DEFINING MOMENTS
SEEING JESUS AS HE REALLY IS
Palm Sunday 2005 Passion of Matthew Part 3
He was a career
professional: a seasoned veteran with scars to prove it, worldly
wise and loyal to his superiors to a fault, He’d fought in Gaul,
chased Huns in Europe, and marched through the sands of North
Africa. He’d been in charge of this particular prisoner since the
chief priests turned him over to Governor Pilate.
As a Roman he was used
to worshipping lots of Gods: Mostly out of superstition, or wanting
to make sure he hadn’t offended anybody, especially going into war. Just
add another God onto the long list and say a quick prayer for luck… And
that included Caesar himself.
Like most people, this
Centurion had seen a lot of crosses—and like most people they meant very
little to him. Crucifixion was a pretty ugly business. The cross was
not the place for nice people—models of society. It was the place where
hardened criminals and troublemakers hung—men full of anger, bitterness
and derision. In most cases them men he was crucifying cussed him, spit
on him, and did everything they could to escape… Some despaired—gave up
and cried out about how they were being unfairly treated. Others were
pure anger…
He’d performed
crucifixions on a regular basis—that was his job. He pounded the
nails in the hands and feet at the beginning—coldly delegated it to
others as he rose up the ranks. He broke the legs. He saw what happened
to the decaying bodies—the vultures. After witnessing that week after
week, what could shock HIM? He was a hardened death machine…
“But when the Centurion,
and those with him who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and
all that had happened, they were terrified and exclaimed ‘Surely He
was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:54 NIV)
It was a defining moment
for this Centurion-- He saw Jesus as he really was. And whether his
confession was a full-blown profession of trust in Christ alone, or
whether it was a recognition of Jesus’ righteousness and that there was
more to him than met the eye… These are the words a man deeply moved and
drawn to the person of Jesus Christ… a seeker who is well on the way to
a full-hearted trust in Christ alone for his meaning and purpose in
life, if he isn’t there already…
How do you explain this
incredible turnaround, this “about face”? How did this centurion
move from using a title that was reserved by Romans for Caesar alone to
indicate his priority among the Gods—How did he move from that to
saying that this crucified Rabbi is the Son of God?? How did this
seeker move from worshipping many Gods, to acknowledging the worthiness
of only ONE??
What did the Centurion
see in Jesus’ death that he had never seen before??
1. HE SAW JESUS EMBRACE
THE DARKNESS AND EXTINGUISH IT
Last week we talked about
Facing Pain with Jesus—and how it was a defining moment for Mary, Martha
and Lazarus when Jesus came alongside them and shared in their loss, and
then raised Lazarus from the dead.
But on the Cross
Jesus didn’t just face the pain—he embraced it. He didn’t just
face the evil of sin and death and weep with us—he embraced it
himself. He allowed it to penetrate his body and his soul and
his spirit until it became death for him, and he became sin for us…
Jesus entered into the unbelievable cruelty, violence, torture and
degradation of crucifixion, bearing our sins with all of his
senses intact..
The wine vinegar he was
offered was like a narcotic—designed to anesthetize the pain of his
suffering. Jesus refused it: He would not distance himself
in any way from the pain of the cross and the burden of our sin. And so
he fully identified himself with the ones who ought to have gone to the
cross in his place—with me, and with you.
When darkness came over
the whole land, for the last three hours (Matt. 27:45), Jesus embraced
it… He felt it when he cried out “My God, My God why have you
forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46) What was that darkness? Was it the
whole creation, blacking itself out in shame as it watched the death of
its creator? Was it a physical manifestation of the demonic hordes
converging on Jesus from all of time and space? Was that three hours the
time it took for all of sin and Hell in its pure and unadulterated form
to penetrate his soul and spirit until it turned out the light of his
relationship with the father for the first time… Was it all of
this?
