Walk Into the Light

Thoughts Before Worship:

Today is the second Lord’s Day of Easter.  We should all know that Easter is not just a day, but a season in the church year composed of fifty days including Easter Sunday all the way to Pentecost on May 31.  During this season, we celebrate and live into the fullness of what Christ’s Resurrection means in our daily lives and the destiny of creation.

Sermon for the Second Lord's Day of Easter.

Scripture: 1 John 1:1-2:2

Intro: About Easter Resurrection:

• Easter is not only a day, but a season of fifty days, during which we celebrate Christ’s resurrection and seek to discover what the Resurrection means for our lives.
• Easter, the season, is an extended look at the Resurrection and the new reality of the world that Christ brings through it. 
• We celebrate the way Christ’s life, death, and Resurrection...
• Initiates a new kingdom, new reality, a new world, and
• Frees us from sin and death. 
• Except, on this second Lord’s Day of Easter, already, life seems to cause us to question whether any of that stuff is true, about Jesus, about the Resurrection, about the new reality and new world. After all, we claim Jesus’ Resurrection freed us from sin and death, but look around: there’s still sin, still brokenness, still pain in the world.

Trans: And to a certain extent, the Christians John was writing to in our reading today were feeling this way too.

TiB:

• The Christian community John wrote to must have been going through some serious doubts and struggles: among them, wondering, “Does the Resurrection cleanse us from sin?”
• Tradition says that Jesus died around 33 AD/CE, so any alive when he died would have to be 60 or 70 if scholars are right in thinking that a man called John wrote this and two other letters in the closing decade of the first century. 
• During that span of time, according to the Book of Acts, the message of the Gospel spread like a wildfire and the apostles led many people into fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, and with them. But they also saw enormous change, struggle, and strife:
• from 54-68, Emperor Nero persecuted the Christians, forcing them to go underground. This is when many of the Apostles were killed – Peter, James, and Paul included.
• The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE after a Jewish revolt.
• And then, though some of the emperors and leaders weren’t as cruel as Nero, they still saw Christianity as a threat, something to compete against, or at least a nuisance. 
• Life just stunk for the Christian community during that time – persecutions; killing Christians, etc. 
• What’s more, they too knew the gospel that Jesus had lived, died, and rose again to free the world from sin and death, but some of them must have been looking around saying, “yeah…when?”
• Reading the letter from John, we can see that he must have been writing because people were denying Jesus, his Resurrection, and/or their own sinfulness and need of redemption.
• He starts, not with a normal letter’s greeting, but right to the point: 
• We write to share with you what we have heard, seen, and touched concerning the Word of Life that was from the beginning: The Word of Life is Jesus Christ. 
• We write you this letter so that what we have experienced, you too can experience: fellowship with God through Jesus Christ and fellowship with others who are in Christ Jesus.
• With this greeting, it must be that “John” felt the people needed reassurance of the Gospel (Jesus, born, fully human and fully divine, crucified, died, buried, rose again for the salvation of all and the cleansing of sin)
• Further: “I am writing these things to you so you may not sin” (2:2).
• From the things John wrote, it’s clear that he thought that some needed to be re-instructed on the way of Jesus.
• Some, it seems, must have begun to think that they weren’t sinners, and didn’t need God’s grace through Jesus Christ. 
• They must have been thinking something like: Well, I might not be perfect, but that doesn’t mean I’m a sinner. Plus, how does Jesus do anything about that? I just need to be a better person.

Trans: And, strangely, this seems to be fairly similar to our own lives, doesn’t it?

TiW:

