The Crucifixion (John 19:1-42)

 Sermon for Milledgeville, & Whitestown UMC...

The Crucifixion (John 19:1-42)

 

Jesus said, “It is finished.” 
With that, he bowed his head
and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30

We are talking about the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior. No jokes today. We remember His sacrifice every time we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion. But today we’re going to take a deep dive into the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion.

 

Just like one can see different views of an object by adjusting your position, the cross has many interpretations. After the resurrection of Jesus, the Church began to see that God was fulfilling scripture in Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote,

 

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. (2^nd Corinthians 1:20)

 

The idea that God is fulfilling scripture has a rich history in the Church. Even today there are books written telling us how current events in our world are fulfilling scripture.

 

Isaiah 53 is read by the Church as prophecy, predicting the crucifixion of Jesus. Turn in your bibles to Isaiah 53 and you will see Christ prefigured in the text.

 

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

 

 

 

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied; (Isaiah 53:10-11)

 

These words are about the suffering and redemption of Israel. The prophet wrote these words to encourage Israel in exile. But the Church reads Jesus into Isaiah 53. Scripture meant to encourage a defeated people in exile, now, in the hands of the Church, becomes a foretelling of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

 

Even within John’s gospel, we see scripture being fulfilled.

 

Jesus said in John 2:19,

 

“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

 

Jesus was talking about his death and resurrection and the establishment of His church. The Church is God’s temple which rose soon after Easter.

 

Did you know that the crucifixion of Jesus is prefigured in every chapter? In John Chapter 1, John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus told Nathanael that he would see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Jesus will be glorified in His death and resurrection and become the way to heaven.

 

John 3:16 is a famous reference to Jesus’s crucifixion. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

 

After meeting the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, Jesus told his disciples that he had food to eat they know nothing about. His food is to finish the work the Father gave Jesus to do. Before Jesus took his final breath, he uttered these words, “It is finished.” Jesus had completed His Father’s work. He had accomplished God’s mission upon the cross.

John points out when God is fulfilling scripture during the crucifixion.

 

Psalm 22:18

 

They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

 

Psalm 69:21

 

They put gall in my food
    and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

 

Exodus 12:10

 

“It (Passover Lamb) must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.

 

Zechariah 12:10, The Lord God says,

 

“I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

 

All these verses from the Jewish scriptures are considered prophecy by the Church. In addition to the cross being a fulfillment of scripture, a completion of our understanding of the word of God, the cross is a revelation.

 

Here are 3 ways the cross is understood:

An act of judgment upon the world (We all deserve death for our sins against God and humanity) Jesus was the substitutionary sacrifice (The Lamb of God) which made atonement for our sins. He died once for all.

 

The author of Hebrews wrote that Jesus is our high priest, the mediator of the new and greater covenant through His blood. He entered the true holy of holies in heaven, not by the blood of bulls or rams, but by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption! If the blood of goats and bulls make one outwardly clean,

 

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Heb 9:13-14)

 

What do we learn here? Our sinful deeds lead to death, and the blood of Christ washes us clean. As Paul taught the wages of sin are death. We sin and we get paid in deadly recompense. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ! (Romans 6:23)

 

Let’s go back to Adam and Eve. The first humans were made to live forever with God in paradise. But their sin separated them from God, the source of all life. Estranged from God, they struggled through life. Why? Because a holy God cannot look upon sin. Atonement is required through the blood of a sacrifice to restore us to God.

 

God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. As Isaac carried the wood for the burnt offering, he noticed there was no animal. Isaac asked, “Where is the animal for the sacrifice?” Abraham replied, “God himself will provide the lamb...” (Gen 22:7-8) Abraham obeyed God and bound his son, and raised the knife, before the angel stopped him. In the bushes was a ram caught by its horns. Isaac’s life was spared and the ram died in his place. In the same way, Christ died in substitution, to save our lives. God provided the sacrifice.

A second way to understand the revelation of the cross is ransom. Kidnappers demand a ransom price. But in Jesus’ time many people lived in slavery. A ransom price could be paid to set a slave free. How are we slaves needing freedom? We are slaves to whoever or whatever we choose to serve. Jesus said,

 

 “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. But if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed! (John 8:34, 36)

 

Jesus paid the ransom with his own life, to set us free from the power of sin. Jesus conquered Sin by living a sinless life and by dying on the cross as a ransom to set us free.

 

For there is one God and one mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. (1^st Timothy 2:5-6a)

 

Now that we are free, we should never long to run back to slavery, back to our former master, sin. Instead live your life for Christ in gratitude. He is our new master. Paul wrote,

 

You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1^st Corinthians 6:19b-20)

 

I got a signed poster of Alice Cooper. On stage, Alice is THE the rock ‘n’ roll villain, but under the creepy mascara is a man who loves Jesus. He signed my poster with a quote from Galatians.

 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

 

When the Son of God sets you free, you are free indeed. You are free to serve Jesus, who died for you. Or you can run back to your old master.

The cross is the atoning sacrifice that washes away our guilt. The cross is the ransom paid with the life of Jesus so that we could be free of the power of sin and death.

 

And the cross is a supreme act of love that revealed the lengths God will go to save us. On the cross, God (The Word made flesh) died for you out of love.

 

Paul wrote in His letter to the Romans,

 

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8) Jesus said,

 

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. (John 15:13-14)

 

This is the good news of the cross. Our guilt and shame are washed away. Heaven is open to us through His blood. Freedom is ours in His death. And God’s loving arms are open wide.

 

In the early 1980s, a missionary flew into the bush in Africa to share Jesus with people who had not heard of Him. He took a white bedsheet and hung it over the wing of his small airplane. With a film projector and a generator, the whole village gathered to watch the Jesus Film. (See it here: https://youtu.be/p1Lb8gplDMI?si=GamsAN5L6p5XeS0b)

During the crucifixion, a tribesman ran up to the makeshift screen, shouting and crying. The missionary asked what he was saying. The translator replied, “He’s crying, ‘It should be me! It should be me!”

 

May God pour upon us a spirit of grace and supplication. May we weep for the One we have pierced. Weep, and rejoice, and live a life worthy of Jesus.