Good morning everyone.  Robbi and I miss all of you so very much.  If we were meeting together this morning we would be celebrating Palm Sunday.  What exactly is Palm Sunday?  Why do we celebrate it?  Jesus is at the end of His earthly ministry and He knows that the cross is right around the corner.  News of Jesus has spread because He raised Lazarus from the dead and the people were ready to crown Him king.  He is making His way to Jerusalem even though He has been advised by His disciples not to go for fear of His life, and theirs too, but Jesus still heads to the city.  Why?  If you were told that your life is in danger, would you still walk into the face of it?  There are places and neighborhoods in Peoria that you know very well are not safe places to be at certain times of the day, so what do you do?  You stay away.  Why did Jesus go?  Because His time had come.  Jesus was born for this day.  He was born to die.  He was born to be sacrificed.  He was born to be flogged, beaten, spat upon, mocked, and crucified on a cross, not because of anything He had done.  This was for you.  This was for me.  Jesus walked right into it, knowing full well what was about to happen, because it was God’s plan. 

 

We celebrate this day because it is the day that Jesus makes His way to the cross.  Everything is going so well in His earthly ministry, and now the cross.  As He is making His way to the cross, people are cheering and shouting Hosanna which means “save now”.  The people were so happy to see Him riding on a donkey which is what many rulers would do to show their kingship and love for the people.  In just a few days, things would change drastically and Jesus knew it.  As you go through this week, think on these things.  We know from Gethsemane that Jesus was in anguish.  We know that He loved the people as He wept and desired that these next few days would not have to take place.  Remember that Jesus talked to the Father and asked if there was another way, but He went willingly for you and for me.  Amazing!!!

 

I want to continue in our study of the seven statements that Jesus made as He hung on the cross.  As I said last time, His words are few, but they sure are deep.  Last time we looked at the first two statements: 

Luke 23:34  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Luke 23:43  “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” 

 

This time we are going to look at what Jesus says to His mother and to the Apostle John.  John 19:26-27  ‘When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “here is your mother…”’  Jesus, looking down from the cross sees His mother.  Can you imagine that?  Try to put yourself in His mother’s shoes.  Sure she had heard about the promised Messiah.  Sure she had read the Scriptures about what He must suffer.  Sure she heard the words of Simeon in the temple when Jesus was just 40 days old and He praised God for allowing his eyes to see His salvation which God prepared in the sight of all people.  But this was her son.  This was her boy!  Her heart must have been ripped in two when she saw her Son bleeding, beaten, mocked, and hanging from a cross waiting to die.  How could God do this?  And to think that Jesus was going through all of this for the very same people who were carrying out the execution. 

 

Jesus was still filled with the concerns of a son for the needs of His mother.  Where were His brothers?  Why were they not there to help their mother?  Jesus saw the pain in His mother and He gives the task of caring for her to John.  Jesus cares.  Jesus is fully human.  He hurts for His mom and He wants to be sure that she is taken care of now.  In this very act, Jesus is putting the fullness of His humanity on display.

 

The next passage we are going to look at is found in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.   ‘About 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?”’  These are some of the most mysterious words in all of the Bible.  It indicates in some sense that Jesus has been cut off from the fellowship the He has experienced and enjoyed for all of eternity with His Father.  All of this because He was bearing the sins of God’s people and enduring God’s wrath. These are also the very same words that David used in the first verse of Psalm 22 when he is overwhelmed by the attacks of his enemies.  Could it be in using this statement from David that He also has in mind the remainder of Psalm 22 where David declares victory because of Who God is?  Could it be that He is crying out  “My God, My God”  in faith knowing the victory that awaits Him?  Jesus knew that He came to this earth for this purpose, so He is not confused or bewildered wondering what is going on.  Is He declaring His faith in His Father and His plan?  Remember, people are listening.  Is it any wonder that a Roman centurion later said “Surely He was the Son of God”?  Matthew gives us these words of Jesus to show us that even though Jesus anticipated this torment in the Garden of Gethsemane, this was inconceivable and beyond our understanding.  Jesus was alone.  Why?  Because He took my place.  He took your place.  He took our place!  Jesus knew the answer to that question.  This was the plan of the God-head.  He cried out this question, more as a statement that would resonate in the ears of all who would hear it then as well as today. 

 

Perhaps, as a follower of Jesus, you put yourself in the shoes of John.  If you a mother, maybe you take on the person of Mary?  Maybe you would like to jump into the armor of the unbelieving Roman centurion.  Whatever you might choose, spend some time at the foot of the cross and think about these passages of Scripture:

Luke 23:34  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Luke 23:43  “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

John 19:26-27  ‘When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “here is your mother…”’

Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.   ‘About 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?”’