• In the circles I have often run in, and the churches I’ve been around, there really isn’t a strong sense of sinfulness, of being sinners. (This isn’t necessarily bad; we don’t need to go around depressed). 
• What is bad, it that most of the people we meet on a regular basis would probably not think about themselves as sinners. We, in our culture, like to think we’re “good people, overall.” We think, Sure, we may have a few faults, some say, but we’re not sinners. We’re good enough. We believe something about God, and we’re good people, mostly. That’s what matters. 
• Except, that’s not what scripture says to us. That’s not what the letter of John tells us. “It says, that God is light and in [God] there is no darkness at all” (v5). 
• He goes on, arguing that if we say we know God, are in fellowship with God, but still sin, then we’re liars – we’re doubly sinful. And that if we truly have fellowship with God and follow Jesus, then we won’t sin – we’ll “walk in the light as he himself is in the light” (v7).
• What’s more, as we agreed in the beginning, Jesus’ Resurrection and the season of Easter, are supposed to be about celebrating that sin and death are no more, that they no longer bind us. But, just like the community John’s writing to, we look around and see things not as they should be. 
• They were standing there wondering why the new reality of sinlessness and joyful freedom hadn’t gotten to them yet, and so too are we sitting here wondering the same thing. We’ve got pain and brokenness, death and worry. Where’s the freedom in that?
•  These are the rotten fruits of sin, of being a fallen creation.
• Sometimes, it’s not even that we’ve willfully done something – not some chosen sinful act. Sometimes, it’s just that the world is fallen and in need of grace – our whole world is tainted by sin. And we taste that bitter fruit daily.
• Eg.: Families with members who don’t talk; divorce; illness; death; violence; war
• but also the small things, like students cheating on quizzes; dogs that bite humans; biting flies; families without money for rent, or clothes, or food….
• The student in the US who falls asleep in class. When his teacher asks him if he’d eaten breakfast that day, he responds simply, “No, it wasn’t my turn.” (CWS)
• We see brokenness and death, pain and sorrow. And in the face of these realities, we wonder how we can possibly believe that the Resurrection truly frees us from sin and death, truly ushers in God’s new, perfect reality. 

Trans: And from this position of wonder and disgust, it’s John’s message to the First Century Christians that starts to open our eyes to the light of God.

GiB:

• As hard as John is pushing the message that we’re all sinners, John also seeks to make it abundantly clear that God knows, and has made a way to be something else, to be as clean and sinless as God created us to be. 
• Look at the passage again. John writes to “make his joy complete” (1:4). 
• What’s his joy? It’s the fellowship with God he has through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and fellowship with others in Jesus.
• So bringing others to experience God’s grace in Jesus brings him joy because he has fellowship with them. 
• His joy is being sinless – not in the sense of never sinning – but in the sense of being forever cleansed by Jesus, who is the “atoning sacrifice for our sins” (2:2). 
• He knows he’ll sin again. He knows those he’s writing to will sin again. But he also knows that through the Resurrection, Jesus cleanses the world’s sin so that all creation can enjoy fellowship with God and others. 
• “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…” (2:1). 
• But here’s the hard part: CONFESSION. John writes, 
• “[If] we walk in the light, as he himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1:7), and
• “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9). 
• Image: Darkened Room with a faint light in the distance, as if down a long hallway – perhaps like my house when I first moved in.
• Darkened room – a fallen world
• for a short time the Light of God entered the world in Jesus Christ, and in Jesus, John writes, they experienced what a truly human, truly sinless creature was like 
• And then the room was darkened again – Jesus had been crucified; and then later, after the Resurrection, he ascended into the heavens. 
• And there we are, standing in a darkened room seeing the Light in the distance but still in the midst of a sinful and fallen world – even while the Light is trickling in and casting out the darkness.
• John urges us: Walk into the Light; walk in the light; which is to say, Confess your sin and be cleansed. Confess your sin and allow Jesus to cleanse you so you can enjoy fellowship with him and with us, for it’s the sinfulness, the darkness that has kept us apart. Confess your sin, because Jesus cleanses us of sin and bring us into fellowship with God and others.

Trans: Indeed, our sinfulness, and the fallenness of the world is precisely what has prevented us from enjoying the fellowship of God and others. Sin divides creation from her Creator; but Christ is the bridge that re-unites the two.

