Recently, a couple of you commented on the Online Bible Study about how amazing it was that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the coming Messiah from the Old Testament. In John’s gospel, during the crucifixion of Jesus, the story keeps saying that things were taking place so that “scripture might be fulfilled.” In not just one but two of this week’s lessons, we hear about this fulfillment again, but this time, Jesus has risen from the dead.
In our first lesson, from the book of Acts, Peter says, “God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” In our gospel lesson from Luke, Jesus says, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”
But I got to thinking, how many of us know what Jesus, or Peter or John were talking about? What scriptures were being fulfilled? I admit that when I am reading a passage from Genesis or Daniel or Psalms in the Old Testament, I don’t fill in a table with all the prophecies I find in them. I just notice every once in awhile a promise from God that seems to have been fulfilled by Jesus and say, “Cool!” and move on. But the Jews would have heard these promises much differently.
For those of you who have children, or who have been with a late stage pregnant woman, soon to be mothers and fathers are always very much aware of what might be a sign of labor. Telling the story years later, parents might look back and laugh about how they should have seen it coming or remember how they knew what to look for, but those prophetic signs of labor don’t seem nearly as important today as they once were. When you read Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah as a Christian, you might figure, “Hey, the Messiah has come, who cares”. But hearing how these scriptures have been fulfilled has always played an important role for faith in Jesus Christ.
Today, I’d like to take you on a short journey through some of these prophecies from the Old Testament, to show you what Peter, John and Jesus were talking about. What had the prophets foretold and why do they have anything to do with Jesus? Some of the prophecies might seem kind of vague or general, something many people would fulfill in their lifetimes; some of them will be quite specific to Jesus. But when you see them all lined up together, that’s when Jesus’ identity as Messiah becomes more clear. Some authors cite over three hundred prophecies about the coming Messiah, some only focus on forty, I’m only going through eleven this morning. Most of the prophecies could have been fulfilled by many different people, but the question becomes, could all of these prophecies, three hundred, forty or even eleven, all put together, possibly be talking about anyone else except for only Jesus? You’ll have to answer that for yourself.
The first group of prophecies are found in the book of Genesis. The Messiah will be a descendent of Abraham and a descendent of Judah. In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham, “I will make of you [Abraham] a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” In Acts, 3, Peter tells some Jewish people that this blessing has a name and it is Jesus, “You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed. When God raised up his servant [Jesus], he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” The promise was that the Messiah would be a descendent of Abraham, not too difficult to be one of those. But in Jesus, the blessing would become clear: the blessing of forgiveness, life and salvation.
In Genesis 49, the prophecy reads, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.” In the gospel of Matthew 1:1-16 we can see that Jesus was indeed a descendent of this clan, “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, the father of Judah, the father of Perez . . .and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.” Jesus was from the clan of Judah just like MANY others, but not all others.
Going a little farther into the Old Testament to the prophet Micah, we find another interesting prophecy about God’s chosen Messiah, “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, form you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” The Jews expected their chosen one to come from the town of Bethlehem. And in the gospel of Matthew, we hear this, “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?”
The Messiah would be born of a virgin. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, a virgin is will child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel [God with us].” The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The Messiah would be the Son of God. Psalm 2:7, “I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you.” At Jesus’ baptism, “A voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
But the Messiah would be known for WHAT he did as well as what happened to him. The Messiah would be known for his miracles—bringing the reign of God to Earth. Isaiah promised, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” And again from Matthew’s gospel, “Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
And Isaiah not only talks about the Messiah bringing miracles, but being a suffering servant as well, “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.” Well, perhaps you remember this story, “They stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on him. They put a reed in his right hand and mocked him saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on he head.” The Psalms also speak of his suffering, “For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.” And we hear this fulfilled in the gospel of Luke, “When they came to the place that is called the Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals.”
One might think that, what with all these prophecies being fulfilled, at least Jesus’ disciples would have found the strength to stand by their promised Messiah. But, then again, that is not what God said would happen. The prophet Zechariah declared, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,’ Says the Lord of Hosts. Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered.” Matthew 26, “At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords to arrest me as though I were a bandit? But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.”
But wait! None of this means that ONLY Jesus could have been the Messiah, right? LOTS of people were crucified by all the records we have. And if your leader had been killed, wouldn’t you have run away too? There have been many stories of healings and miracles by more than one charismatic leader throughout history and scholars argue amongst themselves about exactly WHO Isaiah was referring to when he spoke of a “suffering servant”. But there can only be ONE Messiah. There must have been people would have fulfilled SOME of these prophecies, right? Right. But would they fulfill them all?
Isaiah has some more to say about God’s promised servant, “They made his grave with the wicked, and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” Even in his death, Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy, “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb.”
Finally, the Messiah was expected reign forever and ever. Psalm 16, expresses this hope, “For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit. You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” And in the second chapter of Acts we hear how even this promise was fulfilled by Jesus, “Forseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ’He was not given up to Sheol, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’ This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.” In his life, in his death, in his burial and even in his resurrection, Jesus fulfilled ALL of God’s promises.
You see, many people have been descendents of Abraham, or from the clan of Judah, or born in Bethlehem. Some were said to have been miracle workers. Some were considered divine. Some suffered and some died. A few may even have been buried in a graveyard with rich people. Though, no one else, that I know of, was ever raised from the dead.
But the interesting point to note is that while some people may have done some of these things, Jesus did everything. He may have tried to do miracles or, perhaps, found a way to get himself killed, but he didn’t have much choice over where he was born or where he would be buried. Jesus fulfilled everything God promised. ALL the prophecies. That’s why Peter, Paul and even Jesus pointed it out. You see, if Jesus was simply an amazing man who did amazing things, that would be, well, amazing! But Jesus was more than an amazing man. He was God’s chosen one sent to give you life eternal.
If God couldn’t keep his promises to the Israelites, we would have no reason to believe his promise to us. But God did keep his promises. All of them. You are witnesses to these things. What has God promised you? Life? Forgiveness? Resurrection? Can you trust him to fulfill these promises? In Jesus Christ every one of God’s promises is a Yes!”
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sermon for April 19th
I’ve been noticing each week that we are not coming very close to meeting our budget. I also refuse to give some kind of motivational pep talk to get you all to give more. Not only would I not be very good at it, but I don’t think that it would work! On the one hand, whether or not I become anxious about the amount of money given, whether or not I try and do something about it as your pastor, eventually, the scarcity of money in the church’s bank account will create problems that I will not be able to avoid discussing. On the other hand, I also refuse to put you all on a guilt trip about giving because this technique might backfire, not only on me but, much more importantly, it might create problems with your relationship with God.
So, I’ve been praying about this and slowly preparing a sermon over the past few weeks to talk about the subject. You see, I realized that all of you probably know already that we are not meeting the budget. I also realize that, if you could, you would give more. You love this church and the ministries happening here. In fact, you’d like to see MORE happening here. You also don’t want to feel bad for doing what you’ve already been doing—which is everything you can do. You are giving all that you can give. If I came by your house, and asked you to increase your offering or give some big lump sum of money as a donation, I bet that most of you would say, “I wish I could, but I can’t!” And I believe you. I believe you. Right now, I don’t think you can.
For most of you, there are two reasons why you can’t: the first is that you don’t have enough money left at the end of the week or at the end of the month to give more. Second, even if you did have some leftover, you don’t know how you would survive if you gave it for Saint Peters and its ministries instead of using it yourself.
Let me describe this issue in terms of tithing, the Christian discipline of giving 10% of your income to the church and its ministries. The concept behind tithing is that since God is giving you everything, you are called upon to give ten-percent of what you are earning to support your local congregation and, through that ministry, help those in your community, your country and around the world. Tithing is a great idea, but it can seem almost impossible to do. Why?
Well, first off, how many of you end each month with 10% of your income leftover? Let me put that into numbers. Let’s say that you make $1000 dollars a week, either single or as a couple, that’s $4000 or $5000 dollars a month, or around $52,000 dollars a year. Some of you probably make more, some less, I understand, so bump the numbers up or down. After taking out 15% for taxes, that means that you take in about $850 dollars a week as a household. Ten percent of that would be around $85 dollars. How many of you have an extra $85 dollars a week or $340 dollars every month just laying around with nothing to do? And even if you did have $340 dollars leftover each month, would you feel comfortable financially giving all of that to Saint Peters? Probably not.
