THE DEATH OF JESUS
Psalm 8:1-9
Daniel 7: 13-14 & Matthew 16: 21-28
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
Our New Testament text this morning comes right after the Peter's great confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God. Contrasted to that confession is the confusion of Peter in these few verses here! Pointedly Jesus admonishes Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." This had to be a hard lesson for Peter. After all, Jesus uses extremely strong language which He normally reserved for the religious leaders of His day and age. Today as gently and tactfully as I am able I would make the same challenge to you at the beginning of this year's resurrection season.
Notice that I did not use the worldly term "easter". Too much of late, that term has less and less association with the resurrection theme. Recently I read that some "Christians" in Europe were seriously discussing whether or not the Cross was any longer fit as a symbol for Christianity. The worldly bishop leading the discussion thought that it was high time that the cross was displaced. Personally he favored the use of an egg because the egg would symbolize new life. And in far too many places, such a new life symbolized in bunnies and eggs is all that is left of any annual easter season!
Of course the man Jesus still bears a brief mention. However, the Son of Man gets little more notice than any other national leaders who were martyred for a great cause. William Wallace, Martin Luther King, Joan of Arc and all the rest who died for their people are just as respected and in some cases even thought more highly of. Why is this? Isn't it the insidious influence of Satan at work in our culture as well as tempting us individually. In many places there are performed "passion plays" so that the faithful may visualize the events of resurrection week. Movies on similar themes have also played well.
Of course, we have been careful here to keep such events away from worship so that our worship might be spiritual instead of visual. Years ago, some visitors to the rural church where I was preaching tried their hardest to persuade me to go audio-visual with the weekly worship performance as they styled it. In that same congregation, I had been working quietly for several years to get a poor reproduction of a picture of Jesus out of the sanctuary so that the second commandment would be honored and here were new people wanting to go even further against the Lord's regulations.
Of course there are many serious Christians who barely pay lip service to the second commandment. And in our Presbytery more and more of our candidates are taking exception to our confessional teaching on regulating pictures of Jesus. I don't think any of these people really realize what they are doing by excepting the wisdom of many Church Reformers who had real reasons for white washing the churches and cathedrals of Europe to hide the once "sacred" images. Our common problem is that we want to make the Church more attractive to the worldly minded. The pastors of Willow Creek and the Crystal Cathedral have certainly succeeded in this regard. Both have been recognized for their humanitarian efforts with invitations to the White House, where they have been granted access to the first ears of the land. I'll guess that neither one had the courage of Mother Teresa to be prophetic about the great wickedness of abortion going on around the world!
Isn't this where Peter was when he was challenged by the Son of Man? He couldn't see the coming of the cross because his mind was focused on human concerns. He was focused on the earthly life of Jesus and like all of the disciples, he was a slow learner of what Christ came to accomplish. Sometimes we need to appreciate the narrowness of our own perspective, and the littleness of our concerns. Too often we get caught up in living a hectic life, especially in this time of year when the spring holidaze begins to accelerate. It is important for us to step back and gain a better view of who this Son of Man really was.
Once, I was painting the peak of my father's barn. I was at the top of a twenty foot extension ladder. The ladder was stacked on top of a wagon to gain an extra four feet. And I was standing on the third rung from the top, hanging onto the overhang of the roof. My paint brush was even taped to a three foot broom handle to reach the eaves. I was doing a sloppy job to boot! After all, the cows who had been at the back of the farm when I started were on their way up, probably to brush against the side of the wagon. I hurried to finish, knowing that if I didn't finish within ten minutes, I would never ever have the nerve to get back up to the top again. As I slopped away, I couldn't tell how I was doing. I so much needed to take a step or two backwards to gain some perspective. Yet, I was unable. How many times have we been so involved in something that we needed to step back and see how things were going?
Yet, like Peter either we were unable or perhaps even unwilling to take a long hard look at our own foolishness. When I finally got my feet back on solid earth again, I realized how high that ladder really was, and I have been afraid of heights ever since. Spiritually we all need such an experience of perspective to really appreciate who we are in relation to the real Son of Man. Jesus is not merely another human to who we can give advice. In verse one of our Psalm today, David sets the proper perspective of the greatness of God in Christ. "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name ..." His glory is of the highest heaven imaginable. To Him is to be offered childlike praise for God's name and His personal nature, which His works reveal in both heaven and earth.
We continue in verses three and four with David's appreciation of the whole heavenly host of stars and lights. Since David was a shepherd, he must have spent many nights out under the evening sky. With childlike awe He considered the heavenly works of God. And seeing that grand design, he wondered why God bothered to worry about man. How much more do we know about the evening sky, the planets and galaxies, the vast universe of millions of light years than David did. Isn't it incredible that the great God of the Universe should take any note of us at all? How much greater is His fond and loving care for each one of us. Remember, Jesus assures us that even the hairs of our head are all numbered. When you combed your hair this morning and considered that a few came out, did you wonder how many you have left?
Well, God knows, he knows all about us and even having complete knowledge, he still loves us and calls us to be His own. As we move on in this psalm, the greatness of the human condition is noted. Our position is only slightly inferior to that of the angels. God has delegated to us the earthly portion of His works. In David's time, man's control was more limited than what we have today. Even as the universe yields more and more of its secrets to scientific research, so our dominion increases.
Yet, as the New Testament observes on this passage, we are not the focus of this psalm, instead, there is a focus upon the theistic greatness of Jesus Christ in Hebrew's (2: 8b-9):
"For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone."
In that passage is the proper focus and a proper understanding of our Psalm. The focus is upon the God-man Jesus Christ. Only in Him do we find the perfect ruler mentioned in verse six. In Him there is application of earthly dominion through God's own people, because we share in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Just as we see dominion over the earthly beasts in verses seven and eight, so we can find dominion over our own human condition. All we need is the proper perspective, all we need is to step back from our frantic pace and see that the Son of Man is really the Christ, the very Son of God. If we can learn to see the real God of heaven and earth in the Son of Man - Jesus, than like David we too can pray: "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!" Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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Berkhof, Louis. |
History of Christian Doctrines. | |
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Denny, James. |
The Death of Christ. | |
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Hodge, Charles. |
Systematic Theology. | |
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Foundation for Reformation. New Geneva Study Bible . (1995) Thomas Nelson, Inc. New King James Version. (1982) | ||
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Psm 08b |
16 March 97 | |