GiW:

• John is pushing us as his readers too. Only a week ago, we celebrated Jesus’ Resurrection, yet we still see brokenness and are dismayed. We’ve just proclaimed, “He is risen! Alleluia!” and now have gone back to the dark shadows of life. But, through John, Christ calls us out. Christ calls us to be more. Christ calls us to be perfect, to be sinless, to walk in the Light, which is to walk in Him. 
• And when we consciously, willfully choose to walk in Christ, to walk in the light, Christ cleanses us from sin and hugs us into the fellowship he shares with God the Father through the Spirit, and with all Creation – his Body. 
• We too have our work to do. We need to walk in the Light. We need to confess. 
• We see the brokenness, the sin, the pain of our world because we are, indeed, still in the darkness. We’re in that darkened room that once was light, but now is only enlightened from afar. We need to walk into that light, to walk into Christ. 
• And we do this through confession. Sin is the thing that divides us, and in Christ, confession leads to forgiveness and thus, reunion and reconciliation. 
• This is why, every week, we confess our sins before God and one another in this congregation. I love that you all do this, and were doing it before I got here. 
• When we confess our sins regularly together, it helps us to remember that we need to confess, because we are sinners fully in need or redemption. 
• But, I urge you, look at the confessions, and look at your hearts. Are you confessing, or are you merely saying some words that the pastor or the book or the tradition picks out for you and puts in your mouth? 
• Usually, in our congregation, we have the confession near the front of the worship service. When we do this, it’s a general confession about our general sinfulness. 
• Yet today, you’ll notice that our confession is following the proclamation of the Word. That’s because confession is a specific response to the Word of God proclaimed in our midst, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We confess, because God has moved in our hearts and is impelling us to step forward, confess, and get right with God. It’s a come to Jesus moment. 
• Sin has darkened our existence, our world, our lives. And it’s time to break free, for Christ has indeed broken sin’s hold on us. Christ bids you, Come, come into the light. Come to me. Come. Lay your sins on my table at the foot of my cross. I died for them. I took them on myself. They’re mine now. Not yours. Let me have them and put them to rest. You’re new in me. You’re new. 
• Come, enjoy my fellowship. Let your sin go. Come, enjoy the fellowship you have with others in me – with your church, with other churches, with your families and friends. Come, make my joy complete. I cleanse you of your sin so that you can enjoy fellowship with God and others. Come. Walk into the Light. 

Pasch - Easter Sunday

Thoughts Before Worship:
Welcome. I’m so glad you’re here to worship together. I’m always glad, but especially glad today, because today we celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection – an event that has changed the world and continues to do so, even today. Thanks be to God.

Yet, Jesus’ Resurrection won’t mean anything if you don’t know the events of the previous days. Let’s go over it. At Christmas – many of you were with us then – we celebrated that God became human in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Since then, we’ve celebrated in worship how Jesus reveals God’s character of steadfast love and forgiveness to the world. But not everyone was so fond of Jesus. Some people wanted him killed, saying it’s better for one to die than for all of us to receive harsh treatment from the Roman Emperor. Jesus knew that this plot was underway, so on Thursday when we gathered, we celebrated the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples before his death. He washed their feet and commanded them to love others in the same way, if they truly wanted to follow him. After the supper, he prayed in Gethsemane Garden, where he was arrested. He was taken first to Jewish authorities and then to Pilate, the Roman governor. They flogged him, beat him, spat upon him, put a crown of thorns upon his head, and mocked him. Then they forced him to carry his cross to the Hill of the Skull where he was crucified with two criminals. After he died, a man named Joseph from Arimathea came, took down his body, prepared it fur burial and laid it in a stone tomb in a nearby garden.

As you’ve arrived, that’s the story we’ve heard so far, yet we know that the tomb is empty: praise the Lord!

Sermon: Resurrection Means No Fear
Scripture: John 20:1-18

Christ is risen; he is risen indeed. And yet, on this Easter day, I’m drawn to an image from the movie Bruce Almighty. In the film, Bruce Nolan, played by Jim Carey, is given the role of God and all the associated powers and responsibilities. At first he’s completely skeptical. Then he has some fun with it. But in the end, Bruce is finally exasperated by the job of being God – having all the power and control in the world was not enough to enable him to be God. So, at his wit’s end he wanders aimlessly on a dark and rainy night. Driven finally to accept his humanity and the magnitude of being God, he drops to his knees in the middle of the street. The rain is pouring down upon him, drenching him, mingling with his own tears as he cries out to God, “I surrender to your will!” And then he’s hit by a truck and the scene cuts to a meeting with God in Heaven.

