MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/04/14
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Reading:
Luke 24:36-48
Text:
Luke 24:39 “Look at my hands and my feet. It is myself! Touch me and see, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have!”
Message
Easter is more than just one day of celebration. A whole season of Eastertide prompts us to maintain the energy of those who first ran from the empty tomb. We need to keep the energy and joy of Easter alive.
For the disciples, the days after Christ’s crucifixion were a mixture of emotions. Many of them had fled the scene at the garden of Gethsemane and foot of the cross. We might imagine they huddled together in the shadows, trying to stay under the radar and out of sight lest they meet a similar fate. John’s gospel reveals them shutting out the rest of the world in a locked upper room, presumably from fear. But we know the gospel message continued to spread. Do you remember the refrain from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s famous rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar? The apostles sing “what’s the buzz? Tell me what’s a happen” over and over again. Post-resurrection we might imagine it being a bit more hushed, but with even more anxiety as they try to put the pieces of it all together. In Luke’s account of these days, just before this morning’s text, two disciples travel to Emmaus, and a stranger joins them to talk about it all. That stranger, of course, turns out to be the risen Christ, revealed in the breaking of bread. Almost immediately, Cleopas and the other disciple race back to Jerusalem, a 7 mile trip, to proclaim that “The Lord has risen indeed” (verse 34).
And, as if a stranger turning out to be Jesus isn’t exciting enough – in the appearance in today’s lesson, Jesus almost appears out of nowhere. “Surprise! Here I am!” aren’t quite his words, but rather words of peace, a reassurance for their anxiety and fear. Can you imagine? You know how when you’re talking about someone, even something good, and then they walk into the room unexpectedly? You are probably left a little speechless and lose your train of thought. Multiply that and you have a tiny sense of this moment. The disciples probably froze, and turned sheet white, as if they had seen a ghost. Because, despite the news they had been talking about, that is exactly what they perceived as happening; the development of yet another overwhelming ghost story.
It’s not enough that the tomb is empty. It’s not enough to proclaim, “Christ is risen!” It’s not enough to believe in the resurrection. At some point we have to move from the event of the resurrection to experiencing the resurrection. Experiencing resurrected life begins with recognizing the risen Christ among us. That is the gift of Easter and it is also the difficulty and challenge described in today’s gospel.
Cleopas and his companion are telling the other disciples how Jesus appeared to them on the road to Emmaus when Jesus, again, shows up out of nowhere, interrupting their conversation. “Peace be with you,” he says. They see him, they hear his voice, but they don’t recognize him. They “thought that they were seeing a ghost.” They know Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. They know dead men don’t come back to life. This can only be a ghost, a spirit without a body. The tomb is open but their minds are closed. They are unable to recognize the holiness that stands among them. They are continuing to lie, think, and understand in the usual human categories. They have separated spirit and matter, divinity and humanity, heaven and earth. Whenever we make that separation we close our minds, we deny ourselves the resurrected life for which Christ died, and we lose our sense of and ability to recognize holiness in the world, in one another, and in ourselves.
I am not too keen on the idea of ghost stories but here is a flip side. For, although the disciples think that Jesus is a ghost, their assertion is proven wrong: not once but twice. First Jesus invites them to touch Him and see that He is flesh and bone. This is not an apparition. He is fully present with them. God is not just with the disciples in a spiritual sense. God dwells with them and this is the risen Lord in the flesh. With Jesus’ resurrection, however, God shatters human categories of who God is, where God’s life and energy are to be found, and how God works in this world. Resurrected life can never be comprehended, contained, or controlled by human thought or understanding. Jesus’ resurrection compels us to step outside our usual human understandings of reality and enter into the divine reality.
That new reality begins with touching and seeing, flesh and bones, hands and feet, and broiled fish. Jesus said to his disciples, “Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Then “he showed them his hands and his feet.” After this he ate a piece of broiled fish in their presence.
N.T. Wright notes that it matters because:
“Resurrection implies at the very least a coming back to something that had been forfeited, that is, bodily life …(and) The deepest meanings of the resurrection have to do with new creation. If the stories are metaphors for anything, they are metaphors for the belief that God’s new world had been brought to birth.”
Wright and others stand firmly behind the bodily resurrection as central to an understanding of the meaning of not just the Resurrection, but faith in Jesus Christ. In all conversations, the importance of the resurrection is affirmed. And, as Stephen Cooper notes:
“To insist on the reality of the resurrected body is to demand that we accept our present reality as the place where transformations of ultimate significance take place.”
