Suffering and Salvation

It was now approaching noon. Jesus had been on the Cross for about three hours; Arm's outstretched - just hanging there.

Utterly exhausted, he sagged down with more of his weight on the nails in his wrists putting pressure on the median nerve. Excruciating, fiery pain shot along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain. As He pushed himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He had to place His full weight on the nail through His feet. More searing agony as the nail tore through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of this feet.

At this point, as his tired arms grew weaker great waves of cramps ripped through the muscles, knotting them in deep relentless, throbbing pain. The cramps eliminated any strength he did have to pull himself up for breath. Hanging by the arms, the pectoral muscles, the large muscles of the chest, are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles, the small muscles between the ribs, are unable to act. Jesus could just about breathe in, but breathing out was tough. Jesus fought to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, the carbon dioxide level increased in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subsided.

And yet, despite the total, unbearable, physical agony, he had the grace to forgive those who had scarred him; the ones who had caused this trauma; the ones who had set his execution in motion. Forgiveness.

He didn't retaliate against those who hurled abused.

He didn't condemn the criminal crucified next to him who heaped insult after insult on him.

But he did have time to reassure one man; a condemned law-breaker crucified near him. They may never have met before this day. They may never have talked together or ate together. But now they were dying together and in a moment of revelation the criminal sees Jesus for who he is.

In the midst of his own personal agonising trauma, the man turns his head towards Jesus, pulls against his own piercing nails to draw a short breath or two, and tries to get Jesus' attention.

"Jesus. Hey, Jesus." Jesus turns his face towards him.

"When you enter your kingdom... please, remember me. Please"

The first hint of the first smile of the day lights up the beaten and bloodied face of the Messiah and he replies back.

"Don't worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise."

Salvation during Crucifixion: What a wonderful mysterious combination.

Christ Crucified

The death sentence given to Jesus of Nazareth was death by crucifixion: the most barbaric execution conceived of in the whole of human history.

Jesus would be flogged; scourged: whipped. The whips used would be leather strands with pieces of lead, flint, metal all lodged in the ends. It was designed and perfected to shred flesh from a man's back. The first few lashes bruised. The next batch cut through the skin. Thirty-nine lashes later Jesus back was a bloodied mangled mess of skin, muscle and tissue. Then the put a robe on him and mockingly crowned him king with a crown made of jagged-spiny thorns which pierce his head and jarred against his skull.

The practise was for the prisoner to carry his or her own cross. Whether the whole thing or just a cross beam was carried is unsure, but nevertheless, carrying a log for about 700 yards across a scourged back would hurt.

The reached the crucifixion site - outside the city walls, on the main road. It was a deterrent to stop anyone challenging the authorities.

Ripping off the robe, re-opening the wounds on his back he was laid on the cross.

These soldiers weren't careful and gentle. They had crucified hundreds of people, if not thousands. They were just doing their job and doing it with merciless efficiency.

They grabs his hands, pulled his arms outstretched and reached for a nail - a long, rough, rusty metal nail.

Feeling for the depression in the wrist, between the bones, the soldier positions the nail and hammers it through Jesus' arm - passing by arteries and veins and damaging nerves - and into the wood below. Every jolt of every blow sending agony through his body. The same action is carried out the other side.

Next the feet. They bend his knees slightly and ensure they rest in an uncomfortable place. One foot in brought back to rest on the other. Another nail, this positioned at the top of the front foot, is driven through flesh and bone and finally wood.

The cross is fixed and raised and Christ is left to die.

Exhausted - he hasn't slept since Wednesday night, though I doubt he got much rest knowing what was coming.

Hungry. Thirsty.

Bleeding profusely from his back, his hands, his feet, his head. His body losing a lot of fluid very quickly. The stress and pressure often caused migraines to afflict the victims.

It has just gone nine on Friday morning...

Extreme Thursday

Last night was a night of extremes.

Extreme humility. As Jesus, the Messiah, got up from the table during dinner with his followers, his friends, grabbed a towel and some water and began washing their feet.