Not actually about the Resurrection, this is an image of fear and control. Bruce was given all God’s power but he wasn’t able to control life in a positive way. And, in his lust for control, all that he cared about most fell through his fingers. Don’t we, at times, wish we could give it a shot – we sure try anyway? Likewise, faced with the scandal of Jesus’ crucifixion, all Jesus’ followers want is to grab a hold of their careening world and set it right. The crucifixion is out of our control and we don’t like it. But, as we see in John’s Gospel today, the Resurrection teaches Jesus’ disciples, then and now, a lesson of life, control, and vision.

Let us then dwell for a moment on the first part of John’s account, verses 1-10. How dark the Sabbath must have been for the disciples; how painful, how fearful. Their leader, whom they had thought was their Messiah, had been arrested, tortured, and crucified. In the events of a few short days, their world had been flung out of control. They would have been filled with fear, doubt, and confusion. In this spirit, Mary Magdalene arose early on the first day and snuck across the dark city of Jerusalem to the garden tomb near Golgotha. Certainly she didn’t want to be seen, especially going to Jesus’ tomb. It wasn’t safe.

She went there to continue mourning Jesus’ death, perhaps for days, as was the Jewish custom. She certainly didn’t expect to see anything unusual that morning at the tomb; Jesus was dead. Imagine her surprise then as she arrived and found the stone rolled away from the tomb, exposing its entrance. She quickly noticed that Jesus’ body was gone – that someone had taken it – and took off running to tell Peter and the disciple Jesus loved (presumably John). Still, she thought only of Jesus’ death and his body. Resurrection was the farthest thing from her mind.
At Mary’s news, all three race off toward the tomb. John arrives first and sees only the burial linens, but for some reason pauses before going in. When Peter catches up he rushes into the tomb. He must have been looking for clues to explain what appeared to be a body snatching – which was not uncommon at that time. Then John enters too, and though the text says, “he saw and believed” (v.8), it’s unclear what he believed considering that it also says the disciples didn’t yet understand. As they turn away from the tomb of empty linens, what they truly think is unclear at best. As far as they know, their leader and friend is now not only dead, but his body has been stolen without a trace. It’s only later that they begin to understand what Jesus meant when he said he’d rise again.

The time leading up to the Resurrection appearance is thus characterized by uncertainty and fear – fear of death, fear of having no control over the future, fear of being arrested, and uncertainty concerning the missing body and what to do next. The death of Jesus and the fact of his missing body lead us to similar feelings – feelings that are all too common in our lives anyway.

We’re good at anxiety and stress. When you ask people what they’ve been up to, it’s likely their response will be, “Oh, we’ve been so busy. It’s about driving me crazy,” and they keep it that way. We’re good at fear: it’s one of our primary motivators as citizens – we have to change this law, so that they won’t bleed us dry –; and it motivates our church and family decisions at times too – what are we going to do about our home, our bills, our health, etc. Death too, Jesus’ death, but also the deaths of loved ones and friends, weighs heavily upon us – and nothing makes us more aware of our limitedness and lack of control than death. In our everyday lives, we struggle with fear, with doubt, with trying to make sense of the world and control it. Nobody here tries above all else to control everything, do they? Our desire for control seems to come only naturally, but faced with Christ crucified and missing from the tomb, we have little to hold onto.

With this mixture of feelings, let us stay with Mary near the tomb to see what she sees there. As she weeps, she turns her tear-streaked face toward the tomb once more, as if in search of answers that just don’t come. But wait…what’s this? Where only linens had lain before, now she sees two angels wearing white, while she was covered in the darkness of mourning and fear. Asked of her weeping, she sobs all the more as she tells the angels about Jesus’ missing body. Then, she turns around, perhaps hoping that someone’s there to confirm her vision, or afraid that vile grave-robber types might be lurking about.

Seeing a man behind her near the tomb perhaps she almost turned to run, afraid that this man meant her harm, or was the one who had maliciously stolen Jesus’ body. Instead, she is caught by the man’s question, the same as the angels had asked: “Why are you weeping?” (v.15). Supposing him to be the gardener, she tells him of Jesus’ missing body and begs him to tell her its location if he knows it. But in the moment that Jesus calls her by name, “Mary,” the veil of fear is lifted: she can see that it is Jesus, her beloved Teacher, her Savior. As she rushes to embrace him, he turns her energy and newfound life to the mission of telling the other disciples that she has seen the risen Lord.

