Matthew 16:21-17
“From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, ”Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:21-17)
Good Friday, we call it. The day Jesus was crucified. But it seems to me like a bad Friday, a very bad Friday. And yet, the only currency that will pass in the Kingdom of God is the cross. That’s our theme today: the currency of the Kingdom.
Do you want to see the glory of the cross?
* We were exiles on the lonely island of our life, disinherited, banished from the Father’s Home.
* Under sentence of death. Not like the hundreds in death row cells across the country today–they have hope that some appeal might work, that they might live. But in our case there was no hope, no “perhaps.” Death was certain. There was only one uncertainty–when it would finally come.
* Further, we were not in some enlightened prison with all the conveniences of heaven’s civilization. We were mired in the swamp of our own moral pollution. And worse, we were weak and helpless. There was no way for you or me to work free, to escape.
You remember Paul’s pitiful cry, “Who will deliver me from this death-body?” He answers with very good news: “I thank God–through Jesus Christ”. He has commuted our death sentence, there is a reprieve. We don’t have to die. We can live. “There is therefore now no condemnation.” We are justified.
But what if God gave you life and left you alone? What if your life should now be lived out on your own little island–alone, separated, unacceptable to Him? No, no. He LOVED you, forgave you, took you back into his own home, adopted you into his own family, gave you the royal inheritance. You are forgiven and adopted.
But what if he took us back, dirty and polluted, foul smelling? No. He cleaned us up, washed us. To him we are as pure and clean, innocent, and fragrant as Jesus. We are sanctified–set apart. But what if you are viewed by him as cleaned up, but still a weak, stumbling failure, always an infant- self-centered, demanding service, making mischief in the household of faith? No, no. He gives you power. Power to grow, power to succeed, sanctifying power.
How does he do all these glorious things? Only one currency will pass in the Kingdom of God: the cross. You see, God can’t simply give you life, accept you, forgive and act as if everything is all right when in reality everything is all wrong. A price must be paid. It costs for you to enter the Kingdom. And that’s the meaning of the cross. Otherwise, he would betray his own holy, trustworthy nature. The whole moral structure of the universe would crumble.
Consider the grand exchange, the cross-over.
*He had life, you had death. The only way for you to have life was for Him to take your death–change places. He was wounded for your transgressions, he was bruised for your iniquities; the chastisement for your peace was laid on him, and with his stripes you are healed. To give you life he died.
*He had sonship, we had exile, banishment, alienation. The only way for us to get into the family was for him to leave it, to take our banishment. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” To his cry we hear only silence. But perhaps the Father whispered to the Son, “for your sake, that’s why.” To win our adoption he was abandoned.
*He was pure, without sin; we were filthy, rotten, polluted. The only way for us to be clean was for Him to become dirty. He who knew no sin was made sin for me and for you. He was made sin: sin incarnate. He was polluted with our pollution so that we could be clean.
*He was all-powerful, we were all weakness. The only way for us to become strong was for Him to become weak. So He did not count being equal with God a right to be clung to, but emptied himself, became weak, became a servant.
That’s the meaning of the cross. The great cross-over, the great exchange. That’s why it really is GOOD Friday. His death for your life, his banishment for your adoption; his pollution for your purity; his weakness to give you strength.
It is not Easter, or Christmas quite yet, it doesn’t need to be. To understand what Good Friday means for us today, to see the meaning of the coming Christmas, look again at HIS cross.
Without His birth there is no cross, not only the provision for our salvation, but a model for our own responses to the trials of life. Not just his cross, but ours. Notice that on one occasion when Jesus returned to the theme of cross-bearing he added the word “daily” (Luke 9:23). Not a single heroic act, but a daily way of life.