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"Cruelty
And Loyalty" • 3.29.20 • Calvary Christian
Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- There has never been a day like the day that
we have been studying. The day that Jesus Christ offered Himself as God's
atoning sacrifice for our sin, was unlike any other day in history!
- The sun had already been obscured
mysteriously for three hours, as our High Priest went into the true Holy Of
Holies to offer His blood in exchange for our sin.
- Right after Jesus surrendered His Spirit, the
veil, a 60 foot high, four inch thick barrier, was torn from top to bottom as
the earth quaked and the rocks split!
- Previously dead saints raised from the dead
and roamed the streets of Jerusalem, appearing to many! The centurion,
overseeing the crucifixion all was forced to confess the patently obvious:
- "Truly, this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:51-54) Yet, in spite of all
that had been seen and even confessed, for the religious leaders, it was back
to business as usual!
- We'll note in this first section, "Religion's Final Cruelty." Verse 31.
Text
• John 19:31 : "Therefore, because
it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on
the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their
legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." :
John made mention of this "Preparation Day" earlier in verse 14. The day is nearing an end and the
Jews will only have a little time left to gather their supplies.
- Jesus dismissed His spirit around 3PM,
leaving only a few hours before the Sabbath would officially begin. The area
will be swarming with people soon.
- The religious leaders did not want the Jewish
pilgrims from around the world to come into Jerusalem and be confronted with
this awful scene.
- These bodies should not remain on their
respective crosses for the Sabbath. John adds this comment that this particular
Sabbath was a "high day." Sabbath, as you know, is a weekly event.
- When the first star is visible in the Israeli
sky Friday evening, all business and preparation is to cease, and God's people
are to commence their rest.
- No work is to be done between that moment on
Friday and the corresponding moment on Saturday evening. These were ordinary conditions.
- However, when the Sabbath also coincided with
a feast, that Sabbath became a "great" Sabbath! In this case, this
Sabbath precedes the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
- All of this meant that there would be a
higher volume of traffic through the streets of Jerusalem as God's people
gathered their usual supplies for family dinners.
- They would also have to be sure to have their
Passover Seder elements in order for that special commemoration. The Savior of
all mankind has just died, but we've got stuff to do!
- Isn't that amazing: The Passover has been
fulfilled and the general population of Jerusalem has no idea it's happened
because it's leaders have failed to put all of the signs together!
- In any event, leaving these men over the day
as well as the next day meant leaving themselves open to questions and the
backlash and explanation necessary was undesireable at best!
- The religious Jews have no concern for their
own treachery or their own shocking lack of respect for life. Every action that
they take is meant to save their skin!
- At the same time, Jesus being buried for
three days and three nights is an important part of God's schedule! Heaven's
prerogative made their request to Pilate necessary.
- All three men's death must be expedited and
the quickest way to insure their death was to break their legs.
- As we learned last week, a person who was
crucified could use their legs to lift their bodies up, so as to relieve
pressure on their lungs and properly exhale.
- Barring the elements and wild animals, a man
could exist in that condition for days!
- Breaking the legs with a swift blow from a
hammer would cause the crucified person to suffocate. Once they were dead,
there was no use in keeping the men on their respective crosses.
- Each one could be taken away and put out of
public sight. The one that they were most concerned about was the One with the
sign that read "YHWH" over the top of Him! Verse 32.
• John 19:32-34 : "Then the soldiers
came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with
Him. But
when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break
His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and
immediately blood and water came out." : Think of what it takes to
knowingly and purposely break a person's legs.
- Think of the intention and the strength
necessary to do that. Now, add to that the knowledge that breaking their legs
will also end their life! This was a brutal time in human history.
- We don't know which of the men had their legs
broken first and we aren't told whether or not he knew what was coming his way.
We know the second guy had to know.
- Both men received the same treatment and both
men deserved their sentence. Only one of them awoke in paradise! It would be
wise to consider this. We are the thieves on the cross!
- We are also deserving of punishment and
destined to die for our sins. We have an equal vision of Christ, especially
today, as the sinless sacrifice, acceptable to God.
- Will we die having made peace with God by
believing in Christ or will we die His enemy?
- In all of our days, our greatest and most
pressing concern is how we reconcile that question!
- What's curious is that the guard responded
with that duty upon the men that were to either side of Christ. Even if they
simultaneously broke the men's legs, why did they not break His?
