JESUS CHRIST FOR MODERN MAN John M. Buchanan
Savior Broad Street Presbyterian Church
March 16, 1975 Columbus, Ohio

John 19:17-22; I Corinthians 1:18-24

Whatever else must be said about the crugifixion of Jesus Christ
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the Gospel iters themselves regarded it as the central, essential
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Wore. nen one haf
event in the story.\ Bei=epmewembiianis of the material in the four

Gospels either deals with it directly or the events of the five days

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immediately prior to it.\ The rest of the Gospel record is there, it
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seems, leading to - pointing toward this terrible but all - important

event | St. Paul spoke not only for himself but for the Gospel writers

e, and the early Christian Church when he wrote, "We preach Christ crucified."

We have been thinking in recent weeks about our story, the story
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that we have discovered makes all the difference in the world to us.
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We have looked at Jesus the nan, \ we have examined Jesus the teacher.
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This morning we come, literally to the crux:\ the claim of Christian
[mua VY =a.

Faith that Jesus was and is the Savior, and the event in which we

experience the authenticity of that claim - his death on the cross.
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For approximately three years he and his small entourage of
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followers traveled throughout galitee \ wherever he went people came
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to hear and see him. \ He told them that the Kingdom of God was in

their midst and that they were citizens of that Kingdom as they lived
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the will of God in their Lives \ He taught them about God's will,
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he healed their sickness, he ate_ with them in their homes, and
ass ease

spoke in their Synagogues and then he made a decision that would
emer “==slnau® REET

cost him his ite. \ ne decided to go with his disciples to Jerusalem

to celebrate the passover.\ there, in five short days the opposition
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to him crystallized \ After a monumental amount of scheming and con-
eT Ca el . ba salnsiaienel
g vicky +
spiring a way was devised to dispose of him ctenenijieiiel

The best the religious officials could come up with was a charge of

blastphemy ~ but the Romans weren't about to execute a man for a
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religious offence, particularly in light of the persistant problems
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they had with their Jewish subjects .\ The best thgpy could come up
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with was the charge of disturbing the peace - hardly a capital offense.

What seems to have happened is that the religious officials were
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b d iti h i
able to persuade the political powers that he was guilty of treason,

a revolutionary \ But the Romans still must have been a little queasy
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about the arrangement for Pilate, in what looks like a desperation
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measure had Jesus beaten and shown publically, as if to say "Tsn't
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this enough?" { But the religious officials had anticipated that, and
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had the crowd whipped into a blood-thirsty nob -\ When Pilate brought
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him out-bleeding from the particularly ingenious method of whipping ™
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(ceatner straps with sharpened pieces of lead attached)+the crowd

played its role to the hilt and demanded his crucifixion.
end

So the deal was nade.| pilate publically washed his hands of
EC tie

the whole affair and ordered a cordon of soldiers to do the job,
Faced

which thay had to do that day anyway; and so they merely had to squeeze
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him in between two theives .\\ Thus he died, a slow and painful and
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humiliatingly public death\\ The one who had healed the sick and taught

that Loving forgiveness was God’*s will for his people, had nails driven
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through his hands and feet, and sharp thorns pressed into the flesh of
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his forehead, and a spear pushed into his siae.| As he hung there,
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slowly dying from asphyxiation and shock and loss of blood, he could

hear the insults hurled at him by that special crowd that always attended
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an execution, and he could feel the gpm¥- of other men running down his face.
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He died unjustly, unfairly, unusually pruratly.| He died, in a sense,
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because he challe

d the status quo.\ He died because he had lived for
a better way than hatred, vengeance, eelfishness.\ He died because he
wee ll ow HTT eres

had made the wrong kind of friends. \He died for his cause.
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No one can fail to be moved by that. \m all of history he is

perhaps the most noble martyr. | Ang yet to be inspired ~- to be touched
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emotionally by his brave dying is not what Christian Faith is about.
meee ENN

For this death was more than a martyrdom - this man more tha& a martyr.
Dee weer sie ERIE

Christian Faith sees in the crucifixion of Jesus divine intent \ The
ao LOT wean

story of his death becomes the story of something God did in man's
rect ———

history.\ when the early Christians looked back at it and remembered
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it and wrote about it, it was not we defeat that was subsequently set
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right by the resurrection, \ te crucifixion, itself, they claimed, is

the saving act of God.
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1 54 - * remanent
That's the stumbling block - the folly - St. Paul :

the corinthtans: | the persistent claim of Christians down through the
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centuries - that to be moved by the martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth is
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not the poine:| that the crucifixion is not so much the story of what
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men did to Jesus as it is the story of what God did for men.

