Cross-Examined: The Life-Changing Power Of The Death Of Jesus

By Mark Meynell

The crucifixion of Jesus: a dreadful mistake? A tragic failure? Irrelevant? Absurd? An embarrassment?

The cross of Christ is, in fact, at the centre of God's plan for men and women. This book explains why.

With freshness and clarity, Mark Meynell explores the Bible’s teaching, to show how God himself 'cross-examines' us in the death of Jesus.

At the cross, God exposes our deepest need, meets it fully and enables us to live transformed lives.

This revised and expanded edition includes new chapters on union with Christ and leadership.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IVP
• Release date: Mar 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781789741728

Mark Meynell

Mark Meynell is a writer and teacher, as well as an associate director (Europe) for Langham Partnership, having spent nine years on the senior leadership team of All Souls, Langham Place, in London, UK. Previously he was the academic dean and then acting principal of Kampala Evangelical School of Theology (KEST) in Kampala, Uganda. Married to Rachel, with their two children, Joshua and Zanna, Mark lives in central London, where he is a committed culture-vulture and muso who loves crossing borders and building bridges.

Book preview

‘Drawing on a wide range of stories and writers, this engagingly written book sets out the central truth of the Christian good news, surveying its many facets, and applying it clearly to our contemporary lives.’

Derek Tidball, author of The Message of the Cross

TitlePage_ebk

INTER-VARSITY PRESS

36 Causton Street, London SW1P 4ST, England

Email: [e-mail]

Website: www.ivpbooks.com

© Mark J. H. Meynell, 2001, 2005, 2021

Illustrations © Alex Webb-Peploe and Mark J. H. Meynell, 2021

Mark J. H. Meynell has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.

The author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the external website and email addresses included in this book are correct and up to date at the time of going to press. The author and publisher are not responsible for the content, quality or continuing accessibility of the sites.

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicized edition). Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘niv’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked niv84 are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, a member of the Hachette UK Group. All rights reserved. ‘niv’ is a registered trademark of International Bible Society. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked nkjv are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked nrsv are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

First published 2001

Second edition (with study guide) 2005

This revised and expanded edition published 2021

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978–1–78974–171–1

eBook ISBN: 978–1–78974–172–8

Set in Minion Pro 11/14 pt

Typeset in Great Britain by CRB Associates, Potterhanworth, Lincolnshire

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press, Gosport, Hampshire

eBook by CRB Associates, Potterhanworth, Lincolnshire

Produced on paper from sustainable forests.

Inter-Varsity Press publishes Christian books that are true to the Bible and that communicate the gospel, develop discipleship and strengthen the church for its mission in the world.

IVP originated within the Inter-Varsity Fellowship, now the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, a student movement connecting Christian Unions in universities and colleges throughout Great Britain, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Website: www.uccf.org.uk. That historic association is maintained, and all senior IVP staff and committee members subscribe to the UCCF Basis of Faith.

To Rachel,

who was excited by,

endured and

encouraged

this book

and also now

To Joshua and Zanna,

in deep gratitude for

your infectious love and joy

in Christ

Contents

Preface to the revised and expanded edition

Part 1

THE CROSS-EXAMINATION

1 In the dock

2 ‘But you can’t honestly believe that, can you?’

Part 2

HARD TO FACE BUT HARD TO HIDE

3 United nations

4 Fatal addiction

5 Divine justice

Part 3

MESSIAH: GOD’S GIFT

6 Messiah: the promise

7 Messiah: the execution

8 Messiah: the blood

9 Messiah: the triumph

Part 4

RAISED TO LIFE: SO LIVE THE LIFE!

10 A life made possible

11 A heaven-made life

12 A cross-shaped life

13 A cross-shaped ministry

14 Coda: cross-shaped praise

Study guide

Bibliography

Suggestions for further reading

Search items for Scripture references

Notes

Preface to the revised and expanded edition

It’s hard to believe that two decades have passed since Cross-Examined first came out. But the reason the date was imprinted on my mind was less due to its being my first book (although I had no sense at all that there might be others to follow, and being published was exciting in itself) and more to do with the fact that it coincided with the birth of my second child, Zanna. Both happened just in time, because within just weeks of their combined emergence into the world, my family and I were on a plane to Uganda. A few so-called friends were a little too hasty in suggesting a connection of sorts between the publication and our ‘sudden’ departure for another continent. But that’s another story.

