The Nails
Sermon
At The Cross With Jesus
10 Sermons And Monologues
During these Sundays in Lent, we have been looking at the symbols of the cross. It is my hope that these symbols become etched in your minds and hearts to such a degree that you understand the last week in Jesus' life in a new way. You can walk with him to the cross and there see his death and understand his suffering but also participate in his victory over the cross. Look at the cross and its symbols. The fresh palms symbolized the shouting of the crowd, "Hosanna, Hosanna!" as Jesus entered Jerusalem. At the end of the week as the palms died and the people's commitment waned, they shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him." The money bag symbolizes not only the greed that we experience in life but also our attempt to make over Jesus into our image of what we would have him be and do as Messiah. The towel symbolizes Jesus' act of service in washing the disciples' feet and being willing to kneel before others in an act of love to do what they need in that hour. The crown of thorns symbolizes the mocking that Jesus endured. Today we look at the nails of the cross and the suffering of Jesus.
That last week in Jesus' life was quite a week. It began with shouts of "Hosanna!" and ended with cries of "Crucify him!" It began with a triumphal entry and ended on a cross.
Jesus had told his disciples that he must suffer and die, but they just did not understand. He said he must go up to Jerusalem and be delivered up by the chief priest, scribes, and Pharisees and be crucified. So he set his face toward Jerusalem and faced much suffering along the way.
The suffering Jesus experienced was more than a physical suffering. His suffering also involved misunderstanding, betrayal, denial, mockery, abandonment, rejection, and even the sense of being forsaken by God.
We need to recognize there was also a great deal of physical pain and suffering involved: the scourging by the soldiers, the exhaustion of sleepless hours, the wearing trip through the streets to the place of crucifixion, the pounding pain of the nails, the excruciating agony of raising himself to speak on the cross. Jesus indeed faced suffering in all of its dimensions.
A vivid and heart-wrenching description of Jesus' crucifixion and suffering on the cross is in a devotional booklet titled Reliving The Passion by Walter Wangerin, Jr.
He writes in the first person:
I stand apart. I draw no one's attention. I have covered my head. These are the things I see.
I see four soldiers upon a low hill, their greater labor done, their duty now to wait. They are hunching over the few benefits of the morning's assignment. That is, by a grim tradition they can keep the final possessions of those they crucify; so now they're casting lots for an undergarment, a robe, a belt, sandals. No money here. Not even scrip. No matter: the soldiers are passing time. It's nearly noon.
A centurion stands over them with his arms folded, gazing up at a coming thunderhead of cloud, squinting, figuring.
Above the soldiers, above the centurion, but yet beneath the sun and the lowering cloud, hang three men on crosses each of them stripped to a loin cloth: a robber, a robber, and you.
The wind is picking up. Dust blows by. And this is what I see.
A wooden board is nailed roughly over your head, chalk white and burned with the indictment: "The King of the Jews." I say, Yes! In my soul I cry, Yes! Yes! I keep my face impassive for fear of the centurion and the chief priests, but Yes, I say, it is what we called the Messiah: King of the Jews! The loutish Romans are right. They mean to mock us, to mock all the Jews as a single people, but their scorn tells the truth, and I take a bitter satisfaction in it. Let the chief priests burst their bellies with indignation -- I'll just laugh! I hate this world.
But if you're the Messiah, why are you crucified? How can this be? Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, forgive me. My mind rejects the things I see. Nothing fits! I call you King. I call you Master and Lord. You are the Lord! No one has loved as you do -- no, not ever, Lord. But I never imagined Goodness to be so broken. Jesus, you grieve me! Jesus, you confuse me --
This is what I see.
Your knees keep buckling. You push yourself up with your legs -- to breathe, I think -- but the legs lose strength and pop at the knees and your body drops, hah! The arms stretch. The hands clutch spikes. Your shoulder joints separate. Your muscles draw out like ropes. Your rib cage splays. I can count the bones! How do you breathe when your chest is stretched flat? Jesus, you're not breathing! Your own body, when it drags on your arms like that -- why your own weight is suffocating you!
Breathe!
Sweet Jesus, please! Breathe!
Make fists on the spike-heads! Lift yourself up. Open your mouth, Lord Jesus, please! Don't die. Don't stop breathing. Breathe! Breathe! ...1
Thus Jesus suffered and died on the cross. Why? Why, Lord?
Suffering brought Jesus closer to our humanity.
To be human is to experience suffering ...
´ There is the suffering caused by our own choices and actions. We bring much suffering on ourselves by our stupid and sinful choices.
´ There is the suffering caused by the choices and actions of others. Sometimes we cross paths with those who have made bad choices which affect our lives.
´ There is the suffering that comes from living in a world that is made like ours.
´ Gravity rules in all situations. And if we fall and hurt ourselves, it is the same gravity that keeps us from flying out into space. Jesus experienced the very depth of human suffering. When we pray, we pray to one who knows what it is to suffer.
Suffering brought Jesus closer to God.
´ Suffering can either separate a person from God or bring a person closer to God; it can make a person bitter or better.
´ In suffering, Jesus was obedient to God's will even though he would have rather taken a different path. "If it is possible Father, let this cup pass from me but nevertheless not my will but thine be done."
´ In suffering, Jesus threw himself completely into the arms of the God who had seemingly abandon him.
´ In suffering, Jesus cried out to God in faith.
