Posted on 03/21/2008 8:47:04 AM PDT by Charles Henrickson
“The Big ‘Why’ Question” (Matthew 27:45-46)
Why? The question is as profound as it is short. Why? Who, what, when, and where--those are usually easy to answer. But “why,” that is the big question. That’s the case today with our Gospel reading. Who? Jesus of Nazareth, a Roman governor and soldiers, the Jewish religious leaders. What? Jesus is beaten, mocked, and crucified. When? On this day we call Good Friday, close to 2000 years ago. Where? A place called Golgotha, just outside Jerusalem. But then the question, “why,” that’s a little harder to answer. Why did things happen as they did?
“Why” is a question that little children like to ask, as every parent knows. Once, when our daughter Anna was little, and I was up in the chancel reading the account of the sufferings of Christ, I came to the part where the soldiers are beating and mocking Jesus--well, Anna must have been bothered by this, because at that point she turned to her mother and asked, “Why, Mommy, why?” “Why what?” “Why did they do that to Jesus?”
That’s a good question, isn’t it? Why did they do that to Jesus? I suppose from the soldiers’ perspective, we can understand the reason easily enough. Rough, tough soldiers, with a prisoner in their hands to do with as they wish--they can be pretty brutal. We’ve seen news stories about that sort of thing. On that level, at least, we can understand the “why” of the beatings.
But more than that, we need to ask the larger question, “why,” of this entire episode--the arrest, the trials, the beatings, the crucifixion. Why? Why did this take place? Why was Jesus put to death? We’re reminded of Pilate’s question to the crowd, “Why, what evil has he done?”
The answer to that question is, of course, none. He did no evil. He committed no crime. He did nothing to warrant such treatment and punishment. No, nothing but righteousness and truth and goodness could be seen in the life of Jesus.
So then, why? We can explain it, I suppose, in human terms. The Jewish religious leaders were jealous of all the attention Jesus was getting. They felt threatened by Jesus, by his unmasking their hypocrisy, by his stripping away their works-righteousness, and by the threat that he posed to the corrupt religious industry they had built up for themselves. That’s why they were out to get him. That answers the “why” question from the perspective of the Jewish religious leaders.
Then how about Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor? After all, he could see through the anger and the jealousy of the Jews when they brought Jesus to him. He could see that Jesus was no criminal. But at the same time Pilate wanted to keep the peace. He wanted to maintain order in his territory. The extreme turmoil that this whole Jesus controversy was stirring up--this needed to be settled down in a hurry before it got out of control. The Jews were even suggesting that if Pilate didn’t put Jesus to death, they might have to report him to Caesar: “There was this rebel king in our midst, and your guy Pilate didn’t doing anything about it.” So finally Pilate washed his hands of the mess and gave in to the demands of the crowds. Jesus would be crucified.
Now we have the “why” question answered when it comes to Pilate, the Jews, and the soldiers. But we still have left unanswered the bigger “why” question. Why, from God’s perspective? After all, this is God’s own Son here! His dearly beloved Son, who came to do the Father’s will. And he did it perfectly. So why did God let this happen?
Make no mistake, it is God who is really in control of these events. Not the soldiers, not the Jews, not Pilate. But God. The unusual darkness is a signal that God is in control. “From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.” This was no natural eclipse. This was a sign in the heavens. Darkness does not normally come at the sixth hour of the day--at 12:00, high noon--right at the zenith of the light of day. And the darkness lasted for three hours, right until the time of Jesus’ death. Deep darkness. The darkness of God, shutting the heavens on this Jesus on the cross. It was like a wall went up between God and Jesus.
Jesus cries out: “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” The words are Aramaic, the language of that day. They mean, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Words that were prophesied centuries earlier in Psalm 22. Words now spoken in their full meaning from the lips of the one for whom they were written, the ultimate righteous sufferer. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus himself is asking the “why” question. Why? For what purpose? Why is this happening? What purpose is being served?
God has forsaken Jesus. He has abandoned his own Son. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus cries out in a loud voice, but it is not loud enough. The heavens have turned to brass. Heaven turns a deaf ear to this cry. God has turned away from Jesus, left him alone on that cross for those hours of darkness.
Why? The answer to the “why” question is spelled out explicitly for us all over Scripture. Isaiah 53 had prophesied a suffering servant who would bear these sufferings for our sake: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes 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.”
St. Paul spells it out for us in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus, who had no sin of his own, took on our sin into himself, in such a way that he actually became the living--and dying--embodiment of sin. It was like all the sin in the whole world, for all time, was gathered up and placed into his body. Jesus was sin, the embodiment of sin, there on the cross, and therefore God must turn away from him.
But look, that is actually good news for us! All your sin has been taken away! Jesus has borne it for you. He took it to himself and took it to the cross. There the penalty has been paid, there the sentence has been served. For you, by Jesus, in your place. That’s why. That’s the purpose. “So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In Christ we are accounted righteous before God. Our sin is replaced by his righteousness.
Paul puts it this way in Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” The curse of death and separation from God, God’s judgment against sinners--we were the ones whom God should have forsaken, that is the curse we deserve under the law. But Christ has freed us from all that, by becoming the curse for us. He was it. The curse. Sin, all of it. Jesus became it, there on the cross. Now the curse and the sin and the death and the judgment--these all have been taken away. That is what is so good about Good Friday.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” That’s the big question, isn’t it, the “why” question. The answer is this: Jesus was forsaken so that we would be forgiven. He was abandoned so that we would be accepted. Jesus endured the darkness so that we would receive the light of life. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The big “why” question has a big “wow” answer!
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Ping.
Very nice sermon Charles. Thanks much.
A very blessed Easter to you and yours.
Leni
Thank you! Just what I needed to read today. :)
Have had a burst of interest in some of the “Banned for the Bible” texts, such as the gospel according to Judas. Interesting thought presented was that Jesus loved Judas despite the fact he was the betrayor because without Judas and his betrayal, there would be no savior. Have a great Easter and may God bless all Americans on this holiday, especially those in unifiorm. Happy Easter!
Excellent homily, Charles. During the Tre Ore (sp?) service yesterday, the homily for the Eli Sabachthani pointed out that Christ’s loneliness at that time was greater than any loneliness any of us can ever know, because God will never leave US. Yes, I took notes.
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