I fill pulpit for a local Chinese congregation once a month. The normal pattern is for the English-speaking and Chinese-speaking congregants to worship together. We sing and recite the Lord's Prayer and do responsive readings in English and Chinese simultaneously. It is always a delightful experience, and the people are always warm and welcoming to me.
Before the sermon, the English congregation leaves the sanctuary to go to a small chapel, where I speak to the English congregation while the pastor speaks to the Chinese congregation.
This time was different, however. The pastor was away on a mission trip, and the man who was to speak to the Chinese congregation had to bow out for some reason. So I got an email Tuesday afternoon saying that I would be speaking to the combined English and Chinese congregations. Since I would be speaking through a translator, I would need to provide a manuscript, and I should plan for the sermon/translation combination to take about an hour.
I chose a Lenten theme and text. I've always been fascinated by the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. I have been teaching the gospel of Matthew in my Bible study at my church, so I used Matthew's account (chapter 26). I addressed the question "Why did Jesus have to die?"
What follows is the text of my sermon at the Dayton Chinese Christian Church on March 10, 2013.
When I watched the Passion of the Christ, I realized the plot was oddly familiar. I’d seen it before: the good guy is captured by the bad guys and they’re going to condemn him to death. As I watched Jesus being tormented and interrogated by the authorities, I found myself hoping for a moment that he would be somehow rescued. That’s what always happens in these stories. Someone stands to speak up for the innocent man and the blood-thirsty mob is quieted. Or, better yet, the good guy’s friends (here, the disciples, led by bold Peter) mount an impressive and daring rescue.
But then I realized that this story was different. Not only that it did end differently, it had to end differently. I realized that Jesus really couldn’t be rescued because he had to die.
Why did Jesus have to die? He was a great leader, a true prophet, a wise scholar. And he was an innocent man, the only innocent man who lived on the earth.
Our text today is in the 26th chapter of Matthew’s gospel. The story takes place in Gethsemane, an olive grove outside the walls of Jerusalem. Like most big cities, Jerusalem was a crowded and noisy place. Jesus and his disciples liked to go to Gethsemane to escape the noise and confusion. They treasured the quiet and privacy of that little grove of olive trees.
Judas knew that Jesus would go to Gethsemane that night, so that’s where he led the arresting party.
Jesus knew that Judas knew about Gethsemane and would soon be there with an armed band.
Jesus knew that the other disciples would run away in terror.
Jesus knew that Peter would loudly deny that he even knew Jesus.
Jesus knew that the Jewish leaders would falsely accuse him of terrible crimes and arrange to have him killed.
Jesus knew that he had to die an agonizing and humiliating death at the hands of the Romans.
Jesus knew all that all these things must happen. And as he contemplated it all, he was overwhelmed by grief. That grief drove him to prayer.
Read with me beginning at Matthew 26:36. “Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’”
Jesus knew he had to die a horrible death, abandoned by his friends and countrymen. There was no other way.
Which brings us back to our question: why did he have to die?
There are some popular explanations. These answers are partly true, but they are ultimately false because they are incomplete:
Some believe that Jesus died to provide an example for us.
Others believe that Jesus died as martyr for a great cause.
These are popular answers, and many people believe them. These answers are true, but they aren’t true enough: It’s true that the way Jesus faced his death provides an excellent example, and it’s true that he died as a martyr for a great cause. But these explanations don’t give a true answer to the question because they don’t go far enough. There was far more involved in the death of Jesus.
So if Jesus didn’t die merely as an example or as a martyr, why did Jesus have to die? Here are three reasons:
1. Jesus had to die because it was his Father’s will:
Many times in the gospels Jesus speaks of doing his Father’s will. Jesus was relentlessly focused on doing his Father’s will. Jesus had known from the beginning that it was his Father’s will that he die.
God’s plan was actually born long before the time of Christ. Isaiah spoke of this fact hundreds of years before the time of Christ, when he wrote, “It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.” (Isa 53:10). As a father, I cringe at this thought, that any father would choose to see his son crushed and suffering.
But God had begun to prepare His people for the death of their Messiah long before the days of Isaiah. For more than a thousand years the people of God had been giving up their own animals in their ceremonial sacrifices. Their priests had slaughtered tens of thousands of the choicest livestock as atonement for the sins of the people, according to God’s instructions, given through Moses.
