Praise
the Lord for this first day of April. It is going to be a brilliant and balmy
day here in the Southern Tier of New York, the Empire State. There are several
patches of crocus around the Church grounds, in full bloom. There are several
Rhododendron bushes by my study. There were some colorful spring birds on
the these bushes that were gleeful and playful. I thought they were playing
hide and seek. In 19 days we will celebrate the Glorious Resurrection of Jesus
our Lord. In the meantime, as we journey with Him to Jerusalem, we reflect on
His suffering. There is so much suffering and sadness in the world. There is
so much tragedy and senseless violence. In the midst of it all we serve a
Savior who is described in the Bible as the suffering servant. He who new no
sin became sin for us.
When I
read narratives of the Passion I see that Jesus, our Lord, is in control. He is
in charge. It is written, "No man taketh it (my life) from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take
it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." John
10:18 He is in control. It's not just that Jesus
is in control of himself, but that He is in control of the events themselves.
It's not just that he's able to handle his own adrenaline; he's able to dictate
the result. It's not just he's able to act wisely under pressure, he's able to
determine the outcome. Jesus isn't just able to respond skillfully to what he
finds, he already knows what he will find, and has already mapped out the
permanent solution to the deepest human problem of all. Jesus stands out in
this because he is in control of the entire sweep of human history. This was
true even as He went through His own death.
He is
the One in whom all beauty and wisdom and strength and courage come together.
We need to think more about the power and beauty and majesty of Jesus
Christ.
Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian,
captured an incredible complexity and beauty in Jesus our Lord,
in the sermon called "The Excellency of Christ", preached in 1734, where he
said:
And here is not only infinite strength and infinite worthiness, but infinite condescension and love and mercy as great as power and dignity. So if you are a poor, distressed sinner whose heart is ready to sink for fear that God will never have mercy on you, you need not be afraid to go to Christ for fear that he is either unwilling or unable to help you. Here is a strong foundation and inexhaustible treasure. Here is infinite grace and gentleness to invite and embolden a poor, fearful soul to come to it. If Christ accepts you, you need not fear that you will be safe for he is a strong lion for your defense, and if you come you need not fear but that you shall be accepted. For he is like a lamb to all that come to him and receives them with infinite grace and tenderness. It's true he has awful majesty, he is the great God, infinitely high above you, but there is this to encourage and embolden the poor sinner, that Christ is man as well as God. He is a creature as well as the Creator, and he is the most humble and lowly in heart of any creature in heaven or earth. You need not hesitate one moment but may run to him and cast yourself upon him. You will be graciously and meekly received by him. This is our Lord Jesus Christ, the proper man who is also God. The only innocent one, the one who trusts God. The sovereign God in the flesh. How can we fail to run to him? How could we take him for granted?
Jesus
clearly does stand out in this chapter, but not least because of the fact that
as these events unfolded He was surrounded by people like us.
The One who
is in control, the One who is perfect and innocent, the One who trusts God in a
way we can't died for us. He suffered for us, though he was innocent and we are
guilty. He trusts for us, even though we are utterly unreliable. He died for
us, even though he is the perfect Son of the Father and we are utterly
undeserving. When Jesus was upon the Cross He was recognized by a terrorist, by
his Gentile executioner, and by the universe itself. We are invited to join
them in acknowledging this Jesus as the Lord of the universe and the one to whom
we owe everything. We bow before this Jesus, the innocent one who has taken our
guilt. The Lord of the universe brought about his own death that we might live.
This is the heart of the gospel. This is the center of history. This is God
dying in our place.
How could
we take this Jesus for granted? "For while we were still weak, at the right time
Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person,
though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his
love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for
us."
In
Christ,
Brown
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