“Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it”
I Corinthians 12:27

We Solved It for You
April 10 – by Pastor Bob Huisman

“Before”, “During”, or “After”- that was the question.  While fine tuning the details of the Maundy Thursday service this week, I questioned the biblical accuracy of one of the details in our script.  I thought it must be a “cut and paste” problem.  It wasn’t.  I was questioning whether the curtain of the temple was torn in two “before” Jesus breathed his last (Luke 23:45) or “as” Jesus died (Matthew & Mark) or “after”.

I grew up thinking that the curtain was torn in two “after” Jesus died.  Vicki said that she grew up thinking that the curtain was torn in two “before” Jesus died.

Turns out that we were both right.  The gospels of Matthew and Mark describe it one way, and the gospel of Luke the other.  But now what do we do with the script for Maundy Thursday?  We solved it for you.  We said “as”.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two “as” Jesus breathed his last.

We thought we had found a clever solution for our script.  Only to find out that the NIV (New International Version) translators had already solved it for us with the phrase, “At that moment” in Matthew and Mark.

On this Good Friday, the details of what we had wondered about are not what really matters.  What really matters is that the Lord Jesus Christ in his death removed the barrier between us and our Heavenly Father.  The physical barrier in the temple between God and His people was torn in two.  At that moment, the spiritual barrier of sin between God and His people was atoned for in Jesus’ death.  He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might be right with God (2 Cor 5:21).  Jesus opened our access to the Lord God Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth.

This Friday is only “good” because the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was the last sacrifice that would be necessary to repair a broken relationship between the Creator and His Creation, once and for all.

On the cross, Jesus SOLVED IT FOR YOU!

Soak in these words from Hebrews 10.
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’”
8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again, and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for your great descent for our sake.
Thank you for coming from heaven to earth for our sake.
Thank you for going from the earth to the cross for our sake.
And from the cross to the grave for our salvation.
We love you Lord Jesus!
Amen.