Pierced
The prophet Zechariah foresaw the tragedy of Jesus' death on the cross. It was John (19:37) who recognised that this prophecy had been fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus.It is a difficult prophecy: On the one hand, there was a response to Jesus' message, people's lives were changed and there were those who stood at the cross and grieved His death. On the other hand, we were the ones who "pierced" Him.
Let's consider the "piercing":
- The crowds cried out Crucify Him!
- Herod washed his hands of Jesus
- The Roman soldiers were only interested in what they would gain from Him and gambled for His clothes.
- The High Priests and the Sadducees and Pharisees mocked Him
- On the whole the crowds simply observed His agony.
- The disciples rand away because they were afraid that they might be next and so it was really only John and Mary and the women who were there.
The One who truly mourned for an only child and grieved for a firstborn son was God the Father. The sky turned black and the earth grew still. Then, in the midst of bitter grief, God the Father turned His face from His sin-bearing Son, whose cry "Why have You forsaken me?" went unheard and unanswered.
This grief describes the cost of John 3:16 ("for God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son....")
Christmas must lead to Easter.
Today we recognise what it cost Jesus. Today we mourn too. Some of our beautiful Easter hymns like "O Sacred head once wounded" and "When I survey" recognise His pain and agony and we mourn that it 'was our sin that bruised and wounded Him'. More than that though, we recognise that it 'was for us He hung and suffered there'. It is with a mixture of awe and sorrow that we realise that 'we were there' when they crucified our Lord.
| And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. (Zechariah12:10) |
