Mark 15:33-39
Palm Sunday April 5th 2009
"Extravagant Generosity"
A story is told about how, “One afternoon a bus driver was taking 40 children home from school. As the bus made its way down a steep grade, the brakes failed. The driver was unable to steer the bus to the left because of a high embankment or to the right because of a steep cliff.
As the bus hurtled down the hill, the driver recalled that there was a narrow gate at the bottom which led into a soft grassy field. He decided to steer the bus through the gate and into the field, figuring that it would eventually come to a safe stop. He hoped that no cars or other obstacles would get in his way before he got to the gate.
When the bus reached the bottom of the hill, the driver saw the gate approaching fast. But to his horror, he noticed a small child sitting on the gate, waving at the bus.
It was too late to change plans now. If the driver tried to avoid the gate, 40 children would die. He cried out in anguish as the bus slammed directly into the gate. The innocent child died instantly in the collision, but the bus and all of its passengers were saved.
Emergency vehicles were the first to arrive on the scene, followed shortly by relieved parents and grandparents. Many of them wanted to show their appreciation and gratitude to the driver who had kept the bus under control long enough to save their children. But the drive was nowhere to be found. They asked a police officer where he had gone.
“They’ve taken him to the hospital, “the officer said. “He’s suffering from severe shock.”
“Well, that’s understandable,” they replied.
“No, you don’t understand", said the officer. “You see, that little boy on the fence was his own son.” Copyright 2001 Youth Specialties, Inc. “Hot Illustrations”
In the moment that Jesus died he cried out in anguish, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
In that moment of anguish he carried the weight of the world’s sin. In that moment he became sin so that the face of God turned from him. For the first time in his life Jesus felt and experienced “sin” the separation from God, the state of being that we all live in.
He that was innocent and new no sin became sin so that we could have life.
In that moment he not only bore the sin of the whole world, he bore your sin, my sin and our sins were the last straw. Ours sins were the ones that broke his body.
When we contemplate the cross, the wondrous cross we are confronted with our own sin and what it cost our Savior. We see the seriousness and the horror of our sin, and experience what the scripture says is the “offense of the cross”.
We don’t want to see what our sins have done. We want to think that Jesus death was the result of others worse sin and we don’t want to accept our participation in the cross.
In that moment of Christ’s death it says in verse 38 “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” In the split second that Jesus felt the total separation from God because of our sin, because of His sacrifice we were granted access to God.
The curtain in the temple set apart the place that was called, “the holy of holies” place. This was the place where the very essence of God dwelt and the high priest could go only once a year on the Day of Atonement.
Now the curtain was torn from top to bottom by God and now anyone who wants to see God face to face can do so through faith in Jesus Christ his Son.
There are several ways the Bible tries to explain what happened on the cross, the wondrous cross.
One way speaks of Jesus being a sacrifice for our sins, the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world.
Another way it speaks of Jesus on the cross paying the penalty for our sin. We’ve been redeemed.
Another way speaks of us in God’s court that though we are as guilty as sin, Jesus’ blood has washed our guilt away. We’ve been redeemed by the blood of the cross.
Still yet the Bible speaks in terms of family and relationship. It speaks about how what Jesus did on the cross reconciled us with God and our neighbor through the forgiveness of our sin.
Our old self died with Christ on the cross and in our baptism we are granted a new abundant life here on earth and eternal life in the world to come.
Most of all no matter how you try to explain it when you experience the cross in your life you realize that there is no limit to God’s love for you. We realize when we experience the cross that there was nothing that God wasn’t ready to suffer on our behalf.
The cross is the cosmic "X" where God declares his love for us a love that did not spare his only Son. For God so loved the world he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him would not die but have life everlasting.”
This today is what we contemplate on this Palm/Passion Sunday: the love of God that has no limits the love of God that would suffer all suffer twice to show us God’s love. God suffered as the Father watching his Son die. God suffered as the Son dying alone forsaken by all so that all might live. So that you and I can live.
Let us contemplate our sin, the world’s sin and most importantly of all God’s amazing limitless love and the wonder of his love as we think about the weight of the world’s sin that Jesus carried and the power and love of God demonstrated on the cross.
I pray you are struck by the wonder of the cross and declare like the centurion—“Truly this man was God’s Son.”
The wondrous cross let us contemplate it and the limitless love of God as the follow clip plays:
