Were
you there when… Jesus died?
“At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.”
The
6th hour is noon. In vs 25 we have been told that Jesus was
crucified at the third hour – ie 9am. 6 hours on the cross… for you, for me.
Were
you there?
Are
you there?
6
hours during which the devil is defeated with the very weapons he used to get
victory over humans and over Jesus.
The
devil conquered Adam by means of a tree. Christ conquered the devil by means of
the tree of the Cross.
The
tree sent Adam to hell. The
tree of the cross brought him back from there.
The
tree revealed Adam in his weakness, laying prostrate, naked and low. The
tree of the cross manifested to all the world the Victorious Christ, naked and
nailed on high.
Adam’s
death sentence passed on to all who came after him. Christ’s
death gives life to all His children.
Are
you there… as Jesus dies.
“At the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice… my God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?”
Are you there?
Are you there?
“with a loud cry, Jesus died”
Are
you there?
“Some women were watching from a distance among them were Mary Magdalene,
Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these
women had followed Him and cared for all His needs. Many other women who had
come up with Him to Jerusalem were also there."
So…
Jesus was not alone… are you there?
There
is a story that when these verses were related in an African village where
people had never heard the gospel, the village chief interrupted the narrator
when he come to the point where Jesus was unjustly hung on the cross to die.
The chief shouted: “Take Him down! I belong there!”
HE
got the message… that happens when suddenly you realize that: You are there.
Each
of us must come to the point where we enter into the mystery and realize that
Jesus took our place on that cross.
We
were there… we were there… we were there.
We
were in His mind as He somehow looked ahead and saw… us.
We
were in His hands and feet as our sin of yesterday, today, and tomorrow was
driven into Him becoming the only thing that held Him up.
We
were in His heart as He willingly did this for us out of deep, deep love.
So
it’s not really "were we there…" because, yes, we were!
More
importantly it’s “are we there…” ...now....by faith. Is our religion present tense, is our faith present,
is our belief present tense.
Reflect
on that for a few moments.
The
gospel must always have a personal affect on us and a social affect.
There is no such thing as solitary religion. We've looked at the personal
affect Good Friday should have on us. Let’s look at the women who were there
and see what they can say to us about the social affect that Good Friday should
have on us.
In
there silence, they speak deeply into our beings. They could do nothing to stop
what was happening to Jesus. All they could do was to stand helplessly by,
looking on with broken hearts.
You
and I know that feeling.
But
was it all they did?
What
did they do when they could do nothing?
For
one thing they saw that this was a monstrous wrong and we know they didn't condone it.
They didn't say or feel: “we must adjust ourselves to this decision. Perhaps it is
right.”...... “Perhaps the government does know what’s best. Perhaps our religious
leaders do have our best interests at heart.”
This
is often done in the presence of the apparent defeat of a good cause. Might is
mistaken for right, and moral and spiritual judgment and wisdom become clouded.
It
is a tremendous thing when even in helplessness people can say of triumphant
evil: “This is utterly wrong, and no show of physical power can make it right.”
Some of you are daily feeling helpless in the face of triumphant evil in your
homes, workplaces, our nation. Even the Church of Jesus Christ, in her
history has, and in her present, does... resort to evil, and we feel helpless as we watch.
Let
us never stop saying: "This is utterly wrong and no show of physical
power can make it right." Let us never ceasr to identify and name evil in our midst...never!
Going
back to that group of women at the cross: the defeat of Calvary didn't shake
their faith in Jesus or their devotion to Him. The overwhelming might of evil
had no effect on their continuing loyalty. They didn't say “well this defeat
settles it. We can’t go on believing as we did.”
They
continued as an unshaken minority that became God’s instrument for the future. Let's learn from them.... Hang in there!
And
this leads to the third thing these women teach us: Among this group who were
helplessly watching were many who a little while later in the upper room in
Jerusalem were launching a movement which would reverse the verdict that iron nails were the final power in the universe.
In
these women who were there we see the role of the Christian who is by faith at
Calvary today and always:
In
the face of forces and events which we cannot overcome any more than the
disciples at Calvary could restrain the Roman soldiers, we hold on to our
belief that love is the ultimate force in the universe and we give ourselves in
service to the tasks of that divine love in which we supremely believe.
Such
people become the… lever... by which God tilts the world, our nation, Alberton,
our church, our homes… the lever by which He tilts all these towards His
kingdom.
Were
you there… yes, you were.
Are
you there…?
