The Death of Jesus

WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.189 --> 00:00:17.269 I'm going to begin reading at Verse Twenty Three and I'll read to the end 2 00:00:17.429 --> 00:00:33.060 of the chapter. This is the word of God, may He bless it 3 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:40.170 to us. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and 4 00:00:40.250 --> 00:00:45.009 divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. Also his TUNIC, 5 00:00:45.850 --> 00:00:49.409 but the TUNIC was seamless woven in one piece from top to bottom. 6 00:00:49.609 --> 00:00:53.000 So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast 7 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:57.000 lots for it to see whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the 8 00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:03.439 scripture, which says they divided my garments among them. For my clothing they 9 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:08.590 cast lots. So the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross 10 00:01:08.629 --> 00:01:14.829 of Jesus where his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of 11 00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:21.099 Clopus and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple, whom 12 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:25.459 he loved, standing near by, he said to his mother, woman, 13 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:30.379 behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother, 14 00:01:32.620 --> 00:01:38.689 and from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this, 15 00:01:38.930 --> 00:01:42.930 Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture. 16 00:01:42.530 --> 00:01:48.159 I thirst a jar full of sour wine stood there. So they put 17 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:52.159 a sponge a full. So they put a sponge full of the sour wine 18 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:56.239 on a hiss of branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had 19 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:00.000 received the sour wine, he said it is finished, and he bowed his 20 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:06.430 head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of preparation and 21 00:02:06.670 --> 00:02:09.189 so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for 22 00:02:09.349 --> 00:02:15.030 that Sabbath was a high day. The Jews asked pilot that their legs might 23 00:02:15.069 --> 00:02:19.500 be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came down, 24 00:02:19.539 --> 00:02:23.500 or so the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of 25 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:27.379 the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus 26 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:30.050 and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, 27 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:36.169 but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there 28 00:02:36.250 --> 00:02:39.650 came out blood and water. He, who saw it, has borne witness. 29 00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:45.800 His testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth that 30 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:52.280 you also may believe, for these things took place that the scripture might be 31 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:57.199 fulfilled. Not One of his bones will be broken and again. Another scripture 32 00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:01.550 says they will look on him, whom they have puerist. After these things, 33 00:03:01.629 --> 00:03:06.949 Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Christ, but secretly, 34 00:03:07.310 --> 00:03:12.150 for fear of the Jews, asked pilot that he might take away the body 35 00:03:12.189 --> 00:03:15.740 of Jesus, and pilot gave him permission. So he came and took away 36 00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:21.300 his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, 37 00:03:22.060 --> 00:03:27.210 came bringing a mixture of mirror and allows, about seventy five pounds in weight. 