The Unexpected Power of the Cross

When I was in grade five, I remember that we had a science fair at school. Some of us may have had that experience as well, where we could create a diagram or a presentation of anything that was deemed scientific. So we had all sorts of displays, volcanoes made out of papier mâché, light bulbs powered by potato and lemon juice. But there was one display that struck me particularly that day. It was a display on optical illusions, the way that our brain can get tricked to interpret the data that is fed to us by our eyes.

It made you realise, as you looked at these optical illusions, how our visual perception is actually based on assumptions a lot of the time. Our brain assumes certain things based on the hundreds of thousands of images that it has processed in the past. The really fun thing about this particular display, and once we've seen those optical illusions, we understand it, is how the brain can be tricked into seeing one thing when there's actually something else being shown. There are probably hundreds of different ways that you could show and see these optical illusions. I love a good optical illusion.

The thing that gets me more excited than optical illusions, however, is the great illusion that happened on Good Friday. Because on Good Friday, we see one of the greatest reversals, one of the biggest surprises the world has ever experienced. And that is how someone who is killed on a cross becomes the saviour of the world. This morning, we read the account of Jesus' death in Matthew 27. And the writer of this account, Matthew, has a knack for cheekily highlighting the ironies between the things that were expected and the things that actually came to pass.

And this is the thing that is seen most powerfully in the passion account of Jesus' death and resurrection. Matthew loves pointing out the unexpected power of the cross. And so we're going to look a little bit at some of the things that he has pointed out. The first surprise in Matthew's account of Jesus' work is, firstly, that the one who is mocked as a false king is actually the true king. That's the first unexpected optical illusion of Good Friday.

The one who is mocked as a false king is actually the true king. When we read in our passage that Jesus is sentenced to death, back in those days, there was no long delay of people sitting on death row for years and years and years as their appeals run out one after the other. If you were sentenced to death, you were taken out in a few hours time and you were killed. In the lead up to Jesus' sentencing, it seems that Jesus had been severely flogged as part of his interrogation. Another account of Jesus in the gospel of John, it sort of seems that Pilate is hoping that the flogging of Jesus would be enough to assuage the murderous crowd to let him go.

But he is flogged as part of this process, and again, to historians, this is not unusual. But what is unusual is what happens between verses twenty-seven and thirty-one of Matthew 27. What happens here is more like a locker room bullying scene at an all-boys school. The soldiers strip Jesus of his clothes. They drape some sort of red robe on him, pretending that he's a royal figure.

Then they tie together some of the branches and thorns, and they crunch that down on his head, making a fake crown. In his hand, they put a stick that they pretend is a sceptre. And then in fake reverence, they take turns, firstly bowing to Jesus and then spitting in his face and slapping him, saying, "Hail the king of the Jews." It is a picture of cruel humiliation. But the beautiful irony is this: Matthew, the writer of this account, knows that as he writes the history of these events, Jesus is actually the king.

How are we sure that Matthew knows this? Well, if we begin reading Matthew's account of the life of Jesus, we see these opening words in the first verse: "This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David." Who's David? Well, he's the greatest king that Israel has ever had.

And Matthew is stating that Jesus' royal pedigree is found in this lineage of David. In the second chapter of Matthew, the Christmas story, the wise men ask, "Where is the one who has been born the king of the Jews?" Remember that? When they look for Jesus? And then they find him in a manger.

Many chapters later, as Jesus begins his teaching ministry, we find him constantly teaching about a what? A kingdom. He talks about the nature of this kingdom. He talks about its coming. He talks about the promise of it, the realisation of its existence.

And then, here, at the eleventh hour of his life, in his trial before Pontius Pilate, we read it this morning, Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And Jesus, knowing full well that Pilate won't understand, says, "You have said so." And then he stops talking. The deep irony of the mock royal robe, the crown of thorns, the reed sceptre, is that they are actually telling the truth. Jesus is a king.

And in two days' time, the events of Easter Sunday, we will see how that is made clear. That's the first irony. That is the first unexpected surprise of Good Friday. The one that is said to be a false king is shown to be a true king. The second thing is that the one who looks utterly powerless is supremely powerful.

In verses 32 to 40, we see Jesus having been beaten so severely, being made to carry his own cross towards the place of Golgotha, the place of the skull for his crucifixion. And we see him so weak and tired that he cannot manage to carry that cross all the way. And so the soldiers conscript the guy by the name of Simon of Cyrene to carry it for him the rest of the way. Again, it wasn't unusual in order to utterly humiliate criminals that someone would be crucified naked. And verse 35 tells us that the soldiers gamble to see who will take Jesus's clothing.

