Matthew 26 and 27
Palm/Passion Sunday
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
If you pay close attention to the Passion narrative, the crucifixion of Jesus is something that no one seems to want. You might think that the plotting, scheming religious leaders want the crucifixion. But they don’t–at least not yet, not this week of the Passover. The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders don’t want Jesus bloodied up with all the crowds around. Their plan is for it to be later, when there are fewer people, lest there be an uproar, they say.
The disciples, of course, don’t want the crucifixion. Peter, earlier had actually rebuked Jesus for speaking about His death; now He tries to stop the crucifixion by drawing and striking with His sword at the time of confrontation and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus Himself prays: “O My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” I think this is one point where the hymn we just sang doesn’t get it quite right. It says, “Yet cheerful He to suffering goes.” His agony in the garden wouldn’t suggest cheerfulness. He most assuredly was willing and determined and ready to do His Father’s will, but He was a real human being like you and me. No one is cheerful about a torturous death. Perhaps the point of the word cheerful is that it was Jesus’ joy and His glory to lay down His life for you to save you.
Even Judas doesn’t seem to want this crucifixion, at least not in the end. Whatever his dark motives were before–greed, envy, dissatisfaction with Jesus’ political agenda–now he confesses, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
And Pontius Pilate? He doesn’t want the crucifixion. He tries to reason his way out of this political jam. He knows Jesus is innocent; but He doesn’t want to offend the Jewish leaders. And He most certainly doesn’t want a big public incident with word getting back to Caesar, who was already just one step away from replacing him as governor. So Pilate tries to come up with a diplomatic solution: offer the crowd a choice of who to release from custody, the somewhat popular Jesus, or the notorious criminal Barabbas. And in the midst of all this, Pilate’s wife sends to her husband urging him not to have anything to do with Jesus–she doesn’t want the crucifixion either. But Pilate’s plan doesn’t work; the religious leaders have their people there to influence the crowd in favor of Barabbas over Jesus. Finally, Pilate attempts to wash his hands of the whole thing, publicly declaring Jesus to be not guilty: “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”
And the fact is that in many ways, you and I don’t want this crucifixion either! We’d really rather not have to deal with the unpleasantness of it all. We’d really rather not to have to admit that the reason He had to suffer and die was because of our damnable sinfulness, or that we have absolutely no power to save ourselves from that sin. We’d really rather not hear that Christianity is about taking up the cross, denying ourselves, and following Jesus, putting our old Adam to death with Him in sacrificial love. No, if we must talk Christianity, let’s talk Christmas, baby Jesus, meek and mild. Let’s talk Epiphany, miracles and glory. If we have to do Lent, then let’s talk about ourselves and what we’re giving up. But then let’s move quickly on to Easter, to flowers and clothes and dinners and family. Yes, and let’s then get on to Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit, and let’s get on to summer vacation and sports and to everything else that’s so important in our lives. But let’s not stop too long at crucifixion; it’s not very nice or positive. Can’t we shorten up that Passion reading? It is the crucifixion that no one seems to want.
No one, that is, except God. God does want this crucifixion. And for that reason, the chief priests and scribes and religious leaders are drawn into having this crucifixion even when they don’t want it, right in the middle of the feast–right in the middle of the Passover and the sacrificing of the Passover lambs! Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! The disciples, too, are powerless to stop this crucifixion, and, seeing their powerlessness, simply give up and run away. Pilate, despite his maneuvers, and despite his water, bowl and towel, has Jesus crucified and thus earns his place in the Creed: “And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.” Jesus will not be stopped from accomplishing His mission.
The bloody crucifixion of Jesus is, in truth, the heart of the whole Bible, the heart of the Gospels, which spend more time on this than anything else. Any supposed interpretation of the Bible that doesn’t have the cross at its center is falsehood. Jesus’ suffering and death is what the church is all about, it’s what your faith and life are all about. It’s everything. Sure, there is absolutely a bodily resurrection to come. But Easter means nothing without the cross. Easter is the revealing of the victory of the cross. And so St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
God wants this crucifixion. And so the Father works even through the rebellious mob. They end up being God’s voice declaring God’s will. When Pilate brings Jesus and the notorious criminal Barabbas before the people and asks, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” The crowd and God say, “Barabbas.” When Pilate asks, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” through the crowd, God the Father says of His eternal Son, “Crucify Him.” For this is the picture of salvation. This is the Father’s plan from the beginning, that the sinless Son of God should die in the place of sinners to set them free. Though this seems to be a great injustice that is taking place, in fact, it is the way God accomplishes His perfect justice, fully paying the penalty for the sins of all so that you might be just and righteous in His sight.
The truth of the matter is that Barabbas is you. You are the ones deserving judgment and the eternal death penalty. But Jesus steps in and makes a blessed exchange, His life for yours. The sinner goes free, forgiven; the Holy One gets counted as guilty and is condemned. God chooses to pour out His anger and wrath not on you but on His own Son! Jesus suffers your hell for you so that you gain heaven. He takes your place in death so that you get to take His place in everlasting life. Your sin is His. His righteousness is yours. That’s why God wants this crucifixion–so that He can spare and save you whom He loves.
This is why God insists on offending your sensibilities with the cross and diverting you from your other supposedly more important pursuits in life. Because He loves you. Because even though this may not be exactly what you want, it is exactly what you need for your salvation. This is what tears the curtain in two which separates you from God, so that you may enter His holy presence in peace. This is what breaks open the tombs and gives you resurrection. This is what defeats the devil’s power over you and crushes his head forever. Never let anything sidetrack you from the cross.
It is written, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” Today, in His mercy, God brings the cross to you, so that all its benefits might be yours. The same body and blood offered up for you is now given out to you for the forgiveness of sins. Learn by God’s Word and Spirit to want Christ the crucified and the fruits of the cross. Trust in this Gospel. For He alone is your life and your salvation.
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
(With thanks to the Rev. James Dale Wilson)