Well, the world certainly has been awakened to The Passion of the Christ, hasn’t it? This film that has dominated the public discourse for the last number of months has exposed millions of people to the account of the suffering, death and even the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s really a remarkable phenomenon to see so many newscasters and media pundits and politicians and entertainers and just about everybody else with the name of Jesus on their lips all the time. It’s amazing.
In fact, it’s reached such proportions that I received a phone call, not long ago, from a magazine that does not usually call me, G.Q. Gentlemen’s Quarterly fashion magazine. And I wondered when I went about to return the call what in the world they could possibly want with me, and so did everybody else. And I finally was connected with the writer who said, “In May we’re doing a special issue of G.Q. and it’s going to feature the most popular men in America and we have finally come to the conclusion after our research as to who it is and it is Jesus. And you were suggested to us as someone who could tell us about Him.” (Applause)
I said, “I can do that.” (Laughter) And so for about an hour and a half I did. I don’t know who else they will talk to and how it will all come out, but Jesus has somehow jumped the barrier into the popular culture, hasn’t He?
Now there’s an upside to that, and there’s a downside. Over familiarity with the popular cultural Jesus is not necessarily a good thing, it’s going to call on us to be very clear about the Jesus of Scripture as opposed to the popular Jesus of everybody’s imagination and preference. And just a few days ago, sitting in the back of the worship center was an entire film crew here and they filmed me for about an hour and twenty minutes, or so. This was from one of the networks, I think they said HBO network and they were doing a documentary and wanted to interview me on this person Jesus in the Christian gospel and how it might relates to anti-Semitism in the world.
You know, it’s pretty amazing how extensive the dialogue about Jesus has become. And while I’m sure all these representations are not going to be what we would want them to be, and while I would confess that there are elements of the film that are not necessarily biblical, it provides for us a dramatic opportunity when everybody is talking about to Jesus to step in and say, “Here’s the real message, here’s the real story,” and the film does depict accurately the suffering and the death and even the resurrection of Jesus Christ and makes very clear because the first words that go across the screen are, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities,” it makes it very clear why He died. But just watching the movie, you might conclude that He died for everybody’s sins and therefore everybody’s okay. On the other hand, the film does leave a lot of questions unanswered. Two Jewish people that I know saw the film, one of them was this documentary film maker and he said, “As soon as I saw the film I went out and bought a New Testament and read the four gospels.” That’s the second one I heard say that to me. That’s good because the question is…how could this happen? How could they do this to Him? How did it happen? What’s it about? And how does it apply to me? And that’s why we put out a new edition of The Murder of Jesus with a new cover, borrowing the imagery of the film and the sub-title, “You’ve seen The Passion of the Christ, now discover what it means to you.” Because you’ve got to get beyond the visual image to the Word of God which explains to us the cross.
And I thought this morning, just to help you, I would do a commentary on the cross. But I’m just going to repeat a commentary for you that is given by someone else. The most powerful commentary ever given on the cross came from God and I want you to open your Bible to Matthew chapter 27 and I’m going to show you God’s commentary on the cross, and He gave it at the very time it happened. There were things going on from an earthly perspective in the death of Jesus Christ that they are certainly featured in the film. You see the agonizing torture of Jesus from His scourging on through His crucifixion. But many people suffered that way and there may have been many thousands of people who suffered even more physical pain than Jesus did because they lasted longer on the cross. The sufferings of Jesus physically were not unique, even the Apostle Paul was scourged five times by the Jews and beaten three times with rods. And there was nothing redemptive about those sufferings of Paul. There’s something more going on here than a suffering man. Jesus cannot become the hero of the oppressed. He cannot become the hero of the abused. He cannot become the hero of those who are under the threatening power of the establishment. There’s a lot more going on there than that. And while I think it’s instructive for us to see the physical suffering so that we can understand what was going on in the scourging and the crucifixion, many people have suffered like that.
In order to really understand what’s going on there, you’ve got to go the commentary that God gave while it was happening, and it is found in Matthew 27, starting in verse 45. And I want to read down to verse 52.
“Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ And some of those who were standing there when they heard it began saying, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, ‘Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook, and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.”
Amazing series of events, right? Just a few verses, this massive supernatural commentary by God on the cross is given to us. Six miracles occurred in those verses I read you, six miracles, six supernatural events.
Number one, supernatural darkness. Verse 45, “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell on all the land until the ninth hour.” When Christ was born, Luke 2:9 to 11 says there was great light that dawned. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, in the anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah says, “The Sunrise from on high shall visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” When Jesus came, the light went on, the light of God, the glorious light of the gospel shining in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus even said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world, whoever believes in Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” “He urged men to come to the light…John 12:35 and 36…while the light was still there.”
Our Lord was then light. He was identified with light. He was the light to the Gentiles, that is to the world. But at His death there is darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. The Jews begin to measure their day from 6 A.M., the sixth hour is noon. From noon to three it was dark. Mark 15:25 says, “He was crucified at the third hour,” 9 A.M. So the first three hours He was hanging there visible, naked before the watching people in the light. Those three hours passed. Soldiers had nailed Him there. They had placed the sign over His head. He is suspended there in the horrific indignity as the passers-by, the soldiers, the curious, the religious leaders watch and mock and insult Him. During that three hours He only broke the silence three times. Once He said to the soldiers, of the soldiers to the Father, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The second time He spoke to a penitent thief at His side and said, “Verily, this day you will be with Me in paradise.” Once more He broke the three-hour silence looking down at Mary and John, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son,” pointing to John. And to John, “Behold your mother,” thus giving her into the care of John. In the light He said three things. All three of them were demonstrations of mercy, mercy toward the soldiers, mercy toward the thief, mercy toward Mary. Each was a revelation of the light of His grace, the shining beauty of His compassion.
But as the second three hours began, at noon when the sun had reached its apex, its zenith in the bright Mideastern sky, an astounding miracle took place. And the Bible just says without any fanfare, “There was darkness and it fell upon all the land.” Land is ge, transliterated g-e, earth. Darkness fell on all the earth. The earth was already half dark and there’s no reason to think that it didn’t become totally dark. There was a Roman historian named Flagon who mentioned this darkness. Tertullian also wrote to some pagans mentioning this darkness and saying, “Which wonder is related in your own annals and is preserved in your own archives to this day?” So there are historical records of this strange darkness occurring at this place at that time and as far as we can tell, spreading to other cultures.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
