Calling His Shot

One of the greatest moments in sports history took place on October 1st, 1932. It was game 3 of the World Series and the NY Yankees were playing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago. In the fifth inning one of the NY Yankees players came up to bat – a player by the name of Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth was a great player who was on his way to becoming a legend, but what would happen at that particular at bat would certainly seal the deal. Reports say that as Ruth came to the plate the Cubs bench and the Cubs fans were mercilessly taunting Ruth. Ruth looked at the first pitch which was called a strike. The count was 0 and 1. He then watched the next two pitches which were both called balls. The count was then 2 and 1. The fourth pitch was another strike, which made the count 2 balls and 2 strikes. The Cubs pitcher was one strike away from striking Ruth out and sending him back to the dugout. The Cubs fans began to cheer loudly to encourage and to excite their pitcher to throw one more strike. But legend says the Ruth did the unimaginable. While down in the count, on the opposing team’s field, and with the crowd cheering wildly against him, Ruth held up two fingers and pointed to the center field stands. Legend says that Ruth was calling his shot. He was letting the Cubs fans, bench, and players know that on the next pitch he was going to hit a home run into center field. With Ruth set in the batter’s box the Cubs pitcher delivered the fifth pitch to Ruth – a curve ball that he was hoping would strike Ruth out. Ruth swung at the pitch and not only hit the pitch, he crushed the pitch hitting it well over 440 feet and well over the center field wall for a home run. With two strikes against him, Babe Ruth had declared that the next pitch would be a home run, and it was!

Eighty years later Babe Ruth is still regarded as one of the greatest baseball players who has ever played the game. But without a doubt this was the one moment that defined him more than any other. This was the one moment that made Ruth legendary. On the biggest stage (the World Series), with his back against the wall (two strikes against him), Ruth made an extraordinary prediction, and on the very next pitch he made it happened. Babe Ruth had called his shot! In the 80 years of baseball that have been played since there have been countless numbers of crushing home runs, countless numbers of unbelievable catches, and countless numbers of remarkable plays. But in the last 80 years of baseball there has never been another player to call their shot in a world series game and then deliver on the next pitch.

I share that story with you this week not to get you excited about a great baseball player or to get you thinking about a legendary moment in sports history. I share the story of a remarkable moment that stands out in baseball history to hopefully help you see the significance of an even greater “called shot” that changed all of human history.

This is Easter Sunday, so of course we want to focus our attention on the greatest event in all of human history – the resurrection. But it would be wrong for us to simply assume a right understanding of the events which preceded the resurrection. So this week let’s begin by looking at a few other NT verses that speak to the significance of Jesus' crucifixion - the awful events that set the stage for the resurrection. 

The first question of utmost importance is, "What was the crucifixion all about?  Why did Jesus die?" The NT answers this question very clearly, but this week we are going to focus on two verses in particular:

“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit . . .” - 1 Peter 3:18

Jesus’ death on the cross was what we call a substitutionary death. Paul made clear in his letter to the Romans two devastating truths about all people. In Romans 3:23 he wrote, “. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” There are no exceptions! Every person who has ever lived throughout the entire course of human history (with the exception of one – Jesus) is guilty of sin. None one has managed to live the entire course of his or her life in perfect righteousness and holiness exception for Jesus, Himself. Paul would write just a few chapters later what the implication of our sin problem is in Romans 6:23, “. . . the wages of sin is death.” So not only are we all sinners, but we all are deserving of death and will all experience death (if Jesus does not come again before we die). Our physical death has tremendous eternal implications if we die separated from God. It means that for all eternity we will be separated from God and that we will have to endure for all eternity the only thing which our sin deserves – God’s wrath. The Bible also teaches that there is nothing we can do to cover over our sin or to erase it from our past. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s forgiveness or to “make up” for the sins that we have committed. With even just one sin we are stained and separated from our holy and righteous God, and we are helpless and hopeless to do anything about it.

But while we were helpless and hopeless and incapable of reconciling ourselves to God (and were in fact running away from God), the NT teaches us that God came after us. Paul explained in his second letter to the church at Corinth (see above – 2 Corinthians 5:21) that God made the only One who had ever lived a life of perfect righteousness a substitute for all of us. On the cross of Jesus an incredible exchange was taking place! God took the sin of humanity and placed it upon His Son, Jesus, the One who had never committed any sin. Jesus was taking the place that we deserved on the cross. Because He had never committed any sin He was not deserving of death; but by dying in our place and shedding His blood for the sins that we had committed, He could pay in full the payment for sin that we could not pay. Then by repenting of our sin and placing our faith in Jesus as the only means of escaping the death and eternal separation from God that we deserve, God will credit to us the perfect righteousness of His Son.

What’s the ultimate purpose for this exchange and substitution? Peter recorded the answer to that in his first NT letter (see above – 1 Peter 3:18). Jesus did all of this on our behalf so that He might be the One to bring us back to God. John recorded in his gospel account some of the words of Jesus in John 14:6. There Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus died on the cross, suffering the full measure of God’s wrath for the sin of all humanity for the purpose of bringing those who would believe in Him back to God.

But while Jesus’ death was a sufficient payment for the sins of humanity and while the shedding of His blood was sufficient to cover over our sin, His death was not enough. There would have to be evidence that Jesus was more than just another man and that He really was the Son of God dying in our place. Additionally, if Jesus was going to be our substitute and if a true exchange was going to take place He would have to conquer death. Jesus would need to take our sin, but in return He would have to offer us “death defeating life.” And so when Jesus proved His power over death three days later the course of human history changed dramatically. Jesus proved that He was who He said He was and He proved that He had “death defeating life” that He could offer to us in exchange for our sin.

