One with Christ

One with Christ
(John 10:22-30)

Introduction

It is still the Easter Season on the Church calendar, but this morning the recommended Scripture takes a leap backwards, back to December, back to the Festival of the Dedication, also called the Festival of Lights, a joyous time on the Jewish calendar. It’s still celebrated today in nearly every Jewish home. You know it as Hanukkah. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.

A little background that everyone in the first century knew and when we know helps our understanding of some of the more difficult passages in the Bible. We’ve mentioned it in passing before.

The first century world was immersed in a Greek culture and they had been for hundreds of years beginning with the conquests of Alexander the Great in about 330 bc. After the death of Alexander, the known world was controlled by three dynasties: One based in Macedonia that controlled much of the Northern Mediterranean; another based in Egypt that controlled northern Africa, and a third based in Syria that controlled the near east, Persia and Mesopotamia. In essence the Greek culture was spread from Italy to India and from Macedonia to Egypt. And of course that included Palestine.

Israel had fought hard for a thousand years to maintain its religion and culture in the face of Egyptian Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and now Greek domination. Had they not succeeded, we would probably not be here. We might be worshiping Zeus until God came up with another plan.

In the second century bc, the Greeks had had enough. They were going to put an end to this upstart Jewish culture and religion once and for all. A very egocentric ruler Antiochus Epiphanes (Epiphanes means god manifest if that will give you an idea of his character), Antiochus Epiphanes came to power in 175 bc in Syria. It wasn’t enough that the culture was trickling into Palestine’s, Antiochus Epiphanes wanted to destroy and outlaw everything Jewish. In 170 bc Epiphanes invaded Jerusalem. Scrolls were destroyed, circumcision was outlawed. Mothers who had their babies circumcised were executed with their babies hanging around their necks for all to see. Gymnasiums and baths were built. These were to be center of culture rather than the Temple. As many as 80,000 were killed and persecutions were horrid.

But the crowning blow came in 167 bc when the Greeks entered the Temple, stripped it of gold and silver, made it a Temple to Zeus, and then on the 25^th day of the month of Chislev, essentially the month of December, they performed a desolating sacrilege (using the words of Jesus) by offering a swine, a pig on the altar of the Temple.

Now there was a Priest named Mattathias who had five sons, all heroes, the oldest named Judas Maccabeus fought back against great odds. It was an epic fight for freedom. Three and a half years from the time the Temple was violated, three years to the day that the desolating sacrilege, the offering of the swine had taken place, Judas Maccabeus had recaptured and cleansed the Temple, and re-lit the candles, the lights of the Temple, thus the Festival of Lights, and offered a sacrifice on a re-consecrated altar.

Three and a half years was a time told in the book of Daniel, and it appears in the book of the Revelation. How long will this last? When will I know? Is this persecution to last forever? The answer is a limited time, three and a half years and it is a message of hope. Suffering will not last. God will deliver us. Joy will come in the morning.

The Temple was cleansed, the lights re-lit and there was a joyous celebration, the apocryphal book, 1 Maccabees, says with songs, harps, lutes and cymbals for eight days. It was a time of great joy and Israel decided that it would be celebrated every year at this same time in perpetuity. And so it is. Suffering will never have the last word. Persecution will never last. God promises deliverance. God gives us hope. God promises joy. And we celebrate.

But during this Festival of Dedication, John tells us it was winter. I think John was telling us there was a chill in the air. There was pall over the celebration because the Jews were trying to destroy the Lord of Life. At the time of this Festival of lights, the Jews were trying to snuff out the Light of the World. The Jews. The Jews in the parlance of John were the Pharisees and others that opposed Jesus. It was they who were trying to extinguish the Light of Life.

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Our passage today is from John, chapter 10. In chapter 8, Jesus had said, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (8:12) But by the end of chapter 8, the Jews were trying to stone Jesus.

In chapter 9, Jesus restores sight to the man who had been blind from birth. When the Pharisees try to tell the man that Jesus is a sinner, he says, “I know not whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, but now I see.” (9:25) By restoring sight to the blind man, Jesus is giving him light. Jesus, the Light of the World. It should be a cause for celebration, but there is a chill in the air. It is winter, and Jesus walks under the cover of the Portico of Solomon to escape the cold winter rains.

In frustration, the Jews gather around him and say, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense. If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” (10:24) Jesus replies, “I have told you plainly but you do not believe.” But more importantly, he says, “The works I do in my father’s name testify to me.” (10:25) Isaiah had foretold what the Messiah would do. It had to be on the minds of the Pharisees and on the mind of Jesus: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless shall sing for joy.” (Isaiah 35:5-6) Jesus had healed the lame, given sight to the blind, loosened the tongue of the dumb, restored hearing to the deaf, he had done all of those things. The works that he had done in the father’s name were testimony to him.

Today’s reading in John chapter 10 is right in the middle of the “I am the Good Shepherd” discourse. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, contrasts himself to the thief who comes to steal the sheep, the hired hand who has no stake in the herd and runs at the sign of danger, or the wolves who come to destroy. These come to kill, or steal, or abandon. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who comes that you might have life and it abundantly (10:10). In our passage he says, “I’ve told you [that I am the Messiah], but you do not believe. The works that I do testify to me, but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I will give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.” (v 25-30 NRSV and NASB)

Because they would not believe, the adversaries of Jesus did not belong to his sheep. We believe. We know we need to believe, but they did not. Why not? Why in face of not only his words, but his works which testified to Him? Why did they not believe?

