Because of the Cross

Max Lucado wrote in No wonder they call him the Savior.

The cross. It rests on the timeline of history like a compelling diamond. Its tragedy summons all sufferers. Its absurdity attracts all cynics. Its hope lures all searchers. History has idolized it and despised it. Gold plated it and burned it, worn it and trashed it. History has done everything to it but ignore it. That's the one option the cross does not offer. No one can ignore it. You can't ignore a piece of lumber that suspends the greatest claim in history. Its bottom line is sobering. If the account is true, it is history's hinge period. If not, it is history's hoax. That's why the cross is what matters.

Max Lucado is so right. When it comes to the cross of Jesus Christ, the bottom line is this. If what happened on the cross is true, then it changes everything. If we really get what happened on the cross, then it changes the way I live. It changes the way I think. It changes the way I behave. And it changes who I am.

Jesus says in John chapter 3, verses 16 and 17…

“For God loved the world in this way. He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

I wish the world would catch that. God did not send Jesus to condemn the world. In other words, God is not some cosmic judge sitting up in the sky who enjoys punishing people. He wants to save everyone. I wish the world would see this. That God is loving and merciful and full of grace. That God sent Jesus to die for everyone in the world. Not to condemn us, not to punish us. God is not some angry guy up in the sky looking to punish, punish us or smite us or anything like that. He wants everyone in the world to come to saving grace through Jesus Christ. That is God's mission. That should be our mission. Not to judge and condemn the world, but to hopefully save the world through Jesus Christ.

In John, chapter 19, what we're going to do is we're going to look at three individuals who are seen at the foot of the cross. We won't look at all of them. There are a bunch of them there. I just want to pull out three of them from John chapter 19 and discover what happens when we encounter the cross. We'll look at three things that we find at the cross of Jesus Christ.

The first thing that we find is redemption.

I am redeemed because of the cross of Jesus Christ. John 19:25 says…

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene.

Now let's talk about Mary Magdalene for a second. If You've been around the church for any period of time, Bible scholars say that Mary Magdalene was the prostitute found in Luke chapter seven who comes to the Pharisee's house while Jesus is having dinner with this Pharisee. And she washes Jesus feet with her tears and she dries them off with her hair. A lot of Bible scholars say that that was probably Mary Magdalene. We don't know for sure. But if this is Mary Magdalene, if she is a prostitute, then this begs the question, I think: How does a woman of the streets, how does someone with a sordid past, someone who's done pretty bad things, how does she end up at the feet of Jesus in Luke chapter seven, and then at the foot of the cross of Jesus in John, chapter 19? How does she get there?

Now, some of us might be thinking, “How did I get to church this morning? Because if Jesus knows what I've done, I don't deserve to be here. I've got a sordid past, too. I've done some pretty bad things, too.” And maybe some of you are wondering this morning: How in the world could God ever forgive me for all the stuff that I've ever done? I don't deserve God's grace. And if that's you this morning, I've got good news for you. The apostle Paul describes the work of Jesus Christ on the cross in Ephesians, chapter one. Listen closely. If you think you're a sinner, if you think you're a bad person, you've got a sordid past, listen to what he says…

In [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Satan would have you believe that you are a bad person. Satan would have you believe that your identity is wrapped up into whatever sin or trespass or wrong thing that you've been doing all of your life. Satan would have you to believe that is who you are. That is not who you are. Through Jesus Christ, there is an exchange that happens at the cross of Jesus. The exchange is that redemption. This is what redemption means. Redemption means to take that which is bad and exchange it for that which is good. So on the cross of Jesus Christ, he takes all of our sins, all of that stuff that makes us bad, and he exchanges it. He forgives it all, past, present, and future. He exchanges it all and gives us the gift of eternal life. This is good news.

This is good news for a prostitute. This is good news for a liar. This is good news for a cheater. This is good news for whatever sin you think you're holding onto this morning, because that is not who you are. You are a child of God. And sometimes we struggle with those bad things, but that is not defining us. We are children of God.

Sin brings darkness. The cross brings light.

Sin makes us weak. The cross gives us power.

Sin brings guilt. The cross brings grace.

Sin conjures up past failures. The cross conjures up fear, future hope.

