The Garden of Golgotha Matthew 27:33 041814MGF
33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).
Once upon a time, about 1900, the Lutheran church that is now next to St. Luke's MedicalCenter was in the block around the corner from St. Andrew, on Twelfth Street; the original building, built in 1895, is still standing. Our church was Wisconsin Synod, and theirs Missouri, but back then they were in fellowship. So the logical question came up at least twice in history, why don't the two merge into one? So a proposal was on the table. Details still had to be worked out, but those working out the merger already had selected a name: GolgothaEvangelicalLutheranChurch. Is that a nice name for a church? It's obviously biblical--the name is in our text today, along with its meaning: "the place of the skull." I can imagine what a logo for the new Lutheran church (which never materialized) might have looked like! Nevertheless, we go to that place of the skull, Golgotha, today as we continue our Lenten theme, FROM GARDEN TO GLORY. Today we go to:
The Garden of Golgotha
1. Where death was usual.
2. Where one death was unusual.
3. Where death died.
1. Golgotha was a place outside of Jerusalem just outside the old city wall. Nothing like this could be within the walls of the holy city because this Garden of Golgotha was a place Where death was usual.
After all, it was a place of execution for criminals. Golgotha got its name either because the outcropping of the hill was in the shape of a skull, or because of the fact that execution after execution was carried out there, in the way the Romans usually did it--by crucifixion. It's possible that the vertical beam of the crosses remained stationary in the rocky base while those being put to death were lifted up on the horizontal crosspiece. There the Romans carried out their "justice," not only executing criminals, but punishing them--no, torturing them--as they did. Death by crucifixion was designed to be a slow, painful way to die, to make an example of the people being executed for their various crimes, posted above them on their crosses. Death usually came by suffocation, dehydration, or the loss of blood. Thus, there were many, many deaths at that place, so it was fittingly name.
Nevertheless, God did give government the authority to take life in order to protect human life. Way back in Genesis, God had already said, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man" (Ge 9:6).People say death is a natural part of life, but, in reality, death is unnatural. It was an intruder into God's perfect world with the advent of sin. Everyone who has ever lived has died (with only a few biblical exceptions), and everyone living now will die unless the Lord returns first. We like to think that death is only for those who are old, have lived a full life, and are ready to die, but that's not the case. Many people die in the prime of life from sicknesses and accidents, and sometimes even children and babies die too, sad as that is. It seems unfair, but God said "the wages of sin is death," and it is. That's why we can say that in the Garden of Golgotha or outside of it, NOW, death is usual.
For this reason, no one--you and I included--cannot deny the serious of sin or the punishment we deserve because of it. Not only do we deserve death, but we deserve eternal death and separation from God in hell. God is telling humanity that sin is a big deal, and that means every single sin, in every single life of every single person. Want proof that sin is real, and that it is a big deal as far as God is concerned? How many funerals have you attended? There is proof. Cemeteries are proof. Sickness, wrinkles, and aches and pains are proof. And we are helpless to do anything about it.
2. That's why Jesus went to the Garden of Golgotha. As the Lord of life, he was out of place there. But he went to that place Where one death was unusual.
And that death was Jesus' own death, the death of the God-man. That's who Jesus was: God from all eternity who took on human flesh and blood at his incarnation, having been "conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary." That's why, at Jesus' death, the Roman soldier exclaimed, "Surely this was the Son of God." Accompanying Jesus death was the darkness that covered the land, the earthquake, and the fact that the veil in the temple separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom, and many holy people in Jerusalem came out of their graves alive. This was no ordinary death.
Oh yes, there was the Roman torture of crucifixion, the flogging, the crown of thorns, the nails driven through the hands and the feet, and the misery of a slow, painful death. But he was forsaken by God. Jesus endured the essence of hell while he bore the sins of the world in his body. It's possible God sent the darkness to hide the horrific view of God forsaking his own. Yet, the one being punished was innocent--not only of any real crime against Roman law, but of any transgression against any of God's laws. Yet God held him guilty of all lawlessness even as he credited the world with his Son's innocence. It wasn't Roman justice being carried out at that place; it was God's justice over against all sin and all sinners that was being carried out at that place. God punished his Son for a sinful world and acquitted a sinful world because of his sinless Son. That's what really happened when Jesus died in the Garden of Golgotha. And that's why his death at this place was most unusual.
It's good for you and me to look at this most unusual death. It's good to see that the most unusual part wasn't the nails, the thorns, the suffocation or the gruesome way they made sure he was dead by piercing his side with a spear. It was that God--the Son of God---died. This is what OUR sins brought about. We see the love of a God who would make such a sacrifice for such undeserving creatures as you and me. Yet, by that sacrifice and death, we have life. Only the death of God as a human being could accomplish that. And that's why Jesus' death in the Garden of Golgotha was most unusual, though death was a usual occurrence in that place.
3. That's also why we can view the Garden of Golgotha in a different light, namely, a place Where death died.
There God declared all sins forgiven in Christ. The payment was made in full. That's why he cried out, "It is finished." God's holy law was obeyed without a flaw, the prophecies concerning the Christ were completed in their entirety, God's wrath was appeased, and his salvation plan was complete. All that remained was for him to rise from the grave to prove that sin, death and hell had been defeated. This he did in three days, as we, in hindsight, know. So death was "finished" there too--sins wages paid by the very Son of God.
And that's why for you and me Good Friday is really "good" Friday. In Christ, our sins were fully paid for and forgiven. Life is ours with God now as his forgiven people, and will be ours forever as we live with him in the Paradise opened for us because of Jesus' life and death. His death opened the way to God now and forever.
So what about "Golgotha" as a name for a church? Golgotha, "the place of the skull," was certainly a place where death was a usual occurrence. But it was also the place of a most unusual death; there the Son of God gave his innocent life for the guilt of the world. As a result, death died--something proven by our Lord's Easter victory. "Golgotha" may not be a catchy name for a church, but the Garden of Golgotha surely describes what happened there, and why it means the end of sin and death for us! Amen.
Matthew 27:33
33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).
FROM GARDEN TO GLORY.
The Garden of Golgotha
1. Where death was usual.
2. Where one death was unusual.
3. Where death died.
"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man" (Ge 9:6).