The Scandalous Jesus (Part 3)

The Scandal of the Cross
December 30, 2007

Introduction
Want an embarrassing moment? Consider this answer to the question “Why are one-fifth of Americans unable to locate the United States on the map?” by Miss South Carolina in the Miss Teen USA Competition:

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us." [1]

Want to say that in front of a live studio audience?

In his now-famous book, The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren starts with this startling statement: It’s not about you. His premise is that, in order to find a meaningful life, the starting point of your journey cannot be with you. It must begin with God.

Let me add Tim’s Corollary: It’s not your opinion that counts. At the end of the day, it is not what you believe that is the point. God said it. You believe it. That settles it? No, no, no. God said it. That settles it. You believe it.

One more (Tim’s 2nd Corollary): It’s not their opinion that counts. God’s opinion is the important thing. And, when it comes to Jesus, all sorts of people try to put their expectations on Jesus.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. – Matthew 16:13-17

Notice whose opinion was important: God’s. The disciple had heard lots of things. If you try and start with yourself and then figure out who Jesus is and why he is important, you will go off in all directions. Why? Because Jesus ends up being a bigger version of you. Sort of like the Gusteau in Ratatouille. Limited by preconceived ideas.

But when you start with what God says, you find out that Jesus is more interesting, more fantastic, more loving and more disturbing than anyone we could invent. That’s why, for the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at the scandal of Jesus.

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. –1 Corinthians 1:22-24

Last week we looked at how he blew past people’s preconceived notions and messed with their plans when he came at Christmas. A few weeks before that, we looked at how he shattered our notions of what “greatness” was, challenging us to get our hands dirty and take second place.

But if there was one area where Jesus got in-your-face, the one thing with which people struggled with the most, the one put-up-or-shut-up issue, it was the cross. Go back and look at those verses again: “…but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”

Whenever Paul started talking about the gospel; the good news about Jesus, his ability to transform lives and his planned return to planet Earth, that was all well-and-good. But when you said Jesus died hanging on a cross, the Jews said, “Whoa!” Jesus came back to life, the Greeks said, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

To Paul’s contemporaries, the cross was not a pretty trinket on a necklace or an architectural detail on a building; it was the electric chair, the hangman’s noose, the lethal injection, the bullet and the blindfold. The God of glory hung out for public humiliation? Unthinkable!

The History Of Glory
To understand why this was so difficult to swallow, you need to go back to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, if there was one key defining characteristic of God, it was his glory. The word, glory, shekinah, was related to the brilliance or brightness of a light source. God, in his glory, was so bright that you could not look at him. In many places, this brightness was related to his holiness, his purity and his separation from mankind.

On Mt. Sinai, after God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt, across the Red Sea:

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai…To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. – Exodus 24:16-17

When the Ark of the Covenant was brought to the newly built temple, it says:

And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple. – 1 Kings 8:11

The glory itself was nothing, it was an expression of who God was, in the same way that the light pouring from the sun is not the sun itself, but is generated by the sun.

And this glory was not just the physical radiance of God’s presence; it was also used to talk about God’s reputation. You gave credit to God for all of the things he did:

Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. – Psalm 115:1

And the angels in heaven sang this song:

And they [the angels] were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." –Isaiah 6:3

Over 250 times in the Old Testament, the word ‘glory’ is used. His great reputation; because of the great things he had done; because of who He is and how great He is. Glory was something which belonged to God alone. Sometimes he would grant some to his followers, but if you tried to grab it yourself, watch out. Just like we talked about a few weeks ago.

King Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, a huge kingdom centered on modern day Iraq. One of the great rulers in the Old Testament, but he forgot this fundamental rule.

…As the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle… until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” – Daniel 4:29-32

Oops. Nebuchadnezzar the original cow-boy. God has built-in to each one of us a God-sized gap. A gap meant to be filled by him alone. But, in our selfishness, we are apt to substitute other things in God’s place. We substitute ourselves. We substitute our things. We substitute nature. But only God should get the glory.

And this was keen in the minds of the people in Jesus’ time. Glory belonged to God. Why the setbacks in the times of the prophets; the setbacks with the Babylonians, Assyrians, the Greeks and the Romans? Jesus’ contemporaries had figured it out. They hadn’t been pure enough; their devotion wasn’t strong enough. If only they made themselves ready, God would restore them, push out all of the foreigners and establish his kingdom on earth under the ruler of a king, the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. Every bar mitzvah and every Passover, the thoughts of the Jews turned to when God would send the man who would defend his glory and his reputation…

The History Of Shame
Then came Jesus Christ. Christ wasn’t his last name, it was his title; the Greek translation of the Jewish term Messiah; anointed one; chosen of God. And in a surprise move by God, he wasn’t just a great man, he was God.

