Good Friday 2013

Surely this man was the Son of God. Surprising words coming from a Roman centurion who after all was one of the executioners of Jesus. But it's not the only notable statement to come out of that day. There's another that we heard in one of the scripture readings earlier tonight and in particular I want to take you back to what Pontius Pilate said just after he had Jesus flogged. It's in John 19:5. "Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, 'Behold the man.'" That's one of the wisest things that Pilate ever said in his entire life right there. "Behold the man." Now obviously Pilate didn't intend this in a devotional way. He didn't even intend to be wise. He was simply saying, "Look! Look what I've done to this man. Look what I've done to the one whose blood you're calling out for."

But John records these words because just like with the centurion, even the villains that day are being drawn up into a drama that is much larger than themselves. So without even intending to, Pilate says something here that can serve us very well tonight. In fact it can serve you very well the rest of your life. "Behold the man." Because the cross was no accident. This was no accident. The cross is God's supreme statement about how much he loves you, how much the Father was willing to give for us, how much the Son was willing to suffer. And He did it for you and you and you and you and me. He did it for all of us. And so for just the next few moments, I simply invite you to behold the man.

Now we don't use that term very often anymore. Behold. Behold! We have gathered here together tonight. But in the Bible, behold is used to signify like a big arrow pointing towards something important, something that we ought not miss. Kind of reminds me of those foam hands that you see at football games with the big index finger and people like, "Oh, we're number one." You know those. Well, behold is like using that in language. It's a way of saying, you know, "Hey, check this out. Don't miss this. Pay attention." So whatever Pilate was intending to say, I think God memorialized these words because God is still saying to us right now, "Check this out. Pay attention. Don't miss this. Behold the man."

Now some of us are here tonight and quite honestly, you're beaten down. Not just by your circumstances, by people. People whose actions or decisions are having a profound effect upon your life. Perhaps you were let go by your work. Perhaps you were let go by your spouse. Perhaps a family member, a friend let you down. One time I was out of town speaking at a conference and I met a man in his mid-30s, never met his father and he told me that his entire life growing up he would wonder things like, "What is my dad like? I wonder what he would think of me. Would he want to meet me if he could?"

Well recently he found his dad but as it turns out his father didn't want to be found. Didn't want to have anything to do with his son. What do you do in the face of that kind of rejection? And adding insult to injury, he says that as a young father himself he worries constantly that somehow he's defective as a father, that somehow his wounds will spill over into his relationship with his own boy. How do you begin to deal with that? Well for starters, you behold the man. The one who promises never to leave nor forsake us. The one who understands rejection better than we do. The man that the prophet Isaiah foretold 700 years before Jesus when Isaiah wrote, "He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and familiar with suffering."

We have a God who knows what it feels like to be abandoned, to be abused, to be mistreated. In fact he knows these things on the deepest level possible. Now for others of us it's perhaps not rejection but grief. I mean we all know that death is inevitable but we're never quite ready for it when it comes, not when it comes in the life of someone we love. And even if you believe to your core that there's hope in Jesus Christ it makes it easier but it's never easy. You can have this deep-held faith that yeah I might be living in Friday but Sunday is surely coming and one day Jesus Christ is gonna overcome all of the pain, all of the death that's all too familiar here on earth.

Even so, the hope of Sunday can seem so far away at times while the grief so much closer than the comfort. If that's you tonight I invite you also to behold the man. A man of sorrows and familiar with grief, the man who stood outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus and wept. Even though he knew he was gonna raise Lazarus from the dead Jesus still wept deeply. Because listen, pain, loss, even death, these are not abstractions for Jesus. These are not theoretical issues. Jesus didn't create this earth like some sort of science lab and then just stand back at a safe distance so he could observe us. He became one of us.

He entered into our human condition. He subjected himself to the same things that wound us and burden us and grieve us. And in the process, Isaiah says, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted." Smitten. Afflicted. Jesus didn't just come to empathize with us. Jesus came to die for us. Jesus knew that the chief priests would conspire to kill him. In fact, he predicted that they would well before it ever took place. Jesus knew that Judas would betray him. He knew that the crowd would turn against him. He knew that the disciples would desert him.

And make no mistake, they all made their choices freely and yet God was controlling the final outcome. Jesus even knew that Pilate would try to wash the guilt off his own hands. But you know what? There's not enough water in the world to wash the guilt off of Pilate's hands. Nor is there enough water to wash the guilt off of my hands for the things that I've done. Or for you and the things that you've done. We're so sold out to sin, we don't even know what sinlessness looks like. Not in ourselves, not in our world, but there is a place you can see it. We can all see it when we behold the man.

The perfect holy sinless Son of God who took upon himself all of our sin so that we could be truly and completely washed free of all our sin and guilt. Back to what Isaiah writes about Jesus. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds we are healed. You see Jesus knew that in order to get to us, he'd have to go through the cross. And after hanging on that cross for six hours, finally his tortured body falls lifeless while the earth begins to shake. It's as if creation itself is convulsed in grief.

Sobs of women continue to fill the air and the crowd, many who witness the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, now they're thumping their chests as if to say, "What just happened here? What have we done?" A Roman centurion blurts out, "Surely this man was the Son of God." Yet taking nothing for granted, another soldier takes his spear and thrusts it into the side of Jesus and a mix of blood and water spills out. Soon he'll be taken down from the cross. Soon his body will finally be treated with tenderness and care. Those who love him are eager to cradle him and kiss him. Eager to put an end to the spectacle that still looms above them.

It's all they can do to behold this man because on him the very worst of humanity was poured out and put upon the very best. Now the joy of the resurrection is just days away but they're still stuck in Friday. The grief and the shock and the horror. So it behooves us to linger just a little bit longer with them and behold the man.

Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, how can we begin to thank you enough for loving us, for giving us your Son, who willingly gave himself up on a cross Lord, taking upon himself our sin, our sorrow, our death? Oh Lord, we are in awe of this man Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord. Help us through the eyes of faith tonight to behold him in a new and deeper way. Help us to sense your love at the depths that are infinite and may it wash over us anew tonight Lord. I pray this in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. Amen.