The Cross

I. The Weight of the Cross 00:00

…in our midst, Lord and Father. And finally, that you’d humble our hearts and restore us as we move from Lent towards Easter. In Jesus’ name, amen.

So we’ve come to the last sermon in this series on Holy Week, and we’re going to be talking today about the cross. So it’s only appropriate that every reading today was about the resurrection, because you can’t preach the cross minus the resurrection. It doesn’t work. You may run out of time to say the resurrection, but all of you need to be thinking this entire sermon, “Yes, and Jesus rose from the dead.”

So as we head towards the cross: next week, of course, is Holy Week, where we have our services that dramatize it. We have our passion readings. We have our Maundy Thursday service, where everything blacks out. We hold on to the hope of the resurrection. What that does is it gives you permission to enter your cross. It gives you permission, it gives you the hope and the faith, to walk into the place that God’s inviting each of us to. Because there’s a real sense this Lent, as God has been showing up, that he’s asking us to lay down things, to reevaluate our life and our heart, to clear the space, because he’s coming.

I know for a fact that, at least in my life, there are many things that I’ve been praying for, I’ve been believing for, promises that I’ve had, that in the past few weeks have looked a little bit less likely than they might have before. It just seems like things are harder on the external than they have been in a little bit. But when I walked into this space, all of a sudden my faith level… might also be growing. And I’m just making a comment that what’s been happening in my heart this Lent, and I hope in your heart, is God has been showing me more of his love, more of his conviction for change, and that has been giving me faith to believe in his purposes in my life.

So if you get nothing from what we’ve been talking about, know this: God does it differently. Because Jesus’ promise is, “You will be the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the name above all names.” And all day today we’re going to watch him walk the path that it takes to get there. It’s not what you might have guessed. It’s exactly what we know, because we’ve been raised Christian, but we need to remember how scandalously ridiculous the cross is, how unbelievably tragic the cross is, how much pain and suffering Jesus went through. Often, because we’re very comfortable Christians who have never once been threatened with martyrdom, we approach the cross like, “Oh yeah, it’s a cute teaching of Jesus’ good love for us. How nice is it that Jesus would die for our sins.” I hope today that we can enter in a little bit more deeply to the story and say, “Oh God, you came bringing life, and we killed you. You came to embrace us in our sin, in our darkness, to raise us up, and we crucified you.” That’s the weight of the cross today.

And as I was reading it, it was hard to write this sermon, because I almost just wanted to read it and just leave it, because it’s so… what’s the word? It’s awful, what happens, again and again. And I was just feeling the weight of it. And I’ll leave it there. We’re just going to dive into this, because I hope that you get some of the weight of what’s going on in Jesus’… I can’t imagine what Jesus is thinking and feeling during this. That’s what I keep thinking. I can’t imagine if my best friend betrayed me, my religious… let’s say this church called for my death, my nation crucified me. I can’t imagine the levels that he goes through and the pain that he’s experiencing. So let’s talk through it, because there’s a lot here for us.

II. Betrayed with a Kiss 03:48

Mark 14, verse 43. We’re picking up the story from where we left off last week. Jesus says, “Rise, my betrayer is at hand” (Mark 14.42). And now we pick up the drama of Maundy Thursday night as we go into the trial here. And it says:

43 And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.” 45 And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Mark 14.43–45

The poetic injustice. We always talk about poetic justice. The poetic injustice of your close friend embracing you, and not only embracing you, but calling you, rightfully, teacher, Rabbi. And that is the sign by which Jesus is betrayed.

46 And they laid hands on him and seized him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48 And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? 49 Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” 50 And they all left him and fled. Mark 14.46–50

Thank God for Peter, because he provides the one moment of connection with the disciples in this whole story. We see them… they just all… Peter throughout this entire story is going to be our guy, the one that I can identify with most strongly. If somebody comes to take my bishop, my leader, my teacher, I’m going to strike them with the sword. Even being formed by the Christian story since a baby, something about that just feels right: what you should do is fight those who come against you. And yet we know from the other Gospels, what does Jesus do? His last miracle on earth is healing the ear of the guy who came to crucify him (Luke 22.51). His last healing. That’s pretty remarkable. And he tells Peter, “Those who live by the sword die by the sword” (Matt 26.52). This is not the way that my kingdom comes. That’s a hint for what’s going to unfold over these scriptures. This is not the way.