I think that’s what Jesus was trying to prove in his offering of his body to the disciples. That this wasn’t just some figment of their imaginations or hopes in the midst of despair. It was true and real. This matters to us, today, too. Our faith should not be something lost in fantasy or fiction. It should be grounded in the real and tangible experience of Christ among us. Our faith isn’t some theoretical idea. It is something we can touch. So the disciples touch him and their joy begins to grow. But they still aren’t sure. You can imagine a glistening in their eyes, a turn of the head as they look at him again. Could this really be true? Jesus offers a second offer of proof, asking for something to eat. And he eats some broiled fish. Clearly this is something a ghost could not do. Now the disciples get it. Jesus puts the ghost story to rest, because there are other things he needs the disciples to hear. His offers of proof remove the distractions that otherwise would keep this as simply a fantastic ghost story of inspiration and wonder. Just as Jesus is present with them, he calls them to embody this good news of resurrection and build upon what they know from scripture and his teachings and become witnesses to all that has been proclaimed, including the resurrection.
Barbara Brown Taylor offers that this is how Jesus ushers in their new way of being. She writes:
After he was gone, they would still have God’s Word, but that Word was going to need some new flesh. The disciples were going to need something warm and near that they could bump into on a regular basis, something so real that they would not be able to intellectualize it and so essentially untidy that there was no way they could ever gain control over it. So Jesus gave them things they could get their hands on, things that would require them to get close enough to touch one another.
He calls them to take on these teachings as a way of life together. Just as He has been transformed, resurrected, they too are to be changed in ways that impact their way of being in the world. That is the point of the gospel after all. That is the aim of Easter. To give those who would follow Christ, even the church, new life. One that is marked by tangible engagement with the Word, not just read and studied, but lived and breathed. And when we do that, we fully reflect the image of the risen Christ.
Luke wants the reader to know that the place to look for the sacred is not beyond the earth. But the sacred center of life is still in the world, in the flesh and blood, material world. This is where God is active and alive. This is where people can know God and where God lives with and empowers people – in the flesh!
MESSAGE FOR EASTER SUNDAY, 2024/04/07
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Reading:
John 20:19-30
Text:
John 20:26 “A week later his disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus come and stand among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.'”
Message:
In our Scripture passage this morning we will see another group of men who suffered because of their unbelief. Despite all the eyewitness reports they heard, they refused to believe that their master had come back to life. And they would have continued to live in doubt and fear, if Jesus had not come to them personally to end their unbelief. It was now about 8 pm on the Sunday when Jesus had resurrected from the dead. In a house somewhere in Jerusalem, a group of fearful disciples were huddled together mourning and weeping. They had locked themselves in, afraid that the Jewish authorities would come looking for them there. In subdued tones they discussed all the strange happenings that day which they had heard from others: First, a group of women had informed them that they had found the tomb of Jesus mysteriously open and His body was missing, but two angels there told them that He had risen from the dead. But the words of these women were just idle tales to the disciples, and they refused to believe them.
However, their report was soon confirmed when Simon Peter and John went to see the tomb and discovered that the graveclothes of Jesus were still lying there, but not His body. Then came even more startling news to all the disciples: Mary Magdalene arrived at the house and told them, ‘I have seen the Lord! I have seen the Lord.’ And in response to all of that joy and sadness and confusion and fear and guilt, Jesus simply said: “Peace be with you.”
I Jesus now brings lasting peace and joy to their troubled hearts.
Jesus knew that His disciples had locked themselves in a house because of their great fear of the Jews. He knew how deeply troubled and anxious they all were. And so He calmed the storms that raged in their hearts, in the same way that He had calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee two years earlier. At that time the sea instantly became tranquil and calm when He said, ‘Peace, be still’ (Mark 4:39) And now, His words had the same calming effect on His disciples. In verse 19 He says to them, ‘Peace be unto you.’ And he repeats it in verse 21 and verse 26 ‘Peace be unto you.’ Some would think that this was just the usual Jewish greeting of ‘Shalom’ which Jews give when they meet one another. It isn’t. In fact, this is the only instance in the NT where Jesus ever said, ‘Peace be unto you.’ And so they are meant to draw our attention to the special peace that the Lord brings to His disciples.
And what a wonderful peace this is! It is the same peace that Jesus had mentioned at the Last Supper in John 14:27. ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’ But now in chapter 20, something new is revealed about this peace, because the body of Jesus now bears the permanent marks which testify of this peace. The nail-pierced hands and the spear-wounded side which the Lord showed His disciples in verse 20 bear permanent testimony to His completed work on the cross – the work which is our source of peace. As Romans 5:1 says, ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Colossians 1:20 says: ‘He has made peace through the blood of His cross.’
