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April 10 - Matthew 26, 27 - "Hope-less?"

MPC 10^th April 2020.

Phil Campbell

We're in an astonishingly uncertain time, aren't we?

I mean, our culture, the 21st century Western World, we've been living on the assumption that if you went to the gym enough, if you were green enough and vegan enough; and if you looked both ways when you crossed the road, you could pretty much live for ever.

And we've suddenly found out that's just not true.

We're all in this together. Means we're all at risk. Together. One little virus. Has changed everything.

And so people have been shaken. In their confidence.

And we really just don't know whether it's going to be one month or three months or six months. Whether the virus stays active on a café table for an hour or a day or a week. And so you're maybe afraid. Fearful. Which it's perfectly logical to be.

There are all sorts of other unknowns too.

If you're at school. Wondering if you'll have to skip the Christmas holidays for 8 more weeks of school. Whether you'll get entry to uni. Whether you'll know what you need to know. Or you'll go through life without being able to integrate a quadratic equation.

Or what's happening with your job? When there aren't any customers any more. Is the house you bought in January going to be worth twice as much in June? Or half as much.

How do you put a whole economy on pause?

Does anybody know?

What happens when the job-keeper subsidy runs out?

And who's going to pay for it?

Will we ever fly again? When all the airlines go bust. Or go on a cruise. (Who'd do that?!)

So much uncertainty. So many reasons to fear.

One psychologist in New York, where I know it's worse than here; had 31 clients this week who were anxious about the coronavirus. Hopeless.

Look, on this Good Friday morning. In the midst of all the darkness. I want to tell you at least one thing that's good. One fear. You can completely put aside. And it's a big one.

And that's the fear of facing God's judgement. Unforgiven.

If you've been binge watching the The Marvellous Mrs Maisel on Amazon you might be thinking it's not much more than a show about a sassy lady who tells off-colour jokes in fantastic fifties' fashion.

It certainly is that. And it sure isn't a kids' show.

But on a deeper level it's something more than just a comedy.

There's a tragedy going on. As Joel Maisel cheats on his wife. Walks out on her. For his secretary. And then spends the rest of the series, it seems to me, in profound regret. Deep remorse. Desperate. For forgiveness. And by the middle of series 2, hopeless.

Here's the dialogue:

Joel: Who's cheated on his wife and ruined his family, full of regrets. He says to Ben, "Do you think we're ever really forgiven for the mistakes we've made?"

And Ben says, "Who do you want doing the forgiving? God?"

Well ultimately, yes. That's what I want anyway. Don't you?

You might not be aware of this, but Jesus says in Luke's gospel chapter 12, and it's good advice...

4 ... do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

If that's true, surely you'd want God to do the forgiving. If there's a judge who balances the scales, if there's any such thing as ultimate transcendent justice. Surely. You'd want forgiveness. If it's even possible.

You might not ever have thought about it. But I wonder if you're uneasy right now, that is there in the background, if the virus does get me. And not a truck coming when I forgot to look when I was crossing the road. Will I be, how can I be, forgiven by God. What'll he say to me when he looks me over. If I've spent my life ignoring him and just doing what I want?How can I ever be welcomed home?

No wonder there's unease. But the fact is this morning, among all the things you might rightly be afraid of, here's one you can check off your list.

That no matter what else is uncertain. No matter what else seems hopeless. Here's one thing you can be sure of.

And it's all because of what plays out on that first Good Friday.

If you're a regular at MPC, you'll remember last week Jeremy took us to the scene in the garden. In Matthew's gospel chapter 26.

Jesus takes three of his disciples with him; and Jesus himself. Is troubled. At what lies ahead.

He says to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. If you've printed out the service sheet you can see the verse in bold on the page.

³⁷ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death."

And so he's praying and he's praying and he's praying that in his words, the cup. Will be taken away.

Which we know is a poetic kind of reference to the cup of God's judgement.

You know, at a time when he knows he's about to be arrested and crucified. It's not the sharp things that he fears. The thorny tiara crammed down on his head. Not a problem. The cutting whip lashes. The nails driven into his hands and feet.