Simply, they had the wrong world view. We sometimes use the word paradigm which is a philosophical framework on which we hang all of our understandings. I think of it as a filter, a lens by which we view the world. We often can’t see outside of that filter or outside of the field of view of that lens. Those things that are outside of our field of view we disregard.

The Jews had been using a paradigm of who the Messiah was to be for 1500 years. For them, the Messiah would be a prophet, yes, of the lineage of David, yes, who would restore the nation to its greatness. They were looking for a warrior who would throw off the shackles of Rome as Judas Maccabeus had thrown off

Jesus had come as a prophet yes, of the lineage of David yes; but not as the warrior David, but as the shepherd David. Not to restore the grandeur of the nation, but to establish the kingdom of God. Not to re-consecrate the Temple, but to be the Temple. Not to renew the sacrifices on the Temple altar, but to be the sacrifice that takes away the sins of all the people. He was outside their paradigm, outside their world view. And He was a threat to them.

And then when he says, “I and the Father are One,” to their ears, within their framework, their paradigm, it was simply blasphemy. The concept of One God in three persons, simply didn’t fit their world view, their paradigm.

We too get stuck in paradigms. Why is it we get so stuck in our paradigms? A story about paradigms that might help. This was told by Frank Koch in the journal “Proceedings,” the magazine of the U. S. Naval Institute:
Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. [Koch says he] was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all the activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”
“Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out.
Lookout replied, “Steady, Captain,” which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees.”
Back came the signal, “Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees.”
The captain said, “Send, ‘I’m a captain, change course 20 degrees.” “I’m a seaman second class,” came the reply, “You had better change course 20 degrees.”
By that time the captain was furious, He spat out, “Send, I’m a battleship. Change course 20 degrees.”
Back came the flashing light. “I’m a lighthouse.”
We changed course [Koch says].

In the world view of the Jews, the paradigm of the Jews, the Messiah was to be the battleship, the Messiah was to be like Judas Maccabeus who would throw off the shackles of the earthly oppressor. When Jesus came, He was a light house, the light of the world. The Jews were not about to change course.

In the world view of the Jews, the paradigm of the Jews, the Messiah was to be the battleship, the Messiah was to be like Judas Maccabeus who would throw off the shackles of the earthly oppressor. When Jesus came, He was a light house, the light of the world. The Jews were not about to change course.

Mixing metaphors, they were not of this light house’s flock and His signals were not known to them. Jesus said, “You do not believe me because you do not belong to my sheep.”
Even though Jesus, the shepherd, had taught them his voice, they did not believe him to be their shepherd and they did not respond to him. This shepherd was outside of their paradigm, their worldview. Jesus says, “The sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. My father is greater than all else and no one can snatch them out of my father’s hand. I and the father are One.” (10:27, 29-30) This was a paradigm shift they could not accept.

“I and the Father are One.” Unity. Jesus’ unity with the Father was in his relationship with the Father, one of perfect love of the father and perfect obedience to the Father. Perfect love and perfect obedience are the two pillars of unity. And Christ asks unity for us and of us. In John 17, just a few chapters later, Christ prays to God for us saying, “I ask..on behalf..of those who will believe in me...that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may know you sent me.” (17:20-23)

Christ praying that we become one with one another, one with Him and in so doing our oneness, our unity testifies to Christ, that God has sent him. We are to have oneness with Christ so that all the world may know him.

The twin pillars of unity are love and obedience. The manifestation of these pillars of unity are works that testify to Christ. Just as Jesus said, “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me.” The works that we do, the works of the Church of Jesus Christ, also testify to Jesus Christ.

First Pillar: We love God by first believing in him and making that belief manifest by the works that we do that testify to Him.

Second Pillar: We secondly obey God and make that manifest also by the works that we do that testify to Jesus Christ.

In so doing we become one with Christ, one with the Church, one with one another. And we give witness to Christ through our works. That is how the story is told. That is how the world may come to know that God has sent him.

Today is “Change the World Sunday.” But for us, I would prefer it to be “Change the World Summer” as we involve others in the community to gather Health Kits, the things we do in Christ’s name, and thereby witness to him that God has sent Him. Being one with Christ and witnessing to him.

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One in love that comes through belief, and one in obedience because we hear his voice saying, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.”

Susannah Wesley, mother and spiritual guide of John Wesley is quoted as saying, “There are two things to do about the gospel: Believe it and behave it.”

Believe it and behave it. In so doing you will have unity with Christ and with one another. So may we all become believers and become behavers, and in so doing, become one in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Follow Me

Follow Me
(John 21:1-19)

Introduction

As you know by now, we eloped last week to celebrate our 50^th wedding anniversary with dear friends who live just north of Daytona Beach, Florida. The highlight of our trip was on Sunday. After church (we were Lutherans last Sunday), we headed for Orlando. Marlitt had called a week or two in advance and asked that we stay Sunday night because they wanted to (as our anniversary present) to take us to the opera in Orlando. Now, these friends are our German friends, and Wolfgang (we call him Fred) speaks seven languages. So if the opera is Mozart or Wagner that’s their native language. If it’s Italian, no problem, they speak Italian. Rosemary and I speak South Dakotan. Now they do have subtitles that flash across the top of the stage, and God bless ‘em, the subtitles were in South Dakotan. Good. Actually the opera was Porgy and Bess, in English, sorta’, and it was awesome. A full symphony orchestra, flawless, engaging performances. We have to say we loved it.

