C, Midweek Lent 5 - Luke 23:48 "Beating the Breast"

Luke 23:48 (ESV) And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.

To beat one’s breast is an interesting term not commonly used today.  We might thing of Tarzan’s action, making his telltale call to bring together the primates of the jungle as he beats his breast with macho monkey zeal, then swings through the trees to face his foe.

But in reality, beating one’s breast is not so much an action, rather it’s a symbolic expression, for a person who is downcast in spirit, angry, or expressing woe and distress.  

In the bible we hear of beating one’s breast apart from being beaten by someone else.  Saint Paul speaks figuratively of pummelling his body, so he does not lose the eternal prize saying, “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified”. (1 Corinthians 9:26–27 ESV)

Back in Luke’s Gospel, chapter eighteen, we hear of the judge, in the parable of the persistent widow, who says to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.” (Luke 18:4–5 ESV)

Further on in chapter eighteen, Luke focuses in on the reason for beating one’s breast in the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector where we hear of the tax collector who did not trust in himself, nor his righteousness.  Jesus says, “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:13–14 ESV)

Beating one’s breast, biblically speaking, is not an act of psyching up the inner spirit, rather it’s an act of humility where one realises the truth of the situation, or they see the spiritual reality within themselves.

The crowd who had gathered for the Passover feast at Jerusalem welcomed Jesus as the Messiah. They saw him as the king whom they hoped would restore the rule of David.  They hoped Jesus would have freed them from Roman rule.  Yet instead of turning and tossing Pilate out of the palace, Jesus turned towards the temple and tossed out those he accused of making God’s house a den of robbers.  

It took only a week for the mob, who welcomed Jesus, to turn and crucify him.  The crowd was easily agitated by a few who made false allegations against Jesus.  They were whipped into a frenzy by activists to act in one accord. These were those who behaved more like Tarzan, moving the mob, stirring individual spirits in uncompromising confusion, moved by the desire to deal out death and destruction on the holy innocence of God’s own Son.  With one accord evil justice was dealt out upon the “Good One” given by God, Jesus Christ, who was sent to serve humanity.

Once the mob’s collective behaviour moved those with authority to sinfully act in fear, the crowd watched the spectacle unfold on that Passover Friday, on the way of suffering, via dolorosa, the way of the cross.

In Lent we are called to understand,  that the passions of our flesh, meet the paschal passion of Christ on the cross.  This is the place where our defiling desires meet the purifying suffering of the Holy Sinless One.  We are reminded of our part in the passion of Jesus Christ, where our sinfulness is easily whipped up into a frenzy because of the fears of losing our idols – our pride, popularity, pleasures, and possessions.

On the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, we hear what the crowd received as the product of their passions fallen on Jesus Christ. “And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.” (Luke 23:48 ESV) In one accord the crowd began the day calling for the crucifixion of Christ.  At the end of the day they went away with one accord convicted for crucifying Christ.

On the cross the Holy Spirit caused them to see themselves, the crassness of their passion for popularity, pleasure, and possessions.  They walked away beating their breasts knowing that if the Holy One of God can die, what chance have they got of avoiding death when he who is good, received evil from their evil collaboration?

Your sinful passions are put before you to ponder at Lent.  To see the spectacle of Christ on the cross, crucified unjustly for the desires of your humanity that joins in sinful accord with all people of all time.

But right at the place where our passions point us out as guilty, God points out our Paschal Passover.  The Paschal Lamb has taken away our sin.  We beat our breasts for what we’ve done, what we’ve done to him in our sinful human nature!  He was beaten, bruised and hung, in the spectacle where we once crowded around the cross of his crucifixion.  The cross where you and I rightly should have been crucified!

So, the Holy Spirit moves us with one accord to beat our breast.  But also let the Holy Spirit daily raise you to life anew in Jesus Christ, the Sinless One crucified for you!    Jesus did not stay dead.  Yet the death he died has defeated the defiling desires of your heart, that should have meant our death.  Now after Jesus’ resurrection, the Holy Spirit wills you to live each day in the hope of our resurrection, to live in his Word, as he continues to move us to put off and pass over our defiling passions as we walk the way of the cross, with Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Heavenly Father, help us to resolutely set out faces towards our heavenly goal in Jesus Christ.  As the Holy Spirit moves us to pass over and put off our pride, pleasures, possessions, and popularity, as we suffer in giving up these things and are persecuted by others for doing so, let the Spirit remind us that the night of suffering and death is passing away and the dawning eternal light of love awaits those trust in Jesus Christ and not themselves.  Amen.  