This seems a strange act to do these days, but remember these guys walked everywhere, and they walked everywhere wearing sandals. The dust and dirt from the roads mix with the sweat of their toughened feet. This was a nasty job. And yet Jesus stoops down to serve his friends. He loves them. He cares for their needs, not just their spiritual needs, but their physical needs and their emotional needs.

It is a night of extreme significance. As Jesus, the Son of God, takes and old tradition and translates it into a loaded memorial. He takes bread and breaks it and shares it and tells them 'this is my body'. He takes a cup of wine and shares it saying 'this is my blood'. Eat and drink in remembrance of me. For centuries theologians have wrestled over the meaning of this mysterious act. A simple meal with enormous significance.

Extreme emotion. After dinner they walk to a nearby garden and Jesus goes alone to pray. He knows what is required of him over the next twenty-four hours. He knows he was born to die so that God and humankind can be reconciled to one another. He has read the prophecies. In his heart he is willing but... he's a man. Any man in that position would be tempted to run and hide; to escape in the night, flee the country and live a happy life as a carpenter elsewhere. But he stays. The stress and terror of knowing he'll die tomorrow sends his heart racing; his blood pressure soaring to point it bursts blood vessels in his head and, mixed with the cold sweat of excruciating anxiety, Jesus sweats blood.

The emotional trauma doesn't stop there because Judas, one of the twelve guys he had spent every day for the past three years with, comes to find him. He is leading the soldiers, who will arrest Jesus, right to him. And to signal which one the soldiers want, Judas kisses Jesus. A sign of love inflicting a wound so deep.

There are now Extreme Political Circumstances. The religious leaders take Jesus and put him on trial. Though none of the false witnesses they bring in can pin anything on the faultless Nazarene rabbi they eventually ask him plainly: Are you the Son of God?

I AM

He told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

They didn't believe him. The politics of the time meant Jesus was dragged from trial to trial in front of differing parties and authorities. Eventually the Roman Governor gave the death sentence. He was schedule for Crucifixion at 9:00am.

6 - Cash and Community Care

It is the Monday after the Sunday before. After the celebrations and drama of the triumphal entry, Jesus and the disciples are back in the temple (a brave move after yesterday's outburst). He is aware of what is to come later this week and so Jesus continues establishing the principles, the foundations, on which his Church would be built. He begins by warning the disciples to beware of the religious leaders who like to be seen in fine robes and to flaunt their influence and status. They use their wealth and status for selfish means and will be punished. Do not be like these people!

He turns their attention to the temple offering boxes and and he points out two contrasting types of offerings given; first by ‘the rich’ and then by a ‘poor widow’ – At that time and in that culture there weren't many opportunities for widows to earn money so any widow would be poor. She puts in two coins. That's all she has. She gives literally all that she had to live on. Her little gift is deemed by Jesus as more valuable than all the offerings by the rich put together. As she is bringing her gift to the temple she is trusting in God for her provision and her life. But at this time she is investing in a corrupted system. The religious leaders had abandoned their duties and were ‘exploiting the weak and helpless.’

This wasn't the plan. The Temple was meant to look after the poor. But money had gotten in the way. Expenses scandals and crooked deals meant the religious leaders weren't doing the job properly. Jesus wanted his followers to act differently. The early church ‘pooled their resources’ to make sure people were looked after and provided for. The new early church system would ensure widows giving their all to the Church would be suitably catered for in a way that the defective temple system couldn’t, or rather didn’t. Jesus’ teaching here is twofold; give offerings that are costly. Be like the widow and give everything. Hold nothing back and rely on God to provide and care for you. And secondly it is a lesson about community. Offering possessions and wealth up to God for use in his Church builds a wonderful and honouring community.

Yesterday Jesus was hailed as the king, the messiah. In his kingdom, where things are done his way, the poor and the needy are looked after. Actually, everyone is looked after.

Remind me... why don't we live like this?

7 - Palm Sunday: Where?

Where would you have been today?

Jesus of Nazareth, the radical Jewish rabbi who had been stirring up controversy everywhere he went with his outrageous antics and fresh new teaching style, was seen surrounded by the usual crowd of thousands of people, but this time he was riding into the city... on a donkey.