But that’s NOT how tithing works. In the Old Testament, God commanded his people to give ten percent of their land and flocks to the temple right off the top. They were supposed to give God the best of their land and flocks, not the leftovers. But instead, being sinners like you and me, they’d sacrifice the sick lambs, they’d give the land where nothing would grow, they’d give whatever they had that they figured they could live without. And God hated it! Listen to his words from the book of Malachi, “When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces; the dung of your offerings, and will put you out of my presence.” Pretty strong words from a pretty unhappy God.
Tithing doesn’t mean giving 10% of your income IF you have it to give; tithing means planning on giving 10% of your income each week or month and then doing it. That’s the first reason why you might have such a difficult time tithing or giving to the church, you haven’t planned on it. You look at all the bills and expenses, like groceries and mortgages and credit card bills, and there is never 10% left to give. So should you or I be surprised when you don’t have any money to give anymore? I’m not. I’m not surprised at all.
As your pastor, though, it is NOT my job to make you feel guilty for not tithing. It is my job to give you the tools to be able to tithe if you wanted to. It IS my job to equip you to be able to give joyously as God meant for you to give because many of you want to give but can’t figure out how. It is my job to equip you to pay your bills, feed your kids, and not to worry every month about how to stay afloat.
Starting on June 9th, this summer, Saint Peters is hosting a shortened version of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. The point of the program is to get you on a budget so that you can start an emergency fund and then pay off all of your debt. After this, you save three to six months of expenses, save for college, pay off the house and build up your retirement. It’s not a get rich quick scheme; it takes a lot of hard work.
The program is about equipping you with the tools to make a plan for your money, down to every last penny, so that when you feel like paying your monthly mortgage, or buying a car, or paying for your kid’s college, or giving to your church, you’ll be able to without worrying about it. You won’t be a slave to your lenders, as the book of Proverbs warns about. You’ll be the master of the money God provides for you. If the discipline of tithing has always boggled your mind, if you’ve never figured out how in the world to actually have more money than month, I pray that this program will give you the tools to be financially fit. You’re not going to be told what to do with your money, that’s your choice, paying the bills, tithing, going out to eat, you have to decide what important to you. The program will teach you how to tell your money what you want it to do for you instead of simply reacting to the demands in your life.
But, as I said before, there are two reasons why most of you cannot give any more to your church. The first is because you never planned on it and you don’t know how to budget for it. The second reason is that, even if you did have extra money, you are afraid to give it the church. This is primarily a trust issue. In other words, even if you COULD plan on tithing 10% of your money to your church, you don’t have faith that God would provide for you to do it. Even if you are making much more than $52,000 dollars a year. This is finally the reason why I brought up this issue at all today. It’s an issue of faith.
You see, I don’t know who gives and who doesn’t. I don’t know how much you individually give or how much you don’t. When I see the total amount received each week, it shows up just like it does for you in the bulletin, as one lump sum. And, to be quite honest with you, I don’t really care about those numbers, because how much you give as a congregation does not tell me much about where you stand in your relationship to God. However, as I watched the numbers getting low and staying there, I began to realize that the numbers were telling me something and it really didn’t have much to do with our church and its budget. It had to do with you and why you couldn’t give. You couldn’t give because you didn’t have the tools to plan on it and you couldn’t give more because you couldn’t trust God to provide for you and your families. Especially in an economic downturn.
Blame it on the economy, blame it on the recession, blame it on the housing market or blame it on the unemployment rate, but there is a lot of fear in our country and a lot of fear in this church, a lot of fear in your hearts. And when you are afraid, there’s not a lot of joyful giving that’s going to be going on. In fact, you’d have to be MORE scared of the church closing than losing your job or losing your house in order to give more and THAT probably isn’t going to happen. So, as your pastor, I am called to speak to these fears and tell you what Jesus is going to do about it.
Jesus says, “Peace. Peace be with you. Do not doubt but believe.” Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross and after three days of being dead God raised him to life. Do you really think that your financial predicament frightens God? Jesus came to earth and made you a promise, “I have come so that you might have life and have it abundantly.” Who is it that created the job that you have or the job that you worked at during your working years? Who is it that provides the food that you eat, the car that you drive, the children that you raised and the air that you breathe? Do you really think that he will not provide you with the money that you need to live life and live it abundantly? Do not be afraid. Do not doubt but believe.
When Jesus met his disciples in the upper room after his resurrection, they were so scared of the Jews that they were unable to function. Jesus came into their fear and said this, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” What do you think Jesus has to say when he stands here in our midst, where we are so frightened to give that our church cannot even meet our budget? It shouldn’t be much of a surprise. He’s not going to browbeat you. He’s not going to swat you on the rear end. He says, “Peace. Peace be with you.”
Jesus came down so that you might have life and have it abundantly. How did this happen? Through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ on the cross and then his resurrection from the dead. You have been brought into this community of believers for a purpose. And God did not send you, and me and this church into the world to be afraid. He has given you the money to live, the money to give, the tools to budget that money and the peace to do so joyously and unafraid. Putting extra money into the plate today isn’t the goal of this sermon. If you haven’t budgeted it, how do you know how much you can give? I pray that God might free you from the fear of giving. I pray that you might learn to tell your money what to do. As a church we are striving to help you do this by offering some tools to help. I pray that God will create the faith in your heart to use your money as you choose: not out of fear, but out of faith. Amen.
So, I’ve been praying about this and slowly preparing a sermon over the past few weeks to talk about the subject. You see, I realized that all of you probably know already that we are not meeting the budget. I also realize that, if you could, you would give more. You love this church and the ministries happening here. In fact, you’d like to see MORE happening here. You also don’t want to feel bad for doing what you’ve already been doing—which is everything you can do. You are giving all that you can give. If I came by your house, and asked you to increase your offering or give some big lump sum of money as a donation, I bet that most of you would say, “I wish I could, but I can’t!” And I believe you. I believe you. Right now, I don’t think you can.
For most of you, there are two reasons why you can’t: the first is that you don’t have enough money left at the end of the week or at the end of the month to give more. Second, even if you did have some leftover, you don’t know how you would survive if you gave it for Saint Peters and its ministries instead of using it yourself.
Let me describe this issue in terms of tithing, the Christian discipline of giving 10% of your income to the church and its ministries. The concept behind tithing is that since God is giving you everything, you are called upon to give ten-percent of what you are earning to support your local congregation and, through that ministry, help those in your community, your country and around the world. Tithing is a great idea, but it can seem almost impossible to do. Why?
Well, first off, how many of you end each month with 10% of your income leftover? Let me put that into numbers. Let’s say that you make $1000 dollars a week, either single or as a couple, that’s $4000 or $5000 dollars a month, or around $52,000 dollars a year. Some of you probably make more, some less, I understand, so bump the numbers up or down. After taking out 15% for taxes, that means that you take in about $850 dollars a week as a household. Ten percent of that would be around $85 dollars. How many of you have an extra $85 dollars a week or $340 dollars every month just laying around with nothing to do? And even if you did have $340 dollars leftover each month, would you feel comfortable financially giving all of that to Saint Peters? Probably not.
But that’s NOT how tithing works. In the Old Testament, God commanded his people to give ten percent of their land and flocks to the temple right off the top. They were supposed to give God the best of their land and flocks, not the leftovers. But instead, being sinners like you and me, they’d sacrifice the sick lambs, they’d give the land where nothing would grow, they’d give whatever they had that they figured they could live without. And God hated it! Listen to his words from the book of Malachi, “When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces; the dung of your offerings, and will put you out of my presence.” Pretty strong words from a pretty unhappy God.
Tithing doesn’t mean giving 10% of your income IF you have it to give; tithing means planning on giving 10% of your income each week or month and then doing it. That’s the first reason why you might have such a difficult time tithing or giving to the church, you haven’t planned on it. You look at all the bills and expenses, like groceries and mortgages and credit card bills, and there is never 10% left to give. So should you or I be surprised when you don’t have any money to give anymore? I’m not. I’m not surprised at all.
As your pastor, though, it is NOT my job to make you feel guilty for not tithing. It is my job to give you the tools to be able to tithe if you wanted to. It IS my job to equip you to be able to give joyously as God meant for you to give because many of you want to give but can’t figure out how. It is my job to equip you to pay your bills, feed your kids, and not to worry every month about how to stay afloat.
