Sunday Sermon

"The Son of God"
[Mark 15:33-41]
December 3, 2006 Second Reformed Church

"The Lord himself will give you a sign, Behold the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

When Jesus was crucified, His murderers placed a sign above His Head announcing and condemning Him for being the King of the Jews. And the soldiers and the crowd mocked Him and His Kingship. But we know different -- we react different, because we know that He is the King of the Jews. He is the direct descendent of King David, the Heir to the throne. He Alone perfectly rules His people.

But Jesus did not jump down from the cross as they mocked Him to do. He did not set up a political kingdom and rule as mere human kings rule. No, His Rule is greater: our King is also the Great High Priest that we saw in Hebrews, Who, because He is perfect, not only functions as our priest -- who offers up a sacrifice to make us right with God -- He also became for us the Most Cursed Sacrifice, and offered Himself up on the cross to suffer and die under the Wrath of God for our sin.

The King of the Universe, our Creator, the One Perfect Human, left His Throne, stood in our place, and offered up Himself to God, His Father, in our place and for our sake, to the Glory of the Father.

And for three hours -- from nine a.m. to twelve noon -- Jesus hung as a curse, out across the heavens, receiving in body, soul, mind, and heart the fullness of God's Wrath and Hell for every sin we would every commit. And then, everything went black.

The whole earth went pitch black. Can we imagine not seeing a light anywhere?

For three more hours, Jesus was tortured and tormented on the cross -- and then, He cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Jesus screamed in agony -- not merely for the betrayal and the mocking and the pain of the spikes and the crucifixion -- but because somehow, in the Mystery of Providence, Jesus experienced the ultimate horror of no longer being in the Presence of God the Father. The Son had been in the Presence of the Father from before the creation and throughout the Incarnation, and now, now, the Father was gone. He was alone. Terror upon terror descended upon Him. And His Humanity He cried out to God, "Why?"

Why, indeed. There are some today who say we can't say that Jesus suffered like that. We can't say that His Father forsook Him on the cross. They call this "cosmic child-abuse." Don't believe them At best they are blind guides -- at worst, they are children of the devil who seek your destruction. Beware! If Jesus did not suffer terribly -- beyond our comprehension on this side of glory -- but surely, as much as is possible -- then you and I are not saved. If there is a depth to which Jesus did not descend on the cross, then that is precisely the bottomless pit we will slip into and suffer eternally.

No! The prophets declared it would be so, and it must be so if we are to be delivered from every sin we will every commit.

At Jesus' Bris, Simeon said, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34b-35).

Amos prophesied that this would be the Day of the Lord, the Day of Bitter Mourning, "'And on that day,' declares the Lord, 'I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight'" (Amos 8:9).

Jeremiah prophesied, "'She who has bore seven has grown feeble; she has fainted away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, declares the Lord'" (Jeremiah 15:9).

And Joel: "Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all of the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been seen before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations" (Joel 2:1-2).

And how did they respond to this horror, this terror, those who were standing around, being entertained? "Listen, Jesus is calling out for Elijah to help Him! Let see if Elijah comes through the clouds to get Him!" To sustain Him, they gave Him a drink of sour wine -- what would have been a thirst quencher in those days -- not a good table wine.

"And Jesus let out a great cry [and] breathed his last." After a circus of a trial, being mocked, beaten, and then tortured overnight, after being nailed to the cross and suffering the torments of crucifixion for six hours, Jesus was dead.

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God" (Romans 5:8-9). He is the fulfillment of prophecy, our Priest and King.

Do you remember the construction of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, itself? There were outer chambers and inner chambers, and the inner-most chamber was called "the holy of holies." That was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept -- that box that contained the Ten Commandments, and some manna, and Aaron's rod -- and it was the place where the Presence of God descended. It was a place that no human was allowed to enter, except for the high priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, and if anyone else entered it, or if the priest entered when he were no supposed to, God would kill him. There was a curtain that separated "the holy of holies" from the rest of the temple -- a heavy curtain:

"And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twisted linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully woven into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy" (Exodus, 26:31-33).

And this curtain, which went from floor to ceiling and was attached to pillars, and separated them from the Holy God Whose sight would kill them -- at the moment Jesus cried out, the curtain was torn wide open from the top to the bottom. The worshipers and all of Israel would have been terrified. They would have run from the temple in horror -- fleeing for their very lives. They wouldn't have known what was happening, but they knew how dangerous it was to be there with the curtain gone, to be in the Presence of the Almighty God Himself.

And there's the rub: they had been in the Presence of the Almighty God.

At Jesus' death, one of the centurion's eyes were opened, "It's true, this man is the son of God." He understood that only if Jesus is, truly, the Incarnate God, would all of the events of that day make sense. We don't know if he knew the prophecies, but we have them, one by one, fulfilled, not just the very creation crying out that He is God.

And the women were there, watching, seeing the physical proof that He is God. Mary Magdalene was there, and Mary, the mother of James the younger and Joses, and Salome, and many of the other women who followed Jesus from Galilee. They were all eyewitnesses.

The prophet said that the virgin would conceive and bear a Son Who would be called, Immanuel, which means, "God with us." During the crucifixion, as Jesus completed that work, the natural order confessed that He is God, and the centurion spoke their actions in human words, "It's true: this man is the son of God."

Does it matter if He is God as well as Perfect Man? Yes. If He is not God, He could not raise from the dead and secure our salvation and credit us with His Righteousness. And if He is not God, then He cannot meet with us in the sacrament this morning and grant us His Grace, strengthening us and applying His Word to us, so we would be able to do all the good works He has set before us to do.

Immanuel. God with us. In His Incarnation. At His crucifixion. In the sacrament this morning.

Let us pray:
Almighty and Everlasting God, we thank You that Your Son was born a Human Being and yet remained truly and wholly God. Embrace us in the Mystery of the Incarnation and the crucifixion. Settle in our minds that Jesus suffered being forsaken by You that we might never be forsaken by You. And be merciful and grant Your Grace to us as we receive this sacrament. In Jesus' Name, Amen.