This peace is yours if you believe in the Christ who died on the cross and rose again. You have peace with God through Him. And when you have peace with God, you can also have the peace of God which passes all understanding, to keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. This peace does not depend on having peaceful circumstances. It is a peace from within, a peace that you can always have even when circumstances are not peaceful at all.
And this story is also about how Jesus comes to us, in the midst of our doubts and fears and sin and guilt, to offer each and every one of us that simple word of grace, and mercy, and forgiveness. ‘Peace be with you,’ says our risen Lord to us all. This gospel reading is really about the peace which surpasses all understanding; the peace which the world cannot give; the peace that can only come from our crucified and risen Lord; and the peace that comes when we most need it. Think back to a time in your life when you feel as though you have truly disappointed God. And now, imagine Jesus showing up at that very moment, and saying to you: “Peace be with you.” That is what our Lord does for each and every one of us. That, too, is what the miracle of Easter means for us.
Perhaps you may want to know how this lasting joy can be yours. Well, you can have it only when you look to your resurrected Saviour. Verse 20 says, “then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.’ It was only when the disciples saw Jesus that they were glad. This made all the difference in them. By seeing Him they knew that all the reports of Him they had heard that day were true. Now they truly believed that the Lord had risen from the dead. And now they were most ready to do His will joyfully, knowing that Jesus is alive and well. Likewise, we must keep our eyes on Jesus and believe in Him in order to have this lasting joy. It can make a great difference in us. Do you know what happens when we take our eyes off the Lord? We lose our joy, and we sink right back into our doubts and fears. One chorus which has stayed with me since my childhood days is ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.’ So, dearly beloved, whenever you feel overwhelmed by many responsibilities, turn your eyes upon Jesus! Look to Him and say, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me.’ (Phil 4:13)
Whenever we turn our eyes upon the Lord Jesus we will be able to rejoice in Him and no one can take that joy away from you.
II As the Father Has sent me.
But today’s gospel reading is also about the ways in which we are called to share that peace and that joy, with a world so filled with doubt and fear. Jesus did not join his disciples in the upper room simply to celebrate his resurrection with them. He also joined them there to give them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to send them to the world to continue his mission. “As the Father has sent me,” Jesus said to them and to us, “so I send you.”
The blessings that the disciples received when they saw and believed in their resurrected Master were meant to be proclaimed to all men. And this is what Jesus commissioned them to do in verse 21, “As the Father hath send me, even so send I you.” The only reason why we can carry out our mission as a church today is that Jesus has risen from the dead. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would have no good news at all to proclaim. What verse 23 says about remission of sins would be impossible. As 1 Cor. 15:17 says, ‘If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.’ If Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would also have no power to proclaim the good news effectively. In verse 22 we see Jesus breathing on His disciples. This was a symbolic act which signified His giving of the Holy Spirit to empower them for service. This was fulfilled 50 days later at Pentecost. It was only with the Holy Spirit’s power that the Church of Jesus Christ could become a movement to make disciples of all nations, and to be His witnesses to the uttermost parts of the earth.
The word “Apostle” literally means one who is sent. The word “Disciple”, on the other hand, literally means one who learns. The disciples have learned from Jesus many things. By his words and his example, he has taught them about the Kingdom of God, and about our Heavenly Father’s purpose for them and for the world. Now, these disciples are becoming apostles. Disciples who are sent into the world. Jesus sends those first disciples out into the world to be his apostles. And he sends us out into the world in the same way. We are the sent-out people of God, with a mission that comes straight from our crucified and risen Messiah. But Jesus doesn’t tell us to do this. He helps us to do this. That, too, is the miracle of the resurrection. After he said to those first apostles, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” Jesus breathed on those apostles, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
You see, it is not enough for Jesus that he conquered death through the great triumph of Easter. Now he wants to breathe this new life into you and I; he wants to share that new life with us. And then? Then he wants us to go out and share that new life with others. To share that new life with a world that is suffocated by anxiety and fear. He wants to breathe new life into this world through us. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Jesus wants us to go into a world in the grip of death, and breathe unto it new life. And our world needs that new life, doesn’t it? And if we wonder where it will come from, it will come from us. We are the ones continuing Jesus’ mission. We are now the body of Christ in the world. We are God’s plan to bring new life into a dying world, until the day that God’s son returns again. Our words, our deeds, our hope, our faith, our love, our witness in our daily lives, our acts of love to others; all of this done in Jesus’ name with the help of the Holy Spirit; all this is how the world catches a glimpse of our risen Lord. That is what it means to be an apostle, and that is what we are.
