Sermon from May 14, 2006
Have you ever picked up old glass at the seashore? The sharp edges are gone. It feels good in your hand. You want to take it home and put it with the shells in your window display or in your aquarium.

Words are like old glass. Take the word sacrifice. In baseball we talk about a sacrifice bunt. In chess we sacrifice a pawn or even a bishop, if we know what we are doing. Parents sacrifice so their children can go to college. The idea is that we give up something we'd like to have in order to get something better. There's nothing wrong with this. But the sharp edges of the word are gone. The word feels good on our tongue. We even feel pretty good about ourselves for giving something up for a greater good.

In the biblical world this wearing away was already happening with the word sacrifice. But in the Jewish temple sacrifice remained mysterious, dark, and deadly. The slaughter of animals was routine in the worship of God.

In our experience some sacrifices come closer to the original idea of giving up life. Soldiers shed their blood for the country – what Abraham Lincoln called "the last full measure of devotion." But a soldier can defend himself. A mother's sacrifice is more defenseless, as she carries a child and even more as she gives birth at risk to herself. But in the end she has a child. The greatest examples of sacrifice are the Christian martyrs, who give up their lives without striking back and with no possible reward in this world.

In a move that startled their contemporaries, the apostles of Christ called His death a sacrifice. How did they come to do that? It contradicted common sense, and as a result the Christian message often played to a skeptical audience. We can see why.

Everybody Knows That ... 
First of all, "crucifixion was a powerful symbol throughout the Roman world. It was not just a means of liquidating undesirables; it did so with the maximum degradation and humiliation. It said, loud and clear: we are in charge here; you are our property; we can do what we like with you." (Jesus and the Victory of God, 543).

Everyone could see that. Everyone agreed about that, and any other understanding was just whistling past the graveyard. That's why the Gentile world often viewed the Christian gospel as foolishness. Everybody knew that death by crucifixion was an irresistible instrument of imperial authority and nothing else.

Jesus' fellow Jews went a step further. They agreed about the political significance of crucifixion, but the Torah put it in another light. Deuteronomy 21:22-23 says: If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse.

When the Apostle Paul referred to the offense of the cross, he had in mind the perception among his Jewish kinsmen that God had cursed Jesus. That's why the Jewish world often viewed the Christian gospel as a stumbling block. Everybody knew that death by crucifixion was irresistible public evidence of God's displeasure with Jesus.

The crucifixion of Jesus was so repugnant that a group we call Docetists came to the conclusion that the person the Romans crucified had not been the real Jesus. That very idea was picked up or at least reproduced by an Arab merchant named Mohammed. Here's how he expressed in in the Qur'an.

"They said (in boast), 'We killed Christ Jesus the Son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah;' but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not," (Sura 4:157).

We can appreciate why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. He went on to say: but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The question we are wrestling with in this series is: how did Paul, the other apostles, and the first Christians come to view the death of Jesus differently? Here are some ways they expressed their unexpected views.

God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God  – 2 Corinthians 5:21. Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God – Ephesians 5:2. He (Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world – 1 John 2:2.

And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation" – Revelation 5:9-10.

Jesus taught them to think like that from scripture. As a gift of the Holy Spirit, "the Old Testament furnishes the essential thought-forms, and the essential language too, for conceiving and expressing salvation," (C.K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John, 66).

We are becoming familiar with one of those thought-forms: the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. That institution presents us with three Jewish ideas: the high priest, his sacrifice, and his access to God. Two weeks ago, we considered what it means to call Jesus our High Priest. Next Sunday, we will consider His access to God. Today, we consider His sacrifice.

In the Order of Salvation
Ancient Israel sang (as we do) and danced (as we do not) on their way to worship. But they were singing and dancing on their way to slaughter; and waiting at the temple were the sons of Aaron with sharp and kosher knives. Theirs were the rituals of slaughter, sprinkling, and feasting.

The letter of Hebrews says, "If you want to understand the death of Jesus Christ, go back to the Day of Atonement, and compare the Jewish sacrifice for sin and Jesus' death on the cross." So, let's do that. As we do it, the heart of the universe will begin to disclose itself to us. Turn with me to Hebrews seven.

The comparison quickly becomes a contrast between the order of the Jewish temple and the order of eternal salvation. Look first at verse 23-24. Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing the office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. In the order of the temple, there were many high priests. In the order of eternal salvation, there is one High Priest, who has no predecessor and needs no successor.

Second, look at Hebrews 5:2-3, which speaks of the Jewish high priest. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. Now, look up the page to what Hebrews 4:15 says about out High Priest. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. In the order of the temple, every high priest sacrificed first for his own sins. In the eternal order of salvation, Jesus, our great High Priest, was without sin.

