LUKE: YEAR OF OUR LORD (WEEK 48): GOD’S LOVE LETTER

Last week I mentioned the most unfair, illegal trial you could ever imagine. And if you’re like me, when you begin to read what’s happening at this point of the story of Jesus’ life and ministry, you think, “This ain’t fair. This REALLY stinks!"

In the movies we are accustomed to the guys in the black hats getting what’s coming to them, right? The guy in the white hat - the hero - we’re used to HIM winning. Movies typically wrap things up nicely and justice is served and you feel good about the story you just watched.

But in life, it doesn’t always work that way, does it? Good guys don’t always win. Bad guys don’t always suffer… and often there’s nothing we can do about it. And we want to cry out to God, asking, “WHY??”

Let’s talk about the cross this morning. Because without the proper perspective, you can get the wrong idea about the cross.

To some, the cross represents a colossal failure. People had seen the momentum of the movement of Jesus as he ministered and preached to massive crowds. They saw a movement that would inspire the people of God to rise up and throw off their yoke of Roman oppression. And yet, Jesus had failed to bring about the political utopia people were expecting. And like other disappointing so-called Messiahs, Jesus had failed in his mission. At least in their perspective…

To others - like King Herod - the cross was a huge joke that put an upstart teacher in his place, a place to punish a bumbling fool who was all talk but no substance.

And still to others, like Pilate, the cross was a gross injustice. In Pilate’s mind, Jesus was a man who seemed to just be a guy preaching love and kindness - definitely not a threat to the Roman empire!

And then there were those in the crowd who saw the cross as the death of their own hopes.

So many different perspectives of the cross: failure, injustice, mockery, loss. But what if the events of Luke 23 were something different? What if there was another, higher, more divine perspective that we can find once we, like in Psalm 73, enter into GOD’S presence and focus on GOD’S perspective?

The cross, I believe which is clear from scripture, is actually a love-letter from God to the world.