 

The desire of my heart is that the Word of God might be fresh and invigorating in each of you today.  Spend some time around the cross and then rejoice and praise God for His love, mercy, and grace, because in the end, WE WIN!

Have a great Palm Sunday!

Jerry

With Resurrection Sunday right around the corner I have been reading various articles and spending time in the Scriptures around the cross.  Before the resurrection, came the cross.  Jesus has spent the previous 3-1/2 years pouring and investing in 12 men and now as the Jewish nation and Roman empire are focused on this Jesus, He seemingly says very little; or does He?  His words were few, but when you read them (and I encourage you to do that), and when you meditate on them, and when you think about what all is behind what Jesus is saying, you will find that there is a whole lot going on.  Jesus made seven statements from the cross that are recorded in three of the four Gospels and yet they are not repeated anywhere.  These are all things that Jesus says after He has been nailed to the cross and before He dies.  If you look closely you will see that these words reveal both His divinity and humanity.   That is something that I think we do not always understand.  How can someone be fully God and fully man?  Take a look at these passages:

 

Luke 23:34  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  What does He mean when He says that they don’t know what they are doing?  Did they really not know?  This was not the first crucifixion.  God could have easily wiped all of these people off of the face of the earth and sent them straight to the pit of hell and He would have been right in doing so.  But Jesus taught us that we were to love and to be good, and to be kind to our enemies in Luke 6:35.  We are also told to pray for our enemies, and that is exactly what Jesus is doing here.  He is talking to His Father (praying) and asking God to forgive them.  What Jesus is saying is that He is providing the very basis for their forgiveness.  Jesus taught it and now He is living it out in dying for them here on this cross.  Jesus is providing an example for all who will follow Him including you and me.  This did not excuse them from the horrible act of crucifying Jesus, but it does show that they obviously did not fully understand the evil that they were doing to the Righteous Holy One, the Son of God, the Messiah.  In the midst of His excruciating suffering, Jesus was focused on others.  Amazing!!! 

 

Do we fully understand how much our sin grieves the heart of God?  God loves you so much that He sacrificed, He crucified, He killed His own Son for you and for me.  Why then do we live the way we do sometimes?  Why do we say the things that we say?  Why do we use language that we know we ought not to use?  Why do we talk about people, also known as gossip, the way that we do?  Why do we say unkind things about other people?  Why do we complain?  Why do we live a life that is contradictory to the very meaning of the name Christian or “Christ-like one”?  Because we often times don’t know what we are doing and Who we are ultimately doing it to.  Aren’t you thankful for a gracious and merciful God Who, in the form of His Son, took your place and died for you?  Whaat Jesus is saying here is very relevant and powerful in our own lives.  His love for you is unconditional and divine.

 

Luke 23:43  “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”  One of the criminals who was crucified with Jesus recognized who Jesus was and expressed faith in Him as Savior and simply said “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”  Here we see the grace of God poured out through faith and Jesus assures him that he has been forgiven.  It was not a long and drawn out prayer.  There was no time for that.  The man’s eyes were opened to Who Jesus was and he simply said “remember me…”  The man’s words were both a plea and a confession of faith. 

 

You might say:  “the man was desperate and he knew that he was going to die.  He knew that there was no tomorrow.”   Have you listened to the news lately?  This coronavirus does not seem to be very selective in who it attacks.  I am hearing stories of people being diagnosed with the virus and being dead 48 hours later.  Who among us is guaranteed tomorrow?  I do not mean to be morbid, but we all know of people’s lives, people in our own church, whose lives were changed forever in a matter of minutes or overnight.  Do we realize how desperate we are?  Do we realize how utterly dependent we are on God?  “In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12:10)  “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”  (Job 33:4)  You, me, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.  We can, however, rest assured that we are in the hands of the Creator and Sustainer of life; the God of the Bible.  Allow me to tell you about this God.  I have shared this with you many times but it always good to hear it at least one more time.  These are the things that I know about God:

He loves you!

He is in control!

He knows your needs!

He is surprised by nothing!

He always does what is right!

His timing is absolutely perfect!

 

I want you to spend some time meditating on the truths of these two passages.  We will take a look at two more this coming weekend and then two more next Wednesday.  The final one that we will look at will be on easter Sunday.  Here they are for you to look forward to:

John 19:27-27

Matthew 27:46

John 19:28

John 19:30