But, it was the trip to Orlando that I wanted to talk about. Fred and Marlitt had this little device called a GPS that they stuck to their windshield that provides directions for them to get from their house to the opera house. As soon as Marlitt backed out of the driveway, this little thing said in a soft voice, “Turn right in 100 feet.” And it was right!

In addition, there was a broad green arrow on the display that started straight ahead and then turned right. And then when we got going, it would say, “move left (or get in the left lane), turn left in one quarter mile.” And it was right again. And the arrow showed the way.

Now, give me a map and compass, and I’ll find my way anywhere. But without either, intuition just isn’t good enough. Here’s the difference between men and women. Women know they will be lost and they ask for directions. Men, don’t know they will be lost, and don’t ask for directions. Case in point. In the late 60s, we drove home from Ft Rucker, AL, to South Dakota, and hit Birmingham at traffic hour. Since my destination was not the middle of Birmingham, I decided I could skirt it, go around most of the traffic. That was without a map or a compass. And I didn’t ask for directions. We got miserably lost, in the wrong part of Birmingham. You may remember what was going on in the Birmingham in the 60s. Where we were was not the place to be lost.

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But I digress. It is the third Sunday in Easter. The eggs may be stale. But the Easter story never gets stale. When you read the Gospel of John it seems all of the stories are told in the light of the resurrected Christ. Here’s one of the big differences in the Gospels. Mark, written first, is written as if the Messiahship and the resurrection are hidden from the disciples. It’s as if they are saying, “We didn’t know. We were with him for three years and we didn’t know. It was hidden from us.” Matthew and Luke are somewhere in between. But John, before he get’s halfway through, Jesus is saying, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

And this story, this story, is like it is the call of the disciples told early in the other gospels, but here in John told in the light of the resurrection. Remember the stories in the other gospels? Jesus goes to the Sea of Galilee and calls Peter, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” This is almost like that story told in light of the resurrection. If it is not the same story, it is then the “recall” of the disciples by the resurrected Christ. After all from that point forward, the lives of the disciples were defined by the resurrected Christ and so are ours. “Follow me.” No GPS required, “Follow me.”

This last chapter of John is kind of the epilogue. It wraps the whole story together. The book could have easily ended in the previous chapter, Chapter 20, but the author wraps all the story together, pulls all the pieces together and re-calls Peter in the light of the resurrection. It is the renewal of Peter’s call to discipleship in the light of the resurrection. And we too are called and re-called, daily, in the light of the risen Christ. It is our story too.

Beginning in verse 3. Simon Peter says, “I am going fishing.” And they disciples say, “I am going with you.” Resurrection Sunday has come and gone. We don’t know the time frame here. The disciples have left Jerusalem and returned to Galilee. We know from Matthew and Mark that that is where Jesus told them he would meet them. It might have been weeks since Jesus has appeared to them in the Upper Room. Weeks since they’ve seen Jesus. I somehow think Peter is in the doldrums. Would he ever see Jesus again? And what were they to do? Peter says, “I’m going fishing.” Back to what he knows. Back to the material world. “I’m going fishing.” And the rest say, “I’m going with you.” You see, the Easter Sunday story may be about the promise of the future. This story is about the presence of the resurrected Christ in our lives. It is about the present. The resurrected Christ re-calling us (cast your nets on the other side), restoring us (do you love me?), sending us (feed my sheep and follow me). It is about the presence of the resurrected Christ and it is about the present.

“Children, haven’t you any fish?” Jesus had told them in the parable of the vine and the branches, “apart from me you can do nothing.” “Haven’t you any fish. Cast your nets on the right side.” If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And the story tells us they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. The present reality of the resurrected Christ. Abiding in him, obeying him, finding fruitfulness in him.

The beloved disciple says, “It is the Lord.” Now I think they knew that but sometimes you just have to state the obvious. “It is the Lord.” It is the resurrected Christ who is present in my life, who makes all the difference. Apart from him I can do nothing. But sometimes, sometimes we go back to fishing, we get lost in the material world and we lose sight of Christ. We don’t even recognize him when he appears to us, calls us. It takes someone else to say to us, “It is the Lord.” It is the presence of the resurrected Christ in our lives that makes the difference. Christ is hidden by the world, but revealed by love.

The beloved disciple says, “It is the Lord” and impetuous Peter who has been working stripped down, puts on his clothes and jumps into the water while the other disciples drag the net full of fish. Reading from verse 9: When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. (John 21:9-11)

Now this net full of fish fascinates me. John includes details we just don’t expect. Remember now, that John often tells stories at two levels, the story, the fish, and at a deeper, a spiritual level. And when John includes unusual details we need to be asking, “what did he mean?” Three words about this net full of fish: hauled, 153, and not torn (the net was not torn). Jesus says, “Bring me some of your fish” and Peter hauls the net. Other translations say “draws the net.” In Greek, the word for hauled is the same word Jesus uses to say he will draw all people to himself “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” (12:32) The same he uses when he says, “No one can come to me, unless drawn by the father who sent me.” (6:44) Peter draws the net of fish to Jesus. Draws for the purposes of faith and salvation. Draws.

