Desire

If. A little word that often carries a big meaning. We use it to say how something might happen, but only when certain conditions are met first. You can go to the carnival if you'll clean up your room.  We'll pay for four years of college if you'll serve four years in the military first. I'm sure there examples in your own life, maybe even today, where that small word, if, has played a large role.

There is an interesting use of the word "if" in the Bible. In chapter 27 of his gospel Matthew describes the trial, crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus. As Jesus hangs on the cross Matthew notes the words of the leaders of the Jews, (the chief priests, elders and scribes) who observe what is happening and say:

“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

It would seem that as Jesus' life is reaching its end, and that in a most humiliating fashion, that the Jewish leaders reach a very obvious conclusion. The things that are happening to Jesus are clear proof that God has no desire for Jesus, even if the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God were to be true. Their law teaches that to die hanging on a tree is to die under God's curse, so the end result, that God has no desire for Jesus, should be obvious to everyone. Duh!

But what is going on here at the cross is more than meets the eye. That is clear to those of us who live with faith in Jesus, 2,000 years after the event and having read the fuller story. Hopefully it became clear to at least of few of the leaders before their own lives came to an end.

First of all, the desire the Father has for the Son has not wavered in the slightest throughout all eternity. The essence of the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit has never changed. There are many things about the Trinity that are: 1) Hard to understand, and/or 2) Hard to clearly articulate, but one of the easier things to grasp about the Trinity is that there has never been a time when such human emotions as anger, disappointment or estrangement has existed between any of three Persons. Never.

Second, the humiliation and death of the Son is essential to the greater purposes of God. I've made some pastoral visits recently where I've had to talk about the fact that we just can't always see or know God's purposes for things that happen in our lives. This is especially true when they are things that we don’t like. No non-believer could look at Jesus hanging on the cross and believe that God would have a greater purpose in that apparent tragedy. Not even these Jewish leaders are capable of seeing the Father demonstrating things like his holiness, his righteousness, his justice, or even his mercy, as the Son hangs on the cross.

Yes, his mercy. The third thing going on as the Son breathes his last is this. The Father desires for all those humans who would have faith in his Son to be with the Triune God forever. And that requires the death of the Son to remove the sin those women and men have committed against God during their lives. This is mercy, that God spares those who love the Son from the consequences that their sin deserves.

The Father could have easily brought the entire crucifixion to an end as the events were unfolding. He could have said, "That's enough. We don’t need for this to go any farther." Perhaps that would have shown the Jewish leaders the desire of the Father for the Son. But that would have prevented the greater purpose, the greater desire, of God, which is that by faith in Jesus that people like you and I could one day be in God's very presence.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.