B, Midweek Lent 5 - 15:37–39, 44–45 "Pilate & the Centurion's Passover"

Mark 15:37–39, 44–45 (ESV) “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”  Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.  And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.  And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph!”

The last breath of Jesus Christ caught the attention of the centurion standing at the foot of the cross!

Sometime in the future you and I too will give up our last breath.  What might that look like for us, as we ponder Jesus’ last breath? 

This Roman soldier would have been accustomed to seeing death.  He would have seen plenty die at his command.  He would have spilt criminal’s and enemy soldier’s blood and seen them give up their last breath.  As a soldier, he would have been thankful it was them and not him who died. 

Yet, to see Jesus die in the way that he did, made this Roman commander of the crucifixion, make this extraordinary claim.  What did he see in himself seeing the Son of God dead on the cross?  A Roman soldier served only one god and that was Caesar!  Yet here he calls the dead man on the cross, Son of God!

This man was “a” Son of God, is the Greek translation of the centurion’s exclamation!  We are not told why he said it, we are not told what he saw other than the way Jesus breathed his last.

In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ death, it’s not just the centurion who makes the exclamation, “this man was a son of God!”   Rather, it is he and the other Roman soldiers who are intensely frightened, or filled with awe, as a result of the eclipse of darkness, the earthquake that tore the curtain in the temple Holy of Holies, splitting rocks, and people raised from the dead. 

In Luke’s account of Jesus’ death, written for the Gentiles, it testifies, “when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” (Luke 23:47 ESV)

Whatever it was, causing the centurion to exclaim a man crucified to be a Son of God, shows this was no ordinary crucifixion. 

Being a commander of one hundred, he would have allowed and witnessed those under his authority having their sport with Jesus.  Dressing him in a purple robe, pushing the crown of thorns down into the flesh of his skull, spitting on him, striking him, and humiliating him as the King of the Jews!

Now the commander confesses this crucified man was a Son of God.  Why he said this, is not entirely clear.  However, what is clear, the one he exclaims as a Son of God, is dead!  God on the cross was no longer alive!

Pilate is surprised by the timeliness of Jesus’ death, when Joseph of Arimathea, asks for Jesus’ body.  So, he calls the centurion who witnessed Jesus’ death, and the centurion reports the accuracy of the situation, and Pilate releases the body of Jesus to Joseph.

The claim of Jesus being the Son of God has greater significance in Mark’s Gospel account than the other Gospel accounts.

John Mark, the gatherer, and complier of Peter’s witness of Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection, introduces his account saying, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1 ESV)

Although not all manuscripts say “the Son of God” in verse one, those that do, stand out from Matthew’s Gospel which introduces Jesus Christ as the son of David, the son of Abraham.   Luke’s account begins in the temple with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, not mentioning Jesus till later on.  And John’s account of the Gospel, begins with a parallel of Genesis one, “In the beginning was the Word…”, introducing Jesus as the Word made flesh!

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, written in Mark one, introduces only a few claims that Jesus is “Son”, “of God.”  Jesus only ever refers to himself as “the Son of Man” in Mark.  In fact, only in John’ Gospel do we ever hear Jesus directly name himself as “the Son of God”.

Surprisingly, in Mark’s Gospel account, we do not even hear Satan test Jesus in the wilderness,  by temping him with the words, “If you are the Son of God…”.  There are no “ifs” here in Mark, Jesus is the Son of God! 

However, the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God, comes from Satan’s entourage.  When Jesus comes in contact with evil spirits, they do not question “if” he is “the Son of God”.  They cower before Jesus, proclaiming him as “the Son of God”!

In Mark’s Gospel, God first declares Jesus as his Son, at his baptism, by John in the Jordan.  In Mark one verse eleven we hear, “And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11 ESV)  God again affirms this at the transfiguration.  We hear, “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him.’” (Mark 9:7 ESV)

Nevertheless, it’s the evil spirited man at the synagogue in Capernaum who first names Jesus as being “of God”!

He says, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”  (Mark 1:24 ESV)

There is no testing here!  Rather, there is affirmation and fear of God the Son’s fury and annihilation!  And it’s not just a one-off accident as we hear from Mark three verse eleven, “whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”  (Mark 3:11 ESV)

Similarly, before Jesus casts the demons out of Legion into a herd of pigs, he reacts to the coming of Jesus in this way, “And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.  And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”  For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”  (Mark 5:6–8 ESV)

The demonic spirits who are destroying people, see Jesus, know, and fear Jesus of Nazareth because he is “the Son of God”.