Whatever it was, all of
it was the manifestation in creation of a suffering of a different
order-- The Centurion had seen a lot of suffering… But Jesus
suffering shocked this hardened death machine. The Bible says it
terrified him (Matt 27:54)… And the signs that followed the climax of
Jesus’ suffering—the earthquake beneath the Centurion’s feet, the
ripping apart of that massive curtain in the temple, and the release of
Holy people who had died from the grave to walk around Jerusalem—all of
this kept him in a state of spiritual shock and awe… signs that Jesus’
embrace of darkness, death and suffering had somehow shifted the balance
of good and evil in the universe… It was a defining moment for the
Centurion. He’d never seen anything like it before…
2. HE SAW JESUS FORGIVE
THE UNFORGIVEABLE
The Centurion observed
the crucifixion from start to finish. He saw everything. He saw
Jesus when they stripped him, gave him the cloak, placed the crown of
thorns on his head, gave him the reed, mocked him as King, spit on him
and beat him. He saw the criminals, the chief priests, the scribes and
the elders abuse him while he was on the cross. He saw Jesus absorb all
this abuse, and then heard him say “Father forgive them, for they
do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)
The Centurion was used
to seeing human nature reveal itself under excruciating pain—and love
was the last thing he expected to see—and certainly NOT
forgiveness.
What do you do with a love
that is stripped and beaten and spit upon and reviled—and keeps on
loving? What do you do with a love so great, so utterly complete, that
it pardons even the things that the thieves, soldiers, bystanders—and
you, and me—don’t even know we’re doing?? Forgiveness is so much
easier when the other person admits they’re wrong… or when you put them
on probation and hope they feel grateful you’ve extended them a little
grace!
But how do you do
that when people ridicule the very offer of forgiveness: When
they spit on your love and throw it back in your face. Jesus forgave
them, period.
And what do you do
with such love that things nothing of itself: Suffering and
forgiving in the face of naked rage, Jesus focuses on Mary, his mother,
and John, his beloved disciple, and gives them to each other—John to
replace him, and Mary to be a new mother…
You know what you do
with that kind of love? You realize with the centurion that you are
not dealing with an ordinary human being. You’re not dealing with a
really good and moral person. You’re dealing with someone whose life
force, energy and emotional being comes from somewhere beyond this
world! A resource that allows him from the depths of his being to love
and forgive the unforgivable. And that was a defining moment…
3. HE SAW JESUS TRUST IN
SOMETHING HE COULD NOT SEE
Some years later, Peter
had a chance to reflect on Jesus’ suffering on the cross and this is
what he wrote, in the Bible, in his first letter: “When they
hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he
suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him
who judges justly.” (I Peter 2:23 NIV)
Jesus trusted himself to
the Father and his plan—including the Cross. “Not my will,
Father, but yours be done” said Jesus before he went to his death.
Jesus literally gave away, surrendered, and handed over his life to be
killed—confident in the goodness of God his Father with whom he had
shared all things up to and including this very moment.
That’s what the
Centurion saw. Oh he didn’t understand the depth of the relationship and
the trust between Jesus and the Father. But he saw that Jesus did
not resist. He saw that he did not curse or retaliate. He embraced the
cross! He expressed his confidence in God’s goodness when he turned to
the repentant thief and promised him “Today you will be with me in
Paradise” (Luke 23:43) He heard Jesus cry out “I thirst”—and
he saw that it wasn’t for the wine vinegar—it was for something beyond
this world…
Illustrn:
Lenten study “Renovation of the Heart”, Dr. Larry Crabb shared in one
session how at age 5 he looked up to his father who closed his eyes and
prayed to what looked like the ceiling. Larry couldn’t see anything—but
he was deeply impressed that his father believed he was praying to
someone, and not just the ceiling—and that was the beginning of faith
for Larry Crabb.
Jesus knew that his
dying was caught up in a larger purpose and a larger reality. And he
was so caught up in and convinced of God’s plan and God’s goodness that
in the very moment of his death he cried out, not with a whimper but
with a loud shout of confidence “It is finished, once and for all!”
(John 19:30 amp) Jesus knew that his death had accomplished what
God had purposed! He saw it, he believed it, and he trusted it!
And as the centurion saw
it, he began to wonder if he could trust it too!
