St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Lenten Vesper #6. April 8, 2003 Mark 15:22-32

They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means, The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The written notice of the charges against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and built it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

When I was in grade school we lived on a farm—out in the country—about a mile from town. We used to ride the school bus. We were the second ones picked up each morning—the second to last ones dropped off in the afternoon. Our school buses were noisy—children sitting way in the back making lots of noise—the frustrated driver in the front—yelling—literally yelling for everybody to be quiet! One day—one of the buses in our community was hauling children home at the end of the school day. They pulled up in front of a farm house. The brakes make that piercing squeaking sound as the bus ground to a halt. The little red stop sign swung out. Oncoming traffic stopped. There was the ca-clunk of the bus door opening. The little girl stepped down the two steps—then jumped on the blacktop pavement and onto the gravel shoulder. The bus driver turned almost completely around in his driver’s seat and shouted again for everyone in the bus to shut up! He looked for the little girl and she was gone—out of sight! She must have run into her old farm house front door. He slammed the bus door shut. Slap went the stop sign against the side of the bus. The gears ground—and he stomped on the gas. What the bus driver didn’t realize—was that the little girl who just got off the bus had dropped her papers—and one of those pictures—a picture she had drawn for her parents—had blown under the bus. That little girl had crawled under the bus to get her paper. And when the bus driver started driving again—in anger and frustration—he didn’t know she was under the tires. Even when the children in the back of the bus realized what had happened and shouted to the bus driver to stop he didn’t! He just figured they were shouting and making noise like before—so he didn’t stop at all! That little girl died—and the bus driver drove on—entirely oblivious to what had happened. Entirely oblivious to his guilt and blame and responsibility! Almost 2,000 years ago Jesus died on the cross. Jesus died on a hill shaped like a skull. And there is literally a world—the better part of 6 billion people alive on this planet today—who are entirely oblivious to their guilt and blame and responsibility for Jesus’ death! How horrible is that? How eternal are the consequences—if anyone doesn’t understand:

Golgotha: A Place of Suffering

Golgotha is the place where Jesus gave up his life to save us from all our sins! Tonight our sermon—if you are technical about it—is really a homily. A sermon has a theme—and usually two or three parts. The theme is a proposition—a statement—not a title but a theme—a statement. And then the parts—one or two or three—divide the theme—explain the theme—are built upon the theme. A homily is a little more simple. A homily is a running commentary—take a phrase or sentence or verse or two and explain them and apply them—and then move on. We went to the installation of the new president of Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, MN the other day. Nancy’s cousin is the new President. The worship folder said the homily would be based on the college motto—one thing is needful! So today we will have a homily. We will work through just some of what happened at today’s place of the passion—a hill shaped like a skull—a place of suffering and a place of death!

First, the bringing. “They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of the skull). It must have been a terrible parade—that Friday morning—as they walked from Pontius Pilate’s beautiful home—through the winding streets—through one of the seven gates in the walls of Jerusalem. Not far outside the city walls—was a hill—stony—shaped like a skull. What irony—that at the top of this skull—people should die—people put to death! They brought Jesus to this place—walked in front of him to clear the way—walked beside him—walked behind him. They thought they made Jesus carry his cross—but he did so willingly—until he physically simply could not. Then they made a man named Simon from Cyrene carry it for him. The word of the LORD first spoken by the prophet Isaiah came true. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent—so he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7b

Second, the refusing. “They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.” There is an instinct within each of us—that wants to avoid pain. There are people with holes in their teeth who do not go to the dentist—because their teeth don’t hurt—yet—and they are pretty sure the dentist will. There are people who have blood where there isn’t supposed to be blood—but that doesn’t hurt—either—yet—so they put off going to the doctor—because they figure even the tests the doctor will order will hurt. There are people who have hurts in their marriages—hurts with their children—but they have become used to those hurts—so used to the constant—chronic unpleasantness they don’t hardly notice it any more. They think—like the lumps and bumps that they know aren’t right and aren’t good—they think maybe if they ignore them long enough—they will just melt away. That they will just go away by themselves. They won’t! They don’t and they won’t. And we are only tricking and fooling ourselves if we think they will. Again—walk down the drug aisle at the grocery store—and you will find a whole grocery cart full of so called pain relievers! There is aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen—tablets, capsules and caplets—whatever is easier to swallow. There are antacids you can take before, during or after your stomach is upset. There is medication if you have heartburn. There is juice you can put on cold sores so they aren’t sore—spray for your feet if they itch and burn. There is medicated shampoo of your scalp itches. There is juice for the itch of bug bites and the pain of sunburn. There are those who advocate the use of Marijuana for those who are terminally ill. There is morphine for pain that is beyond words—and nerves can be severed of the pain is crushing and unbearable. Pain relief is nothing new. But Jesus refused it. Jesus refused painkillers, sedatives, anesthesia. Jesus would have nothing to dull or deaden the pain. Jesus would do nothing to ease the pain or fog his thinking—as he endured all my sins deserved. Jesus would be wide-awake and aware—as he suffered His Father’s white-hot anger against all our sins and mistakes!