Starting on June 9th, this summer, Saint Peters is hosting a shortened version of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. The point of the program is to get you on a budget so that you can start an emergency fund and then pay off all of your debt. After this, you save three to six months of expenses, save for college, pay off the house and build up your retirement. It’s not a get rich quick scheme; it takes a lot of hard work.
The program is about equipping you with the tools to make a plan for your money, down to every last penny, so that when you feel like paying your monthly mortgage, or buying a car, or paying for your kid’s college, or giving to your church, you’ll be able to without worrying about it. You won’t be a slave to your lenders, as the book of Proverbs warns about. You’ll be the master of the money God provides for you. If the discipline of tithing has always boggled your mind, if you’ve never figured out how in the world to actually have more money than month, I pray that this program will give you the tools to be financially fit. You’re not going to be told what to do with your money, that’s your choice, paying the bills, tithing, going out to eat, you have to decide what important to you. The program will teach you how to tell your money what you want it to do for you instead of simply reacting to the demands in your life.
But, as I said before, there are two reasons why most of you cannot give any more to your church. The first is because you never planned on it and you don’t know how to budget for it. The second reason is that, even if you did have extra money, you are afraid to give it the church. This is primarily a trust issue. In other words, even if you COULD plan on tithing 10% of your money to your church, you don’t have faith that God would provide for you to do it. Even if you are making much more than $52,000 dollars a year. This is finally the reason why I brought up this issue at all today. It’s an issue of faith.
You see, I don’t know who gives and who doesn’t. I don’t know how much you individually give or how much you don’t. When I see the total amount received each week, it shows up just like it does for you in the bulletin, as one lump sum. And, to be quite honest with you, I don’t really care about those numbers, because how much you give as a congregation does not tell me much about where you stand in your relationship to God. However, as I watched the numbers getting low and staying there, I began to realize that the numbers were telling me something and it really didn’t have much to do with our church and its budget. It had to do with you and why you couldn’t give. You couldn’t give because you didn’t have the tools to plan on it and you couldn’t give more because you couldn’t trust God to provide for you and your families. Especially in an economic downturn.
Blame it on the economy, blame it on the recession, blame it on the housing market or blame it on the unemployment rate, but there is a lot of fear in our country and a lot of fear in this church, a lot of fear in your hearts. And when you are afraid, there’s not a lot of joyful giving that’s going to be going on. In fact, you’d have to be MORE scared of the church closing than losing your job or losing your house in order to give more and THAT probably isn’t going to happen. So, as your pastor, I am called to speak to these fears and tell you what Jesus is going to do about it.
Jesus says, “Peace. Peace be with you. Do not doubt but believe.” Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross and after three days of being dead God raised him to life. Do you really think that your financial predicament frightens God? Jesus came to earth and made you a promise, “I have come so that you might have life and have it abundantly.” Who is it that created the job that you have or the job that you worked at during your working years? Who is it that provides the food that you eat, the car that you drive, the children that you raised and the air that you breathe? Do you really think that he will not provide you with the money that you need to live life and live it abundantly? Do not be afraid. Do not doubt but believe.
When Jesus met his disciples in the upper room after his resurrection, they were so scared of the Jews that they were unable to function. Jesus came into their fear and said this, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” What do you think Jesus has to say when he stands here in our midst, where we are so frightened to give that our church cannot even meet our budget? It shouldn’t be much of a surprise. He’s not going to browbeat you. He’s not going to swat you on the rear end. He says, “Peace. Peace be with you.”
Jesus came down so that you might have life and have it abundantly. How did this happen? Through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ on the cross and then his resurrection from the dead. You have been brought into this community of believers for a purpose. And God did not send you, and me and this church into the world to be afraid. He has given you the money to live, the money to give, the tools to budget that money and the peace to do so joyously and unafraid. Putting extra money into the plate today isn’t the goal of this sermon. If you haven’t budgeted it, how do you know how much you can give? I pray that God might free you from the fear of giving. I pray that you might learn to tell your money what to do. As a church we are striving to help you do this by offering some tools to help. I pray that God will create the faith in your heart to use your money as you choose: not out of fear, but out of faith. Amen.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Sermon for Easter Sunday
Throughout the gospel of Mark, while Jesus was teaching and preaching, while he was healing and casting out demons, he would say something that, well, to put it bluntly, seemed rather confusing. He kept saying, “Don’t tell anyone about me.”
In the first chapter of Mark, after Jesus has just cured a bunch of people of their sicknesses and cast out their demons, the writer tells us that, “he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.” But that makes some sense doesn’t it? I mean, the demons know that Jesus is the Son of God and they keep calling him such things, but we can assume that Jesus wanted a little better of a character reference in order for people to believe in him. But, this is just the beginning.
Six verses later in Mark, Jesus heals a leper who had come and begged him for help. “Immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean.” So what does Jesus do? Well, he sends this healed man away at once and sternly warns him saying, “See that you say nothing to anyone.” Why? Several chapters later, Jesus heals a little girl, the daughter of a man named Jairus, the leader of a synagogue. She was dead, but Jesus took her by the hand and woke her up to the amazement of her family and friends. Then Jesus strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
In chapter seven, Jesus healed a deaf man, then Jesus ordered him and those around him to tell no one. In chapter eight, Jesus heals a blind man and tells him not to even go into the village to tell anyone. Even Jesus’ own disciples are kept from proclaiming the full message of Jesus’ glory. After Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountaintop with Peter, James and John, Jesus orders them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Scripture tells us that they kept that matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.
As you can see, for some confusing reason, after Jesus had performed a healing or completed an exorcism, he told those he had helped not to tell anyone. Some books call this the “Messianic secret.” But what happens after Jesus’ warnings is even more interesting I think than Jesus’ insistence of secrecy.
The leper was told to say nothing to anyone, but the story says that, in response to Jesus’ request, “The leper went out and began to talk about it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.” We are not told what happened after the little girl was healed, but after Jesus orders the crowds around the deaf man to tell no one, scripture tells us, “the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it!”
But there is a point in the story when, suddenly, everything gets turned upside down. Everything changes on Easter morning when the women come to the tomb expecting to find Jesus dead and buried. When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. Alarmed is probably a nice way of saying it. I’d probably scream a little if I went into a tomb and saw someone sitting inside it-alive! But then the man said this, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Naareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you. So the women went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
So, let me summarize this all for you. When Jesus was alive, he told people not to talk about him and, they did. After Jesus was raised from the dead, people were told to tell about him, and we are told that they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Rather ironic, don’t you think? Or maybe there is something more here than irony.
When something or someone touches you life in a spectacular way, even if you aren’t supposed to talk about it, how can you not? I remember when my wife, Kristy, and I first were pregnant with our first child, Sophia. We knew that most people waited a few months to say anything. We knew that we should probably just keep it to ourselves. But as soon as we had verified that she was pregnant we called everybody we knew! When God manifests his power in your life, you just can’t help yourself. How can you not talk about it.
On the other hand, when you handed scary or frightening news, even if you know that you should tell someone, it’s very difficult to want to say anything at all. When somebody you love has died, when you are told that you have cancer, when you’ve made a mistake that you just can’t take back, you know that you’ve got to say something, but you can’t get the words out. You know that you MUST tell someone, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it.
When we focus only on the words that Jesus is saying to those he has healed, or on the command given to the women at the tomb, we are missing the very real situation that these people are in. No matter how much Jesus tells people not to say anything, no matter how much trouble people might get in for saying something, when you’ve been healed you just can’t help showing off how much better you are. In the same way, who can blame the women at the tomb for staying tight-lipped, at least for awhile, after the shock of seeing an empty tomb. The resurrection might have been good news for their eternal salvation but, for a little while at least, it might have just seemed like a nightmare.
How do you hear the news of Jesus and his resurrection? When you hear that Jesus loves you, or that he died for you, what is your first reaction? I can’t control what your reaction might be, nor would I want to. The Holy Spirit will move as it will and either create faith in your heart or not when you hear Jesus’ resurrection story. And if it doesn’t create faith, then it will, quite reasonably, create a lot of fear and trembling for you. Which is why, even Easter Sunday, can sometimes seem like a really big guilt trip for Christians all over the world. We know that the story is good news, we have been told that we are supposed to be happy, the lilies are white and the songs are upbeat, but why do you not feel so full of faith? Why aren’t you feeling inspired?
