Homer Avenue UMC - Good Friday Service - 03/30/18 - Sermon - “God loves you this much!"

Good Friday 03/30/18 Homer Avenue UMC

Sermon Title: “God loves you this much!”

Old Testament Scripture: Isaiah 52:13-53:12

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Hebrews 10:16-25

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: John 18:1-19:42

          My dear friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome once again on this our Good Friday, of this our Holy Week. On this day, the savior of the world lays down his life, so that we may be forgiven and reconciled with almighty God.

          This Holy Week started this past Sunday on our Palm or Passion Sunday. On that day, Jesus entered triumphantly into Jerusalem to the shouts of Hosanna! Jesus then continued to love, heal, and forgive, and proclaim the Kingdom of God here on earth. Last night, Jesus shared his Last Supper with his disciples. During this Last Supper, Jesus gave us the sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, He gave us the gift of foot washing, and the “Maundy,” or “mandate,” or new commandment, to love each other. After celebrating all this with his friends, his disciple Judas Iscariot betrayed him. Peter would soon do the same. His friends would scatter.

          Jesus prayed all night in the Garden of Gethsemane, and in the early hours of this morning, Jesus was arrested. For Judas Iscariot had led those guards right to Jesus. From this point, the events of this day, Good Friday, have played out.

In our reading from the Prophet Isaiah for tonight, Isaiah writes many centuries earlier, multiple events that will happen this day, this Good Friday. Isaiah tells us what Christ will look like shortly before his death on the cross. Isaiah says:

“—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of mortals—“ (Isa. 53:4b, NSRV).

          Another way to put it, is that by this day’s end, Jesus will barely recognizable or not recognizable as person, due to the incredible suffering that he went through.

The prophet Isaiah writes of Jesus Christ that he will be:

“despised and rejected by others;
    a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;” (Isa. 52:3a, NRSV).

The prophet Isaiah then says of Christ further in tonight’s reading that:

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isa. 53:5, NRSV).

          Our reading from the prophet Isaiah for tonight ends with Isaiah saying this about Jesus:

“because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”

(Isa. 53:12b, NRSV).

          Jesus poured himself out and suffered for us. He bore the sin of many, for all of us. He prayed and interceded to those crucifying him. He loved everyone right to the very end.

You know, every single time that I prepare for a Good Friday Service, I get choked up in thinking about what Christ has done for me, and for us all. As I was writing this, I kept thinking of a song by “Hill Song”. This song, written about Jesus is called, “What a Beautiful Name”. The Lyrics of this song are beautiful as they say:

“You were the Word at the beginning. One With God the Lord Most High. Your hidden glory in creation. Now revealed in You our Christ. What a beautiful Name it is. What a beautiful Name it is. The Name of Jesus Christ my King. What a beautiful Name it is. Nothing compares to this.
What a beautiful Name it is. The Name of Jesus. You didn't want heaven without us. So Jesus, You brought heaven down. My sin was great, Your love was greater What could separate us now”

(https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/hillsongworship/whatabeautifulname.html).

          As a handful of us here just read the story of Good Friday from the gospel of John, we all heard again the story of the arrest, trial, mocking, degradation, whipping, scourging, suffering, and brutal crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As the prophet Isaiah said he was barely if at all recognizable as a man.

          In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s epistle or letter to the Hebrews for tonight, he begins this reading by quoting a prophecy from the prophet Jeremiah. Paul writes:

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds”

 (Heb. 10:16, NRSV).

The Apostle Paul then writes a little more from the prophet Jeremiah, and then his own words says:

“he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:17-25, NRSV).

          The Apostle Paul is telling us that Jesus, the Lamb of God, shed his blood and died for us, so that we could be forgiven. As the song says, “O How He Loves you and Me”.

          Some people have a really hard time with Good Friday though. They have a hard time with the betrayal against Jesus of Judas Iscariot, of Peter, Jesus’ arrest, the disrespect, the mockery, the chains, the trial, the whipping, the scourging, the thorns, the nails, and the cross. As I said in a recent sermon, some folks in recent years have begun to reject the crucifixion as too brutal, or even unnecessary. Some have rejected the idea that God the Father needed to send his Son to earth to brutally die for our sins in order to reconcile to us to Himself. Yet this was “God’s eternal plan in Jesus Christ,” and it happened because God planned it this way. Before time itself, this was the plan, because this is how God sought to reconcile the world to Himself.

          What Jesus went through today was indeed brutal. As I asked in that recent sermon though, how many of you would do the very same thing for your kids, or your grandkids, or a member of your family though?

          I am reminded of what the Apostle John wrote in his gospel in 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life”

(Jn. 3:16, NRSV).

          Instead just seeing the events of this day as brutal, think about like this, our heavenly Father loves us so much, that He would stop at nothing, I mean nothing, to be reconciled to us. I heard a pastor say once that “if the nails didn’t hold Christ on the Cross, his love for us would have”. Jesus told us in all of the gospels that among everything else he came to do and say, that he was coming to die for us. This is why my sermon for tonight is called “God love you this much!”

          On this day, death dies, and sin is destroyed, as I believe that before time itself this was “God’s eternal plan in Jesus Christ”,

          I have a story for you that I have told a few times before that explains this day, this Good Friday, much better than I ever could. This story is taken from (https://www.crossroad.to/Victory/stories/TheSon.html), and is called

“Whoever Gets the Son, Gets Everything”. This is the story:

“A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Viet Nam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son. About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door.  A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life.  He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.”    

“The young man held out his package. "I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this." The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me.  It's a gift." The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.”

“The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son.”

“The auctioneer pounded his gavel. "We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?" There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted. "We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one." But the auctioneer persisted. "Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?" Another voice shouted angrily.  "We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh’s, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!" But still the auctioneer continued. "The son!  The son!  Who'll take the son?"

“Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room.  It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I'll give $10 for the painting." Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.  "We have $10, who will bid $20?" "Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters." "$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?" The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel.  "Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!" A man sitting on the second row shouted. "Now let's get on with the collection!"  

“The auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I'm sorry, the auction is over." "What about the paintings?" "I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who receives the son gets everything!"   

          Friends, while today might seem brutal to some, this is our open door to be saved and reconciled by the God of the Universe. As Rev. Billy Graham said:

“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.'
(Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/billy_graham_150661)

Jesus came and did this for me, for you, and for all people both past, present, and future, and all we have to do is to say yes to Jesus being the Lord of our lives. We do this, and we are forgiven, because the one who receives the son gets everything! Amen.