The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Just last week we heard in Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Since God’s wisdom and ways go far beyond our knowing or understanding, there are many things in life that just don’t make sense to us. We often grapple to understand His plan in our lives. The disciples likewise grappled with God’s mysterious plan surrounding Jesus’ death on the cross. It was a turning point in human and salvation history. Jesus tried to prepare them. In Matthew 16:21, Jesus brings it up for the first time. The Gospels record three distinct times when He openly told them about His coming death and resurrection. Listen again: “ From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on t...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In Isaiah 51:5, just before our reading, God tells His people that His righteousness and salvation are near. He says that His arm will judge the peoples, but that His people wait for God’s arm. God’s arm is His power and might to act, to save, to deliver. So they are waiting on God’s action, His deliverance, and where our reading begins in verse 9, they are crying out to God: “ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord !” They are calling on God as if He is late, or asleep, or has forgotten them. In times of trial and difficulty, like the exile the Israelites endured, it’s a common feeling to wonder where is the “arm of the Lord?” In times of our distress, in times when we cry out to the Lord and seem to hear no answer, we too wait for the Lord’s arm. Anxious for His help, crying out for Him to act, our faith is tested. Faith is not tested or strengthened by ease and comfort, but by bearing the cross. I...

See Jesus. Traveling dusty roads to Jerusalem, fully aware of what lies ahead. See Him mount the donkey, receive the praise and joy fit for a king. A new hero! One who can save us! But did they really know what they were asking for? See a beautiful act of worship, done to Jesus—a woman pours rich perfume, anointing His feet. Scolded and ridiculed. But acknowledged and appreciated by Jesus. See His Last Supper with His disciples. A new covenant established in His blood. The cross was very near. See the trouble brewing—disciples scattering, fear overtaking each one, betrayal on the lips of one, denial on the lips of another. Arrest. Mockery, lies, a sham trial. See Jesus. He makes no protest. A lamb goes uncomplaining forth, the Lamb of God, in the hands of sinners, carrying the sins of the world away. Thankless sinners, blind to their rescue, blind to their Savior. With none to stand in the way, none to speak for justice, the hatred gives way to aggression. Abuse, names, laught...

My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? These gasping, dying words of Jesus, as He hung dying on a cross. Ancient words that begin a prayer written some 1,000 years earlier by the prophet, King David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? Psalm 22:1. It was no accident that these particular words tumbled out of Jesus’ mouth—this whole Psalm was an ancient prophecy, an ancient prayer, that described in great detail the events of this very day of Jesus’ death. These words were written and then waited 1,000 years to find their fulfillment on Jesus’ tongue. They describe His intense feeling of loneliness and abandonment by God. In a terrifying way, He felt what it was to be separated from God because of sin. Yet it was not because of His own sin that God’s face was hidden from Him, but because of the sin of the world that He bore as the heavy yoke and burden on the cross. Movies that have tried to portray the suffering...