For many of you, Easter might feel like a duty, something that you must do; therefore, you will probably not want to do it and, even if you are forced, you won’t like it. I probably won’t see you very often after today and, even though you’ll know that you are missed, even though you know that you SHOULD be at church, you probably won’t come because you might think that you were supposed to feel inspired today and you didn’t so why bother.
Let me remind all of you that the heroes of the faith on this Easter Sunday were three scared women running away from the tomb with fear and trembling. Those three women are our heroes today. The ones who didn’t listen to the man, who we assume was an angel. We aren’t talking about the people who had joy abounding from their hearts and mouths previously in the gospel of Mark. We are talking three women who didn’t really like what they heard, about Jesus not being dead, even though they were supposed to think that was good news. Easter might be a joyous day for you and that is wonderful, Hallelujah! But if Easter is full of fear and confusion for you, I want you to understand that you belong here too—you are part of Jesus’ story.
One of the single most frustrating things as a pastor, and as a Christian is that people think that to go to church you must be a saint. I can’t count the number of comments I hear about church being full of good people and, sorry to say it, but the church is not full good people, it’s full of forgiven people. People that have doubts about their faith just like you. People who make deliberate mistakes all the time, just like you. People who aren’t sure what they believe and wonder what the point is sometimes, just like you. But, church is also a place where you can come with all your unbelief, all your sins, all your problems and all your confusion and trust that God can handle it. In fact, God will do more with you than just tolerate you, he will love you, forgive you and create a new you.
Those three women who ran away from the tomb didn’t say anything about Jesus to anybody at first. If you are just like them, then you are in good company. But God didn’t just let them stay silent forever. If he had, then you and I wouldn’t be here, in this church, hearing the story. Eventually, faith grew—even out of all that confusion, all that fear and all that trembling. God will use you, even if you don’t know how or why.
This church is a community of faith where struggles take place. Where you may bring you fears and your questions and your frustrations. Where you may bring your unbelief and see if there is more than just an empty tomb. Where you can look for hope and love. And, for those of you who are struggling with mistakes and sins that are almost more than you can handle, church is a place where forgiveness takes place—not brainwashing, but heartwashing if you will. Where God promises today to let you in on the good news of Easter—Jesus died on a cross for all the bad stuff you’ve ever done and that you will ever do. He was raised from the dead so that all that bad stuff could stay nailed to the cross and so that you might go free. Some of you might have come today with fear and trembling, but you are all going home forgiven. Amen.
In the first chapter of Mark, after Jesus has just cured a bunch of people of their sicknesses and cast out their demons, the writer tells us that, “he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.” But that makes some sense doesn’t it? I mean, the demons know that Jesus is the Son of God and they keep calling him such things, but we can assume that Jesus wanted a little better of a character reference in order for people to believe in him. But, this is just the beginning.
Six verses later in Mark, Jesus heals a leper who had come and begged him for help. “Immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean.” So what does Jesus do? Well, he sends this healed man away at once and sternly warns him saying, “See that you say nothing to anyone.” Why? Several chapters later, Jesus heals a little girl, the daughter of a man named Jairus, the leader of a synagogue. She was dead, but Jesus took her by the hand and woke her up to the amazement of her family and friends. Then Jesus strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
In chapter seven, Jesus healed a deaf man, then Jesus ordered him and those around him to tell no one. In chapter eight, Jesus heals a blind man and tells him not to even go into the village to tell anyone. Even Jesus’ own disciples are kept from proclaiming the full message of Jesus’ glory. After Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountaintop with Peter, James and John, Jesus orders them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Scripture tells us that they kept that matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.
As you can see, for some confusing reason, after Jesus had performed a healing or completed an exorcism, he told those he had helped not to tell anyone. Some books call this the “Messianic secret.” But what happens after Jesus’ warnings is even more interesting I think than Jesus’ insistence of secrecy.
The leper was told to say nothing to anyone, but the story says that, in response to Jesus’ request, “The leper went out and began to talk about it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.” We are not told what happened after the little girl was healed, but after Jesus orders the crowds around the deaf man to tell no one, scripture tells us, “the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it!”
But there is a point in the story when, suddenly, everything gets turned upside down. Everything changes on Easter morning when the women come to the tomb expecting to find Jesus dead and buried. When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. Alarmed is probably a nice way of saying it. I’d probably scream a little if I went into a tomb and saw someone sitting inside it-alive! But then the man said this, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Naareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you. So the women went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
So, let me summarize this all for you. When Jesus was alive, he told people not to talk about him and, they did. After Jesus was raised from the dead, people were told to tell about him, and we are told that they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Rather ironic, don’t you think? Or maybe there is something more here than irony.
When something or someone touches you life in a spectacular way, even if you aren’t supposed to talk about it, how can you not? I remember when my wife, Kristy, and I first were pregnant with our first child, Sophia. We knew that most people waited a few months to say anything. We knew that we should probably just keep it to ourselves. But as soon as we had verified that she was pregnant we called everybody we knew! When God manifests his power in your life, you just can’t help yourself. How can you not talk about it.
On the other hand, when you handed scary or frightening news, even if you know that you should tell someone, it’s very difficult to want to say anything at all. When somebody you love has died, when you are told that you have cancer, when you’ve made a mistake that you just can’t take back, you know that you’ve got to say something, but you can’t get the words out. You know that you MUST tell someone, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it.
When we focus only on the words that Jesus is saying to those he has healed, or on the command given to the women at the tomb, we are missing the very real situation that these people are in. No matter how much Jesus tells people not to say anything, no matter how much trouble people might get in for saying something, when you’ve been healed you just can’t help showing off how much better you are. In the same way, who can blame the women at the tomb for staying tight-lipped, at least for awhile, after the shock of seeing an empty tomb. The resurrection might have been good news for their eternal salvation but, for a little while at least, it might have just seemed like a nightmare.
How do you hear the news of Jesus and his resurrection? When you hear that Jesus loves you, or that he died for you, what is your first reaction? I can’t control what your reaction might be, nor would I want to. The Holy Spirit will move as it will and either create faith in your heart or not when you hear Jesus’ resurrection story. And if it doesn’t create faith, then it will, quite reasonably, create a lot of fear and trembling for you. Which is why, even Easter Sunday, can sometimes seem like a really big guilt trip for Christians all over the world. We know that the story is good news, we have been told that we are supposed to be happy, the lilies are white and the songs are upbeat, but why do you not feel so full of faith? Why aren’t you feeling inspired?
For many of you, Easter might feel like a duty, something that you must do; therefore, you will probably not want to do it and, even if you are forced, you won’t like it. I probably won’t see you very often after today and, even though you’ll know that you are missed, even though you know that you SHOULD be at church, you probably won’t come because you might think that you were supposed to feel inspired today and you didn’t so why bother.
Let me remind all of you that the heroes of the faith on this Easter Sunday were three scared women running away from the tomb with fear and trembling. Those three women are our heroes today. The ones who didn’t listen to the man, who we assume was an angel. We aren’t talking about the people who had joy abounding from their hearts and mouths previously in the gospel of Mark. We are talking three women who didn’t really like what they heard, about Jesus not being dead, even though they were supposed to think that was good news. Easter might be a joyous day for you and that is wonderful, Hallelujah! But if Easter is full of fear and confusion for you, I want you to understand that you belong here too—you are part of Jesus’ story.
One of the single most frustrating things as a pastor, and as a Christian is that people think that to go to church you must be a saint. I can’t count the number of comments I hear about church being full of good people and, sorry to say it, but the church is not full good people, it’s full of forgiven people. People that have doubts about their faith just like you. People who make deliberate mistakes all the time, just like you. People who aren’t sure what they believe and wonder what the point is sometimes, just like you. But, church is also a place where you can come with all your unbelief, all your sins, all your problems and all your confusion and trust that God can handle it. In fact, God will do more with you than just tolerate you, he will love you, forgive you and create a new you.
Those three women who ran away from the tomb didn’t say anything about Jesus to anybody at first. If you are just like them, then you are in good company. But God didn’t just let them stay silent forever. If he had, then you and I wouldn’t be here, in this church, hearing the story. Eventually, faith grew—even out of all that confusion, all that fear and all that trembling. God will use you, even if you don’t know how or why.
