If You are who claim to be, prove it.
Welcome to OnMission.
Today we stand at a distance - there are three crosses and three men dying. The man in the center is ridiculed and challenged. “IF You are who You claim to be, prove it.” It is in dying that this Man’s character is revealed and His claims proven. In this death, God reveals His Love. A death that man intended for evil, God uses for good on that Friday so long ago.
But first, as we turn to God’s Word, let’s begin in prayer:
Merciful God, as we turn now to Your Holy Word and as we reflect together on that cross and that murder, show us Jesus. Give us open eyes, eyes that see – we want to know Jesus.
We pray in His Name and in the power of God the Holy Spirit. Amen
Our Bible reading today is found in the Gospel inspired in John, chapter 19:14-24, 28-30
[Pilate] 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.
So they took Jesus, and He went out, bearing His cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took His garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also His tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
…
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed his head and gave up His spirit.
Now here's today's reflection entitled, “If You are who you claim to be, prove it”
Today we stand at a distance, yet close enough to bear witness of the horror of the cross.
The cross – an image of the extreme depth of human sin and breadth of our depravity. Many ideologies and philosophies cling to the fiction that “we are basically good,” but then the cross bears its awful testimony to our sin.
Jesus has been killed. Crowned with thorns, severely beaten, bloodied and crucified, He hangs lifeless on that cross just outside the city gate. He is dead. There is no doubt at all. The Romans are experts in the art of death. He has been as efficiently executed as the two thieves who hang with Him and bear witness to His death. They pierced His side driving the blade of a spear deep into Him to prove it - He is dead.
A sign above His slumped head declares in three languages, “This is Jesus, The King of the Jews.”
So there it is.
The question “Who is this?” is answered it seems by a heathen, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.
At Jesus’ birth, the heathen magi followed a sign placed in the heavens and found the One who was born King of the Jews. They found Him in the town where the sacrificial lambs are bred – the lambs killed to atone for sin.
And now ironically, another heathen and another sign placed above Him marks His death declaring: “This is Jesus, The King of the Jews.”
Yet, at His death as at His birth, God’s people are blind to The Truth.
Pilate had declared Him innocent. The High Priest and most other Jewish leaders demanded His death. To keep the peace, Pilate conceded; yet, another painful irony.
Crowds in the millions are in the city. Passover is drawing near and this Jesus was ruining it.
This is a time to gather with family and friends to celebrate — a time of expectations and feasting; a time for children. They ask their questions and the oldest among us gently answers them.
This Jesus kept going to the Temple and disturbing the preparations. He drove out our animal sacrifices as if they are redundant and cleansed the Temple of money changers as if they are the leaven of sin.
Jesus challenged our understanding of Scripture and condemned our traditions and sacrifices as empty rituals.
They say He opened the eyes of the blind and accused us who see of being blind.
They say He claimed to be God. Such lies lead to death and to death He was driven.
He was pierced at the place of skulls.
The day turned dark – He begged “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” For three hours the sun’s light failed.
His friends and followers vanished as this Jesus was lifted high. A few women and a boy stood nearby to weep and watch but not too close. He cried out to them once.
As He recited the opening verse of a Psalm of David, He declared “It is finished.”
As He breathed His last a disaster struck the city. The earth quaked. Jerusalem rocked as if the city no longer stood firm upon its Foundation. The Temple shook as if rejected and discarded. Temple curtain, that lush thick veil that separated the Holy of Holies where God dwelled[1] from the place of sinful humanity[2] has torn top to bottom.
Only the high priest was permitted to pass it into God’s presence and then only once each year[3] to make atonement for Israel’s sins.[4] Not even the High Priest or Sanhedrin can explain what’s happened – The Holy place is opened for every eye to see as if it is now pointless and decommissioned; a derelict unneeded for the atonement once sought in the holy place?
It’s impossible - but what does it mean?
Has God left the Temple? Is He reconciled - no longer separated from His people?
There are rumours of graves opened and life restored? There are rumours that even a Roman soldier who crucified this Jesus now calls Him Son of God. They pierced Him with nails; they even gambled for His clothes - yet now this one calls Him God?
There are even rumours that one of the two rebels crucified with Him who had reviled Him as they died had repented and changed; this criminal had called Him God. And Jesus had forgiven him and welcomed this sinner into His Kingdom. How had one been changed and not the other? What does it mean?
Yet the Jews persisted as they defied and despised this dying God:
IF You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.
IF You are the Son of God, save Yourself.
IF You, the Christ, the King of Israel, the chosen One come down and then we will believe.
So here is the question again: who is this?
The Council asked: “If you are the Christ, tell us.”[5]
Pilate asked: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Only now it seems an answer has been perceived but not received – the challenge spat back now at this Jesus preseumes an answer and now demands He prove it!
But He is dead.
…
Prove it. Let me suggest that’s exactly what Jesus did.
He proved it.
It is wrong to understand Jesus as a pathetic fatality of human sin gone mad. Jesus was never overwhelmed by circumstances or buffeted by uncertainty. Portraying Jesus as a helpless victim contradicts the Bible.