38 00:03:28.210 --> 00:03:31.289 So they took the body of Jesus and bounded in linen cloths with the 39 00:03:31.370 --> 00:03:36.530 spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now, in the 40 00:03:36.610 --> 00:03:40.129 place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a 41 00:03:40.330 --> 00:03:45.120 new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So, because of 42 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:50.639 the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they 43 00:03:50.719 --> 00:04:05.030 laid Jesus there. As you see, we have the final death, the 44 00:04:05.270 --> 00:04:14.979 execution of our Lord, of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The scene here 45 00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:20.579 begins with the executioners, the soldiers in charge of making sure that this man 46 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:27.970 is hung on a cross and that this man dies and they are there, 47 00:04:29.529 --> 00:04:36.209 they have stripped him, there they take his garments and they divide them among 48 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:42.120 themselves. And because he had a nice Tunic, one that was seamless, 49 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:46.240 you wouldn't want to mess it up, they decided in that case not to 50 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:51.990 divide it but to cast lots. So there by the cross are these executioners 51 00:04:54.230 --> 00:05:00.870 gambling on, playing games and gambling for the shame of the Lord of the 52 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:11.660 universe. Also there, though, and quite a contrast to these four soldiers, 53 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:18.620 are these for women and and John, the beloved disciple of Christ, 54 00:05:18.699 --> 00:05:26.129 a great contrast on those the Jesus, our Savior, hanging there on a 55 00:05:26.250 --> 00:05:31.410 cross, some gambling away their time in spite of him, even to shame 56 00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:38.279 him, and others devoted to following him. It reminds us again of the 57 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:45.800 choice that we have to make of which camp we will reside in. The 58 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:51.230 soldiers take the things. Jesus is crucified or Jesus was crucified. At some 59 00:05:51.389 --> 00:05:58.670 point he is offered this vinegary wine, the sour wine, and then it 60 00:05:59.029 --> 00:06:03.620 comes time to take them and the other men who are crucified with him down 61 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:08.779 from the Cross. And as John says. What happens is they want to 62 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:14.500 get down these bodies so that the land would not be defiled, because anyone 63 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:18.689 who hangs on a tree, Deuteronomy says, is curse and if to leave 64 00:06:18.810 --> 00:06:25.689 them in this position would defile the land. And so concerned, ironically, 65 00:06:26.410 --> 00:06:32.079 for cleanliness, for purification, they take they go to the forest soldier and 66 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:39.439 are not soldier, the criminal there, and they break his legs. This 67 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:46.189 would have the effect of speeding death along that shock to the system, likely 68 00:06:46.350 --> 00:06:54.589 of having one's legs broken would have that effect also because crucifixion, you typically 69 00:06:55.430 --> 00:07:00.149 you you typically die of Aphyxiation, loss of oxygen. Having the legs broken 70 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:03.100 means that you wouldn't be able to push yourself up anymore to get air. 71 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:11.500 So it would be a way too quickly and a very long and painful torture. 72 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:14.459 So they do this to the first, they do is the second, 73 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:17.569 but they do not break the legs of Jesus, and it's not because he's 74 00:07:17.569 --> 00:07:24.569 alive, but it's because he's dead. And then, to ensure that the 75 00:07:24.730 --> 00:07:30.560 work is done completely, this is their job, their professionals, they pierce 76 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:39.920 his side and outcomes these bodily fluids on blood and water. John sees all 77 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:45.310 these things, the rider of our Gospel, he sees them, and here 78 00:07:46.470 --> 00:07:51.509 he swears to the truthfulness of them. So as in verse Thirty Five, 79 00:07:51.670 --> 00:07:57.189 He who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true and he knows 80 00:07:57.269 --> 00:08:01.339 that he's telling the truth. But he doesn't just want us to know that 81 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:05.540 they're true. He wants more than anything for you to believe in the truth. 82 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:09.939 And so he says here, as he'll say again in chapter twenty. 83 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:16.730 I'm telling you this that you also may believe. It's not just believing that 84 00:08:16.769 --> 00:08:22.410 these things are true, but it's depending on them for our very lives. 