As Jesus approached Jerusalem for the last time, he was met by an adoring throng in an event we remember as the Triumphal Entry. The people thought they were escorting their Messiah-King into the Holy City, where he would eject the hated Romans and restore their kingdom.
But Jesus knew that Passover was a few days away. The people thought they were escorting the conquering king, but Jesus knew they were escorting the last Passover Lamb.
Jesus knew that all those centuries of sacrifices, all those thousands of slaughtered animals, were really just one long rehearsal for this great Final Sacrifice of himself, the Lamb of God.
Jesus asked repeatedly if there might be another way to accomplish his Father’s purposes, but each time he concluded his prayer with, “Not as I will but as you will.”
Read with me beginning at verse 39: Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
“Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
God did not grant Jesus his request in Gethsemane. Why? Jesus had to die because it was his Father’s will that he die.
2. But there was another reason Jesus had to die. Jesus had to die because a terrible debt had to be paid.
I was at Wright State University a few weeks ago. I was in a hurry, I didn’t pay attention to the signs, and I parked in a lot reserved for students.
When I came out to my car to leave, I was surprised to find this little slip of paper fluttering under my windshield wiper. This little piece of paper says I parked in a spot I’m not allowed to park in, and as a result I have incurred a $50 parking fine.
This was upsetting to me, of course. Fifty dollars isn’t a fortune, but it’s not pocket change, either. This paper says that there is an appeal process, and it gives instructions on how to appeal the fine.
I went online and filled out the appeal form. About a week later I got an email from Wright State telling me that my fine had been reduced to a warning.
For a big university with a multi-million dollar budget, what was a $50 fine? What did it cost Wright State to withhold the penalty for my parking offense? Nothing.
A lot of people wonder why Jesus had to die. If God wanted to forgive our sins, why couldn’t He just forgive our sins? Why all this drama and suffering?
The problem is that our sin isn’t like a $50 parking ticket. Our sin is an overwhelming debt that we can never pay.
In his book Reason for God Tim Keller explains this concept. "Imagine that someone borrows your car, and as he backs it out of the driveway he strikes a gate, knocking it down along with part of a wall. Your property insurance doesn’t cover the gate and garden wall. What can you do? There are essentially two options. The first is to demand that he pay for the damages. The second is to refuse to let him pay anything… Notice that in either option the cost of the damage must be borne by someone. Either you or your friend must bear the cost for the damage, but the damage does not somehow vanish into thin air.”
Forgiveness is costly, not cheap, even for God. Our sin is a gigantic debt that we could never pay, so we are completely unable to make things right. If we are to be made right with God, He has to bear the cost.
Think of a time when you were overwhelmed by guilt. You had rationalized your actions, you had talked yourself into doing something you knew was wrong. And suddenly, an awareness of all your sin and guilt descended upon you and crushed you. There was no way out for you. All you could do is suffer your well-earned humiliation and shame.
Now imagine that you had to suffer that humiliation and shame for someone else’s wrongdoing. You were innocent, but everyone believed you were guilty of a great evil.
Now imagine that you had to suffer the humiliation and shame and guilt for the sins of all people of all time.
Now you see that God couldn’t simply nod and wink and tell us all is good.
Jesus knew all this as he suffered and prayed in Gethsemane. He knew he was facing not only the physical and emotional suffering of the beatings, the mocking, the crucifixion.
There was more, much more. This man who had never known a moment of guilt his entire life was about to take on all the guilt for all the sins of all the people in the history of the world. He would take on the guilt for all the murderers, the child-molesters, the rapists, the men who abused their wives and children, all those people who committed those horrific crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Europe, in Rwanda, in Yugoslavia.
He was about to suffer for my sins. He would stand in my place and absorb the punishing blows that should have fallen on me.
Jesus knew he had to die because that was the only way to pay the terrible price for all our sins, for my sins.
3. There’s another reason Jesus had to die: Jesus had to die because there was no other way.
This doctrine, this teaching that Jesus is the only way to God, is not a popular idea these days. Many people are offended at this idea.