The reality of the unseen world sees the reality of the truth; Jesus is the Son of God!  Now the centurion sees this too.  He is the first in the seen world to see Jesus as a Son of God.  However, he sees this after his death.  Here a gentile, a pagan, one who did the bidding of those seeking to do evil to Jesus, sees the truth of whom he has crucified on the cross.

The death of Jesus Christ at the Passover passes over nobody!  Those who were witnesses of the crucifixion, those who participated in the crucifixion, those who cowered before the crucifixion, remember Jesus’ death!  But now all know Jesus of Nazareth, is the Messiah, Christ the King, and is the Son of God raised from the dead.

How much more does Satan and his entourage of supporters now fear him since he has power over death!  The Son of God was born into his own creation and lived as a man, Jesus of Nazareth.  He was killed on the cross and buried with the dead.   Now he is raised and glorified as the Son of God. 

Now the Son of God takes away the sin of those who do not pass over Jesus as the Son of God, who bears forgiveness of humanity’s sin in his resurrection from, and power over death. 

As we draw near to the remembrance of Jesus’ death on Good Friday, in the reality of your death, in your last breath, may the Holy Spirit grant you comfort and clear sight in the Son of God’s salvation over your sin.  Amen. 

B, Midweek Lent 4 - Mark 15:1-32 "Barabbas' and Simon's Passover"

Mark 15:15,21 (ESV)  So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.   And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

The Passover from the viewpoint of Barabbas and Simon of Cyrene, stand out as two remarkable events.

Barabbas was being held for murder in an uprising.  We know the Ten Commandments does not pass over a person for killing another person.  At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus extends this, by saying if someone calls another a fool, they are liable to hell fire (Matthew 5:22). 

Barabbas’ deserved death yet those in authority rallied the mob to have him released and Jesus crucified.  Pilate asked “Why?  What evil has he done?”  Jesus had done nothing wrong.   However, because the crowd was seething for Jesus’ blood,  Pilate sought to please the people.  He freed a murderer and delivered the innocent Son of God over to death by crucifixion.

Imagine Barabbas learning his fate!  Guilty yet set free!  A dead man, passed over, now with a second chance at life!  I reckon Barabbas wouldn’t have believed his good fortune, having done absolutely nothing to deserve his stay of execution. 

So, it’s Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father who takes the place of Barabbas.  Jesus, the king of the Jews, serves as the Son of Man, taking the place of a murderer, Barabbas, the son of Abba, the son of a father.

You and I, the sons, and daughters of a father, like Barabbas, have had our stay of eternal execution because of Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father.  Like Barabbas who was passed over and given new life, you too have been passed over and given eternal life.  You can, and should, give thanks to God your Father for your “Good Friday fortune”, having done nothing to deserve this stay of eternal execution. 

Jesus has changed places with you at the cross.  All daughters and sons have received Jesus’ Sonship through adoption,  accepting you as God’s holy Son through Jesus’ exchange, a true and faithful elder brother.  Eternal death now passes over you and me, borne by the King of the Jews.  Now, with Jesus, the exalted King of Creation, you will be raised from death.

The cross was the crossroads for Barabbas, and so too was it for Simon who innocently, perhaps accidentally, crossed paths with the crucifixion party at the Passover.

After being brutalised by the battalion of Roman soldiers, we could assume Jesus was too weak to carry his cross.  Or perhaps he was not moving quick enough for the soldiers, who wanted to get on with the job they were tasked to do.  Whatever the reason, the soldiers grab Simon who was passing by on his way in from the country. 

If Barabbas could not have believed his good fortune, we can imagine that Simon could not have believed his bad luck!  Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Simon carried the cross of a dead man.  He carried the curse of death on his back.  Albeit for a brief time, he walked the walk of death, under the means of death!  Was it unfair that he carried the cross?  He may or may not have felt the injustice of the Romans’ expectation, but he did what he had to do under their compulsion.

Unlike Barabbas, it seems Simon did not deserve what was put on him, carrying the cross to Golgotha, or at least part of the way.  Yet like Barabbas, there is relief for Simon!  Once at Calvary, his job is done, and he is set free.  Perhaps, he breathed a big sigh of relief!  No longer having to feel the weight of the cross, the experience leading to death.  

