My family and I were in New York City last fall. And we were granted amazing access to some very famous people. Jordan got to snuggle up with Robert Pattison of the “Twilight” movies. Kendra got to say “hello” to Al Rocher and Matt Lauer of the Today Show. Jacob got a shot with movie actor Nicolas Cage. And I got to toss the pigskin around with Eli Manning, quarterback for the New York Giants.
But, as you may have guessed, these famous people were fakes. They were just figures in a wax museum. A family like ours would never be granted access to celebrities like that.
Jordan, however, was recently granted access to a celebrity—and one not made of wax. She was part of a select few who got to be up close to someone high up. My daughter Jordan is with me today to share the experience…
1. Jordan, you recently volunteered at a big event held at the Fed Ex Forum. Can you tell us what that event was? Describe the event, the Forum, but don’t mention Tebow.
2. Several of you who volunteered wore lanyards around your necks. What did yours say? All-Access.
3. And with that All Access lanyard, where could you go? Was there any place you couldn’t go? Mention some of the places you were allowed to go, but don’t mention Tebow.
4. Did you do anything to earn that lanyard? Did you pay for it? Was it given in recognition of some achievement of yours? Just talk about how it was given to you without having to earn it.
5. There was one particular person at this event who was pretty important wasn’t there? Who was that? Mention Tebow and why he’s important
6. Tell us what your All Access lanyard allowed you to do regarding Tim Tebow? Talk about escorting groups into the presence of Tebow and you being in close proximity to Tebow.
7. Could I have gotten into the presence of Tim Tebow that night? No
It was quite an event. And I would have loved to have worn Jordan’s all-access lanyard. Sadly, I could not. I did not have a lanyard. But if I did have one, it would have said this: “No Access.” Jordan got the “All Access” lanyard. I got the “No Access” lanyard.
Well, it’s one thing to lack the ability to connect with a celebrity. But it’s another to lack the ability to connect with God. And that’s where Mark takes us this morning.
Last Sunday we heard Mark tell us a remarkable story about Jesus praying in a quiet place. We learned four core lessons about prayer from Jesus’ simple prayer in Gethsemane. And one of the things we marveled at was Jesus’ request: “Remove this cup from me!” Jesus was referring to the suffering he was facing from the impending cross. As Jesus contemplated what was about to happen on the cross, he wanted to be anywhere but there. So he boldly asked his Father to come up with some other plan.
But in the end, Jesus left it all up to the Father. Jesus said, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” He surrendered himself to his Abba Father. And that prayer is what led to the cross. The crucifixion would have never happened had Jesus not said that last line in his prayer. It was that line, and the attitude behind it, which made the cross possible.
Here’s how Mark records the deadly consequence in Mk. 15 of that prayer in Mk. 14:
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters),and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. (Mark 15:16-20 ESV).
Soldiers place a purple robe on Jesus—the kind and color of clothing a king would wear. They create a makeshift crown out of a thorn bush. They greet him mockingly: “Hail, King of the Jews!” They kneel down as if paying homage to a pretend king. This was all about shame. It was all about treating Jesus as if he were guilty of the worst of sins.
Imagine being Jesus. If you believe the Bible, you believe he is the king of all kings. There was no crown larger or brighter than his. Yet here he is being mocked as king. Imagine how you would feel as that purple cloak is placed upon you. As a crown is placed on your head-only this one has thorns that pierce and prick you. As these hardened soldiers salute you, strike you, and kneel before you. What would you feel? Anger? Pity? Fear? Mark continues:
21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hourwhen they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. (Mark 15:21-32ESV).
Can you imagine this scene? What if you had been Simon of Cyrene? You’re just standing there. You don’t even live here. You’re just a visitor to the city. You’re just trying to see what all this commotion is about. And suddenly you are compelled to help this bloody, struggling man carry a cross. Can you feel the weight? Can you feel the roughness of the wood?
Imagine the relief you would have felt if you had been Jesus. Simon is the one brief respite in this terrible journey to death.
Take the place of Jesus. You can hear the victims crucified next to you saying hurtful things. You can see the rage and hatred in the eyes of the religious leaders below you as they scowl at you. You can hear the crowd, the same crowd who celebrated your arrival to Jerusalem just days ago, now making fun of you. Can you feel the shame? Can you feel the pain?
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. (Mark 15:33-37 ESV).
It’s dark now. For three hours it’s dark. Can you feel it? It’s as if nature itself is in mourning. And as waves of pain from the nails in your arms and feet wash over you, and as you begin to suffocate because you’re finding it harder to push up and get a breath, you begin to sense a darkness in your own soul. And from your parched throat crawls this cry:, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We know Jesus said many things in these last minutes. But the one thing Mark wants to focus on is this cry. This cry of abandonment. Can you feel it? You’ve had access to God for all eternity. You’ve been so close to the Father that the two of you are literally one. For all eternity you’ve had all access. But now, at this very moment, there is no access. At this moment, something is standing between you and the Father. All that sin you’ve taken upon yourself. All that guilt you’ve taken upon yourself. All that shame that’s been heaped upon you. And for a moment that must feel like eternity, your Father looks away.
All of that, because Jesus prayed, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
And as we experience this horrible act of sacrifice, we wonder to ourselves, Why? What is the point of this suffering? What is the point of this cross?
Mark gives us only a clue. But it’s an important clue. Mark includes one description which spells out what all of this sacrifice was for:
38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way hebreathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:33-39 ESV).
The most important line in Mark 15 is vs. 38: “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” Say that out loud: “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”
To understand what that mean, we have to do a little history. Early in the Old Testament God instructs the Jews to build a temporary structure called the Tabernacle. Later that temporary structure becomes a permanent structure called the Temple.