Jesus threw himself into the arms of his father, his abba and cried out, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
His suffering and death reveal the depth of our sin and the depth of God's love for us. His suffering and death are the source of our salvation. His suffering and death bring us to God. After we have thrown our very worst at him; he still forgives, he still loves. Oh, the wonder of it all.
Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
the very dying form of One who suffered there for me;
and from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess:
the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.
____________
1. Walter Wangerin, Jr., Reliving The Passion (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Press, 1992)
That last week in Jesus' life was quite a week. It began with shouts of "Hosanna!" and ended with cries of "Crucify him!" It began with a triumphal entry and ended on a cross.
Jesus had told his disciples that he must suffer and die, but they just did not understand. He said he must go up to Jerusalem and be delivered up by the chief priest, scribes, and Pharisees and be crucified. So he set his face toward Jerusalem and faced much suffering along the way.
The suffering Jesus experienced was more than a physical suffering. His suffering also involved misunderstanding, betrayal, denial, mockery, abandonment, rejection, and even the sense of being forsaken by God.
We need to recognize there was also a great deal of physical pain and suffering involved: the scourging by the soldiers, the exhaustion of sleepless hours, the wearing trip through the streets to the place of crucifixion, the pounding pain of the nails, the excruciating agony of raising himself to speak on the cross. Jesus indeed faced suffering in all of its dimensions.
A vivid and heart-wrenching description of Jesus' crucifixion and suffering on the cross is in a devotional booklet titled Reliving The Passion by Walter Wangerin, Jr.
He writes in the first person:
I stand apart. I draw no one's attention. I have covered my head. These are the things I see.
I see four soldiers upon a low hill, their greater labor done, their duty now to wait. They are hunching over the few benefits of the morning's assignment. That is, by a grim tradition they can keep the final possessions of those they crucify; so now they're casting lots for an undergarment, a robe, a belt, sandals. No money here. Not even scrip. No matter: the soldiers are passing time. It's nearly noon.
A centurion stands over them with his arms folded, gazing up at a coming thunderhead of cloud, squinting, figuring.
Above the soldiers, above the centurion, but yet beneath the sun and the lowering cloud, hang three men on crosses each of them stripped to a loin cloth: a robber, a robber, and you.
The wind is picking up. Dust blows by. And this is what I see.
A wooden board is nailed roughly over your head, chalk white and burned with the indictment: "The King of the Jews." I say, Yes! In my soul I cry, Yes! Yes! I keep my face impassive for fear of the centurion and the chief priests, but Yes, I say, it is what we called the Messiah: King of the Jews! The loutish Romans are right. They mean to mock us, to mock all the Jews as a single people, but their scorn tells the truth, and I take a bitter satisfaction in it. Let the chief priests burst their bellies with indignation -- I'll just laugh! I hate this world.
But if you're the Messiah, why are you crucified? How can this be? Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, forgive me. My mind rejects the things I see. Nothing fits! I call you King. I call you Master and Lord. You are the Lord! No one has loved as you do -- no, not ever, Lord. But I never imagined Goodness to be so broken. Jesus, you grieve me! Jesus, you confuse me --
This is what I see.
Your knees keep buckling. You push yourself up with your legs -- to breathe, I think -- but the legs lose strength and pop at the knees and your body drops, hah! The arms stretch. The hands clutch spikes. Your shoulder joints separate. Your muscles draw out like ropes. Your rib cage splays. I can count the bones! How do you breathe when your chest is stretched flat? Jesus, you're not breathing! Your own body, when it drags on your arms like that -- why your own weight is suffocating you!
Breathe!
Sweet Jesus, please! Breathe!
Make fists on the spike-heads! Lift yourself up. Open your mouth, Lord Jesus, please! Don't die. Don't stop breathing. Breathe! Breathe! ...1
Thus Jesus suffered and died on the cross. Why? Why, Lord?
Suffering brought Jesus closer to our humanity.
To be human is to experience suffering ...
´ There is the suffering caused by our own choices and actions. We bring much suffering on ourselves by our stupid and sinful choices.
´ There is the suffering caused by the choices and actions of others. Sometimes we cross paths with those who have made bad choices which affect our lives.
´ There is the suffering that comes from living in a world that is made like ours.
´ Gravity rules in all situations. And if we fall and hurt ourselves, it is the same gravity that keeps us from flying out into space. Jesus experienced the very depth of human suffering. When we pray, we pray to one who knows what it is to suffer.
Suffering brought Jesus closer to God.
´ Suffering can either separate a person from God or bring a person closer to God; it can make a person bitter or better.
´ In suffering, Jesus was obedient to God's will even though he would have rather taken a different path. "If it is possible Father, let this cup pass from me but nevertheless not my will but thine be done."
´ In suffering, Jesus threw himself completely into the arms of the God who had seemingly abandon him.
´ In suffering, Jesus cried out to God in faith.
Jesus threw himself into the arms of his father, his abba and cried out, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
His suffering and death reveal the depth of our sin and the depth of God's love for us. His suffering and death are the source of our salvation. His suffering and death bring us to God. After we have thrown our very worst at him; he still forgives, he still loves. Oh, the wonder of it all.
Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
the very dying form of One who suffered there for me;
and from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess:
the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.
____________
1. Walter Wangerin, Jr., Reliving The Passion (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Press, 1992)
