Our text today is filled with powerless people. The Jewish people live under the occupying power of Rome. They have no power over condemned criminals, or crucifixions, or any other aspect of the justice system. Simon of Cyrene has no power to resist the authority of the soldiers who force him to carry another man’s cross. Even Jesus, who should have all the power in the world (one would think), shows no power in this text. In fact, Jesus looks completely empty of any ability or power. It’s shocking to see such powerlessness.
We today often feel powerless also, don’t we? Governments oppress as often as they help; jobs are lost as often as they are found; marriages dissolve, children are estranged from their parents, politicians are corrupt, and too many churches are empty. This is why we need a powerful Savior. But in today’s text even our Savior looks powerless.
All of this weakness in our text for today is hard to stomach. The painful reality of political, personal, and religious weakness is overwhelming. In fact, the problem is deeper than mere weakness; it is a problem of absolute inability and powerlessness. The political inability of God’s covenant people, the Jews, is highlighted by the Roman occupation of their homeland, the mocking soldiers at the cross and the crucifixion of a man labeled the "King of the Jews." Living in a land of occupation, God’s people have no political power. They are literally a laughing stock for their enemies. Moreover, some of this powerlessness is personal. Simon of Cyrene, who is accosted while simply passing by the crucifixion, is an example of the personal powerlessness of individuals living in oppression. Finally, the tragic scene of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross unable or unwilling to respond to those who mock him, is a shocking example of a Messiah who can’t even save himself. At the very least a Messiah, a King, the Savior of the world, ought to be able to show some strength and power to save himself the embarrassment and dishonor of being treated the way Jesus is treated.
Everywhere in the text there is inability, weakness, and powerlessness. In fact, the inability, weakness and powerlessness of the crucifixion scene is so overwhelming that in I Corinthians 1: 23 the Apostle Paul calls Jesus’ crucifixion a "stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles." The Greek word translated "stumbling block" is the word from which we get our English word scandal. Paul is saying that Christ’s crucifixion is scandalous to Jews and foolishness to the rest of the world. Yes, indeed, Christ crucified certainly appears to be a foolish scandal.
Our text today begins to explore all the scandalous foolishness by looking at political weakness. The soldiers mock Jesus, taunt him, and beat him over the head in a visual and visceral testimony of Roman dominance over Jewish weakness. The soldiers can’t believe this Jesus declared that he was the King of the Jews. It is laughable, worthy of ridicule—and so ridicule they do. It is all a bad political joke to them and so they engage in some bad humor. They put him in a purple robe to mock his supposed royalty. They squash a twisted crown of thorns onto his head in mocking imitation of the laurel wreaths that Roman and Greek champions and victors would wear in that day. They give him a staff like a scepter that a king would carry, but then beat him with it. They lean in to give him the royal kiss, but then spit on him. They fall on their knees in mock homage to him. Why, because these soldiers, who most likely were neither Jew nor Roman but mere hired hands, know that there is no political power in Judea. They had nothing to fear from this so—called king.
Pilate, the Roman ruler who has sentenced Jesus to die can also smell the political powerlessness of his subjects. He is amazed by Jesus’ lack of defense in the midst of his suffering and disgusted by the envious hatred of the religious authorities towards Jesus. So Pilate twists the knife of his disdain for his subjects by ironically and mockingly posting, "King of the Jews," as the written charge on Jesus’ cross. "This is the best that these people can do," is what Pilate is saying with this mocking charge. Yes, the day that Jesus is crucified is filled with bad humor, and ripe with ridiculous, weak, and even scandalous inability.
I think we can understand such scandal today, can’t we? Our newspapers are regularly filled with news of the latest political scandal, and they always have been. I was born the day the American President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed. The first American President I can remember was Richard Nixon. The Watergate scandal brought an end to his presidency. The first war that I heard of was Vietnam, and that war is largely considered a mistake and failure by most Americans and the rest of the world as well. The first Philippine President that I can remember (from the time I was a missionary kid living in the Philippines) was Marcos. His administration also ended in scandal and disgrace as he fled the country charged with various fiscal and humanitarian crimes against the people. Those rather depressing political failures were experienced just in the early years of my life and just from my own limited frame of reference. No doubt you can add your own examples from around the world.
But sometimes our difficulty has nothing to do with politics. Sometimes it is very personal. Certainly that was the case for poor Simon of Cyrene. We don’t really know that much about him. But we do know his name, Simon; his home, Cyrene (of Northern Africa); and that he has two sons Alexander and Rufus. We also know that his timing is terrible. A perfectly ordinary day is turned into a very bad day by running into a crucifixion processional at just the wrong time. Imagine the fear and uncertainty as he is made to carry the cross of Jesus, a dead man walking. As someone from out of town, he may not have known what he could and could not do in the face of the Roman soldiers. Clearly, he was in no position to resist the Roman soldiers who conscripted him into service. He was personally powerless. He was forced, in the presence of his sons, to simply serve the Roman masters with no personal choice or rights. Not pleasant I imagine.
None of us are in exactly the same position of personal weakness that Simon was, but we do know our own weakness, don’t we? I am sure that all of us are well acquainted with personal foibles and failures. It is frustrating when health issues, job loss, career disappointment, relationship failures, and moral weakness keep us from living as we would like to. So what are do we do in the midst of such personal weakness?
Sometimes, we probably decide to act much like the people at the foot of the cross of Jesus. Notice all the powerful anger directed at Jesus while he hangs on the cross. And why not! This man Jesus hanging on the cross was the Rabbi that many of them had hailed as the Messiah, the Christ; meaning that the people thought he would be their Savior and deliverer from the oppression of Rome. The people express their frustration as anger directed at the one who has disappointed them. They sneer at him as they pass by, "So, you who were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days come down from the cross and save yourself." The people’s own personal powerlessness is reflected by the apparent powerlessness of this man they had hoped would be the Messiah.
What we see in our text is that the political and personal weakness blends with the religious powerlessness. The people had really hoped for a deliverer in this Jesus. Now, as Jesus is crucified, their personal disappointment mingles with the religious brokenness of the situation. They had hoped for a new powerful king and religious savior. What they get is just another guy killed by the Romans. This guy on the cross is just Jesus of Nazareth, another failed Rabbi.
The people, who walk by the cross, shake their heads at Jesus, and hurl insults at him are not just ornery obnoxious people. They are people who feel that they have been let down. Their religious hopes were pinned on this guy, and he has become a major disappointment. He is just another in a long line of false and failed Messiahs. His religious and political and personal ability to save the people all seem to die as he hangs on the cross.
The political powerlessness, personal weakness, and religious brokenness that we find all through this text, points not only to the scandalous inability of God’s people, but also the apparent inability of our God to help his ancient people. We are a people that need our God to help us, but sometimes it seems that he simply leaves us in our painful weakness and failure.
I was recently reminded of this brokenness of our human condition by a young woman. She was sitting with a group of other young Christians. She spoke of what she called a "bad decision" that she had made. It had put her in some danger and was clearly a sinful situation. At first the other young people began to "pile on" as they blamed her for doing something so stupid, for sinning. But then they all began to confess their own sin, brokenness and failure. The setting of this discussion was a meeting about church membership. These young Christians, these young people, were preparing to publicly profess their faith in Jesus Christ and join the church. In this setting the young woman said, "I prayed that God wouldn’t let me do this bad thing, but I found myself doing it anyway." "Why is that, Pastor?" Wow! What a question!
Of course the short answer to her question is sin. But the core of what she was confessing and expressing was the pain of personal and religious failure. She was expressing the same thoughts that the Apostle Paul expresses in Romans 7. There Paul says, "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing… What a wretched man I am!" Do we not still live with personal and religious failure!? I think we do.
I don’t know where you find yourself religiously, politically and personally today. Perhaps you are on top of the world with everything just the way you like. If so, praise God! But most of us are probably not there with you. Moreover, even if we are on top of the mountain most of us are not able to stay there very long. The words of both the ancient people and the chief priests express our frustration well. In frustrated unbelief the people say, "Come down from the cross and save yourself." The chief priests put even a sharper edge on their words as they say, "He saved others, but he can’t save himself."
