[Machine transcription]
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
First, we want to distinguish between three kinds of suffering that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross.
The first is physical.
The agony of the cross is an excruciating agony.
So bitter is the death on the cross that as soon as there was a Christian who was emperor of Rome, Constantine,
he immediately outlawed it.
Crucifixion was such a cruel death that it was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen.
Only slaves, aliens in the land, could be afflicted with that kind of death.
And it was a long death.
Normally, when someone was nailed to the cross, they would hang there for days, a week, more.
When you were crucified, you died because of asphyxiation.
Your shoulders were out of joint and your body cavity, especially your lungs,
began to fill with fluid and had pressed in on your heart until you finally had a heart attack.
So you were drowning inside of yourself.
You were nailed or tied by your hands or by your feet,
and to get a breath you would have to press up.
Get a little gasp of air to keep you alive.
This is why when it was time to kill the men,
they didn’t want them hanging on the cross anymore.
They went and they broke their legs,
the men on the right of Jesus and the man on the left,
so that they couldn’t lift themselves up to get a breath.
And this physical torment of the cross came after
when our Lord Jesus, for our Lord Jesus at least,
after he was whipped, after he was scourged
and had his back torn apart after he was beaten, and had his beard pulled out after he had
been struck on the head with a reed and crowned with thorns and struck on the mouth by the
fist of the soldiers and by the guard of the high priests.
This was an incredibly painful death.
But the physical pain, the physical suffering is not what saves us.
If this is what rescued us and delivered us, then the man crucified on the right of Jesus
or on the left who suffered the same kind of pain could have been the Savior.
No, it’s not the physical pain.
The second kind of suffering that Jesus experienced on the cross was the shame of the cross.
And I think it’s very interesting, of all the three different kinds of suffering Jesus
endured, the shame is what the Gospel lessons focus most on.
The shame comes from the spitting on the face, for example.
The shame comes as they struck Jesus, but they didn’t just strike him, they blindfolded
him and then they struck him on the face and they said, prophesy, who struck you?
The shame comes as the people were wagging their heads as Jesus was being
crucified by the door of the city. They were wagging their heads at him saying,
he saved others, why can’t he save himself? In fact, even at the beginning of
the crucifixion, the two thieves on either side of him were mocking him
until one came around, saw that this was no ordinary man, it was God suffering on
the cross, but there was mockery from the soldiers, there was mockery from the
from the Sanhedrin, there was mockery from the crowds passing in and out of the street,
even as the shame of His condemnation was above His head,
Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
And He was stripped, or at least mostly stripped.
They were gambling for His clothes below the cross.
Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame. This was a
true and profound suffering for Jesus. It is the humiliation of the cross. As
Paul says that he didn’t consider equality with God as something to be
grasped, but he humbled himself, taking the form of a servant and being found in
likeness of men, he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on the cross.
But as much as this shame of the cross was suffering, it wasn’t the worst of it.
There’s a third kind of suffering that Jesus endured on the cross.
And while we know something of physical pain, and while we know something of shame,
this third suffering is something that the Lord never intends for us to know.
And it is the suffering of the wrath of God for sin.
It’s the suffering of the holy anger of God over our iniquities.
This is the suffering that’s captured in the cry of dereliction as Jesus dies on the cross,
and he cries out,
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
It’s this forsakenness of God. Can you imagine that God, the Father and the Son
who live eternally in peace and love toward one another, are now
rendered, separated, that Jesus is forsaken by God. And not only is Jesus
forsaken by God, but he’s actually afflicted by God. This is what we hear in
Isaiah 53, we considered him stricken by God and afflicted.
That the wrath of God is coming to the earth
to consume sinners and Jesus steps in between
and he takes it.
He takes God’s anger.
He experiences God’s wrath.
He suffers the eternal punishment that you and I deserve.
It’s all poured out on Him, the hell that we deserve, in those three hours of darkness on the cross.
And this is the true suffering that wins for us salvation.
When Jesus, as the Lamb of God, is bearing our sin, and not just bearing our sin,
but bearing the wrath of God that our sin deserves.
I don’t wonder, dear saints, if the physical suffering and the shame of the cross are put
there so that we would understand a little bit, no, a little bit of this third kind of
suffering, the wrath of God kind of suffering, the suffering that really kills Jesus and
saves us.
That Jesus is praying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
so that we might pray, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they
comfort me.” He was afflicted for us, so that God might be merciful to us. Now
there’s a danger as we consider this suffering of Christ, the physical and the
shame and the wrath of God. There’s a danger that comes to us because as we
see all these things that Jesus has done for us, we become afraid or even we
become sad. I remember taking a group of college students to see The Passion of
the Christ, the movie, when it came out, what was that, 20 years ago now? 15, 20
years? And we went to watch the movie and it depicts there in clear form all the
suffering that Jesus endured for us and we sat down afterwards and and I asked
him, well how do you feel? And they, every one of them, said, miserable. I feel
horrible. Why? Because Jesus suffered all of that because of me, because of my sin.
and He was stripped and flogged and beaten
and dragged around and nailed to the cross.
Because of my sin, He was crowned with thorns
and spat upon and mocked.
Because of me, all this happened, and it’s true.
It’s true, it’s because of you and your sin.
It’s true, it’s because of me and my sin.
But the cross is not just because of us, it’s also for us, it’s for you, it’s what
Jesus wanted. I mean not the suffering, he didn’t want the suffering, he didn’t
want the forsakenness, he said if the cup can pass from me, let it pass. If there’s
another way, let’s do it. But if this is the only way to get what we’re after,
then I’ll suffer it.” Because Jesus wanted the result. Jesus wanted the fruit of his
suffering. In other words, Jesus wanted you and your forgiveness and your
salvation. And if that’s what it costs, if that’s the price to win salvation, then
He’ll pay it. If it costs God the Father sending His Son into death, then He’ll do it.
If it costs the Son being afflicted and being stricken by God, He’ll take it.
He’s willing to pay the price because He wants you.
So the cross, the suffering of Jesus, is not to cause us sorrow, at least not only sorrow,
but it is to be our greatest joy, because Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured
the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where
you also will sit with Jesus, with the Father, in life everlasting, because all of this suffering
was for you. So Jesus wants you to think on his passion.
Jesus wants you to think on his suffering. Jesus wants you to think on his crucifixion,
and He wants you to rejoice in it because this is your life, this is your
hope, and this is your peace. God be praised for the suffering of Jesus. Amen.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and
minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