At the deepest moment of her fear, Jesus comes to Mary, calling her by name and comforting her. Matthew’s Gospel is much better at conveying this comfort, for both the angels and the risen Lord assure Mary, “Do not be afraid” (Mt 28:5,10). Still, we must assume that Jesus comforted Mary, drying her tears, and empowering her to tell others about him. And how comforting that is. Christ is risen! Oh how amazing a moment it must have been; and how amazing it still is. Jesus, who died upon a cross, whose body was laid in a tomb, is risen, standing in front of Mary, in front of us.

He is risen, indeed! It is not just Jesus’ presence that calms Mary – it is his Resurrection. The Resurrection rewrites the rules of the world. The chains of death no longer bind humanity, for in Jesus’ Resurrection, death’s power is destroyed. Death no longer has the last word, for Christ is risen and all will be raised in him.

Mary came and lingered near the empty tomb afraid and emotionally destroyed. She was so consumed with grief and fear that she was even unable to recognize the risen Christ in her midst. And in Mary, we can see ourselves, for we too are prone to grow so distracted by fear and desires for control that we are left unable to truly celebrate in Jesus’ Resurrection (are any of you worried about the hams you have in the oven? Is it preventing you from worshipping well?).

Consider it this way, as Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan William suggests in his book The Dwelling of the Light: “[We] are compulsive dividers, separators, and in these divisions we deny ourselves the life God is eager to give,” end quote (30). The obvious division is death, which our culture seems to fear more than anything else. But in running from death, do you know someone who has in fact failed to truly live? We build walls between ourselves and others, “strangers” we call them – walls erected out of fear. Could this not be the reason why it’s so hard to welcome people with family heritages different than our own? Likewise, we see the brokenness and division in our own fears and uncertainty about the future – jobs, projects, money, houses, children. Perhaps these fears seem legitimate, but they make no sense when faced with the love of God shown in the Resurrected Son. And thus, it is in Jesus’ Resurrection, that we begin to see life anew – life without fear.

In Jesus’ suffering, death, and Resurrection, Christ is the bridge that overcomes all the divisions and brokenness in our lives. He bridges life and death, making a way through death to eternal life. He bridges relationships, freeing us to forgive one another because God has forgiven us. He frees us from the fear of death and uncertainty, because we know that God raises the dead and cares for God’s people even through suffering. We know that through Jesus’ Incarnation, death, and Resurrection, we are all adopted as sons and daughters. Christ frees us to live out of control, relying not on our own strength or ability, but on God’s faithfulness and grace. He frees us from the worries and fears that blind us from seeing the living Christ, from running to him, hugging him, and laughing again with joy. He frees us to live as an Easter people.

And like Mary, being an Easter people, a Resurrection people, means receiving a mission – go tell the others! – and taking off filled with the hope that in Christ all things truly are possible. In his Resurrection, Christ has destroyed death’s hold. In his Resurrection, Christ has freed us to faithfully witness to God’s love for the world without fear. Such faithful witness means living daily in the Resurrection hope and assurance that no matter what happens, Christ has been there and will bring us through. He is risen, indeed!

Good Friday

I was honored to preach among my colleagues and the congregations we serve yesterday evening as all three United Methodist churches in town came together to worship on Good Friday.  Here is the sermon I preached.  We read John 19:25b-42

 On this, of all days, we followers of Jesus should be fully aware of the great cost of our discipleship. Being obedient to the will of God will cost you your life. It certainly did for Jesus – tortured and crucified without committing a crime. The Apostle Paul tells the gospel story to us this way: Jesus “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross” (Phil 2:7-8). Jesus was fully obedient to the will of God, and it cost him his life, just like he told his disciples it would. 

Yet, before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s just have a quick refresher on the events leading up to tonight’s reading from the Gospel according to John.

• Jesus arrested in the garden; the authorities balk once when he doesn’t put up a fight; Peter cuts off an ear and is chastised; Caiaphas and Jewish authorities are worried about Jesus but agree that it’s “better for one to die…” for the good of the whole.
  
• Peter denies Jesus once while Jesus is taken for questioning;
  
• Jesus is questioned by Annas and then the High Priest, Caiaphas; 
  
• Peter denies twice more, as Jesus foretold.
  