III Thomas
How could Jesus have known everything that Thomas had said? What does this reveal about Jesus? It shows us that He is the omniscient God. Nothing is hidden from Him. Jesus knows everything that happens. He knows every word that you and I have ever said. There is only one conclusion that we draw from this: Jesus is truly God Himself – the true and living God who came down to earth in human form. This explains why Thomas responded as he did in verse 28 “My Lord and my God.” Dear friends, will you also give the same response? Will you acknowledge that Jesus is both Lord and God? Well, that acknowledgement is not good enough. You must go on to confess Him as your Lord and your God, like Thomas. There must be personal submission to Him. This means giving Him willingly all rights to your life, withholding nothing at all from Him.
Why? Because He is worthy! Jesus is worthy to receive all your love – you’re your whole-hearted devotion. This is not unreasonable at all, if you consider how Jesus has made you an object of His love and devotion. His love for Thomas was revealed in the way that He granted so readily every condition for believing that Thomas had set in verse 25, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Jesus could easily have taken great offense at all these conditions, and at his strange refusal to be convinced by the reasonable testimony of all the rest. What right did Thomas have to demand this when he had refused to believe his fellow disciples? But instead of showing any displeasure at doubting Thomas, Jesus dealt with him lovingly, even calling him by name in verse 29. And He lovingly brought Thomas to faith in Himself with a gentle rebuke in verse 27 ‘Be not faithless, but believing.’
So we must look forward to each Lord’s Day when we can come together to meet Him by faith. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is (Heb 10:25) but make it our top priority to be in the Lord’s House for our weekly appointment with Him! We should not follow the example of Thomas. Unlike the rest of the disciples, He continued to live in doubt and fear for a whole week. And nothing that they said about their blessed encounter with the Lord could convince him that Jesus had truly risen from the dead. He remained stubbornly firm in his unbelief. Why? Because he had not been there to experience the encounter for himself! He was absent when the disciples met together on that Sunday. And it was only when he attended their meeting next Sunday that he realized what great blessings he had missed! So please make sure that you don’t miss those great blessings. Make it a point to keep your weekly appointment with the Lord and His people every Sunday. Even though you can always read your Bible and worship at home, it is not the same as being in His House for the worship service. Therefore, unless you are sick or infirmed with age, you should never be absent from church on Sundays.
Do you know the end of Thomas’ story? Do you know where he died? He died in India. He was the apostle to the people of India. He brought the gospel of Christ to India. He died a martyr after he was run through with five spears by five soldiers. That doesn’t sound much like a doubter, does it? It sounds like someone who grew and changed, someone for whom the resurrection of Christ was real, someone for whom the empty tomb made a difference. It just took a little time, as it does for most, maybe all of us.
We know Doubting Thomas but let’s not forget Confessing Thomas. He’s in today’s gospel as well. “My Lord and my God!” With those words Thomas has recognized and named a new relationship, a new worldview, a new way of being. Somewhere between Doubting Thomas and Confessing Thomas is the story of resurrection in Thomas’ life. All that stuff about Doubting Thomas, the fact of his disbelief, is just Thomas’ starting place, nothing more and nothing less. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s a starting place. And we all have our starting places.
What is your starting place? What are the facts of your life today? The starting place for the story of our resurrection is whatever is. Whatever your life is today, whatever your circumstances are, that’s the starting point for your story of resurrection. So if you’re dealing with deep loneliness, sorrow, and loss, that’s your starting point. That’s the room which Christ enters. If you are locked in a house of fear, confusion, or darkness, that’s your starting point and the place in which Jesus stands. If illness, old age, disability, or uncertainty are facts of your life, that’s your starting point and the place in which Jesus shows up. If you feel lost, betrayed, disappointed, overwhelmed, that’s your starting point and the house Jesus enters. If joy, gratitude, and celebration are the facts of your life today, that’s the starting point for your story of resurrection.
Conclusion
And Jesus has not changed the way that He deals with people. He would show you the very same love. He says to you now, ‘Be not faithless, but believing.’ If you are a sinner, Jesus calls you now to trust Him completely to save you from your sins and from eternal death. If you are already saved, Jesus calls you now to fulfill the mission He has sent you to fulfill, trusting Him to work in you and through you. And if you are fearful and troubled, Jesus calls you now to trust Him to bring His lasting peace and joy into your life. Dearly beloved, will you heed His call today, especially when you know that it comes from the One who has proven Himself to be most worthy of your trust? O let us not be faithless any more, but believing!
