2.14.18 3.28.2021 Matthew 27 The Way of the Cross Obligations
Finding Hope in Following Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Start
Entice: For most of us the Cross is central to our thinking about Jesus and our understanding of redemption. In addition to it being a major point of emphasis during Easter we have some consideration of the Cross every week when,
around the Lord's Table,
around the Lord's Table,
the blood is symbolized by the fruit of the vine,
the blood is symbolized by the fruit of the vine,
and Jesus' broken body is memorialized by the loaf.
and Jesus' broken body is memorialized by the loaf.
Engage: Others seek a Christianity without the symbol of Empire and torture at the center. Do we really need to talk so much about the Cross? Yes. And no. We need to understand what obligated Jesus to so tenaciously walk the way of the cross. More importantly we need to consider the theological and practical consequences of The Cross. My negative answer regards the physical tool of torture. It is easy to focus on the cruelty and ignore the true cause. It is far too easy to make the impressionable feel guilty about His suffering when their true guilt should be about their own sin. It is tempting to sensationalize the Cross, risking becoming desensitized to injustices we see around us. The risk is not talking about the Cross too much, but in talking about it without understanding.
Expand: In Matthew 27 Jesus meets His obligation head on. We are familiar with the characters. Jesus. Judas. The Leaders in Jerusalem. Pilate, representative of the Empire. Each plays a role in Jesus journey to the Cross. Only Jesus sees it as personal obligation.
Excite: In understanding the Cross, we balance our need with Jesus attitude of humble service. Going toward and dieing upon the Cross Jesus bears witness to both to the corruption of sin and its conquest. He shows us that in humble service the story of Salvation is drawn to a close by His singuar act in which it all makes sense.
Explore: On the Cross Jesus fulfilled His obligation to bear witness to the saving intervention of God in His fallen creation.
Explain: By meeting the obligations of the cross Jesus discloses fundamental truths at the heart of the Gospel.
1. Ruthlessness of Empire.
1. Ruthlessness of Empire.
1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,
4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.
6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.”
7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers.
8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel,
10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.”
12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer.
13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?”
14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted.
16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.
17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.
19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”
20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”
22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!”
23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”
25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
1.1 Corruption.
1.1 Corruption.
Bribery?
Kangaroo courts!?!
Deception?
1.2 Collusion
1.2 Collusion
You use the violence...we use the law.
We don't agree...we "need" each other.
1.3 Compromise
1.3 Compromise
Principles?
2. Resourcefulness of God.
2. Resourcefulness of God.
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.
28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
32 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.
33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull),
34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.
Because He is always providentially present He can let the story play out so that the character of each participant is fully exposed
2.1 Profit motive exposed as greed.
2.1 Profit motive exposed as greed.
2.2 Pride was exposed as presumption.
2.2 Pride was exposed as presumption.
2.3 Power was exposed as petty bullying.
2.3 Power was exposed as petty bullying.
3. Responsiveness of Jesus.
3. Responsiveness of Jesus.
35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.
36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there.
37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.
39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads
40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,
42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”
48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.
49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,
53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
3.1 Humility
3.1 Humility
3.2 Integrity
3.2 Integrity
3.3 Faithfulness.
3.3 Faithfulness.
Shut Down:
It is tempting to lump the crucifixion into modern examples of random violence. It really was not. Jesus, despite our inability to comprehend why, pursued the moment with a tenacity derived from its eternal necessity. He did not just die there.
He demonstrated His own responsiveness to human need.
He disclosed the resourcefulness of God whose pursuit of mankind seemed foiled by our every act of disobedience.
He declared once and for all that the attempts of Human empire to either elude or redefine responsibility were insufficient.
His obligation was to save. His every action up to and including the Cross was calculated to redeem and restore creation.
Praise be to the wisdom of God in the Cross of Christ!
His obligation to the cost informs and empowers our obligation to obey.