So we see, “Let the Scriptures be fulfilled,” Jesus says, and they all fled. And what’s the scripture? “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter” (Mark 14.27). That’s what we’re told it’s referring to here. All of Jesus’ closest friends, those who literally hours before told him, “We will die with you, Jesus”: the band comes out to take them, and they disappear. Save this one guy. Let’s read about this guy, in 51:

51 And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52 but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. Mark 14.51–52

So, one guy, and we’re told later it’s John. John the Beloved, John the heart, is running after Jesus, because his heart tells him, “I can’t abandon him.” But even in that moment, when his linen cloth is taken away, when he is naked, he is just like us in the garden, and he runs away naked and ashamed. That imagery of Adam and Eve hiding from God in the garden because they realize their nakedness: it’s all of us. All of us have abandoned Christ. All of us have fallen short. All of us are not good enough. That’s the story today. Happy, happy day! All of us. Of course, the other side of it is, he is good enough. All of us are not good enough; he is good enough.

III. Believing Is Seeing 08:22

So they’re bringing these false and contradictory testimonies. It’s a lynch mob. It really is. They’ve stirred everybody up. They have nothing against him, and so they’re contradicting themselves. It even says it: this guy said this, this guy said that; they were contradicting themselves. But they didn’t care. They didn’t care about whether Jesus deserved to die. They knew he needed to die.

A little hint: if anybody ever tells you that those people need to die for the world to be better, that’s not Christianity. That’s also not good. Don’t subscribe to the ideologies that say, “Oh, just get rid of these people and the world will come into its fullness. You’ve got to break a few eggs to make an omelette.” No. The only good ideology, the only good theology, is: I will die that the world may live. That’s the Christian message in a nutshell. And, believe it or not, it doesn’t just apply to Jesus. It applies to every one of us. That’s the call: I will die that the world may live. We’re following in the way of the cross here. This whole series we’ve been talking about how Jerusalem is a picture of us, and Jesus is coming in to confront and change and renew Jerusalem and the people. Today I want you to focus on this: we are called to be like Jesus.

So they’re bringing up these false testimonies, and if you know me, I would be arguing my way out of this situation, and probably most of us too, because we hate to be falsely accused. There are certain things that we absolutely cannot stand, and being falsely accused is one of them. And yet here’s Jesus’ response:

60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” 61 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. 65 And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows. Mark 14.60–65

I’m reminded of when Jesus is doing his ministry, and the disciples of John the Baptist come and they say, “Jesus, are you the Christ, the Messiah, the one who is to come?” And he goes, “Look at this.” Here, I’ll just read it:

22 “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Luke 7.22–23

This is what’s happening, and the religious leaders’ response is to kill him, to beat him, shame him, and kill him.

There’s a saying: seeing is believing. Well, that’s not quite true, as we all know. The saying should say, believing is seeing, because what you believe about the world determines what you’re willing to see. And these religious leaders were already convinced that anybody who contradicts our authority is a blasphemer and deserves to die. And even Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead wasn’t enough to overturn their previous misconceptions. That’s a pretty hard challenge for us. Where do you believe something so strongly that even should God raise someone from the dead, you’re going to stick to your guns? “You know what you’re doing. You’ve got this figured out.” It humbles me. It convicts me. It scares me just a little. Luckily, I have some really great people around me who are very good at telling me when I have missed the boat. And that’s a good recommendation. Seriously, I make a joke, but you should surround yourself with people that you’re willing to let tell you when you’ve missed the boat, because we aren’t Jesus, and so we need help seeing what’s going on in our life.

So they are going to condemn him one way or another. He speaks the truth, they call it blasphemy, and they decide to crucify him for it.

IV. The Rooster Crows 13:08

Let’s move on in this story.

66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. Mark 14.66–72

Once again, we all in our hearts go… because we know if we were in that circumstance, we probably would have done the same exact thing. They’ve already fled. They already didn’t stand up to the Gestapo police coming to get them. They already bowed to the authority wrongfully accusing Jesus. You think he’s going to stand up now, when he has an opportunity to be put right in the same position? No. Even Jesus’ best friend, who saw him transfigured, walked on water, saw him raise Lazarus from the dead, proclaimed he was the Christ, even he denied and rejected him.

