Max Lucado - Chronicles of the Cross Collection

CHRONICLES OF THE CROSS

NO WONDER THEY
CALL HIM THE SAVIOR

SIX HOURS ONE FRIDAY

AND THE ANGELS
WERE SILENT

CHRONICLES OF THE CROSS

NO WONDER THEY
CALL HIM THE SAVIOR

SIX HOURS ONE FRIDAY

AND THE ANGELS
WERE SILENT

MAX LUCADO

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

ISBN 978-0-8499-2091-2 (hc)

Printed in the United States of America.

08 09 10 11 12 13 QWM 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

NO
WONDER
THEY CALL HIM
THE SAVIOR

CHRONICLES OF THE CROSS

MAX LUCADO

1986, 2004 Max Lucado.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotation in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations used in this book are from The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV) 1973, 1984, by International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Scripture references marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version 1946, 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Scripture references marked TEV are from The Good News Bible: The Bible in Todays English Version 1976 by American Bible Society.

Scripture references marked NEB are from The New English Bible 1961, 1970 by Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.

The Boxer 1968 by Paul Simon. Used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lucado, Max.
No wonder they call him the Savior / by Max Lucado.
p. cm.
Originally published: Sisters, Or. : Multnomah Books, 1996.
ISBN 978-0-8499-0855-2 (tradepaper)
ISBN 978-0-8499-1814-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-8499-9065-6 (special edition)
ISBN 978-0-8499-2098-1 (SE)
1. Jesus ChristPassionMeditations. I. Title.
BT431.3.L85 2004
232.96dc22

2003022808

Printed in the United States of America

To Denalyn
with love eternal

CONTENTS

PART I
THE CROSS: ITS WORDS

PART II
THE CROSS: ITS WITNESSES

PART III
THE CROSS: ITS WISDOM

A warm thank you to:

Dr. Tom Olbrichtfor showing me what matters.

Dr. Carl Brecheenfor seeds planted in a hungry heart.

Jim Hackneyfor your insights into our Masters sufferings.

Janine, Sue, Doris, and Paulfor your typing and encouragement.

Bob and Elsie Forcumor your partnership in the gospel.

Randy Mayeux and Jim Woodrooffor your constructive comments and brotherly support.

Liz Heaneyfor your keen editorial skills and creativity.

Multnomah Press, the original publisher of this book thanks for taking a chance on a young author.

And most of all to Jesus Christplease accept this offering of gratitude.

T he Brazilians taught me the beauty of a blessing. Here is a scene repeated in Brazil thousands of times daily... Its early morning. Time for young Marcos to leave for school. As he gathers his books and heads for the door, he pauses by his fathers chair. He searches his fathers face. Ben o, Pai? Marcos asks. (Blessing, Father?)

The father raises his hand. Deus te aben oe, meu filho, he assures. (God bless you, my son.)

Marcos smiles and hurries out the door.

This scene came to mind as I thought about the rerelease of No Wonder They Call Him the Savior. I wrote this book in Brazil. My years in Rio de Janeiro gave birth to many of these thoughts. The church we served was young (so were we) and hungry for the cross (we were, too). Many of my messages centered around the Savior.

May God bless you as you read them. Just as the Brazilian children seek blessings from their fathers, so may you seek his. Hell give it, you know. He always has. Thats why we call him Father.

MAX LUCADO

THE PART
THAT MATTERS

I just want to know what counts. Deep Irish brogue. Dark, deep eyes. The statement was sincere. Dont talk to me of religion, Ive been down that road. And please, stay off theology. I have a degree in that. Get to the heart of it, okay? I want to know what counts.

His name was Ian. He was a student at a Canadian university where I was visiting. Through a series of events he found out I was a Christian and I found out he wanted to be but was disenchanted.

I grew up in the church, he explained. I wanted to go into the ministry. I took all the courses, the theology, the languages, the exegesis. But I quit. Something just didnt click.

Its in there somewhere, he spoke with earnestness. At least I think it is.

I looked up from my coffee as he began to stir his. Then he summarized his frustration with one question.

What really matters? What counts? Tell me. Skip the periphery. Go to the essence. Tell me the part that matters.

The part that matters.

I looked at Ian for a long time. The question hung in the air. What should I have said? What could I have said? I could have told him about church. I couldve given him a doctrinal answer or read him something classic like the Twenty-third Psalm, The LORD is my shepherd... But that all seemed too small. Maybe some thoughts on sexuality or prayer or the Golden Rule. No, Ian wanted the treasurehe wanted the meat.

Stop and empathize for a second. Can you hear his question? Can you taste his frustration? Dont give me religion, he was saying. Give me what matters.

What does matter?

In your Bible of over a thousand pages, what matters? Among all the dos and donts and shoulds and shouldnts, what is essential? What is indispensable? The Old Testament? The New? Grace? Baptism?

What would you have said to Ian? Would you have spoken on the evil of the world or maybe the eminence of heaven? Would you have quoted John 3:16 or Acts 2:38 or maybe read 1 Corinthians 13?

What really matters?

Youve probably wrestled with this question. Maybe youve gone through the acts of religion and faith and yet found yourself more often than not at a dry well. Prayers seem empty. Goals seem unthinkable. Christianity becomes a warped record full of highs and lows and off-key notes.

Is this all there is? Sunday attendance. Pretty songs. Faithful tithings. Golden crosses. Three-piece suits. Big choirs. Leather Bibles. It is nice and all, but... where is the heart of it?

I stirred my coffee. Ian stirred his. I had no answer. All my verses so obediently memorized seemed inappropriate. All my canned responses seemed timid.

Yet now, years later, I know what I would share with him.

Think about these words from Paul in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15.

For I delivered to you as of