Four years later, towards the end of our Kampala years, the book had a mini-relaunch with the addition of a study guide, but it was otherwise substantially the same. The fact that it stayed in print for so long is almost entirely due to the UCCF Relay Scheme, which (thankfully) insisted that its new workers read it. I certainly could not complain when a Word Alive book plug described it as the GCSE version of John Stott’s A-level Cross of Christ. It was an honour!

So why the changes now? First, it was inevitable that some of it would feel dated. The original ambition was to have at least one illustration per page to keep it light and accessible, and so some required replacing or at least a tweak. Second, once I started working through the text after an absence of more than twenty years, I was quite shocked by how much my sense of style had shifted. I found myself having to simplify something in every paragraph, with the result that the revised manuscript was 3,500 words shorter!

The third difference, though, is the most significant. I had always felt some unease about how little I had devoted to the issue of our union with Christ in the original book and, at one point, considered a follow-up book on the subject. For various reasons, that never happened. I’m relieved about that now as I certainly wasn’t ready then! So, it was providence. The chance to return to the book, however, has provided me with the perfect opportunity to rectify the imbalance. When I suggested the possibility to Phil Duce (my original editor at IVP back in the day and, I’m pleased to say, still!), I threw in the idea of an additional chapter on cross-shaped leadership. How people in authority treat the people around them has been a theological and pastoral concern of mine for a while, but it is especially pertinent and urgent after a series of public scandals in recent years. So, my hope and prayer are that these two new chapters reinforce rather than detract from the original material.

Many – too many to mention by name, alas – friends have shared wisdom, insights and suggestions over the past twenty-four years or so, so this book always was, and clearly still is, the result of many minds at work. I’m so grateful to colleagues in Fulwood, Sheffield, and KEST in Kampala for the help and space to write, as well as all those who read the various versions and parts of the manuscript over the years. But this time round, I am especially grateful to Alex Webb-Peploe for his superb efforts in updating the graphics. Sara Hewins, here in Maidenhead, laboured through the entire revised manuscript with a toothcomb to check that the new chapters were integrated with the rest. Thank you both! Of course, the constants through all these changes of job and geography have been Rachel, Joshua and Zanna. So, it was a real thrill this time to have constructive feedback from all three! It was also easy to extend the dedication to Rachel to include them as well.

Mark Meynell

Berkshire

Summer 2020

To the greater glory of God

Part 1

The Cross-Examination

1

In the dock

Please read John 18.

Time slows down in the middle of the night. When you cannot fall asleep, the ticks of the alarm clock seem to grow louder, and the minutes feel like hours. The more you long for sleep, the more awake you feel and, whether you like it or not, you have extra thinking time on your hands. Those fears, regrets and doubts, which remain at the back of the mind during the day, come to the fore in the restlessness of an unsettled night. Perhaps it was an unkind word here or a missed opportunity there. Perhaps it is the dread of an imminent exam or the real sense of regret at a failed relationship.

Doubts and fears can then quickly give way to big questions. The most common might be ‘Why?’ or ‘How could you?’ They are vital questions, but awkward. They can apply both to deeply personal situations and to issues that affect the whole world – and it is very often God who ends up being the defendant in our imaginary courtroom. Charges range from the private (‘If he is there, why does he seem so remote? He never answered my prayers when I needed him most. He never looks after me!’) to the global (‘How can a world tormented by pain, injustice and evil be compatible with belief in the God of the Bible? Isn’t he meant to be powerful and good? So how could he permit nationwide ethnic cleansing? How can he claim to be powerful and good?’).

