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Fareham Westend Chapel Mark 15: 33-47 11/3/2012

In 1987, Ron Williamson a man showing signs of mental illness, was tried for
the rape and murder of a waitress Debra Carter in Oklahoma USA. The
evidence was non-existent but hey, let's not let that get in the way of a good
trial. Ron had poor representation and was convicted and sent to death row
where every day, he screamed at the top of his voice that he was innocent
while the day of execution drew nearer. At one point he was 5 days from being
executed until obtaining a stay of execution - and then the sentence was
reinstated. Eventually, after a long battle by others - on Ron's behalf - 11 years
on, he was exonerated and released in 1999. The time on death row,
psychological exhaustion - and lack of treatment - probably added to the end
result that Ron died only 5 years later aged 51.

If I am ever fed up with my work as an Advocate: when the pressure seems too
much - and I feel unloved, I think of Ron and the outrage and injustice meted
out to another human being an individual whose voice was silenced - in spite
of his very vocal protestations. Why do we ignore the cries of some people and
fail to see the implications of things plainly before our eyes? John Grisham - the
legal writer and Christian, wrote a book about Ron called The Innocent Man.

The Death of another human being is never easy to witness - nor should it be.
It is a reassuring fact that we are still human, when we are moved by the end
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of another. In our reading this morning, we do just that. There is no happy
ending here, in this framed passage: just pain - slightly sanitised for us - but
pain inflicted by fellow human beings and maximised, whilst the victim goes
through their last moments of life. It is very easy to Pass over this and ignore
what happened.
You have followed the story so far, so know the facts: Mark's account was
written within 40 years of the historical events: that is the same as say - the
events of the assassination of president Kennedy - easily within living memory.
The documents here are carefully produced. You know also that this man was
tried on trumped-up charges - it was politically expedient to allow this
execution to go ahead. There was no real defence, in fact this man spent most
of this shocking time, in silence. In spite of the innocence - there were no
protestations: It was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. I think this morning
we do well to think again of this part of the account and not hurry past.

Either this individual in our reading today, had given up all hope, or there was a
greater plan, not apparent on the first reading: that this death was not the
end. Jesus, unlike Ron, did not cry out endlessly 'I am innocent' - but allowed
Himself to be taken and eventually killed.

In Lamentations 1:12 the sufferer feels their suffering is unprecedented and
cries out - Is it nothing to you all ye who pass by? Yet in spite of this, no-one
seems to sympathise, the human emotions of those watching the shocking
events prompted by Lamentations, have been switched off - the suffering,
horror and simple injustice no longer have an impact. The bizarre truth is that
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we are often more moved by an episode of Corrie or our favourite film, than by
the constant news items portraying the events in Libya, Syria - Africa, Greece :
such real human tragedy fails to register. Such injustice allows people like Ron
Williamson to fail to receive justice every day and suffer the consequences
unnoticed. Each time that occurs, the image of God in the people involved
becomes a little more tarnished as we move further away from what we were
originally intended to be.

I dont think we need to go into details - that crucifixion was cruel, humiliating
and used a public warning - is pretty obvious. It was a grim reminder of the
fate of those who challenge the authority of the State. The cost. Actual
descriptions of crucifixion are rare - because writers were hesitant to dwell
long on this brutal, horrific act: Even Mark simply says: "They crucified Him."

It is of significance that theologians and historians have struggled to find any
account of crucifixion - outside Christianity - which is interpreted in a positive
manner: and yet for us, the Cross is the point to which the Gospels are heading
so much so that we have 4 unique views of this incident recorded in the New
Testament.

The crucifixion of Jesus is well attested to in Christian and non-Christian
sources: The Latin historian Tacitus mentions it, as does Josephus.