The Bible says ,

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being…- Hebrews 1:3

So when you see Jesus, you’ve seen God and not only God, but his glory!

The scandal of the cross was not the pain. I have heard lots of sermons which talk about how painful Jesus’ death was and how he endured it all for me. And there is no question that hanging on the cross, slowly dying of asphyxiation, unable to breath while you ripped your hands and feet to shreds was an extremely unpleasant way to die; a true tribute to the twisted creativity of mankind.

But the scandal wasn’t the pain. It was the shame, it was the humiliation.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! – Philippians 2:8

That phrase “even death on a cross” literally is actually “even a cross death.” Even a death as shameful as that.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2

You see, it was not the pain which lay between Jesus and the right hand of the father, it was shame; it was humiliation; it was the anti-glory. Every step along the way from Gethsemane to the cross was a step of humiliation; a step where the son of God laid aside his glory and took on our shame so that he could achieve what he wanted most: the redemption of us all.

The first hit to Jesus’ reputation was with his arrest. He rides into Jerusalem and people are lined up, praising God for the arrival of the Messiah. But 24 hours later, after his arrest, the public opinion polls for Jesus tank when whispers of his conviction by the Supreme Court of the Jews get around. He claimed to be God! He claimed to want to tear down the temple. Like wildfire, word spread and His public approval rating is so low, that many join his enemies outside Pilate’s courtyard and call for his crucifixion. His closest friends abandon him: Judas snitches on him (Mark 14:44), Mark runs away from the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:51,52), Peter denies him (Mark 14:71).

In the first century, crucifixion was a morbid form of free public entertainment. Should we go to the show today? No. How about down to the river? No. What do you want to do? Well, I heard there’s a really good crucifixion going on outside the city at Golgotha. Oh yeah, I heard there’s thief, a tax dodger and a wanna-be Messiah. Sure, let’s go; that sounds good. In this, it was similar to a hanging in the Old West or the stocks in colonial New England.

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. – Luke 23:27

Crucifixion was a public spectacle.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him….The soldiers also came up and mocked him… One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him. – Luke 23:35, 36, 39

Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself. Aren’t you the king? Get us down. Painful words for the savior from heaven. Since the act of dying was so long, people would come and go, eat their lunch, come back to see if he was dead yet, for hours and hours.

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. – John 19:23

Crucifixion was designed to be degrading and humiliating and shameful, naked (no loincloth) and bloody for the world to see. There you could hang for hours as you slowly scraped yourself up and down the rough wood, running out of air. A few of Jesus’ friends lingered around the cross, but at least Peter, Mark and Judas had run away or denied him.

Such a common death for the son of God. There was nothing new or special or extraordinary about Jesus’ death. Poor people got it all the time. The rich could afford a dignified death. But not Jesus. Crucifixion was so common that there was a crucifixion area set aside for it outside of both Jerusalem and Rome. It was so common that the Romans once crucified 6,000 at once on one of the roads.

Nothing special here, no need for the lens of history to linger here. Just another small-town Messiah; big head, but not really cut out to be the Christ. Messed with the wrong people; sensitive times you know, don’t want to stir up the Romans when, you know, you’re not the Real Guy; not the Real Messiah. Next…

Why? Why would God sacrifice his own glory? Why would God put his reputation on the line? Why did he make himself look so bad at the cross?

The History Of Risk
Ever had someone save you from embarrassment? Covered for you or inserted an explanatory word at the right moment or nudged you or kicked you in the shins. My wife Helen has saved me from foot-in-mouth disease more than once.

Once, when I was preaching at a church in Mountain View, they had a narrow transparent pulpit, kind of like this one. And as I spoke, about Heaven, I think, I noticed my wife waving franticly at me. I understood she was trying to tell me something important. I continued to preach on auto-pilot while trying to do this game of Charades with her. Finally, there was one thing I understood, opening her hands, showing me she wanted me to have the congregation read the Bible. So we read the Bible. Exasperated, she stood up, quietly made her way to the back of the room and signed for me to zip up. Now I understood. But here I was in front of this see-through pulpit. There was nothing to do but take the embarrassment in front of everyone. Later she told me that was why she wanted people to read the Bible, so they’d be looking down.

We all have stories like this. We’re not perfect, but thank God we have people who love and care for us enough to save us from ourselves. Sometimes there is little or no risk, just a little thoughtfulness involved. But sometimes, it is more than embarrassing; rescuing you means exposing themselves to shame. Like the time they picked you up from the police station; or the time they paid the bill; or the time that they deliberately ignored the comments about you.