85 00:08:22.410 --> 00:08:30.360 We remember the reason why Jesus is here is very sovereignly ordered. Jesus has 86 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:35.440 above his head on the cross this word put by a pilot King of the 87 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:37.799 Jews. This is not an accident, and he's more than the king of 88 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:43.070 the Jews. He's King of the world. He's King of the new world, 89 00:08:43.389 --> 00:08:48.309 the new age. He's King of the new heavens and the new earth, 90 00:08:48.350 --> 00:08:54.070 a kingdom that will have no end. Jesus is there because it has 91 00:08:54.110 --> 00:09:01.220 been divinely ordained by the trying in God, the Father Calling the son to 92 00:09:01.379 --> 00:09:07.139 this task, the sun taking on that task willingly, lovingly going to the 93 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:11.850 cross to die for us, his people, the spirit perfectly anointing Christ and 94 00:09:13.129 --> 00:09:18.929 connecting us, uniting us with that work, not in a mere intellectual way, 95 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.730 not merely to know it, although that's a huge part of it, 96 00:09:22.850 --> 00:09:26.039 but in our hearts, so that the law of God might be written not 97 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:31.679 only on tablets of stone but on the tablets of our hearts, and even 98 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:37.399 changing our wills so that we go and we love as free men and women, 99 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:43.950 no longer slaves to send and death. This is God's divine plan that 100 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:48.549 had been planned from the beginning, and John so much wants you to know 101 00:09:48.669 --> 00:09:54.259 that. The Holy Spirit of God wants you to know that. And one 102 00:09:54.299 --> 00:09:58.899 way we know that he we know that he wants us to know that, 103 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:03.580 is in the many ways throughout this passage that he says the scriptures have been 104 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:09.690 fulfilled, not only in this passage but in other places throughout John. When 105 00:10:09.730 --> 00:10:15.929 Jesus says it is finished, this is one of the things that he means, 106 00:10:16.970 --> 00:10:22.600 that the scriptures are being fulfilled. What do we mean by fulfilled? 107 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:26.039 One Way, I like to think about it as like a rose, when 108 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:31.519 you have a bud of a rose. You're waiting right for it to open 109 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:33.399 and it starts to open. You Oh it's going to be so pretty, 110 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:39.990 and then it opens and it flowers and you say there it is. That's 111 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:45.509 what the scriptures are like. Even back in the very early passages, at 112 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:50.659 the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis, we have this rose of the 113 00:10:50.779 --> 00:11:00.500 Gospel proclaimed the God would overcome the curse that he would crush the head of 114 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:05.049 the serpent, even though he himself would be bruised, and that little beautiful 115 00:11:05.210 --> 00:11:11.450 bud flowers and flowers throughout the New Testament until here all is fulfilled in in 116 00:11:13.409 --> 00:11:18.639 Christ. The first example of this that we have of the work of the 117 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:26.960 scriptures being finished and fulfilled in Christ is in is in verse twenty four, 118 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:33.629 where it says this was to fulfill the scriptures, they divided my garments among 119 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:39.350 them, and for my clothing they cast lots. This is taken from Psalm 120 00:11:39.830 --> 00:11:45.830 twenty two. If you would please turn there with me, like to read 121 00:11:45.990 --> 00:11:50.740 this psalm with you and look at a few particular verses that you might see 122 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:58.100 the work of the Lord here. Psalm twenty two. Notice how this begins. 123 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:01.929 It begins with something that Jesus is quoted as saying in the other gospels. 