In The Face of Defeat

What does it mean to suffer ultimate defeat? The dictionary says that defeat is to be overcome in a contest, an election or a battle. It can also mean that you have been deprived of something. For example, your hope of getting a new job could be defeated. But dictionary definitions seldom tell us the whole story. If you want to see how our culture views defeat, an internet news search on Google is a good way to get the picture.

When I did that yesterday, I came up with these headlines:

Pacers defeat Wizards with fourth-quarter run (basketball)
Hershey Bears Defeat Binghamton Senators (minor league hockey)
Senate Republicans defeat White House proposal (politics)
Reds’ 13 hits help Chapman defeat Brewers (baseball)
Sri Lanka slap 75-run defeat on England (cricket)

The last one is cricket. Who can understand a game that takes four days to finish? Anyway, notice that our culture understands defeat in terms of sports and politics. We really have no idea what ultimate defeat really is!

Turn with me to Mark 15 for the ultimate example of bravery in the face of defeat. Mark 15:33-39 (ESV).

[33] And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. [34] And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [35] And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” [36] And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” [37] And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. [38] And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. [39] And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of the word.

We are all familiar with this very difficult story. At the third hour of the new day, about 9:00 AM, troops under the direction of a Roman Centurion nailed Jesus to the cross. At mid-day (the sixth hour) the scripture says “…a darkness came over the land.”

We do not have evidence of what this darkness was. We do not know an eclipse or a pall of cloud, or a supernatural obliteration of the light. Frankly, it makes little difference how it was accomplished. From the time of the plagues of Egypt, “darkness over the land” was understood to be an act of God that spoke to the Jews of his terrible judgment.

In Ezekiel 32:7-8, God warns the people…

 [7] When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens
 and make their stars dark;
 I will cover the sun with a cloud,
 and the moon shall not give its light.
 [8] All the bright lights of heaven
 will I make dark over you,
 and put darkness on your land,
 declares the Lord GOD.

In these dangerous hours, perhaps the most perilous hours of human history, the pain of Jesus and of God the Father showed itself in this frightening twist of nature. After three terrible hours, Jesus spoke, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

These few words are the first of this important Messianic lament, Psalm 2.  We read a portion this morning. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  This poetic line was an expression of Jesus’ alienation from God at a moment when he experienced total defeat. Bearing the sin of mankind, Jesus was suffering punishment for all of mankind. I am certain that Jesus was triggering this Psalm in the minds of those gathered around the cross.

It is a Psalm that begins speaking of utter and humiliating defeat, but it ends very differently. Jesus knew that in his complete surrender, the words of the Psalm spoke of this moment.

[27] All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
[28] For kingship belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.
 [29] All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
 [30] Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
 [31] they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it. (Psalm 22:27-31 ESV)

It had been 6 tortured hours since they nailed him to the cross and verse 37 says… “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.” For those who had become accustomed to the brutal and continuous show of Roman  crucifixions, this was very strange. We read in verse 44 that even Pilate found this to be odd. [44] Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already die And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.

Two things were strange about Jesus’ death. Those who were there had seen hundreds of crucifixions, especially the Roman troops. They had never seen anyone die as Jesus did. A “normal” death by crucifixion was slow and tortuous. That is, after all, why the Romans used them. A simple execution could be swift. But crucifixion was intended to be the most gruesome, terrifying death imaginable.

It would sometimes take days for the victim to die. Sometimes they died from loss of blood, sometimes from shock, exposure or even starvation. Normally, the person crucified died of suffocation. The weight of their own bodies pulling down on the nails put terrible pressures on the diaphragm and lungs. But Jesus’ death was in no way normal.  Nor was that last loud cry normal. Instead of gasping for a last breath with no strength left to speak, Jesus gave a loud cry. Matthew says…  And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. (Matthew 27:50 ESV).

The scripture records that at that moment, the veil, the curtain that separated off the Devir, the Holy of Holies, from the rest of the temple, was torn in two from top to bottom. This curtain in the temple had one purpose. It was there to keep people away from the presence of God. The Jews understood that being in the presence of God was a dangerous proposition. The veil kept that from happening unintentionally.

Actually this “veil” was two curtains. Each piece of fabric was woven over 3 ½ inches thick. There was 18 inches between the two pieces. On the Day of Atonement, the chief priest would enter through this veil after a cleansing sacrifice. But that was the only day of the year that anyone went through.

The curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. It was a physical message from God. The ceremonial law, with its temple worship and sacrificial system, was finished. Jesus Christ had passed from life to death.  He who was without sin had become sin. The final, perfect sacrifice had been made and God no longer would be separated from his children!

Watching all of this, the Centurion “heard his cry and saw how he died,” and he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” The centurion, who had seen hundreds of crucifixions, saw something different in the way this Jewish rebel died! He died with a shout. But these soldiers had heard cries of pain before. Day after day, they conducted crucifixions. But this man was different from any they had tortured. This man died with a shout of victory! This man, though he was beaten, spat upon, ridiculed and humiliated, had surrendered to that horrible defeat and turned it into victory!

We need to recognize that Mark selected specific events and actions for his readers to notice. There was a great deal else going on. Matthew and Luke paint different pictures of these events. Why are they not the same? They differ because the authors have different points to make.

So what is it that Mark wants his reader to notice? Verses 38 and 39 seem to me to focus our attention on two things. First, in his choice of an obedient death, Jesus Christ ripped away the last barrier between God and man. As the writer of Hebrews says, he is now our High Priest.

Hebrews 10:19-20 [19] Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, [20] by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

Now, as you read Mark’s particular view of the these events, with whom do we most closely identify? Who is it that is most like us? Who sees these events like we would see them? It may be hard for us to admit, but it is the Centurion! We are the gentile “outsiders.” He was Roman, the most hated of the Gentiles. The Jews were blinded to who and what Jesus was, but the man who drove the nails said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Secondly, if it were not for Jesus’ choice of obedience, you and I would still be alienated from God. Colossians 1:21-22:

[21] And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [22] he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, …

If it were not for Jesus choice of obedience, you and I would be standing on the wrong side of the heavenly veil with no way to step through into the presence of God. 1^st Peter 2:10 says, “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

In an almost unbelievable act of bravery, Jesus Christ surrendered to death.  He accepted total defeat so that we could have the victory. What a wonderful savior we have! What a great high priest! Hebrews 10:21-23:

[21] and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [22] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.