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.
So, Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13
Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
Yesterday we began looking at the death of Jesus and the relationship between John’s telling us that Jesus “went out, bearing his own cross”, and the preacher
of what we call the book of Hebrews calling us to, “…go to him, outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” This is one of those ‘devotions’ that I have not been able to get out of my thinking. So, here are some further thoughts, for it seems
to me that we are entering a period of time where, and maybe for the first time in any substantial and visible way we are going to see the implications of what it means to “go to him and bear reproach”.
For those Jews listening to the book of Hebrews being preached, for it is a sermon, for them to embrace these words would mean getting thrown out of the synagogue,
thrown out of the religious establishment’s orders, thrown out, degraded, scorned and humiliated. That was a much greater issue then, than it may sound today. Sadly, it is not common for folks today to see the church as the center of life, literally, the core
of the community, the family and the individual.
To be cast out of that synagogue was to be declared unwanted, unworthy, not just for your religion, but in your culture, in your family, it was to be without identity,
and for the Jews, being an occupied people, this WAS the tabernacle and the temple was their heart and soul.
Jesus says you have to leave all of that, walk away from it all and come to Him.
I trust that it is clear to us that the path of the Savior, now becomes the path of us all. God the Son has died for you so that you might go to Him, identify with
Him and make Him the essence of who you are…the heart and soul of your identity. If we reject that, we reject Jesus.
I told a Sunday School class a few years ago the story when I was leaving a wrestling match in High School and three older kids were standing by my car, I got in and
they told me to get out so they could beat me up…they used a few more adjectives than that, but it was the basic idea.
Now, I was not brilliant but not totally stupid; “So you want me to get out so you can beat me up? Yea. Well then, I will just stay in the car.
They harassed me, gave a few punches and then were on their way. I turned to my friends who were in the car and asked them if they would have helped me. One said,
I would not, they don’t hate me, they hate you. He didn’t want to be associated with us, he didn’t want to be identified at that moment as someone whose life was in any way entangled with someone so unpopular.
I think there are many people who, if truth be told, treat Jesus in the same way. They will hang out with Him, have Him as someone they know a bit…but when all of
a sudden it is going to cost them…When Jesus starts to butt up against what makes them happy, or popular, or gets in the way of their plans…or causes cultural waves by not simple going along with what everyone else is saying and doing…well, they will just
ride in a different car. There is no identifying too closely with Jesus because that is too dangerous. While I must say this is sadly the case in our day, I will agree with those who say that Jesus is…dangerous. Indeed.
John says that he went out, bearing his cross, bearing the will of God, and now we are told that we are to go out to Him…that we too have a cross to bear, a reproach
to own, because Jesus is not ashamed to own us.
I want to show you two other verses that speak to our identity in no uncertain terms.
First, Colossians 3:4: When Christ who is your life appears, then you
also will appear with him in glory. The assumption of the verse is that Christ is your life. That is what it means to be a Christian! You have no life without Him, because He is life!
Second, I John 4:17: By this is love perfected with us, so that we may
have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. Here, John is making sure we know that what is true of Jesus, is true of us, NOW, not only in the new heavens and the new earth, but right now as we are, “in this world”!
The road is narrow and it begins not in the glories of pomp and the praises of men, not in grasping at that we think we deserve, but in leaving it all and to the jeers
of all the world, walking outside to the place of the skull, to the reproach of the God-man, who hangs upon a tree for you. To embrace Him, there, at Calvary and to say to everyone, I stand here, with my Savior, and I will not be moved.
Polycarp lived in the first century and well into the second, it is reported by Iranaeus and Tertullian that he was a disciple of John, the author of the gospel we
are studying. He was arrested and told to burn incense to Caesar Marcus Aurelius, as a god. And Polycarp would not.
They arrested him on the Sabbath, a Sunday. The proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp.
On his confessing that he was, the proconsul sought to persuade him to deny Christ,
saying, “Have respect to your old age, swear by the fortune of Caesar; repent, and say, Away with the Atheists.: (meaning away with the Christians) “Swear, and I will set you at liberty, reproach Christ;”Polycarp declared,
“Eighty-six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my
King and my Savior? Bring forth what thou will.” They burned him alive…Stories are told that the flames would not touch him, but kept a holy distance and so a soldier finally ran him through with a sword.
Brothers and sisters, more than likely this will not be required of us…but what is being required of us because we have no identity other than Jesus and Him crucified?
What does it mean for you and me to go to Him outside the city, bearing His reproach?
Now here is the mysterious reality: In all of this is joy, unspeakable, unmitigated, unexplainable joy…to be disciples of the Cross-bearer. This is what we are being
promised, and I know it sounds odd, but the reason that we go outside the camp to bear his reproach, the reproach of this world, is because here we have no continuing city ours is a continuing city that is above and so we seek the city that is to come, and
this brings joy.
Not the kind of joy that so many talk about today, a joy that is built on human sentiment and feel good experiences needing to be repeated over and over again to get
the joy back. But the joy that is Christ’s joy. To literally experience that perfect Joy of Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. All he went through was to achieve FOR US that perfect joy that does not diminish, expire or needs other folks
to fill us up again…But it is ours only when we go outside the camp to Jesus and bear His reproach with Him.
How does going to Jesus outside the camp bring this joy? I don’t know how to explain that…but I do know that it does…that it is real and that this joy He promises
makes the joy that so many clamor for seem quite insignificant because it is not based on the person and work of God the Son. And what we read in John’s epistle comes bursting in upon us: What Jesus is, we are IN THIS WORLD!
Those joys are ours now…we live in this world with a joy, a skip in our step, a song in our hearts that folks just cannot understand! It makes no sense…but to faith.
And if you are to once drink of this well, just once, get a glimpse, a feel, an overwhelming of the peace and joy that is Jesus, that is ours, if just for one time you sip from that cup…your joy will know no bounds and you will want for nothing but more of
Him.
This is why Hebrews continues by saying that we continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God…Why we do not forget to do good in His name, it is why we share with
our brethren…our generosity, our works of service, our love, all come from this fact, that we have gone outside the city in joy, we are this because of our identification with Christ.
These sacrifices, as they are called, are not fair-weather offerings, but are offered continually, in every circumstance, we consider it a joy, to share the reproach
of Xp, outside the camp. Just as Jehoshaphat when outnumbered sent out the choir at the front of the army, those who lead in the signing of praise and just like Paul and Silas chained to a wall signing praises at midnight, we are always found with this offering
upon our lips.
No grumbling. No complaining…no bickering, only praises.
Remember what Jesus prayed: I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of this world even as I am not of this
world. Sanctify them by truth, thy word is truth. As thou did send me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
We go out of the city, seeing our identity in Xp, filled with the joy of who He is and what He has done and then, as the Father sent the Son into the world to declare
and live redemption, so we go out, to carry on His work. I realize there are a lot of voices out there saying a lot of things, asking us to bow the knee to Caesar and who knows what is to come, but if I might be so bold to say: Brothers and sisters, going
outside the sitting to Jesus…this is Christianity and nothing less. Go to the One despised and rejected…make Him your life, your breath, and He will fill you with joy and give you glorious work to do for Him and His kingdom.
Prayer: Father, the compromises of the world, the flesh and the devil are all about me and I confess that my head is often turned, but I pray that my heart would
not be. Keep me, preserve me, and fix my eyes on the glories and love of Christ my Savior, my Lord, my King. May I go to Him, outside the camp and embrace Him in all circumstances. I know He is my life, my identity and my hope. Give me strength this day to
so live. In Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me, and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
The living water: thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of life I’ll walk
Till trav’lling days are done.