124 00:12:03.850 --> 00:12:07.049 Some twenty two, verse one. My God, my God, why 125 00:12:07.210 --> 00:12:11.769 have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from my 126 00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:20.080 words and my groaning, the particular words about the garments we have? I'm 127 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:24.320 here as well, but let's let's continue reading and see what other things we 128 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:28.840 might know. I'll read through up till twenty four and at the end of 129 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:33.110 the sermon I'll read the end now, verse to. Oh my God, 130 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:37.070 I cry out by day, but you do not answer, and by night, 131 00:12:37.149 --> 00:12:41.789 but I find no rest. Yet you are in your holy enthroned on 132 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:46.460 the praises of Israel, in your father's in your in our, in you 133 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:52.659 are father's trusted. They trusted and you delivered them to you. They cried 134 00:12:52.820 --> 00:12:56.899 and were rescued in you. They trusted, and we're not put to shame. 135 00:12:56.779 --> 00:13:01.330 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and 136 00:13:01.610 --> 00:13:05.289 despised by the people. All who see me mock me, they make their 137 00:13:05.450 --> 00:13:11.049 they make mouths at me, they wag their heads. He trusts in the 138 00:13:11.169 --> 00:13:15.879 Lord. Let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights 139 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:20.039 in him. Yet you are he who took me from the womb. You 140 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:24.559 made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast, 141 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:28.470 from my birth and from my mother's womb. You have been my God. 142 00:13:30.190 --> 00:13:33.269 Be Not far from me, who, for trouble is near and there is 143 00:13:33.389 --> 00:13:39.710 none to help. Many Bulls encompass me. The strong bowls of Baichon surround 144 00:13:39.830 --> 00:13:43.340 me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion. 145 00:13:43.820 --> 00:13:48.340 I'm poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. 146 00:13:48.460 --> 00:13:54.539 My heart is like wax, is melted within my breast. My strength is 147 00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:58.970 dried up like a potsherd and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay 148 00:14:00.090 --> 00:14:05.009 me in the dust of death. For Dogs Encompass me. A company of 149 00:14:05.129 --> 00:14:09.360 evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count 150 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:15.559 all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments 151 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:20.120 among them. For my clothing, they cast lots. But you, oh 152 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:24.200 Lord, do not be far off. Oh You my help. Come quickly 153 00:14:24.389 --> 00:14:28.110 to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from 154 00:14:28.110 --> 00:14:31.830 the power of the dog, save me from the mouth of the lion. 155 00:14:33.830 --> 00:14:37.549 You who have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen, I will 156 00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:41.500 tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I 157 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:45.539 will fear you, you who fear the Lord. Praise him, all, 158 00:14:45.659 --> 00:14:50.539 you offspring of good of Jacob. Glorify him and standing off him, all 159 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:56.049 you offspring of Israel, for he has not despised or abhorred the afflicted or 160 00:14:56.129 --> 00:15:00.090 the fliction of the afflicted, and he is not hidden his face from him, 161 00:15:00.409 --> 00:15:05.289 but has heard when he cried to him. I'll stop there for now, 162 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:11.200 so you hear when the Lord, when our Lord, takes these words 163 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:16.080 on our lips, his heart is crying out. I am in pain, 164 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:22.509 I am in a desperate situation, and many of the things that we have 165 00:15:22.789 --> 00:15:28.549 described here happen either literally or figuratively. The mocking, the jeering, the 166 00:15:28.029 --> 00:15:35.899 piercing, the Devi the stealing and a division of his clothes, the desperation, 167 00:15:37.340 --> 00:15:41.659 the first that he describes here, are all of these things we see 168 00:15:43.659 --> 00:15:48.139 in the Cross of Christ. This is a psalm of David. David himself 169 00:15:48.299 --> 00:15:54.370 suffered persecution and trial and various times when he felt alone, when he felt 170 00:15:54.409 --> 00:16:00.450 a far away, but he remembers in this Psalm, as our Lord remember 171 00:16:00.570 --> 00:16:07.679 is even better and perfectly the Yah way, and that God, the father, 172 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:14.840 will not abandon son, that God will work through this affection and that 173 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:19.830 we who belong to the Lord