Bulletin

‘Yet it is the will of the Lord to crush him.’

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In the beginning God created Adam. Adam is not really a name as such; it is simply Hebrew for ‘a man.’ And it is the fate of a man upon which we meditate this night.]

The governor Pontius Pilate extends his arm to a man. To him, He seems to be an ordinary man, guilty of nothing worthy of the cries and assaults of the bloodthirsty crowd before him. He seeks to set Him free, for this man seems to be doing nothing but obeying the God in whom He believes.

But this is not an ordinary man. Rather He is man as he once was; Adam, as he dwelt alone in the Garden.

He dwells naked before His creator, and knows neither good nor evil. Rather, He knows only God, and him alone shall he serve.

The crowd cries out ‘crucify him!’ And Pilate in shock replies, ‘shall I crucify your king?’

They respond, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’

And indeed, they are right, for this man is not a king. Rather He would be the first to tell you that He is but a servant, the least of these, who washes the feet of those who come before Him.

He does not wash the disciples’ feet because it is good. Nor does He avoid it because it is evil. Rather He simply does as He is told by the Lord who created Him.

Pilate pleads with the masses, but his voice is not heard, neither by them, nor by the man wearing a robe of scarlet, and crowned with thorns. For His ear hears only the words of His maker, the one made Him in His own image.

The Jews seize this man, and take His scourged body, and break it under the weight of a cross. They command him to carry it, to carry it up the Mountain of Golgotha. And so shall He do. But not out of obedience to their murderous calls, but because it is the will of the Measurer of All Things.

They mock Him, and spit on Him, and laugh at the blood of His suffering. But all these things He sees as only the mask through which the Almighty calls to Him.

He knows that it is the will of the Most High that He suffer many things, and now He will fulfill His obligation to the same through His Passion, that although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and be made perfect.

Through His obedience, the work that God began when He formed Him from the dust of the ground shall be made perfect, completed, for in His creation He was made in the image of God, but through obedience shall He become the likeness of God.

Nails are driven into His hands and feet, and now He is high and lifted up. They give Him gall and vinegar to drink, but He turns away His mouth, for He shall feast only on every word that flows from the mouth of God.

Upon the altar of the cross, He shall fulfill the Law. Not that Law which was elaborated and delivered by His father Moses, but that Law first given to Adam in the Garden, that He worship rightly, and render unto God the image of God.

The sacrifice shall be made, one pleasing to the Lord, a living sacrifice, the sacrifice of man in His entirety to the will of the LORD even in the midst of the madness of all mankind. For it is the will of the Lord to crush him.

He will indeed offer this sacrifice; and as a priest, He cries out, ‘into your hands do I commend my Spirit.’ And he breathed his last.

Adam, as he was, has died upon the cross. The Law of God is fulfilled.

***

Yet Pontius Pilate extends his arm to another man. To him, he seems to be an ordinary man, guilty of nothing more than what all people are guilty of, the petty sins and failures and moral laxity that we all know and feel, but nothing worthy of the cries and assaults of the bloodthirsty crowd before him. He seeks to set him free, for this man seems to be doing nothing other than what the whole mass of mankind has always done.

But this is not an ordinary man, rather He is man, as He is; He is Adam, as He is expelled from the Garden.

He no longer can bear to see the face of His judge, for being clothed in skin, now He knows both good and evil; He was called to serve God, but now He is of His father the devil.

For all the sins of mankind have been placed upon His back, and in His own flesh now festers the malice and dissolution of everyone who has ever breathed, for surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;

The crowd cries out, ‘crucify him!’  Pilate in shock replies: ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’

They respond, ‘If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.’

And they are not wrong. For this man has done no evil, but rather He has become every evil deed which the children of Adam have ever committed; for, having known no sin, he became sin for us.

He is become every sinner, and in Himself has become the chief and greatest sinner. In fact, having united Himself with the flesh of mankind, He has become the only sinner; and heavy is His sin.

