Encounter Jesus:
Eyes Opened

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

 Good Friday Service, April 6, 2007

It was three years ago that Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, came out. It was three years ago that I saw that film twice in one evening as our congregation gathered over at Wynnsong. I haven’t watched it since. Oh, I dutifully went out and bought the DVD when it went on sale and brought it home. There have been numerous occasions where I’ve held it in my hand, even cracked open the case and walked over to the DVD player ready to put it in, but I just couldn’t do it. The thought of watching Jesus being scourged, the thought of the mocking and spitting upon Him, the thought of watching that crucifixion again, I just haven’t been able to bring myself to watch it.

That’s silly, isn’t it? It’s just a movie. I mean, I know Gibson went to great lengths to make it accurate. He went to great lengths to make sure it was real and it was vivid so we’d really get a taste of what Jesus went through. But I still can’t do it. I mean, I know it’s a movie. I know it was sets and it was cameras and it was lights and it was actors and actresses and it was all that is make believe, if you will, but yet maybe it was just too real. Could you imagine if I can’t watch the movie of it what it must have been like to be there? I mean, in person, to watch the beatings and to watch the cruelty, to watch them nail Jesus to the cross, to see Him hang there above the earth? Could you imagine what it would be like? Would you want to imagine what it would be like to be there?

Well, tonight we look at a man who was there. We don’t know his name. We don’t know where he’s from and, in fact, this was the first encounter he’d ever had with Jesus. It was the centurion who was in charge of all the other soldiers there at Jesus’ crucifixion but this one encounter with Jesus would forever change his life because in this one encounter with Jesus, his eyes would be opened and he would see Jesus for who He really is. And his words would be recorded for all time. “Surely, this was the Son of God.”

Encounter Jesus this Good Friday. Encounter Him and have your eyes open. See Jesus for who He really is. See Him as the Son of God. But whenever you encounter Jesus, you encounter reality and you also encounter His grace. What we encounter in the reality of Jesus at His crucifixion is the suffering and the pain Jesus went through. Certainly, there’s the physical suffering and pain Jesus goes through. Much has been written about that, about the cruelty of the scourging of the Roman soldiers and how it would rip His flesh out, about the crown of thorns that was pushed down upon His head and the blood that trickled down the side of His face. Much has been said about how Jesus was so exhausted that He couldn’t even carry His cross up to Golgotha. Someone else had to step in. We’ve heard about the six-inch nails that went through His hands and through His feet. We know about the spear that went into His side. We know all about the physical pain that Jesus went through and I don’t want to take away from that but there must be something more. If you will, the centurion and his soldiers, they’ve seen that before. They’ve seen crucifixions. They’ve seen men slowly die as they hung upon a cross. It was nothing new to them. It wouldn’t really grab their attention. I wouldn’t say they were used to it because I refuse to believe that any man could get used to watching somebody die in such a gruesome way but they probably paid very little attention to Jesus.

Something more had to grab their attention. Something more was going on. Much more was going on at that cross than just Jesus’ physical pain and suffering. There was spiritual pain. There was spiritual suffering Jesus was going through. He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As He cries out those words, the chief priests stopped talking to one another and turned towards Jesus. All of a sudden, the soldiers stopped gambling at His feet and they look up at the man who hangs on the cross. The women who were crying, dry their eyes and all eyes are on Jesus as He says, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Have you ever wondered why the chief priests didn’t jump all over that? Why they didn’t capitalize on the moment? Why they didn’t stand in front of Jesus and poke their finger at Him and say, “See. See, our indictment of Him was correct. Even God recognizes His guilt. Even God recognizes His blasphemy and now God has turned His back on Him. God has forsaken Him.” But not one word. Not one word like that is recorded. Only some silly idea that He’s calling Elijah. What’s that all about?

You see, it caught their attention because it was an innocent man crying out in confusion of why would God forsake Him. Everyone there knew He was innocent. They may not have wanted to admit it but when Jesus cries out, they know He’s innocent. When a man is dying, especially when He’s dying a brutal cruel death like that, there’s no more room for lies. There’s no more time for pretending or giving excuses. Only the truth is uttered out. It’s shouted out and Jesus shouts out, “God, why have you forsaken me? God, why have you turned your back on me?” Jesus at this moment is suffering hell itself because that’s what hell is all about, My Friends. It’s being separated from God. It’s not just the pain. It’s not just the physical pain that’s there but it’s the pain of having God turn His back on you. There is Jesus all alone. That’s the kind of pain that goes beyond physical pain. It goes deeper than that. It gets at the very heart of what it is to be a human being. That’s the intense spiritual pain Jesus was suffering on the cross. It’s the reality of His pain.

