The Divine Crash

After years of prayer and meditation I have finally figured out how to use a snuggie in my sermon.   Feel free to listen at the bottom of this post or on iTunes.

Psalm 22:18 - They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.

John 19:24 - They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” [fn] Therefore the soldiers did these things.

Matthew 27:35 - Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, [fn] that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

Mark 15:24 - And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them [to determine] what every man should take.

Luke 23:34 – And they cast lots to divide his clothing

All four gospels written with different purposes, authors, and viewpoints.  All of them have a sense of urgency to get to the passion week events, skipping details, leaving parts out and trying to hurry to the passion week.  At that point everything slows down.  All four gospels tell almost an identical story.  They mention every detail because they do not want to miss anything because this is the single most important event in the history of the world and they knew it.

Hebrews 9:26 calls the crucifixion the culmination of the ages.

- When all things past, present and future have been nailed to the cross to be once and for all destroyed through the sacrifice of Jesus.

the crucifixion is the single most important event in the history of the world. AMEN!!

Whether you are a Christian or not you benefit from this.

- You get a day off at Christmas because of the cross.

- You don’t get any bills in the mail on Sunday because of the cross.

- You get to hear my wonderful voice because of the cross.

The Gospel writers bet their lives over the fact that the cross was true and now the world is fundamentally different.

- Matthew was killed in Ethopia by a “sword wound”

- Mark was dragged by horse through the streets of Alexandria

- Luke was Hanged in Greece

- John was dipped in boiling oil and didn’t die. Then sentenced to Patmos where he still refused to die he was released and the only Apostle to live to old age.

This event was so important to the disciples that they all wanted to get it right when they wrote it.

So they mentioned Jesus’ clothes?? john mentions that The world could not contain the books if all of Jesus miracles were written down and yet John finds it important to mention clothes.

Out of all the details of Jesus’ life and all the details of the passion week all four writers decide it is important to mention Jesus’ clothes. Why?

Last week we looked at the emotional anguish of Jesus in Psalm 22:1 which is only mentioned in 2 of the gospels. And yet Psalm 22:18 is mentioned in all four? It seems odd that clothes would be more important than feelings.

- “They divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

- Not unusual for the executioner to keep the clothes of the dead as payment for the execution.

We don’t know for sure, but archeology has a guess at what Jesus probably wore, based on what most Jewish men of that time wore:

- Colobium: A long seamless tunic. Underwear. White. Symbolizes the purity and holiness before God. I am not showing you my underwear you don’t want to see it.

- Pallium: Cloak, outwear to protect from elements. Some had colors. Matthew 27:35 says “Scarlet” Mark 15:17 says “Purple” probably the same color, the color of royalty.but the main focus was protection from harm. we still see this today. Put on Snuggie

- Talit: A Jewish religious covering that holds TzitZit. and is a reminder of a Jewish mans religious responsibilities. To pray, and stay connected to God. The longer the TzitZit the more spiritual and righteous a person.

- Show Talit

- Connection to God

- David, Chief Priests, Woman with bleeding problem

- Sandals: Obvious….

- Show Sandals

- Protect feet. Allows people to walk further with less injury than bare foot

- The Guards did not care about Jesus but they wanted what Jesus had.

- How often is that us?

- How often do we want the purity before God on our own without Jesus?

- How often do we want the protection from the elements without the reliance on gifts from God.

- How often do we want to feel connected to God without the connection to Jesus?

- How often do we want the easy life; to go where we want and to do whatever we want without having to wonder if it is safe?

How often have we tossed Jesus aside and treated him as dead so that we could get, do, and act however we wanted.

However, what every Gospel writer is alluding to is that we can’t have that.

- We cannot be pure before God without the cross

- We cannot be protected from destruction without the cross.

- We cannot be connected to God without the connection to Jesus through the cross.

- We cannot call ourselves a Christian without following Jesus to the cross.

The gospel writers are saying that no matter what you try to do for yourself does not actually save you. No matter how much you try to dress yourself up does not make you saved. It does not make you Holy and will not save you. it will only make you look silly standing in front of a hundred people wearing a snuggie.

Only the work of Jesus on the cross will save you.

Too often we have tried to get something for nothing.

Too often we have pretended God didn’t exist because we want to do things our own way.

Too often we try to take what we want by any means necessary.

- We say things like the end justifies the means. And so as long as we get what we want then we can do whatever we need to get it.

When we take something without care for what the other person thinks it is called stealing.

We try to steal the blessings from Jesus. We pretend that Jesus isn’t there and we take what we want.

However, if we could be patient just a little longer God is going to give us all of that and more.

Instead of stealing it from God if we can wait just a little longer we will get everything God intends for us to have.

If we wait Jesus will use the cross to present us pure and blameless before God.

If we wait Jesus will use the cross to protect us from the ultimate enemy, death.

If we wait Jesus will use the cross to create within us righteousness and a connection to God like we have never experienced before.

If we wait Jesus will use the cross to tell us the full plan of God and how we can be a part of that plan.

Unfortunately stealing is easy and doesn’t cost us anything.

Whereas, waiting patiently is free but it costs us everything. Instead of attempting to steal blessings from God we waited for God to work then we would have gotten free grace that costs us everything.

Through the cross God gives us everything we need.  Yet that free gift ends up costing us more than we could have ever imagined.

It costs us our very life. It demands that we put down our desires and pick up the desires of Christ those desires are to worship God and to make disciples.

The guards had a choice. The disciples had a choice and we have a choice.

A choice to take what we want. Do want we want and act like we want.

OR

To give up our own desires and wants and follow after Jesus.  To live the life we are called by God to live and to go where God wants us to go.

We can worship ourselves or we can worship God

We can go where we want or we can follow God.

One choice will build up your own identity and make you feel good but will lead to your death.

The other choice will build up those around you and will lead to resurrection with Jesus.

The choice is yours alone to make and the only way to do it is to make a conscious choice to follow God and bet your life on the fact that the cross is real, grace is free, and you are forgiven. and that any other choice is only dressing up and looking silly and hoping that your works will save you.

if you find yourself here all dressed up but still not saved then now is the time to change, to ask god to forgive you and to give you the salvation you have been working for. it may not be a prayer but prayer happens. it may not be coming to the altar but sometimes that happens. but it is always about seeing God’s grace is for you and living into that grace.

Sermon Audio

 

 

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