"Deceased Hope and Buried Faith"

I can visualize the many faces there at the foot of the cross of Jesus on that day when he was crucified. Many congregated on that hill, expected their Messiah to exhibit more power and authority than what they perceived. Rather, on the surface, Jesus seem to be defeated. Think about it, there was an expectation for Messiah, to rule forever, and not to be beaten and ridiculed, and crucified until death. Now, as they looked upon Jesus they saw all of their hopes for deliverance swept away like the wind. A Roman Crucifixion was a place where people just don’t come back from, there is no rubbing a little ointment on the wounds and everything would be fine. When one is crucified by the Romans, they were done, finished, your life was over, and there is chance of recovery. It was stated by the Jewish historian Josephus, that one did escape the clutch of a Roman crucifixion. The story goes, “During the siege of Jerusalem, in AD. 70, three of his friends were taken prisoner by the Romans when he was absent, and were crucified. When he returned in the evening to the Roman camp, he immediately went to Titus and obtained their pardon; they were taken down from their crosses. The doctors were unable to restore two of them to life, but the third survived. Now, the first two had been nailed but the third had only been tied to the cross with ropes. One can thus see that a variation in the method of crucifixion could effect the length of the time which it took to cause death. Those who were bound with ropes, says Josephus, died less rapidly than those who were nailed, and could be more easily revived.” The cruelty of the cross is part and parcel with our sins that placed our Lord on it. The cruelty of our sins demanded a cruel sacrifice, and only God Himself would be able to rectify the rebellion and sin that has been thrust upon the world.

The last word’s Jesus spoke to His mother and one of His disciples was a command, He said Joh 19:26  When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"Joh 19:27  Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. The mother of Jesus and disciple John nearby, waited patiently at the feet of Jesus as He hang close to death. Imagine the hopelessness they felt, imagine the overwhelming hurt of a mother as she had to watch her Son die a slow death. You know, this can make a good reminder to all children out there that still have their mother’s nearby. Even in anguish, even in having the weight of the world pressing down upon our savior’s shoulders, He remembered. No suffering, however great, can extinguish love. Christ’s sufferings surpassed all conception, yet they did not dismiss His mother. He seemed to forget His agonies in that brief moment.  Children learn a lesson from this. “Personal inconveniences is no reason for neglecting your parents.”

Here they are, hopeless, saying all is lost, but there is a coming hope. I am reminded by the gospels, that when I look around at see all is lost, I quickly find God is still on the throne. When I am depressed with the state of the world, God reminds me that He is sovereignty and no man will ever chart the path and destiny of this world. Rev 21:6  And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. Rev 21:7  The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Rev 21:8  But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

He reminds me often and in many ways, the world is His and He loved you enough to send the very best, His Son. No reason for you to hang your head down in defeat, there is no reason to see hopelessness, for my Jesus is risen from the grave. In the next couple of weeks, we will examine the blessed resurrection in furtherer detail. I am so glad my savior died for me, how about you. With His death, there is extinguished hopelessness…That goes without saying, there are times when we have genuine feelings of defeated, and there are times when we see nothing but hopelessness. G. K. Chesterton said, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.” My friend, our hope and hope is in the risen Lord.

The last word’s Jesus uttered before His death were, “It is finished.” Meaning, His purpose has been fulfilled. He came to die for sin and that is what He did.

1. A Sign of Cleansing: Joh 19:31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

• You might have realized by now, the whole process of crucifixion was not a neat and tidy ordeal. Many times the bodies were left upon the cross until they died of suffocation. When the crucified could not hold their body up any longer, they would slump forward and die a cruel death of asphyxiation. They would simply suffocate to death.
• The Passover was closing in, and to hurry the process, the religious Jews wanted the bones broken. The Roman soldiers would take this big hammer and smash the bones in the legs until they broke. It is amazing how spiritually dead these people were. To say they need the dead off the cross so they could be part of something that reminded them of God’s protection and cleansing is like saying I want to rob a bank so that I can give a good tithe to my church. It just didn’t make much sense.

 Joh 19:32  So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. Joh 19:33  But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

They broke the legs of the two thieves. As we read this, we are reminded of the promise that the lamb of God, the sacrificial lamb would have no blemish, no broken bones, there was no imperfections found in Jesus. There is no mistaken, Jesus was deceased, and with His death was also the dashed hopes of a Messiah. It seemed as if the enemy had the upper hand.

