April 23, 2001
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May 20 Lesson
Jesus on the cross is love's clearest expression
___Matthew 26:26-29, 36-45; 27:33-55
___26:26While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
___27Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." ...
___36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
___39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
___40Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
___42He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
___43When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
___45Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." ...
___27:33They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 34There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37Above his head they placed the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. 38Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
___41In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42"He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" 44In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
___45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
___47When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah." ...
___By Scott Collins
___In the book, "Illustrating the Gospel of Matthew," Roger Lovette tells about a popular monk in the Middle Ages who announced that in the cathedral that evening he would preach a sermon about the love of God. The people gathered and stood in silence, waiting for the service to begin. As they waited, the last rays of sunlight streamed through the beautiful windows. As the last bit of color faded from the windows, the old monk quietly went to the candle stand, took a lighted candle and walked to a life-sized statue of Jesus hanging on the cross.
___Slowly and carefully he held the light until it shown on the wounds of the feet. Then he held the candle close until the hands of Jesus were illuminated and then the bleeding side. Then, without a word, he let the light flicker on the thorn-crowned brow. That was, according to Lovette, the monk's sermon.
___Those attending the service that night stood in silence and wept, knowing they were at the center of a mystery beyond their knowing. They looked at the love of God--so deep, so wide and so eternal--that no words could fully express the measure of it all. Christ, who knew no sin, became sin itself so he could atone for our sin. He was "wounded for our transgressions," so the irony, the very mystery of redemption, becomes the riddle of all eternity, that in death, we have life. Indeed, his is a gift we can't live without.
___As we study and meditate on these verses from Matthew's gospel, the central focus of this lesson is the fact that Jesus gave his life for the forgiveness of our sins. The questions for us to consider as we look at Christ's sacrifice on the cross are similar, yet very different. Consider two questions: What was Jesus willing to give? What was Jesus willing to give up?
___Wrapped up in love
___It was early in the month this past December, but our 5-year-old daughter, Claire, was well into the Christmas season. After her constant complaints that we had no gifts under the Christmas tree, Judy finally wrapped up several large presents for Claire and put them under the tree, hoping this would satisfy her. While she had the wrapping paper out, Judy decided to wrap a couple of presents for me and put them out as well. Of course, Daddy's packages were much smaller than Claire's, a fact that did not go unnoticed. Feeling sorry for me, Claire asked if I was sad that my gifts were smaller than hers. I saw in her question an opportunity for a teachable moment.
___"Of course not, honey," I sincerely replied. "After all, it's not the size of the gift that's important, but the reason we give it."
___Without missing a beat, she patted me on the arm and said, "That's a good spirit, Daddy."
___Somehow, I am afraid Claire missed the point about giving and receiving gifts. But like her, we too often miss the point and the importance of God's gift of his only Son as Jesus gave his life on the cross for ours. What does it mean to you that Jesus sacrificed his life for you? From the moment the baby Jesus was placed in the manger until his final breath on Calvary, his was a life of sacrifice and giving wrapped up in God's love for us.
___Pain and suffering
___The events of the Last Supper (26:26-29), the events of Gethsemane (24:36-35) and the events of the cross (27:33-55) are connected by a common theme. That thread is the pain, the absolute agony of Jesus. We find it in the Lord's Supper as his blood is symbolically "poured out for many" (v. 28). It is with him again in the garden as he prays to the father, "if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me" (v. 39). And it is most obvious on the cross as he faces the incredible physical pain of death and the spiritual separation our sin caused.
___The gift of eternal life Christ gives to us was purchased at the cost of great pain and suffering. No credit cards were accepted in payment for this gift. No checks could be written, and even cash would not do. I must confess that in my middle-class upbringing and now in a somewhat comfortable adulthood, it is nearly impossible if not incomprehensible for me to relate to the pain and suffering we see in these verses from Matthew.
___The gospel writer does his best to give us a look at the pain of Jesus as he describes the scene in Gethsemane. Taking "Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him," Jesus enters the garden. "He began to be sorrowful and troubled," Matthew writes in verse 37. And then Jesus asks the disciples to "stay here and keep watch with me." Look at how Jesus describes his situation. "My soul is overwhelmed (surrounded) with sorrow to the point of death" (v. 38). So deep was his pain that the meaning of the words in our language falls short. The idea is of trouble and distress; someone who is restless, distracted, shrinking from some trouble or thought of trouble which nevertheless cannot be escaped. Knowing he will nonetheless fulfill his mission, Jesus prays the task he is about to begin might "be taken from me" (v. 39).
___As painful as the garden experience was for Jesus, try to imagine the pain and suffering of the cross. All he was and all that was within him were affected by the crucifixion. The physical agony, the emotional humiliation and the spiritual separation from God rested on Jesus that day. So great was his suffering as he hung on the cross, Jesus "cried out in a loud voice ... 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (27:46).
___We run a great risk when we minimize the extent of the pain and suffering of Christ's passion on the cross for our behalf. To do so is to cheapen the grace, as Bonhoeffer writes, with which he gave his life.
___In the end
___Matthew's account offers us few details about the nature of crucifixion in general and Jesus' own crucifixion in particular. Instead, Matthew seems to be more interested in what is going on around the cross--in the reactions of other people and even in the reaction of nature itself. The crowds and the Jewish leaders mocked and blasphemed Jesus as he hung on the cross dying. And at Jesus' death, "the earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs ..." (vs. 51-52).
___As a journalist and a reporter, I can appreciate Matthew's chronicling of these events. I find it most interesting to read the responses and reactions of passersby, witnesses and observers. And I'm sure that had I been covering the events for the Jerusalem Post that day, I would have led my story with the earthquake, splitting rocks and dead bodies being raised. But in doing so, I would have missed the real story.
___In the end, the story of what happened that day at Calvary was about much more than any natural phenomena. For in seeing only the natural, we can easily miss the supernatural.
___I have suffered through countless arguments in my day with skeptics and cynics who look at the events of Holy Week and who choose to doubt. Numerous times, I have studied the book "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by writer Josh McDowell in an attempt to prove the events of the cross. And while those studies have been beneficial and at times supportive of my belief in the veracity of the biblical account, I must always go back to the spiritual accomplishments of the cross. It is here, in the spiritual, that we find the gift we can't live without--the gift of forgiveness for and from our sins.
___As Christ hung dying on the cross, Matthew records in 27:50 that Jesus "cried out again in a loud voice" and then gave up his spirit. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing when he offered himself as a substitutionary sacrifice. And while it appeared the events unfolding around him were not under his control, in fact everything that happened throughout his arrest, trial and crucifixion were his to control. He chose to die, and he chose the time to die. It is at that moment--at the moment he "gave up his spirit," that Jesus gave his gift of forgiveness to all who would willingly accept it.
___In the end, we must say with the centurion and those with him (v. 54), "Surely he was the Son of God!"
For thought and discussion
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