Christ is left to bear the greater burden, bearing the sins of all people.  This includes Simon.  Who, although an innocent passerby, is not passed over before God as innocent from sin. 

Like Simon, you feel the burden of the crosses you bear in this life.  There is also relief, like Simon, as you know when you get to the destination of death, you will put down your crosses, and be carried through death to victory by he who has borne the burden of your sin on the cross.

When Simon put down Jesus’ cross, he was putting down his cross; the cross all humanity deserved to carry and on which you, and I, should have justly been nailed.

Those who seemingly are guilty, like Barabbas, are passed over.  Those who are supposedly innocent, like Simon, are not passed over.  The consequences of Christ’s cross, pass over nobody’s guilt or innocence, at this Passover. 

The cross of Christ sets us free!  Yet the cross of Christ calls us to carry our cross!  Like Barabbas and Simon, you suffer from your sin, yet are relieved to know that your sin is carried by Jesus Christ on the cross.

Those two robbers nailed on either side of Jesus, easily could have been Barabbas and Simon, you, and me!   Like Barabbas our deeds condemn us, and like Simon, the humanity of our being condemns us too. 

Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, is at the right place in the right time.  The fullness of time had come, and the Jews killed him.  It is his blood that saves Barabbas and Simon, not from Roman law, but from the greater law of God.  Jesus is our King of Kings, and yet our sins of commission, our sins of omission, and our nature seemingly innocent but guilty, breaks God’s law and killed the King of the Jews. 

Your blame and my blame are not passed over but passed onto Jesus.  As a result, the consequences of our sin are passed over! 

Like Barabbas, who could not believe his good fortune, and like Simon, who realised it was his good fortune to only carry the cross, we look forward to our Good Friday fortune.   Our sins are before us on the cross, very real, very deadly, yet very forgiven, and very much paid for! 

Jesus is our greatest wealth in this world.   We, sinners like Barabbas, receive the fortune of freedom, while our guilt remains on the cross.  We, fortunate forgiven sinners carry our cross, like Simon, knowing it was Christ who was lifted up on it in our place. 

Our sin is not passed over, yet we sinners are being passed over.  You are being passed onto the prosperity of an eternal resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Amen.

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father, when we have carried our cross to the end of life’s road, help us give thanks for the Holy Spirit’s help to carry it, knowing we are sinners, but forgiven sinners.  Help us to not let the fortunes of Good Friday pass away, so that we are not passed over, but pass through death to our resurrection with you, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.   

A, Palm/Passion- Isaiah 50:4–9a "That Sinking Feeling"

We’ve all experienced that terrible sinking feeling somewhere and at some time in our lives. 

It may have been only for the briefest of moments.  It may have lasted for a considerable amount of time.  That terrible sinking feeling may have occurred in public before many people; it could have happened when you were alone or with one other person.  You might be feeling it right now!  In any situation, this feeling gives a sense of ugliness, feeling dis-easy, your skin and mood descends into clamminess and coldness.

Impending doom, loss of control, something gone horribly wrong gives one this feeling.  The moment before impact, the moment after the doctor gives the diagnosis, so much pain you think you’re going to die, so much pain you worry you’re not going to die, watching someone suffering.  Am I God forsaken?  Are we forsaken!  That sinking feeling.

The pain of grief and loss, tears so bitter they hurt.  The loneliness after the loss, that sinking feeling.

Being caught out, publicly humiliated, guilty facing your accuser, that sinking feeling.

The calm suddenly becomes chaos, conflict with others, anger, confrontation, harsh words spoken, accusations flying, going past the point of no return, regret, that terrible sinking feeling.

The injustice of the situation, falsely accused, no one believes the truth, helplessly unable to stop the inevitable, depression, anxiety, despair, hopelessness, that sinking feeling.

Promises broken, expectations shattered, the height of joyful excitement stopped with fright and fear, desire unfulfilled, frustration, that sinking feeling.

We’ve all experienced that terrible sinking feeling somewhere and at some time in our lives.  All these contributors, from whatever it was, that’s caused that terrible sinking feeling, is a sense of death that causes the fight or flight instinct to kick in. 

When that sinking feeling occurs, do you run to God or run away from him?  Do you struggle with God, or do you give up on him?  Do you seek a knowledge of good and evil, or a knowledge of Jesus Christ, trusting in yourself, or trusting in what Jesus promises in his Word?  When that terrible sinking feeling of death touches you, how do you respond?

