Shema Prayer and Good Friday

As I rode the bike trail with our dog this afternoon, I was thinking of the crucifixion of Jesus.  Kind of the proper thing to do on a Good Friday afternoon.  For some reason, my mind went to Judaism’s Shema Prayer.  As I rode my thoughts alternated between the Shema Prayer and the crucifixion of my Savior.

The Shema Prayer is, and always has been, the centerpiece of the morning and evening prayer services of the people of Israel.  It is considered by some to be the most essential prayer of Judaism.

The prayer begins with these words: 

“Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.  Blessed is His name, whose glorious kingdom is forever and ever.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

As I rode today, I could see people throughout Jerusalem, from the temple to the homes surrounding it, beginning the day with this prayer.  Beginning the day with these words.  And, at the same time, I saw Christ being judged before Pilate, and led to Golgotha.

Here’s a little of what I pictured.

“Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”

The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”  Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!”   And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”  Matthew 27:21-23 (ESV)

“Blessed is His name, whose glorious kingdom is forever and ever.”

And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.   Luke 23:33 (ESV)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…”

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”  Luke 23:35 (ESV)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul…”

 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”  Matthew 27:39-40 (ESV)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your might…”

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”  And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.  But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.   Matthew 27:45-50 (ESV)

Then I pictured the body of our Lord, taken from the cross, wrapped in linen, and laid in a borrowed tomb.  And, as the stone was rolled over the opening....from the temple to the surrounding homes….the prayer went up…

.

“Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.  Blessed is His name, whose glorious kingdom is forever and ever.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

Let This Cup Pass From Me

“And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.   And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Luke 22:41-44 (ESV)
 

“Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 26:38-39 (ESV)
 

“ Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
Matthew 26:42 (ESV) 

For much of my Christian walk, when I have read of Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, the picture that would come to mind when Christ asked that the cup be removed from him would be the image of his body being nailed to that cross.  To be sure, the Romans had perfected one of the most brutal, efficient and torturous means of putting someone to death.  It is easy to assign the cup Christ was agonizing over so intensely that his sweat became like great drops of blood to the barbaric act of crucifixion alone but, in doing so, we lose much of the significance of what our Savior accomplished on Calvary.

On Easter Sunday, church attendance will be larger than other weeks, families will gather, hams will be cooked and feasts prepared.  We will celebrate the resurrection of our Savior in the marvelous knowledge that that the tomb is empty and Christ has conquered death.  We’ll rest secure in the absolute assurance that he is our true sacrifice lamb and through his shed blood our sins are forgiven.  This is most certainly the case for the child of God, and is absolutely a reason to celebrate.

But the agony over the cup in Gethsemane still intrigues me.  Why didn’t he pray that he be delivered from the cross, or the pain, or from the hands of heart hardened sinners who were not able to recognize the most beautiful thing to ever inhabit this planet?  Instead, he prayed over and over that he be delivered from having to drink the cup.

We don’t hear it talked about much these days.  It doesn’t fit with the seeker friendly atmosphere that we want in our church services.  We want to hear about how Jesus loves us, and about how his desire is for us to be happy and successful in every area of our lives.  And friend, if you’re a believer, he does love you and wants you to abound in joy.  But as much as our God is a God of love, he is a God of justice.  He is a God of wrath.  In fact, the bible talks more about the wrath of God than it does about the love of God.

The Old Testament mentions a cup containing the wrath of God several times.  (Job 21:20, Isaiah 51:17, 22, Jeremiah 25:25)   It is also mentioned in the book of Revelation.

 “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,  he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb”.   Revelation 14:9-10 (ESV)

“The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.”  Revelation 16:19 (ESV)

God is love, to be sure.  But he also is holy and righteous and gloriously perfect.  His glory is reflected in every part of his nature.  It is present in everything he does, and it is at the very core of his being. God  jealously guards and is infinitely passionate about his glory.

Oftentimes, we do not realize how much our sin insults this glory that God so passionately protects.  All sin, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to us, is an assault on the boundless majesty and sovereign authority of God.  It deeply offends his perfect holiness, and is an infinite offense to his glory.  With God being perfect in moral character, he cannot help but to be hostile toward our sin and what it does to his glory.  God’s moral nature, along with his holiness and righteousness, demands that he absolutely hate and abhor sin.  Anything that falls short of his perfection and attacks his glory needs to be judged.  In fact, it is demanded by his perfect righteousness.

Understand, this is not just something God has to do because he is God.  His divine justice, along with his holy anger and wrath toward sin are all part what makes him God.  These things are as much a part of who God is as his love, and grace and mercy.  And God’s divine justice demands that any insult to his glory...any sin...be dealt with through his righteous anger and wrath being poured out on the sinner.  That is what happened with Sodom and Gomorrah, and that is what the, "Wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger,” is referring to in Revelation.

But the bible says that in God’s patience, in his grace, mercy and love was, though divine forbearance, passing over former sin. (Romans 3:25)  In grace, God passed over sin, but his divine justice would not let him forget the assault of the sin on his glory.  He passed them over for a moment, for a time, but his divine justice demanded that his righteous anger and wrath be satisfied.

It was not enough for Christ to be sacrificed so that our sins would be forgiven.  He also had to deal with the wrath toward us that God’s divine justice demanded be satisfied.

That was the cup Christ stared into in the Garden of Gethsemane.  That was the cup which brought such sorrow to our Savior’s soul that he felt as if he were close to death.  It was the thought of that cup that caused him to agonize to such an extent that his sweat became as drops of blood.  It was that cup that held the full force of God’s anger and wrath for sin and only through drinking it would the the demands of God’s divine justice be satisfied.

Christ stared squarely into that cup, turned his heart toward heaven and prayed,  “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

The next day he took that cup.  The one that was filled with the wrath of God’s anger for my every sin.  For every thought that fell short of God’s glory.  For every word spoken in hate, or slander or gossip.  For every action that assaulted the glory of God.  That cup which contained God’s righteous wrath for every sin of every person that would ever come to him.  And Christ took it, and drank every single drop. 

So Christ went to that cross as the only perfect sacrifice for our sin.  Through that cross my sin is cast as far as the east is from the west.  I stand forgiven before the God of all creation.  But, Christ also drank that cup to endure that wrath of what my sin did to the glory of God.  Christ endured the divine anger and wrath required of me by God’s divine justice.  Christ absorbed in his own soul the full, unmitigated fury of God’s wrath against all the sin of all the people who would come to him.  He drank that cup so that, for us who believe, the cup of God’s wrath is empty.

And, when God had finished pouring his wrath out on his son, Christ felt the hopeless despair of being abandoned by God.  He pushed himself up one more time on that cross, and cried out, “My God, My God, Why hast though forsaken me.”  Our Savior, in that moment, felt the full force of the dread that comes when God Almighty turns his back in abandonment.  And he did it so that God will not have to turn his back on us.

As we remember the sacrifice of Christ this Friday, we need to humbly and thankfully bow before our Savior and praise him for becoming the perfect sacrificial lamb for us.  We need to give him glory that through the cross our sins are forgiven.  We need to worship him for drinking the cup of God’s wrath so that cup now sits empty before us.  And we need to exalt him for experiencing the abandonment of God so that we will never be abandoned.


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