I looked on the web and found dozens of forums where you could post your ‘most embarrassing moment’ There was one comment which stuck with me: If these were really the most embarrassing, you wouldn’t be posting it on the Internet, now would you?

We all have those secrets, don’t we? If we told the people in this room; if we told our family; if we told our closest friend, how horrible we would feel…how much explaining we would have to do…how our eyes would not meet …how shameful. We hold those secrets inside.

Friends, that is the scandal of the cross. That Jesus would leave the glory of heaven and take the path of shame; that in the cross, he would take the blame, not for his own past, but for ours. He knows our shameful secrets and, for each of them, he took the full measure of the rejection of God. The day was as dark as night. And Jesus cried out: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The Bible says:

As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” – Romans 9:33

Jesus is the stumbling block. He is the scandal. But no one who trusts in God has to worry about shame? Why? Is it because we never get into embarrassing or shameful situations? No, it is because, in the end, God’s opinion is the opinion that counts. Not ours. When we come to God, when we trust in him, Jesus says, “It’s ok. They’re with me.” Our reputation is nothing, because we have tied our reputation to his.

Three questions this morning:

• 1. Whose opinion are you listening to?

There are plenty of people willing to tell you what you should do, how you should live, and how to set your priorities. Magazines. TV. Radio. Junk mail. Some of us carry a whole jury box around in our heads. Parents. Teachers. Coaches. Neighbors. Every decision submitted for their approval. Every course of action criticized. They might even be dead, but their opinions live on with you.

At the end of the day, though, its not their opinion that counts. It’s Gods.

• 2. Whose reputation are you promoting and protecting?

“One can’t, at once, promote two reputations. Promote God’s and forget yours. Or promote yours and forget God’s. We must choose.”[2] Joseph gave away his reputation when he followed God’s plan and took pregnant Mary as his wife.

You’re a photographer for an ad agency. Your boss wants to assign you to your biggest photo shoot ever. The account? An adult magazine. He knows of your faith. Say yes and polish your reputation. Say yes and use your God-given gift to tarnish Christ’s reputation. What do you choose?

The sales contract is this close to being closed. But something comes up, the customer trusts you because of your faith. One little half-truth could seal the deal and your bonus, but would slander the kingdom of God. What do you say?

The college philosophy teacher daily harangues against Christ. He derides spirituality and denigrates the need for forgiveness. One day he dares any Christian in the class to speak up. Would you?[3]

• 3. What are you willing to risk?

Jesus put God’s reputation on the line. And you were where he put it. Jesus spilt his own blood, made himself foolishness and a stumbling block, for you and for me. Was it a good bargain for God? His reputation for your life. He has left his reputation, his glory, in the most unlikely of places, in the church, in this room. With you. With me. Because he had this strange; this weird; this foolish notion that in bringing many sons and daughters to God the Father, would bring the greater glory; that before the throne, the voices of the redeemed of God would one day drown out the angels of heaven in singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come.”

Was it a good bet? I don’t know. You tell me. God didn’t leave Jesus in El Dorado Hills, he left us. He left us. What are you willing to risk? Will 2008 be just another year of going through the motions, a mamby-pamby, look-good, feel-good Christianity?

Maybe 2008 is the year you step out of your comfort zone (your crib) and transform the two-week vacation this year into a mission’s trip and let God plug you into the amazing things he’s doing around the world.

Maybe 2008 is the year you go deeper with God and you realize you can’t do it alone. Life is tough and if we try to manage it alone, without those critical relationships that give us perspective and pray with us and lift us up when we struggle, we crash and burn. We’ve got a men’s and women’s group on Wednesday. Or, if you’ve mastered the DVD player, you can do a trial run for 5 weeks at your house with this plug-n-play curriculum. It just takes 6-8 willing people and one couple willing to open their house.

Maybe 2008 is the year you get serious about God. Maybe you’ve enjoyed the role of a Christmas Christian, singing the carols, attending the services. In January you traditionally jettison your faith and get back to your real life. But this December something hits you. The immensity of it all hits you. God put his own reputation on the line, spilling his blood to pay your way back to God. Radical thoughts begin to surface. Your family and friends think you are crazy. Your changing world is changing theirs. They want the Christmas Christian back. You can protect your reputation or protect his.

I don’t know what it is for you. But its going to be risky. Its going to stretch you and even break you, but the world will not be the same because you will be different, God’s kingdom will be expanded and lives will be changed forever. Why? Because your life will be overflowing with the same love and power that Jesus had when he took on the cross for you.


[1] List: Year’s Most Memorable Quotes, Associated Press, Copyright © 2007 Associated Press as cited in USA Today, 19 December 2007
[2] Cure for the Common Life, Max Lucado, Copyright © 2005 by Max Lucado, p. 84
[3] Ibid, p. 86