This church is a community of faith where struggles take place. Where you may bring you fears and your questions and your frustrations. Where you may bring your unbelief and see if there is more than just an empty tomb. Where you can look for hope and love. And, for those of you who are struggling with mistakes and sins that are almost more than you can handle, church is a place where forgiveness takes place—not brainwashing, but heartwashing if you will. Where God promises today to let you in on the good news of Easter—Jesus died on a cross for all the bad stuff you’ve ever done and that you will ever do. He was raised from the dead so that all that bad stuff could stay nailed to the cross and so that you might go free. Some of you might have come today with fear and trembling, but you are all going home forgiven. Amen.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Sermon for Easter Vigil
Tonight, we have heard some of the greatest stories and promises that God has given his people. You heard about how God has worked in this world from the beginning of creation. You heard about how God tested his servant Abraham, saved his people from slavery, protected those who believed in him from death and promised his people peace and salvation one day. These are not new stories, in fact, they are all quite old. These were probably familiar stories and promises for most of you.
For centuries, that’s all that God’s people had—stories and promises. Good Jewish people, like Peter and Mary, waited for their coming Messiah expectantly every day of their lives as the one who would be the fulfillment of these promises from God. You can see how close these promises are to the front of their minds when, as John says, they see an empty tomb and “believe”. They suddenly understand the scriptures that they have been reading all those years in a brand new way.
Their God hasn’t changed, but they now know him in a new way; not just as a God of stories and promises, but as a God that they have a relationship with. Their friend, their teacher, Jesus died and is now no longer dead. If Jesus had just died and stayed dead, that would be just another story about how God worked in the world, like so many other stories they knew. How many times had God sent a prophet to shock the Israelites back into a good relationship with him then promised them that one day everything would be different. If Jesus had died and stayed dead, it wouldn’t have meant that God didn’t love his people, or care for his people, just that God was still working at fulfilling his promises. But when the disciples see the empty tomb, they suddenly realize that everything has changed. No longer was God simply a God of stories and promises, they realized that they had known God face to face.
This past week, I was watching a TV show I like called LOST. One of the characters, John Locke, had recently died and then came back to life. Another character, Ben, had played a role in making this resurrection happen. When Ben saw John alive, he said, “I knew it. I knew that this would happen.” John replied, “Then why are you so surprised to see me?” Ben responded, “Because it’s one thing to believe it John, it’s another thing to see it!” It’s one thing to have a relationship with a God who promises to send his Messiah; it’s something quite different to see that Messiah with your own eyes. It’s one thing to have a relationship with Jesus who says he will be raised from the dead; it is something quite different to see Jesus’ empty tomb. And, for Mary, it is something even more astounding to speak to the risen Jesus face to face.
Paul says in Romans that “Faith comes through hearing and what is heard comes through Word of Christ.” However, that does not mean that just because you hear about Jesus, about his death and resurrection, that you will suddenly become a Christian and “believe”. In fact, as Martin Luther points out quite clearly, “I cannot, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him.” “But,” he says, “the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel.” You can read or hear God’s promises about peace and salvation all the time if you look through the Old Testament. You can read or hear about Jesus Christ, his life, his death and his resurrection by looking through the New Testament. You can come to church and say the prayers, hear the words and sing the songs, but that’s doesn’t necessarily mean you believe in Jesus Christ as so many people and churches have discovered out throughout the ages. Faith doesn’t come from you, faith comes through hearing, and not just hearing some stories or some promises, but hearing from Jesus Christ himself—finding out that you have a new and personal relationship with him.
A theologian once wrote about how Jesus’ death changed everything. The curtain of the temple, that was supposed to separate the holy of holies for the rest of the temple, the place where God promised to abide set apart from the everyday folk, was torn in two. From this time forward, as this theologian put it, “God was on the loose!” Well, the same thing happened when Jesus was raised from the dead. The tomb that was supposed to hold him was open, “God was on the loose!” God is present here tonight not just so that you might believe in him through his stories as a very impressive God, or so that you might believe in him through his promises to be a Savior, but so that the Holy Spirit might give you faith to believe in him as YOUR Savior and YOUR God. Reading your Bible, praying and even coming to church is meant to give you the opportunity to hear from God again and again until his Holy Spirit makes the resurrection real for you, makes the promises fulfilled for you, gives you the eyes to see Jesus not as just some pipe dream, but as REAL in your life.
Mary had seen Jesus face to face, she had watched him die, she had seen the empty tomb, she was even looking at his resurrected face, but she couldn’t believe anything without God doing something amazing. God opened the eyes of her faith to see that she didn’t just have a relationship with a dead Jesus, but with a living Jesus. And Jesus tells her that their relationship will change again one day. Jesus is going ahead of her to prepare a place for her; he is ascending to the Father.
I pray that tonight God blesses you with faith. Not just a faith in a God who tells great stories or who makes great promises, not just faith in Jesus who rose from the dead, but faith in a God who died and rose from the dead for you. A God who won’t stay dead and won’t let this life have the last word. A God who keeps promising that there is more—more to life than death and more life to come. If you don’t believe, or have lost your faith, keep coming, keep praying, keep reading, and keep listening. God knows your name and will open the eyes of your faith to all the glory that he has promised just for you. One day you won’t have to just believe in Jesus Christ; one day, you’ll see him face to face. One day, you will hear him call out your name. Jesus is Risen. He’s on the loose again! Amen.
For centuries, that’s all that God’s people had—stories and promises. Good Jewish people, like Peter and Mary, waited for their coming Messiah expectantly every day of their lives as the one who would be the fulfillment of these promises from God. You can see how close these promises are to the front of their minds when, as John says, they see an empty tomb and “believe”. They suddenly understand the scriptures that they have been reading all those years in a brand new way.
Their God hasn’t changed, but they now know him in a new way; not just as a God of stories and promises, but as a God that they have a relationship with. Their friend, their teacher, Jesus died and is now no longer dead. If Jesus had just died and stayed dead, that would be just another story about how God worked in the world, like so many other stories they knew. How many times had God sent a prophet to shock the Israelites back into a good relationship with him then promised them that one day everything would be different. If Jesus had died and stayed dead, it wouldn’t have meant that God didn’t love his people, or care for his people, just that God was still working at fulfilling his promises. But when the disciples see the empty tomb, they suddenly realize that everything has changed. No longer was God simply a God of stories and promises, they realized that they had known God face to face.
This past week, I was watching a TV show I like called LOST. One of the characters, John Locke, had recently died and then came back to life. Another character, Ben, had played a role in making this resurrection happen. When Ben saw John alive, he said, “I knew it. I knew that this would happen.” John replied, “Then why are you so surprised to see me?” Ben responded, “Because it’s one thing to believe it John, it’s another thing to see it!” It’s one thing to have a relationship with a God who promises to send his Messiah; it’s something quite different to see that Messiah with your own eyes. It’s one thing to have a relationship with Jesus who says he will be raised from the dead; it is something quite different to see Jesus’ empty tomb. And, for Mary, it is something even more astounding to speak to the risen Jesus face to face.
Paul says in Romans that “Faith comes through hearing and what is heard comes through Word of Christ.” However, that does not mean that just because you hear about Jesus, about his death and resurrection, that you will suddenly become a Christian and “believe”. In fact, as Martin Luther points out quite clearly, “I cannot, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him.” “But,” he says, “the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel.” You can read or hear God’s promises about peace and salvation all the time if you look through the Old Testament. You can read or hear about Jesus Christ, his life, his death and his resurrection by looking through the New Testament. You can come to church and say the prayers, hear the words and sing the songs, but that’s doesn’t necessarily mean you believe in Jesus Christ as so many people and churches have discovered out throughout the ages. Faith doesn’t come from you, faith comes through hearing, and not just hearing some stories or some promises, but hearing from Jesus Christ himself—finding out that you have a new and personal relationship with him.
A theologian once wrote about how Jesus’ death changed everything. The curtain of the temple, that was supposed to separate the holy of holies for the rest of the temple, the place where God promised to abide set apart from the everyday folk, was torn in two. From this time forward, as this theologian put it, “God was on the loose!” Well, the same thing happened when Jesus was raised from the dead. The tomb that was supposed to hold him was open, “God was on the loose!” God is present here tonight not just so that you might believe in him through his stories as a very impressive God, or so that you might believe in him through his promises to be a Savior, but so that the Holy Spirit might give you faith to believe in him as YOUR Savior and YOUR God. Reading your Bible, praying and even coming to church is meant to give you the opportunity to hear from God again and again until his Holy Spirit makes the resurrection real for you, makes the promises fulfilled for you, gives you the eyes to see Jesus not as just some pipe dream, but as REAL in your life.