As St. Paul recognized, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is most
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vulnerable at precisel point. And it is easy to react emotionally

to the injustice of his death and the beauty of his example, missing
altogether the essential claim that you and t are saved by what happened
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on the cross.

What does that nean? | Saved from vat | All religion is based on
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the assumption that there is something wrong with the human condition.
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bee anand

When someone asked G. K. Chersterton why he had become a Roman Catholic

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he said simply, P'to get rid of my sins.) That is 2 deceptively simple

statement. /In his excellent little volume Christian Doctrine, the

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British theologian J. S, Whale wrote, | "that man needs to be reconciled

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te somgthing | that there is a tragic disharmony in the human situation
that cries out to heaven itself for adjustment - this is the conviction
SR er ———t
to which the literature of the world bears witness | Oedipus and King
ed el internat

Lear are haunted by the same shadow. \ T£ you could take this away from

—y a aianae enamel
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Dante or Goethe, there would be little left but meaningless fragments."

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(Christian Doctrine p 74)
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Contemporary Literature keeps hammering at the same chene | The

aguggested resolutions are different, but poetic sensitivity always,

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it seems, concludes that we are out of step, out of key - something
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that alone,
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is wrong with us. John Updike, Samuel Beckett ,m
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humankind is a rather depressing lot, and there is something tragically,
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frustratingly incomplete about life as it is.

There are many words for ic. | me church has used “sin!'' for so
en eel Ee

long that it has very little veaning.| "Sin! in our time seems to in-
dicate nothing more than minop infractions of middle class morality,
a rail

And that isn't it at ait. \ thus we are inundated by synonyms: [sickness
el Ea ee inne .
Tae 5 ated

unto death, alienation, estrangement, amciety, A)

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The cross of Jesus Christ is Christianity's answer to sin or whatever

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word you choose to describe the human predicanent. \ or better said, the
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cross is God's answer. [2 at this point we m5 1 saledaelensishemesieenesiognarts
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The doctrine is called atonement’ which means literally "the covering
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over! :\ that is, the covering over of man's sin.
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Now occassionally the doctrine of atonement sounds a little bit
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ah ———

like seer \ wan, a sinner has offended God. \coa, in absolute
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righteousness, is angry with sin - or sinners ~ and demands that justice
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be done: | chat punishment be meted ove | Jesus stands in for us, takes
En ‘SCORN —

our place, is punished instead of us, God is satisified and men are saved.
ao ee [ESS Le

That, unfortunately, is the way a lot of people understand what happened
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on the cross.\ But that is not what atonement means. \ God is not a rigid,
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eruel potentate who demands a pound of flesh when his laws are broken.
nad tamed

Rather, atonement begins with the love of goa.) In his classic work
Lat il Seo AZ
on the incarnation, D. M. Baillie azote, the ctucifixion of Jesus set
hee ween Snare,
men thinking more than anything else that has ever happened in the life
of the human race.| And the most remarkable fact in the whole history

of religious thought is this:\ that when the early Christians looked
4 tem eitierre a el

back and pondered on the dreadful thing that had happened, it made them

think of the redeeming Love of God.
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Wot simply of the love of Jesus, but of the Love of God." (God Was
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In Christ p 184)

{ 7 v S ¢ Cod wants to put the human situation cight \ He wants people to be
| nel err en erotic

reconciled with him. | He does not want us to be estranged or alienated
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or guilty.\ And so because he loves he accepts and forgives: \oue because
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he loves his forgiveness is very, very costly.
— tienen nic nina)

I think we can understand thatt.
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that Assume for a moment that someone you love very much has done some-
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thing wrong, something which in a particular way;made a cheap travesty
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of your rove, \ 1 your lave is deep and authentic there is no question
erent ha nnd » acme
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of passing it off as’ nothing: /f/easy indulgence is not the product of Love.