- Could it be that they wanted to spend some
extra time taunting Him? Evidently, they were unaware that Jesus had already
died because they came upon Him ready to do so.
- Keep in mind that these men are tasked with
the job of making sure that these men are actually dead. They are not amateurs.
They are professional soldiers who have killed before.
- They know what it takes to kill a man and
consequences for failure in their duty would be profound, even to the point of
being sentenced to the same punishment!
- Since Jesus was already dead, there wasn't a
need to break any of His bones, but it didn't hurt to certify a lack of heart
function.
- That is when the soldier took his spear and
thrust it through the Lord's side. John was standing there and witnessed blood
and water come out from the Lord's body.
- Physically, Jesus has been suffering from a
massive loss of blood, leading to a condition that Doctors call
"Hypovolemic shock."
- When a person loses over a fifth of their
blood supply, the heart simply cannot pump enough new blood to compensate.
- Is it any wonder why He needed relief from
carrying His cross or why He was so thirsty? These are the necessary wounds
that our sins deserved!
- In the Lord's condition, the heart pumps
violently and leads to a fluid buildup around the lungs and periocardial sack
around the heart.
- When it builds around the heart, that is
called "pericardial effusion." When fluid builds around the lungs, it
is called a "plueral effusion."
- When the guard pierced His side, he pierced
through the Lord's lung and heart. This wasn't simply a physiological event.
John comments in verse 35.
• John 19:35-37 : "And he who has seen
has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the
truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture
should be fulfilled, 'Not one of His bones shall be broken.' And again another
Scripture says, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.'" :
John has borne witness. He has entered his testimony into public record. What
he is reporting here cannot be denied. It is true!
- Everything that we have come to know, we know
on the basis of an eyewitness who was alive at that time, willing to go on
record! Listen to the NLT's rendering of verse 35.
• John 19:35 (NLT) :
"This report is from an
eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also can
believe."
- According to some manuscripts, the end of
verse 35 is alternately translated,
"that you might continue to believe." Truly, either goal is worthy of
our consideration.
- There are some who will read the Bible and
see for the first time, that prophecies recorded hundreds of years prior to
this event, were perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
- In fact, there is no other person that could
fulfill these verses! The fact that these many specific prophecies are
fulfilled in Him presents a statistical landslide that can't be ignored!
- Such overwhelming evidence should propel a
person to finally lay aside their unbelief and finally put their whole trust in
Jesus Christ. Perhaps that will be someone listening today!
- John has written his gospel so that you might
believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God! Do not think for a second
that John is ambiguous about this goal! It is his purpose!
- To be honest, it is the purpose of every
Bible believing person that you know, whether they practice that or not! It is
to their shame if they don't, but that doesn't excuse you before God!
- John will repeat this exact sentiment in John 20:30,31. John hasn't written for
your entertainment. He challenges you to come to believe in Jesus Christ
because Christianity is true!
- But the other element is true as well: John
has written this that you might CONTINUE to believe! We are fools if we think
that our hearts are meant for a "one time belief download!"
- In this day and age, it has become obvious
that great danger befalls those that do not consistently feed their faith!
- If I forsake the opportunity to read or hear
the truth, my tendency, given my fallen condition, will be to give place to any
and all lies!
- I must remind myself often of "why"
I have believed, almost as much as "what" I have believed! Reading
this reminds me of that duty. I want to keep my faith fresh and full.
- I want my faith in Christ to be current, not
a remnant of something that I once believed! I believe in Jesus Christ today
and I pray to have even more reason for my growing faith tomorrow!
- What part of what John is writing does that
for us? He bears it out that these actions taken by the soldiers were
fulfilling scripture! "Not one of His bones shall be broken."
- One can look at this verse and see one of two
scriptural connections that John may have referred to, the first of which
refers to the ordinance of the Passover itself.
- The Passover Lamb is to be consumed without
breaking one of it's bones. (Exodus
12:46, Numbers 9:12) Jesus is
the Ultimate, the final true Passover Lamb that all other lambs pointed to!
- It follows that He would not have experienced
a single bone break, despite being flogged!
- On the other hand, John may be making a
reference to Psalm 34. This Psalm of
David was written when he acted like a madman before the Philistine Abimelech
Achish!
