How the Resurrection Undoes Our Need to Be Proven Right
— Friday, April 6th, 2012 —
As Jesus drowned in his own blood, the spectators yelled words quite similar to those of Satan in the wilderness: “Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mk. 15:32).
But Jesus didn’t jump down. He didn’t ascend to the skies. He just writhed there.
The bloated corpse of Jesus hit the ground as he was pulled off that stake, spattering warm blood and water on the faces of the crowd.
That night, the religious leaders probably read Deuteronomy 21 to their families, warning them about the curse of God on those who are “hanged on a tree.” Fathers probably told their sons, “Watch out that you don’t ever wind up like him.”
Those Roman soldiers probably went home and washed the blood of Jesus from under their fingernails and played with their children in front of the fire before dozing off. This was just one more insurrectionist they had pulled off a cross, one in a line of them dotting the roadside. And this one (what was his name? Joshua?) was just decaying meat now, no threat to the Empire at all.
The corpse of Jesus just lay there in the silence of that cave. By all appearances it had been tested and tried, and found wanting.
If you had been there to pull open his bruised eyelids, matted there together with mottled blood, you would have looked into blank holes. If you had lifted his arm, you would have felt no resistance. You would have heard only the thud as it hit the table when you let it go. You might have walked away from that morbid scene muttering to yourself, “The wages of sin is death.”
But sometime before dawn on Sunday morning, a spike-torn hand twitched. A blood-crusted eyelid opened. The breath of God came blowing down into that cave, and a new creation flashed into reality.
God was not simply delivering Jesus (and with him all of us) from death. He was also vindicating him (and with him all of us). By resurrecting Jesus from the dead, God was affirming what he had said over the Jordan waters. He was declaring Jesus “to be the Son of God in power” (Rom. 1:4).
This was done, the Bible says, by “the Spirit of holiness.” This is the same Spirit who rested on Jesus at his baptism “like a dove” (Matt. 3:16). I wonder if, as the dovish Spirit alighted on him in the water and in the tomb, Jesus might have thought of the words of the Psalm the Devil would quote in the wilderness: “He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge” (Ps. 91:4).
With that kind of rescue, who needs to be proven right in any other way?
Note: The following post is an excerpt from Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011).
I feel like this was written for me for this night. I’m grateful for you, Dr. Moore.
“The bloated corpse of Jesus hit the ground as he was pulled off that stake, spattering warm blood and water on the faces of the crowd.”
*rolls eyes*
Okay, I realize it’s now becoming cool for Christians to be gross and graphic, but seriously. That was like something out of a cheap teen novel.
I do not believe this post was written in a graphic nature with the intention of being “cool”. It is important for Christians to be reminded that Christ actually died. And death is not pretty. It makes the miracle of His resurrection all the more glorious to know His death was real, in all of it’s ugliness. Thank you Dr. Moore for this!
Similar articles by Dr. Moore include:
Children’s Curriculum That’s Not Afraid of Blood
Blood Songs with Alan and Mahalia Jackson
The Blood-Drained Gospel of Rob Bell
Why Blood Shocks
Is Your Church Losing Blood?
Bloody Words (Acts 20:17-38); Blood Soup
The Blood-Splattered Welcome Mat
Blood, Gore, and Global Warming
@A. Fountain, my favorite part is that you typed “blood” into the blog search bar and then took notes…
It is true that the gospel can be presented in a way that downplays our need for redemption or the depth of Christ’s sacrifice. In that sense, certainly we need a renewed focus on the significance and power of the blood he shed on the cross. However, it is one thing to write hymns and sermons with lines like “The blood will never lose its power” or “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins.” It is another thing to describe in detail a “bloated corpse spattering blood and water on people’s faces” as it hits the ground (which may not even have really happened if he was lowered from the cross gently). That’s not edifying or profound. It’s just pointlessly gross. This is what I’m criticizing. Just like you can make a gripping war movie without literally showing a soldier’s guts get blown up, you can discuss the horror and glory of the cross without being needlessly graphic.
@yankeegospelgirl,
“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins.”
I’ve always found that imagery pretty gross, actually. I understand perfectly what the hymn-writer was trying to convey, but it’s not an image drawn directly from Scripture, and it’s always weirded me out.
Having said that, the Crucifixion WAS hideous and disturbing, although the gospel writers decribe it with reverence and restraint. And the ‘blood sacrifice’ element of what Christ accomplished on the cross is crucial for our understanding of salvation and redemption.
Also, the bit about “drowning in his own blood” seems medically implausible—Jesus would have died of asphyxiation, but not because he was “drowning” in his blood. It was because the crucifixion pose left him unable to get a breath. That was why the soldiers would break the victims’ legs to speed up the death process—pushing up with their feet was the only way they could snatch a little air.
How dare you Dr. Moore! Here is a picture that one of the disciples must’ve snapped at the foot of the cross…
http://webpages.charter.net/sixthstation/images/sorrows6.jpg
…I don’t see anything but graceful.
Don’t you mess up my nice, neat, safe imagery of the savior!