Midweek Lent (3) 2019

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Luke 23:35
Theme: “Let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God.”


Dear followers to the cross,

The crucifixion obliterates the idea that we can domesticate God. Maybe that truth is not of immediate interest to you? Perhaps some of you are still trying to domesticate your spouse, your children, your grand-children, your in-laws, or your colleagues? Pace yourself. The task requires divine wisdom and intervention. Maybe you’re not aware that the crucifixion was such a radical event? It is antithetical to every human construction of the definition of God. I can almost hear some of you saying, “Okay… should I be interested in or concerned about this?” You see, this fellowship you’re part of, called Christianity, far from being the most normal and expected thing (a reputation gained because of its influence and sheer number of worldwide followers, yet, remember that at His Second Coming Christ will find very few believers left on earth)- this fellowship is actually one of the most unlikely scenarios imaginable. We worship a particular Man, whom we identify as God, who didn’t save Himself from the cross!

The desirability of domestication is easy enough to understand. After all, God commanded Adam and Eve to domesticate the earth. He said, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.”1 Since the fall into sin, the execution of that command has been highly problematic. The humanistic challenge to God’s decree has brought the matter into high relief. A widening ideological divide about the unique place of humanity in the cosmic order is being tested. Trust placed in ecological solutions, is again, as it has in the past, ascending to the status of religious devotion. Many ancient cultures venerated the sun, moon, and stars, and revered the fertility of the earth. Modern cults are reviving these practices and convictions. And, more and more, society’s hope is pinned on saving ‘mother earth’. Christians, of all people, should understand why we would want to properly care for the environment.

Of greatest concern though, is the fact that people are spiritually feral (which is also the source of demonstrable lawlessness) and we can’t turn the equation around in an effort to subdue God. God cannot be broken of habits we’re not fond of. If we’re annoyed by God’s apparent habit of being conspicuously absent when we want Him to be present; or being right there in our faces (think of your conscience) when we’d prefer that He keep His distance, then we’d better stop and assess our expectations and our assumptions. Perhaps we have consistently and cleverly ignored or dismissed those revelations of Scripture that describe His character? Maybe we’re acting in ignorance or defiance?

God is untamed and free. He is sovereign. The cross appeared to conquer Him, but the third day proved who the victor really was. Dear friends, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus were not slight-of-hand stunts. They were not well-choreographed magician’s tricks. They were not special, but limited, loans of God’s power- continuations of prophetic ministry. God Himself suffered on the tree. He didn’t cheat death, He didn’t side-step it. He didn’t plea-bargain or negotiate with it. He walked right over death crushing its potency.

The work of atonement is completed on the cross. Jesus didn’t come down. When Jesus breathes His last and gives up His Spirit, the labor of satisfying the divine wrath over sin is finished. Calling it work is a considerable understatement. It was brutal. It was an endeavor of colossal proportions. Everything that really matters was on the line; the integrity of the Father, the faithfulness of the Son, the jurisdiction of Satan, the inevitability of hell, the eternal future of humanity. I suppose one could hyperbolize it to the point of making it appear like propaganda. (Perhaps this is one of the transgressions Christianity is struggling to cope with? Perhaps fanciful depictions of the divine drama have undermined the credibility of the gospel?)

Still, the magnitude of importance for this central mystery of the faith can hardly be given too much attention. Christians believe that in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the hegemony of death- a reality so far-reaching as to be universally feared and acknowledged, a crisis so insurmountable as to defy every human effort to mitigate it- has been broken. Believers have been released from its power. The Scripture says, “He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”2

Now, dear friends, that doesn’t mean even faithful Christians aren’t still afraid of dying. Satan is desperate to keep up his façade of authority. He is wily and our hearts are spectacularly vulnerable to deception. The devil knows just as well how to coddle us with false hope and glory, as he does strike fear and trepidation into us. Regarding our mortality he massages us with false notions that we can comfortably die basking in the accomplishments our legacies. He seeks to convince us that all of our fond memories, and the knowledge of our positive contributions to the world will suffice to mitigate the terror of death. In short, we can die peacefully because we’re basically good people who have lived good lives.

If that statement proves to be unsettling, you can be certain the Holy Spirit is busily at work redirecting your soul to the only true source of peace. If that statement fills you with comfort, be warned that you have dispossessed yourself of the grace of God. Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”3 God is untamed and free, but He is absolutely, unequivocally, and unreservedly bound to His promise of immeasurable mercy towards penitent sinners. He will not forsake you. He will not disown you. The crucifixion is the only proof you need. You are baptized into this mystery and nourished by it at His table.

And, you are freed, by this truth, to completely expend your passion, love and energy on others. You are freed to have a completely transformed perspective on the meaning of your life. The hecklers said about the Messiah hanging on the cross, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”4 “Come down from the cross if You are the Son of God.”5Jesus did not come down from the cross. He could not be domesticated. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Midweek Lent 5
10 April 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Genesis 1:28
2 Hebrews 2:14-15
3 Luke 5:32
4 Luke 23:35
5 Matthew 27:40