- David, in an attempt to escape from Saul, ran
into Philistine territory, but soon discovered that the Philistines knew of his
previous work against them.
- They sung him the number one hit on the
Israeli charts: "Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his
ten thousands!" "That song has given me nothing but trouble!"
- When they brought him before their Abimelech
Achish, David made a pretence of being insane and God allowed his rouse to
succeed. (I Samuel 21:12-15)
- Even though David's premise was faulty, God
protected the future King. Unlike David, Jesus, the greater David, fully
trusted His Father without the histrionics and David wrote this:
• Psalm 34:17-20 : "The
righteous cry out, and the Lord
hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is
near to those who have a broken heart, and
saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are
the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; Not
one of them is broken." : John saw this verse come to
life when he noted that the soldiers failed to break His bones, but the
piercing was even more compelling. Why would they pierce His side?
- There was no real reason given that He was
already dead. It's as if they HAD to perform that duty because it was what God
had written in Zechariah 12:10.
- The interesting thing is that this verse
speaks to the fulfillment of Christ being pierced.
- That same passage however has eschatological
significance as well, as one day in the future, the currently apostate nation
of Israel will once again see their pierced Savior.
- Today, that nation largely ignores the claims
of Jesus the Messiah. Someday soon, they will look on Him and weep, as one
weeps for their own firstborn son!
- The Apostle Paul assures us that all Israel
will be saved! (Romans 11:26) We
move from "Religion's Final Cruelty,"
to "Love's Last Loyalty!" Verse 38.
• John
19:38 : "After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but
secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body
of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission." :
We aren't told what happened with the bodies of the other two men.
- Archeologists have had a difficult time
finding enough crucified victims to corroborate all the details that scripture
provides. The lack of evidence may point to some grisly realities.
- I say that to say that this gesture by Joseph
of Arimathea was incredibly rare.
- If a Jewish man was crucified, it produced
such shame that families rarely spoke of that person in polite company again!
- Other men's bodies were likely left to be
eaten by animals or perhaps even thrown into the city dump to be burned. The
care that Joseph shows reveals a truly devoted, if not uninformed heart.
- Joseph comes from a place whose name means
"heights." "Joseph of the Heights." Scholars believe that
he comes from Ramah in the hills of Ephraim and shares the same birthplace as
Samuel.
- He is a disciple of Jesus. He had come to be
a follower, a student of Jesus, but was one secretly, hidden away in the
shadows because of his fear of his fellow Jews.
- We've noted the Jewish leaders' ability to
control who was in and out of the local synagogue. John 9:22 reports that anyone that confessed Christ would be
expelled from synagogue life.
- That meant much more than simply being tossed
out of a local church. The synagogue was a Jewish person's life blood and
connection to their community!
- John
12:42 tells us that even among the rulers and religious elite, many
believed in Him but did not confess Him because of the fear of the Pharisees.
- It appears that Joseph was one of these men. Matthew 27:57 records that he was a
"rich man." Mark 15:43
adds that he was a "prominent council member."
- Luke describes him as a "good and just
man" (Luke 23:50) who had not
given his consent to the religious leader's actions with regard to Jesus. (Luke 23:51)
- This man, with this reputation and resource,
couldn't escape the intimidation of the religious leaders of his day! That is
very telling, don't you think?
- It is also compelling to consider what must
have moved upon him to do what he finally did. This man essentially decided to
surrender everything that he had to show this loyalty to Jesus!
- What moved him to forego his former secretive
stance? We don't know, but we can pray that God would let you see something
that would accomplish the same goal in your life!
- After Jesus had died, Joseph comes out of the
shadows to request of Pilate that the Lord's body be put into his custody.
Mark's gospel fills some of the details of that encounter.
• Mark
15:43-45 : "Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself
waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and
asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the
centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the
centurion, he granted the body to Joseph." :
You'll notice that this was not an easy action on Joseph's part. His faith was
in the right place, as he was waiting for the Kingdom of God, but he also
needed to summon the courage to act!
- Just because you have one does not mean that
you have the other! Pray that the Lord grants you to be a person with both
faith and boldness!
- For Pilate's part, he can hardly believe that
Jesus had already died. Isn't that amazing!? This is the man that scourged
Jesus!
- He had already seen Him
"half-dead!" That was the term used for those who had been scourged!
Why was he so surprised?