Just because you Love so much forgiveness will be very costly. | Jugs, be-

cause you Love so much you will, in a very real sense, bear émesiperdem

+he. of Nn oll da

we euilt and shame* in your own heart.| Even if the person who has
—, — pe

wronged you is motivated by your love to apologize, to ask fora res-
toration of your relationship, it will not be easy.\ Tt will hurt deeply:
Nero (ek ERE CMAP permeated

you will have to sacrifice something and experience real pain.
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The analogy breaks down after while. \ ou it points to the experience
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Christian Faith calls atonement \ God loves us so much that he took the
ICichhlelyccLORRT Peewee

initiative - in becoming gman, suffering and dying so that we might be

restored. \ It was for him a very costly affair.

I began this series of sermons by talking about relevance. |: suggested

that in our effort to make our faith relevant we may have become irrelevant:
nied er ned

and that the Gospel itself is perhaps much more relevant than we ever
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expegted.\ Let's try that out for a minute. \ the past men have ze-
tiieniaiad SL in, L seenanamenmiinrmnad

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~gaeded the saving action of God in Christ bevivapereteremc in regard
CO a tenia oe
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to sin or to nett\ Bue, suppose for the moment that neither of these
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words means mach .\ And without particularly agreeing that the concepts
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of sin and hell are obsolete, assume further that if we are to talk
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intelligently about our faith we must find other voras.\ Tf not sin
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and hell, from what do modern men need saving? \ May T suggest that
——— Denil Eco

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the human condition might best be described today with the word cynicism.
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We have heard much in recent years about the various crises of
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confidence that threaten to engulf us. | People don't seem to believe
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in the government or the courts or the schools or the economic system

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and Wiebs Vang
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or the ciurches.| Somewhere along the Line ~ and it seems to have begun
es wre
in the early sixties - American people began to he ical Perhaps it
¥ peop & Cet S ps 1
was after two Kennedy's and Martin Luther King were asginated, and the
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new Frontier forgotten, and Vietnam became the longest war and most

nightmarish experience in our history. \ perhaps it was after the deception
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in South East Asia and My Lai and the Pentagon papers.\ or perhaps, it

querer ALINE Sal

happened only after Watergate and recession and inflation Ate any ¢ case,
is MATTE

I believe we have a monumental problem on our hands because a lot of éewbe

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people - not just the revolutionaries - are in despair about the integrity

of our institutions.

Norman Cousins wrote cgeentiy, [rnc most serious problem confronting

the nation is not inflation or the energy shortage or dwindling resources

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or the danger of War in the Middle East. | the most serious problem right
: : : " d
now is that the American people are psychologically depleted." | (Satur ay

Review / World 12/14/74) Covsrss wenk m be suagert dtu t th reguit of oor
Reyorsloai cat deplelio is * cy dden Vek hmepetiabenonne a pe, fermentation ¢

The psychiatrists punctuate the point by observing

that feelings of personal inadequacy are cangant | we keep feeling smaller
i

and smaller: \ noze heipless and popertess. \ and this in turn has cut the
—u Wee its aa Te rad

bottom out of our confidence in the future.
Hea e anaes aa sane aan al

And I don't

Well, it is my opinion that we need swaaidgm from that.

4o be. gauet \

think it is pushing the crucifixion _too far to look there) That's not

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asking too much of the cross, Because Jesus wasn't crucified in a church:
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he was executed publically, in the world, on a garbage heap because of a
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cheap political conspiracy. \ Re died, regardless of the theological under-
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standing we attach to it, in the same kind of ambiguous situation we find

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ourselves in today - and it ts here that he offers to save us,
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&} dort usnem AEM. MUTT ae kwy put asa ou tack els - yest Li) Wan

: fangs wd Jesus Meh &
gen ouere Balaqg Some So Wiros ld ik euslonres

gvowieg shut ey Cater Uber de CR of Gad es se:

I am saved from cynicism about myself and fell b tt
m om cynicism about myself and my fellow man by the fact that

on the cross. \ Jesus believed that men were worth dying for.
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I am saved from cynicism about the future by the fact that Jesus died
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on the cross: my future, the future of the Church, the nation, and the world,
mammal Lead ee tad a EO

For what happened on Calvary was that God was so involved in what appeared

to be an uncategorically obs&ne event that it came out meaning love and
as i‘

goodness and salvation. \thet means that whatever crises Life hands to us,
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whatever kinds of personal crucifixions we must endure, God will be in

them too with love and redemption and creativity \ That means that God

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will be in the valley of the shadow of death and that I can expect him
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to help me pick up the broken pieces of 1ite.\ the crucifixion of Jesus
, encarta Meera

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Christ means that nothing in life will separate me from the love of God.
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And in that, IT would suggest, is the rebirth of confidence.
wee is EY

Sy? And yet, finally, when everything is said about the cross that we

know how to say: \when we have exhausted all the various ideas of atone~-
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ment: \ when we have thought with as much theological expertise as we
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can muster - great or little, there remains something inexpressably
no o_o

personal about what happened on Calvary.

J, S, Whale said it well: [ wiain men are not necessarily interested

SC

in theology. \ They know that religion is never the preserve of specialists,

| nani

but the gift of God to wayfaring nen." }(or cit. p 96) And J, B, Phillips
laid aside the tools of theelogy and confessed cannot pretend, even now,
‘MARITAL, ed mince —7

after many years in the ministry of the Church, that I understand the

ll

mystery of the atonement...I only know that what you and T could never

_— Ciena

do was done for us, at infinite cost, upon the cross."\ (Good News: Thoughts
_—e ee ae

on God and Man p 188)

The story is told of an Archbishop of Paris who was standing in the
Le nen |

~8-

pulpit of Notre Dame cathedral. | "Thirty years ago," he said, “three
a —

A

young men came into this cathedral, rough, rude and cynical { Two of

them bet the other he couldn't go into a confessional and make a phony
— ee

confession® We tried to fool the old priest, but the priest sensed the

‘amines bel

arrogance, the lie and said: | "Very well, my son. \Bvery confession requires
| ODT es SORE
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a penance, and this will be yours.| Go into the Chapel, stand before the
—m Se el

papa —)

Crucifix, look inte the face of the crucified Christ, and say (tau

——.

this you did for me, and I don't care a damn,'"

The young man swaggered out of the Confessional but his companions
a a el

would not pay the bet until he had done the required penance,| So he went
er, ell hi,

to the Chapel and looked at the crucified Christ and said, (‘all this you
‘SCT

ne

did for me, and t...") He never finished the sentence. | And the Arch-

bishop telling the story leaned over the pulpit and said, (1 was that

i er

young wan.") (iallace Hamilton, The Anatomy of Courage, The Protestant

Hour, 1968, p 67)

What happened to Jesus Christ was for 2s. | towever you wish to

wh
adorn it or describe it, it was for ewweswews that he diea:\ that you
Ce ene and =e

bd

and I might be forgiven and know our forgiveness:\that you and I might
wees LINES eeemerereireemers —ancs

be reconciled with our God and at peace
pn vio

Tt was the considered opinion of John Calvin that the great theo-
ba nel ee basieeateeriassisiieie aaa

logical affermationsof the Church ought to be sung rather than recited.
bi

ir

“In -the fiat -y the erucifixion of Jesus Christ and what it means is not a matter of the

dialysis

The we nok singly & weather oo
caper cneta 9 car ke Wh
Secdrae, Te We Were

mind alone,\ It is more a matter of the heart.\
conmerariny, ene

So

one

peer singiny Sor more

What language shall I borrow

To thank Thee dearest Friend,

For this Thy dying sorrow
Thy pity without end?

O make me thine forever;
And should I fainting be,
Lord let me never, never
Outlive my love for Thee."

[(0, Saxe’ Head, Now Wemnied |

Amen,

\e\ vos sq - aloov We fol, of Xn cross | alout We
Lal died for us | Words Which al Chore Vee

Live the Lo 1) My A

_ oer ot Ct
Hoty ols wis Jw?

-10-