A Ruined Cathedral and a Man Saved From Death
Portuguese traders following Vasco da Gama settled at Macau, on the south coast of China and there build a massive Cathedral overlooking the harbour. But in the eighteenth century a violent typhoon destroyed the cathedral. All that remained was the front façade and a great brass cross.
In 1825, Sir John Bowring, governor of Hong Kong visited Macau. He was so impressed he wrote the famous hymn;
In the Cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time,
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime
We glory in the cross, but before he went to the cross, Jesus agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane. He took three disciples, had them sit and pray and then went off a little distance to pray himself. He said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…Abba, Father, ‘He said’ everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mk 14:34-36). Luke writes, “being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44). A
As we prepare for Good Friday and Easter, we need to remind ourselves why this cup brought such anguish to his soul.
It was a CUP OF ACCUSATION. He who was the Truth was called by the religious authorities a liar, an imposter, a blasphemer.
It was a CUP OF MOCKING. We read of the soldiers commissioned with his crucifixion that “And when they had mocked him they took the purple off him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.” (Mark 14:20) They made fun of him by clothing him in purple, twisting a crown of thorns, saluting him as King of the Jews, striking his head, spitting on him, bowing the knee, and pretending to worship him.
It was a CUP OF SHAME. Romans were so repulsed by the cross as a form of execution that they agitated for it never to be used on Roman citizens. But Jesus hung naked between two thieves. Paul explains, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: ‘Cursed in everyone who is hung on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13).
It was a CUP OF PAIN. Crucifixion was one of the most agonizing methods of dying that mankind has invented. He had been beaten, thorns pressed into his scalp, then nails driven through his wrists and feet followed by agonizing thirst. Isaiah in prophetic vision sees “his appearance disfigured…his form marred beyond human likeness” (Isiah 52:14).
It was a CUP OF SIN. Jesus, the holy, harmless, undefiled, and righteous Son of God took upon himself our sins; our self-righteousness, indifference, hatred, our pride, our immorality—all of our evil including the worst wickedness of mankind. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Centuries earlier Isaiah had proclaimed; “He was pierced for our transgressions” (Is. 53:5).
It was a CUP OF WRATH. The Son of God who from all eternity had enjoyed the love of the Father and the Spirit now becomes the object of divine wrath. Our iniquity on him aroused God’s wrath to be poured out on the cross. The sun even darkens to hide this terrible event.
It was a CUP OF SEPARATION. “In the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying “Eloi, Eloi, My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34).Imagine. The loving union, the unimaginable fellowship he had enjoyed with the Father from all eternity is cut off. He was abandoned by his disciples who fled. He was denied by Peter.
It was a CUP OF DEATH. He who is the source of life, in his incarnation as the man Christ Jesus, is to die. How can this be? How can we understand such love for us? “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). He shed his blood for us.
Restless and unable to sleep, the swimming instructor in a large college decided to go for a nighttime swim. He was ready to dive into the pool when he saw the light of the moon through the glass roof silhouetting him on the wall in the form of a cross.
As an unsaved man, he pondered the image of the cross. Something compelled him to come down from the board and walk along the pool side to the steps. He walked down the steps only to discover there was no water. The pool had been drained. The image of the cross saved him from death. He knelt there and confessed his sins and asked Christ to save him.
On the cross, Christ drained the cup for you and me. Have you, like this unbelieving swimming instructor asked Jesus Christ to save you from your sins?