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This event - Jesus' execution on a cross, was of such a scandalous nature - it
cried out for interpretation such is the aim of many of the New Testament
Letters. The narratives demonstrate and Mark in particular - that Christ died
"according to the Scriptures." At least 9 prophecies come together here at this
time. The death of an individual at a specific moment in history at the hands of
a human government is the central event of salvation. This is true because the
individual was the Son of God. The crucifixion shows how seriously God takes
history as His arena of action rather than limiting Himself to an isolated
heavenly world of divine beings.
Here are the facts:
At the 6th hour - noon - darkness covered the whole land - recalling the
darkness that covered Egypt for three days before the death of the first-born
son [Ex 10:20], Amos similarly 8:9-10 prophesied that the Lord would 'darken
the earth in broad daylight' in a time 'like mourning for an only son.'
The cry Jesus makes on the cross - Eloi....Sabachthani - the first verse of Psalm
22 in Aramaic - shows us again that even in the final moments before death,
Jesus' life is determined by what is written in Scripture. There is a plan already
laid and Jesus is fulfilling what has been declared earlier.
Some around Jesus misunderstood Eloi for Elijah - the sour wine was given to
prolong the agony a little longer - to see if Elijah would return and help Jesus.
When Jesus finally cried out and breathed His last, he had been hanging there
for 6 hours - sometimes crucifixion could last 2-3 days. At this point, the veil of
the temple was torn in two: from top to bottom: From a study of other
passages of the Bible we understand that the death of Jesus is the final
definitive sacrifice for sin [Heb 7:27] - The old dispensation of the covenant of
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grace is brought to an end - the High Priest would no longer need to enter the
Most Holy Place behind the veil to atone for the sins of the people. Jesus is the
new and eternal High Priest - the perfect sacrificial victim who obtains for His
people 'eternal redemption.'
A Roman centurion who observed all this, is convinced by what he saw - truly
this Man was the Son of God! There were several woman watching from afar -
as the men fled in despair and confusion - leaving only the beloved disciple.

Apart from the spiritual implications of these events [with which we are all
very familiar] - we must note that this is a very dark passage. Even without
knowing who this person is, or what the meaning of these things are - this is a
tragic scene, one to make you lose faith in humanity. If we just happened to
come across this whilst travelling, we would have to turn away.

Joseph of Arimathea - a prominent council member, took courage and in an act
of faith, went to Pilate asking for Jesus' body. That Pilate was surprised to hear
Jesus was dead already - indicates the unusual character of Jesus' death.

The fight for justice is never easy - there is always a personal cost: The same
must be said in the doctrine of Atonement,
The cost must have been great, if such an individual of impeccable character
needed to die in such a way: Why was there no other way? Of course the
answer is focussed on sin. In modern theology and many branches of the
Christian Church, the awfulness of sin is minimised. A modern theologian has
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called sin cosmic treason - it ripples out touching every part of our existence
and relationship with each other - and God. It starts with depravation -
depravity - an obscene caricature of what God intended and leads to
deprivation as resources are misused, wasted and misplaced. It has been noted
recently that if we stopped watering our golf-courses, there would be enough
water to go around - and give to those who are dying of thirst in the world.
Tragedy is always the working out of the consequences of a sin: so long as all
the characters involved act honourably, and do the things they should, there is
no room for tragedy to operate. Sooner or later, a character appears who does
something he should have not done, or fails to do something he should have
done - the effect of this on the life of the sinner - and on the lives of others
forms the matter of the tragedy. The wrong done cannot simply fade away:
that is the basic fact of a tragedy: unexpiated sin obstinately refuses to efface
itself: it continues, festers and wreaks havoc. Sin cannot be ignored - it must be
dealt with or else reap a grim harvest: we only need cast a brief eye at news
bulletins to confirm this fact.

The first signs of break-down after Adam in Genesis, resulted in death of one
by the hand of his brother. The chaos that sin causes can be traced through the
Biblical account - both Testaments describe sin as rebellion against God's rule -
missing the mark God set for us to aim at, transgressing God's law, offending
God's purity by defiling oneself, and incurring guilt before God the Judge. Sin is
a spirit of fighting God in order to play God: the root is pride and enmity
against God. So sin breaks the law of God - fails to conform to it in any aspect
of life - whether thought, word or deed. Sinfulness marks everyone from birth,
in the form of a heart inclined toward sin, prior to any actual sins: this inner
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sinfulness is the root and source of all actual sins - transmitted to us from
Adam our first representative before God. We are not sinners because we sin,
but sin because we are sinners born with a nature enslaved to sin. As no part of
us is untouched by sin, nothing we do is ever meritorious in God's eyes: we
cannot earn God's favour, no matter what we do; unless grace saves us, we are
lost.

It is through this darkness the Word of God alone brings light. [Luke 18:27, 2
Cor 4:6.]"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. This picture presented to us in our reading this
morning is the crux of the matter - how a Holy God, deals with sin: how man
can be put right with God. The doctrine under discussion here is the
Atonement: another unfashionable and ignored branch of Christian Theology.
PT Forsyth wrote:
"When we speak of the centrality of the Atonement, we mean much more,
worlds more, than its place in a religious system. We are speaking of that
which is the centre, not of thought, but of actual life, conscience, history and
destiny. We speak of what is the life power of the moral world and its historic
crisis, the ground of the Church's existence, and the sole meaning of Christ
Himself. Christ is to us just what His cross is.....You do not understand Christ till
you understand His Cross." [The Cruciality of the Cross p. 25.]

