Luke 18:31-34 and 23:26-43 Matthew 27:11-26 … 27:27-44… 27:45-56
The Cross... it rests on the time line of
history like a compelling multifaceted diamond. Its tragedy summons all who
would suffer. Its absurdity attracts all
critics. Its message of hope reaches out to all seekers. It is just a piece of
wood, but what a piece of wood it is! History has idolized it; despised it;
burned it; gold plated it; and worn it around their necks; whether they believe
it or not. History has done everything to it but ignore it; that’s one option
the Cross does not offer…No one can ignore it. The Cross…its bottom line is
sobering. If the account is true, it becomes history’s hinge and eternity’s
hope! If it is not true, it is history’s greatest hoax!
I’m curious as to how many of us hate to
have our picture taken? Most people run and hide from the camera like a cat
fleeing a bath! We don’t really like our picture taken because it reminds us of
all the things that have changed about us. It seems the older you get, the less
we like to see pictures of ourselves.
Pictures show all to well how our bellies have gone out and our
hairlines gone up! I like to look at what I call “natural” pictures; the ones
that are not posed or where someone says “Now say, CHEESE!”…I like to see the
look on people’s faces when they are not expecting to have their picture taken.Well, back in the day of the Cross, they didn’t have cameras, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have any pictures. The Bible is full of pictures. As we read all of these scriptures, we were given pictures of several people who were there and saw what was taking place. As I take you back through this photo album, I want you to pay attention to the faces in the crowd…And, may I also suggest that along the way, we look for our face in the crowd.
The first picture is a snapshot taken in Matthew 27:32 “As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the Cross!”
Simon was a common Jewish name. He was just a common church going, religious, kind of guy, who was forced to the Cross…or you could say, he had the Cross forced on him! Someone once said that “as a boy, the times he went to church he felt like a drug addict, because his momma drug him all the way there!” Some people feel forced to the Cross. Maybe because mom or grandma or some other family…or a girlfriend or boy-friend made them go to church out of obligation or tradition. The truth be known, they didn’t really want to go, but they went. It was the right thing to do, but they feel like they were forced to the Cross or that the Cross was forced upon them. Even though this is a snapshot of Simon of Cyrene, somehow I don’t think he is the only one in the picture.
It is possible to be so close to the Cross, and yet far from Christ. Time and experience have shown us that many who have been forced to the Cross, walk away when they get older. Yet, some, when they have children of their own, repeat the process! “You are going to church whether you like it or not!” You see, they know that church is good and right and needed…so they force their kids to go, some while they themselves stay home.
The second snapshot is of those who were foolish at the Cross. There are at least three different people in this photo, the soldiers; the crowd; and the religious leaders. From 27:38-44 - “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads. In the same way, the chief priests and the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him…In the same way, the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.”
It is a picture perhaps of the religious “surface” believers, who touch the Cross but never let the Cross touch them. “They cast lots for his clothing” it says. I wonder if we too play games at the Cross. I call them Church games; like; denominational games; personal games; gambling with life…? They were very close to the Cross, but few were really changed by it. Let me ask you this morning; “Have you allowed the Cross of Calvary to change you? Have you allowed it to transform your life?” Or are you in this picture of the foolish?
In these first two pictures, we have seen people who were close to the Cross perhaps by chance…but it’s only in this last snapshot that we see people who were there by choice. It’s found in verses 45-54… “The women were there”…We also know that John was there…And, I’m sure we can see Nicodemus and Joseph, and many others…perhaps in the background, but they were there as well.
It’s a picture of those who somehow understood the meaning of the Cross. Look, There is a picture of the criminal who repented in Luke’s album…he deserved hell, but he gets heaven by the grace of God. Oh, look, there is the Centurion saying, “Surely this was the Son of God”… Over there, that’s an ex-con and a pagan Centurion, and yes, Mary the prostitute, knowing more about grace than a thousand theologians. If a “picture paints a thousand words” then we ought to get a dictionary full from this one!
Jesus, God in the flesh, died on the Cross of Calvary as a final sin offering…He died on this Cross, taking upon himself the sins of the world. He looked down from the Cross and he looked at all the people there around the Cross…and he looks into their eyes, and your eyes, and my eyes, and he says “Father, forgive them”… Even though they don’t deserve it; even while they are yet sinners; place the pain and the judgment and the consequence of their sin upon me, and forgive them! Max Lucado writes, “No wonder they call him a Savior!”
Like a master painter, God reserved his masterpiece until the end. All the earlier acts of love had been leading up to this one…God on a Cross… The Creator sacrificing for his creation…You see, God’s greatest desire was to make room for you in the final family portrait…say cheese…!
No comments:
Post a Comment