Again and again, in the midst of our doubts and fears, and in the midst of our sin and failings, our crucified and risen Lord and Savior comes to us and says: “Peace be with you.” Again and again, he comes to us and says, “Do not doubt, but believe.” Again and again, Jesus forgives us, breathes new life into us, and offers us the gift of new life in Christ, and the promise of the Holy Spirit. And again and again, our risen Lord reminds us of our mission; to go and share the peace and the joy and the hope of this new life, with our world that struggles to find peace, joy or hope. Again and again, the risen Jesus comes to us. To give us peace, to give us new life, to forgive our sin, and to gently remind us not to doubt but to believe. And again and again, he invites us to go. To go in peace, to serve our risen Lord. Thanks be to God.
Amen
MESSAGE FOR EASTER SUNDAY, 2024/03/31
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Reading:
John 20:1-18
Text:
John 20:16 “Jesus said to her ‘Mary’. She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means teacher).”
Message:
Jesus found Mary when she was lost, He gave her a new direction. He told her to find others. If you are feeling lost this morning, Jesus has found you. He wants to give you a purpose. He wants us to help the lost people in our lives. Mary was lost not physically but emotionally. “Mary” is the greatest Easter story ever told. In that one-word sermon “Mary”, Mary’s life is permanently changed. As the resurrection of Jesus completely changed and upended her life, from horrible grief to unbridled joy, from the lowest depths to the highest heights. What a shock! She was so excited, relieved, overjoyed that she grabbed on to Jesus and didn’t want to let Him go! Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”‘ Jesus means that she’ll see Him again soon, He’s not returning to Heaven yet, so go tell the disciples, give them the sermon of my resurrection. Which she did – telling them that Jesus was alive, their Lord had risen just as He had foretold and promised.
It’s clear she loved Jesus deeply, but now what? Her Lord and Teacher is dead. She saw Him nailed to the cross, she watched the Roman soldier plunge a spear into Christ’s side, making sure He was in fact dead. She cried as the stone was rolled in front of the tomb. Everything she hoped for was lost. Everything she knew about Jesus was a lie. He was nothing He said He was. Mary knew it, everyone knows it, that when someone is dead, they stay dead, there’s no coming back. It’s no wonder that Mary was a mess come Easter morning.
What about you? Are you a mess this Easter morning? Are you one of the millions of people struggling with depression, anxiety, and a sense of grief? Did you know that twenty percent of all people on disability are on it because of severe depression? Did you know? On this jubilant Easter morning, I am overjoyed to give you this same Easter sermon. Jesus has risen and He has risen for you – each of you. When you hear this sermon, don’t hear “Mary.” Hear your own name. the Lord says in Isaiah 43 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” How is that for an Easter sermon? Stand with me beside the open tomb, turn around, and see the Risen Lord! Hear Him say your name! Listen … hear Him say your name.
This morning, we’re going to see how Jesus’ resurrection changed one woman, Mary Magdalene. Today I want you to put yourself in her shoes. I want you to feel her sadness, but I also want you to feel her joy and comfort when she realizes that Jesus has indeed risen from the dead. How does the resurrection of Jesus Christ change you? We find Mary Magdalene at the tomb, and she was crying. She was shedding tears of hopelessness, tears of despair and frustration. For some time now, she had been following the Teacher, Jesus Christ. She had thought that perhaps he was the Messiah. He had healed her of demon possession, and more importantly, he had shown her how to have peace with God. He had made so many promises. He had said so many good things. He had even performed miracles. But now he was dead. And all the things he had said and done were dead with him. How can you hope in someone who is dead? For Mary Magdalene, the world had become a very cruel place – a place of broken promises, unfulfilled dreams, and big disappointments. And to top it off, it seemed that someone had stolen the body of Christ – could things get any worse? It’s no wonder that she’s crying.
Have you ever had moments like Mary? Moments when the world seemed like a very cruel place – a place of broken promises, unfulfilled dreams, big disappointments? The world can be a very difficult place to live, and the Devil uses those difficult moments to make you feel hopeless and despairing. The Devil wants you to say to yourself, “God is dead. There is no hope.” When we look at what is happening in the world today, the Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, the children that have been abducted in North Africa, we are tempted to think “God is dead, there is no hope”. When suddenly your health takes a turn for the worse, you are tempted to think God is dead, there is no hope.