“This is my body, which is given for you… this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” [6]
Jesus said, “No more of this!”.[7] “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”[8]
I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me.[9]
“For this purpose, I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth.”[10]
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”[11]
“It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.[12]
“He breathed His last.”[13]
No Gospel writer describes Jesus’ death using the normal passive Greek verbs associated with dying. Jesus told His disciples He would “suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed.”[14] and that is precisely what happened.
So here we ask why it happened in this way. The short answer is because of Love.
He knew all would happen as it did because He knows us and is fully aware of sin and how it works itself out in our motivations, temptations and ambitions. Yet because He Loves He endures all to offer us reunion to God.
There have been many theories of atonement. But, just as all the Law and prophets hang on Love, so does this death.
I know Origen taught Jesus' death as the ransom paid for our release from the captivity of sin, and Augustine said Jesus’ life and death is an illustration meant to inspire us to live morally. Anslem saw God’s justice demanding satisfaction and Jesus’ death being uniquely satisfactory. Others say Jesus died to conquer sin and death and still others to appease God’s wrath, while others posit Jesus as a scapegoat or unwitting victim of divine retribution.
The thing is, each of these atonement theories seems to contradict some Biblical truth regarding Jesus’ divinity, the nature of God or the Trinity.
Too often we get distracted trying to puzzle the mechanics of the cross and how we are saved – and so we the point. At the very heart of the cross is not the question of how salvation works but the mystery that it is offered at all.
When eyes finally open to the why, the how just seems to become irrelevant. Don’t be distracted - don’t be deceived.
Too often we focus on the suffering Jesus as if His suffering is the point. Too often we focus on Jesus as the perfect sacrifice and yet again we miss the point. On that cross is Jesus the Saviour.
The Saviour of a criminal and a Roman killer who came to know Jesus.
The Saviour who offers this same salvation to each of us.
So what are we left with when all the drama, engineering, philosophy and rhetoric produce no satisfaction or systematic explanation? We are left with the simple Truth that Jesus came to declare. All the Law and prophets hang upon Love.
Jesus endures our sin and carries our sin because of Love.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the horror of the cross. Yet what man intends for evil, God uses for good.
Without Love, sin’s annihilation would annihilate each of us. In Love, sin’s annihilation happens when sinful people come to really know who Jesus is. Knowing the character of our Christ and His compassion, we receive the claims of Christ - He Loves us and offers us reunion to God.
If this sounds like nonsense, the Apostle Paul tells us why - we are perishing.
Why do some see and others do not? Why one crucified criminal and not the other? Why one soldier and not the others? Why do some Love and while others demand proof? Why do some believe and others seek only reasons, formulae and rationale? I don’t know. How can we teach someone fallen in sin to fall in Love?
Jesus’ death on the cross is a unique and purposeful expression of His Love. That He who could effortlessly annihilate sin endures sin and so dies, reveals our God who is Love. Yes, to those that are perishing what I have said is sheer nonsense. Yet it remains true.
Confronted by this death I feel shame and guilt that such an act of Love was even necessary. I am perfectly, justly and righteously convicted of sin and so condemned.
Yes, people of the world are repulsed by the shame, guilt and judgement of this cross. So they despise the cross. They call it evil.
But it is from that shame that Love offers relief, from that guilt that Love offers rescue and from judgement and condemnation that Love offers redemption. Love offers to restore us to the right and proper relationship with God for which He created us - a relationship marked by Love.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You will Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”[15] And this second is like it: You shall Love your neighbour as yourself.[16]
Jesus willingly endures the cross to fulfill the purpose for which He came —to bear witness to the Truth that God is Love, He Loves us and desires our Love.
How is this ultimate Truth revealed? Jesus tells us, “because I lay down My life … No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.”[17] “Greater Love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”[18]
The proof offered by Jesus is not that He saves Himself rather that He does not - that He endures sin and dies so that His beloved might live.
“In this the Love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is Love, not that we have Loved God but that He Loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”[19]
We have all the theories of the atonement – but ask what is it to atone if not to be “at one” – at one with God and with each other.
Jesus “suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh.”[20]
This is how God so Loved the world.[21] When confronted by hate and sin - when challenged by vindictive men to prove His identity He did - He Loved them to the very end as He willingly and purposefully breathed His last.
Can it truly be that obvious and simple and good as that?
Amen.
Let us pray:
Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us.
Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from us.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold us with a willing free spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to you.
Amen
[1] Hebrews 9:1-9
[2] Isaiah 59:1-2
[3] Exodus 30:10; Hebrews 9:7
[4] Leviticus 16
[5] Luke 22:63
[6] Luke 22:19-20
[7] Luke 22:50-51
[8] John 18:11
[9] Luke 22:37
[10] John 19:11
[11] Luke 23:46
[12] John 19:30
[13] Luke 23:46
[14] see Matthew 16:21-23, 22, 17:22-23, 20:17-19, Mark 8:31-32, 9:30-32, 10:32-34, Luke 9:21-22, 9:43-45, 18:31-34 and various sayings in John 12:7-8, 13:33, 14:25
[15] Deuteronomy 6:4-6
[16] Matthew 22:39
[17] John 10:17-18
[18] John 15:13
[19] 1 John 4:9-10
[20] 1 Peter 3:18
[21] John 3:16-17