Though some things may change, throughout the ages, the Christian Church
has steadfastly held that the cross is at the very centre of the Christian Faith. It
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has become the symbol of Christianity, for it alone gives meaning to the whole.
On the Cross the purpose of God is summed up: here it is worked out as
nowhere else.

The consistent picture throughout the Bible is that God provides the means for
man's forgiveness: an act of grace. Through God's sacrifice of His only Son on
the cross, sinful man can be acceptable to a holy God. Not through any
goodness or works by us.
This text reminds us of our own mortality - as Kierkegaard wrote: "We all have
to cross the bridge of sighs into eternity."
The hymn we shall sing at the end has a verse which is not often used, it reads:

Be Thou my consolation, my shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfolds Thee. Who dieth thus dies well.

As Henry Ward Beecher wrote: "Death is the dropping of the flower that the
fruit may swell."

This text also reminds us that appearances deceive: what is viewed as disaster
by the world - a tragic, humiliating end, has a deeper meaning for those of
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Faith. It is easy for us to lose courage - lose faith, when our efforts for God
seem feeble and ineffective. When measured against worldly definitions of
success, the Church constantly fails. We would do well to remember Carl
Henry's comment that "For the crisis of our times, the Light that shines in
darkness, is still more than adequate." This cross of shame a sign of defeat for
the world is the power of God unto salvation - the unforgettable centre of
Christianity, demonstrating the love of God for His creation. Leon Morris has
written some excellent books on this subject particularly one called The Glory
of the Cross.
It is a sad time when the Church apes the world, loses its identity and becomes
satisfied with less than the full Gospel of Grace and exchanges the Truth for a
lie. But if we stay true to the Gospel of Grace then we can be sure to be
unpopular: As the world seeks to humiliate and undermine the image of God in
man, the Church counters this by standing up for the dignity and respect of
those created in the image of God inevitably bringing us into a confrontation.
This is the key to how we live if we accept Jesus as our Saviour who died here
for us. Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthews Gospel:
Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God.
As Walter Brueggmann writes:

People notice peacemakers because they dress funny. We know how the
people who make war dress - in uniforms and medals, or in computers and
clipboards, or in absoluteness, severity, greed, and cynicism. But the
peacemaker is dressed in righteousness, justice, and faithfulness - dressed for
the work that is to be done.
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In the light of the Cross we are called to be peacemakers in this world, to shine
the light of the Gospel in this dark world until He comes again. We are called to
be different to no longer live as those enslaved:
- Free people cant live like slave people
- A man who can see cant act like a blind man
- A live person cannot settle for a morality of death
- A son found again, cannot continue to play the part of a lost one.
Everything is different now and our lives should be testament to that.
The whole biblical record witnesses Divine Presence amid violence The Cup
and Cross.

Carl Henry wrote:

"That rude cross outside Jerusalem becomes the central reference point of
history; the divine purpose in the beginning of time - and the divine issue at
the end of time, can be understood aright only within the biblical conviction
that this gift of God's Son stands indeed as the fulfilment of time. And this gift,
purchasing for us temporal creatures, the gift of eternal life - discloses at the
same time the divine purpose for redeemed humanity - to bring man more and
more into the image of Christ Jesus. Here time is treated with a perilous and
awful seriousness; each moment is a rendezvous with the God who is supreme
over time - the sovereign Lord of history." p.111

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If Ruth were here this morning, she would groan inwardly and outwardly about
my choice of closing hymn, it seems it lacks a driving beat and catchy tune - but
I love it. The words were a poem written almost a 1000 years ago. Meditating
on the Cross and by perfect juxtaposition - the tune was a secular love song,
before being taken by Bach and shaped into a chorale.
The hymn is number: 520 in the Complete Mission Praise
O Sacred Head Once Wounded.

Shall we pray:

Dear Lord as we gaze this morning at this description of Your only Son -
without sin yet dying on a cross for us, help us to ponder the mystery of how
You give a new chance to those You created. Help us in our lives to shine forth
Your light in the darkness around, to stand up for injustice, to not settle for sin,
for Your name sake we pray, amen.

Blessing: