Today is remembrance day in England, and it has got me thinking. One of the people on my course is a pacifist, I am not. I have always believed that there are occasions when force is required to address an issue. The age old questions which have been used such as would you shoot someone about to press the button on a bomb which will blow up a school have never seen like much of a dilemma to me, i would pull the trigger.
The question is why do we spend a day a year in which we think of those who have died “serving their countries in wars, having laid down there lives”. Why do we value this more highly than, for example, people who have worked to build infrastructure, or people who take our rubbish away? What is it about dying that makes someone’s contribution worth so much more? And is that someone has is prepared to die that really means so much to us, or rather, that because they are prepared to pull the trigger we don’t have to?
I don’t believe that most people signing up for the Army do so in the thought that they may day, particularly the young believe themselves immortal, but they do sign up believing they may have to kill. It is the scares from that which i think are the hardest to heal. While i would pull the trigger- or rather believe i would, i don’t know if i could live with having done so. This brings me back to the cross, was Jesus death on the cross a bigger sacrifice than someone who will pull a trigger? What is it about the cross that makes it so incredible?
In honesty i find it hard to get my head around crucifixion. It is so outside anything i have ever experienced. However the whipping he received before hand that cuts to the core if you will excuse the phrase. The inner strength it takes not to cry out take him not me, stop, anything if you stop. The thing that makes the cross so incredible, that makes the passion so meaningful, is that there was a supreme choice. For every moment of pain on the cross, Jesus could have stepped down, he could have saved himself, he could have ended his suffering. What kept him there was his love for us. As much as we try to understand what those who have served in wars have felt, it those who have given up there lives protecting colleagues, a solder who jumps in front of a friend, someone who makes a choice that says no, take me not them. It is that beyond all else we remember, and with Jesus, we remember that he repeated again and again for every second that he was beaten, every moment he was on the cross, take me, not them.
Showing posts with label the cross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the cross. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Substitution
A friend is giving a short five min talk to a group of 11-13 years old on the topic of the crucifiction with the title “The Substitution” and having run out of time to prepare asked me to help him a write a talk. Here is what we came up with:
The Substitute
You’re out late one evening walking home from a mate’s house. You're just going along the street when you knock into someone, and he loses it big time; he starts shouting at you, telling you he is going to give you a kicking. This guy is nasty.
You respond as any mature and sensible person would do.
You spit in his face.
It doesn’t take long for things to get real nasty, and for him to decide that he is going to teach you a lesson you will never forget.
So you both arrange to meet up the next night in an old hall in a quiet part of your town where hardly anyone lives.
You’re a bit scared of this guy because of how aggressive he was to you to the night before, so you take your best mate along for some back up.
However, when you get there you find the place is full of people, and while you have brought your best mate, this other guy has brought lots of mates and one of his is seriously big!
A huge ring is in the middle of the hall and you are set up for a tag team fight, WWF style. Except this is real and you're not much of a wrestler.
You enter the ring and look at the person you have got to fight. It’s one of the guy's mates and he is the biggest person you have ever seen. He is huge. He has muscles in places you didn’t know people could even have muscles.
There is no doubt in your mind that you are going to get pummelled; there is no hope, no chance that you are going to beat this guy and you can't even run because the doors are blocked by all the people.
In your fear you look round to your mate. He is the other side of the ropes, but he is stretching his hand out. Your take him up on his offer and tag him in.
He comes into the ring and you're thankful to be out of it.
Although your friend is not the biggest bloke in the world, he is hard; he has got the moves, he knows every martial art you have ever heard of - if anyone can win this fight its him. He walks into the middle of the ring and.......... just stands there.
The other guy just starts hitting him; he hits him with every bit of force he can muster; the sound of your friend's jaw breaking echoes around the now silent hall.
You scream at your friend to fight back! But he just stands there. He is kicked to the floor and then kicked again and again in the side. As the crowd shout and jeer the opponent takes a running jump, landing on your friend's head. The sound of his neck snapping runs through every part of your body and again the crowd falls silent.
Someone takes his pulse, but it’s too late. Nothing can be done for him; its all over, he’s dead.
Your opponent starts parading around the ring, calling you every name under the sun, as you sit on the floor in tears. You know it's not over yet, even with your friend laying dead on the ground, laying where you should be, you know this guy isn’t going to stop until he has torn you apart, but you know there is no way you are ever going to beat him, so you sit there shaking, tears just pouring down your face waiting for him to do his worse to you. All hope is gone, there is no way out.