- Why could he not take the word of Joseph that
He was dead? Why did he need a centurion to confirm this?
- This may intimate something of a belief on
his part, but even if this doesn't point to belief, it further bolsters the
Christian case that Jesus was in fact dead!
- At that point, Pilate grants him the body, so
Joseph came to claim it, an act that would necessitate a fair amount of effort
and work on this holy day. Verse 39.
• John 19:39,40 : "And
Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture
of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus,
and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is
to bury." : I wonder how this scene played
out. Joseph was a secret disciple and Nicodemus had come to Jesus by night.
- It's quite possible that neither man knew of
the other's intentions regarding Jesus! Can you imagine the many meetings that
these men attended together, not knowing where the other stood?
- How many times had they each wondered or
wished for companionship in the things of the Lord? "I wish I had someone
to talk about Jesus with." Or was it just the opposite.
- Was there presence together at this time a
matter for the "Jesus Underground" movement in the Sanhedrin? We
don't have answers to these questions.
- If they did not know each other, this was a
funny coincidence. "Nicodemus, what are you doing here?" "I was
about to ask you the same thing Joseph!"
- All of that aside, Nicodemus came armed to
the teeth! He brought "about" 100 pounds, rounding up from the actual
75 pounds of this burial mixture of myrhh and aloe.
- I'll leave you to do the math, but a single
ounce of myrhh will cost you $24.99 on Amazon today! 16oz to a pound. This is
quite an extravagent spice mixture, but not in context
- According to a few commentators, this was the
exact amount one would expect to be used for a King! It's no doubt that this is
who these men believed Jesus to be!
- It's interesting that when a person values
something, the price for that item becomes inconsequential. Mary and her
spikenard, a years wages, poured out on Jesus.
- Do you think she thought of that cost? Do you
think that Nicodemus missed the money that He spent on this day, showing
loyalty to His King? He may have saved a little.
- It's possible that the myrhh or
"smyrna," came directly from Mary, as that was one of the gifts given
to her by the Wise Men in Matthew 2:11.
- This much perfume and spice would keep the
body smelling nice and this quantity was enough to cover the Lord's entire
body. The actual process was incredibly detailed.
- These two men had to disengage the Lord's
dead body from the cross. Then, they had to wash the body clean, removing the
pieces of thorn from the head, cleaning the wounds on His back.
- Then they took the linen piece, dipped them
in the spices and wrapped His body in them. Even today, bodies are treated with
profound respect in Israel.
- It wouldn't have been weird for them to
actually speak to Jesus as if He were alive when they moved Him into place. All
of this defiled these men and prevented them from celebrating Passover.
- They came into intimate contact with a dead
body. The law actually had a provision that allowed them to participate in
Passover in the next month. (Numbers
9:6-11)
- I'm sure that Passover never meant the same
thing to these men again. Verse 41.
• John
19:41,42 : "Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and
in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because
of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby." : Joseph and Nicodemus didn't have to take the body far from
where they had been. Right near the place of the skull there was a Garden area
with a newly constructed tomb.
- Matthew
27:60 tells us that it was Joseph's tomb and that it was carved out of a
rock face. Interestingly, Joseph no doubt had a family tomb in his home town.
- This was a tomb that He had purchased for his
own family and paid a profound amount of money to excavate. The tomb that most
people believe is his tomb has room for several occupants.
- The cost of such an item would take money
that was equivalent to Rockefeller riches! No pneumatic tools. Hand carved and
inlaid!
- The language seems to indicate that it was
newly constructed. Nobody had used it before Jesus did and He was only there on
a three day lease!
• Isaiah
53:9 : "And they made
His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, because He had done
no violence, nor was
any deceit in His mouth."
- I'm pretty sure Joseph and Nicodemus knew
that they were fulfilling this prophecy!
Conclusion
- When the first Adam received his bride, a rib
was taken from his side. The Last Adam received His bride, the church, by
having His side split open.
- The world that had been given to sin
endlessly treated their only hope with cruelty. The one's that loved Him
revealed their loyalty, without thought to the cost that was paid.
- It cannot be denied: Our sin is so great, it
took God's very life to pay for it, that we who endure the world's hatred, may
one day be treated with the Father's loyalty!
- What in life is more valuable than that? I
pray that we are wise to realize that there is no cost to great for such a
reality to be ours!