In March 2019, I had the chance to visit Zimbabwe for team meetings. It was my first time in the country, despite family links there and several trips to neighbouring South Africa. The region was in deep crisis because of Cyclone Idai. The devastating floods on a vast scale were described by Clare Nullis from the UN weather agency as ‘shaping up to be one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit the southern hemisphere’.

¹

It was an inspiration to witness even a tiny part of the relief efforts and generosity from people in Harare. Yet I could never rid my mind of the chilling sense of déjà vu – the world had seen this before. Fewer than twenty years previously, the region had been struck by a very similar catastrophe. In 2000, the singer Robbie Williams was confronted by profound questions while in Mozambique as a UNICEF ambassador. ‘You come here and you say, Where’s their God, where’s their God, why? Why has that happened? Why were they born here, why do they have a flood and why do they have another flood?’

²

Even if you are a convinced Christian, you cannot deny that these questions are formidable. Being a Christian does not provide immunity from such doubts, and glib answers to those questions will never do. Irving Greenberg, a writer on the Holocaust, commented on the issue of the existence of God in a suffering world in these shocking terms: ‘No statement, theological or otherwise, should be made that would not be credible in the presence of burning children.’

³

That is a truly horrific image, yet tragedies like the Holocaust prevent us from dismissing it lightly. After the uniquely bloody twentieth century, the charges against God seem impregnable, and the twenty-first century is not much of an improvement on its predecessor. Is there anything credible that can be said? Is it any wonder that the era that witnessed more suffering than any other has also seen the most hostility to belief in a good creator God? Whether people spend their nights wrestling with the problem or not, many construct their own challenge to such a God. If he is there, they want answers.

There are biblical precedents for this, of course. The writers of the Psalms could be ruthlessly honest about the fears, doubts and questions they wanted God to address (read, for example, Psalms 22, 55 and 142). They endured many a sleepless night. Then there was Job, who suffered such intolerable hardship that he experienced a major crisis of faith (read, for example, Job 23 – 24). Nevertheless, despite their doubts, both Job and the psalmists managed to persist in their trust in God. Job, for one, even received a revitalizing vision, described at the end of the book (Job 38 – 42). It did not provide him with easy answers or leave him unchallenged, but it did vindicate his persistent trust in God. Job was convinced that although many of his questions remained unresolved, God was still good.

These precedents indicate that questioning God may not in itself be wrong. They also indicate that trusting God, despite terrible circumstances, is not impossible. How this might be we will go on to explore. However, before we proceed, we must be conscious of our motives when we bring our questions to God because they may not be as innocent as we might think. C. S. Lewis deliberately confronts us with the step we are about to take:

The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defence for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God in the dock.

⁴

That is a significant development, and one which at the very least should cause us to proceed with caution.

A king on trial

Lewis describes a relatively modern phenomenon, but the New Testament does contain an ancient ‘divine trial’. Like so many of our imaginary trials, this one happened in the middle of the night nearly 2,000 years ago. This was no figment of a fevered imagination, however. It occurred on a very cold night, such that those who were awake struggled to keep warm by huddling around dying fires. The air was heavy with betrayal and conspiracy. An essential difference between Job’s story and this one lies in the fact that very few, if any, of those who conducted the trial realized the true identity of the defendant. He claimed to be the King of the Jews, but his interrogators gave very little credence, if any, to the possibility that this might actually be true. They were unwaveringly hostile and determined to eliminate him. Summary execution would have been preferable but was impossible; as citizens of a subject nation, the Jewish leaders were forced to resort to conspiring with the Roman authorities to achieve their ends.

Jesus of Nazareth was on trial for his life. He had been adored and vilified in almost equal measure. Surely, if he really had been God’s King, trial and execution at the hands of human beings would be inconceivable, wouldn’t it? What a ridiculous idea! That in itself merely confirmed the Jewish leaders’ conviction that he was not who he claimed to be. The great kings of Israel had, of course, been through some difficult situations over the centuries, but none of them had ever endured the ignominy of impeachment proceedings. Jesus couldn’t possibly be whom he claimed to be; so they no doubt felt safe. Not only that; they thought it was their religious duty to do away with this peasant rabble-rouser and ludicrous royal pretender.