Jesus richly pours out his grace at the cross. He richly forgives our sins at the cross. And this literally means that his grace overflows. It's actually a Greek word that means it goes way over and above and beyond what we could ever need in our lives. Isn't that good news? There is more grace for us than there are sins that we can perform. This is really good news. So Jesus provides everything we need and more so that he redeems us at the cross. That's what Jesus did for a prostitute. That's what Jesus does for an alcoholic, a drug addict, a cheater, a liar, a manipulator, a sinner like you and me. This is what Jesus does. I am redeemed because of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Also, at the cross, I find relationship.

How many of you find it surprising that Jesus mom is there, that Mary is there at the cross? Maybe not. Some people might. But others might not. I've seen this many times in hospitals and nursing homes. You know what happens when somebody is on his or her deathbed? The family gathers around, don't they? They are there to comfort the dying, and they are there to receive comfort among the living. And so when somebody close in relationship is dying, we gather together. No matter how traumatic, painful, and sorrowful that moment may be, we are there because of relationship. And so Mary, the Mother of Jesus, she finds herself at the foot of the cross because Jesus is her son. As traumatic and painful as that might be, she needs to be at the foot of the cross because of relationship. Look what happens in John 19:26-27…

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” And then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”

Now, I love this because Jesus gives his mother over to his most beloved and trusted disciple named John. This is the Apostle John. Why does he do this? Well, Jesus knows that in that moment, his mother needs the comfort of relationship. He knows that. And so he puts her in this relationship with this apostle John, his most trusted apostle. And Jesus knows that today we too, the church, we need the comfort of relationship. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:19…

So we are no longer foreigners and strangers, but we are fellow citizens with the saints, members of God's household.

What does that mean? We are family, like it or not, right? You can't choose your family on earth. You can kind of choose your church family. But, man, we are family. And this is good. Because we have a place and we have a people that we belong to. We are a band of brothers and sisters united together to find comfort in our hurts, to encourage each other in our weaknesses, and to rejoice even in our triumphs.

How many of you have made friends here at The Hill? Many of you, right? Probably all of us. We have friends here, and I think this is great. Aren't you glad you met? Could you imagine what your life would be like without your Christian friends? God has brought us together as a family and we ought to rejoice in that. And here's the cool thing, there are many more who are yet to come here. But anyway, this is where we can come together as friends and people of God. In the cross, we find relationship.

In the cross, I find responsibility.

So the rest of verse 27 says from that hour, this disciple John took Mary into his home. Jesus gives John the responsibility of caring for his own mother. This hit me last week. Why didn't Jesus brothers take care of their mom? You ever think about that? Like, he's got brothers, he's got sisters. Why didn't Jesus ask his brothers to take care of their mom? Some scholars say that Jesus brothers were still disillusioned with him. You might remember early in Jesus ministry, his brothers still did not believe in him. So it could be that they just weren't ready because they weren't spiritually there. Other scholars, they say, well, maybe they weren't in Jerusalem at the time. They'd gotten jobs and they moved out of town, and they weren't really ready to take care of their mom, so they were out of town. Here's a third option, too. A lot of scholars say that John was actually Mary's nephew. So Jesus and John were like cousins. He's like, “Hey, Cuz, take care of your aunt.” Who knows? But it really doesn't matter, does it? Whatever the case is, Jesus gives John this responsibility of taking care of his mother.

And responsibility is found all around the passion of Jesus, from his betrayal through his resurrection. There's responsibility given out all around it. Of course, you know, the biggest responsibility, Judas was responsible for betraying Jesus. Otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here today. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, remember, it was Peter, James and John. They were to keep watch while Jesus went off by himself to pray. They were given the responsibility. They didn't do a good job of it, right? Remember, they kept falling asleep. Simon of Cyrene, what did he do? He was given the responsibility of carrying the cross for Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, what did they do? They took his body down from the cross and then buried him. So responsibility given around all.

Lots of responsibilities given out around the Passion of Jesus. Let me ask, what is our responsibility? Mark 16:15. Jesus says, “Here's your responsibility because of the cross. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Our responsibility is to share the gospel with everyone we can. What's the gospel? The gospel is the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Our job is to share that with everybody. That's our responsibility. Our vision here at the Hill says, real people finding real hope. Now let's not just keep it to ourselves. Let's go help others find this real hope we have in Jesus Christ. That's our responsibility. This is what the cross of Jesus Christ does. In the cross, people find real hope.

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.