Were You There?
Good Friday, March 29, 2002
Intro:
It is a haunting question – were you there? Of course, the literal answer for each of us is no, we weren’t actually present at the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not like the witnesses we have just heard from. Not like Peter, and John, and Mary.
And yet the real answer to that question is a yes. We were there in a very real way as our sin – my sin – was placed upon Jesus. Isaiah 53:6 tells us “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Romans chapter 6 speaks of us being united with Christ through Baptism into both Jesus’ death and into His resurrection – that is the symbolism, we go down under the water as if going into the grave, we are raised up out of the water as an act of participating in the resurrection of Jesus. So yes, we were there. Our sin was placed upon Jesus as He hung on the cross. Jesus felt the weight of my sin, He took the punishment that I deserve, He paid the price for me. And He paid the price for you also.
(Rembrandt picture) – “The Raising of the Cross”. Note figure at Christ’s feet – it is Rembrandt himself. (detail on transparency).
I want to invite you to come to the cross this morning. To reflect on what the death of Jesus means for you, and for our world. I want to invite you to come to the cross this morning – but I don’t want you to come empty handed. I invite you to bring with you five things:
Come to the Cross: bring your sin
Good Friday must be a day of repentance. How can we gather around the cross, remember Jesus’ death for us, because of our sin, without searching our hearts and souls for the places where we have turned away? For the times we have been disobedient? For the habits we entertain that are wrong?
I don’t know why we carry our sin along with us. I do it too – instead of quickly running to Jesus, instead of running to the cross where I find forgiveness, sometimes I carry my sin around. I feel badly about it, but probably because of shame I don’t take it to Jesus right away. I’m ashamed to admit that, yes, I did it again. You know what this is like? It’s like getting all dressed up for an important party. And then as we walk out the door we see a big mud pile, and for whatever reason end up falling (jumping?) into it. But then instead of running back inside and getting cleaned up, we sit there feeling bad. Feeling sorry for ourselves. Feeling too ashamed. But while we sit there, we are missing the party. The festival is going on without us! My friends, let us hurry back and get cleaned off. Let us come quickly to the cross when we have sinned, and confess it and ask for forgiveness. Our Lord promised through John that “If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1:9).
And here is the strange thing: as you bring your sin, you will find it is already there. You will find that Jesus already carries it, it is already on His shoulders, the penalty has been already paid. He is just waiting for us to let it go. To trust Him with it. And then to walk away free and whole.
Come to the cross. Bring your sin, and receive forgiveness.
Come to the Cross: bring your thankfulness
The second thing I invite you to bring to the cross is your thankfulness. Gratitude.
Imagine being sentenced to death. Imagine that you had commited a crime for which death was the punishment. You hear the verdict: “guilty.” You hear the sentence: “death.” Then you hear something else. A man in the back of the room steps forward, walks up the the gaurds who have you by the arm, and gently pulls the gaurds hands off of you. He offers His wrists, and they place the cuffs on Him, and march Him off to prison in your place. You are free to go; another has taken your place.
How would you feel towards that man? Certainly you would feel gratitude. Indebted. Maybe a little guilty that someone else took the punishment you deserved. But years later, as you watched your children grow and your friendships deepen and your face aging in the mirror, you would know – you would remember – that someone else gave their life so that you could live.
Imagine that feeling. And bring that to the cross.
Come to the Cross: bring your burdens
There is a third thing I invite you to bring: your burdens.
In the book, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan describes how the pilgrim realizes his guilt and lostness. Saddled to his back is a heavy burden of sin and shame. "I fear that this burden upon my back will sink me lower than the grave," he says, staggering under its weight.
But then he approaches a hill called Calvary: “Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back. He ran thus till he came to a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.”
What a picture! As we come to the cross, all of the burdens we carry, all of the sorrows, all of the things which weigh us down and threaten to sink us, can slide off of our back, tumble down the hill into the mouth of the grave of Christ. But there is one thing we have to do – we have to let go. We have to give up our burdens to Christ. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Do you feel burdened with the pressures of life? With sorrow, with heartache, with pain? Do you feel pressed on every side? Perplexed? Hunted down, knocked down? Here the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 4:8-10:
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. 9We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. 10Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”
As much as the cross is a place of death, it is also paradoxically a place of life. That is what Paul says in that last verse – we share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen. And that leads to the fourth thing I invite you to bring.
Come to the Cross: bring your friends
The life we have in Christ needs to be seen. It needs to be shared, it needs to be made known. As we come to the cross, bring our sin and our burdens, experience a thankful heart for all that Jesus has done for us, how can we keep that to ourselves? How can we keep from letting others know what Christ has done for us?
That is the simple essence of being a witness – sharing what Christ has done for you. Do you remember the story about the man born blind, whom Jesus healed in John 9? The Pharisees investigating the healing started asking him and his parents a bunch of questions about Jesus being a sinner, and the man simply replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see.” (Jn 9:25). You don’t need a theological argument all laid out, you don’t need an answer to every objection someone might raise. You need simply to share what Jesus has done for you.
So bring others to the cross. Bring them first in prayer, asking Jesus to open the eyes of their hearts, to make them receptive to the message of hope in the cross. Ask for opportunities to share with them what Christ has done for you.
Come to the Cross: bring your heart
Finally, I invite you to bring your heart. I recognize this as a moment of decision. I know that many of us hold back, we give part to God but not all. We want Him to be Lord of some areas, but not all. We want to follow when it is easy and comfortable, but He calls us to follow always.
During Jesus’ last week, a Pharisee came to test Jesus with a question: “‘which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… and love your neighbor as yourself.”
The word there is “all.” You know, Jesus held nothing back from us. He gave it all. And He asks for all in return.
So come. Bring your sin. Bring your burdens. Bring your thankfulness. Bring your friends. And above all, Bring your heart.
Communion
(read 1 Cor. 11:23-26).
prayer of thankfulness for Christ’s shed body and blood.
instructions – meditate, reflect, pray, come, partake, dismiss quietly into the foyer.