Third, the piercing. “They crucified him.” It is sad the human mind can be so creative when it comes to putting to death another human being. There was a women’s retreat last weekend in Rochester, MN. During the morning these hundreds of ladies had a lady presenter who talked about attitudes—about the thoughts that fill hearts and minds and are translated into what we say—and what we do with our feet and our hands. That lady handed out a paper that explained in excruciating detail what happens when you are flogged—and when you are crucified. The Gospel of Mark does not go into gory details. There is no terrible description of the physical hurt and harm Jesus’ endured. The most painful part was not the harm to the parts of his body. The most painful part by far—the heartache and the sorrow of soul and mind—as Jesus carried the guilt of our sins. If you have ever been falsely accused or wrongfully condemned and punished for something—anything you didn’t do—you still can’t begin to appreciate what it must have been like for the entirely innocent Lord Jesus to be punished by his heavenly Father—for all of the sins of the whole wide world. As I have thought about this lately—it’s amazing that Jesus didn’t almost vaporize—in the crushing judgment that all our sins deserved.

Fourth, the casting. “Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.” There is something about selfishness and greed that is like the proverbial green monster—taking hold of our hearts and minds. Watch the war—the video from Baghdad—and you see people looting—breaking into government offices and stealing ceiling fans, windows, doors, TV sets and anything else they can carry away. When they realize they are being filmed—they try to cover their faces out of shame—as they scramble home with what they have stolen! If we were in their sandals—would we do the same? They played a game of chance—to see what part of Jesus’ garments each would get. Is this gambling? Is gambling a sin? If you think all gambling—every kind of gambling—every game where money is at stake—is a sin—and you buy a fist full of scratch games and powerball tickets and lottery tickets—for you it is a sin! Is gambling a sin? Is every game of chance where you can win something—raffle tickets to win donated prizes—to benefit someone with great medical expenses—always a sin? I don’t know you can say that. God’s Word is—however very clear about sinful attitudes! Attitudes of greed—selfishness—the love of money—the attitude of laziness that says I would much prefer to win a fortune than to work to earn a living—is sin plain and simple! Jesus’ enemies—with cold greedy hearts—played a game of chance—to have the clothes of a dying man—before he was even dead! That was wrong!

Finally the insulting. “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘So! You who are going to destroy the temple and built it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!’ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves, ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.” They are insulting Sadaam Husein. They are driving tanks over his portraits. They are firing rocket-propelled grenades at his statues. People are spitting on his picture. Turn on almost any TV program that is supposed to be a comedy—and people are insulting one another. They say the most clever and the most cutting and cruel and hurtful things to their spouse, their siblings, their friends. We have become a people accustomed to insults. This is nothing new! They heaped insults on Jesus even as he was dying. The pompous self important and self-righteous leaders of the Church. The soldiers, the two robbers, the common people—all mocked and ridiculed the Lord of Life. Jesus did not strike back. With quiet humble dignity and forgiving love Jesus endured these indignities. He could have saved himself. But instead he saved us. He forgave us all the times we have said unkind and hurtful things to those around us. For that Jesus suffered too!

They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha…the place of the skull. I was driving home from the hospital the other day—listening to Public Radio. They were talking about the battle of Gettysburg—July 1,2,3, 1863. The 3^rd day General Longstreet—so choked with emotion he couldn’t speak—saluted General Pickett—giving him permission for Pickett’s charge—an infantry assault of 15,000 Confederate troops across an open field. In 50 minutes there were 10,000 Confederate casualties! By the end of the Battle of Gettysburg there were 5,000 horses that had been killed. There were over 51,000 casualties! Though the war would drag on another 2 terrible years—the South would never recover from the loss of Gettysburg. What had gone so horrible wrong? Experts today in military strategy say it is essential for commanders in the field to be able to read the land—to analyze and understand the battlefield. They say as brilliant as General Robert E. Lee was—he failed to take into account one small hill—and because of that—he failed—he lost the battle and ultimately the war. There was a small stone covered—skull shaped hill just outside Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. There have been and always will be those who fail to understand and appreciate what happened there. On that small hill—the Son of God died—to rescue us from all our sins. That place of death—of suffering and unspeakable pain of heart and soul—is also a place of forgiveness, grace and eternal life for Jesus’ sake. Amen!

To God alone all glory!