SERIES: VBS 2007 #4/5
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
Text: Mark 15:33-41
At least one of the lessons of a typical Vacation Bible School curriculum concerns the account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Indeed, if this lesson was left out, there would be no need for a VBS. The gift of love from God through Jesus Christ is the foundation for all we do in VBS. It is the foundation for all we do in the life of our church.
Appropriately, then, one evening of our Avalanche Ranch VBS lesson was from the Gospel of Mark, chapters 15 and 16, where Jesus dies and rises again. The VBS Bible Point for this lesson is God is awesome, and the Treasure Verse, from Psalm 47:2, reads, For the Lord Most High is awesome.
As in all the Gospels, the account as written in Mark leads us to the time of betrayal, judgment, suffering, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. For the crime of telling his people that he is the Messiah, and for the trumped up charges of sedition against the Roman Empire, Jesus is brought to Pilate by the Pharisee court. Even though Pilate did not completely believe the charges, for the sake of placating the Jewish mob, he agreed to put Jesus to death. I recall the impact of the portrayal of these events in the movie The Passion of the Christ. Each one in their own time the Pharisees, Pilate, Barabbas, some guards faced a moment of near belief. At some point, Jesus actions caused them to pause and take seriously what Jesus was doing and saying. Each of them had a moment when he could have said, I believe!
Instead, each of them in their own turn hardened his heart and let the moment pass him by. The Pharisees chose to remain bogged in their dogmatism. Pilate had to keep the crowd under control. Barabbas saw his chance to return to his life of crime. The guards had to get the job done. Each one had a real-life compelling reason to ignore their moment of salvation. There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that they ever accepted Jesus as their Savior. Sometimes the pressures of the so-called real world stand in the way of reality. Too bad.
Marks captured moments of the hour of Jesus death includes the words of Jesus, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, those who thought he called out to Elijah, the sponge with wine vinegar offered to Jesus, the tearing of the temple curtain, the women watching from a distance, and the centurion who exclaimed, Surely this man was the Son of God!
Even in this moment of darkest darkness, a centurion of the Roman execution squad was given a startling revelation. Im not sure from this one sentence in Mark what it meant to him, but this centurion recognized the Savior. One of the consistent ironies found throughout Gods Word are the testimonies about those least likely to know God who recognize His works. Earlier in this series, we read about Rahab in Jericho. Forty years earlier, almost all of the Israelites failed to enter the land given them by God because they were overcome with fear. On the second occasion of taking possession of the land, a woman in Jericho who would not have been taught the ways of God believed that God was giving the Israelites possession of the land. Incredible. In the New Testament, women and Gentiles recognized and worshiped Jesus as Messiah while the community of learned Pharisees rejected him. Incredible. And on Golgotha, the hill of execution, a Roman centurion recognized the Savior. Incredible.
No wonder that the VBS Bible point of the day of this lesson was God is awesome. God will not be outdone by men or demons. He will not be restricted to the little box of human thought and dogma. Whenever and wherever the very people who should be the first to recognize the Savior fail to do that, the Holy Spirit opens the eyes, ears, minds, and lives of some of the most unlikely people on earth to become spiritual heroes and heroines.
The Apostle Paul was busily engaged in persecuting those who followed the Way. He one day saw the light of the Lord. When he recognized the Savior, his old ways changed forever. John Newton was busily engaged in the inhumane transportation of slaves from Africa. He one day recognized the Savior, and he, too, forever changed.
The lesson for us all is to recognize the Savior. We never know when a moment will come when we no longer have an opportunity to recognize the Savior before our death. In all honesty, I do not like to contemplate the reality of sudden catastrophes or their apparent senselessness. It can sometimes be too terrible to imagine.
At the same time, we had better not ignore reality. The tragic collapse of the bridge between Minneapolis and St. Paul is a case in point. What could be more routine more mundane more frustrating than the daily commute and gridlock to and from work in an urban area? How could anything so daily and so boring and so familiar be heaped with terror? There they were: commuters heading away from work at the end of another weekday and stuck in traffic again on the bridge they crossed hundreds of time. What could be more normal than that?
Except on Wednesday (8/1/2007), the bridge collapsed. In a matter of seconds or less and lives were forever changed. Some suffered serious injury. Others were less seriously injured. Some escaped miraculously unscathed. Some lives were taken. Who could imagine such a tragic event?
In that moment, whose lives were lost to eternal damnation because they failed to recognize the Savior in this life? Making the normal commute home from work is not normally a high risk event that causes one to think of eternal implications. Yet in the blink of an eye, some of our fellow Americans perished without a chance for survival. Eternal implications potentially loom large even on the most normal of days.
To many on that day of crucifixion, it was a normal day. Through the hindsight of the historical record, it does not seem like it would have been normal. But to those engaged in the events, it wasnt too much out of the ordinary. The Pharisees were just dealing with a man who was violating their religious beliefs and stirring up trouble among the populace. There had been others before Jesus who threatened the status quo. Pilate was just dealing with those troublesome Jews in Jerusalem. He had done that before. The Roman centurions were just hauling another criminal off for punishment and execution. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
Yet, in the very middle of their ordinary day, the most extraordinary event of all time took place. Jesus the Son of God, the Messiah Savior, was crucified not for his crimes but for the sins of every man, woman, and child who walked or will walk the earth. When Jesus breathed his last, it was anything but ordinary. And of all those involved in the crucifixion process, only one seemed to recognize the Savior. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, Surely this man was the Son of God!
God has extended to us His invitation to recognize the Savior. And not just the Savior, but our personal Savior. The body that was broken and the blood that was spilled on that day for our sin was not ours. It was his. Jesus did not need to be reconciled with the Father. He was never a prodigal son. He never strayed from the Fathers will. No better testimony is given than from Jesus himself in John 10:25-30: Jesus answered, I tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Fathers name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Fathers hand. I and the Father are one.
Even though Jesus makes it clear through his actions and his words, there were still many who failed to recognize the Savior. Even at that moment, there were those ready to stone Jesus for his claim to be God. They missed the point. Jesus came to save, and they sought to kill him.
Not much has changed over the course of time. Through the testimony of his followers, Jesus seeks to save. Jesus is the Savior. Yet many still seek to kill. In some places the Lords messengers themselves are tortured and killed. In other places, Jesus is figuratively killed by those who just choose to ignore or mock the truth. They refuse to recognize the Savior.
Unfortunately, should sudden tragedy strike and we know that it does the opportunity to recognize the Savior and receive his mercy is lost forever. The Savior will be recognized in judgment. Now, that is the tragedy an unnecessary tragedy. It was tragic on the day of the crucifixion, and it is tragic now.
But no one here need have this tragedy happen to them. The cure is straightforward because God has made it so. God has made it possible for anyone to be made whole and to be reconciled with Him forever. All we have to do is recognize the Savior. If we truly recognize the Savior, we cannot help but believe and ask him to be our personal Savior.
And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, Surely this man was the Son of God!
Rev. Charles A. Layne
First Baptist Church
PO Box 515
170 W. Broadway
Bunker Hill, IN 46914
765-689-7987
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