But that brings us to a second reality. It’s the reality of sin. There is only one thing God turns His back on, just one. Sin. God cannot stand sin. God can’t tolerate sin. God turns His back on sin. You see, we worship a loving God but also a just God. And a just God says, “I made you a perfect people.” And a just God says if you become imperfect, a just God says if you disobey me, if you go against me, if you rebel against me, there is punishment for that sin. That’s what justice is all about. Justice says if you rob a bank, you go to jail. Justice says if you’re speeding down the highway, you get a ticket. Justice says from God’s point of view, if you sin, the punishment for sin is death. He says the wages of sin is death, not just the physical death we think of but the kind of death Jesus is going through, the kind of agonizing pain both physical and spiritual. It’s the kind of pain of being separated from God, of not being in His presence anymore, of God turning His back on us. That’s the punishment for sin. That’s the pain Jesus was feeling.

But wait. Jesus is innocent. Jesus is without sin. So as Jesus hangs upon the cross, He can’t be enduring punishment for His disobedience. It must be for someone else’s. As Jesus hangs on that cross and He suffers through the Father turning His back on Him, He hangs there because of me and because of my sin. And He hangs there because of you and your sin.

Look upon Jesus on the cross. Hear Jesus cry out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” And then know He hangs there for you. Think about all the times you’ve sort of dismissed your sin, as you thought, “Well, that was just a little white lie,” or you thought, “Well, don’t worry about those words I spoke,” or “I’ll forget about all those things I’ve done.” Have we gotten so accustomed and used to God’s free forgiveness that we have forgotten the price He paid, the price He paid for every sin, from the little white lie to the mass murderer, from the angry words to the brutal attacks? For each and every one of them, He hung on that cross.

When you see Jesus upon the cross and you see the price He paid, then you realize He did what we couldn’t do and He paid what we couldn’t pay. When you look at the cost to Jesus, you realize we couldn’t even make the down payment and it would take an eternity for us to try to pay off the debt we owe to God because of our own sinfulness, because of our own disobedience. When you look at Jesus on the cross, then gone are all of those thoughts about how, “I tried real hard.” or, “After all, I’m just human,” or “I have the best intention,” all of those thoughts, all of that justification for our actions are washed out the window because they just don’t hold up. We can’t even come close to paying the price Jesus paid for us as He hangs there half way between heaven and hell. The physical pain and the spiritual pain, that’s what happens when you encounter Jesus. When you encounter Him on Good Friday, when you encounter Him on the cross, you encounter reality because the reality He suffers for you, the reality that it’s your sin and it’s my sin that put Him there, the moment you realize your hopelessness, that’s when you encounter His grace. Because at that moment, you encounter the fact that Jesus is there willingly because He wants to be there.

Jesus had a choice in the whole matter. At any moment, at any time, He could have jumped down off the cross. How true it was the mockers that stood in front of Him and said, “You saved others. Why don’t you save yourself?” How little did they know He had that kind of power and more? How little did they know when the thief says, “Yeah, why don’t you jump down off the cross and take us with you,” Jesus had all that power and more but He stayed. He stayed on that cross. Jesus said, “I didn’t come into this world to be served.” He said, “I came here to serve and to give my life as a ransom.” Jesus is paying the ransom tonight. He’s paying the price. He’s paying the price of your sin and mine. Jesus stayed on that cross because He wanted to relieve you of the debt of your sin. Jesus stayed on the cross because He wants you to hear the words that you’re forgiven. He stayed on the cross because He wants you to be relieved of your guilt and your shame. He stays on the cross because He wants to spend an eternity with you. Jesus willingly stayed there and gave it all for you.

But it’s not only just the Son. It’s not just Jesus who made the sacrifice. Don’t forget there’s a Father in heaven, a Father in heaven who scripture says that He so loved this world that He gave up His one and only Son. He’s the one who sent Jesus into the world. He’s the one who stood by as His Son became one with His creation. He’s the one who stood by as they slapped Jesus. He’s the one who did nothing as they scourged Him. He’s the one who stood by while they nailed Him to the cross. He’s the one who has ten thousand legions of angels He could unleash at any moment, at any time, angels that are poised and ready to come in at Jesus’ rescue, the same angels that were there the night before that came and strengthened Jesus, they stand at the ready, waiting for the order. But the order never comes. The Father makes a sacrifice as well as the Son. The Father turns His back on His Son so He could turn His face onto you.

Encounter Jesus tonight. Encounter the reality, the reality that He hangs upon that cross for all of your sin and disobedience but encounter the grace, the grace of a loving Father who sent Him for that very purpose, the grace of a loving and giving Son who willingly endured the cross and He Himself gave up His spirit. He Himself gave up His life so you and I could have eternal life. Amen.

Copyright 2006 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church