He can’t save himself …hold on a minute …. did you hear those words…? Listen to them again, "He saved others, but he can’t save himself." Ironically, it is in these very words that the chief priests spit out in derision that we begin to see the power of the cross. After all, when the chief priests say that he saved others, they are speaking words of truth. He did indeed save others. Moreover, even the second half of their statement is true, he can not save himself. Yes—yes—yes, I know that as Almighty God, technically he could have chosen to save himself, but in actuality he could not because as the obedient Son of God he submitted to the will of the Father and was dying for our sins. He could not save himself because he was saving others.
What the chief priests say in derision turns out to be a profound life—saving truth. To put it in proper theological language, Jesus could have saved himself, but instead submitted to the Father’s will—offering himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of humankind. What we see on the cross is not political, personal and religious failure, or weakness, or inability. No! Instead, we see the sacrificial power of a God who is gracious beyond belief.
Ironically, the people who intend to mock and insult Jesus also speak words of truth. They say, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself." These too are words of truth. Notice that the people speak in the present tense. "You who are going to destroy the temple," they say. And, in point of fact, that’s exactly what Jesus is doing as he hangs on the cross. For when Jesus dies, the curtain in the temple rips from top to bottom. The Jerusalem temple becomes obsolete and as Jesus is raised from the dead on the third day, the new temple of worshiping God in spirit and in truth through our resurrected Lord becomes a reality. No, he can not come down off the cross, because the cross is the seed for the power of redemption. What we and the people of Jesus’ day see at first as scandalous inability is really the dramatic power of our salvation.
We can clearly see how Christ turns the scandal of inability, weakness and failure into the power of salvation by a further consideration of one of the supposedly powerless people in our text. The best example of weakness transformed into the power of salvation is Simon of Cyrene. It is noteworthy that Mark calls this man Simon by name, and the gives the names his sons, Alexander and Rufus. He even names the city where the man comes from. This implies that the New Testament community of the early church knew this man and possibly his sons as well. In the book of Romans, Paul gives greetings to someone named Rufus. Could this be the son referenced here? Possibly, we can’t be sure, but possibly. In fact, ancient church tradition and history tell us that Simon of Cyrene became a believer and may have been instrumental in starting the church in North Africa. If this is true—and the evidence points in that direction—then we see the providential touch of God on this man’s life. At the very least we know that this powerless man Simon has come into contact with the very power of God by carrying the cross. This is the providence of God who can transform our weakness into strength.
Today also is a day where the providence of God can transform our weakness into the strength of salvation. For on this day, in God’s providence you are listening to this message. This means that God has put you in a place where you are hearing the eternal message of hope through Jesus Christ. The contrast is clear. We can either live in the powerful salvation of lives committed to Jesus Christ or die in our own political, personal and religious failure. So how ‘bout it? Is the day of Jesus’ death on the cross just another day of weakness, failure and inability for you? Or are you ready to bring your weakness to the cross of Christ to be transformed into the power of salvation?
Please pray with me: …
Prayer
Dear heavenly Father, I don’t know what weakness, failure, or difficulty each listener may be struggling with today. But I do know that all of us struggle with our brokenness and inability to save ourselves. Lord, through the cross of Jesus may we once again be reminded of the truth that Christ did not save himself so that he could save us. May we live in the transformed reality of a weak people who have become strong through Christ. In Jesus name, amen!
Paul DeVries
Rev. Paul DeVries, most commonly referred to as “Pastor Paul”, is the Sr. Pastor of Brookside Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is married to Diane (nee Vanden Akker) and the father of four children. He graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1989 and served for 12 years as the pastor of Unity Christian Reformed Church in Prospect Park, New Jersey. As a pastor his first love and greatest joy comes in the honor of bringing God’‘s Word to his congregation on a weekly basis through his preaching. He enjoys reading, camping with his family, watching his children’‘s sporting events, and working on home improvement projects - inside and outside his home.
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