our right to praise God, our right to 174 00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:26.669 not give up on God, because in fact what we see on the Cross 175 00:16:26.870 --> 00:16:33.539 is God himself at work, God himself becoming the afflicted to save the afflicted, 176 00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:40.940 God himself taking on sin to save the sinful, God himself being surrounded 177 00:16:41.059 --> 00:16:47.490 by evildoers and wickedness to save them from their own evildoing and wickedness. To 178 00:16:47.649 --> 00:16:52.090 one of those criminals, he says in one of the other gospels, today 179 00:16:52.289 --> 00:16:59.129 Jesus says you will be with me in paradise. What an amazing way the 180 00:16:59.250 --> 00:17:06.720 Psalm is then transposed and fulfilled in the work of Christ. This desperation of 181 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:12.079 being surrounded by evil doers becomes a promise and I'll hope for those very evil 182 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:18.990 doers. Will Not only rescue his servant, but he will rescue all of 183 00:17:18.150 --> 00:17:25.109 those who are who who are attached to the Lord, who are united to 184 00:17:25.230 --> 00:17:30.460 the Lord. The scripture is being fulfilled not only in Psalm twenty two, 185 00:17:30.539 --> 00:17:36.259 but another places as well. For example, in John One thousand nine hundred 186 00:17:36.299 --> 00:17:40.940 and thirty six, John Points out that his legs were not broken, and 187 00:17:41.099 --> 00:17:47.569 this was to fill the scriptures to possible references. Here I'm one. Is 188 00:17:47.650 --> 00:17:52.210 that a Passover reference from exodus forty six. It shall be eaten in one 189 00:17:52.329 --> 00:17:56.250 house, you shall not take any of the flesh shall outside the House and 190 00:17:56.410 --> 00:18:00.559 you shall not break any of its bones. Here, Jesus, as the 191 00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:06.359 sacrifice, as the Passover lamb in the feast of Passover, on this high 192 00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:10.839 day, that John has as marked for us, a noted for us, 193 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:15.390 Jesus, the Passover lamb. His bones are not being broken. We also 194 00:18:15.509 --> 00:18:21.829 have a verse in Psalm Three Thousand Four and twenty. He keeps all his 195 00:18:22.029 --> 00:18:26.069 bones, not one of them is broken. A phrase, a reminder of 196 00:18:26.180 --> 00:18:34.140 God's preservation of the one who belongs to him. The piercing of the Lord 197 00:18:34.140 --> 00:18:41.769 also is testified and prophesied in the scriptures. Listen to these spectacular words from 198 00:18:41.809 --> 00:18:49.009 Zachariahewe ten and I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants 199 00:18:49.049 --> 00:18:55.289 of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and please for mercy, so that when they 200 00:18:55.410 --> 00:19:00.000 look on me on him, whom they have pierced. They shall mourn for 201 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:06.240 him as one mourns for an only child, and we bitterly over him as 202 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:12.549 one weeps over a firstborn. Here God promises by His Prophet that there are 203 00:19:12.670 --> 00:19:18.069 coming a day, there's coming a day when the Holy Spirit, a spirit 204 00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:21.509 of grace, will be poured out on his people and they will look on 205 00:19:21.869 --> 00:19:30.180 God, whom they have pierced. And this is indeed what happens. In 206 00:19:30.339 --> 00:19:37.500 revelation one seven we are told to look, behold, he is coming with 207 00:19:37.609 --> 00:19:41.849 the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, 208 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:47.130 and all tribes of the Earth will wail on account of him. Even 209 00:19:47.170 --> 00:19:52.279 so, men, in all of these things, we see that the scriptures 210 00:19:53.319 --> 00:20:00.880 are being fulfilled. This is no accident, this is no thing that Jesus 211 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:07.470 just happened to find himself in. Jesus has purposefully gone to the cross to 212 00:20:07.750 --> 00:20:12.430 be pierced so that the spirit of mercy might be poured out, so that 213 00:20:14.109 --> 00:20:19.829 those who have died in their trespasses, those who have done the evil things, 214 00:20:21.619 --> 00:20:26.099 would be saved. And that takes us to the second thing that Jesus 215 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:30.339 is finishing here. Not only is he finishing and fulfilling the scriptures, but 216 00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:34.730 it is his mission also that is being completed here on the Cross and the 217 00:20:34.769 --> 00:20:41.289 nicene creed. We confess that Jesus became man to save man. He became 