4. HE SAW JESUS TRIUMPH
IN THE FACE OF DEFEAT
The Centurion had never
seen anything like it: People who were crucified had no strength
left as death approached. But Jesus has enough strength to cry out in a
loud voice “It is finished”—a cry which means literally “It has been
and will forever remain finished.”
What was finished?
The brutality of men? The pain of his death? NO: these things were not
done… Jesus was saying something else to the centurion and everyone
gathered round—and to me, and to you. Jesus was saying “I have
finished what I came into the world to accomplish. I have finished the
curse of sin. I have finished the powers of evil and death itself. They
are finished and will forever remain finished.”
These were not words of
despair. These were not the actions of a man who was full of anger
or out of control. They were not the actions or words of a criminal, or
a troublemaker. These were the words and actions of a King!
Jesus chose the moment
of his death: He wasn’t fighting it, he was welcoming it—in control
of it—and even USING IT! The Centurion had never seen or experienced
anything like Jesus triumphing in the moment of his death!
It was a defining moment
for the Centurion. It was a moment punctuated by the earth shaking and
the rocks splitting-- the curtain of the temp-le ripping apart and
graves opening to disgorge the righteous dead. The Centurion may have
been able to punish and subdue criminals—but when the earth beneath him
shook and the sun stopped shining, he realized that his strongest
strength was a pitiful weakness compared to Jesus. So he spoke from his
heart, with no doubt in his mind “Surely this was the Son of God!” No
longer did he have an air of professional invincibility—no longer an
aura of arrogance… He believed!
What will it take for
you to cross that line? What needs to shift beneath your feet before
you’ll believe and trust? Will God need to bring an earthquake into your
life, a crisis or tragedy to knock you off balance to see your need?
What veil of unbelief or anger at God needs to be ripped in two? What
graves of pain and shame need to be opened and emptied in your life
before you’ll really put your whole trust in Jesus Christ?
Jesus wants to help you
cross that line, just as he helped the Centurion. Whether you’re
dealing with doubt, or loss, or cancer, or the despair and
meaninglessness that comes from living with every world view that
excludes Jesus-- It’s all finished in Jesus Christ! Death
can no longer have its ultimate victory, cancer’s day is limited, God
has a plan and a purpose for you and me and he has dealt a death blow to
every power that would frustrate it—through Jesus’ death on the
cross!
Some of you may be
saying, “Yes, but the Centurion was there. He saw it live. I wasn’t
there.” True enough—but for all the Centurion knew, this was the
end of the story. He had just played a part in putting God’s Son to
death, and that was it. Period. It was terrifying.
BUT YOU KNOW THIS WASN’T
THE END OF THE STORY. You know the end of the story! You know that
Easter’s coming… And if you’re not sure that the Resurrection is
really the end of the story, then come this afternoon to the Great
Resurrection debate and decide for yourself!
You know what’s ironic
about Jesus’ death? The religious people of the day, the Jews, who
have all the advantages to enable them to recognize Jesus as the Son of
God—they fail to recognize him! It’s a Roman Centurion, who has none
of the advantages, none of the training, an outsider and an enemy of
Israel who’s not supposed to get it-- He has the defining moment
and re3cognizes Jesus for who he really is!
But he did have two
advantages: He didn’t look at Jesus with the Jewish preconception of
what the son of God was supposed to do… and he had eyes with nothing to
do but watch what was happening to Jesus, and to take it all in.
Fresh eyes and a willingness to watch go a long way toward gaining the
truth.
This Holy Week, I invite
you to take time like the Centurion and with fresh eyes stand before the
cross and watch. If we do, we’ll come to the conclusion, this side
of the resurrection, not only that Jesus was the Son of God, but
that he IS the Son of God. If Roman soldiers-- —the ultimate
outsiders—can get it, we can too. We can see him embrace the darkness of
our sin and evil. We can hear him forgive us for the things we know we
have done wrong—and even those things we don’t yet understand that we’ve
done wrong. We can see him give back nothing but love. We can bring our
sins, our sadness and our fears to that hill and trust that he will
gather them up into God’s greater love and power. And we can know the
triumph of his death, which makes our life possible—now and forever!...
Come to the Cross of
Jesus Christ, and let it be your defining moment. |
