SERIES: Faces  SERMON:  “The Face Of Discovery”

SERIES: Faces  SERMON:  “The Face Of Discovery”

Picture of Writing in blood on train chair. 

John Phipps — Jan. 26, 2013 on the Metrolink in LA —  Accident thought he was going to die!

Wrote this in his own blood.   “I (Heart) my kids I (heart) Lil”  His wife said;  “ “Hallmark is never going to top that,” she said. “It’s moving, it’s thoughtful and it’s chilling all at the same time.”

Rescue Worker: “ “I’ve seen some gruesome things on this job, but that moved me,” Rosario said at the news conference. “My only thoughts at that point was, I have to get this seat to his wife and kids.”

Picture Bloody Cross.

Mark 15:24-39

“Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.” Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.  Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”  The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself!  

Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him. At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.  Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Jesus entered our human blindness to a Father who never abandons anyone, in order that our eyes may be open to see Him. Jesus asks our human question “Why?” fully empathizing with the core Adamic lie of our God-forsakenness.

“Sin-induced separation is ‘real’ to us, but is itself the delusion that continues to fuel our darkness. Jesus did not pay off God by dying for our sins. He is God. He became our sin and brought it to death in order to liberate us from sin and death. Jesus wasn’t changing God; He was changing you.”

                                    John Crowder

Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.  One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

What Convinced This Centurion?

1.  Composure

John 19:26-27 “He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!’”

2. Compassion

Luke 23:43 “And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’”

3. Confession

Luke 23:34 “While they were nailing Jesus to the cross, he prayed over and over, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.’”

4. Completion

John 19:30  “It is finished.” 

Mark 15:28  “Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” 

Ernest Borgnine —  “Jesus Of Nazareth” (1977)— He played the Centurion 

“As that centurion learned 2,000 years ago, I too have found that you simply cannot come close to Jesus without being changed.”

Then His cry rose against the desert wind. Not the voice of Zeffirelli, reading from the Bible, but the voice of Jesus Himself: “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” In awe I watched Jesus’ head slump to one side. I knew He was dead. A terrible grief welled within me, and completely oblivious to the camera, I started sobbing uncontrollably.

“Cut!” yelled Zeffirelli. Olivia Hussey and Anne Bancroft were crying too. I wiped my eyes and looked up again to where I had seen Jesus—He was gone.

Whether I saw a vision of Jesus that windswept day or whether it was only something in my mind, I do not know. It doesn’t matter. 

For I do know that it was a profound spiritual experience and that I have not been quite the same person since.

I believe that I take my faith more seriously. I like to think that I’m more forgiving than I used to be. As that centurion learned 2,000 years ago, I too have found that you simply cannot come close to Jesus without being changed.

The cross of Christ proclaims you are never alone. 

God is present and powerful even when life is manifesting extreme pressure and pain.

Romans 4:25 (TPT)

“Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!”