Verse 36 says that the soldiers sit down and they guard Jesus. They look at Jesus as the life is ebbing away from him. Why? To make sure that no one will rescue him. No one is taking him down from that cross.

Humanly speaking, there is no hope. On the cross, the seemingly powerless Jesus is then further taunted by his powerlessness. Verses 39 to 40 says people in the crowd shout at him, "You said that you're going to destroy the temple and build it again in three days. Save yourself. Come down from the cross if you are the son of God."

Why do they say this? Well, they had heard previously that Jesus made this claim, that he could destroy God's temple, and in three days, raise it again. That claim seemed outrageous to them. You might remember that two years ago, just before Easter, two years ago, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame burnt down. Two years later, and they are not done yet with reconstruction.

It may not be done for many years to come, they say. And in Jesus' time, the Temple of Jerusalem was something of the same magnitude. It had taken an entire lifetime to build this majestic temple. And Jesus claims that he has so much power that he could rebuild that temple in three days if it was torn down. Now, the man on a cross, look at his weakness.

But Matthew knows, and the readers know, and God knows, that Jesus' demonstration of power is being displayed precisely in the weakness of the cross. Why does Matthew write down these taunts? Is it to humiliate him? To humiliate Jesus whom he loves? It's actually because he knows what those taunts meant.

He knows the irony of those taunts. In John chapter two, for example, we read where Jesus makes this claim about the temple being raised in three days. And then the apostle John writes these words: "But the temple that Jesus had spoken of was his body." The body of Christ is the temple of God. Why?

Because in Jesus, God dwells. In Jesus, God had come to us. So the irony of the taunts surrounding Jesus' powerlessness reminds all of us of the significance of what is happening here. The temple was the great meeting place between God and man. And the temple is a place of sacrifice, where the sin that separates man from a holy God is dealt with.

And here in Jesus' death, in the destruction of his body, Jesus achieves for us this incredible truth. We are reunited. We are restored with God. The unexpected power of the cross is that there is power in the cross. But we continue with the irony, there's a third one.

The one who can't save himself, saves others instead. The one who can't save himself, saves others instead. The mockery in verses 41 to 42 continues: "He saved others, they say, but he can't save himself. Let him come down from the cross, then we will believe in him."

What do they mean when they say Jesus has saved others? Well, on the cross was hanging a man who had gained a massive following as one of the greatest miracle workers of his day. He healed the sick. He drove out the evil presence of demons in people's souls. He miraculously fed 5,000 people at one time.

There are even stories of him that he had raised the dead. He saved people from life's greatest afflictions, but now, he's being shown up as the scammer that he was. He saved others, so called, but he can't even save himself. So much for a saviour. But once again, the mockers speak better than they know.

Because Matthew knows, and God knows, and the listener knows that if Jesus is to save others, he cannot save himself. To understand this, we go back all the way to the beginning of Matthew's gospel again, to the first chapter where God tells Joseph that the baby in his fiancée's womb will be given the name Jesus. And the angel adds, "Because he will save his people from their sins." The Greek word Jesus comes from the Hebrew word Joshua, which means God saves. And it's with this meaning advertised right at the beginning that Jesus' mission is declared.

Jesus has come to save people from their sins. And then once again, all throughout the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is shown to be living up to this mission. He heals, he feeds, he resurrects. But then as you listen to what Jesus is teaching, you get this idea that he is speaking about and he is on about a deeper, greater salvation than these things. He is going to rescue for eternity souls and he's going to deliver them into an eternal kingdom.

The words of the mockers is again an optical illusion. It looks like one thing when it is something else. He saved others, but he can't save himself. And in a way, they speak the truth again. Because the only way that Jesus could save was precisely by not saving himself.

The final irony I want to point out is found in the last verses of our passage. And that is the one who sounds lost, actually trusts in God. Still sneering, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, the one who for his entire ministry had followed Jesus around like a bad smell trying to trip him up. They yell out to Jesus, "He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, I am the son of God."

Sarcasm is palpable. What they really mean is that his trust in God was obviously not valid because God would never abandon someone who is truly righteous to such a fate as what was happening to him. And all of this seems confirmed when Jesus himself in verse 46 says, "Eli, Eli, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" But again, this cry of desolation is not simply a cry of pain or despair. Although Christ certainly felt alone.

This cry has the deeper meaning of fulfilled prophecy. It's a direct quote from his ancestor, King David. It's a quote from a Psalm that David wrote, Psalm 22:1, where the opening stanza reads, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?" And again, in that moment, you could be tempted to think that this is Jesus in his weakness, doubting the existence of a loving God.

