. Are we choosing ourselves our position like Pilate? Like the chief priests? Are we compromising a little bit, a little bit here, a little bit there for the sake of con convenience? Or will we really recognize what Jesus has done on the cross for us? That it wasn't just a few hours of agony and pain on a cross. It was the entirety of his whole life. Understanding that the end would come for us so that we could be restored so that we could be renewed.
My friends. I hope we don't waste that opportunity. If you are a believer here today, do that, that soul excavation, do that inventory of your life and say, where am I living this out? Does my life reflect an appreciation of love to the savior who lived and died that way? And by God's strength by the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray God remove the things that are getting in the way and my friends, if you were here, this is the first time you've ever been stepped foot in a church. You do, you, maybe you're coming back to the church for the first time or you feel really, really shaky. I want you to know that this is our savior. This is your savior.
So for the darkness, for the pain and the hurt that you feel the broken, that you've experienced, the broken that you've caused has been paid for in this moment and it requires nothing of you. You recognize your sin, you recognize your savior. And then in the great name of Jesus, and he says, come into the fold, welcome to the family. That is what he offers us today and every single day of our lives.
One of the beautiful things that we could do here every single week is that we get to celebrate the Lord's supper on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread, broke it and said, this is my body broken for you. And after supper, he took the the, the the the cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. And every time you drink of the cup and take of the bread, do this in remembrance of me. I think what an opportunity for us today. For those of us who are followers of Jesus to be able to remember the sacrifice of Jesus, maybe for the first time, renewing our our vows, so to speak, to God as we take of the elements. Let's pray.
Father God. I thank you for your word because I know I feel challenged. I know that I am not living this out entirely every single moment of my life. Look, I I'm so thankful that your blood, your sacrifice is so great, is so powerful that when I come and confess my sins, Lord, that I know I'm made new God. I, I thank you that you suffered what you suffered for me, for the sins of all your people. And God, I pray for people that are, are hearing this, that their, their spirit is moving, helping people recommit their faith to you, recommit their lives to you or maybe committing their lives to you for the first time. And so Lord, we pray for all this here as we prepare to worship you in our last set that is in Jesus's name, Amen.