Last time at our church's discussion, we talked about how incredible Jesus was, so full of life and love and wisdom and authority. So this week started with a bit of a shock when we found him being subjected to an unfair trial and then crucified. To make it worse, this all happened because one of his close friends had betrayed him to the Jewish religious authorities. His closest followers had come to realize that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, or Christ - their deliverer, the Son of God and himself God, since he was one with his Father God in Heaven. His wider group of followers in the crowds also suspected that he was the Messiah and he had demonstrated this to them by riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on a young donkey, fulfilling a key Messianic prophecy just a few days previously.
So what was going on? How was it that the Son of God, the author of life who had healed thousands of people and raised several others from the dead, was being killed? Some of his friends had a little bit of understanding that this had to happen, but basically they were all asking this same question. Several of them had thrown in their lot with Jesus and given up their jobs to follow him, which now might all be coming to nothing.
It all becomes clear when we see some of the words that Jesus cried out while he was dying: "My God, my God, why have you deserted me?" At that moment, God was being abandoned by God: God the Son was abandoned by the rest of the Godhead - his Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus, who was God and man, was left on his own, forsaken by his Heavenly family and rejected by the world, while enduring an agonizing death.
We are the sinners. We deserve death. We deserve to be abandoned by God in Hell. Jesus had done nothing wrong, as his judge, Pontius Pilate, knew only to well. However, only a perfect human sacrifice could prevent that and no one is perfect. Jesus was that perfect man who lived a sinless life and died to take the punishment for our sins - death and abandonment by God, so he had to die. On the cross Jesus endured what we should so that we can be set free from the penalty for the way we have lived - the wages for our sin - death and Hell.
But had it worked? Had Jesus taken away the power of death to separate us from God? His followers had to wait two days. They had for the most part given up hope and were preparing for his final burial, when suddenly he triumphed over death and walked out of the tomb where his dead body had been placed over the weekend, in a blaze of light, accompanied by angels and an earthquake. Death and Hell had not been able to hold onto Jesus because he himself was sinless. He had risen to new life which he now could share with us.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he proved that you and I have been forgiven for everything that we have ever done wrong and that we can live a new life in him.
You and I, and everyone else in the whole world over all time, were forgiven all our sins on that first Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross. To receive Jesus' resurrection life - eternal life beginning now and then extending into Heaven after our physical bodies die - we just need to acknowledge that we have sinned, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, whose death and resurrection was for the forgiveness of our sins, turn our lives round to follow him and declare that he is our Lord. Then we are saved from the eternal consequences of our past and pass from death to life. We can stand with open lives and let God's goodness rain down on us.
There was an exercise given out at the end of the evening, to help us to map the ups and downs of our spiritual lives. For anyone who might find it useful, particularly if you are not sure that you have ever turned your life around to follow Jesus, then the exercise can be found here.