• Took Jesus to Pilate in early morning – didn’t want to defile themselves so they didn’t enter Pilate’s headquarters; “we’re not permitted to put anyone to death” ? – traitor and threat to Caesar
  
• Pilate and Jesus – tries to get out of it 4 times; “my kingdom’s not of this world…”; Trade for Barabbas; Jesus flogged and crown and purple and mocking; “no case against him”; “crucify him!”; he denies, they say he must;
  
• Accused of claiming to be the “son of God”; Pilate scared; Jesus makes no defense; power is from above, not from violent humans; Pilate washes hands and sends Jesus to be crucified, while the Jewish authorities say, “we have no king but the emperor”
  
• Jesus carries the cross alone; crucified with two others
  

 Obedience to God and following Jesus will of God will cost you your life. Jesus knew this and told his disciples this clearly in a text we’ve heard recently: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mk 8:34b-35). Jesus is clear: the way of salvation, the way of following his example of living into the will of God for humanity, will cost you your life.  

As Pastor Jay pointed out so well in Monday’s noon worship service, following Jesus most likely cost Lazarus his life. Just a chapter after John tells us that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead – Hallelujah! – he tells us that “9When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus” (Jn 12:9-11).
Follow Jesus’ example of obedience to God will cost you your life: just look at the disciple whom Jesus loved. As Jesus is hanging on the cross, he looks down on his mother and the “disciple whom he loved” and told them, “Woman, here is your son,” and “Here is your mother” (Jn19:26). And from then on, that disciple took Jesus’ mother into his home, treating her as his mother and, presumably, taking care of her until she died. In following Jesus, especially in this moment, that beloved disciple gave up his life for Jesus by taking in his mother. Anyone who has been the caretaker of another knows how difficult and consuming it can be. And we can be sure that at some point taking care of his own mother, plus Jesus’ mother, would have felt completely consuming.  

Being obedient to God and following Jesus will cost you your life. Beyond Jesus himself, we see this most clearly in today’s text in the man named Joseph from Arimathea. John tells us that up to this point Joseph had been a secret disciple of Jesus “because of his fear of the [Jewish authorities]” (Jn19:38). But when he saw that Jesus had died, he boldly went to Pilate requesting permission to take away the body.  

Now, it doesn’t say, but it’s quite likely that Joseph was a Jew, just like Jesus, just like all his first disciples. Thus, coming from Arimathea – which may have been as much as 20 miles away – Joseph was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover by offering sacrifices at the Temple. He knew the customs, the law, and the teachings. He knew that celebrating the Passover was one of the pivotal events in the life of every child of Israel: it’s what formed them together as a people. Further, he knew that you have to be ritually clean in order to worship and offer sacrifices with the people, and that, according to the Torah, coming in contact with a corpse meant you were ritually unclean for seven days. And yet, when Jesus dies, Joseph jumps in to take care of his mangled, tortured body.  

This makes him ritually unclean. If you’re a 1st Century Jew, you don’t mess with a dead body hours before the Passover and still participate. In doing this, Joseph makes himself an outcast; he places himself outside the community at the most important time of the season. What’s more, if he doesn’t go through the specific steps of ritual purification on the third and seventh days, he’s to be “cut of from Israel” completely (Num 19:11-13). By taking care of Jesus’ body, Joseph willing takes himself out of the community that has given him his identity: he loses his life; he would have been as good as dead to the Jewish authorities and his own community. Being obedient to God and following Jesus finally cost him his life – his community of faith, his identity, everything he knew. How’s that for a cross?

Obedience to God through the way of Jesus will cost us our lives too. What ways has following Jesus completely changed and altered your life, altered the way you operate, think, and live? Has it cost you more and more of your money as you give, work toward tithing, and then beyond? Has it cost you friends or family, because they just couldn’t understand your commitment to Jesus? I have a friend for whom this is especially true and painful: when God called her to follow Jesus, her Hindu father cut her out of the family. What about missionaries giving their whole lives, or those of you who give up vacation time to go on mission trips? Following Jesus is costing you your lives, one PTO at a time. And for all of us “normal, average” people, Jesus has still given us a mission to share God’s love with all we meet, and this can be tough at times, it can cost us. You’ll probably be known at the office as that weird one who can’t hang out on Sundays or some weekday nights because of worship commitments; the one who doesn’t drink, or the one who will have no more than one or two, while the others party; the one who won’t gamble or smoke because both exploit the poor for the benefit of the wealthy and perpetuate brokenness. These things are life for others around us, so in their eyes, being obedient to God by following Jesus has cost you your life.