Mary had seen Jesus face to face, she had watched him die, she had seen the empty tomb, she was even looking at his resurrected face, but she couldn’t believe anything without God doing something amazing. God opened the eyes of her faith to see that she didn’t just have a relationship with a dead Jesus, but with a living Jesus. And Jesus tells her that their relationship will change again one day. Jesus is going ahead of her to prepare a place for her; he is ascending to the Father.
I pray that tonight God blesses you with faith. Not just a faith in a God who tells great stories or who makes great promises, not just faith in Jesus who rose from the dead, but faith in a God who died and rose from the dead for you. A God who won’t stay dead and won’t let this life have the last word. A God who keeps promising that there is more—more to life than death and more life to come. If you don’t believe, or have lost your faith, keep coming, keep praying, keep reading, and keep listening. God knows your name and will open the eyes of your faith to all the glory that he has promised just for you. One day you won’t have to just believe in Jesus Christ; one day, you’ll see him face to face. One day, you will hear him call out your name. Jesus is Risen. He’s on the loose again! Amen.
Sermon for Good Friday
A little girl at my dinner table recently asked me a question about Jesus over supper, “Why did Jesus choose to die?” It’s a good question spoken at an age where this issue becomes important. You see, most of her life, her mom and I have been trying to express how when we talk about God we are talking also talking about Jesus and when we talk about Jesus we are also talking about God We remind her again and again that Jesus died to forgive her sins and that since Jesus loves her, then God loves her. The lesson must at least be making some headway or else this question, at dinnertime, might not have come up.
When you hear about a murder in the newspaper, on the internet, on the radio or on TV, do you ever ask this question, “Why did that person choose to die?” No. Most of the time, nobody deliberately chooses to die. Especially at the hands of somebody else. Ernest Becker explains in his book, “The Denial of Death” that even those heroes who choose to fight in wars by jumping out of boats and running out into the line of fire can only do so because they feel pity for the person running next to them because they are worried that the other person might get hit by a stray bullet. If we could possibly be aware enough to truly consider our own death, no one would ever get out of the boat. No one would ever step out of their house. But when Jesus dies on the cross, there is a need within all of us to ask this question,:”Why did Jesus choose to die?”
We are driven to ask this question only when we realize somewhere within us that Jesus is more than just one of us, he is God himself. And for God himself to be on that cross, the creator of heaven and earth, well, there must be more to it than a simple homicide that you’d hear about on the news. Unfortunately, this also betrays something even more interesting about both that little girl at my table, and about all of us in fact: she is already trying to wiggle out of her responsibility regarding the cross, just like the rest of us sinners. “Why did Jesus choose to die?” it’s a question we sinners like to ask, because if we can explain to ourselves and to each other why God wanted to die then it gets us off the hook. Then we can sing the hymn, “Were you there when they crucified my lord,” and smirk to ourselves that “no, we weren’t there.” We can place the blame of Jesus’ death on someone else.
Our reading this evening from the book of Isaiah references this way of thinking, “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for OUR transgressions, crushed for OUR iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” We like to put the blame on God for Jesus’ death. The gospels tell us that Jesus knows he is heading for Jerusalem to suffer and die, so how can we be culpable? Why would it be our fault? Jesus must have chosen to die and we had nothing to do with it. We weren’t even there!
In fact, as Isaiah writes down a few verses later, “It was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.” If God wanted his son Jesus to die, who was really going to stop him, not I. Yes indeed, none of us would have stopped the death of Jesus. We would have run away like the rest of the disciples, looked on from a distance, or deny Jesus in the heat of the moment.
“He was wounded for OUR transgressions, crushed for OUR iniquities.” Why did Jesus choose to die?” It wasn’t that Jesus chose to die as if he didn’t want to rather live, but Jesus had to die, it was necessary for him to die as scripture puts it, because you and I would have it no other way. He came to earth forgiving sins, casting out demons and healing the sick and so he was killed for it. Jesus didn’t whip himself to the point of death, hammer nails into his body and raise himself up on the cross—sinners like you and me did this to him. Perhaps the only good answer to the question, “Why did Jesus choose to die?” is this, “Because there was no other way to get through to you and me.” He had to choose to give us the choice to kill him, so that when he was resurrected from the dead, we would realize what we had done. So that we might realize the length and depth and breadth of our sin and then, finally, understand the full extent of what he had done on the cross.
Jesus chose to die for you, by being born on Earth and letting you kill him, so that you might realize that even though you are completely responsible for his death, just as much as any person alive 2000 years ago, Jesus has wiped your sins away in the blood of his cross. You made you choice to kill Jesus Christ and now he has made his choice to give you eternal life.
Ironically, as Jesus is dying, he says, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” But the truth is, sinners back then and sinners today know exactly what we are doing, given the choice, sinners want Jesus dead. What we don’t know, is that by making our choice, God can finally make his choice once and for all in a way that we might all understand and believe. We cannot hide our sins any longer, Jesus’ blood is on our hands and on our children’s children. Thankfully, though, that same blood washes us clean in the sight of God. We have made our choice and God has made his choice. By his bruises we are healed. Amen.
When you hear about a murder in the newspaper, on the internet, on the radio or on TV, do you ever ask this question, “Why did that person choose to die?” No. Most of the time, nobody deliberately chooses to die. Especially at the hands of somebody else. Ernest Becker explains in his book, “The Denial of Death” that even those heroes who choose to fight in wars by jumping out of boats and running out into the line of fire can only do so because they feel pity for the person running next to them because they are worried that the other person might get hit by a stray bullet. If we could possibly be aware enough to truly consider our own death, no one would ever get out of the boat. No one would ever step out of their house. But when Jesus dies on the cross, there is a need within all of us to ask this question,:”Why did Jesus choose to die?”
We are driven to ask this question only when we realize somewhere within us that Jesus is more than just one of us, he is God himself. And for God himself to be on that cross, the creator of heaven and earth, well, there must be more to it than a simple homicide that you’d hear about on the news. Unfortunately, this also betrays something even more interesting about both that little girl at my table, and about all of us in fact: she is already trying to wiggle out of her responsibility regarding the cross, just like the rest of us sinners. “Why did Jesus choose to die?” it’s a question we sinners like to ask, because if we can explain to ourselves and to each other why God wanted to die then it gets us off the hook. Then we can sing the hymn, “Were you there when they crucified my lord,” and smirk to ourselves that “no, we weren’t there.” We can place the blame of Jesus’ death on someone else.
Our reading this evening from the book of Isaiah references this way of thinking, “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for OUR transgressions, crushed for OUR iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” We like to put the blame on God for Jesus’ death. The gospels tell us that Jesus knows he is heading for Jerusalem to suffer and die, so how can we be culpable? Why would it be our fault? Jesus must have chosen to die and we had nothing to do with it. We weren’t even there!
In fact, as Isaiah writes down a few verses later, “It was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.” If God wanted his son Jesus to die, who was really going to stop him, not I. Yes indeed, none of us would have stopped the death of Jesus. We would have run away like the rest of the disciples, looked on from a distance, or deny Jesus in the heat of the moment.
“He was wounded for OUR transgressions, crushed for OUR iniquities.” Why did Jesus choose to die?” It wasn’t that Jesus chose to die as if he didn’t want to rather live, but Jesus had to die, it was necessary for him to die as scripture puts it, because you and I would have it no other way. He came to earth forgiving sins, casting out demons and healing the sick and so he was killed for it. Jesus didn’t whip himself to the point of death, hammer nails into his body and raise himself up on the cross—sinners like you and me did this to him. Perhaps the only good answer to the question, “Why did Jesus choose to die?” is this, “Because there was no other way to get through to you and me.” He had to choose to give us the choice to kill him, so that when he was resurrected from the dead, we would realize what we had done. So that we might realize the length and depth and breadth of our sin and then, finally, understand the full extent of what he had done on the cross.
Jesus chose to die for you, by being born on Earth and letting you kill him, so that you might realize that even though you are completely responsible for his death, just as much as any person alive 2000 years ago, Jesus has wiped your sins away in the blood of his cross. You made you choice to kill Jesus Christ and now he has made his choice to give you eternal life.
