Palm Sunday
(Passion Sunday) April
5, 2009
Mark 15:1-39 Our
Strong and Silent Savior
Dear fellow redeemed,
Some find it an endearing
title. They’ll say of their husband:
“He’s the strong and silent type. That
might mean: “He’s doesn’t always have a lot to say.
But he’s there for me when I
need him.”
* But
as it happens in every marriage, I suspect those words which are given as a
compliment, may lose their meaning from time to time.
* “How
come you didn’t stick up for me?” the wife complains after returning home from
a special gathering. “I could have used
your support.”
“Maybe you
should go by yourself next time. And I
can stay home!”
Silence often disturbs
us. It may help explain why the world
finds the Lord’s silence so troubling.
* Consider
Pilate’s frustration in today’s text.
Christ is
absolutely silent before his accusers.
It didn’t make any sense.
* They’ve
got trumped up charges about his stirring up trouble throughout Judea with his
teachings. He’s forbidden them to pay
taxes to Caesar.
He claims
he’s Christ a king.
* Well,
Pilate sees no grounds for charging him. And neither did Herod.
So he finally asks him: “Are you the
king of the Jews?”
Basically,
the governor was offering Christ the chance to make his case.
* Christ answers that he is, but that’s as far as it goes. And
again he’s quiet.
“Have you no answer to make?” Pilate
continues. “See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus
still makes no reply, and Pilate’s amazed.
And I’m sure many others were
amazed, as well.
“We’ve seen how strong he
is! He’s God for crying out loud! Why not act like it!”
* To
be sure, what a spectacular sight they’d see if Christ made just a small effort
defending himself. He’s performed his
miracles in the past.
* Why
not put his divine powers to work one more time? Prove to this mob that he is who he says
and that these pharisees were a bunch of idiots.
But
instead Jesus just stood before this cynical crowd not breathing a word. * It
didn’t make any sense remaining so still.
A principle was involved here.
You don’t
take the fall for something for which you’re not guilty.
We
don’t need a Strong and Silent Savior!
Having a silent Christ can be
troubling. And for us too.
We may question why he’s so
silent in our lives.
1) For some time we’ve been crying out for relief because a certain
ailment is worsening. Lord, let my
doctor determine what’s behind my discomfort, and let him find a way to treat
it. If not, please let it just go away.
* But
on and on it goes. And we’re not getting
any kind of explanation.
Except
what’s shared by that concerned family member, that is.
You know: “God
will answer in his own way and in his own time.”
2) Or we’ve asked the Lord to help us reach this
person we love.
We want to
help him out of his troubles.
Let him find
a place in his life for me and my love.”
At least let
him turn things around and find success in something.
* But
the only answer we receive is silence.
3) Or we’re feeling unworthy of God’s grace
because of a dark chapter from our past.
We’ve been told that “if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and
just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
So we pray:
“Please forgive me, Lord!”
* But we can’t tell that
anything has changed. Maybe I haven’t
done enough confessing. The guilt and
shame are still there.
* Why doesn’t he make things better? Why doesn’t he help that loved one?
Why am I
feeling the way I am?
Sometimes the “why question”,
if it’s answered by silence, can lead a believer to despair, that is, to give
up hope.
* And
we may only wonder if this is what our Lord wants.
When we come
to know him as Our Strong Savior who’s also silent are we supposed
to throw up our hands and give up?
* Actually
it depends what we mean by giving up.
Shall we
give up on Christ and his ability to save us?
No.
Shall we
give up on ourselves and our ability to overcome our troubles? Yes.
It’s always one or the other.
* As
it so happened, many of the Jews went with the first option.
In stead of
giving up on themselves, they gave up on Christ.
* And in the process they gave a new meaning to being saved.
It consists
of power and influence.
* When
Christ’s didn’t come through and act in a political manner to make them an
important people, his enemies saw no choice but to strip him of his
power and influence, and demand it for themselves.
* As
far as they were concerned, it was too late for him to speak. And to keep him from being heard they chose
to weaken his cause and humiliate him.
* So
they put a purple robe on him and twist together a crown of thorns.
They even fell on their knees to mimic
their actions to a real king.
* “He
saved others,” they announced, “he cannot save himself!”
“Let this
Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and
believe.”
In time even Pilate had no
use for Christ’s words.
* At
first he wants to know why the Jews would have him crucified.
“What evil
has he done?” They should be the
ones who were left speechless.
* But
soon would Pilate choose to be silent himself to save his own skin.
He washes his
hands before the crowd explaining that he’s innocent of this man’s blood.
So Christ was rejected in the
end because he could have given the Jewish people great power and dominance
over their enemies. But he was
silent.
* Instead
of exercising his Word to make them a great nation, he spoke only when it would
serve to save his people from sin.
* It’s
why Christ is rejected today. The Word
of God just doesn’t cut it.
