We are approaching the Easter season. I suppose we might say that we’ve somewhat entered the season, but probably not very seriously for most us. Easter is still a month away – April 5 this year. Christians who practice Lent may be more focused than the rest of us, well me anyway. However I am starting to think about it, and now you are, too! I wish we had a name for this time, like we have “Advent” (which means “coming” or “arrival”) for the period preceding Christmas. Yes, there is “Lent” but it basically just means “Spring” for the time of year it occurs. I’m not saying that people who observe Lent should stop observing or even change the name. I just would like something for the rest of us (Festivus is taken – see Seinfeld). I would like something that helps us focus on what happened with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah and gives us a sense of moving toward that.
For now, for this year, for me, I’m going to call this time the Convergence. One definition of convergence is the action of focusing or amassing onto a central point or location. The period before Jesus’ arrest and execution was such a time. God’s redemptive plan, Jesus’ message and ministry, the hatred and rejection by the religious leaders, the curiosity and expectations of the crowds, the hope mixed with fear of the disciples, the authoritarian intolerance of the Romans, the evil hostility of the dark powers, and sin and death were all relentlessly moving toward a central location: the man Jesus of Nazareth nailed on a cross. Everything that we read in the Gospels, especially what happened during the week before the crucifixion, can be understood only by taking into account this Convergence. Let’s be moving toward The Hour (Matthew 26:45, Mark 14:41, Luke 22:53) with Scripture, prayer, worship, and seeking.
One day, Jesus was with his twelve apostles and began talking with them about his own identity. Luke 9:20-23 says,
And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day.”
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
Peter correctly identified Jesus as the promised Messiah from God – the ultimate deliverer and leader of Israel. Jesus “warned” them that being Messiah would not be what they expected. He would be rejected by the religious and political leaders of Israel and they would kill him, then he would be resurrected. The Messiah would willingly suffer and sacrifice to deliver and lead Israel (and, we find out, all humanity – Ephesians 2:11-18).
What Jesus said next to the disciples is connected to what he just said. It’s not a separate “saying” that has its own meaning. He said, “If anyone wants to come after me” – if anyone wants to be with the Messiah and have his deliverance and leadership – he can. Here’s how: deny yourself, lift up your cross, and follow the Messiah.
The disciples, all being Jewish, had heard about “deny yourself” before. It’s in the Law of Moses, which was the preparation for the Messiah to come and deliver. God commanded the Jews to observe the Day of Atonement each year. I won’t go into detail about it, but it was the day when all the people’s sins were atoned for – were removed. The high priest made several animal sacrifices, then
he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:20-21)
The deliberate rebellion and evil of the people was carried away and they could live as God’s holy people.
Here’s what the people did on that day:
The Lord said to Moses, “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present a food offering to the Lord. Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God. Those who do not deny themselves on that day must be cut off from their people. I will destroy from among their people anyone who does any work on that day. You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. It is a day of sabbath rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. (Leviticus 23:26-32)
“Deny yourselves.” In order to experience the release from a rebellious life, the people needed to deny themselves. That’s explained as “do not do any work on that day.” Their work was not sinful or bad, so denying wasn’t about merely stopping sinful actions. It was about coming to God in surrender, trusting him, and not depending on what they could do themselves to make life work out. They presented a food offering to the Lord. That represented the products of their daily work – it was offered up to God and not kept for themselves. All of this is a complete surrender, sacrifice, giving up any claim to being able to make it on their own and trusting God to be their deliverer and leader.
So, the disciples knew something about what Jesus was saying. But remember, it is connected to what he said that he would experience: rejection, suffering, death, and resurrection. They would come after him, follow him into surrender and sacrifice then true life. They would give up any claim to self-importance, self-ability, self-will, let the old self die on the cross, and accept God’s new life.
Jesus pioneered the way for us to go. He denied himself, he took up his cross, he followed in obedience to death, and he was raised to life. We go that way, too, by faith in him as our Messiah, our deliverer and leader, our giver of new life.
You see, Jesus being Messiah is about more than forgiving our sins so we can go to heaven. If all that was needed was to have our sins forgiven, there wouldn’t be any talk from Jesus about denial and cross and following. He would just say, “Now you’re forgiven. Come on up.” What Jesus is doing is fitting us to live in his kingdom now and forever. He is restoring us to God’s original design for us – to be his children and partners. He is bringing about a new creation that will be our dwelling with him forever. He is making us into new people. So, we must go through the continual process of denying ourselves, giving up control of ourselves, emptying ourselves of “ME-ME-ME,” offering all to die and be buried with Jesus. Then all the old can be carried away into the wilderness, never to be seen again.
As we observe all that converges in Jesus on the cross, let’s be converging with all that. Let’s be fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith and follow him into the atonement which can be ours by denying self and taking up the cross.
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