Ironically, as Jesus is dying, he says, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” But the truth is, sinners back then and sinners today know exactly what we are doing, given the choice, sinners want Jesus dead. What we don’t know, is that by making our choice, God can finally make his choice once and for all in a way that we might all understand and believe. We cannot hide our sins any longer, Jesus’ blood is on our hands and on our children’s children. Thankfully, though, that same blood washes us clean in the sight of God. We have made our choice and God has made his choice. By his bruises we are healed. Amen.
Sermon for Maundy Thursday
When I was little, I learned this song describing the awesomeness of God. Maybe, you know it as well. He’s got the whole world in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands, he’s got the whole world, in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands. Now, listen again to tonight’s gospel reading, John 13, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.” God gives Jesus everything, all things God places into Jesus’ hands. And what do those hands do? They wash people’s feet.
During seminary, I spent a lot of time studying. During my first summer semester, while I was studying Greek, I would spend four hours straight each night working on my homework. I’d lock myself up in the study and . . . study, while Kristy did the dishes, did the laundry, cooked the meals and cleaned them up. But we both agreed that I was doing something really important. So important, it seems, that I couldn’t take the time to use my hands to do something as simple as washing the dishes.
Later on, once we had kids, I still had homework and so I would go into the study and, well, study. While I studied sometimes Kristy, my wife, would ask me to change a diaper because she was cooking, cleaning up, doing the laundry or doing the dishes. And yet, I would complain because, of course, we agreed, what I was doing was important and it didn’t seem right for me to take my hands away from my homework and, instead, clean out a poopy diaper. Jesus, on the other hand, knowing that the Father had given all things into HIS hands . . . well, he kneeled down, and washed dirt off of his disciples feet.
I’ve heard pastors say, more than once, that they make sure that they don’t get stuck moving tables or chairs around because there are people in the congregation who can do those things. They don’t want to get stuck doing it, they’ve got better things to do—more important things to do with their hands I guess? At the soup kitchen each week, they are often looking for volunteers to serve food. Of course, like many of you, I don’t have the time to serve this food because we’ve got to take care of our own families first and get them fed as well. What’s the best use for your hands in your life? What are your priorities? “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, put his disciples dirty feet in his hands and washed them.” Was that the best of use of Jesus’ hands? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.
The problem is, we can’t just argue that, “Well, he was Jesus. That’s what he was like.” Because Jesus commands us, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
I’ve often wondered why churches never really got into the habit of foot washing, not just on Maundy Thursday, but on a regular basis in church as well. But, for whatever reason, I’m glad they didn’t. Jesus’ sermon on servanthood would have been lost amongst the rules and regulations of a sacrament. We might begin to think washing feet was all that our hands were able to do when it is just the beginning.
Jesus, the disciples’ Lord and Savior, their Teacher, took the place of the lowliest of servants. God had given everything into his hands and, instead of basking in this glory, Jesus served by washing his disciples’ feet. You can glimpse how counter-cultural his actions were when Peter argues against this kind of degradation of his teacher. Or, perhaps, he wasn’t so upset about the actions Jesus was taking, but he foresaw where this little sermon was heading. If Jesus was willing to wash feet, well, the disciples probably understood what that meant for them. I also wouldn’t mind getting my feet washed by Jesus, but I certainly don’t look forward to changing diapers or washing the dishes or scooping snow or serving soup.
God has placed all things into your hands, through the death and resurrection our Lord Jesus Christ. Theologians have called it the “Happy Exchange” where all that you have, all your sins, all of your dirt, all of your anger, all of your brokenness is placed in the hands of Jesus, or, more specifically, nailed into his hands on the cross. All that Jesus has, his salvation, his forgiveness and his eternal life, is placed in your hands. All that you have is his and all that he has is yours. All things are in your hands.
Now, what will you do with all this? Will you serve or be served? Will you rest on your laurels or share your abundance? You know God’s commandment, but what are you going to do? Well, we will probably all end up hoarding our glory in our own hands most of the time. It is our peculiar gift to be able to make the least use of God’s abundant and good gifts. But God will not abandon you or me just because we fail miserably in following his commandments because we can’t see past our own selfish desires. But he just keeps pouring out the love and forgiveness and salvation and life until one day we might finally realize that there is always going to be something overflowing. Our cups keep running over, so that one day we might feel free enough, be given the faith enough, to stop allowing God’s grace to splash all over us, and, instead, provide a drink for someone thirsty for God’s love.
At his last supper, Jesus didn’t just give you a commandment, but he gave you all that he has, his body and his blood—his very heart, his love. And he’s not threatening to take it away with a big bad commandment; in fact, he promises to keep pouring himself out for you, day after day, moment after moment, until you realize how much you have to give—you have all that Jesus has and he’s got the whole world in his hands.
During seminary, I spent a lot of time studying. During my first summer semester, while I was studying Greek, I would spend four hours straight each night working on my homework. I’d lock myself up in the study and . . . study, while Kristy did the dishes, did the laundry, cooked the meals and cleaned them up. But we both agreed that I was doing something really important. So important, it seems, that I couldn’t take the time to use my hands to do something as simple as washing the dishes.
Later on, once we had kids, I still had homework and so I would go into the study and, well, study. While I studied sometimes Kristy, my wife, would ask me to change a diaper because she was cooking, cleaning up, doing the laundry or doing the dishes. And yet, I would complain because, of course, we agreed, what I was doing was important and it didn’t seem right for me to take my hands away from my homework and, instead, clean out a poopy diaper. Jesus, on the other hand, knowing that the Father had given all things into HIS hands . . . well, he kneeled down, and washed dirt off of his disciples feet.
I’ve heard pastors say, more than once, that they make sure that they don’t get stuck moving tables or chairs around because there are people in the congregation who can do those things. They don’t want to get stuck doing it, they’ve got better things to do—more important things to do with their hands I guess? At the soup kitchen each week, they are often looking for volunteers to serve food. Of course, like many of you, I don’t have the time to serve this food because we’ve got to take care of our own families first and get them fed as well. What’s the best use for your hands in your life? What are your priorities? “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, put his disciples dirty feet in his hands and washed them.” Was that the best of use of Jesus’ hands? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.
The problem is, we can’t just argue that, “Well, he was Jesus. That’s what he was like.” Because Jesus commands us, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
I’ve often wondered why churches never really got into the habit of foot washing, not just on Maundy Thursday, but on a regular basis in church as well. But, for whatever reason, I’m glad they didn’t. Jesus’ sermon on servanthood would have been lost amongst the rules and regulations of a sacrament. We might begin to think washing feet was all that our hands were able to do when it is just the beginning.
Jesus, the disciples’ Lord and Savior, their Teacher, took the place of the lowliest of servants. God had given everything into his hands and, instead of basking in this glory, Jesus served by washing his disciples’ feet. You can glimpse how counter-cultural his actions were when Peter argues against this kind of degradation of his teacher. Or, perhaps, he wasn’t so upset about the actions Jesus was taking, but he foresaw where this little sermon was heading. If Jesus was willing to wash feet, well, the disciples probably understood what that meant for them. I also wouldn’t mind getting my feet washed by Jesus, but I certainly don’t look forward to changing diapers or washing the dishes or scooping snow or serving soup.
God has placed all things into your hands, through the death and resurrection our Lord Jesus Christ. Theologians have called it the “Happy Exchange” where all that you have, all your sins, all of your dirt, all of your anger, all of your brokenness is placed in the hands of Jesus, or, more specifically, nailed into his hands on the cross. All that Jesus has, his salvation, his forgiveness and his eternal life, is placed in your hands. All that you have is his and all that he has is yours. All things are in your hands.
Now, what will you do with all this? Will you serve or be served? Will you rest on your laurels or share your abundance? You know God’s commandment, but what are you going to do? Well, we will probably all end up hoarding our glory in our own hands most of the time. It is our peculiar gift to be able to make the least use of God’s abundant and good gifts. But God will not abandon you or me just because we fail miserably in following his commandments because we can’t see past our own selfish desires. But he just keeps pouring out the love and forgiveness and salvation and life until one day we might finally realize that there is always going to be something overflowing. Our cups keep running over, so that one day we might feel free enough, be given the faith enough, to stop allowing God’s grace to splash all over us, and, instead, provide a drink for someone thirsty for God’s love.