The Jews put upon Him the wood of a cross, and cast Him out of the Holy City, that the commandment might be fulfilled, ‘you shall purge the evil from your midst.’

This man carries the wood, even as His very blood prays for mercy to the God that condemns the sin dwelling in His rotting flesh. But mercy He will not be shown.

He is nailed to the cross. With flashes of striking iron He is bound to His death. And being high and lifted up, the wicked breath of His lungs shall slowly be cast out, as an evil spirit, from among the congregation.

The Righteous One of Israel shall look down. On this one bearing the mass of iniquity He will not relent, ‘for the Lord preserves all those who love him, but the wicked he shall destroy.’

This man cries out, ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ He is not forsaken, for God is very much there; He is there, for He carries out judgments throughout the earth. He is there, as His hand bears down upon the serpent on a staff, for it is the will of the Lord to crush him.

Adam, as He is, has died upon the cross. The wrath of God is fulfilled.

***

Now the governor Pontius Pilate extends his arm to another man. To him, He seems to be an odd man, a man who claims to be God, guilty of one the thing worthy of the cries and assaults of the bloodthirsty crowd before him. Nevertheless, he seeks to set Him free, for this man seems to be nothing but a raving lunatic, possessed by the God in whom He believes.

But this is not an ordinary man. Rather He is man as He will be, the New Man; the New Adam, filled with God, and consumed by Him, as He will dwell in the uncreated light of the His Father.

He no longer dwells naked before His Father, nor does He wear the clothes of death, but rather is radiant with the raiment of the God of love, for He knows only God, as only God knows Himself.

The crowd cries out, ‘crucify him!’ And Pilate in shock replies, ‘crucify him yourself, for I find not guilt in him.

They respond, ‘We have a law, that he should die who has made himself to be the Son of God.’

And indeed, they are right, for the Son of God must die. For the Son of God must accomplish the love of His Father, who so loved the world, that while we were yet sinners, He died for us.

The Jews put upon Him the wood of the cross, that He might be planted as a tree before still waters. For though they deride and revile Him, yet it is from derision and revilement that they shall be delivered.

Who are these that crucify the Son? They are as sheep without a shepherd, as a prodigal in a far-off land. They are the sick who need a physician, and as the possessed that must be freed from evil. For God desires the death of no man, but that all come to a knowledge of the truth. Indeed, for this reason the Son has come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. To bear witness to the truth that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. That God is love, and his steadfast love endures forever.

It is the heart of God that now bears up the tree to be planted on His holy hill of Zion. It is the heart of God that breaks upon its branches, a true misericordia, the cry of the heart upon the pitiful.

And this heart shall indeed be broken, that the blood of God might wash over the lost, that His blood be on them and their children, for in the blood is life, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

The Father turns His face from the New Man that hangs in agony upon the cross, even as His hand now bears down upon Him; for though the world deserves nothing but death, yet He shall now place a new heart within them, a heart of flesh and not of stone, the very heart that beats within the chest of the Son.

So it is the will of the Lord to crush him.

Adam, as He must, and as He will be, has died upon the cross. The Love of the Father is fulfilled.

***

Dear Christians, three men have died today, for this day all three men are one in Christ. Adam, as He was; Adam, as he is; and Adam as he in glory one day will be.

In Him has all of humanity been made righteous. In Him has all of humanity been put to death for their iniquity. In Him, all of humanity has been made into the love of God. For He is Man, and the Son of Man, and the only begotten of the Father, who was made man.

I tell you all this, not that you might speculate upon the mystery of the crucifixion, for no man can look upon the cross, and know what this day has happened. I tell you all this, that you might understand the words of Pilate, when He presented this man, Jesus, before us all, for we too are in the crowd.

As our Lord, flooding the Praetorium with His blood, flowing from so many newly born wounds, stands clothed in scarlet and a crown of thorns by the Gentile governor, Pilate extends his arm to him, and declares:

‘Ecce homo.’

‘Behold, the Man.’

‘Behold, Adam.’

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