fareham westend chapel

8/12/2019 Fareham Westend Chapel

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Fareham Westend Chapel Mark 15: 33-47 11/3/2012

In 1987, Ron Williamson a man showing signs of mental illness, was tried for

the rape and murder of a waitress Debra Carter in Oklahoma USA. The

evidence was non-existent but hey, let's not let that get in the way of a good

trial. Ron had poor representation and was convicted and sent to death row

where every day, he screamed at the top of his voice that he was innocentwhile the day of execution drew nearer. At one point he was 5 days from being

executed until obtaining a stay of execution - and then the sentence was

reinstated. Eventually, after a long battle by others - on Ron's behalf - 11 years

on, he was exonerated and released in 1999. The time on death row,

psychological exhaustion - and lack of treatment - probably added to the end

result that Ron died only 5 years later aged 51.

If I am ever fed up with my work as an Advocate: when the pressure seems too

much - and I feel unloved, I think of Ron and the outrage and injustice meted

out to another human beingan individual whose voice was silenced - in spite

of his very vocal protestations. Why do we ignore the cries of some people and

fail to see the implications of things plainly before our eyes?John Grisham - the

legal writer and Christian, wrote a book about Ron called The Innocent Man.

The Death of another human being is never easy to witness - nor should it be.

It is a reassuring fact that we are still human, when we are moved by the end


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of another. In our reading this morning, we do just that. There is no happy

ending here, in this framed passage: just pain - slightly sanitised for us - but

pain inflicted by fellow human beings and maximised, whilst the victim goes

through their last moments of life. It is very easy to Pass over this and ignore

what happened.

You have followed the story so far, so know the facts: Mark's account was

written within 40 years of the historical events: that is the same as say - the

events of the assassination of president Kennedy - easily within living memory.

The documents here are carefully produced. You know also that this man was

tried on trumped-up charges - it was politically expedient to allow this

execution to go ahead. There was no real defence, in fact this man spent most

of this shocking time, in silence. In spite of the innocence - there were no

protestations: It was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. I think this morning

we do well to think again of this part of the account and not hurry past.

Either this individual in our reading today, had given up all hope, or there was a

greater plan, not apparent on the first reading: that this death was not the

end. Jesus, unlike Ron, did not cry out endlessly 'I am innocent' - but allowed

Himself to be taken and eventually killed.

In Lamentations 1:12 the sufferer feels their suffering is unprecedented and

cries out - Is it nothing to you all ye who pass by?Yet in spite of this, no-one

seems to sympathise, the human emotions of those watching the shocking

events prompted by Lamentations, have been switched off - the suffering,

horror and simple injustice no longer have an impact. The bizarre truth is that


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we are often more moved by an episode of Corrie or our favourite film, than by

the constant news items portraying the events in Libya, Syria - Africa, Greece :

such real human tragedy fails to register. Such injustice allows people like Ron

Williamson to fail to receive justice every day and suffer the consequences

unnoticed. Each time that occurs, the image of God in the people involved

becomes a little more tarnished as we move further away from what we were

originally intended to be.

I dont think we need to go into details - that crucifixion was cruel, humiliating

and used a public warning - is pretty obvious. It was a grim reminder of the

fate of those who challenge the authority of the State. The cost. Actual

descriptions of crucifixion are rare - because writers were hesitant to dwell

long on this brutal, horrific act: Even Mark simply says: "They crucified Him."

It is of significance that theologians and historians have struggled to find any

account of crucifixion - outside Christianity - which is interpreted in a positive

manner: and yet for us, the Cross is the point to which the Gospels are heading

so much so that we have 4 unique views of this incident recorded in the New

Testament.

The crucifixion of Jesus is well attested to in Christian and non-Christian

sources: The Latin historian Tacitus mentions it, as does Josephus.


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This event - Jesus' execution on a cross, was of such a scandalous nature - it

cried out for interpretationsuch is the aim of many of the New Testament

Letters. The narratives demonstrateand Mark in particular - that Christ died

"according to the Scriptures." At least 9 prophecies come together here at this

time. The death of an individual at a specific moment in history at the hands of

a human government is the central event of salvation. This is true because the

individual was the Son of God. The crucifixion shows how seriously God takes

history as His arena of action rather than limiting Himself to an isolated

heavenly world of divine beings.

Here are the facts:

At the 6th hour - noon - darkness covered the whole land - recalling the

darkness that covered Egypt for three days before the death of the first-born

son [Ex 10:20], Amos similarly 8:9-10 prophesied that the Lord would 'darken

the earth in broad daylight' in a time 'like mourning for an only son.'

