Where in the World is God? On the Cross
Isaiah 53:4-6 and John 19:30 / March 30, 2018
Where in the world is God? Many people say they feel God when they are in the quiet of the woods or enjoying the calm of a lake or in the beauty of majestic mountains. Isn’t it interesting that people choose to feel and imagine God in peace and quiet and beauty, but not in a tornado or a flood or a fire? Why is it that we imagine God in the good, but not in the midst of evil?
After all, where have we found God in the world this Lententide, but in the very midst of our mess. According to God’s own Word He is found on a donkey, on His knees praying, under arrest and on trial, at the wrong end of a Roman whipping. And today we find God the last place you would expect to find God – He’s dead on a cross.
Saint Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that “the preaching of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” He goes on to say, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” He concludes his little sermon on the cross by saying, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” Paul knew and preached that a God who is killed on a cross is foolishness and shows weakness rather than strength. Therein you find the reason that on a certain day outside Jerusalem God was found dead on the cross. God is is foolish and weak – that is He is foolishly in love with you and His love weakens Him to save you.
Good Friday is not a day to mourn the death of God (for as you know, spoiler alert, God isn’t dead). It is a day to mourn our sins. That is why God is found on a cross. The Church is not all black and somber for Jesus. He doesn’t need our sorrow or sympathy. It is somber for us.
God is found on the cross because of His love for us sinners. If we had no sin God would not be there. If He had no love for us He would not be there. The Holy Spirit gave Isaiah the Words of his prophecy 700 years before Jesus of Nazareth was even born, but there are few clearer words about the cross. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV)
Perhaps we seek God in the woods or on the lake or at the mountains because those places are often far removed from a lazy boss, an adulterous spouse, a sick child, a dying parent, or a family destroying bankruptcy. Those places are places we temporarily escape from the mess of this broken world, but we know it is only temporary. You can build your dream home at the lake but it won’t keep the nightmare of sin or death from visiting you. You can plan your once in a lifetime dream vacation, see the amazing cathedrals of Europe or travel to Jerusalem to walk the same roads Jesus did, but your vacation will end. You’ll have to wake up from your dream and return to regular, normal, life which has regular nightmares and evil and sadness. You’ll return to being hurt by other sinners and returning the hurt by sinning against them.
God is not in the beauty or the calm or the peace of your favorite landscape for you. To be sure He gives us His creation as a gift, but He is not there for you. He is on the cross for you for one reason. Only God could atone for your sin. Only the blood of God could pay the debt of death and hell that we sinners owe. God the Father, in His love, sent His Son to die for sinners, to die for you.
God’s love for us is foolish, but that’s the nature of love isn’t it? If you were wise you would only love those people who would give you something equal or greater in return, but that isn’t love – that’s using people. Love makes you weak. Not in the sense that you are no longer strong, but true love means you’ll defend those you love at any cost to yourself, even death. How weak is Jesus? He lays down His love not for his friends, but for His enemies – for sinners, for those who trample God’s laws and rebel against His Father. Jesus lays down His life for you. As the old spiritual asks, “What wondrous love is this, o my soul?”
Where in the world is God found? Today we mark the day when outside Jerusalem on a particular cross a man who was also fully God died. All of our sin had been heaped upon Him and then all His Father’s wrath, the cup of bitter suffering, was poured out upon Jesus until it was drained. That means you and I will never drink that cup. From now and through all eternity everything we receive is from the Father’s favor through the offering of His Son delivered by the Holy Spirit.
God is on the cross because He foolishly loves you and was made weak for you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
March 27, 2018 anno Domini