The Great Exchange

Isaiah 53: 2-10

Of the two main Christian Holidays, I enjoy Easter the most.  This is partly because I prefer Hot Cross Buns to Christmas cake.  It’s partly because Easter is far less commercialized than Christmas. Mainly however, I like Easter because of the Easter story.  The Easter Story is an Epic!   By any standards it is crammed with all the ingredients of an epic drama.  It’s got friendship, betrayal, sacrifice, cowardice yet ultimately redemption.  Today however, I’m not assuming you see Easter the same way as me.  You may not even be a follower of Jesus Christ – you may be wondering why Christians make such a big fuss of Easter.  If that’s you I hope that what follows might change not just your view of Easter but of Jesus himself.

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All great epics have a “backstory”.  To enjoy the Lord of the Rings, it helps to have read The Hobbit.  To enjoy the Return of the Jedi, you have to have seen Star Wars.   The Easter Story also has a backstory only many don’t appreciate it because they find the Bible quite a daunting read.  So let me simplify it for you:

I’ve heard it said that the Bible is nothing more than an account of God’s rescue mission for the lost soul of humanity. Of course, many people today reject the notion that we need rescuing at all! Yet the story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2 and 3) explains why this “rescue mission” was necessary in the first place. On the one hand we get a picture of what life looks like when people are living in right relationship with God. On the other, we get a picture of what life looks like when people seek to control their destiny apart from God. Their Sin literally separates them from the God who created them.

Centuries later, an apostle named Paul wrote to the church in Rome stressing how Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God didn't just affect them but the entire bloodline of humanity as well.  He explains that:

Romans 5: 12 Sin came into the world because of what one man did.

Paul goes on to write that because of this:

“There is no one who is righteous (by righteous he means acceptable to God), not even one.  All have turned away from God…

Paul then talks about the consequences of this sin as well:

And with sin came death. OR PUT ANOTHER WAY (Eternal separation from the God who created them)

So to summarise - every human, belonging as he or she does to the bloodline of Adam, has been corrupted by Adam’s rebellion.  This corruption means that everyone has sinned which means – as Paul reminds us - that everyone must die – face an eternity separated from God.  This is all pretty gloomy isn’t it? – But it does help explain why God has a rescue mission. 

It also explains why this rescue mission involved sending his only Son.  I mean, can you think of a better way of getting someone to trust you?!  A story by author Phillip Yancey really sheds light on this.  As a boy, Yancey used to maintain a tropical fish tank: 

Maintaining this tank was no easy task.  I had to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor the chemical levels.  I had to pour vitamins and other goodies into the water to make sure that the coral would grow and that the fish would be healthy.  I filtered the water regularly and exposed the whole tank to ultraviolet light to kill any germs that might breed there.

You would think, in view of all the energy I put into my tank on behalf of those fishes that they would be at least a little bit grateful!  Not So! Every time my shadow loomed above the tank they dived for cover into the nearest shell.  They showed me only one “emotion” – FEAR.  Although I opened the lid and dropped in food three times a day, they responded to each visit as a sure sign of my designs to torture them.  I had no way of convincing them of my true concern for them!!

I suppose in a way, to these fish, I was like a God.  I was way too large for them; my actions – all meant for their benefit - were too difficult for them to understand.  It’s no wonder they kept diving for cover!  I began thinking about what I would have to do to change their perceptions or experience of me.  I realized that there was only one thing I could do – though it was actually impossible.   If I were truly to reach out to my fish I realized that some sort of incarnation was needed – If I was to convince my fish of my good intentions, I would actually have to become a fish myself – be able to “speak” and relate to them in a way that they could understand 

So this is the backstory of Easter.  God is on a mission to rescue humanity.  This mission first begins with His “connecting” with us through his son Jesus - speaking our language – walking in our shoes – facing all the temptations, struggles and trials that we humans face.  But most importantly, doing all this without sinning the way we do

Hebrews 4: For we do not have a saviour who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are

 … yet he did not sin. 

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Now let’s return to the Easter story.   Having found a way of bringing us into His confidence, God’s plan now addresses that stubborn problem of sin – the one thing that threatens to separate us from God for eternity.  And so…that same son who came to live amongst us must now die for us.  Many people however – even many Christians – battle to understand just how the cross could have dealt with our sin. 

On the face of it, there was nothing that special about crucifixion - it was a common (if gruesome) method of execution in those days.  It was barbaric in the extreme, designed to inflict as much pain and humiliation on the victim.   But to understand how it dealt with our sin we have to look beyond all the blood and gore.  This was no-ordinary death. 

If you read the Gospels, particularly the Gospel of John, you will see that Jesus is sometimes referred to as “The Lamb of God”.  In fact when John the Baptist first sees Jesus, he says “Behold – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World”.  What is going on here?

Up to this point, there was a way the Jews would deal with their sins.  It involved confessing their transgressions over a spotless lamb and then geting a priest to sacrifice it on their behalf to make them righteous before God.  This was never a once off event – it had to be done regularly if a person was to maintain his relationship with God. But now Jesus arrives and what John the Baptist is essentially doing is likening him to the same sacrificial lamb of the Jewish tradition.  With one important difference:  this lamb will now take on the sin of the whole world, not just the sin of those who happen to be Jewish. This is a very important thing to understand because while many will concede that Jesus was a great moral teacher – they fail to recognize him as the Saviour of the World. So how did his death save us? 

