This Time Around
There’s an old John Denver song called “Gospel Changes” – the song recounts stories from the Bible (such as the prodigal son, the worship of the golden calf, the sacrifice of Christ, the fall of Jerusalem). The beautiful refrain echoes out “Now we’ve got new names and faces this time around, but Gospel Changes are still going down.”
The gist of the song is this -- there’s nothing new under the sun (thank you, Solomon). People are people, sin is sin, Satan’s still working, and we’re still falling for it. I’ll interject some good news here, friends -- Christ is still risen. But that old John Denver tune got me thinking – in a lot of ways, we aren’t so different than many of the folks in the Bible, are we?
It’s Lent and we’re reading of course about the crucifixion. The Gospels beautifully regale the events leading up to it, what happened on Good Friday, and the “who’s who” surrounding the dark (but redeeming) day on Calvary.
You are going to read about the soldiers, the women, Pilate, the disciples, and the crowd. But you’re also going to read about yourself, your friends, your co-workers, and your extended family. After all, we’ve got new names and faces this time around, but Gospel Changes are still going down.
Let’s dig in.
The Disciples
These guys – they had the privilege of walking with Christ, every day. Literally. What so many of us can only dream about, these 12 gentlemen got to experience daily – physical and visible proximity to the walking human being of Christ.
I read about Peter, James, and John falling asleep when Christ is persistently asking them to stay awake (Luke 22: 39-47) and I think “Guys, come on! Really?” I tell myself “I’d have stayed awake for you God; I’d have stayed alert and prayed.” I like to think I’d have gotten up, done some jumping jacks, walked and paced, anything to stay up and do what the Lord asked. This was a very trying time!
But nope. Just no. Because I get it. I’ve been there, exhausted and overwhelmed. I’m armchair quarterbacking these three men because Christ is still asking me to watch and pray in the midst of difficult times. And I don’t. I worry, I am anxious, I close my own eyes, unresponsive to the very real presence of Christ at my side, inattentive to what He’s asking me to do.
Every chance to worry is an invitation to pray, but Christ finds me like he finds the disciples “…asleep, exhausted from sorrow.” (Luke 22:45). I too often give way to fatigue, concern, or busyness when I should be “watching and praying” with Christ. Jesus asks me the same thing He asked the disciples that night, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough!” (Mark 14:41).
Enough indeed, Lord! It’s time to get up.
Christ, give me, as a sleeping Christian, the courage to take the charge you also gave the disciples that evening in Gethsemane “Rise! Let us go!” (Mark 13:42) Yes, let us go Christ, with You by our side, ready to face whatever enemies, challenges, and forces that are opposed to us and to Your word.
The Chief Priests, the Teachers of the Law, and the Elders
This is a group of guys who were celebrating on Good Friday while others were mourning. Resentful and jealous of Jesus’ favor in the eyes of many and bent on blasphemy charges against the Lord, we read about them in Matthew 27: 41-42: “In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ‘He saved others’ they said ‘but he can’t save himself. He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross and then we will believe in him.”
Does this sound familiar? I call these types of folks “vending machine believers” – they say things like this “I’ll believe in God when…..” or “I’ll believe in God if…..” In other words, they’ll believe that God is in fact God when He delivers whatever “sign-that-God-exists-treat” they asked for.
They will believe when and if God does what they think a good and gracious God would do – whether it’s show them a requested miracle, change their life’s circumstance, get them that job, heal that sickness, or get them out of debt -- and if there’s no delivery of such petition, there’s no God.
They set the parameters on defining God, just like the teachers of the law did. The chief priests couldn’t imagine Jesus’ claims to be truth based on what they knew of him (son of Joseph of Nazareth, a carpenter’s son, nothing to attract anyone to Him (Isaiah 53), a sacrificed God that would submit to death and make claims about being a divine Son).
This still happens today – people can’t imagine a God who allows famine, disease, torturous faction, and tremendous evil to run rampant. God can’t allow that, can He? God can’t be God if this happens, right? So they put their God in a box, with their own “divine measurements” and if the God they’re presented with doesn’t fit, their self-deified minds have said “I know better…this can’t be Him.”
New names and faces, but the argument is the same. Satan still spins that old yarn heard over two thousand years ago. Lord give us the words to explain the truth of who You are when we encounter those who box You in. Thank You for forgiving us when we ourselves box You in and define Your goodness by our circumstances, instead of who You revealed Yourself to be in your Holy Scriptures.
The Chanting Crowd
A festival crowd had gathered and the governor’s custom of releasing a prisoner was upon Pilate. Every year, the criminal of the crowd’s choosing was granted pardon and released into society. The two men up this particular year? Jesus Christ and a murdering insurrectionist, Barabbas. You’d think the choice would be clear to a crowd who no more than a few days earlier had strewn palm branches at the Lord’s feet and shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is the King!”
And it was overwhelmingly clear – with some persuasion from the chief priests. The crowd chanted for Barabbas’ release consistently, despite protestations from Pilate. How could their hearts have changed that quickly? They chose to release a homicidal prisoner over the peaceful Son of God, full of healing, compassion, and kindness.
I want to ask that question over and over “How could they have done that? What were they thinking? Why would they have chosen him over Jesus?” “Isn’t Jesus always the clear choice?”
I sure hope I’m looking in a mirror when I run through my litany of questions. I too cling to Jesus as Savior and King in a “Palm Sunday” wave of emotion when there is good in my life or my prayers are being answered according to my desires or I need desperate help. I tell Jesus “I want you around when you appear in my life as King, riding into the city, life is good and I’m praising you. I want you in my life when I need you, things are rough, and I could use your help.”