Feelings were running high when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  But the tone changed, the crowd turned, victorious excitement turned into vicious incitement.  Sunday saw Jesus ride into Jerusalem in majesty, not to overthrow the Romans as expected, but to overturn the tables of the traders in the temple. 

The Jewish leaders felt fury when Jesus taught crowds, while confronting, confounding, and silencing them with the very words in which they sought to trap him.

The feelings of the disciples were sorely tested, when Jesus told them the temple would be torn down, and the coming of the kingdom of heaven will be proceeded by chaos and tribulation.  Judas feeling his way as he betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, feelings running so deep one of the captor’s ears is cut off.

That sinking feeling was present everywhere, in so many ways!  The disciples scatter, Judas regrets what he does, he changes his mind, he loses his mind, he hangs himself.  Peter too promises much, but three times fails, outside he wept so bitterly. That sinking feeling was everywhere!

The rage of the chief priests and the elders,  Pilate’s wife sends word, “have nothing to do with this man”, the crowd cries, “crucify him”, Pilate feels trapped, that sinking feeling.  He washes his hands, injustice, and Barabbas is released.  The women of Galilee watch on from a distance, they see the unfairness, they see the wrong.  O can anyone stop that sinking feeling?

See him nailed to the cross.  Six hours of suffering till he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  He breathes his last, he hangs his head, it is finished!

Much happened in Holy Week!  High emotion, feelings flying to-and-fro!  Just like us when we have those negative sinking feelings, so too did those in Jerusalem.

These feelings led folk to fight or flee.  Even once Jesus was dead and the graves opened, and the dead came out of their tombs, and when the soldier realised Jesus was the Son of God.  That sinking feeling! 

When the temple curtain tore from top to bottom, and the Jews suspected Jesus would be stolen from the tomb, placing a guard to protect their image, rather than protect the glory of God.  That sinking feeling.

These sinking feelings are all feelings of death.  Everyone was feeling a sense of death.  People scrambling left, right, and centre, to preserve their position, their ideals, their futures, their advantage from death.  When that sinking feeling of death approached, everyone sought to protect their knowledge of good and evil!

What was Jesus feeling during Holy Week when the crowds joyously welcomed him on a donkey?  When he taught and tested in the temple?  What was Jesus feeling when he celebrated his last supper, sharing his bread with Judas Iscariot, who would betray him, and not be around to see his resurrection, believe and receive forgiveness?  With Peter, who was promising so much but would deny him, not just once, but three times?

Of Jesus we hear in Isaiah, “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.  The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.  I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.  But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.  He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.  Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty?”  (Isaiah 50:4–9a ESV)

Jesus was sent into this sinking world with our sinking feelings of death.  The stink of death was constantly before him.  Unlike us, he never put it aside, tried to forget about it, while secretly worrying about it.  He never fought or fled from the situation before him, even when everyone else did. 

Jesus felt that sinking feeling.  He wept over death, he lamented over Jerusalem, he suffered under sin.  He became estranged from his Father, abandoned on the cross.  Yes, Jesus felt that sinking feeling, your sinking feeling that gives you a taste of death, and died for you.  Your sinking feeling led him to sink into death, for you to feel forgiveness, receive forgiveness, hear, and taste forgiveness, so you  believe his forgiveness!

When you were baptised into Jesus’ death and resurrection, he was baptised into your terrible sinking feelings of death!  Jesus was baptised into your guilt, your conflict with your work colleagues, your estranged family, your shame and embarrassment, your failures, the unfairness you bear, the prejudices you produce, the injustice you induce. All that causes that sinking feeling in you, Jesus was born into, was baptised into, die for, and has risen over.

When he was incarnated in Mary, he saw your mess.  When he rode into Jerusalem, he carried all your cares.  When he healed, he took on your illnesses.  When he confronted the proud and arrogant, he called out your vanity and selfish ways.  When tempted by the devil with sinking feelings, know he overcame your temptation before the devil.  Know, when the Holy Spirit allows a sense of death, in that sinking feeling, he is leading you from death to life in Jesus Christ!

Whatever it is, causing that sinking feeling of death, fall into the arms of Jesus.  Let Jesus carry you to the cross.  He is the only one who can carry us through death and into life as it should be. 

When that sinking feeling is forced upon you, at the moment you realise your good and evil is incapacitated by death, let Jesus Christ love you with his flint-like face!  Let his good over evil be your only good!  Let your death be his death!  Let his victory be your victory! Amen.