Today, it is clearer than at any other time that the way of Jesus will quite possibly get you killed if you’re faithful and obedient to God, as he was. Certainly, following Jesus in obedience to God will cost you your life, but here’s the odd thing: it’s totally worth it. Yet, this makes it sound like a cost-benefit analysis, which it’s not. It’s just that, God created us to live such lives of obedience and worship. God gives us our lives so that we can give them back to God in glory, thanksgiving, service, and praise. Jesus showed us this, which is why we can stand here, facing a cross – an instrument of cruel capital punishment – and call this day “Good.” In the cross of Christ, we see God’s wisdom and power, precisely because we see creation exactly as God intended her to be – obedient, worshipful, humble, forgiving, and self-giving.  

And this is good news. We know that Jesus’ death and burial in a tomb isn’t the end of the story. We know about Easter Day and the joyous cries, “He is risen! Hallelujah!” Jesus’ death is a real death. He died. He died for the sins of the world. But in his death, he took on every bit of the human experience: death, yes, but also mockery, torture, abuse, suffering, and false conviction. It’s not just that God became human in Jesus. That’s nice. But Jesus took on all of the human experience, all the brokenness, all the junk: he bore it all. And because he bore it all, all of it, all of us, our entire selves are raised with him in his Resurrection.  

And that is good news – that two days from now, we’ll celebrate our share in his Resurrection, but not before his call costs us our lives, as our sin cost him his. And faced with this night we’re left sharing in the pain of the awful truth that the light came into the world and we rejected it.

Holy Thursday

On Thursday, we gathered for a worship meal in which we shared a meal including Eucharist, while singing, praying, and hearing God's word among us.

Here are the pieces I wrote down. We read John 13:1-17, 31b-35.

Introduction/Words of Direction:
A meal, similar to this one. A group of Jesus’ followers gathered to be with him and with one another celebrating God’s goodness.
- Passover was a holiday or feast time celebrating God’s mighty acts of salvation of Israel from slavery in Egypt. And it was the tradition to go to Jerusalem at such feast times to offer sacrifices in the Temple.
o It’s called “Passover” because on the night before the people were led out of Egypt, the angel of the Lord killed all the first born males in the land except for those of the Israelites.
- So, from that time forward, the people always set aside a time for feasting and celebrating God’s saving work in their lives – historically as well as in the present and future.
- That’s why Jesus and his disciples had gathered in Jerusalem – to praise God over a meal, or set of meals.
o They’d gathered for their meal – whether it was the day before the Passover, or the Passover itself (John differs from the other gospels).
o At the meal, they probably sang, chanted, or spoke psalms – specifically, psalms 113-118. It was a meal of fellowship and worship
- That’s why we’ve gathered too, to praise God through the worshipful sharing of a meal.

Tonight, sharing a meal together is a real part of our worship, not just something we do with worship. Our conversation, our serving of one another, our fellowship – they all bring glory and thanksgiving to God. Some of the time, we’ll be focused on reading scripture, praying, singing, and listening for God’s Word among us. Other times, we’ll be able to talk with one another. Please do not wait until after everything’s done to eat; just eat throughout, but try not to sing with your mouth full – it never works well.

Table Blessing:
Blessed Trinity,
you’ve created all that is to share
in your loving relationship of Father, Son, and Spirit.
We give you thanks for this food, those who have prepared it, and our fellowship together.
Bless us in our fellowship that you may be glorified and we may be filled with your peace.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Meditation:
- This passage from John’s gospel, recounting Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, is always the reading for Holy Thursday. On this night, we also celebrate Jesus instituting the meal we now call Holy Communion, but in John’s gospel, the focus is on Jesus’ actions before the meal even gets going. He gets up, wraps a towel around himself, grabs a basin of water, and starts washing his disciples’ feet.
- This is disgusting, repugnant. Of course, it was cultural that people would wash their feet when entering a home because of all the walking around in sandals and the like.
- We talk about it like Jesus is taking on the role of a servant. No. Jesus is stooping below that. Washing people’s feet was below even the servant’s duties. They didn’t even do it. They just brought the water for people to wash their own feet – not to do it for them. He is lower than low.
o That’s why Peter rejects it, and has to be convinced by Jesus.

