Coup de Grâce
Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach
the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or an extra pair of
sandals, did you need anything?” “No,” they replied. “But now,” he said, “take your money and a
traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one! For the time has come for
this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’ Yes,
everything written about me by the prophets will come true.” (Luke 22:35-37)
A man and his dog are in a car. The dog’s howling. Caterwauling howls. Like
firetrucks racing to a 4-alarm blaze. The man pleads with the mutt, promising a
daily delivery of dog biscuit bouquets if the hound will only hush. After all,
it's just a car wash. It never occurred to him – uh, me – that the car wash
would scare my dog. But it did. Placing myself in his paws, I guess I can see
why. A huge, noisy machine presses toward us, pounding our window with water, and
banging against the door with brushes. “Duck! We're under attack,” my dog is
pleading. "Don't panic. The car wash was my idea," I respond.
"I've done this before." "It's for our own good," I reason.
But have you ever tried to explain a car wash to a canine? Dog dictionaries are
minus the words “brush” and “power-wash.” My words fell on fallen flaps.
Nothing helped. He just did what dogs do; he wailed.
Actually, he did
what we do. We howl too, don’t we? Not at car washes mind you, but at hospital
stays and job transfers. Let the economy go south, or the kids move north and
we have a wail of a time. And when our Master explains what's happening, we act
like he's talking in a foreign language; we don't understand a word he says. Is
your world wet and wild? It seems that God's greatest blessings often come
costumed as disasters. And, if there are any doubters, all you need to do is
ascend Calvary’s hill.
Jerusalem's
collective opinion on that fateful Friday was this: Jesus is finished. What
other conclusion made sense? The religious leaders had turned him in. Rome had
refused to bail him out. His followers had tucked their tails and ran. He was
nailed to a cross and left to die, which he did. They silenced his lips, sealed
his tomb, and, as any priest worth the price of his phylactery would tell you,
Jesus was history. Three years of power and promises were now decomposing in a
borrowed grave. Search the crucifixion sky for a single ray of hope and you
won't find one. That’s the view of his disciples, the opinion of his friends,
and the outlook of his enemies. Label it the “dog-in-the-passenger-seat” view. But
the Master who sits behind the wheel thinks much differently.
God is not
surprised. His plan is right on schedule. Even in, or perhaps especially in
death, Christ is still the king; the king over his own crucifixion. Want proof?
During his final twenty-four hours on earth, what one word did Jesus speak the
most? Search these verses for a recurring noun: "I, the Son of Man, must
die, as the Scriptures declared long ago." (Matt. 26:24) "Tonight all
of you will desert me," Jesus told them. "For the Scriptures say,
'God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'"
(Matt. 26:31) He could’ve called thousands of angels to help him but he didn't,
and here’s why: "If I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that
describe what must happen now?" (Matt. 26:54)
Rather than
fault the soldiers who arrested him, he explained that they were players in a
drama they didn't write. "But this is all happening to fulfill the words
of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures." (Matt. 26:56) "The
Scriptures declare, 'The one who shares my food has turned against me,' and
this will soon come true." (John 13:18) To his heavenly Father he prayed:
"I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for
destruction, as the Scriptures foretold." (John 17:12) He said to them,
"The Scripture says, 'He was treated like a criminal,' and I tell you this
scripture must have its full meaning. It was written about me, and it is
happening now." (Luke 22:37)
Did you see it? “Love;
“Sacrifice;” “Devotion” – all terms that we might expect to read. But the noun
that leads the list is “Scripture,” and it reveals this truth: Jesus
orchestrated his final days to fulfill Old Testament prophecies, or Scripture.
As if he was following a mental list, Jesus checked them off one by one. But why
did Scripture matter so much to Christ? And why does it matter to us that it
mattered to him? Why? Because Jesus loves the Thomas’ among us. Because while
others kneel and worship, we typically stroke our chins and wonder if we could
see some proof. "How can I know the death of Christ is anything more than
the death of a man?" Well, begin the investigation with that noun –
Scripture.
More Old
Testament prophecy was realized during the crucifixion than on any other day.
