Over the Easter holiday we looked at the events of chapter 18 and 19 leading to the cross; Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, His arrest, His trial before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, His torture and crucifixion. This morning we will be looking at chapter 19 of Johns gospel, verses 17-20 our focus is the cross. 

John 19:17-20 17 They took Jesus therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. 19 And Pilate wrote an inscription also, and put it on the cross. And it was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS." 20 Therefore this inscription many of the Jews read, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, {and} in Greek. (NAS) 

Also we want to look at a passage from Isaiah, known as the fourth servant song, a prophecy about the suffering servant. In this passage the suffering servant is described as being "despised and rejected," HE was treated in a very cruel manner, punished and killed. 

Isa 52:13 - 53:12 13 Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up, and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, {My people,} so His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand. Isa 53:1-12 1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no {stately} form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being {fell} upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke {was due?} 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting {Him} to grief; if He would render himself {as} a guilt offering, He will see {His} offspring, He will prolong {His} days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see {it} and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors. (NAS) 

This is the Memorial day weekend. Memorial Day is a holiday set aside to honor service men who lost their lives in war. We live in an age where we have grown dispassionate, indifferent to the sacrifice made by those who gave their lives to assure the freedom we have. 

We have been desensitized to pain, suffering, and death. It’s something we see on television as we’re eating our evening meal, it’s a video game we play, it’s something almost surreal. We have no sense of connection to it. 

In many ways we have also grown dispassionate about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. We have become almost disinterested observers. We read about it, we hear about it, but to vast numbers of Christians it’s become impersonal. 

We have become desensitized in this nation to a great many things. We have become especially desensitized to sin. Last week, in Sunday School, Steve brought up how that process comes about. We at first have an aversion to sin, we recognize it for what it is, we reject it, we don’t want it to be a part of us, then we begin to tolerate sin, we no longer forbid it, we don’t even try to prevent it anymore we just ignore it; then we begin to accept it, redefine it, and excuse it. Finally we are no longer sensitive to it at all. 

In a similar, but almost opposite, way we have been desensitized to the cross. We've moved from a recognition of it’s reality, it’s cruelty, it’s meaning, it’s importance, to a view that is almost mythical rather than reality. I remember a number of years ago, even before I went to seminary in fact where there were a number of Christian leaders who were critical of preaching about the blood of Christ. The idea was that blood was offensive to modern educated enlightened people. Rather than talking about that, we should simply emphasize the forgiveness of God and the love of God. 

By doing that, however, we unwittingly diminish the reality of the cross. By diminishing its reality, we diminish the extent to which we understand God’s love, we diminish our understanding of the scope of His grace and mercy and we diminish our understanding of the true nature of God’s forgiveness. The suffering and death of the suffering servant are explained by the biblical writers as vicarious atonement. That's a  theological term, which refers to someone taking the place of another, who functions or acts on behalf of and in the place of another. The cruel suffering and death, of The Suffering Servant was for the sins of many. 

From John’s Gospel, we understand Jesus is the True, Perfect, Suffering Servant, who suffered and died for the sins of the whole world. The suffering and death of Jesus Christ is, the ultimate, most meaningful event and reality for all of life. For John, Jesus is glorified and lifted up on the cross. The enthronement and coronation of Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords takes place in his mind not on the day of resurrection; or on the day of ascension into heaven;  but on the day of crucifixion. This point is driven home most clearly when Jesus victoriously declares his last words on the cross: "It is finished!" 

Of course we understand the cross doesn’t stand alone without the resurrection, but it is on the cross where sin is dealt with in judicial fashion. The Suffering Servant hanging on a cross is the clearest demonstration of the height, depth, width and length of God's love. He is our Source of life, hope, peace, faith and love. It is for that reason the cross has become the symbol of the Christian faith. It is a memorial to the Love of God poured out on Golgotha centuries ago. 

Why is it important for us not to lose site of what happened on the cross and not to lose site of its reality? First lets see what took place there. Isaiah describes the Suffering Servant of God in several ways. First, in 53:2 he wrote, “He has no {stately} form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.” (NAS) In other words "We saw Him, and there was nothing in His appearance to make us desire Him, or feel attracted by Him." He dwelt in Israel, so that they had Him bodily before their eyes, but in His outward appearance there was nothing to attract or delight the senses. (from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament). He was not a Rambo, not a Tom Cruise or an Antonio Bandaras, or Clint Eastwood even. He wasn’t superman or batman, He wasn’t a mythical super-hero wearing a costume and a cape. He wasn’t a super model like Fabio (and he was the only one I knew in that category) with a great physical appearance and perfect complexion that everyone is just naturally draw to. Rather God came to earth in the person of Jesus incarnate as an ordinary man. Someone just like me and you.

As a matter of fact just the opposite was true. Isaiah said he was despised and forsaken of men. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Despised means that for the most part he was regarded with contempt and disliked. That would be rough on the old self esteem, wouldn’t it. He wasn’t a member of the in-crowd, he wasn’t the most popular kid at school. He knew what it was like to face temptation. He experienced heartache and grief and rejection. He knew the feeling of being alone, and weak, and persecuted and put down for who He was - why he’s was just the carpenter’s son, and where He came from - I mean really can anything good come from Nazareth. What He did and what He taught why that was blasphemy. 

And why is that important? It’s important because God can relate to you personally. It means Jesus even though he had never been a leper, knew the rejection felt by the lepers, It means that though he had never sinned, He knew the public humiliation experienced by the woman accused of adultery, and the shame felt by the woman at the well. It means He can relate to what you experience and what you feel in your own lives, not just because He’s God, but because HE chose to personally experience those things that He could better relate to you. 

The writer of Hebrews compares the eternal ministry of Jesus to us as that of a High Priest. The High Priest is a mediator between man and God. In this case the mediator is also God and Heb 4:14-16 says, "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as {we are, yet} without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." (NAS) 

The reality of the Cross is God is not an impersonal force in the universe, not simply a higher power in the thoughts and minds of men. He is personal and relational and experiential. We can know Him and be known by Him. 

The second thing in understanding the reality of the cross is what took place there. When we talk about love and forgiveness we are not simply talking about excusing. One of the great misconceptions of modern humanity and modern religion is that of love. We confuse love with Lust we confuse what love does and how love acts. We say because God loves me I can do what I want. Jesus says if you love me you will obey me. We say if God is really a loving God there can be no such place as hell because a loving God wouldn’t so such a thing. God said He loved you so much he sent His only begotten son to face the consequences of your actions so you don’t have to go there all you have to do is believe in Jesus. We say God loves me so he won’t punish me. He says those I love I chasten. Sin has consequences some of them are temporal consequences, some are eternal. At the cross God took care of the eternal consequences of sin, He didn’t just excuse it, He didn’t just ignore it. He accepted the consequences of it. 

Listen to Isaiah’s prophecy describe what would happen on the cross. He (referring to the Suffering Servant, God incarnate, Jesus Christ), was pierced through – for our transgressions. He was crushed – for our iniquities. He was chastened – for our well being. He was scourged – for our healing. He bore our iniquities – to justify us. He interceded – for transgressors. The cross is a personal reality, in which a loving and forgiving God came from the glories of heaven took the place of sinful, prideful, arrogant humanity and gave of himself that we might live. Phil 2:5-11 “. . . Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NAS) 

The cross must never become impersonal, it is a true memorial to the love of Almighty God for humanity.  We must always tell the story of God's love poured out there upon all of mankind.  We must be passionate, rather than dispassionate about the cross of Christ.  We've a story to tell to the nations, it's the reality of the cross.

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