But this is maybe one of the more hopeful elements of my message today, because that guy is the rock on which God built his church. So even you who have known that Jesus rose from the dead, who have seen him show up in your life, who have heard the truth, even you guys who have also fallen, rejected Jesus, been ashamed of him, not lived the witness the way that you should: even when you fall, you know that God’s word for you is not void. Because Jesus took over Peter’s life. Before this: “You are the rock on which I will build my church” (Matt 16.18). And after this, Peter was darn convinced that he had blown it and that the plans had changed. He knew, I’m certain, that God was going to pick a different rock, one that wouldn’t break.

But if you’ve been paying attention in this lesson, we had this prophecy that Jesus called forward, and he talked about how he was the rock, and whoever fell on the rock of Jesus would be broken. And we have that great prophetic word that Jill brought, about when pottery is broken, you can actually use the ashes to remake a new jar. And that’s what’s happening in this story with Peter. In fact, he needed to be broken in order for God to make him the man that he had called him to be. So does that mean God caused him to sin or betray him? No, no. What I’m saying is, Jesus, when he said, “You’re the rock on which I’ll build that church,” knew that Peter was going to deny him, and he said, “No, you need to know this word, because even when you deny me, I will make you that rock.”

And what happens is, all of a sudden, because of the way that Jesus restores Peter (it’s the great priestly calling: “Do you love me? Feed my sheep” (John 21.17)), he restores him after this, in the resurrected time. What happens to Peter? Well, he has to be the rock who knows that he isn’t the best. How do I say this better? He is the rock that is fully planted in Jesus’ grace and ability. Because if Peter had just waltzed through this thing with flying colors, he would have started the Church of Peter, worshiping Jesus Christ: “This is my church God gave me. I’m the rock. I was there first. I was the leader.” No, no, no. He needed to know that it was the Church of Jesus Christ, and that he was merely a vessel for the goodness of God, a potter’s clay, a jar that had been shattered and remade. What a hopeful thing for us.

But I do have to ask: is the rooster crowing for you this Lent? Is there a siren call right now from the Spirit saying, “Hey, you’ve fallen in these places”? You have to do the hard work of recognizing where you’ve fallen short, in order for God to bring you through into what he’s called you into. Throw yourself on that rock. Be broken. Be remade. Die. Be resurrected. That’s the path. This is the way, as they say.

V. My Kingdom Is Not of This World 17:38

So they bring him before Pilate, and they say this awful thing. Everything they say is just so awful. But they basically tell Pilate, “You need to judge him, because we can’t kill anyone.” And the murder in their hearts is shown in that moment. They are not satisfied with humiliating him. They want his death.

So this is the interaction with Pilate and Jesus. We’re switching into John, for those of you who are following along. We were in Mark; now we’re in John.

33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18.33–36

This is the thread we’ve been following throughout Holy Week. Because what’s the big fear of the religious leaders? It’s that Jesus is going to crown himself King of the Jews, and he’s going to violently take over the city, and he’s going to take over their positions of authority and power, and the Romans are going to come and crush them utterly. That’s the big fear. There’s also jealousy and other things going on, but that’s the basic idea here. Little did they know that that’s literally exactly what happened, minus the Romans’ crush. Again, Jesus did take over all authority in Jerusalem and in the whole world, and he was crowned King, violently, on the cross.

And that’s where this key verse comes in: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Listen: it’s not cutting off the ear of the guy who’s coming to fight me. It’s not that. It looks like this. And every one of us who joined the church so we could be prosperous and wealthy and happy go, “Oh shoot, I might be in the wrong place.” Yes, God wants to bless you. He wants to resurrect you. But first, the death, again and again and again. And we’re always shocked every time: “Wait, I have to die first? Okay.” So, the way of the cross: my kingdom’s not of this world.