The cry Jesus makes on the cross - Eloi....Sabachthani - the first verse of Psalm

22 in Aramaic - shows us again that even in the final moments before death,

Jesus' life is determined by what is written in Scripture. There is a plan already

laid and Jesus is fulfilling what has been declared earlier.

Some around Jesus misunderstood Eloi for Elijah - the sour wine was given to

prolong the agony a little longer - to see if Elijah would return and help Jesus.

When Jesus finally cried out and breathed His last, he had been hanging there

for 6 hours - sometimes crucifixion could last 2-3 days. At this point, the veil of

the temple was torn in two: from top to bottom: From a study of other

passages of the Bible we understand that the death of Jesus is the final

definitive sacrifice for sin [Heb 7:27] - The old dispensation of the covenant of


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grace is brought to an end - the High Priest would no longer need to enter the

Most Holy Place behind the veil to atone for the sins of the people. Jesus is the

new and eternal High Priest - the perfect sacrificial victim who obtains for His

people 'eternal redemption.'

A Roman centurion who observed all this, is convinced by what he saw - truly

this Man was the Son of God! There were several woman watching from afar -

as the men fled in despair and confusion - leaving only the beloved disciple.

Apart from the spiritual implications of these events [with which we are all

very familiar] - we must note that this is a very dark passage. Even without

knowing who this person is, or what the meaning of these things are - this is a

tragic scene, one to make you lose faith in humanity. If we just happened to

come across this whilst travelling, we would have to turn away.

Joseph of Arimathea - a prominent council member, took courage and in an act

of faith, went to Pilate asking for Jesus' body. That Pilate was surprised to hear

Jesus was dead already - indicates the unusual character of Jesus' death.

The fight for justice is never easy - there is always a personal cost: The same

must be said in the doctrine of Atonement,

The cost must have been great, if such an individual of impeccable character

needed to die in such a way: Why was there no other way?Of course the

answer is focussed on sin. In modern theology and many branches of the

Christian Church, the awfulness of sin is minimised. A modern theologian has


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called sin cosmic treason- it ripples out touching every part of our existence

and relationship with each other - and God. It starts with depravation -

depravity - an obscene caricature of what God intended and leads to

deprivation as resources are misused, wasted and misplaced. It has been noted

recently that if we stopped watering our golf-courses, there would be enough

water to go around - and give to those who are dying of thirst in the world.

Tragedy is always the working out of the consequences of a sin: so long as all

the characters involved act honourably, and do the things they should, there is

no room for tragedy to operate. Sooner or later, a character appears who does

something he should have not done, or fails to do something he should have

done - the effect of this on the life of the sinner - and on the lives of others

forms the matter of the tragedy. The wrong done cannot simply fade away:

that is the basic fact of a tragedy: unexpiated sin obstinately refuses to efface

itself: it continues, festers and wreaks havoc. Sin cannot be ignored - it must be

dealt with or else reap a grim harvest: we only need cast a brief eye at news

bulletins to confirm this fact.

The first signs of break-down after Adam in Genesis, resulted in death of one

by the hand of his brother. The chaos that sin causes can be traced through the

Biblical account - both Testaments describe sin as rebellion against God's rule -

missing the mark God set for us to aim at, transgressing God's law, offending

God's purity by defiling oneself, and incurring guilt before God the Judge. Sin is

a spirit of fighting God in order to play God: the root is pride and enmity

against God. So sin breaks the law of God - fails to conform to it in any aspect

of life - whether thought, word or deed. Sinfulness marks everyone from birth,

in the form of a heart inclined toward sin, prior to any actual sins: this inner


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sinfulness is the root and source of all actual sins - transmitted to us from

Adam our first representative before God. We are not sinners because we sin,

but sin because we are sinners born with a nature enslaved to sin. As no part of

us is untouched by sin, nothing we do is ever meritorious in God's eyes: we

cannot earn God's favour, no matter what we do; unless grace saves us, we are

lost.

It is through this darkness the Word of God alone brings light. [Luke 18:27, 2

Cor 4:6.]"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who

has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in

the face of Jesus Christ.This picture presented to us in our reading this

morning is the crux of the matter - how a Holy God, deals with sin: how man

can be put right with God. The doctrine under discussion here is the

Atonement: another unfashionable and ignored branch of Christian Theology.