Third, look at Hebrews 7:27. Unlike the other high priest, he (Jesus) does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. In the order of the temple, the high priest sacrificed day after day. In the eternal order of salvation, Jesus, our great High Priest, was sacrificed once for all when he offered himself.

Fourth, the most telling contrast centers on the sacrifice for sin itself. Hebrews 9:12 expressses the contrast this way: He (Jesus) did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood. In the order of the temple, sacrifice called for the slaughter of irrational beasts, which had no choice in the matter. In the order of eternal salvation, Jesus sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. The High Priest offered Himself as the sacrifice.

In the order of the temple, there were many high priests, feeling the weight of their sins, with many sacrifices of dumb animals; in the order of eternal salvation, there is one High Priest, without sin, with one sacrifice of Himself. As wonderful as God's gift of temple and sacrifice were, something better had come. The Jewish high priest and his sacrifice on the Day of Atonement had found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ crucified.

The Sacrifice
Now, what are we to say about the sacrificial death of Jesus? First, it was costly. Just how costly it was comes home to us, when we remember whom we are talking about. This Jesus was the Son of God, God's final word to man, the creator and heir of all things, the exact representation of God's being. He was without sin.

And yet He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He took the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness (Philippians 2:6-7). With eyes wide open He entered the web of suffering, sin and alienation from God. He was tempted in all points, just as we are (Hebrews 4:15). He was maligned. In the end, the author of life (Acts 3:15) was put to death in a mockery of justice, and in a way befitting the scum of the earth. He bore the consequences of our sinfulness by subjecting Himself to the consequences of our sinfulness. His sacrificial life and death cost heaven dearly.

The mystery of His sacrifice deepens in Hebrews 10:5-7. It was ordained in heaven. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

0"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
     but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
     you were not please.
Then I said, 'Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll –
     I have come to do your will, O God.'"

Verse ten interprets the will of God for Jesus: And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Jesus was not just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The crucifixion was not a bad ending to an otherwise promising career. His career was ordained to be a sacrifice. John the Apostle said it best. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life, (John 3:16).

Third, Jesus' sacrificial death did something decisive about sin. Look at Hebrews 9:26. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. His sacrifice on the cross was the beginning of the end of sin in human affairs. When Jesus surrendered to the cross in obedience to the Father's will, they buried a man on whom sin had no hold. When He rose from death, ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, He was given the right and the power to eradicate sin.

His work is not finished, as we are painfully aware. The great human evidence of sin's defeat is our repentance, confession, and forsaking of our evil ways for the sake of Christ. Imperfect as that may be, it is our way of anticipating the final liberation of all things from sin. The book of Revelation offers to our faith a way to see the Risen Lord of all the earth at work patiently to bring about the conversion of the nations and the destruction of sin and death and the devil.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
Many years ago, I heard the story of a woman, who went into a jewelry store in Denver to buy a cross to wear on her necklace. The sales person said, "Do you want the plain cross or the one with the little man on it?" The Roman instrument of execution has traveled a long way in human imagination to become a piece of jewelry with the little man on it.

On the other hand, in Christian worship we see the cross of Christ very differently; "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," "In the Cross of Christ I Glory," "O Sacred Head Now Wounded," and much more.

Really, this music is so astounding that it is only over-familiarity with it that blinds us to what we are singing. I doubt that any of us has witnessed the execution of a person for a capital crime, or even been to the chamber where execution takes place. We have likely seen pictures of a hangman's noose or an electric chair or the paraphernalia of lethal injection. Can you imagine any circumstances under which that gruesome business would inspire a song whose title was "When I survey the wondrous noose?"

In a category of instruments, a cross belongs along side nooses and electric chairs. So, "why did certain first-century Jews, within an exceedingly short time, refer to the death of a messianic pretender ... in terms such as 'he loved me and gave himself for me'?" – Galatians 2:20. Why has the sacred music of Western Civilization from gospel to a Bach Chorale been able to transform the crucifixion of Jesus into an occasion of joyful emotion? Only one answer makes sense to me.

We see the death of Christ through the eyes of Easter. That's why we call that particular Friday good. At the cross of Christ God changed the playing field. Jesus Christ died and rose from death and ascended into heaven. And He permanently altered the human situation. He defeated the devil, who held the power of death. He began and guaranteed the eradication of sin.

As we wait in the present twilight for the final liberation of all things, the cross of Jesus reminds us of how deep the darkness can become, right up to the end of the world. On the other hand, the darkness never has the final word, because Christ has risen. Christ has ascended to the Father. The new creation has begun irresistibly.