Before I get to my message, I need you to think with this question, who was ultimately responsible for handing Jesus to be crucified on the cross?

Who? Some say it was Judas out of greed who delivered Jesus to the priests.

Others would say, it is the priests who handed over Jesus out of envy and jealousy and malice

to Pontius Pilate.

Others still would say, it was Pontius Pilate, who's out of cowardice,

sent Jesus to be crucified. Others still would say, the ones who did the nailing of the hands

and the feet on the cross are responsible for crucifying Jesus. And yet the truth is,

when Jesus hung on that cross in the midst of his agony, he said, Father, forgive them all.

How many of them? For they know not what they're doing. The Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, he could stand

there with courage. Peter, who denied Jesus, Peter who ran away, Peter who went to sleep

in Garden of Gathemite. He could stand on the day of Pentecost after the resurrection,

and he would say to the Jews, you have acted in ignorance, and so did your leaders. And therefore,

on a human level, on a human level, we can say that all these people played a part in delivering Jesus to the cross,

but my beloved friends, please listen to me, on a much, much, much, much deeper level,

on a much more spiritual level, Jesus did not die the death of a martyr. What do I mean by that? Jesus went to the cross

deliberately and willingly. Jesus came from heaven. He was born so that he may go to the cross.

Luke says that he set his face like a flint toward Jerusalem. He would not let the

disciples detract him. He would not let the detractors detract him. He came to die on that cross.

So the question remained. Who delivered Jesus to die? Not Judas out of greed, not the priests out of envy, not pilot out of cowardice.

But the father, the father, delivered his own son out of love. It was Jesus willingly, voluntarily went to the cross out of love.

Love for you and me. Love for everyone who would name the name of Jesus as their only Savior and Lord.

Love for the elect of God from every corner of the globe.

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