VI. What Is Truth? 19:52

37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18.37–38

And walked away. He asked Jesus, “What is truth?” and then walked away without waiting for an answer. We really get all tied up, because, you know, the modern day is so dark and people don’t know good from evil and all this stuff. It’s the same problem. How many people out there are like, “Oh sure, the Christians claim that they have the truth, but, like, what is truth anyway?” The postmodern question. “Oh no, what is truth? If truth falls apart, everything falls apart.” It’s been around forever. “Are you God?” That’s the real question. That’s what Pilate means. He means that there is no external authority that matters more than my judgment: “What is truth anyway? I get to decide.” You see this rampant in our culture, people who proclaim there is no such thing as truth, all religions are the same. What they mean is, “I get to decide how to live and believe in my life however I want. Everything is meaningless except for what I want and what I believe.” And we slip into it too.

I was just talking to a Christian the other day, and he was talking about some of his friends who are not Christian, and he’s talking to them. He’s like, “Man, look at what God has done in my life.” And they’re like, “Okay, but…” I was pressing him. It’s really not about the story he was telling. I was super stoked about what he’s doing and reaching out to his friends with the good news of Jesus, all of that. But I started asking him. I said, “Yeah, but what if a Muslim came up to you and said, ‘Allah has changed my life, don’t you see?’ Or what if a Buddhist came up and said, ‘Look at my wonderful life. Don’t you want to be a part of that? It’s all because of Buddhism.’ Or, ‘Vishnu set me free from drug addiction,’ whatever it is. What do you say?” Well, what you say is: Christianity is true, though. Christianity is true. Jesus actually lived, actually died, and actually rose from the dead, that we might have life and life eternal. Yeah, it’s great that your whole life is changed by God. In fact, that is the point, that you might be transformed. But there are a lot of things that can change your life and maybe even seem like they’re changing life for the better. It’s like, “I follow this program, and for $24.99 you can change your life too.” That’s a message on every street corner. So if you say, “Come join the church, because it’ll change your life,” what they hear is, “Oh, reverse mortgages,” or some other scam, this work program, this diet, this whatever. No. Come join the church because there really is a God who loves you, and I’m not just making that up. It’s not my own truth. It is the truth.

So Pilate goes to God himself and says, “What is truth?” and walks away happy that he solved that dilemma, put him in his place. But you know what? Jesus says this interesting thing: those who are of the truth hear my voice. And I was thinking about Rowan, my wonderful son, who (it’s just great) has been having some issues with listening. So he’ll be sitting there playing, and I will be literally from here to there from him, and I would say, “Rowan David. Rowan David Harris. Rowan David Harris, who I will beat if you do not listen to me!” It’s just this escalation. And I’m like, he’s not listening to his father’s voice. And so the whole point of this discipline with him is that we’re asking him to learn to recognize his father’s voice.

In the same way, all of us have this problem. We have this problem with God, where we get out in the world and there are voices everywhere, and we don’t know what is true, and we’re so focused on what we’re doing that we don’t hear what God is saying. I’ve had to learn this really a lot in my job, because Eric is like a Holy Spirit guy, and he kind of runs the show. And so I walk in and I have my great opinion about what needs to happen, and he goes, “That doesn’t sound right. You need to do this.” And all I want to say is, “Let me do my thing.” But I’ve learned over six years of working with him: you need to listen when Eric says, “That doesn’t sound right, you need to do this.” It’s the voice of truth. Now, he may get some things wrong. I don’t know; I haven’t seen it yet. But there is a possibility he could be wrong. But at the very least, I need to hear his voice. Sorry, I don’t mean to embarrass you, Eric. But there’s a real thing: each one of us needs to learn to hear the voice of truth.

VII. Not This Man, but Barabbas 25:21

Okay, let’s keep going, because things are going to get worse, believe it or not.

38 After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber. John 18.38–40

Let me just say: poor Barabbas. This guy… Barabbas wanted to bring about a violent revolution so that the Jews could set themselves free from the Romans. That’s Barabbas. He’s not just a random guy who was stealing from people and killing people. No, he actually wanted a violent political revolution. That’s what we’re told elsewhere. And what’s happening here is the religious leaders are saying, “We’d rather have that than the way of the cross. We’d rather have a violent insurrection than submit ourselves to the authority of God and walk the way of the cross.”