People want a
leader, a boss, a pastor who can promise them the greatest success and
attention.
* It’s all a matter of
finding our way; fixing our future.
Unless you’ve got something to say that’s going to make us more
important to the world around us, you might as well keep silent because you’re
not helping us.
Then again, as we look at
today’s reading we may ask whether Christ wasn’t bringing it all on
himself. For not only is he rejected by
his enemies.
He’s rejecting by his own
Father in heaven.
* When
Christ finally does make himself heard, his words seem to suggest he’s
nothing but a pathetic failure.
He cries out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?” - which
means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
* But
now it’s his Father who’s silent.
Why? What purpose could this
serve?
Thinking back, it was just
yesterday when Christ, sweating drops like blood, asked for his cup to be
removed if the Father was willing.
His prayer was answered in
that he did receive strength to face what lay ahead.
* But now there was no
reply at all. It’s not that the Father
was answering his plea for help “in his own way”. He wasn’t answering, period.
* To
be crucified, according to the Jews, was to be forsaken by God.
And this was
clearly true in Christ’s case. The Father was silent and refused to answer
Christ’s cries, because he had abandoned his Son.
And yet we listen to the
words of Christ “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And if we
didn’t know better we might ask whether there’s something more behind his
question.
* Had Christ
reached the point of despair?
Was he
giving up on God, surrendering to the inevitable in as much as he could not
escape this punishment?
* Or
did he believe when he was experiencing God’s full wrath and anger, that his
Father would be faithful?
He would
accept Christ’s suffering and death as a payment for our sin?
* Truly,
Christ did not despair. It’s not that he
was surrendering to death. It’s not that
his abilities failed him or that Our Strong and Silent Savior wasn’t so
strong anymore.
* As
the Son of God, he had all power and authority over life and death.
And our text
bears this out. We’re told that it was
after Jesus “uttered a loud cry” that “he breathed his last”.
* If
you’ve been with a loved one when he or she died, you know that most people
will barely have strength to utter a whimper when they breathe their last. Christ’s death, however, was much different
because of who Christ is.
* As the Lord God, Christ
would die not because he became weaker and weaker, and had no choice in the
matter.
Quite the
contrary, he died because he willed to die.
It’s really quite
amazing. Christ who’s God with absolute
power over all things, not only wills to die, but dies so tragically!
* Maybe
this is where we need to ask our question: “why?”
* And I’ll tell you why. Christ chose death for the same reason that
he chose to be silent before his accusers, and chose not to give up when his
Father was silent himself.
* Christ
chose to die because he was able to die in our place.
It’s why St.
Paul writes as he does in today’s epistle that “though he was in the form of
God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be displayed, but made
himself nothing . . . And being found in human form, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
* So
that Christ might be our substitute on the cross, he put his powers as God in
reserve - laying them aside for another time.
* We
see this is the case already on Palm Sunday. “See, your King is coming to
you, righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey.”
* Christ
came to our world not to give some amazing proof that he’s our only God and
Lord. He came with gentleness, with righteousness and salvation. He came to be our servant and save us.
And that’s why we can have a
completely different perspective on Our Strong and Silent Savior.
* He’s
strong because of what he’s able to do: save us in his silence.
For the
believer, Christ’s silence is a saving silence.
* Unless
he remains silent before Pilate, we’ll remain hopelessly lost in our sin. Unless he remains silent, he’ll never be
forsaken by our Father.
* And
without the forsaken Christ, we can only know a God who’s silent to us,
everyone of us, and who in time will condemn us.
* Silence
can save. We may think of our favorite
hero at the movies.
He’s
captured by the enemy, interrogated, and eventually tortured.
* He’s
got some information which, if it’s intercepted, could put our entire nation in
grave danger. So he remains silent to
prevent a national secret from getting out.
The truth would mean death for a lot of innocent people.
* Well,
Christ was silent so the truth could get out and save sinners all across
the earth. He was quiet about his innocence, so he could take your sin upon
himself and so that the Father could identify you as the innocent one.
* He
willingly was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that you would not
be, and so that by his silence you would be saved.
You know, if silence ever
makes you uncomfortable, I’m sure you’ll agree that silence on some occasions
can be very comforting.
* There’s
the welcome silence after an incredible storm which you’re sure is going take
the roof off your home. Or there’s the sudden silence when the grandkids finally
go home after the spring break or Easter get-together.
* But
whether we’re troubled or comforted by silence, Solomon reminds us that all
silence must eventually give way to God’s Word.
“There is
time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven... a time to
be silent and a time to speak.”
* That’s
also true of our Savior. On the one
hand, Christ would be silent before his enemies and why he’d take our
sin on himself. On the other hand, he
will not keep silent before us and what’s happened to that sin.
* He’s
taken it away today and forever and ever.
Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.