But how very quickly my emotions and choices turn to my own “chanting for Barabbas” every single time I choose anything BUT Jesus. When I sin, I declare, “I choose my way over Jesus, release it to me, give it to me, I don’t care what the consequences are.” When I want my own will to be done and when I want to run my life contrary to God’s Word I chant, “Not today, Jesus. I don’t choose you today. Today we’re doing it my way. Away from me.” How that reality is hard to read and write – but it is the truth.
The crowd’s chants are my chants; the crowd’s request is my request. And the crowd’s result is my result – separation from Christ.
Martin Luther explained that the breaking of every other commandment begins with the breaking of the first commandment. And he’s right. When we choose to be our own gods, when something else is our idol, when we put God on a “we’ll-choose-You-when-we-need-You” or “we’ll-choose-You-when-life-is-sunny” basis -- we are no different than that ancient, defiant crowd, shouting for the release of Barabbas.
Lord give us the clarity of mind and purity of heart that always chooses you, despite our wishes, our will or our goals. Your way is a way of peace; Your way is for our good and Your glory!
Pontius Pilate
Pilate – quite the status-climbing, self-aggrandizing, insecure little governor. One thing he didn’t know: what to do with Christ. One thing he did know: he wanted prestige, power, and approval. Not a good combination for him -- or for us today.
Pilate asked Christ so many questions (“Are you the king of the Jews?” and “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” and “Aren’t you going to answer?”). And he waited for Christ’s response.
But in a truly mind-blowing moment in history, he asked Jesus Christ this question – “What is truth” – and this time, he did not wait for an answer.
Pilate, you had the chance to hear the answer to this immensely important question directly from the Fountain of Truth Himself -- and you didn’t even wait for a single syllable from Christ.
Here’s the scene: Jesus tells Pilate “Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.” (John 18:37). “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out….” (John 18:38).
Wow – he went out?! What chased him out of that room? What kept him from waiting for an answer to this life-changing question? Did Pilate even want an answer since we are told in scripture that he asked Jesus in an apparently sharp fashion?
The answer lies in Jesus’ previous comment to Pilate – those on truth’s side listen to Him. And Pilate didn’t stay to listen. He left.
He left because of the world’s concerns. He left because he was focused on his ambition, his popularity with the crowd, and his desire to get in good with Herod. He left because he was focused on himself. He left and he didn’t listen because at the end of the day, he wasn’t on “the side of truth” - - he wasn’t on Jesus’ side.
Too often can’t we see Pilate’s dilemma as our dilemma? We too get swept up with pressure from the world, pressure at work, pressure from our friends, and pressure from society to give them what they want so we too can fit in. We bow to their chants and wishes and we “leave the room” where Christ is, where Truth is. We “wash our hands” of Truth and instead compromise what the Lord asks of us when it’s convenient or gains us popularity with our friends, gets us a raise at work, or applause from our current crowd.
Lord, give us the strength, the determination, the power to listen to you, the Truth, when we hear the world’s tempting whispers to wash our hands of You. When we are tempted to make the poor exchange for glory in man’s eyes versus holding fast to You, remind us of your enduring love, compassion, and sacrifice. We thank you for holding us close as we struggle.
The Women
There are many amazing things to say about the women surrounding the Easter story – we hear of their going to the tomb “early on the first day of the week” (John 20:1), taking spices they had prepared to the site to anoint the Lord’s body (Luke 24:1, Mark 16:1). We learn that they ran to tell the disciples the news of Christ’s resurrection (Matthew 28:8).
But these wonderful ladies of Easter also play a beautiful and steady role in the Good Friday account. May we learn from them!
Their constant presence shows dedication and compassion to their Lord. Matthew tells us that “many women were there watching” and that they had “followed Jesus from Galilee to care for His needs” (Matthew 27:55).
They stayed, friends. We are told these caretaking women stood “near the cross” (John 19:25). Oh, the painful proximity during this time of tremendous suffering! How much easier it would’ve been to not be there, or to turn away from the scene, or to have stood far, far away. But their comfort was placed secondary to their adoration for the Lord.
They stayed til the end. In Luke, we read that some who witnessed Christ’s death “beat their breasts and went away” when it was done. “But all who knew him, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.” (Luke 23: 48,49).
In Matthew 27, we hear about Good Friday evening. Verse 57 tells us that “as evening approached” Joseph of Arimathea asked for Jesus’ body. He wrapped it and he placed Christ in His own new tomb. He had a stone rolled in front of entrance and he went away.
But not those ladies. They didn’t go away. In fact we read “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb” (Matthew 27:61). I don’t know if that passage ever really struck me until I read, reread, and then again reread this account. They sat there opposite the tomb that evening – after following Him from Galilee, after watching Him suffer, after watching Him cry out, after watching Him die – they still couldn’t leave Him. They sat by His tomb. The emotion of that day, the crippling knowledge that their Savior was in that stone prison, the palpable loss – all of it must’ve been simply overwhelming. Yet they stayed.
When things looked the darkest, they didn’t leave Christ. They had every reason in the world to feel loss, grief and orphaned. But their actions pierced that despair to show their commitment to the Lord.
Christ, how we wholeheartedly pray that you give us the strength that on our good days and on our darkest days we cling to you – yes, let us sit quietly near the cross, let us sit quietly at the tomb as we reflect on your sacrifice. But just as you turned Mary’s Good Friday tears of sorrow to Easter tears of joy, remind us that your redemptive love and conquering of sin and death is in fact the strength we need to persevere in Your word. Your word is truth!