Holy Week (E)

The Joy

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  (Hebrews 12:1-3)

This Day of all days, is the Day when the love of God for us, and the desire of God for us, brings into stark expression that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

What was “the joy set before” Jesus Christ, how did He endure the Cross, why was He able to despise the shame? While it was certainly that He rejoiced to do the will of His Father, wrapped within that will was...what? How did Jesus endure such pain, and grief, and hostility?

How did He run the race with endurance? How can we run our race, in Him, with endurance? How did Jesus stay in the game of life?

Look at Jesus, running the race. Or perhaps we should call it a gauntlet.  What characteristics of Jesus do we see in our passage?

We see that Jesus endured opposition.  We’ve all known pressure and opposition, but have we really known the intensity of opposition Christ encountered?  Do we forget that immediately after His baptism by John, that Christ encountered evil, wickedness, and darkness itself as Satan confronted Him in the wilderness?

Do we forget that everyday of His public ministry there were people trying to destroy Him?  He was the object of assassination plots. He was the object of slander. He was accused of being mentally unbalanced.  His words and deeds were deliberately misrepresented in order to discredit Him. He was hated. Segments of society that were normally enemies of each other joined together to destroy Him.  Christ was the lightning rod, the focal point, of all that was evil in the world…He was the object of its hatred.

How did Christ endure this opposition?  How did He remain on the playing field? How did He stay in the game of life?

The night in the garden of Gethsemane, the mob comes to take Him to the kangaroo court of the high priest and religious leaders.  Torches in the night sky, kissed by one who betrays Him, deserted by those whom He had lived with and loved; manhandled, beaten, laughed at…mocked…made fun of…what is He thinking during this time?  What is in the mind and heart of Jesus?

False witnesses at the trial…telling lie upon lie upon lie about Him…calling Him godless…one who blasphemes God…imagine…calling the one who loves God as no one has ever loved God...calling Him a God hater...and with no one to speak in His defense…what is going through His mind and heart?

Off in the corner of the high priest’s house…during the trial proceedings…in the midst of His pain…of His beatings…of hearing the slander and mockery…Jesus hears a voice…it’s a familiar voice…a voice that He loves…a voice that He has yearned for…the voice says, “I don’t know Him…I am not one of His…”  And the rooster crows the second time.

What is He thinking?  What is in the heart of Jesus?

From Pilate to Herod He is taken.  The holy Lamb of God handled and abused by the unholy hands of men, men whose hearts are consumed with the fire of hatred and malice…men whose judgment is a foregone conclusion…they will see Him dead…they will see Him crucified…

The crowds, which just days before had been shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna to the Highest…”  Are now shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him. Give us Barabbas the murderer, but crucify Jesus!”

What is He thinking?  What is in His heart? How is He staying in the game?  How will He be able to cross the finish line?

Out of the city, up the hill, on the Cross, His body racked with pain…spit upon…mocked…deserted…alone…how alone?  Darkness over the land…for the light of the world is being snuffed out…bearing our sins…the object of not only the anger and wrath of men…but now…as our sin bearer…the object of God’s wrath and anger…and He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you…forsaken me?”

What is in His heart and mind?  How is He staying in the game?

You, my friends, are in His heart and mind…you are how He is staying in the game.  “For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the Cross, scorning its shame…”

To walk with us through times of separation and grief…to rejoice with us…to hold our hands…for the joy of bringing us into the family of God…He endured the Cross, and scorned its shame…

You were in His heart and mind when He was before the high priest.  You were in His heart and mind when the whip was tearing the flesh off His back…you were in His heart and mind when nails were being driven into His body…you were the object of His love and joy as darkness enveloped the land…and His cry, His decree, His proclamation…of “It is finished” was His cry of triumph…knowing that on the other side of the empty tomb He would find us…He would find you…His prize…

Jesus stayed in the game because He saw us.

We can stay in the game as our eyes are fixed on Him.