PT Forsyth wrote:

"When we speak of the centrality of the Atonement, we mean much more,

worlds more, than its place in a religious system. We are speaking of that

which is the centre, not of thought, but of actual life, conscience, history and

destiny. We speak of what is the life power of the moral world and its historic

crisis, the ground of the Church's existence, and the sole meaning of Christ

Himself. Christ is to us just what His cross is.....You do not understand Christ till

you understand His Cross." [The Cruciality of the Cross p. 25.]

Though some things may change, throughout the ages, the Christian Church

has steadfastly held that the cross is at the very centre of the Christian Faith. It


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has become the symbol of Christianity, for it alone gives meaning to the whole.

On the Cross the purpose of God is summed up: here it is worked out as

nowhere else.

The consistent picture throughout the Bible is that God provides the means for

man's forgiveness: an act of grace. Through God's sacrifice of His only Son on

the cross, sinful man can be acceptable to a holy God. Not through any

goodness or works by us.

This text reminds us of our own mortality - as Kierkegaard wrote: "We all have

to cross the bridge of sighs into eternity."

The hymn we shall sing at the end has a verse which is not often used, it reads:

Be Thou my consolation, my shield when I must die;

Remind me of Thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.

Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, upon Thy cross shall dwell,

My heart by faith enfolds Thee. Who dieth thus dies well.

As Henry Ward Beecher wrote: "Death is the dropping of the flower that the

fruit may swell."

This text also reminds us that appearances deceive: what is viewed as disaster

by the world - a tragic, humiliating end, has a deeper meaning for those of


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Faith. It is easy for us to lose courage - lose faith, when our efforts for God

seem feeble and ineffective. When measured against worldly definitions of

success, the Church constantly fails. We would do well to remember Carl

Henry's comment that "For the crisis of our times, the Light that shines in

darkness, is still more than adequate." This cross of shame a sign of defeat for

the worldis the power of God unto salvation - the unforgettable centre of

Christianity, demonstrating the love of God for His creation. Leon Morris has

written some excellent books on this subjectparticularly one called The Glory

of the Cross.

It is a sad time when the Church apes the world, loses its identity and becomes

satisfied with less than the full Gospel of Grace and exchanges the Truth for a

lie. But if we stay true to the Gospel of Grace then we can be sure to be

unpopular: As the world seeks to humiliate and undermine the image of God in

man, the Church counters this by standing up for the dignity and respect of

those created in the image of Godinevitably bringing us into a confrontation.

This is the key to how we live if we accept Jesus as our Saviour who died here

for us. Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthews Gospel:

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God.

As Walter Brueggmann writes:

People notice peacemakers because they dress funny. We know how the

people who make war dress - in uniforms and medals, or in computers and

clipboards, or in absoluteness, severity, greed, and cynicism. But the

peacemaker is dressed in righteousness, justice, and faithfulness - dressed for

the work that is to be done.


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In the light of the Cross we are called to be peacemakers in this world, to shine

the light of the Gospel in this dark world until He comes again. We are called tobe differentto no longer live as those enslaved:

- Free people cant live like slave people- A man who can see cant act like a blind man- A live person cannot settle for a morality of death- A son found again, cannot continue to play the part of a lost one.Everything is different now and our lives should be testament to that.

The whole biblical record witnesses Divine Presence amid violence The Cup

and Cross.

Carl Henry wrote:

"That rude cross outside Jerusalem becomes the central reference point of

history; the divine purpose in the beginning of time - and the divine issue at

the end of time, can be understood aright only within the biblical conviction

that this gift of God's Son stands indeed as the fulfilment of time. And this gift,

purchasing for us temporal creatures, the gift of eternal life - discloses at the

same time the divine purpose for redeemed humanity - to bring man more and

more into the image of Christ Jesus. Here time is treated with a perilous and

awful seriousness; each moment is a rendezvous with the God who is supreme

over time - the sovereign Lord of history." p.111


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If Ruth were here this morning, she would groan inwardly and outwardly about

my choice of closing hymn, it seems it lacks a driving beat and catchy tune - but

I love it. The words were a poem written almost a 1000 years ago. Meditating

on the Cross and by perfect juxtaposition - the tune was a secular love song,

before being taken by Bach and shaped into a chorale.

The hymn is number: 520 in the Complete Mission Praise

O Sacred Head Once Wounded.

Shall we pray:

Dear Lord as we gaze this morning at this description of Your only Son -

without sin yet dying on a cross for us, help us to ponder the mystery of how

You give a new chance to those You created. Help us in our lives to shine forth

Your light in the darkness around, to stand up for injustice, to not settle for sin,

for Your name sake we pray, amen.

Blessing:

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