Then there is this thing about the 153 fish. Lots of numerology in the Bible. Lots of conjecture. My favorite comes from Saint Jerome, fourth century scholar and the one who translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin. The Latin Vulgate Bible. Jerome, great scholar. He said that 153 represented the known species of fishes in the world. That when nets are drawn to Christ, no one is excluded. All are offered faith. All are offered salvation. We all receive the invitation.

And the nets are the church and they are not torn. No one, of any nationality, race or creed is excluded. O, we can surmise that some do not accept the invitation, but all are included. It is the reality of the resurrected Christ that draws us to him. It is his church, the church of the resurrected Christ who includes them. All of them.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it and bread. Then Jesus took bread, broke it, gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. (21:9;13) Jesus and John do not lose a chance to give us spiritual meaning by means of simple symbols. Peter had denied Jesus three times around a charcoal fire in the courtyard of the high priest. He is about to be restored by the risen Christ around another charcoal fire. The risen Christ makes his presence known in the gift of broken bread. We recognize the presence of the risen Christ as we receive the gift of bread in the Eucharist. Jesus feeds the disciples before they are called to feed his sheep. We too are spiritually fed before we are sent as his church to draw in his nets.

¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” ¹⁹ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 20:15-19

“Peter do you love me more that these?” (More than your boats, your nets, your material possessions; or more than the other disciples? Could be either) Do you love me more than these? Lord, you know that I love you. “Feed my sheep.” Three times. Then “Follow me.”

The resurrected Christ was present to Peter. Peter’s life would be shaped by the presence of the resurrected Christ. This resurrected Christ who ate with them and allowed them to touch his hands and put their hands in the scars of his side. This resurrected Christ was real to the disciples, he was present with the disciples and he defined their lives.

“Peter, do you love me?” “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit, but apart from me, you can do nothing.” The love for Christ would shape the life of Peter. He had a personal relationship with the risen Christ. He acknowledged the presence of Christ with him every step of the way. Peter could have said, “And he walks with he and he talks with me. And he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”

When we acknowledge Christ. When we allow him to influence the decisions we make and the shape of our lives, we have a personal relationship with him. The resurrected Christ is present with us. The resurrection is a present reality. It is if we say too, “And he walks with me and he talks with me.”

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Turn right in 100 feet. Move to the left lane, turn left in one quarter mile. Follow me.

The thing about that GPS on the windshield is that if you disobey it, if you turn too soon, or too late, or in the wrong direction it will tell you. Turn around, turn right, turn right, turn right. But finally, if you just won’t obey it, it’s silent for a while. But then it assumes you still want to get where you are going, and it calculates a new path from where you are to get us on track.

It says, “Follow me.” So may it be in all of our lives. Amen.

Easter: The Transformational Power of the Resurrection

The Transformational Power of the Resurrection

(John 20:1-18, Luke 24:1-12)

A. Introduction

1. Easter This is the day the Lord has made! This is the day of Resurrection. This is the day it comes down to. For the past six weeks we’ve been looking at Holy Week one day at a time. Six Sundays ago, Palm Sunday, then the next Sunday, Holy Monday, and on through the week. Last week, we experienced the despair of Good Friday. But today is Easter, the focus of our series. In fact, the focus of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. For it is the Power of the Resurrection that has transformed the world. And it is the Power of the Resurrection that transforms us too.
   
2. Last week, Good Friday, despair. I didn’t tell you about Peter.
1. On Thursday night, Jesus tells his disciple, that they will all become deserters this night. Peter says, “Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you.” And Jesus says, “Peter, before the cock crows you will deny me three times.” And many of us recall the story. Jesus and the disciples go to the garden of Gethsemane where Judas leads a crowd and the Temple guards and betrays Jesus with a kiss. He is led off in chains to the house of the High Priest to be tried. Peter follows, even though fearing for his life. He stands in the courtyard of the High Priest trying to see what is happening to Jesus. Through this mixture of both fear and courage he is identified by the servants. “You were with Jesus.” “You are one of his followers.” “You are a Galilean; your accent betrays you.” Each time Peter denies knowing Jesus. Even cursing. Three times. After the third time, the cock crowed. Realizing what he had done, the Bible tells us, Peter wept bitterly. You might say, Peter was having a Good Friday moment. Dispair. Bitter remorse. It was to get worse. Jesus was to be crucified and die.
   
3. Peter wasn’t the only disciple in despair. All had lost sight of the words Jesus had told them in Galilee, that he was to go to Jerusalem, be handed over to sinners to be crucified, and on the third day rise again! Nobody understood. Nobody was expecting the resurrection. Nobody.
1. The women too had forgotten. Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, Salome, the other Mary, other women who had followed Jesus from Galilee, all of them were in despair. They, like Peter, were all having their Good Friday moment. Then Saturday. It was a dark, dark Saturday. We sometimes call it Black Saturday.