- And then – I love this line – after Jesus finishes washing their feet, he asks, “Do you know what I have done to you?” (Jn13.12b).
o He’s set them up.
o He knows they call him “Teacher” and “Lord” and assures them – “you are right, for that is what I am” (v.13). Here’s the turn…
o But don’t you see what I’ve done to you? If your teacher and lord washed your feet, something even servants don’t do, what do you think that means you should do? Who should you be if your teacher and lord does such a disgusting, low, selfless thing?
o Jesus says, “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done” (v.15).
- And then, he reiterates, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (v34).

- As John points out, Jesus knows that his human time with his disciples is coming to an end, and he wants to make sure they know how they are supposed to be in the world. He wants to make sure they understand that they’re to be his followers in living in the character of God. So he shows them, one last time, with explanation, what God’s character is like.
o Jesus washed their feet and then told them they should do the same.

- What are the connections for us – what’s foot washing for us? And how do we react to it?
o Is it hard to have other people serve you? to take your plate? To wash your hands? What about your hair, or your feet?
• It takes humility to receive such care. That’s what Peter had to learn, and us too.
• At first, you think Peter’s being modest, not wanting his Lord and Teacher to stoop to serve him. Yet, isn’t it also Peter’s pride, his arrogance, his need to control – No, Lord, don’t do that. I’d rather do it myself.
o When do you and I, or we as the church exhibit such pride, such distaste for Jesus’ offer to wash our dirtiest parts?
• No, Lord, I don’t need you to save me or heal me – I’ll just take a pill, go to the doctor, you know…
• Or, how many times have we turned down an offer for help, just because “I can do it myself”?
• Or, how often do we hear, “I’m a good person; I believe what I believe and that’s fine. That’s what matters, that I believe something about God and am a pretty good person”?
- That’s not what Jesus says. Jesus says, Sit down, give me your dirtiest parts, and let me wash them. You’ll never be fully clean if you don’t let me…let me.

- And then, Jesus says, Now you’ve seen it done. You see what I’ve done to you. You want to follow me, you know I’m the true Lord and Teacher, then do as I do.
- But what’s stopping us?
o Again, it’s pride – simple self-centeredness.
o Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s a great amount of good that we as a church, and individuals do. Thanks be to God.
o But what Jesus forces us to ask ourselves is, What consumes most of our thoughts, energies, focus, and resources?
• For us as a family, there are times that we don’t help people in need, people we know we could help, because we’re scared – scared that they don’t really need it and are scamming us, but more scared that we won’t have enough if we help them, if we go out on a limb for another.
• Isn’t that true of our state and our nation as well? There’s a lot of buzz around our state and national government about who should and shouldn’t receive public services and aid. Many people wrongly blame immigrants for draining public systems and say they should be barred from receiving any aid. Is that what Jesus would do? Is that what Jesus would have us do? Or would he instead stoop down, give all of himself to the other, and still be filled with more from the Father? We’re afraid that we don’t have enough to take care of ourselves, so we try to find ways to “legal,” “rational,” ways to exclude others.
• And don’t we as a church sometimes get caught in this same type of prideful, self-centered thinking? Where does most of our money and energy go? Building, insurance, pastor’s salary, utilities, upkeep. Yet, Jesus wrapped a towel around himself and washed feet and told us to be like him. Where’s a building come in, unless it’s got a big bathtub for washing feet, for serving people?
- What we’re doing as individuals, or as a church, is not bad, necessarily. What the disciples were doing with Jesus wasn’t bad. He’s just calling us to more, to be like him, to live and witness to the character of God – which is love, compassion, justice, and self-giving. That’s just who God is, as revealed in Jesus.
- “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples…” (v.34-35).
- Jesus calls us to love one another, to be servants of all, just as he made himself lower than servants. Jesus shows us how to love, so that we can be like him. And in our loving like him, others will come to see and know God’s love. Amen.