The Apostle's Creed Series #4

"Who Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Dead, and Buried"
Mark 15:1-20

I want to continue today our look at the Apostle’s Creed, as we seek to understand the core truths of our faith. The Apostles’ Creed leaves no doubt as to where the real emphasis of our faith should be. As I mentioned last week, nine word are used to talk about God the Father, four words are used for the Holy Spirit, and sixty-eight words are used to talk about Jesus Christ! After affirming that Jesus Christ was God’s only-begotten Son, our Lord, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, the Apostle’s Creed omits any reference to his life and teachings. There is nothing in the creed about the Sermon on the Mount. Nothing about the healing of the sick. Nothing about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Nothing about the feeding of the 5,000. Not a word. We move from Jesus’ birth straight to his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. Why? Because the central focus of the ministry and mission of Christ was his death, not his life. Simply put, our Lord came to the world in order to die for us.

I believe in Jesus Christ...who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried." This portion of the creed starts by saying that we believe Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. This places Jesus squarely in human history. Jesus was a real person who existed in real time and history on planet earth. He who was fully God became fully man. He came from the glory of heaven, losing his prominence and glory for those he loved. In heaven he had been the object of worship. On earth he was the object of contempt and scorn. The Creator placed himself in the hands of his creation. He willingly suffered under Pontius Pilate. Suddenly Jesus found himself in a world where he was misunderstood, hated, misused, tortured and eventually killed, all because he cared about you and me. Here is the mystery of God. Jesus loved the world so much that he was willing to suffer at the hands of a small man to make sure that new life would be available to us.

It grounds Jesus in human history to know that he suffered under Pontius Pilate. It helps us to see the depths of Jesus’ humility. However, it is even more important to acknowledge that he was crucified and that he died. The message of the early church centered on the death and resurrection of Jesus, not on his teaching and miracles. Throughout the New Testament there is an insistence on the death of Jesus Christ. "...we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called...the power of God and the wisdom of God" 1 Cor.1:23-24. "For I resolved to know nothing while I was among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor.2:2). Why? Because without his crucifixion there would have been no sacrifice. Without his sacrifice there would have been no atonement. Without his death there would have been no forgiveness of sins. That is why the gospels and the writers of the New Testament focused so much on Jesus’ suffering, death, and burial, and that is why this teaching is central in the Apostles’ Creed.

Why did Jesus submit to such humility? Why did he consent to be born into a world that did not care? Why did he undergo such suffering and death when he did not have to? The Bible gives us the answer. In Hebrews 2:17-18 we read, "For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

Never again would people be able to say, "God, you don’t understand. You don’t know how difficult it is to live in the world. You don’t know what it is like to have your passions drive you, or be pressured by the crowd. You don’t know what it is like to suffer like I have suffered. You don’t know what it is to be afraid to die." At the sight of Jesus on the cross, all our excuses and accusations vanish into thin air. We needed to know that God understands and knows what we feel, and the suffering, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ is that proof. Hebrews 4:14-16 says, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Knowing that Jesus Christ surrendered himself to this and has experienced the worst of life gives us great confidence that we will be understood, will be forgiven and will be loved.

The Apostle’s Creed also reminds us that after his death Jesus was buried. In a creed that uses a minimum of words, was that really necessary? Couldn’t we simply assume that Jesus was buried and proceed right to his resurrection? No, and for the same reason that each of the gospels mentions with some detail that Jesus was buried. They wanted no confusion in anyone’s mind about the certainty and finality of the death of Christ. The Apostles’ Creed reminds us that Jesus, who suffered under Pontius Pilate at a particular time in history, was a real person who dealt with real problems, died a real death, and was buried in a real tomb for the payment of our real sins. It is not a myth. It is truth rooted in history.

We live in a world where we are often saddened by the pointless suffering that we see and go through. We daily hear of the horrors in Iraq, and hurt for all involved. We know good people who are suffering from sickness or poverty. It is easy to picture God as one who stays safely in heaven while all this suffering goes on, who doesn’t understand or care. However, our faith reminds us that God does indeed know what it is like to suffer. He is not uninvolved with our pain and misery. Jesus knows what it is like to be rejected. He knows what it is like to feel pain. He knows what it is like to bear the punishment of sin. He knows what it is like to suffer death.

That is why I love him today. He did not stay in his heavenly glory, but came to live in our world that we might know he understood and cared. When we are in pain we know that he too has suffered, and much more than us. When we are tempted we know that he was tempted as well. When we face death we can do it fearlessly, knowing that Jesus experienced death too. He didn’t run from suffering. He didn’t avoid the cross. That’s why we can say with Paul: "The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).I believe in Jesus Christ, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. Because Jesus gave himself so completely for me, I want to give myself for him. I hope you do as well.

Amen.