Yet Scripture leaves no room for doubt:
Jesus himself said that he was the only way for a man to know God: “No one comes to Father except by me.” (John 14:6)
In other words, there is no Plan B. Jesus repeatedly asked his Father about a Plan B when he prayed in Gethsemane. But his prayers were met with silence because there never was a Plan B.
This means that putting my faith in the death of Jesus to pay for my sins isn’t just one possible option among many. It’s not even the best of several options: it’s the only way.
Read with me beginning at verse 43, as Jesus submits himself to his enemies and begins to suffer to pay for our sins: “When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!’
47 “While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.’ Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed him.”
The death of Jesus was always, from the beginning, God’s only plan to restore us. Despite Jesus’ repeated pleas with his Father, there never was any Plan B. Jesus had to die because there was no other way for God to bring us home again.
So what does this mean? For one thing, I am thankful for this Gethsemane account in the life of Christ. I have had moments when I wasn’t sure I wanted to do what God wanted me to do. I have faced anxiety and uncertainty about doing God’s will. It comforts me to know that even Jesus experienced these things as he contemplated carrying out his Father’s plan. I’m glad to know that uncertainty and anxiety do not have to mean the end of my obedience; Jesus went on to do his Father’s will even though he was anxious and uncertain.
But more to the point, what does it mean for us that Jesus had to die? How is that significant?
The death of Jesus is unique in world religions:
- Muslims don’t look to the death of Mohammed as the ultimate fulfillment of God’s will for his life.
- Buddhists don’t look to the death of the Enlightened One as payment for a crushing debt of sin.
- Jews don’t look to the death of Moses the only way to God.
It is only Christians who think of the death of their founder in this way. Scripture teaches that Jesus had to die so that we could make things right with God.
I think there is both comfort and warning in this truth:
1. There’s great comfort in knowing that Jesus had to die. It may be the most familiar verse in the Bible, but there’s a good reason that John 3:16 is so well-known. It’s such good news. “God so loved the world [that is, so loved me] that He gave His only son...”
The death of Jesus means that God must really really love me, and that changes everything:
- money problems? That’s okay. God loves me.
- people let me down/betray me? That’s all right. God loves me.
- uncertain future? No problem. God loves me. He’s in charge.
The fact that God gave up His son for me means that He has deeply committed Himself to taking care of me: Paul wrote in Romans 8:31-32, “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”
2. But there’s a serious warning here, too. The fact that Jesus had to die means that I can’t afford to be indifferent about Jesus. If Jesus is my only hope, I must cling desperately to him. The writer to the Hebrews put it this way: “How can we escape if we neglect this great salvation?”
If the death of Jesus is the only way for me to make things right with God, it is a kind of blasphemy for me to tell God, “I’ve got this one. I’m a high achiever. Some people might need to let Jesus pay for their sins, but my sins aren’t so serious.” That’s a lie that leads to damnation. No one can pay for his own sins. Only the death of Jesus pays for sin and makes things right with God. This is as true for the law-abiding church-goer as it is for the serial killer. No matter how well-behaved or badly behaved I’ve been, I need Jesus.
There are, in this room, only two kinds of people. Some have made peace with God through Christ. Some have not. Those two categories account for everyone here. There is no third category.
If you have never put your faith in Christ for his death to pay your debt, you can do that today. You must do that today. There is no better day than today to make things right with God, and you have no guarantee of tomorrow.
Do it now.
The Dayton Chinese Christian Church is a place where you can find good people who love Jesus, people who can help you find peace with God through Christ.
If you find yourself strangely moved by what I’ve said today, that may be God’s Spirit inviting you to take that first step by talking to someone who can help you.
There was one vistor there that day, a young man who is attending the University of Dayton. For the entire 45 minute sermon, he leaned forward, listening, obviously attending seriously to the words. I wondered what his spiritual state was and what prompted his keen interest.
After I finished and sat down, a lay leader came to the microphone and spoke quietly in Chinese for a few minutes. While he was speaking, a young woman I recognized from the English congregation came down the aisle and stood next to him.
After the service concluded, I saw the visitor come to the front to speak to another one of the members of the congregation. They were talking quietly in the pews when I left.
Glory to God! What a privilege to speak God's kind words of grace into the lives of people!
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