"The Irony of the Cross" Good Friday April 18, 2014 John 18:1—19:42
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” John 11:49–50 To understand the cross you must understand irony. Jesus dying on the cross makes no sense on the face of it. And that’s exactly why it’s so ironic what so many people did and said in the events leading up to the cross and when Jesus was on the cross. The more you hear what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John say of the Passion of the Lord, the more you will see the irony of what took place. Bound to a cross, many jeered at Him, “He saved others, He cannot save Himself.” They were wrong, He could have saved Himself. Thank God He didn’t! But the rich irony in their statement is that He did indeed save others—that’s why He was placed on that cross and not coming down from it. Pilate had affixed a sign above Jesus, “The King of the Jews.” The irony is that no one saw the truth of Him being a king, the true King who lays down His life for the sin of the world. Peter had sworn he would go to prison, even death, for Jesus. In the end, he fled in shame. The irony is that Jesus didn’t need Peter to lay down his life for Him but did Peter ever need his Lord to do so for him. Then there is Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the high priest. Caiaphas, like many of the powerful religious leaders, wanted Jesus out of the way. Jesus was causing far too big of problems for the religious establishment to just let it go. In the Passion reading we heard, John says this of Caiaphas: “It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.” Caiaphas had done this when Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. People were beginning to take seriously the prospect of Jesus being their king and their deliverer. The religious leaders quickly saw that if they continued on in this way the Romans, who occupied the Jews’ land, could take away their land and the power the religious leaders had over their people. What were they going to do? Caiaphas, John says, “who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.’” Caiaphas spoke as one who wants to hold on to what he has. He spoke words that were truly evil, that it is better for us if we get Jesus out of the way. If we find a way to kill Him. The first irony is that though his words were twisted and sick, they were words of truth that Caiaphas could never have understood. This was, in fact, the Father’s will all along, that one man should die on behalf of all so that all may be saved. Caiaphas was speaking truth he did not even realize. The second irony of his words is in what John says of Caiaphas next: “He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation.” First you have Caiaphas being an evil man with evil intent and yet speaking truth beyond what he would have realized. Now you have him speaking but not of his own accord and in fact prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation, including Caiaphas! Prophets are to speak the truth. But it would be nice if they believed what they are prophesying. The examples of irony given earlier and of this with Caiaphas show how deeply we need the sacrifice Jesus made on Calvary. So many people spoke and acted in ways contrary to the love God calls us to, and yet the irony was that they didn’t need to understand or even say and do things the right way for Jesus to continue to go through what He had come to do. Calvary awaited Him whether people understood it or not. And frankly, no one understood it. It’s senseless on the face of it. But it’s true and has the highest eternal value not through sound reason but through irony. The Son of Man was handed over by sinners to sinners in order to die for those very sinners. You and might think that you’re exempt from this big bunch of sinners who conspired against Jesus to bring Him to death. But here’s the irony, you’re not, and yet Jesus died for you anyway. He died for the very reason you think that you’re in some sort of different lot than those wicked religious leaders, or those evil Romans, or those unfaithful disciples. Simply, He died because you are a sinner. The irony is that you don’t even see how deep your sin infects your life and your soul. The irony of the cross, though, is that Jesus does. It is why He went to the cross. It why He, sinless and without any guilt, took it all on Himself. It why He was damned instead of you. It why you can look at the cross and see the greatest irony of all: Him for you. His life for yours. His suffering and death for your life and salvation. His willing sacrifice for your eternal salvation. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