With that being said, now let’s turn our attention to Mark 16:1-8.

[Read Mark 16:1-8]

 In Mark 16:3 the women came to the tomb that Jesus’ body had been placed in asking the question, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” This was certainly a practical question, but it is loaded with some powerful presuppositions. Verse 4 tells us that the stone covering the entrance of the tomb was very large. So the women came with a few observations that were right, but one that was terribly wrong. The women rightly observed that they were not strong enough to move the stone. It was too large and too heavy for them to move. They also rightly observed that they would need someone who was strong enough and powerful enough to move the stone aside if they were going to be able to anoint the body. But they wrongly assumed that Jesus was not the One who would move the stone aside. They assumed that death meant that Jesus was powerless. They assumed that death still held Jesus in its grasp. And they assumed that the One who had been laid in the tomb no longer had any power to move away a stone.

The sealed tomb served as a picture of death’s ultimate grasp on someone’s life. Those women didn’t have the power to release anyone (including themselves) from death’s grasp. If anyone could, it would have to be an incredibly strong and mighty person. For over the course of human history no one had ever been come into death’s grasp and escaped permanently. Some have escaped death’s grasp for a time and a season, but all those who have cheated death for a time have ultimately ended up back in his grasp and have remained there ever since. To go toe-to-toe with death and come out victorious had never been accomplished. No mighty man or valiant soldier had ever defeated death. No great leader or king had ever proven themselves to be lord over death and subjected death to his command. Not even the handful of leaders who had declared themselves to be gods had been able to demonstrate any power over death. So the question of these women, while a very practical one, actually serves as an incredibly important question for the human race – “Who is powerful enough to remove the stone – to pry back death’s fingers and release us from the penalty that our sin deserves?” The answer isn’t ourselves. No other human has ever been able to do it, so don’t be so confident to believe that you can. It has to be the One who exceeds all others in power and might. It has to be the One who is stronger than even death, himself. And Jesus’ empty tomb cries out the answer – “It’s Jesus!” Jesus is the One!

Don’t miss some of the most remarkable statements in Jesus' life and ministry. For each time Jesus declared that he had come to die he also added that He would also rise. Each time Jesus shed light on his coming death, He also shed light on death’s ultimate defeat.

“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” – Mark 8:31

“They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And He did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.” – Mark 9:30-31

“And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to Him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days He will rise.’” - Mark 10:32-34

“So the Jews said to Him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking about the temple of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” - John 2:18-22

I think most individuals who read these texts tend to focus on Jesus’ foretelling of His own death. His foretelling of His death opens our eyes to so many things. It reminds us that Jesus fully knew and understood God’s plan for salvation and the role that He was going to have to play in it (i.e. being an atoning sacrifice). It demonstrates how committed Jesus was to the plan, in that He never fled and hid, but rather went resolutely into Jerusalem knowing what was coming. But the thing so many of us do wrong is we overlook the fact that each time Jesus foretells His death, He also foretells His resurrection. In His mind God’s plan of salvation wasn’t an experiment in which He would have to wait and see if He would be able to defeat death, it was an absolute certainty. Jesus knew that He would conquer death! Jesus was calling his shot! He was declaring that He would go toe-to-toe with the most powerful foe the world had ever known and that he would walk away victorious. The empty tomb therefore wasn’t some “Oh Wow – It Actually Worked” moment; the empty tomb was more like a divine touchdown dance that had been planned and choreographed before the creation of the world.  That's AWESOME!  

However, when the women saw the stone rolled away, they didn’t quite get it. “And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back . . . And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you’” (Mark 16:4-7). The women (and Jesus’ own disciples) had failed to hear, understand, and/or believe Jesus’ resurrection announcements. They hadn’t come to the tomb that day expecting Jesus’ victory over death. And when they saw the stone rolled away from the tomb they suspected that someone had taken Him away (see John 20:11-13). They never imagined that the empty tomb was a sign that Jesus had defeated death. They never considered the fact that Jesus, though dead, may have still maintained His great might and strength. And they failed to hear the open tomb crying out to them, “History will never be the same! JESUS IS ALIVE! Death is defeated and has finally been subjected to THE Lord! Don’t be afraid but rejoice – for the Hope of the world has had the final say!” The women may have missed the empty tomb’s cry, but praise God for the angelic messenger who was there to re-enforce the message. For he articulated audibly what the empty tomb could not, so that the women would know for certain that Jesus had risen.

As we close this week, let me ask you this, “What question are you asking today?” Perhaps on the surface it’s not a profound theological question. In fact on the surface it may be a very practical question. Maybe you’re asking the question, “Who is powerful enough to help me break this addiction?” Maybe you’re asking the question, “Who is powerful enough to help mend my marriage?” Maybe this morning you’re asking the question, “Who is powerful enough to fix my brokenness?” Or maybe this morning you’re asking the question, “Who is powerful enough to rescue me from my sin?” Let me quickly give you the bad news first - the answer isn’t “you.” Like the women who weren’t strong enough to roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb, we don’t possess the power in and of ourselves to fix our brokenness and rescue ourselves. Then let me plead with you not to make the assumption that these women made (i.e. that Jesus’ death rendered Him powerless to do any of these things for you). The empty tomb declares that Jesus is alive! The empty tomb declares that Jesus is powerful! And the empty tomb declares that Jesus alone is the only answer to these questions that we ask! Only Jesus is able to fix our brokenness and to rescue us from our sin. He’s waiting for you to call on Him. The question is, “Will you believe the evidence and cry out to Him? Or will you disregard the evidence, and continue to look to some other person or thing to rescue you.” To look to anyone other than Jesus (including yourself) seems rather hopeless. But it’s a decision God requires each of us to make on our own.