The tabernacle, and then the temple, were the places where the Jews could come and connect with God. It was a sacred place where God seemed closer and where they felt like some of the barriers fell between them and God.
Have you ever been in a place where it seemed God was close? I spent a morning recently at the Saint Columba retreat center in Bartlett. There was a break in the rain. I walked to a large meadow. It was silent. Mist was hanging in the air. And it seemed like God was close enough to touch. Have you been to a place where God seemed close? Where some of the barriers between you and God fell? That’s what the tabernacle and temple were.
But even there, not all barriers fell. There was a place in the Temple/Tabernacle called the Most Holy Place. It was the place where God dwelled. It was as close as a human could get to God. But here’s the problem-access to the Most Holy Place was denied. Hanging across the entrance to the Most Holy Place was a sacred curtain. No one but the high priest was allowed to go past that curtain. And he could only go past it once a year.
God handed out lanyards to all of his people. And everyone but one received a lanyard that said “No access”—at least not to the Most Holy Place. Only one received a lanyard that said “All Access”-and he could only use it once a year.
That curtain separating the Most Holy Place from everything else was a reminder that no matter how much God loved the people, and no matter how much they loved God, there was still something in between them. There was still something barring access to God. They lived for generations with that physical reminder of the separation between them and God. That curtain was always in place. That curtain always barred access.
It was a reminder that we have limited access to God because of our shame. It was a reminder that our own guilt and sin still stand between us and God.
Every so often we get a glimpse of that shame, don’t we? We are reminded of that curtain. Matt Chandler tells of something that happened after speaking at a conference near his hometown:[1]
When I was done preaching, I decided to hop in my car, drive twenty minutes to the town in which I grew up, and look at the houses that I remembered from back then. As I drove into town, I passed a field where I once got into a fistfight with a kid named Sean. It was not a fair fight, and I did some shady, dark things in that fight. I completely humiliated him in front of a large crowd of people …. Then I drove past my first house, and I thought of all the wicked things I had done in that house. I passed a friend’s house where once, at a party, I did some of the most shameful, horrific things that I have ever done. Afterward, on the drive back to the conference, I was overwhelmed with the guilt and shame of the wickedness that I had done in that city prior to knowing Jesus Christ …. I could hear the whispers in my heart: “You call yourself a man of God?…After all you’ve done?”
Many of us could make that same drive couldn’t we? We could drive past that place where we used to work. Or that place where we used to go to school. Or that place where we used to live. Or that place where we used to spend vacations. And we’d be haunted by some of the wicked things we did there. We’d be weighed down by the shame and the guilt of it all. We’d be reminded of that curtain standing between us and God.
I want to ask you this morning, What is that curtain in your life? What’s standing between you and God? You’ve been given a lanyard this morning, similar to what Jordan talked about at the beginning of the message. On one side of the lanyard you see these words: “Event: Connecting with God”-that’s what we’re trying to do here. But then it says, “No Access.” I want you to turn your lanyard so that’s the side facing outward. Now, ask yourself: In what way is this lanyard true for you today? What is blocking your access to God? What is standing between you and God? What is that curtain in your life?
You might immediately think of a circumstance. Or a person. That’s to blame for my disconnect! you may think. But the truth is, it’s more personal. It’s something like those seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, envy, or pride. It could be a fight you had with your spouse or kids recently. It could be drugs you are taking or once took. It could be something you did decades ago or something you this morning. Many of us have something in our lives which we feel like is blocking our access to God. It’s like that curtain barring entrance to the Most Holy Place. What is that curtain in your life?
With that in mind, listen once more to one the point Mark makes about the cross:
38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way hebreathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:33-39 ESV).
What happened to that curtain in the temple when Jesus died? It was torn in two, from top to bottom. Say that out loud: “It was torn in two, from top to bottom.” What had stood between people and God for centuries no longer stood. While there are many things that happened at the cross, this is the one thing that Mark wants you to know. When Jesus’ life ended, so did whatever stands between you and God.
Lust? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Gluttony? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Greed? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Sloth? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Anger? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Envy? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Pride? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
That fight? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Those drugs? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
What you did decades ago? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
What you did this morning? It was torn in two, from top to bottom.
What Mark wants you to know this morning is that there is nothing standing between you and God anymore. Jesus took your sin upon himself. Jesus took your guilt upon himself. Jesus paid the price for you. And as a result, there is nothing standing between you and God.
You have gone from no access to all access. And so what I want you to do this morning is to turn that lanyard around. Turn it to the side that says “All Access.” Because here’s the truth: We have limitless access to God because of Jesus’ shame. Because of what Jesus did for you on the cross, you have limitless access. You’ve gone from no access to all-access. All because of Jesus’ shame on the cross.
Some of you this morning simply need to celebrate that. When we eat the Lord’s Supper this morning, you can do just that. You can revel in that access. You can rejoice in that gift. You can stop living with the guilt. You can stop trying to hang that curtain back in place. And you can rejoice in the body and blood of Jesus given for you.
Others of you this morning need to act in repentance. Though Jesus has done everything to remove that which stands between you and God, you keep putting things between you and God. You continue to dwell in a sinful situation. And Jesus’ gift on the cross needs to compel you to repent of that
And still others of you need to receive this gift. Today can be the last day you live with guilt. Today can be the last day you feel disconnected with God. If you’ll just come and confess that you believe what the centurion believed: “Surely this man is the Son of God!” And if you’ll be baptized, Jesus can wash away all of that sin and shame-from top to bottom. He can fill you with his Holy Spirit. And you can begin a new life of all-access with God.