2 Cor 5: 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

The great German reformer Martin Luther called this “The Great Exchange” and here's what it involves: 

• My Sin went to Jesus, His perfection went to me
• My unrighteousness went to Jesus, His righteousness came to me
• My condemnation went to Jesus, His Salvation came to me
• My separation from God the Father went to Jesus, Jesus’ reconciliation with the father came to me
• My death went to Jesus, His life came to me

 But Easter doesn’t end with the Cross.  Easter Sunday is only two days away and with it the incredible news that Jesus is risen from the grave!  The significance of the resurrection is a whole sermon in itself so I’ll hope you’ll come and hear more about it on Sunday

The only thing I’ll say about the resurrection is actually something said by Chinese evangelist Watchman Nee:

“Good Friday and the Cross of Jesus put an end to my old history.  The resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday marks the beginning of my new history”

And so this Easter Sunday, when we celebrate Christ’s victory over death – we are also celebrating our victory over death!  (My death went to Jesus his life came to me)

“Where Death where is your victory?  Where o grave is your sting?” – 1 Cor 15

Let’s spend a few moments contemplating the benefits of this incredible rescue mission.  I can think of no better way to do this than by quoting the words of one of the great heroes of the faith – a German named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who openly criticized Hitler’s treatment of the Jews and who paid the ultimate price for doing so

  

“Why are we so afraid when we think about death?  The resurrection has transformed death.  For all we know, we may be shivering at the most glorious, heavenly, blessed event in the world…He who truly understands the resurrection will be homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward to being released from this bodily existence.  He understands that life only really begins when it ends here on earth, that all that is here is only the prologue before the curtain goes up. Death is the greatest gift of grace that God gives to people who believe in him.  It is the gateway to our homeland, the tabernacle of joy, and the everlasting kingdom of peace.

Just months after writing these lines, Bonhoeffer faced a Nazi executioner at Flossenburg Prison.  That day, April 8, 1945 he said to a fellow inmate:  “This is the end – for me the beginning of life”. 

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We’ve been reflecting on God’s rescue mission.  But there’s a sober footnote to it all.  God will only rescue those who believe in his name and who treat him as Lord of their lives.  By believing, I mean a state of dependence in which we cling to, adhere to, trust in and rely totally upon Jesus for everything. 

This carries huge implications as we examine our hearts before Christ this morning. 

The Triumphal Entry

Yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday, the day of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem approximately a week before he was crucified.  I associate Palm Sundays with those small palm frond crosses that were handed out at the door of the church we used to attend when I was small.  

Because the story gets told so frequently, it's easy to take a quick and all too superficial look at The Triumphal Entry.  But an understanding of history brings fresh understanding to what was going on here.

I recently read a book by Conn Iggulden which described a civil and religious ceremony performed by the Roman army known as a "triumph".  While the practice was the right of any victorious general returning from a successful campaign, he needed the permission of the Senate to perform it.  Indeed, his army had to wait beyond the city walls until such permission had been granted.  During this period of waiting, the men would painstakingly polish armour, oil leather and sharpen weapons.  They would groom horses, plume head-dresses and ready all the spoils of the campaign (including prisoners).

Once permission was granted, the legion would march proudly through the city on a pre-arranged route, showing off their spoils, parading captives and receiving due praise and adoration from the citizens.  Often this involved the lining of the streets with garments and vegetation.   

Perched on a stately war chariot and clad in the ceremonial regalia which identified him as near divine, the man of the hour was the victorious General.  Often, ceremonial coins bearing his profile were minted especially for the event.  The march would end at Jupiter's temple where sacrifices and tokens were offered to the gods.

Back to Palm sunday and The Triumphal Entry.  In some ways it bears striking parallels to this Roman practice.  In other ways it couldn't be more different.  For here the entry is, as far as we know, unapproved.  In place of the proud, gleaming legions is a motley band of Jews and their Nazarene leader.  In place of the war chariot, a donkey.  There are no spoils to speak of - and certainly no captives.

Yet strangely, the reception is electrifying.

A couple of things strike me about this story:

Donkey vs. Horse

Why could Jesus not at least have chosen a horse?  There must have been hundreds of them around.  The donkey, a KZN farmer once told me, is amongst the most sensitive and affectionate of animals.  It has a tendency for loyalty that rivals a dog and when mistreated falls into a deep depression.  So perhaps it's not such a big surprise that this "man of sorrows" would have chosen such beast on which to ride.

Why the rapid change of sentiment?

How quickly things changed for Jesus during the course this week.  Did it have something to do with the nature of his entry?  Did Jesus deliberately plan it this way to make his presence felt? 

In John 7 we read of how his brothers had once encouraged him to "show himself" to the public at large.

"No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world."

Though we went to Jerusalem shortly after this to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, caution - albeit a Godly form - was the hallmark of his ministry. 

Until now.

Now he was entering the Lion's den with more fanfare and pomp that bordered on recklessness.  Indeed, it looks for all the world that his very intention was not only to rattle the Jewish authorities - but to send a message to the Roman garrison too (whose tradition he had co-opted).

A week later the mission was over.  Calgary was behind him and so was the grave.  With his ascension in the coming weeks, he would soon perform another Triumphal Entry - this time through the gates and down the streets of Heaven.  This time he would look every bit the returning conqueror - even down to the last and very important details.  As Paul wrote in his letter to Ephesians:

"He ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men"