Happy Easter! -->(insert Dad-joke Easter Pun by utilizing the word "Hoppy" instead of Happy so that way we can all have the dad joke of the day in place of that family gathering dad joke we would've been able to hear maybe if not for the virus/quarantine life).
Anyways, in efforts to gain a deeper understanding of the different perspectives of all the moments leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, I read the last few chapters in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as each one details the Scriptures in a unique way.
One of the perspectives shared that before the trial/after the Passover or Last Supper, He was in the garden chilling with His disciples and praying. One of His disciples had a sword sheathed, while Christ had His direct line-weapon-of-prayer in His hand. Christ was sweating blood that night as He knew what was going to pass upon the cross. The soldiers arrived upon the betrayal by Judas to Jesus and with just one kiss on the cheek, Christ was given over and betrayed. One of the disciples, Simon Peter, was ready to fight and cut off one of the ears of a guard. So, while one of His closest pals were ready to fight and stage a borderline military coup or rebellion to smuggle the Messiah away… while everyone else was ready to fight… He was ready to submit. One of the 4 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John spoke to the fact that Jesus said that He could've prayed for a group of angels to come down in an instant to come and save Him instead of giving in to the betrayal. He could've... but wouldn't. While Simon Peter or other disciples were ready to fight, He was ready to submit to His true final purpose even though He could've pivoted away from that.
Because in the context of this moment in history has Jesus getting ready to go on the cross, and before the cross was His right to a trial (#6th Amendment folks here - that is the fair trial He should've been given detailed in that amendment). That may have been the most skewed and unfair trial out there for Him. Pontius Pilate, the judge in this case, didn’t even deem Him guilty, but the crowd around the crosses became the jury in this case and delivered a verdict to have Him crucified.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.
28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.
29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
30 Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.
33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[d]”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
So, the beef of this message has the underlined sentence of Scripture here to affirm the title of this that "It Wasn't That He Couldn't." They were mocking Him to perform a miracle or a sign to save Himself from the situation He was in.
But.
It wasn’t that He couldn’t, it wasn’t that He couldn’t, it wasn’t that He couldn’t save Himself, it wasn’t that He couldn’t stop the storm that was the crucifixion coming His way. It wasn’t that He couldn’t save Himself. It wasn’t that He couldn’t swim in that situation that everyone around Him was forcing Him to sink in. It wasn’t that He couldn’t stop the storm around Him. It wasn't that He couldn't just have vanished off the cross and spoke to the storm and told it the move and just said to everyone "SIKE! I ain't dying today, ya'll are saved. Peace..." as He blows on the nails struck on both of His hands and the nail nailed on His feet and vanishes. It wasn't that He couldn't, in the case of the cross.... it's that He wouldn't. It's that He wouldn't choose to do that. He could've. But He didn't, because greater was it to die on the cross for the transgressions and our brokenness than to take the easy way out and subside the purposes of God.
Because if He gave into the mocking of people that said “come down from the cross and save yourself...”
If He did that then and came down then, He couldn’t have risen up from the grave in much more miraculous fashion for the glory of God to rain down. Then the Scriptures wouldn’t have been fulfilled, our Christian faith would’ve been a lie because all of the Old Testament prophecies foreshadow all the moments leading up to the cross as well as the resurrection. If He didn’t die on that cross for humanity, our faith would’ve been a hoax. It wouldn’t have mattered.
So, the difference between the phrase "It Wasn't that He Couldn't" and the phrase "He Wouldn't" is the choice at the in between of whether He could, but that He chose not to.
I guess the thought here on behalf of the people mocking him is that His prior past miracle performance should correlate and carry forward in Jesus’ greatest time of need of when He was submitted to the cross. But this time, He opted not for an instant gratification of a miracle everyone around Him was accustomed to seeing Him perform in front of them, but rather to delay it in miraculous fashion for something 3 days later.
He delayed it. Yet, He could’ve easily done that. He could’ve healed that situation. By His Power, He could’ve EASILY healed your situation. With just ONE word He could speak to the storm and tell it to stop. With just one Word He could tell someone to get up and go. But in this case, He chose not to for Himself in His deep moment of suffering so the purposes of God could run their course.
It wasn’t that He couldn’t stop the storm in your life, it wasn’t that He couldn’t stop a hurricane from happening, it wasn’t that He couldn’t stop you from losing your job....
But may I introduce to you a hidden concept here: that the Scriptures had to be fulfilled in a certain way. Its why Jesus drank sour wine from a sponge on the cross, it's why He was ridiculed, it's why He suffered the way He did so the Scriptures could be fulfilled the way they were destined for. May this relate to our situations in our own life that God seems to allow certain situations to happen to show His glory and to show the purposes of God over our desolation? That He would harbor a storm over our lives and then tell the storm to "move" so He could reveal Himself in that manner?