B. Body

1. But then comes Easter morning. Early on the first day of the week, the women came to do their last loving act for Jesus, to anoint the body with perfume and spices. But they did not find Jesus. Luke tells us they saw the empty tomb and two radiant angels and were terrified. We don’t often put Easter and terrified in the same sentence. I think the women were still having their Good Friday moment. The Gospel of John said they had gone to the tomb while it was still dark. That’s John’s way of saying they were still in spiritual darkness. They were still having a Good Friday moment.
2. Mary Magdalene is the only of the women mentioned in all four gospels. In fact, she’s featured in John’s Gospel. She has center stage in the garden. So much so that in the Eastern Orthodox faith, she is considered an Apostle. She is an eye witness to the resurrection, she is called by Jesus to tell the story, and she goes and declares, “I have seen the Lord.” And she tells them all that he had said to her.
1. Mary, maybe more than any other had been transformed by Jesus. She had been possessed by demons, her life in shambles.
2. But the transforming love of Christ had changed her life. And he was about to change it again.Peter and John had left. The writer of John says they went home. Mary was left in the garden, the Bible says weeping. Just as Peter had been, Mary was still caught in a Good Friday moment, spiritual darkness still surrounding her.
3. Jesus, the man she had thought to be the gardner, says, “Mary.” What it must have meant to have Jesus, Jesus, say your name. And Mary says in Hebrew, “Rabouni,” which means teacher, but more than teacher. We lose something in the translation. It means, “My teacher.” Love is a personal thing. My teacher. My Lord and my God. And Mary goes and tells the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” And then she tells them all the things he had said to her. Mary, transformed by Jesus and then transformed again by the Power of the Resurrection, Mary, transformed Mary, becomes an Apostle of the Church.


3. Mary was transformed by love.
1. Love is not a feeling. Lest we get caught up in the Dan Brown, Davinci Code scenario of Jesus and Mary Magdalene having a family together. Let me repeat, love is not a feeling. Love is transformational.
2. To paraphrase Scott Peck from The Road Less Traveled, “Love is the will to extend oneself in order to positively transform oneself or another spiritually.” Love is the will, it is intentional. Love extends oneself. It takes effort, hard work. Love changes us, transforms us, love will not let us stay where it finds us.We are all spiritual beings. We have a physical body, yes, but we are spiritual beings. Love transforms us spiritually. We grow into the being God intends to be when we are positively transformed by love.


4. Greg Mortenson has popped up three times in fairly rapid succession in recent weeks. At Christmas, Rosemary gave me a paper back copy of a book, Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson, I have to say the title didn’t appeal that much to me. Three Cups of Tea. Then, as you know, I went to Connecticut in January and stayed a couple days at our former pastor’s house. He had a present for me, a hardback copy of a book, Stones into Schools, by you guessed it, Greg Mortenson. Stones into Schools. That’s sounding more substantial. And then this week, “The Rotarian” magazine shows up. On the cover, you guessed it, is Greg Mortenson. You get the picture?
1. The long and the short of it is this: What Keith Jaspers and Rainbow Network are to Nicaragua, Greg Mortenson is to the northern reaches of Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are doing the hard work of love to change lives. They have both been giving transforming love to their regions. In the case of Greg Mortenson, to the people living above 11,000 feet, at the highest altitudes that can sustain life, and in some of the most remote and rugged regions of the world.
2. Here’s the story. Greg Mortenson was a mountain climber who as separated from his guide coming down the mountain from K2, the second highest peak in the world. He stumbled onto the small village of Korphe, where the people nursed him back to health and cared for him over the winter. Once winter sets in you are there. Period.
   Here are the children of Korphe.
   While there, he promised a young girl, who was trying to learn, unsupervised under a tree, that he would build her a school. He said, “I promise.” He owed these people his life.
3. He returned to California, he lived for a year in his car, while he tried to raise the funds to build the school, an estimated $12,000. He sent out 580 individually typed letters, every senator, every contact he could think of. From those letters, he received one check and a note. One check for $12,000 and a note that said, “Don’t screw up.”
4. He then sold everything he had, including the car he’d been living in, for airfare and equipment to return to Pakistan and build the school. The will to extend oneself for the positive transformation of oneself or others spiritually.
   Here’s a picture of one of the early schools, and with some of the kids.
   That’s love. That’s Greg Mortenson.
5. Today, 16 years later, there are 131 schools across the highest, the very northern reaches of Pakistan and Afghanistan, 131 schools teaching 58,000 students, more than half of them girls. Does it matter? The saying goes, educate a boy and transform a life. Educate a girl and transform a village. Girls come home. In the case of one girl, completing her grade school education, then tohigh school on a Greg Mortenson scholarship and finally, a on a Mortenson scholarship, a two year maternal healthcare course. Hen she returned home. In the past, nearly every year in her area, 20 women had lost their lives in childbirth. Since her return in 2000, ten years ago, not a woman has died. Extending oneself for the transformation of another. That’s love. That is the transformational power of love, that is the transformational power of the resurrection.
   
