A few weeks ago a man showed me a story from the magazine True West. In it, there was this story entitled “The Red Man Rules”. The story was about a chief that was asked by his tribe if the coming winter would be cold. The chief didn’t know, so he told the tribe, “Yes, the winter is going to be cold, and the village should begin collecting wood in preparation.”
Later on the chief wanted to see what the forecast was going to be, so he contacted the National Weather Service and asked them if the winter was projected to be a cold one. The weatherman responded, “The winter is going to be a cold one indeed.”
So, being a good leader, the chief told his tribe to gather more wood. A week or so later, the chief called the weatherman again to see if there were any updates. The weatherman said, “Yes, it’s going to be very cold this winter.” Returning to the tribe, the chief told his people to gather even more wood, down to the smallest scrap.
A few weeks goes by and the chief again contacts the weather service and asks, if the winter is still projected to be cold. The weatherman responded with, “Absolutely! We checked with the best sources, the local tribe is collecting wood like crazy!”
When we don’t know what’s going to happen we can run around in chaos. The crucification of Jesus seems like a story about a chief in chaos.
One of Jesus’ closest friends betrays him over false accusations.
Jesus is brought before a late night court, where those false accusations fly and lies are spouted by false witnesses. There he is slapped, and spit on.
Jesus is then dragged to the Roman Governor Pilate, where he is questioned, and found not guilty. He’s then sent to King Herod, questioned, found not guilty again, and sent back to Pilate. There Jesus is eventually flogged, receiving a beating that killed half the men that went through it.
Then Jesus is brought before the crowd, bloody and beaten. Pilate then gives the choice to the crowd. They can set Barabbas, a known criminal in Jerusalem, free, or Jesus, who has already been found not guilty by two authorities. The crowd chooses the guilty Barabbas over the innocent Jesus.
Jesus is then given over to the soldiers. They given him a crown of thorns, they beat him with a mock scepter, and clothe him in a mock robe. They then force him to carry the cross on which he would die on, to the spot outside the city walls, where criminals and insurrectionists were killed.
There he he was laid on the cross, with nails piercing his hands and feet to secure him to the wooden killing device. From afar his disciples looked on. Closer his mother watched. Below him soldiers gambled for his only earthy possessions. With those soldiers were the ones that executed the plot to arrest him. And next to Jesus, on their own crosses, two thieves cursed him.
On the cross, for hours, Jesus was mocked, and laughed at. And then the sixth hour came and we read this in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 27, starting in verse 45, “45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, ‘This man is calling Elijah.’ 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.’ 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”
To the world the chaos that this man brought with his teachings of repentance, of his kingdom coming, and of his own deity, was finally at an end. But here’s the thing, it wasn’t chaos. From even before the moment he was betrayed, Jesus was in control. Seven times throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus spoke to his disciples of the need for him to go to the cross. This was his plan.
The people who heard his final words thought he was crying out in agony at the horrific torture he had endured. But really what he was doing was speaking to his disciples and to the world, pointing them back to his words, that this was his plan all along. Through his cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was pointing his disciples to the Psalms and in particular to the 22nd Psalm where we read…
“1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’ 9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts. 10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. 11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! 22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. 25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. 26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. 30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”
The chaos of the cross to the world, is the plan of God to bring people out of death and into his life. To bring people away from sin and into God’s righteousness. To take us who are orphans and make us sons and daughters of the King.
But all that the disciples saw, all that the religious leaders, all that the soldiers, governors, and kings saw, was the last chaotic moments of just another man. But with Jesus’ words of, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was pointing everyone to his plan. A plan spoken about for thousands of years as it led up to this very moment. And a plan that is working itself out at this very time.
The last verse of Psalm 22 is, “Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”
We who are believers in Jesus, are a part of the not yet born that had the message proclaim to them. We are those who received the message of his crucifixion. We are now commissioned to share this message with the world. And that message is this. God created us to be with him. This was a perfect relationship between Creator and creature. But the creature sinned by turning it’s back towards its Creator, wanting it’s own way, to be it’s own god, this ushered in true chaos. Because of that, each of us follows in the footsteps of sin. Every time we do something outside of God’s created order, we participate in the chaos of sin, and once we walk that path, there’s no getting back on our own. But God doesn’t leave us there, he comes to us. He descends to his creation, wraps himself in it’s flesh, lives, breathes, eats, sleeps, like his creation. Then, since one man brought sin into the world and led us on the path of chaos, it only takes one man to sacrifice for all to open the path back to God.
This is what the cross is. This is what the crucifixion is. It’s the path to God reopened. It’s using the things of chaos to bring about the plan of God. Where the world sees a chaotic moment, God sees a perfect sacrifice. This is why the resurrection happens. Because God the Father accepts God the Son’s perfect sacrifice. And because it’s accepted, anyone who puts their trust into Jesus as their Savior, is brought back to God and will spend eternity with him.
God is not some fictional chief trying to figure out the weather. No, he has a purposeful plan to bring his creation back to himself.
And if you’ve called on Jesus to be your Savior, you are now commissioned to share Jesus’ plan with the world. Are you ready? There are friends and neighbors that need to hear the message of God’s work in chaos, because right now our world is diving head long into a spiral of chaos. But Jesus is still at work, he has a plan in the midst of chaos. And the plan is his return. But until that day, we who are believers are called to share the message of the Gospel.
And if you’re here today, and have not accepted the Gospel message of good news that God came down for you, to bring your out of death and into his life, through the forgiveness of sin, God has brought you here to accept his plan. Don’t let tomorrow come with out accepting Jesus as your Savior. Because all it takes is repentance and acceptance. We must repent, that’s recognizing we have sinned and now will turn away from it and turn to God for forgiveness. And we must accept, accept that we can’t be good enough to fix sin, but Jesus was good enough. And where we should die for our sin, Jesus died in our place. So we accept his sacrifice on our behalf. It’s then we follow him; we read his word, the Bible, and we put his word into practice. Allowing Jesus to bring us ever closer into relationship and into the person he created us to be. And if you repent and accept Jesus as Savior today, I want you to talk with one of these pastors about it. So that you can get plugged into a church and start growing with other people on the same path of eternal life.
But to you who are already believers, I want to challenge you, from whatever local congregation you’re a part of to invite one neighbor to your church’s easter service. There are roughly 500 attending Christians in this town, that’s 500 people to invite, that’s 1,000 people on Resurrection Sunday hearing the Good news of the Risen Savior. Each of the participating pastors were given an invitation card specific to their congregation. Go to your pastor, pick one up, and invite one person.
God’s plan is to use his people to share his work, so let us be his proclaimers, because our God is in control. Amen.
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