Out of the corner of your eye you see some movement. Your friend's hand is twitching. Then it feels like someone has pressed the slow motion button and you see your friend stand up and dust himself off. He walks over to you and tells you that it's okay, and to stand up. You can’t believe it; he was dead, you saw it with your own eyes, but here he is, alive! Your opponent, who a moment ago was parading around the ring, has gone white with fear. He stands for a few moments, frozen to the spot, and then just runs, he runs and runs and doesn’t look back.
Your friend raises your arm in the air in victory, and you know that’s it, you have won; not because of anything you have done, but because of the beating your friend took for you, and because of his victory over death.
We can not win against sin on our own. It’s just not possible. We can never be good enough to get in the ring and win on our own. When Jesus died on the cross he took the beating for us, he took the consequences of everything we have ever done, and he died in our place, and then he won.
The good news, the good news of the Bible, is that Jesus took the beating that we had coming to us, that everything we have ever done wrong has been paid for in full on the cross, and at the end of it all Jesus stands beside us and says not “the victory is mine” but “the victory is ours”.
The Substitute
You’re out late one evening walking home from a mate’s house. You're just going along the street when you knock into someone, and he loses it big time; he starts shouting at you, telling you he is going to give you a kicking. This guy is nasty.
You respond as any mature and sensible person would do.
You spit in his face.
It doesn’t take long for things to get real nasty, and for him to decide that he is going to teach you a lesson you will never forget.
So you both arrange to meet up the next night in an old hall in a quiet part of your town where hardly anyone lives.
You’re a bit scared of this guy because of how aggressive he was to you to the night before, so you take your best mate along for some back up.
However, when you get there you find the place is full of people, and while you have brought your best mate, this other guy has brought lots of mates and one of his is seriously big!
A huge ring is in the middle of the hall and you are set up for a tag team fight, WWF style. Except this is real and you're not much of a wrestler.
You enter the ring and look at the person you have got to fight. It’s one of the guy's mates and he is the biggest person you have ever seen. He is huge. He has muscles in places you didn’t know people could even have muscles.
There is no doubt in your mind that you are going to get pummelled; there is no hope, no chance that you are going to beat this guy and you can't even run because the doors are blocked by all the people.
In your fear you look round to your mate. He is the other side of the ropes, but he is stretching his hand out. Your take him up on his offer and tag him in.
He comes into the ring and you're thankful to be out of it.
Although your friend is not the biggest bloke in the world, he is hard; he has got the moves, he knows every martial art you have ever heard of - if anyone can win this fight its him. He walks into the middle of the ring and.......... just stands there.
The other guy just starts hitting him; he hits him with every bit of force he can muster; the sound of your friend's jaw breaking echoes around the now silent hall.
You scream at your friend to fight back! But he just stands there. He is kicked to the floor and then kicked again and again in the side. As the crowd shout and jeer the opponent takes a running jump, landing on your friend's head. The sound of his neck snapping runs through every part of your body and again the crowd falls silent.
Someone takes his pulse, but it’s too late. Nothing can be done for him; its all over, he’s dead.
Your opponent starts parading around the ring, calling you every name under the sun, as you sit on the floor in tears. You know it's not over yet, even with your friend laying dead on the ground, laying where you should be, you know this guy isn’t going to stop until he has torn you apart, but you know there is no way you are ever going to beat him, so you sit there shaking, tears just pouring down your face waiting for him to do his worse to you. All hope is gone, there is no way out.
Out of the corner of your eye you see some movement. Your friend's hand is twitching. Then it feels like someone has pressed the slow motion button and you see your friend stand up and dust himself off. He walks over to you and tells you that it's okay, and to stand up. You can’t believe it; he was dead, you saw it with your own eyes, but here he is, alive! Your opponent, who a moment ago was parading around the ring, has gone white with fear. He stands for a few moments, frozen to the spot, and then just runs, he runs and runs and doesn’t look back.
Your friend raises your arm in the air in victory, and you know that’s it, you have won; not because of anything you have done, but because of the beating your friend took for you, and because of his victory over death.
We can not win against sin on our own. It’s just not possible. We can never be good enough to get in the ring and win on our own. When Jesus died on the cross he took the beating for us, he took the consequences of everything we have ever done, and he died in our place, and then he won.
The good news, the good news of the Bible, is that Jesus took the beating that we had coming to us, that everything we have ever done wrong has been paid for in full on the cross, and at the end of it all Jesus stands beside us and says not “the victory is mine” but “the victory is ours”.
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