5. Yet we so often live in a Good Friday world, don’t we? We live in a world where girls in countries like Afghanistan have acid thrown on them by evil people to deter them from going to school. Yet they have so much Easter hope, that they go to school anyway.
1. We have farmers in Nicaragua whose crops and livestock are destroyed by consecutive hurricanes. But with Rainbow Network there, they have so much Easter hope that they perservere.
2. We have the poorest of the poor in Haiti who have lost their loved ones and every token they might have had, yet with organizations like the United Methodist Committee on Relief and Catholic Charities there at their side as the heart and hands of Christ, they have Easter Hope and they move on. That is love. That is the Transformational Power of the Resurrection. From Good Friday moments to hope.
3. But we have Good Friday moments on a personal basis don’t we? Everyone who has lost a spouse, or a child, or has suffered from injury or disease has Good Friday moments. Those are personal moments. But we have a personal Savior in Jesus Christ, one who calls us by name. The same one that though the Transforming Power his Resurrected voice, said, “Mary.” The same personal Savior who with the same Resurrected voice would say to Peter, “Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep.” Mary and Peter lifted out of despair, out of their Good Friday moments by the Transforming Power of the Resurrection. Then as witnesses to the resurrection they were called, sent, and transformed the known world in their lifetime. The Transforming Personal Power of the Resurrection. Proof positive of eternal life, and therefore, we have hope.
   
6. On the personal level, it is the power of hope that propels us.
1. To know that we will be reunited with our loved ones again. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me even though they die, yet shall they live; and whoever lives and believes in me, will never die.” And that gives us hope. The transforming Power of the Resurrection.
2. To know that it is not a past thing, 2000 years ago, or a future thing, someday, but a present thing. As the song goes, “I serve a living Savior, he’s in the world today, I know that he is living, whatever foes may say. I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer, and just the time I need him, he’s always here. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.”
3. The transforming power of his love is a very personal and present thing. He lives.
   
7. During our sermon series on Holy Week, we’ve been asking the questions what kind of king is Jesus? What kind of Kingdom is he ushering in? And what does he expect of his subjects? What kind of kingdom is he ushering in?
1. Jesus is ushering in a kingdom where paradise has been restored. The paradise lost in the Garden of Eden is restored in the garden of the empty tomb.
2. The kingdom he is ushering in is one where paradise continues to break through by means of Jesus’ followers. First through his disciples, then through his Church, and today through agencies like the United Methodist Committee on Relief and through present day disciples like Keith Jaspers and Greg Mortenson, and you showing love to a neighbor. Glimpses of paradise.
3. Even though it is a Good Friday world, the proof of the resurrection comes glimmering through in the Transforming love of the people called Christians. That is the kind of kingdom he is ushering in.
   
8. Transforming love is not always easy. When Greg Mortenson returned to Pakistan to build the first school in Korphe, he bought the materials, had them transported to a town about 20 kilometers away, then made his way to the village to finalize the plans. The way across the river to Korphe, the only way was in a bucket, a cable car over a 100 foot deep gorge. This is the way Mortenson describes it: “It was just a box really, like a big fruit crate held together with a few nails. You pulled yourself along this 350 foot greasy cable and tried not to think about the creaking sounds it made. Tried not to think about the obvious—if it broke, you’d fall. And if you fell, you were dead.” (Three Cups of Tea, p 96)
1. So Mortenson arrived in the village and after his tea, the village elder said, “We have decided, as much want the school, right now what we need is a bridge. A bridge, so we can carry the school to Korphe village.”
2. Back to the States, a winter of fund raising to build a bridge the following summer so that the school could be built by fall.
3. Here are the porters, a year later, carrying the school to Korphe after they had crossed the bridge.
4. Transformational love is not always easy. It takes will. It takes intention if you are going to transform the souls of those you serve. Christ showed that. Mortenson found that out. Love can be hard work.
   
9. We are the Easter People. We are the people of the Resurrection. We are the people called to Transformational love. In fact the mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. For the transformation of the world. We are called to love.
1. We may not be called to build schools in the Himalayas or even in the rural mountains of Nicaragua; though we can do that by proxy, but we are called to love our neighbor. How transforming would it be if the People called Christians, the Easter People, put a fraction of that kind of effort into our relationships?
2. If we all had an understanding that love is not a feeling, it is way beyond a feeling. It is the will to extend oneself, to do the hard, hard work of building up another, of giving others the tools of spiritual transformation, of positive spiritual growth.
3. We are called to transform the place where we are. Love is not a feeling. It is the hard work of helping ourselves and others become what God intends us to be.
   
10. And we have the Power of the Resurrection on our side.
1. On Saturday night, black Saturday night, the disciples and followers of Jesus were a dejected, defeated band of pathetic nobodies.
2. After Easter, they changed the world! They began where they were, as Jesus instructed, first in Jerusalem, then Samaria, and to the ends of the known world. They transformed the world.

C. Close

1. We are the Easter People, we are the ones who possess the Power of the Resurrection. We’ve been given a story, we call it the Greatest Story Every Told. And we know that individual lives, families, communities, even nations have been transformed when they’ve embraced that Story.
   
2. And the greatest means of story-telling is to love, having the will, doing the work, extending oneself for the benefit of others.
   
3. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
   
4. We are the Easter People, equipped with the Transforming Power of the Resurrection. Let’s go build the kingdom. Amen.

D. (After the Table is prepared, Recite “One Solitary Life” by James Allen Francis)

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him, another betrayed him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned--put together--have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.*

That is the Transformational Power of the Resurrection.