At his last supper, Jesus didn’t just give you a commandment, but he gave you all that he has, his body and his blood—his very heart, his love. And he’s not threatening to take it away with a big bad commandment; in fact, he promises to keep pouring himself out for you, day after day, moment after moment, until you realize how much you have to give—you have all that Jesus has and he’s got the whole world in his hands.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Sermon for April 1st
“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” Jesus asks his disciples, Should I say, “Father, save me from this hour?” No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out!” Jesus is about to perform an exorcism of immense proportions and it will happen on the cross. Death will swallow up God’s Son Jesus one time on the cross, and then God will swallow up death forever by resurrecting Jesus from the dead. In the last petition of the Lord’s prayer, we pray that we will remember that the cross has the final say in our lives despite all the hours when we are tempted to believe the opposite.
Let me read for you from Martin Luther’s Small Catechism concerning the Lord’s Prayer, “Save us from the time of trial.” What does this mean? “God tempts no one to sin, but we ask that God would watch over us and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful self may not deceive us and draw us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins. And we pray that even though we are so tempted we may still win the final victory.”
The gospel of John explains that the devil is a liar and the father of lies and that when he lies he acts according to his nature. We live in a world of darkness that is full of flashing neon lights, 60 inch Plasma TV screens and advertisements saying that the future is bright. But it is still a world of darkness. We live in a world of sin where all the news stories, psychologists and experts tell us that we are just getting better and better, more informed, more tolerant and more civilized. But it is still a world of sin. How appropriate that today is April fools day, because our lives as Christians is full of trying to decipher what is real and what is not, what is darkness and what is light, what is true and what is a lie.
Jesus was criticized again and again for what others saw as inconsistencies between who he said he was and what was happening to him. Between what Jesus said he was doing and what people saw that he did. For instance, he was called the “King of the Jews”, but his own people shouted “Crucify him!” People shouted, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross! Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” The Messiah was supposed to be strong enough to defeat his enemies, not be crucified by them. How could Jesus save others when he was about to die.
The Devil, the world and even our sinful selves would have us also believe this lie. Despite God’s promises, we wonder how God could really be in charge when our best friends, spouses and heroes die of cancer. We wonder how God could really be listening when sometimes things happen to us that go directly against what we have prayed for. We wonder how Jesus could possibly mean that no one comes to the Father except through him, when there are so many different religions, so many other faiths and so many people who don’t believe anything at all.
In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for God to be holy for us. We pray for faith. We pray for things. We pray for forgiveness. And now, we pray for salvation. In his Heidelberg Disputation, Martin Luther wrote this, “A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.” We pray in the Lord’s Prayer that God would give us eyes to see the truth, ears to hear it and a heart to believe it.
What is a temptation, truly? It is a lie that we are encouraged to believe. At eleven o’clock at night, we begin to believe that ice cream will make us feel better after a hard day at the office when, in fact, it will probably only make us feel worse the next day that we step on the scale. When your marriage is in trouble, you begin to believe that the woman sitting next to you at the office cares more about your life than your wife sitting at home. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they believed that they would be better creators than God who had created them. We pray that God would help us to call a spade a spade. To realize when the truth is set before us and when a lie is simply dressed in sheep’s clothing.
Finally, we pray that God saves us from believing the biggest lie of all, that death will have the last word. You see, when Jesus cast the Devil, the ruler of this world, out of the world, and promised you eternal life, the final word was spoken to you. “You will live with me forever,” Jesus said. But, throughout your life, everything except for Jesus, will tell you differently. The books you read will try to fool you into believing that all there is to this life is the pursuit of fame, honor or happiness. The movies you watch will try to make you believe that any idea of the afterlife is simply fantasy. When you watch a loved one die, you will find it almost impossible to believe that you haven’t lost them forever.
The Lord’s prayer is finally a prayer for trust. To trust that God will be God for us, that he will give us faith to trust him, that he will give us everything we need for this life, that he will not let our sins get in the way of his mercy and that he will be faithful to everything he has promised. For he has not only commanded us to pray in this way, but he has promised to hear us and THAT is a pretty special gift from the creator of heaven and earth.
So, we pray, that God keeps his promises. That God would save us, both our bodies and our souls, from death. We pray that despite all the lies we live with and believe in every day, that God might always remind us of the truth and that he would help us live in the light of that truth. Every day is April fools day for the devil who tries to tempt you to believe that he is still in charge of this world and what goes on within it. But more than two-thousand years ago Jesus died on the cross and in that moment, at that very hour, the Devil was driven out and you were brought into the love and grace of God forever. Amen.
Let me read for you from Martin Luther’s Small Catechism concerning the Lord’s Prayer, “Save us from the time of trial.” What does this mean? “God tempts no one to sin, but we ask that God would watch over us and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful self may not deceive us and draw us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins. And we pray that even though we are so tempted we may still win the final victory.”
The gospel of John explains that the devil is a liar and the father of lies and that when he lies he acts according to his nature. We live in a world of darkness that is full of flashing neon lights, 60 inch Plasma TV screens and advertisements saying that the future is bright. But it is still a world of darkness. We live in a world of sin where all the news stories, psychologists and experts tell us that we are just getting better and better, more informed, more tolerant and more civilized. But it is still a world of sin. How appropriate that today is April fools day, because our lives as Christians is full of trying to decipher what is real and what is not, what is darkness and what is light, what is true and what is a lie.
Jesus was criticized again and again for what others saw as inconsistencies between who he said he was and what was happening to him. Between what Jesus said he was doing and what people saw that he did. For instance, he was called the “King of the Jews”, but his own people shouted “Crucify him!” People shouted, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross! Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” The Messiah was supposed to be strong enough to defeat his enemies, not be crucified by them. How could Jesus save others when he was about to die.
The Devil, the world and even our sinful selves would have us also believe this lie. Despite God’s promises, we wonder how God could really be in charge when our best friends, spouses and heroes die of cancer. We wonder how God could really be listening when sometimes things happen to us that go directly against what we have prayed for. We wonder how Jesus could possibly mean that no one comes to the Father except through him, when there are so many different religions, so many other faiths and so many people who don’t believe anything at all.
In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for God to be holy for us. We pray for faith. We pray for things. We pray for forgiveness. And now, we pray for salvation. In his Heidelberg Disputation, Martin Luther wrote this, “A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.” We pray in the Lord’s Prayer that God would give us eyes to see the truth, ears to hear it and a heart to believe it.
What is a temptation, truly? It is a lie that we are encouraged to believe. At eleven o’clock at night, we begin to believe that ice cream will make us feel better after a hard day at the office when, in fact, it will probably only make us feel worse the next day that we step on the scale. When your marriage is in trouble, you begin to believe that the woman sitting next to you at the office cares more about your life than your wife sitting at home. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they believed that they would be better creators than God who had created them. We pray that God would help us to call a spade a spade. To realize when the truth is set before us and when a lie is simply dressed in sheep’s clothing.
Finally, we pray that God saves us from believing the biggest lie of all, that death will have the last word. You see, when Jesus cast the Devil, the ruler of this world, out of the world, and promised you eternal life, the final word was spoken to you. “You will live with me forever,” Jesus said. But, throughout your life, everything except for Jesus, will tell you differently. The books you read will try to fool you into believing that all there is to this life is the pursuit of fame, honor or happiness. The movies you watch will try to make you believe that any idea of the afterlife is simply fantasy. When you watch a loved one die, you will find it almost impossible to believe that you haven’t lost them forever.
The Lord’s prayer is finally a prayer for trust. To trust that God will be God for us, that he will give us faith to trust him, that he will give us everything we need for this life, that he will not let our sins get in the way of his mercy and that he will be faithful to everything he has promised. For he has not only commanded us to pray in this way, but he has promised to hear us and THAT is a pretty special gift from the creator of heaven and earth.
So, we pray, that God keeps his promises. That God would save us, both our bodies and our souls, from death. We pray that despite all the lies we live with and believe in every day, that God might always remind us of the truth and that he would help us live in the light of that truth. Every day is April fools day for the devil who tries to tempt you to believe that he is still in charge of this world and what goes on within it. But more than two-thousand years ago Jesus died on the cross and in that moment, at that very hour, the Devil was driven out and you were brought into the love and grace of God forever. Amen.
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