It's the cup.

Which the Old Testament paints as the image of God's righteous anger at our sin.

And here's Jesus. Without sin. Somehow. About to take it and drink it.

And he's afraid. Verse 42. He goes away a second time and he prays,

My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.

Now look, while he's praying that in terror; his three top disciples are just sound asleep in the garden. No idea. Of what he's up against.

But I want to invite you to just ponder those words a bit. And think through the implications. Flip it a bit.

What if he does go ahead and drink it? What if instead of avoiding the humiliation of the cross the next day, what if instead of avoiding it what if he does drink it?

What if God's will is done, and God's will is that it's not possible for the cup to be taken away unless Jesus his sinless son drinks it in full... what if because of that then the cup of God's judgment is taken away. And it's the only way for that to happen.

What if he is drinking it in. Instead of me. Instead of you.

Do you get the implication? Let me take you to the next day. Where Jesus goes into complete social isolation. Because nobody wants to know him. Not even his closest friends.

Three times... Peter. Denies he ever knows him. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know the man.

The third time with curses. Verse 74.

⁷⁴ Then Peter began to call down curses, and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!"

But it's not the social isolation Jesus is worried about. It's not that He's afraid of.

Depends whether you're an introvert or an extrovert really. How you're going with the social isolation.

I'm kind of okay with it. Lou's going crazy. Desperate for some real life social interaction. Party girl.

For Jesus it's not the isolation from his closest friends that hurts. Not that he's abandoned by men. Although I'm guessing the pain of that betrayal is very real for him. It's what comes next. And again, not the mocking or the whip or the nails.

It's the fact that he's going to be completely shunned by God himself. Isolated. Like never before. Because that, ultimately, is what God's judgement looks like.

God. Turning his back. Saying I... don't know you. Because you didn't want to know me. Except in the case of Jesus, completely undeserved.

Watch what happens. Into Mark chapter 27. Jesus is arrested, he's tried, he's whipped, he's spat on. Peter denies him. Pilate mis-tries him. Even though he knows better, and washes his hands of his innocent blood. As if he can. The soldiers; nail him on the cross. With a genuine criminal either side. Taunts coming from everywhere.

"He saved others," verse 42. "But he can't save himself.

Let him come down now from the cross and we'll believe in him!"

You think He couldn't do that if he wanted? Read back through a gospel account sometime and see what this guy can do! He's choosing. Obedience.

And then at three in the afternoon. After a gruelling day. He cries out in desperation. Here it is. The worst of it. In a loud voice.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why indeed. When the passage has been at pains over and over again to say He's innocent. Not just of the allegations against Him. But completely. And perfectly. Spotless. Why. Have you forsaken me?

And the answer is, because now is the time. When He's drinking the cup of God's justice that was reserved for you and me.

God forsaken. So I don't have to be. So you don't have to be. God's judgement. Justly satisfied. For all time and forever.

Friends, this is I think the central claim of Christianity. That it's not about trying to be good. And doing your best. It's about his blood. Being on us. And our guilt. Being on him. And nothing more to pay.

Which is why, you see, I'm afraid of what the corona virus might do to my body. And I'm too scared to even look up my online super account balance.

But the one thing I won't worry about. If I'm trusting Jesus. Is where I stand with God. And what he'll say to me on that last day. I'm not in fear of judgement at all.

Not because I've been such a good bloke. But that a far, far better bloke has already drunk the cup right to the dregs. So you and I don't have to. Judgement on our behalf. Paid in full.

Which makes it a very Good Friday and not a hopeless one at all.

If you're not clear on any of that or want to chat about it, talk to the person who invited you along today. Or drop me an email, or Doug, it's just phil@mpc.org.au or doug@mpc.org.au.

Better still. Don't use your isolation time on an online interior design course. Or polishing up your music skills. Sign up for online Christianity Explored. Especially if you're not yet sorted with the good news of God's forgiveness. Because of the one who drank the cup for you. There's a contact link coming up in the chat window right now, or you can click on it later. To get in touch and sign up for details of the free course by Zoom.