For the past three years he had been teaching about love and social justice and performing miracles. He'd even raised people from the dead. Jesus had become a celebrity. Celebrities galloped into town on a stallion or with an entourage. They didn't travel on a scruffy little donkey. It would be the equivalent of a modern day world famous celebrity, riding into London on a cheap, basic model moped. It was a surreal, significant day and it's intriguing to think... where would I have been?

Would I have been on the roadside? Standing with the masses, experiencing the crowd shouting cheers at Jesus as he toddled past balanced precariously on this little beast-of-burden. Would I have noticed the subtle change in the chants of the crowd from the generic 'hooray for Jesus' to the politically charged cries declaring Jesus was the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Hero of Israel! Would I have thrown my coat, my one and only jacket, on the floor to create a red carpet for Jesus to ride on? Would I have grabbed a palm-banner and waved it to honour this donkey-riding King?

Or would I have been at the Palace? or the military base? After hearing Jesus was coming and the claims he was the Messiah - the man the Jews thought would liberate Israel from Roman occupation - would I have run ahead to watch the Jesus v Rome fight? Would I be expecting a bloody revolution? Would I be disappointed when it turns out Jesus didn't head for the Roman HQ, but went straight into the temple?

Would I have been in the temple? Maybe I would have been there the whole time, focused so intently on my religious rituals that I actually missed what God was doing? Would I have been utterly disgusted and furious that Jesus would cause a disturbance as he smashed up the money changing area, declaring my religious practise as missing the point, disrupting my comfortable views on faith and religion and ethics?

Or would I have been with Jesus all along... hanging on his every word... helping him get on the donkey... watching as he paraded through the city but never letting it go to his head... seeing him get so passionate in the temple as he put things to right... would I follow him for the rest of the week...?

It was gonna be one heck of a week...

New Blog Series: Begins Sunday

With Palm Sunday fast approaching I have plans to blog about the Holy Week story. From the triumphal entry this weekend, through the emotional agony of Thursday night, exploring the physical torture of Friday, the emptiness of Saturday and the mind-bogglingly glorious events of Easter Sunday.

Watch this space...

Widescreen/Inside-out

I’d like to share with you something God has been teaching me over the last couple of years or so ;

There have been moments in history that have turned the world, and the way we think of the world, on its head.
There was a time when we KNEW the earth was flat... and that was proved wrong.
There was a time when we KNEW the earth was the centre of the universe... and that was proved wrong.
There was a time when we KNEW slavery was the way to go... and that was proved wrong.
There was a time when we KNEW something... and it was proved wrong.

The Apostles KNEW that salvation was for Israel, the Jews – they were the People of God, the people of the promise to Abraham... til rumours of Peter breaking all the rules begin drifting into Jerusalem*.
“Peter has been eating with THEM!”

Was this right? Had Peter been hanging out with THEM? Mixing with THEM? Surely Peter knew better than that. THEY were Gentiles, the irreligious outsiders, the no-hopers, the foreigners, the dirty, unclean heathens. Why would Peter even bother? So when Peter turns up, they grill him about it.

Peter explains himself:
“Ok, So I was in Joppa, praying, and fell into like a dream, like a trance. And I saw something like a blanket, a picnic sheet, being lowered down by its four corners from heaven. It landed in front of me and on it was a load of animals, all different kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and God said ‘kill it, cook it, eat it’.
"I was like 'I can’t do that, that’s not kosher. I’ve never eaten anything impure or unclean.' And God said 'don’t call anything I’ve made clean unclean'. And this happened, what?, three times. It was really weird!"

And then he begins to them tell how them Spirit had told him about the ‘outsider’ that was looking for him; how he should go with him, and go into his house, and tell the gospel to the outsider and his family. By this point, the Apostle’s are sitting around the room hanging on his every word...

Peter continues explaining; ‘while I was speaking the Spirit came on them like He did on us, Remember? On Pentecost when this all kicked off? and... they believed... in Our Jesus... and lads... I think they’re saved. I mean, they believe the same Jesus, they got the same Spirit and like, who am I to say who God got it wrong?!