But this is a quotation of a deep and a powerful prophecy being fulfilled. As you read how the psalm continues, you see the picture of the cross imprinted in the Old Testament a thousand years before this event. A thousand years. Verse 7 of Psalm 22 says this: "All who see me mock me. They hurl their insults.

They shake their heads." What does Matthew say? They wagged their heads. "He trusts in the Lord. Let the Lord rescue him."

That's Psalm 22. Does that sound familiar? Verse 16 of the same Psalm says this: "A band of evil men have encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet." Verse 18: "They divide my garments among them.

They cast lots for my clothing." Does that not sound familiar? That is Psalm 22. And so Matthew knows, that's why he writes these words down, not in order to humiliate Jesus. Matthew knows, God knows, and we know that Jesus is not simply crying out in despair.

He is fulfilling a powerful prophecy. It would be moments later that Jesus cried out, after crying out these words, that Jesus said, "He gave up his spirit." And at that very moment, verse 51 says that the curtain of the temple tears from the top to the bottom, as if torn by invisible hands from above. The curtain of the temple, the temple that people had in mind when they mocked Jesus. A curtain which kept God's presence separate from humanity.

This very curtain is rent asunder, a sign that now God's presence will be with humanity. Here is the fourth and the final irony, that the man who cries out in despair, trusts God and knows that God the Father will finish what He started. Psalm 22 ends like this: "God has not despised nor disdained the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help."

And we're going to need three more days to see how that vindication takes place. And I invite you again to come back on Sunday to hear the rest of the story. But three days later, Jesus trusts in God, the Father is vindicated. The mission is marked with the words accomplished when He walks out of that tomb. The curse of sin is broken.

The optical illusions of Good Friday are rich, powerful evidences of the power of Christ's death for us. The man who is mocked as king is actually king. The man who is utterly powerless is more powerful than anyone can imagine. God in the flesh. The man who can't save himself won't save himself because he is saving others.

And the man who seems lost trusts in God and is vindicated. Friend, there is one thing we need to take away this morning, and that is that Jesus Christ is the saviour that you've hoped for. He is the only one that is worth your time. He is the only thing that is worth following. Because of what he achieved on the cross, he is the one who offers you restoration with God, eternal life in His kingdom.

Jesus who once said, "Whoever the son sets free will be free indeed. I have come that they may have life and life to the full." I'm going to pray for us now. There's a few things I want us to do. Firstly, if you know that this truth is for you, if you know that you need Jesus Christ to be the saviour of your life, while we pray, will you raise your hand either physically or in your heart to say, "Yes, this is for me.

He has done this for me." If you know that you need to receive the forgiveness that Jesus achieved on that cross, if you know that there is forgiveness in him that you can find, raise your hand and I will know that I'm praying for you to receive that forgiveness. But really only Jesus needs to know. Once we're finished praying, however, we're going to sing a few more songs and then we go home, but I don't want anyone to forget. I don't want anyone to go back to the things, the way things were.

You need to speak to someone about it, if that has been your decision today. If you came here with friends or family, speak to them about it, and then come back on Sunday. Come and hear how that is true for you and what that means. But then come back the next Sunday after that, and the next as well. Join a church and keep learning about what God has done for you in Jesus Christ.

As we finish, for all of us, whether we are Christian and we know it or not, it's good to remember on this Good Friday that there is no point in trusting Jesus because of the sentimentality of Easter and what those warm and fluffy feelings are about. Today, we put trust in Jesus Christ because he saves us from sin. Put your faith in him because he is the king. Trust in him because he is the only one that is worthy of trust. Let's pray.

Lord, as we come into this place, as we bow our heads, as our eyes are closed, Lord, we come to offer our lives to You. And Lord, there are some of us now who are willing to put their lives in Your hand. Some of us who are willing to say, "Yes, Lord, this is true for me." Lord, for those who have their hands raised right now, who are raising their hands to receive the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, to those who know that this sacrifice had to take place for their restoration with a holy and good God.

I pray for those hands raised physically or raised in their hearts, that You may see them today, that You will receive them by the grace and the power of Jesus Christ. Lord, in the great unexpected surprises of the cross, we see how far above You are in our perceptions. And so even as we come into this place with feelings of guilt and shame, even as we perceive our life as never being worthy of such a great sacrifice, the great truth is that You have done this regardless of what we feel and what we perceive. We are so flawed in our understanding. We believe the lies about Jesus.

And yet, today You offer us truth and real insight. Father, for those of us who commit ourselves to You today, those of us who recommit ourselves to You today, may we be found to live a life in true thankfulness and obedience to You. Help us to commit our ways to You now. Help us to live in grateful obedience to You now. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.