Garden Grove Church of the Nazarene
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Over the past several weeks, we’ve been looking together at what the Bible has to say about heaven and about glimpses of what it will be like. In this sermon, Pastor Jim follows up on a that series with a message that he hopes will enable us all to seriously consider the responsibility that we have to live our lives here on earth in right relationship with God.
Why? Because our eternal life depends on it!
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Just after Jesus’ was was sentenced to death, Pilate ordered that Jesus would be flogged and prepared for crucifixion. The second station of the cross is the moment that Jesus accepts his cross:
Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire regiment. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”
They spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. When they were finally tired of mocking him, they gook off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. (Matthew 27:27-31)
Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull. (John 19:17)
As we read these passages, we know that the dreadful routine of execution had now begun. What’s going on here? Why did the Gospel writers choose to write such vivid and stomach turning detail? Perhaps it’s because they didn’t want anyone to miss the profound nature of Christ’s sacrifice for us. So we must discipline ourselves to not allow our eyes to glaze over and our ears to be muffled when we hear about Jesus being sacrificed for our sins.
Let’s not allow our minds to minimize the extent of the suffering that Jesus endured in order to express the full extent of his love, both for His Father, and for all people who have ever lived… including you and me.
If there was ever a time of testing in the brief life and ministry of Jesus, it was now.
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See more of the beautiful hand-cut, marble mosaics like the Stations of the Cross mosaics at:
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It’s only five weeks away from Easter. During these weeks leading up to Easter, Pastor Jim focuses on the significance of some of the specific events during the hours of the passion of Christ just prior to his crucifixion using the eight-fold “Stations of the Cross” as a guide.
“Throughout history, “The Stations of the Cross” has referred to the religious practice of using various events in the final hours of Jesus’ life as a structure for prayer and meditation. These events encompass Jesus’ journey carrying his cross from the Hall of Pilate where he was condemned to death, to the site of his execution on Golgotha.
“For many centuries, as part of their acts of devotion, early Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem have retraced the route of Jesus as he carried his cross to his death. By the sixteenth century, the route this pilgrimage took through Jerusalem came to be called the Via Dolorosa, “The Way of Sorrow.” Along the Way, certain points on the journey (stations) were associated with specific events recounted in the Gospel accounts.
“The Via Dolorosa and the Stations of the Cross are still a popular pilgrimage destination in Jerusalem. Each year during Lent and especially on Good Friday, thousands of Christians retrace the route of Jesus through the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, many carrying small or large wooden crosses.”
(Dennis Bratcher, The Cross as a Journey)
This Sunday, we’ll focus on the moment that marked the beginning of the end, the “kangaroo court” that led to Jesus’ condemnation and death. To bring this part of the story to a place where all of us are confronted with its meaning, it’s important to think of this as a drama and identify with the players: Jesus, Pilate, his wife and the crowd. Then we must ask the question, “Who is Christ to you?”
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See more of the beautiful hand-cut, marble mosaics like the Stations of the Cross mosaics at:
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