The other Apostles are stunned, silent. Their whole Jewish upbringing has just been totally flipped, their jaws have hit the floor, their brains are working overtime trying to process this – How could...? Why Would...? What about...? What’s just happened?
And yet somehow the Holy Spirit is stirring their hearts to worship and assuring them that actually... what Peter is saying is right. And what he did was ok and that this is how it’s meant to be!

Imagine... Echoes of Jesus’ words are flooding back ‘You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth’. Memories of eating with Tax collectors and hookers and hoodlums come rushing back... the woman at the well, the roman centurion’s servant, the good Samaritan story... all these pieces begin falling into place... This gospel is FAR more inclusive than they ever imagined!

They don’t get it all right from this moment on. They still try to work out what this actually looks like in practice. They still muck stuff up and things get a bit messy and tetchy from time to time but God is gracious to them. They only get four chapters down the road before the main leaders of the Church have to get together to address some of the problems they’re having with this new inclusivity. What do they do about some of the hoops gentiles had to jump through? Do they need circumcision or can they do without it? Is it a help or a hindrance?

The bottom line is; through Christ the outsiders are in, and the apostles need to spread the word.
The foreigners are in.
The outcasts are in.
The uneducated are in.
The heathens are in...
“God has granted EVEN the GENTILES repentance unto life.”

And it’s got to be important cos Luke, the author of Acts, includes this story TWICE. This is the replay of Chapter 10. This is the repeat on Channel Acts+1. Luke wants us to hear this story, and to take on board what it means and go through the same thought processes as the apostles.
We won’t get it all right from this moment on. We still need to try to work out what this actually looks like in practice, in our church, in our lives. How do we live this out?!
We’ll still muck stuff up and things will probably get a bit messy and tetchy from time to time but God is gracious to us.

The bottom line is; through Christ the outsiders are in, and we need to spread the word.
This Gospel is for the foreigners.
This Gospel is for the outcasts because they are included.
This Gospel is for the uneducated because they are included.
This Gospel is for the heathens because they are included.
This Gospel is for the people from the dodgy estate
This Gospel is for the upper class twits
This Gospel is for the disabled
This Gospel is for the homosexuals
This Gospel is for the homeless
This Gospel is for the ugly
This Gospel is for the single mums
This Gospel is for the abused
This Gospel is for those with credit or debt problems
This Gospel is for the people with unsavoury lifestyle choices because they are all included. Everyone is entitled to hear the gospel story! “God has granted EVEN the GENTILES repentance unto life.”
And it made me think: When was the last time you went somewhere and felt out of place?

Last summer, Kat and I went to the Polo with some friends.
We knew it was going to be a fairly posh do when it said on the invite you could arrive by car or bus or tube or boat... or helicopter.
I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE OUT OF PLACE IN MY LIFE!
There were sales pitches for yachts and holiday villas and horses and stables.
There were small children ‘utterly outraged mummy.’ Cos we called them horses and ‘they're quite plainly obviously ponies’.
I’ve been to many a sporting event in my life: Football matches – you go to the ground, you have a drink and a pie you watch the football, you go home (you try and spot yourself on match of the day later).
I’ve even been to the Winter Olympics Ice Hockey: You go to the rink, you have a drink, you watch the match, you go see the Olympic flame, and then you go home.
Apparently the actual polo match is a sideline attraction at a polo event. These people seemed more intent on looking more important and richer than anyone else.
And as I walked around the venue... I was distinctly aware that I was expected to behave like them before I could belong in their club.

Church was never intended to be like that... Jesus met people where they were, loved them for who they were, and THEN helped them change their lives. Widening our vision of the gospel, even just a little bit to include those people who are just on fringe can bring huge growth. The gospel we know and love and believe is far more inclusive than we can imagine. We not called to decide who to share it with.

One songwriter put like this – Jesus paid much too high a price for us to pick and choose who should come.

Who can you include?
How can you widen your sights?
Are you ready for a bit of inconvenience?
Are you willing to let people belong before they behave the right way?
Who is it on the fringe of your friendship group?

through Christ the outsiders are in, and we need to spread the word.

*this story is found in Acts 11:1-18