Day 6: Our Crucified Lord

Our Crucified Lord

(Passion Narrative)

A. Introduction

1. We’ve spent the Lenten season asking ourselves of Jesus: What kind of king is he; what kind of kingdom is he ushering in? And what does he expect of his subjects? Of us?
2. The latter first, what does he expect of his subjects? Had we had church last week, we would have learned (and there are hard copies of the text in the back), we would have learned that on the night before he died, Christ taught his disciples and us four things:
1. A “New commandment that we love one another.”
2. Through his example in the washing of feet, that we serve one another.
3. That we love him by obeying his commandments. Love one another, serve one another, love Christ by keeping his commandments.
4. And four, we learned in his garden prayer, “Not my will but thine be done.” That we love God by submitting to his will. Love one another, serve one another, love Christ by keeping his commandments, love God by submitting to his will.

B. Body

1. What kind of king is this? He was first a very flesh and blood king. Christ was fully human and as such fully suffered for us on the cross. But by the end of the first century, the first heresy of the church arose. The Greek influence was saying that God would never submit to the cruelty of the cross. It was stamped out by Jesus’ followers. The disciples knew and John especially knew because they had seen him in the flesh, they had touched him. John said, “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life” (1 John 1). John was standing there with Jesus’ mother and saw him on the cross, he witnessed the issuing of the water and blood from his side when the spear was thrust into his side. John knew, John knew that Jesus was flesh and blood and there was no limit to how far this king would go to love us, to forgive us, to reconcile us, to restore the breach between God and us.
1. It is one thing to sacrifice.
2. It is quite another to lay down one’s life for us.
3. And yet another to do it by suffering the cruelest for of pain devised by man—for us. Nails driven directly through his nerves. Excruciating pain as he lifts his body to grasp for air only to do it again for hours until there is no strength, no breath left and he dies a terrifying death of suffocation. Excruciating, a word derived from the cross itself. And all that after he had been scourged, flogged, bits of metal and bone stripping the flesh and muscle as he was whipped again and again. Yes, it is quite another thing to under go the cruelty of crucifixion.
4. Then it’s even another thing to suffer the indignation of being hung on a tree, cursed by God, taking the whole of sin on oneself, being so ugly with sin that for a moment he was forsaken by God. Yet Jesus would say even to the God who had forsaken him, “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
   
2. What kind of king was this?
1. A king who loves without limit.
2. A king who would put himself through any circumstance, and suffering, any injury, any sickness, any guilt, any shame, even death itself to be able to say “I know what you’ve been through, I’ve felt it too and I forgive you.”
3. There’s a story of a man and wife who early in their marriage, the wife was unfaithful and for over 20 years could never forgive herself, living with guilt and shame that was a deep scar on their relationship, creating a void, a breach between them. Their relationship was never again the same. After 20 years, one day working in the garden together, the man said, “Dear, you know I love, I forgive you.” “How dare you, how dare you forgive me. You have no right to forgive me.”
4. In Jesus we have one who dared to be the kind of king who could forgive me in any circumstance because he had experienced every circumstance even being forsaken by God.

C. Close

1. And my response must be,
1. How dare I not love him.
2. How dare I not commit my life to him.
3. How dare I not commend my soul to him.
2. Our closing him, “When I survey the Wondrous Cross,” closes, “His love demands my life, my soul, my all.” How dare we not give him our all.
3. Let us close together, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” Amen.

Thursday: A Supper Together

(Matthew 26:17-30; 31-57)

A. Introduction

1. Gethsemane, Gethsemane go to dark Gethsemane. Thursday of Holy Week ends with Jesus being arrested. How did we get there? In one of the holiest weeks of the Jewish calendar, how did the story seem to come so abruptly to an end? And what does it tell us about what kind of king Jesus was? About what kind of kingdom he was ushering in? And what is expected of his subjects?