Twenty-nine different prophecies, the youngest of which was five hundred years
old, were completed on the day of Christ's death. Now what are the odds of such
a constellation? The answer even staggers the statisticians whose job it is to
figure stuff like that out. Mathematician, Peter Stoner, estimates the
probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled in one lifetime this way: “Cover
the state of Texas two feet deep in silver dollars. On one dollar place one
mark. What is the probability that a person could, on the first attempt, select
the marked dollar? Those are the same odds that eight prophecies would be
satisfied in the life of one man.” But Christ fulfilled twenty-nine in one day!
Want some examples?
“He was counted
among the rebels.” (Isaiah 53.12) “But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isa. 53:5) “They pierced My hands and My
feet.” (Ps. 22:16) “They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing
they cast lots.” (Ps. 22:18) "And it shall come to pass in that day,"
says the Lord GOD, "that I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will
darken the earth in broad daylight." (Amos 8:9) So, don't call Jesus a
victim of circumstances. Call him the orchestrator of circumstances. He
engineered the actions of his enemies to fulfill prophecy. And he commandeered
the tongues of his enemies to declare his truth.
For instance, Christ
rarely spoke on that Friday. He didn't need to. His accusers provided accurate
play-by-play commentary. Remember the sign nailed to the cross? “And Pilate
posted a sign over him that read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’
The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and the sign was written
in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.” (John
19:19-20) Trilingual truth. Thank you, Pilate, for funding the first
advertising campaign of the cross, and introducing Jesus as the King of the
Jews. And thanks to the Pharisees for the sermon: “He saved others; himself he
cannot save.” (Matt. 27:42) Could words have been any more accurate? Jesus
could not, at the same time, save others and save himself, too. So he saved
others.
And the award
for the most unlikely spokesman goes to the high priest that day. Caiaphas
said, "It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole
nation to be destroyed." (John 11:50) Was Caiaphas a believer? Sure sounds
like one. And, in point of fact, it was
better for Christ to die than for all of us to perish. Heaven gets no argument
from him. You'd almost think heaven caused him to say what he said. And if
that's what you were thinking, you’re right. “Caiaphas did not think of this
himself. As high priest that year, he was really prophesying that Jesus would
die for [the Jewish] nation and for God's scattered children to bring them all
together and make them one.” (vv. 51-52)
What's going on
here? Caiaphas preaching for Christ? The Pharisees explaining the cross? Pilate
painting evangelistic billboards? Out of tragedy emerges triumph. Every
disaster proves to be a victory. It reminds me of the mule who stumbled into a dry
well. Parable has it that a mule fell down an old water shaft. The villagers
compared the effort of a rescue with the value of the animal and decided to
bury him. So, they started shoveling dirt into the cistern. But the mule had
other ideas. As the clods hit his back, he shook them off and stomped them
down. Each spade of earth lifted him higher. Eventually, he reached the top of
the well and walked out, big-as-you-please. What his would-be killers thought
would bury him actually delivered him. And the men who murdered Jesus did the
same.
Their actions
elevated Jesus. Everything – the bad and the good, the evil and the decent –
worked together for the coup de grace
of Christ. Should we be surprised? Didn't he promise this would happen? "We
know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him."
(Rom. 8:28) Everything? Yes, everything. Chicken-hearted disciples. A
two-timing Judas. A pierced side. Spineless Pharisees. A hardhearted high
priest. In everything God worked. I challenge you to find one element of the
cross that he did not manage for good, or recycle for symbolism. Go ahead. Try.
I think you'll find what I found – that every dark detail was actually a golden
moment in the cause of Christ.
So, can't he do
the same for you? Can't he turn your Friday into a Sunday? Some of you probably
doubt that. I mean, how can God use cancer or death or divorce? Simple. He's
smarter than we are. He is to you what I was to little five-year-old Amanda. I
met her years ago in a pre-school Bible class at church. She asked me if I could
write her name in her Bible. When I asked her name, she watched as I began to
write, "A … m … a….” She stopped me
right there. With eyes wide and mouth open, she asked, "How did you know
how to spell my name?" She was absolutely awestruck.
You aren't,
though. You know the difference between the knowledge of a child and an adult. So,
can you imagine the difference between the wisdom of a human and the wisdom of
God? What’s impossible to us is like spelling "Amanda" to God.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than
your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:9)
I still take my
dog to the car wash. Gratefully, he’s howling a little less. I just don't think
he understands the machinery. Guess he's learning to trust his master. We’d do
well to do the same.
Grace,
Randy
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