The Christian kingdom, the Christian answer, is just different. You know what Barabbas said? “All those Romans have to die so that we can have our beautiful, wonderful world.” You know what Jesus said? “I will die so that you can have the beautiful, wonderful world.” It’s the same line. And of course the religious leaders are picking the one where they get to choose who dies. All of this is kind of mixed up in there. And Barabbas gets this really bad rap, because he gets traded out for Jesus. He was guilty. He was a murderer, he was a robber, he deserved to die. But it is kind of funny that we make fun of him every single time we read this story.

VIII. Behold the Man 27:32

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” John 19.1–5

I’ve got one point about this. Irenaeus tells us that the completion of the incarnation happened when Jesus died on the cross. The fullness of the revelation of God became man happened on the cross, because the one place that no one else goes except humanity is death. Animals die, but it’s not the same. Humans, with our eternal souls that God created in his image, enter into the realm of death. Jesus went there too, and the incarnation was complete in his death. When is your incarnation complete? In your death. When do you become fully human, as God became human? In your death. Jesus has made our death the place of welcome and resurrection. So what have you to fear? What else have you to fear? And I think that means today, and someday when you enter his kingdom. The same way that Jesus is sacrificed every Eucharist and 2,000 years ago, we can enter into the mystery of the incarnation every time we give up our will to God and we experience that death.

IX. Behold Your King 28:29

Okay, so Pilate’s really confused, and he basically says (I’m going to skip this passage), “I have the authority to kill you. Why aren’t you defending yourself?” And Jesus says, “You have no authority here. You have no authority. You can’t do anything that isn’t given to you from the Father” (John 19.10–11). And that’s the question of the cross: who has the authority? Only God. And from the moment of the cross, when he’s crowned as the King (they literally put a purple robe on him, they hailed him King of the Jews, they put the thorns on him, and they thought they were mocking him when they were proclaiming God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven), from that point on, only Jesus has authority.

From that conversation on, Pilate sought to release him. Guess what? He didn’t have the authority to release him. Jesus already told him that.

12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” John 19.12

And they knew they hit on that. That was the word that would get Pilate to kill this man. It’s insurrection: he set himself against Caesar. So when Pilate heard these words, it was over.

13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. John 19.13–14

And guess what? Our Passover was being prepared.

14 It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. John 19.14–16

It’s just so tragic, because what they should be saying is, “Crown him King of kings and Lord of lords!” And instead: “Crucify him! We have no king but Caesar.” There’s so much more there. Let’s keep reading.

16 So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” John 19.16–22

And so Jesus’ coronation is announced to the whole world. It’s so absurd. Like, put him on a throne, make the light shine like you did at the Transfiguration, and show the whole world! And Jesus says, “No, I’m dying on a cross.” Hail to the King.

X. It Is Finished 31:51

Okay, we’re skipping that part too. Everybody makes fun of him, they barter for his clothes. And then we’re looking at this picture of the Pietà. It’s Mary holding the broken body of Jesus. The one thing I wanted to pull out of this crucifixion narrative (there are several different versions, there are all sorts of things that happen) is that I love the part where Jesus grabs John, who apparently has found his way back to the cross, and he says, “Mary, my mother, behold your son. John, behold your mother” (John 19.26–27). And it’s like, Jesus was also a son. I know that’s so simple, but it’s so profound. Jesus also wanted to honor his mom. You just think about the tragedy of Jesus, who loved each and every person, and his mom has to see him humiliated, broken, poured out. But he wants to comfort her in some way, so he says, “John, please take care of her.”

In Lamentations it says:

12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow…” Lam 1.12

And so my question this morning is: have you ever been there? Have you ever thought, “God’s forsaken me. Nobody else has felt as sad as I feel”? That’s who Jesus is. At the very least, he’s there, and we know that because he went there on the cross. He went there. So when he invites you into your own personal crucifixion, whatever that may be, you’re not doing it alone. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Ps 23.4). That’s what it means. He’s there. And Easter is coming.

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19.28–30

And so, as we enter into Holy Week, remember that even your current suffering was finished on the cross. There is nothing that was not bought and paid for, no victory that was not won. And you are not alone, and Easter is coming. Amen.