B. Body

1. Mark begins the story this way: (14.12-13) On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover’? So he sent his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you, follow him…’ Where do you want us to make preparations for the Passover?
2. The Passover. Recall that over a thousand years earlier, God had sent Moses to Pharaoh to demand that he set the people of Israel free, “Let my People Go.” but Pharaoh refused. Over and over again he refused. God sent plague after plague, pests, turning the water blood red, hail that destroyed crops and killed livestock. “Let my people go.” But Pharaoh refused. Finally, the tenth plague would convince Pharaoh. It would kill every first born in Egypt. But God instructed the children of Israel to take a lamb for each household and slaughter it at twilight for a meal to be eaten in haste. Then they were to take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and on the lintel of the house in which they ate the meal. The Angel of Death would then pass over the houses, pass over the houses, where the blood had been placed on the doorposts and lintel. They were to eat their meal in readiness to depart, with their loins girded, sandals on their feet, staff in hand. No time to let the bread rise. They were to eat unleavened bread. Then God instructed the children of Israel that they would observe this meal, this festival on the appointed day in perpetuity to remember the mighty acts of God in delivering the children of Israel from slavery to freedom. Now was the appointed time. Thursday evening, this particular week was the appointed time that all the children of Israel, Jesus and the disciples included, were called to observe the Passover. It just happened to be their last supper together.
3. So, what might the Last Supper have looked like? Here’s the traditional Davinci depiction. We don’t think there is much right in the picture. First of all he shows it as daylight. We know that it was night. More important is the seating arrangement. Archeologists have found Mosaics in Galilee depicting what is called a “triclinium,” a common Greek and Roman seating arrangement, also we believe used in better Jewish homes. Here’s a picture of a typical Roman meal being served at a triclinium. Note there are cushions rather than chairs. It was convenient for serving and for talking across the table. It explains a lot of things in the Biblical narrative that can’t be understood if we have Davinci’s picture in mind.
1. First, the host does not sit in the middle. This is probably the seating arrangement. We know where Jesus and at least three of his disciples were seated from the Biblical narrative. The host position is position one. Jesus would have sat here resting on his left elbow or hand if the cushion was lower, feet to the rear, eating with his right hand. John, the youngest, and one who might have helped with the meal or to rise and greet guests would have been seated in position 2, and we think Peter would have been here.
2. Listen to this exchange in the Gospel of John (13:21-26 RSV) When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, (We believe John called himself, “The disciple whom Jesus loved) was lying close to the breast of Jesus; (do you see how John here, was lying close to the breast of Jesus?) so Simon Peter beckoned to him (do you see how that would work?) beckoned to him and said, “Tell us who it is of whom he speaks.” So lying thus, close to the breast of Jesus, he said to him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it.” (Now position 3 was the most honored position. It is the position that the host would normally serve. So who was it in the most honored position at the last supper? Judas. Continuing.) When he dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscarot.” (Interesting isn’t it that Jesus has placed Judas in the most honored position at the table. I’ll let you ponder that.)
4. So how important is the conversation that took place around this table that night? Well, the Gospel of John spends four and half chapters on it. You may recall the events: Jesus washing the feet of the disciples; Jesus reassuring the disciples by telling them, “In my father’s house are many mansions”; Jesus giving a new commandment “that you love one another”; Jesus telling the parable of the vine and the branches, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them will bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing”; then Jesus says he will ask the Father to give them the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with them forever; and then he ends the conversation around the table with a prayer for his disciples. Interesting, the Gospel of John really doesn’t talk about what we call “the Last Supper.” He has talked about the body and blood of Christ after the feeding of the 5000. We find the institution of the Last Supper in the first three Gospels and in 1 Corinthians.
5. So what did he teach us that night? Lots of conversation in John that goes to the heart of Jesus’ love for us.
1. The Thursday of Holy Week is called Maunday Thursday. Maunday, from the Latin root of mandate and command. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. Even as I have loved you, that you have love for one another. By this you will be known as my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
2. His second teaching took place in the washing of feet. (John 13:12-15) ¹² After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” So the second thing he taught us is to follow his example and serve one another.
3. Then Jesus tells them, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Love one another, serve one another, love Christ by keeping his commandments.
4. The final teaching comes from the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke tells us that as Jesus prays, he prays, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Submission, not my will but yours, God’s be done.
5. So Jesus teaches us to love one another, to serve one another, to love him by keeping his commandments and to love God by submitting to his will. “Not my will but thine be done.’
6. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And on that night he told us, “Do this, as often as you will, in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor 11:25) The command is to remember, to take, eat, drink as often as you will in remembrance of me. To recall the mighty acts of God in Jesus Christ, to proclaim the Lord’s death until he returns.
1. On that night as they shared the Passover together, Jesus redefined the meaning of the Passover meal in terms of the New Covenant. He took bread and after blessing it, broke and gave it to his disciples saying, “This is my body given for you.” Christ presenting himself as the substitute for the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb had been given to redeem the first born. Jesus was now giving himself as the Passover lamb. Redeeming us, the first born in God’s eyes, redeeming all of us.
2. And in the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This is my blood of new covenant, poured out for you.” Never again would a death be required for the forgiveness of sins. Christ defining a new covenant of his love for us.
3. The Passover feast, the Old Covenant remembrance of God’s mighty acts in delivering the children of Israel from physical slavery to freedom.
4. The Passover, now transformed into what we call The Communion, the Eucharist, The Great Thanksgiving, the Last Supper as remembrance of God’s mighty acts in Jesus Christ delivering us from slavery to sin to eternal freedom, life everlasting.
5. “Do this in remembrance of me.”

C. Close

1. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” he follows by asking the Father to give them the gift of the Holy Spirit. God will not leave us alone. It is the Holy Spirit that binds us together as the body of Christ. We are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God (Eph 2:22) Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor 10:16) “This cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ?”
2. The Greek word used here for sharing is koinonia, or fellowship, communion, joining together. Communion is more than an individual act, it is an act of joining with the body of Christ in remembrance of this mighty act of salvation, his body broken for us, his blood poured out for us. It is an act of sharing with the community of believers, all of us coming together with Christ, our Rock, our Redeemer.
3. As we come to the table today, let us remember, yes, that Christ died for us, but that it is also the remembrance of the fellowship of believers that are remembering and joining together as Christ’s body on earth, joining together as the heart and hands of Christ bringing eternal hope to others, being obedient to Christ, loving one another, serving the world around us, submitting to the will of God. So may it be in all of our lives. Amen.

D. (At the Table)

1. So, what kind of king is this? One who will do anything, go to any lengths to save his subjects.
2. What kind of kingdom is he ushering in? One in which we are called to love one another, to join together in fellowship to be his body one earth.
3. And what does he expect of his subjects? “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And he said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” The Table is set.