218 00:20:41.450 --> 00:20:48.490 manned to create a new mankind. We also say, and I believe in 219 00:20:48.609 --> 00:20:52.240 the church, holy, Catholic and Apostolic, the Work of the spirit of 220 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:59.279 God this God is doing, and we see this reality here, even here 221 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:07.710 is Jesus is a hanging on the cross. He became man to save man. 222 00:21:07.910 --> 00:21:11.269 How do we know he became man? Will? Because he was born 223 00:21:11.349 --> 00:21:18.619 of a woman, because he hungered, he first and when the soldier pierced 224 00:21:18.779 --> 00:21:26.940 his side, water and blood flows out like any other human being. Jesus 225 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:33.329 is no ghost, he's no phantasm, he's no projection, he's no hallucination. 226 00:21:34.009 --> 00:21:41.890 Water and blood flow out of his side like they would any other this 227 00:21:41.009 --> 00:21:48.759 is particularly important in a culture that speaks often of God's who are bloodless. 228 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:53.680 They have in their blood's the AMBROSIA that they eat, this ECOR. They 229 00:21:53.880 --> 00:22:03.509 don't have blood, but Jesus, he does. He's fully, fully human. 230 00:22:06.190 --> 00:22:11.829 He's also fully divine, as we have seen. And in being this 231 00:22:12.430 --> 00:22:22.819 one man, in being this savior, both man and God. He does 232 00:22:23.019 --> 00:22:27.500 this divine work of creating the people and we see that even now, as 233 00:22:27.619 --> 00:22:34.569 the scriptures are fulfilled, both foretold and fulfilled, and as the Word Incarnate 234 00:22:34.730 --> 00:22:41.009 is crucified, we see that work of God beginning in the world because, 235 00:22:41.049 --> 00:22:45.640 as I said, here are these four women and John submitting themselves to the 236 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:51.720 Lord, devoting themselves to the Lord, not hiding from his suffering but following 237 00:22:51.799 --> 00:23:00.470 him in it. Can you imagine they gumption that it would take to have 238 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:07.150 the authorities crucify like a big uproar, right all the city in an uproar, 239 00:23:07.509 --> 00:23:11.029 to crucify, to execute this person? And then you go publicly and 240 00:23:11.190 --> 00:23:17.819 show yourself as being devoted to that person, even when all the other disciples 241 00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:26.980 have fleed? Risky and, if not risky, certainly humiliating. You are 242 00:23:26.059 --> 00:23:30.849 identifying yourself with the lowest of the low, the person they're going to take 243 00:23:30.930 --> 00:23:34.009 down in a moment from the cross so we don't have to look at him 244 00:23:34.009 --> 00:23:41.559 on the Sabbath. And there they are, there we are, whenever we 245 00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:47.480 submit to the Lord on the Cross, in His crucifixion, as the one 246 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:52.960 who died for us, and we see the kind of community, the church 247 00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:56.750 that he is creating. He looks at Mary and he says to her, 248 00:23:57.150 --> 00:24:03.549 woman, behold your son, and he says to John Disciple, behold your 249 00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:10.420 mother, behold your mother, and all of a sudden, these two people 250 00:24:10.819 --> 00:24:19.059 that do were not related to one another our family, and ever since then 251 00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:26.369 people have been calling themselves in the church brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. 252 00:24:26.930 --> 00:24:32.490 In the Lord, he unites people from totally not only different families but 253 00:24:32.849 --> 00:24:41.640 different parts of the world together into a communion in him, adopted into his 254 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:48.839 house, receiving his inheritance and to go on even more in this spirit of 255 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:53.109 grace and mercy that we see even now, is Jesus is hanging on the 256 00:24:53.230 --> 00:24:57.990 cross. We also see the work that is happening in the lives of these 257 00:24:59.069 --> 00:25:07.859 men like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Joseph of these were not faithful followers 258 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:11.700 from the beginning. Joseph of, in our myth, is still afraid of 259 00:25:11.819 --> 00:25:15.180 the Jews, and so he goes to pilot and ask for permission. But 260 00:25:15.339 --> 00:25:22.490 he is a disciple of Christ. He was a member of this council that 261 00:25:22.569 --> 00:25:26.289 had been that it acted to make these decisions regarding this crucifixion, and now 262 00:25:26.329 --> 00:25:32.849 here he is coming and seeking to take the Lord's body down from the cross. 263 00:25:32.849 --> 00:25:37.279 And then you have Nicodemus, a Pharisee, one of the ones who 264 00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:41.440 were also a part of this great uproar, one of the clap, part 265 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:48.319 of the class of people who were responsible for this death, responsible for this 266 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:52.630 execution. And here he is, not coming in the middle of the night 267 00:25:52.789 --> 00:25:59.750 like he came before to Jesus, but coming out in the open and anointing 268 00:25:59.869 --> 00:26:08.180 Jesus with massive amounts of ointment, seventy five pounds. Remember what Judas said 269 00:26:08.299 --> 00:26:15.299 when Mary anointed, annointed Jesus. It's like, I think it was a 270 00:26:15.339 --> 00:26:18.529 hundred Denaris, like we're a hundred Denari. Couldn't this be given? As 271 00:26:18.569 --> 00:26:25.970 she pours it over his body, extreme amount? Here comes Nicodemus with seventy 272 00:26:26.130 --> 00:26:30.690 five pounds. Can you imagine what that would smelt that would be intense, 273 00:26:30.730 --> 00:26:41.759 I have imagined, no doubt at a great cost not only to his pocketbook 274 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:45.960 but to his honor, to his place in his class. But he gives 275 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:52.509 it up, just as Paul will and many, many others will throughout the 276 00:26:52.710 --> 00:26:57.349 history of the church. Saying more than family, more than friends, more 277 00:26:57.509 --> 00:27:02.940 than honor. In my culture, in my society, Jesus matters the most, 278 00:27:03.859 --> 00:27:07.220 this one who is crucified, this one who has died, because he's 279 00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:14.220 died for me, and apart from him, I am still dead in my 280 00:27:14.819 --> 00:27:18.650 sins. And so this is what Jesus does on the Cross, this is 281 00:27:18.730 --> 00:27:26.569 what he means when he says it is finished. He's beginning the work of 282 00:27:26.809 --> 00:27:33.920 creating his church, forgiving sins, of ruling over the devil and of softening 283 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:41.400 our hearts so that we would no longer be in secret or afraid or not 284 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:47.630 following him, but coming to him, humbly, struggling, but loving him 285 00:27:47.630 --> 00:27:53.589 and following him. I want to conclude now with finishing psalm twenty two. 286 00:27:56.230 --> 00:27:59.819 At the end of Psalm twenty two, after the division of the garments and 287 00:27:59.940 --> 00:28:03.779 the thirst and the cries for agony and the bones sticking out and all of 288 00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:11.019 these things, we have this great note of victory. From you comes my 289 00:28:11.259 --> 00:28:15.490 praise in the great congregation. My vows I will perform before those who fear 290 00:28:15.529 --> 00:28:21.730 him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied, those who seek him shall 291 00:28:22.049 --> 00:28:27.960 praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the 292 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:33.240 Earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the 293 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:37.960 nations shall worship before you, for kingship belongs to Yahway and he rules over 294 00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:44.309 the nation's all the prosperous of the earth eat and worship before him. Shall 295 00:28:44.349 --> 00:28:48.630 bow down all who go down to the dust, even the one who could 296 00:28:48.630 --> 00:28:53.230 not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him. It shall be told of 297 00:28:53.269 --> 00:28:59.700 the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to 298 00:28:59.819 --> 00:29:04.500 a people yet unborn, that he has done it. It is finished. 299 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:15.089 The afflicted shall live forever. They shall not die. Psalm Twenty three comes 300 00:29:15.210 --> 00:29:21.130 after Psalm twenty two. Psalm twenty three this famous psalm that we tend to 301 00:29:21.289 --> 00:29:25.200 read at memorial services and death this last this week, I was at a 302 00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:30.559 memorial service for my friend whose father died, and we read Psalm Twenty three. 303 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:33.799 Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he makes me lie down 304 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:41.950 in green pastors. He leads me besides still waters heaven. That happens because 305 00:29:41.990 --> 00:29:49.549 our Lord suffers the affliction of Psalm twenty two. Let's pray