Up the carpenter went to Jerusalem, a very special man soon to be crucified and then, in mighty triumph, wondrously resurrected from the dead.
He dined with his disciples, a last loving supper with them to celebrate his body and his blood. The communion, the meaning of the Living Christ had begun.
They found him, the Romans and the Sanhedrin did, they tried him, found him guilty although no man so convicted had ever been more innocent and sentenced him to death, the cruelest and most brutal death possible, a public crucifixion.
They nailed him to that wooden cross. Ironic is it not that a man who lived and worked with wood died on wood.
But before he died he uttered unforgettable words:
MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?
WHY?
Stunning, shocking words, almost impossible to believe. Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of Glory, the SON of the Living God believed that this God the Father had forsaken him! It is impossible to know how he felt, how awful that death must have been for him. For, in that crucial moment, when worlds collided, when heaven and earth met in a tumultuous and cataclysmic way, when the most powerful earthshaking event in all of human history was about to take place, the one whose life was taken so that he could give life to all others felt forsaken! He felt abandoned by the God who sent him for this mission. He was in that sense like us, a man, a human being with emotions and feelings as we have. On that cross, he was like us.
And it was in that dark moment as though God had departed, forsaken this man. It might well have been that this holy God could not look upon the ultimate and tragic event. For on that cross, in the blood and body of that person, in that death unto sin were in fact the sins of the world, all of them and all of ours. Perhaps God had in fact withdrawn until that ultimate act was finished and when done, there would be propitiation, remission, which would take away the sins of the world. Perhaps the agony, suffering and meaning of that event needed to occur all by itself.
Our Lord knew what would happen. He knew what he would have to do, what God required him to do, what his mission was. And yet, he asked as a man:
LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME
Saying, in effect that he could only wish that he would not have to go through this monstrous ordeal. But then came the realization, that eternal realization that it was not up to him, whether or not this fate, this mission would go away and he uttered the ultimate words of submissions:
NOT MY WILL BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE, FATHER
This crucifixion I endure because you would have me do it.
And so our Lord, the carpenter who made living things from wood was to die on a deadly wooden cross. He would die in pain, excruciating pain, in agony, awful agony. He would die exposed physically, body naked and mutilated and subject to ridicule. He would die with ultimate humiliation, mocked by so many. He would die blood, sweat and tears everywhere, the worst possible death the Romans could deliver. And all the time innocent, guilty of:
NOTHING
Small wonder he said:
LET IT PASS, PLEASE LET IT PASS!
And so he died, the blood, the remission for our sins, for us complete. But, on that third day came the most miraculous, wondrous event this world of ours has ever known. There came on that third day the resurrection, the back-to-life of Jesus Christ, our living Savior and the Prince of Glory. From that brutalized dead body of a carpenter came the resurrected and risen Savior of the world. The power, the ultimate universal power of God Almighty at work.
The tomb where he was buried was empty and that is the CRUX of Christianity. If Christ be not risen, says Apostle Paul, then our Christian faith is in vain, worthless. Of all men we who believe in a Christ not risen are most miserable. Then we are of all men deceived and spiritually deranged. Christianity says Paul without the risen Christ is worthless. Yet it seems so difficult to believe. Coming back to life after death is just simply not humanly possible. Except that, ALL THINGS are possible with God, all things including the resurrection of the dead. But the tomb was empty, no body found, as witnessed 2,000 years ago by three women Mary, Mary Magdalene and Salome. They came to this tomb of Joseph of Arimathea to anoint the body of the crucified Christ only to find the messenger of God, an angel who pronounced the three most important words for every believer in the risen Christ:
HE IS RISEN
Go and tell, the disciples, and Peter, and start the spread of that Gospel, the good news to all mankind the world over. Hallelujah and praise the Lord.
So we sing on Easter Sunday:
CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN TODAY!
HALLELUJAH!
Let us sing with praise and worship for that man tried and convicted, crucified, dead and buried was in fact, hallelujah, raised from the dead, resurrected by the power of God, eternal life in him and because of our belief in him, eternal life for us.
We know, we believe that Christ is risen and we who are Christian are one with him. We pray that the love and forgiveness of the Christ of Calvary shall be the portion, the salvation of all mankind even as we sing in praise now and for eternity:
CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN
HALLELUJAH!