I started thinking about this concept further and I realized that the night of the Passover/Last Supper they were breaking bread and Jesus was leading them in fellowship and communion. What scholars and what is believed to be consumed during that night is unleavened bread. IT was FLAT bread. It was flattened, unrisen bread that was consumed by Jesus and the disciples. This would make sense given the tradition that was the Passover as it symbolized the Exodus of the Israelites from.
Egypt/slavery in the book of Exodus as they didn't have the TIME to wait for the bread to rise. So, they didn't sprinkle any yeast in the dough to leaven it. They didn't have the time to wait for the bread to rise, so they settled for unleavened bread like this picture here.
When I look at the concept of bread and how bread is made with a lil' yeast. I think about the crushing of the bread. I think about the rolling pin. I think about the kneading... kneading... kneading... kneading... kneading... kneading... rolling pin... rolling pin... crushing of the future bread.... then having the yeast and the substance ready for the waiting period before it will then be cooked. Yet, it is in the waiting period + the yeast mixed in the bread dough that allowed for the bread to rise.
I woke up yesterday on Saturday reflecting on what it must've been like after the crucifixion. The disciples waking up... Crushed. Mourning. Mourning. Mourning during the morning after. Crushed. The bread had to be kneaded... kneaded.... kneaded... sprinkled with a lil' yeast to leaven the dough. It had to be crushed, to then rise in the future. Might've the disciples been in a situation where they were crushed? They had just lost their best friend, mentor, Cap'n of their ships, Head Honcho- fisherman Dude, Leader, (insert any other term of endearment here...).
Then I was reminded of Jesus raising a dude named Lazarus from the dead. The context of that story had Jesus arriving 4 days after Lazarus was in a tomb. The people around Him were saying the smell was too bad. There were maybe some maggots starting to come for Lazarus, maybe a horrible stench starting to form as his body slowly began to decompose. So, in their wisdom they thought he wasn't even able to be resurrected. Maybe he was too far gone? With just. one. word. Jesus spoke into the situation and said "Lazarus, get up!" Because a lil' yeast leavens the dough. The broken situation that had no real ability to be fixed through human wisdom was a certain situation that was almost harbored in the perfect time frame for Jesus to show His glory in the time that He did. He may have been fashionably late but He wasn't late when He needed to be there to come through.
How many of us know something about delayed gratification? The difference between delayed gratification versus instant gratification. I've looked into this a bit and have seen studies that speak to delayed gratification producing more success in peoples' lives versus those that pursue instant gratification. That those delaying that vacation to pay off their student loans or their debts end up... paying their debts off! Yup, you guessed it haha. Paying off the debts is a success point here because they delayed something that they wanted that would end up saving them loads of money in the long run as they wouldn't have to pay interest rates in the future. They could have both, but that involved the delayed gratification of the vacation.
My question is... what if the purposes of God aren’t instant over your life but they’re delayed? That what He is doing right now can’t be shown to you in one day but delivered to you in 3 days or longer.
That whatever has enslaved you has kept you down in the dumps and flattened like an unleavened piece of bread but has almost created the perfect situation for God to raise you? That's the Gospel. That we were dead from our own transgressions and lack of perfection due to the fall of (wo)man. But God.
In His grace, rose us up to LIFE! He gave us a lil' yeast to leaven the dough to raise us out of what we were stuck in.
God sprinkling a lil' yeast, through the resurrection, meant what was once unleavened bread (Jesus = the Bread of Life) was now risen.
What's this mean for us and our broken situations? Is that a lil' resurrection yeast over that situation we're walking in, could bring that up from a state of what was once FLATTENED (flat-line) unleavened bread to a state that now has it risen. There's a big difference between flattened and risen. Flattened. Risen. Flattened. Risen. Flattened - like a plateau. Like a piece of cardboard flush to the earth - flattened. Risen like a bird, risen... soarin'-flyin' "there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach" - Highschool Musical Style - 'nam sayin'- risen?
So, may I introduce a concept here that the crucifixion had to happen the way it did so the resurrection could happen the way it did. It had to happen that way so that could happen so that could happen so that could happen so that could happen so that could happen so that could happen. May that be the same over lives? That that broken situation in my own personal life led me to personal faith in Christ nearly 3 years ago... It had to happen the way it. It had to happen the way it did. It may not have been right, but it happened and the purposes of God still unfolded the way they did. That even though Jesus had to suffer the way He did... it had to happen that way so the purpose of salvation could unfold the way it did for people.
So, the Lebron James pivot foot could happen here in a real way for people to turn from something that was once a bad situation or a bad way of living to then live for something greater in/through faith in Christ.
But it wasn't that He couldn't. It wasn't that He couldn't. It wasn't that He couldn't. It's that He wouldn't, so the purposes of God could unfold as He fulfilled the purpose He was sent for.
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