Joh 19:34  But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

• As one can imagine, there have been many theories surrounded the symbolism and also what medically happened in the moment when clear watery fluid and blood poured out of the pierced side of Jesus. If we were to use the words of a physician at the cross, he would say something like, “The blow of the lance which was given to the right side reached the right auricle of the heart, perforating the pericardium.” Due to the high levels of stress that Jesus went through, the beatings, the hunger, the dehydration, the loss of blood, there accumulated around the heart, canopy of fluid and the spear broke through it first, then the heart. Some say that Jesus literally died of a broken heart. I have read explanations of the blood and water and have come to the conclusion. Medically, we have a good idea what happened, but what may be the spiritual implication. I asked myself, “in scripture, what is the significance of water and blood? I found that in both case, blood and water are seen through the lenses of a cleansing. One can say, because of the death of Jesus, ones sins may be washed away. That my friend is the hope we see on the cross. To John this was such a miraculous event that …

Joh 19:35  He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. Joh 19:36  For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken." Joh 19:37  And again another Scripture says, "They will look on him whom they have pierced."

• Here are two references that John uses, He grounds what he witnesses with the prophetic scripture. In short, he just doesn’t use his experiences, He uses scripture. The first place John references is found in Psa 34:20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. The second is Zec 12:10  "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. John is imply, believe my words and witness for theses events have been foretold.

Yes, under that cross was feelings of hopelessness, dread for the future, but in one moment, a foreshadowing of hope. What I see in the blood of Christ is the washing away of sin, in the sacrifice is cleansing. It was the cry of David that said,  “Wash me!”

John the Baptist exclaimed, “Wash!”

Peter was admonished in that upper room by Jesus, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Without our being washed clean, we all die from the corruption of sin. As the classic song asks, “are you washed in the blood of the lamb?” Are your sins forgiven? Here is the beauty, Christ wants you to be clean, He wants you to walk upright, sober minded and stable in Him. Are you tired of having the decaying stench of sinfulness infest your spirit, be washed by the sacrificial blood of Christ…there is hope.

1. Did They Believe? Joh 19:38 Later on, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, and he came and removed his body.

• I am amazed by two men in this portion of the narrative, these two men attended the body of Jesus, even when it seemed all hope was lost. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, makes the pages of all four gospel accounts. It must be noted, there was something important about Joseph for him to be noted in the gospels. Even though John states that Joseph feared the Jews, he is also noting in courage in the fact that he went to Pilate in order to remove the body of Jesus. Jesus must have made an impact on this man for him to step out, even after Jesus died. For many, the death of Jesus would only prove He wasn’t who He claimed to be, so why bother. Did He believe in Jesus, his actions say “yes.” So he hurried to get down the body of Jesus before the Passover. John writes of a second man that is important to the story. Also a secret disciple of Jesus for he went to Him at night…

Joh 19:39  Nicodemus, the man who had first come to Jesus at night, also arrived, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds. Joh 19:40  They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths along with spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews.

• For both Joseph and Nicodemus, this was a huge risk for both of them. The Jews could have easily said the gentlemen we co-conspirators with Jesus. If we look at their actions, we conclude it cost them something to serve Jesus. The amount of spices brought were costly and used to prepare the body for burial. It is estimated that the amount of myrrh and aloe is 65 pounds in the modern western way of measuring, a hefty amount at any rate. Jesus was lifted up on the cross and proclaimed to be King by Pilate, and now the burial is one that would have been used for a King. Jesus received a King’s burial.

Joh 19:41  A garden was located in the place where he was crucified, and in that garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. Joh 19:42  Because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and because the tomb was nearby, they put Jesus there.

• Once again, in accordance with the scriptures, Jesus was laid in the tomb of a rich man. Isa 53:9 Then they made his grave with the wicked, and with rich people in his death, although he had committed no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth." It is evident, that the actions of these two men proved that they believed there was something special or even other worldly about Jesus Christ. For these two men to step outside of what they have been fed for all of these years is a huge step of faith. Or maybe, they rightly saw the Old Testament as a proper forecasting of the Messiah, maybe they actually saw the correct interpretation and Messianic significance of redemption. Regardless, they stepped out in light of danger.

There is something about the death of Jesus that spiritually stimulates them further. When those that were Jesus’ disciples were scattered and scared, these two stayed and stood by in courage.

 

Just as Jesus was laid in another man’s tomb, He died for another’s sin and not His own.