With the Cross In Sight

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Ash Wednesday evening, the 14th of February, 2024, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Today we enter into the Lenten Season, which commemorates the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting, praying, and being tempted by Satan.  We are challenged to use this time for self-examination and introspection, to see if we are living as God would have us live.

It’s a great time to dig deeper into our Bibles, studying the Gospels, listening to Jesus, witnessing what He did while He walked among us.  And we can read the letters His closest friends and followers wrote to help the early church.  For by watching Jesus and studying the letters, through the eyes and the words of those who walked alongside Him, we can see how we, too, should live and act.  And while we may think we can’t do miracles like He did, and perhaps some are beyond our reach, what to us may seem a simple act of kindness may, to the recipient, be a miracle indeed.

By reading the accounts of the Gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – we can see that Jesus was well aware of how His ministry, His life on earth, would end.  And He knew when.  So He spent a good bit of time trying to prepare His disciples for that day in their future, a day that will change mankind’s fate forever.

Through most of this, Jesus was a little circumspect in how He tried to get this message across, just giving out little pieces of info at a time, knowing His followers would not be able to grasp the full impact of what would all too soon occur.  And then came what would be His final trip into Jerusalem, and the last meal that He would share with His friends.  The cross was now clearly in His sight.

Let’s take a brief look at that night, just after the meal is finished.  Please listen and follow along to what the beloved Apostle John recorded for us in chapter 13 of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 3 and verses 31 through 38, and I’ll be reading from the Living Bible version of our Holy Bible this afternoon…

1-3 Jesus knew on the evening of Passover Day that it would be His last night on earth before returning to His Father. During supper the devil had already suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that this was the night to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given Him everything and that He had come from God and would return to God. And how He loved His disciples!

31 As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “My time has come; the glory of God will soon surround Me — and God shall receive great praise because of all that happens to Me. 32 And God shall give Me His own glory, and this so very soon. 33 Dear, dear children, how brief are these moments before I must go away and leave you! Then, though you search for Me, you cannot come to Me — just as I told the Jewish leaders.

34 “And so I am giving a new commandment to you now — love each other just as much as I love you. 35 Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are My disciples.”

36 Simon Peter said, “Master, where are You going?”

And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with Me now; but you will follow Me later.”

37 “But why can’t I come now?” he asked, “for I am ready to die for You.”

38 Jesus answered, “Die for Me? No — three times before the cock crows tomorrow morning, you will deny that you even know Me!”

--John 13:1-3, 31-38 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Father God, one of the most useful features of our Bible is that it provides us with a wealth of examples of what to do and what not to do.  If we carefully follow these examples, we can be seen as righteous in Your eyes.  This is especially true if we try our best to do as Jesus did.  Father, please help us follow the examples Your Son set for us.  Help us remember all that He told us, including the warnings, so that we don’t die in our sins.  Help us follow His example of how to interact with others.  Forgive us when we deny knowing Him by our actions and reactions that mimic the world rather than show us as separate from the world.  This we pray in the name of Your Son Jesus.  Amen.

Each year, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and is always 46 days before Easter Sunday.  Lent is a 40-day season (not counting Sundays) marked by repentance, fasting, reflection, and ultimately celebration.  The 40-day period represents Christ’s time of temptation in the wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him.

Lent asks believers to set aside a time each year for similar fasting, marking an intentional season of focus on Christ’s life, His ministry, His sacrifice, and His resurrection.  And, of course, the best way to focus on Jesus’ life and ministry is to read and study our Bible.  So let’s look a little closer at our scripture reading.

We open up on the evening of the Passover day.  Knowing that Jesus was arrested that evening and crucified the next day, which we celebrate as Good Friday, we can say that this would be Thursday evening.  Jesus and His first twelve disciples, His closest friends, were gathered together in the upper room of a home.  He knew this would be His last meal, His last night as a man on this earth.  He also knew that one of the twelve, Judas Iscariot, would betray Him this night.

We skip ahead a little to just after Judas leaves to carry out his plan, when Jesus says, “My time has come.”  Now this phrase actually carries a couple of meanings.  The cross is now clearly in sight, and Jesus knows the time to give up His earthly life has come.  But it is also the time to complete the mission God sent Him to earth for.  He must be sacrificed for our sake, for only the blood of the Spotless Lamb can atone for our sin.

He tells His friends that His time is short, the remaining moments they have together grow few.  Soon they will no longer be with Him, and they will not be able to come to Him where He goes - not yet.  And here Jesus says, “just as I told the Jewish leaders”.

This comes from a time earlier in His ministry when Jesus had been teaching in the Temple.  On that particular day, the Jewish leaders and Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery asking Jesus if she shouldn't be stoned for her sin.  This was the "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" incident.

The Pharisees accused Jesus of witnessing to Himself, which He defended by replying that God also witnesses for Him.  And then the following, as again recorded by the Apostle John in the 8th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 20 through 27...

20 Jesus made these statements while in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But He was not arrested, for His time had not yet run out.

21 Later He said to them again, “I am going away; and you will search for Me, and die in your sins. And you cannot come where I am going.”

22 The Jews asked, “Is He planning suicide? What does He mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?”

23 Then He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not. 24 That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, you will die in your sins.”

25 “Tell us who You are,” they demanded.

He replied, “I am the one I have always claimed to be. 26 I could condemn you for much and teach you much, but I won’t, for I say only what I am told to by the One who sent Me; and He is Truth.” 27 But they still didn’t understand that he was talking to them about the Father.

--John 8:20-27 (TLB)

Jesus told the Pharisees and Jewish leaders that they would die in their sin because He knew they would never change their ways.  They were of the world and refused to let go of it.  He could have condemned them but He didn’t – there was no need, for they condemned themselves by their refusal to believe that the Messiah, the Christ, had come and stood before them.

So getting back to that Passover evening, with the cross in sight, Jesus gives a new command to all His followers, us included.  We are to love each other just as much as He loves us.  By this the world will know that we are His disciples.

Jesus loves us enough to accept our punishment, to endure a horrible, painful death on the cross so that we can avoid dying in our sin like the Pharisees.  Does He ask us to give up our loves for each other?  No, not in the literal sense, but, as Paul puts it, to give of ourselves to others as a living sacrifice, giving of our time and resources, putting others’ needs ahead of our own.

We are to love as Jesus loves.  And we are not to deny Him and His effect in our lives.  Peter swore he was ready to die for Jesus if necessary.  But Jesus knew better, and we know that this highly emotional disciple did indeed deny even knowing Jesus, three times before morning.  Rather than deny knowing Him, we should be filled with joy and excitement to tell anyone and everyone all about what He has done for us, how He has given us new life, new hope.  Jesus can and does still work miracles in a person’s life.

As we begin our walk through this Lenten season, let us be sure to keep the cross in sight.  Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and our focus on all He did and taught.  And let us love one another, just as Jesus loves us.  In the glorious name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, You sent Your Son Jesus to redeem us of our sin, to save us from ourselves.  He gave everything for us, asking only that we follow Him and love one another.  Thank You, Father, for loving us this much.  Please help us keep the cross of our Lord in sight, through this Lenten season and all the days ahead.  May we never forget or take for granted the sacrifice He made on our behalf.  Please help us share the message of the cross and the empty grave with non-believers so that they too might be saved.  In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.