For Easter

 

Sermon Notes: Beneath the Cross

Intro: Happy Easter! Let me start by noting the word Easter itself is not used anywhere else in the English language except to link to the celebration of the Resurrection. Easter isn’t even a Hebrew word, but its Christian significance is rooted in the Hebrew word Pesach  which means "Passover". Early Christians, mostly Jewish, used the Greek term Pascha derived from Pesach to highlight the Easter connection to Passover, recognizing that the Angel of Spiritual Death passes over those protected by the blood of our Crucified Lord, for our subsequent celebration of His Resurrection as our Risen Savior.  

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I. Via the Cross

A. Our Lenten journey has taken us to the Cross, where we will pause beneath the Coss to reflect on the meaning of His sacrifice, before we move on to His Resurrection. We’ve been saying throughout Lent that we come to Easter via the Cross, just as Jesus’ Resurrection had to come via the Cross. We come to Easter via the Cross, because, as the saying in Maine goes, “You can’t get tha’ from heah!”  We can’t get to the Resurrection, thea’, without going through the Cross, heah. Only then can we understand the power of the Resurrection.

B. Via the Cross isn’t just an unpleasant pothole on the road to His Easter Resurrection, it’s critical to the whole essence of Easter. Unless we come via the Cross, there is no power in the Resurrection. Overlooking the agony of Jesus’ Crucifixion, bearing the cup of wrath poured out on Him as the Perfect Sacrifice for sin is to lose the pure joy of the Resurrection. Jesus wasn’t crucified because he got caught up in the crowd’s judgement calling for His Crucifixion; He willingly surrendered His life on the Cross to bring us there, to beneath the Cross.

C. It all started in Jerusalem that Passover Friday as Jesus looked out from the Cross. Once before, in the Temptations at the start of His ministry, Satan had shown Jesus the whole of humanity from a mountain, promising that he would give it all to Jesus, if Jesus would merely bow down to Him. Jesus successfully resisted that temptation for power without going via Cross. Now Jesus was seeing the whole of humanity from that Cross as it lay beneath Him on that Cross. An innocent, righteous man about to bear the penalty for the sins of the world on Himself. Beside Him were two criminals, who deserved their fate. Convicted thieves, murderers who left their severely wounded robbery victims to die in the hot sun. Another murderer, an insurrectionist named Barabbas, had been tried and condemned to die on that cross, but the crowd had forced Jesus to take his place. Unbeknown to them, as Barabas was set free, Jesus had come to take, not only their places on the cross, but for all of us whose sins would condemn us before God. Now, beneath that Cross, without understanding what Jesus was doing for them, were the mockers who had known of His miracles, but laughing at Him, saying “You saved others, save yourself.”  The religious leaders of the Sanhedrin were there, relieved that this troublemaker who had opposed them, exposing their corruption, would be gone. The Roman soldiers, expert at executions, at inflicting the

most pain on the condemned, and those gambling for his clothes, his last possessions, were there, as were the ones who had called out for Pilate to crucify this innocent man. Even one of the criminals dying on the cross beside Him mocked Him; the other asked for, and received, His mercy.

D. But then came Jesus’ first words from the Cross. The words that gave Easter its absolute meaning: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”  Jesus had told His disciples that He and the Father were one, so Jesus’ forgiveness came from the Father. Hearing this, and seeing Jesus there, a centurion beneath the Cross would even confess, “Surely this was the Son of God.”  Some feel His forgiveness applied to just those that were there. But Jesus was there on that cross for all people, those present, and those in the future. We recall His beautiful words of John 3:16, that “God so loved the world that He gave His Son, that [whoever] believes, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

E. In the hymn "In the Cross of Christ I Glory," written by John Bowring in 1825, are the words referring to the Cross of Christ as "towering o'er the wrecks of time". It focuses on the permanence of the cross amidst the decay of earthly empires and personal struggles. The Cross on which Jesus gave His life, continues to tower over the wrecks of time, all mankind, bringing all of us beneath the Cross of Jesus. Although many, including His disciples, weren’t physically beneath the actual Cross, its shadow towered over them, hiding in fear, but still beneath the shadow of the Cross. Like the ripples in a pond emanating from a single event, Jesus’ love and forgiveness from the Cross, would now spread to all mankind.

F. Peter had gone into hiding, like the other disciples had, fearing their own violent deaths by Rome. Before then, he had even denied knowing Jesus. Peter would race John to the empty tomb, incredulous of the news that the tomb was empty, but still not understanding. Although Peter had seen the evidence of the Resurrection, that Jesus had done what He said He would, he remained beneath the shadow of the Cross until He knew Jesus’ forgiveness weeks after His Resurrection. The other disciples would also remain beneath the Cross until the Resurrected Jesus appeared to them, and then they understood the Easter Resurrection. Thomas, called the patron saint of doubt, had been absent and remained beneath the shadow of the Cross, needing to touch Jesus’ pierced hands and side before he understood His Resurrection. Even though Jesus had loved even Judas, the shadow of the Cross was too much for him to bear, and he ended his life defeated, without knowing the Resurrection.

