The Moment of Decision - Choose the Cross
Service Link: https://youtu.be/H1QwVN8hlSE
Readings: Luke 9:21-27, Luke 22:66-23:25, Luke 23:26-23:56
Today, we come to our moment of testing. Our lives have been filled with God’s presence as he walks beside us and provides us with what we need. It has not always been easy. Much of what we have done has held great consequences for good or bad, but today we are faced with one of the greatest decisions we will ever make. Will we choose life or death, blessings or curses? Paradoxically, to choose life we must face death, and to receive blessings, we must look to the one who was cursed.
Scripture has been building to this moment and this is its climax. We climb a mountain to see a man, God’s anointed king, servant, and son, hanging on a tree. As we look at him, we stand with Adam and Eve before the trees choosing between life-eternal with God or death on our terms. We stand with Abraham under the tree, choosing if we will invite God in and feed him. We stand with Moses before the burning bush, choosing if we will be God’s servant. We stand with all of Israel on the mountain as we are afraid of God, choosing if we will go up to meet him or stay down and create our own idols. We stand with Joshua on a mountain looking out as Israel marches into the promised land, choosing if we will build our country upon God and see bounty, or do what is right in our own eyes and see division and exile. I could go on.
This is the moment of decision. Will we choose to give up our own lives to follow God and so find eternal life with God? Or will we choose to defend our life and so lose it as we experience separation from God who brings life?
Almost everyone surrounding the cross fails this test. The disciples betray, fall asleep, fight, run away, hide and reject Jesus. Why? Well, they were probably afraid for their lives, but that meant rejecting God and turning away from him. The religious leaders, imprison, accuse, lie, reject Scripture, abuse, ridicule, and frame Jesus. Why? Well, they were jealous and were probably afraid for their livelihood, country, and lives. Pilate and the soldiers interrogate, torture, make fun of, make a spectacle of, unjustly sentence, and kill Jesus. Why? Well, Pilate was probably scared about keeping order, his leadership and the soldiers felt like they had to enforce their power and control.
They all had good worldly reasons. Most people in this world wouldn’t blame them and yet, they did all of this to an innocent man who literally did everything he could to care for people and change the world for the better. He did all of this by pointing them to God through his actions, his words, and his relationships. They could all see it and they did see it. If they reasonably thought about it, they knew it was wrong, and yet they all treated Jesus like he was worse than nothing. Just as this world would and has again and again.
The question is what will we do when we face the cross? Even if the cross appears to be one set up for us to carry. Will we turn to it and pick it up, or will we turn away? Will we take from the tree of eternal life, which is Christ’s body and blood that he gave us on a tree, or will we choose to be our own God’s and follow death? It should not be a difficult decision because we have seen the truth, we look out at the world and see the reality of either of these choices and yet we have so much difficulty making the right choice.
That is why we needed Jesus to do this. We needed him to step in and take on the cross that should have been ours. He takes on God’s punishment for us, for all the times we choose ourselves, but then he becomes the pure blood to wash us clean. He becomes the vision of what is right. He is exalted as the king of sacrificial love. He becomes the strength we never had so that through his Spirit and baptism in his blood we might choose right.
Today we are faced with the cross and must choose, but the cross will come up again and again in your life, sometimes when you least expect it. It is your choice, will you overcome the fear of death and loss, will you choose the cross and so obtain a life in Christ that you would have never known without it.
