That Cross. Why That Cross? by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Mark 15:8-25

15:8  So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom.
15:9  Then he answered them, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?"
15:10  For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed Him over.
15:11  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
15:12  Pilate spoke to them again, "Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?"
15:13  They shouted back, "Crucify Him!"
15:14  Pilate asked them, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify Him!"
15:15  So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed Him over to be crucified.
15:16  Then the soldiers led Him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort.
15:17  And they clothed Him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on Him.
15:18  And they began saluting Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
15:19  They struck His head with a reed, spat upon Him, and knelt down in homage to Him.
15:20  After mocking Him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify him.
15:21  They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry His cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.
15:22  Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull).
15:23  And they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.
15:24  And they crucified Him, and divided His clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.
15:25  It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified Him.

          George Beverly Shea once sang a song titled "I saw a Man" that spoke of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  You don't hear that old song anymore, but the refrain stays with me ... "He said 'If I be lifted up I'll draw all men to me..."  And so He did.

          They nailed His arms and legs with great spikes to a rude cross, then lifted it up and dropped the foot of it into a hole so it would stand upright.

          The pain, the shock of the pain as it was dropped into that hole, the humiliation, the helplessness of those who loved Him, what agony He must have endured, and yet, He went willingly.  Not without concern, for He had checked with the Father one more time, as we see in Luke 22:42 and Matthew 26:42, saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."

          Why that terrible death on the cross?  Why not merely a peaceful death in His sleep, giving up His spirit without all the beatings, the whippings, without the crown of thorns jammed down into the flesh of his head, without the humiliation of dragging that heavy cross, the instrument of His death, through the crowds in the streets.  Why was this gentle man of peace treated in this way?

          There were so many reasons, so many implications for the Jews, for the High Council, for the Pharisees, for His disciples, for the crowds in the street who only a short time before had shouted "Give us Barabbas!", and of Jesus, "Crucify Him!"  Implications for His mother Mary, for others who knew and loved Him, and even implications for all those down through the centuries, down through the dusty ages who learned of Him and either loved Him or rejected Him, even implications for you and for me right at this moment.

          Why that cross?

          Our knowledge of the penalty of crucifixion goes back to ancient civilizations, thought to have begun with the Persians (today's Iran), along with the Assyrians, the Scythians, and other cruel regimes.  Execution by the cross, usually reserved for traitors, captives, slaves and the worst of criminals, became common under Alexander the Great, and later under the Roman Empire.  It was so cruel and ghastly as to send waves of fear, and compliance, through captive civilizations.  Even the Jews were known to have used it once; Josephus reports the Jewish high priest Alexander Jannaeus, who lived during 103-76 B.C., ordered the crucifixion of 800 enemy Pharisees.

          Yet for all the thousands crucified, the world has never been able to wipe away or wear away the memory of that man on the cross.  But why that man?  So many, by the hundreds, were crucified.  At one point in history, the Roman Emperor Nero crucified hundreds of men along the road to Rome, had them covered with pitch and set on fire to light the road to Rome.  But no one remembers any of their names.  Still the world has never been able to forget the name of Jesus Christ, and the events leading to, and following, His death on that old, rugged cross.

          Dr. James Allan Francis, in one of his sermons during the 1920's, said of Jesus, "Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.  He grew up in another village.  He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty.  Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

          "He never owned a home.  He never wrote a book.  He never held an office.  He never had a family.  He never went to college.  He never put His foot inside a big city.  He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born.  He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness.  He had no credentials but Himself...

          "While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him.  His friends ran away.  One of them denied Him.  He was turned over to His enemies.  He went through the mockery of a trial.  He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.  While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat.  When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

          "Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress."

          Jesus said in John 12:32, "If I be lifted up I'll draw all men to me," and so George Beverly Shea sang.  One day that great baritone voice, so beloved and so well-known at Billy Graham Crusades for Christ, all around the world -- for which he received his second Grammy at age 102 just last year -- one day that voice will fall silent.  But the name of Jesus Christ will continue on, and the image of His death on a wooden cross, for the salvation of the world, will continue.

          That bloody, savage death, impaled on a cruel tree, the inhuman instrument of death plunged into the earth atop a hill named Golgotha -- "the place of the skulls" -- that death will live in the memories of mankind forever, even as Jesus' death, burial and resurrection looks forward to His return for His own in all His glory.

          Why the cross?

          Perhaps because an act so heinous was necessary that we would never forget the terrible price that was paid so we might be reunited with God the Father.  Perhaps so we would never take lightly that Jesus became for us that bridge to the Father, across a chasm of sin we could never cross.

          It's also worth noting that as terrible as it was, this is also a demonstration of God's unconditional love.  Did the grievous suffering that Jesus endure on the cross mean the Father didn't love the Son?  No.  Instead, knowing that God is going to love us regardless, that we have His security and assurance of His unfailing love and care, empowers us to rely on His love, knowing He will never leave us, even when we think we have failed.

          Thank You, Jesus, for what You have done for us, paying a price we could never have paid.  Thank You, for Your sacrifice, an act out of God's unconditional love that has imbedded itself in the generational memory of all mankind.

          Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

Week of Worship

April 1, 2012

Invocation:  O god, Whose very presence causes us to choose whom we will serve, help us to joyfully choose always for You.  Let us not be tossed about by conflicting motives but live solely for You.  In the power of Christ's name.  Amen.

Read: Psalm 56

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday                Acts 14:19

Tuesday               1st Peter 2:21-25

Wednesday          1st Corinthians 1:3-11
Thursday              Isaiah 53:1-6

Friday                   Isaiah 53:7-9

Saturday               Isaiah 53:10-12

Sunday                 Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; Psalm 118:19-29; Mark 11:1-11

Reflection: (silent and written)

Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Hymn: "I Want a Principle Within"

Benediction:  As I go now to face the confusion and allurements of the world's systems, help me to separate the precious from the worthless, that i may be Your worthy disciple.  Amen.