G. So, whether they, or you and I, were there physically, Jesus was casting His net over all He had come to save, surrendering His life from the greatest love that will ever be known to mankind. He had prayed in Gethsemane for the disciples, not to remove them from the world, but to protect them against evil as they went out into the world, to bring others out from beneath the shadow of the Cross. He had prayed for the believers in the future, men like Paul, who would bring so many to the Cross and then to come out from beneath as believers. He had even prayed for people in the future, like us, who would come out from beneath the Cross’ shadow still looming over the world today. All would come to the Resurrection via the Cross, giving Him the sins He would bear for us, so that we can fully know and understand the power of the Resurrection.

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II. Luke 24:13-32

A. But many still try to circumvent the Cross. They may feel they can come to Church once a year on Easter, and possibly understand the power of His Resurrection. Or those who claim the joy of salvation without having come via the Cross to be freed of their sins. Perhaps there are even those who claim Jesus, but have remained beneath the Cross, like the two disciples in our Second Gospel reading, returning home to their village of Emmaus that first Easter evening. We read that they were disciples, so they had known Jesus, and had heard His teachings, but didn’t fully understand them...yet. As they were talking about all they had heard that had happened that day, a stranger comes up behind them, a stranger they didn’t recognize was Jesus. They may have been prevented from recognizing Him, or just weren’t familiar with His physical appearance. They were believers, but without understanding His Resurrection, were still beneath the Cross’ shadow.

B. Jesus asks them what they were talking about. Stopping, their faces still downcast with grief over the Crucifixion, they’re amazed that this stranger seemed unaware of the events that had been the hot topic all around Jerusalem. They proceed to tell him about Jesus, that He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. But that He had been sentenced to death and crucified three days ago, ending their hopes that He was the One to redeem Israel. At this point, they only knew about Jesus, the facts, but were uncertain of their beliefs surrounding those facts. But, they add, some of the women followers had gone to the tomb and His body wasn’t there, and had seen a vision of angels there. Some of the other believers had also seen the empty tomb, but not Jesus. They too were still beneath the Cross of Jesus.

C. Jesus chides them on their foolishness not to have understood all the prophets had spoken about. Did they not understand that the Messiah would have to suffer all those things before He entered His glory?  They were believers, knew the facts about Jesus, but failed to understand the context of His dying. Then Jesus, as the mysterious stranger, began to explain all that was said in the Scriptures concerning Himself, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets. It must have been a very enlightening narrative, but they had arrived at their home, as the stranger continued on. True to Jewish hospitality standards, or maybe the Holy Spirit’s nudging, they invite this stranger to stay with them, since it was getting late. When they sat down to supper, Jesus took the bread, and when He had given thanks, broke it and began to give to them. Communion 101!  At that moment, Luke says, their eyes were opened and they recognized Him before He disappears from their sight. When they realized it had been Jesus, they knew why their hearts seemed to have been burning within them as He was explaining Scriptures to them. Now they understood, not just about Jesus, but they knew Jesus. They had come to understand His Resurrection via the Cross.

D. In the midst of his ministry, John Wesley went to a Moravian meeting at Aldersgate, near London, where they were reading from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Then, he says “his heart felt strangely warmed”. From then on, Wesley seems to have found a new vitality in His preaching. Scripture was no longer just about Jesus. He now understood Jesus in the Scriptures, just as the Emmaus disciples did.

E. When Peter realized that Jesus had forgiven him, at that seashore breakfast weeks after the Resurrection, Peter was no longer in the shadow of the Cross. Jesus had told him to “feed My sheep”, and Peter became one of the bold leaders of the early Church. Feeding Jesus’ lambs resulted in His preaching that brought 3000 new believers to the Church at Pentecost. Mary Magdalene wept bitter tears at the thought of His body she believed was stolen. But when she suddenly saw Jesus, holding on to his feet as if she would never let go, she understood the Resurrection. She had made the journey to Easter via the Cross, but she was no longer beneath the Cross’s shadow.

F. When Jesus appeared to the disciples behind locked doors, they too would no longer remain beneath the Cross in fear, but had come to the Easter joy of Resurrection via the Cross. Thomas took a slightly longer way to the risen Lord via the Cross, but when he touched Jesus’ wounds, his doubts vanished, as he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.”  He had come to the joy of Resurrection. Paul took an even longer path to the Resurrection. He had not yet even come to the Cross, when the Resurrected Jesus came to him. Paul would spend years under the Holy Spirit’s teaching to understand about Jesus, come to the Cross, and then be able to understand the joy of Jesus’ Resurrection. His epistle letters speak profusely about the power of the Resurrection in proclaiming the Gospel of the Risen Christ. His faith based epistles have brought many others to the Cross and from beneath the Cross to the Resurrection, and even hope for His Return..

Conclusion:That’s the power of the Resurrection, the meaning of Easter. We might know the facts about Jesus. Serve Him in His Church, read the Bible, do charitable works. But unless we come to the Resurrection via the Cross, where we find His forgiveness, understand the depth of love by which He gave His life that we might live with Him in eternity, we miss the full joy of His Resurrection. I pray that none of us remain beneath the Cross.  Because it’s empty. We might then journey to the tomb where He was laid in death because of the Cross. But it’s an empty tomb!  He isn’t there! He has Risen!  And because He lives, we can face tomorrow, and all fear is gone. Amen