During that eventful night, however, something extraordinary happened. All four Gospel writers describe it but, perhaps, none more vividly than John. In John 18, we travel from Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to his various trials before the Jewish and Roman authorities. Interlaced is the story of Peter’s denials of Jesus, which add to the sense of Jesus’ isolation. Be alert to what is happening throughout the account. While the action quickly shifts from the high priest’s house to the Roman governor’s palace, the constant question behind John’s account of the trials is, ‘Who is really in control here?’

The first option is Annas (John 18:12–14). He had been the high priest until the Roman authorities deposed him, but he still wielded significant influence in Jerusalem. Several members of his family had actually succeeded him. The second is his successor as high priest and son-in-law, Caiaphas; he, in fact, seems to be to be John’s primary focus here. ‘Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people’ (John 18:14). That detail is not given merely for identification purposes, since there could be little doubt as to who was in mind. Instead, John mentions it specifically to recall Caiaphas’s remark in the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin (John 11:49–52). Dripping with unconscious irony, Caiaphas had then appealed to Jewish political expediency. His gist was that it would be far better to get rid of just one troublemaker than to give the Romans further grounds for destroying the whole Jewish way of life. Jesus should die for the sake of the nation. Caiaphas, of course, had no idea how close he was to the truth. John saw it and he wants his readers to see it. Jesus was indeed to die for a purpose – but it was to be for the eternal benefit of all people. Without the slightest appreciation of that fact, Caiaphas was absolutely right. As we will see, someone as well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures as the high priest should have anticipated Jesus’ mission.

After Peter’s first denial, Jesus’ first interrogation got under way (John 18:19–24). The previous verses inform us that it was night. That, in itself, casts doubt on the legitimacy of the proceedings of Jesus’ trial. They were technically illegal if not held during the day,

⁵

but that was not the only irregularity. It is probable that, in contemporary Jewish law, it was also illegal to put questions to a defendant at all, since the ‘case had to rest on the weight of the testimony of witnesses’.

⁶

Because control over the proceedings lay in the hands of his opponents, the deck was overwhelmingly stacked against Jesus. He was a mere carpenter without a legal qualification to his name, and Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin knew what they were doing. What chance did Jesus have against those who could simply rewrite the rules? Nevertheless, Jesus was composed, a fact that continually confronts us with the question, ‘Who is really in control here?’

In reply to the first questions, Jesus had nothing to hide about his activities. Notice how he came back at his accusers: ‘Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said’ (John 18:21). Not only was Jesus secure in his innocence but he also had the confidence to challenge his accusers directly. If we are correct in thinking that it really was illegal to question defendants in Jesus’ time, then it should have been members of his audience answering the charges, not Jesus. He had a point. No wonder this challenge brought Jesus a violent blow to the face. Again, he was not deterred: ‘If I said something wrong . . . testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?’ (John 18:23). Jesus was calm and level-headed. He was the one dominating the scene, not Caiaphas.

Before we can fully understand what actually occurred that night, however, we need to move on to Jesus’ encounter with the third option, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Pilate had an unenviable task. Violence and cruelty were second nature to him, but that did not prevent his feeling torn when confronted with Jesus. He was clearly suspicious of the charges brought against him, so he put the crucial question directly to the defendant: ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ (John 18:33). Yet again, Jesus replied with a question: ‘Is that your own idea . . . or did others talk to you about me?’ (John 18:34). Pilate was indignant and impatient: ‘Am I a Jew?’ (John 18:35). From his point of view, Jesus was a parochial Jewish problem. It hardly concerned him. Jesus was not Pilate’s king. That really would be a preposterous idea . . .

Jesus explained that his kingship was of a different order. He was no revolutionary Che Guevara, no imperialistic Alexander the Great, no tyrannical Caesar. This King sits on an eternal and divine throne. His authority far exceeds that of any human monarch: ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place’ (John 18:36). Pilate grasped very little of what Jesus was talking about. He was simply fishing for a clear-cut admission of a claim to the Jewish throne