When we look back over our past and we consider all the mistakes and faults we made in word and actions and you wish you can take them back, but you can’t help but feel a sense of hopelessness. “Is there any way I can change the past? Is there any way I can make right the wrong things I have done?” The answer is no. And then we feel what Mary felt – an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and despair. Mary was dealing with the death of a loved one. What happens when you have to deal with that? Perhaps you’ve dealt with it, or maybe you’re dealing with it right now. When a loved one dies, or when you face your own mortality, it feels as though you’re facing the end of the road. To think that there is anything positive beyond death is far-fetched, we say to ourselves.
What hope does the world have to offer? Not much. “This is all there is,” many people say, “So you better grab what you can while you can.” That turns people into very self-centered creatures, glorified animals really. A life that is truly here-focused, me-focused, is truly a wasted life, and with it comes loneliness, greed, and ultimately, hell. Maybe that person puts on a happy face, but it’s a face that’s covering up feelings of hopelessness. What hope does the world have to offer? Be a positive thinker, people say. Can you imagine going up to Mary Magdalene as she’s crying, and saying to her, “Everything will be alright, Mary, just think positive thoughts!” That’s ridiculous. And yet, that’s the best comfort our world is able to offer. To tell someone to be optimistic without any real reason for being optimistic is really quite silly. That causes even greater feelings of hopelessness and despair.
How do we find hope here in this place? Mary was lost. And she felt absolutely alone. But in that moment of her absolute distress and loneliness, the answer to her problem was standing right in front of her. Not only was Jesus’ body not stolen. Jesus wasn’t dead anymore. He was there, with her, in that garden. He is with her, calling her name. Mary Magdalene found hope on Easter morning. She looked into the tomb, and found that it wasn’t empty after all – two angels were in the tomb, and one of them asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” Mary said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” Then she turned around, and there was Jesus, standing right behind her. She didn’t recognize him right away. Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Mary wasn’t thinking clearly. She thought that Jesus was the gardener. She said to Jesus, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” At this point, Mary still believes that Jesus is dead. She still believes that his body is missing, that she must find the body so that she can give it a proper burial. The Messiah was still dead. There was still no hope. But Mary was wrong – there was hope. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” So many times, Jesus had called her by her name while he was alive. And now she heard that familiar voice call her name again. She looked up, and realized that it was Jesus. The Bible tells us that she was so excited that she called out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” which means teacher. She grasped Jesus’ legs and did not want to let him go. Somehow, he was alive! Jesus told her that she need not to hold on to him like that any longer. He wouldn’t be leaving her in death, like he had done before. Soon He would be returning to the Father, but He would be with her and his followers always. “Go, and tell the brothers that I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary quickly returned to the disciples and told them that she had seen the Lord.
When Mary saw Jesus, her life was changed. Christ’s resurrection opened Mary’s eyes to His power and Lordship, she saw Him for who He is, the Son of God who died and rose again to save her from her sins. What a turn-around for Mary! One minute God is dead, and there is no hope. But then she sees that Jesus is alive. God is not dead. There is hope! There is a reason to be joyful, to be hopeful, to be optimistic. Jesus was alive and well, and that’s what changed her. Her hero was alive. We all love heroes. But there is only one hero in all the world who has died, and then has come back to life – Jesus Christ. This one-on-one moment that Mary has with Jesus also belongs to you. When things look hopeless, remember – it’s not a dead end. There is another way that leads to hope.
In verse 16, when Jesus says, “Mary”, you can substitute your name there. Jesus comes to you, during your lowest moments in life, when it seems as though God is dead, that there is no hope, Jesus comes to you, and says to you, “Why are you crying?” And then he calls you by your first name, and reminds you: “I am alive. I have risen from the dead.” And, like Mary Magdalene, you see your risen Savior. You find resurrection hope, joy and comfort and relief, the same feelings Mary felt that first Easter morning. The death of a loved one, your own death – you no longer have to feel hopeless when you face those things. Jesus calls out your name, and reminds you that he has experienced death himself, he has overcome death, and promises you that because of him, death is not the end of the road for you.
Only one thing can bring hope to a hopeless situation. Only one thing can bring joy where there is only sadness. Only one thing can bring life where there is nothing but death. Only one thing can give you a real reason to be optimistic. And that one thing is knowing that Jesus Christ is alive, right now – has risen from the dead.
Conclusion
Everything is changed with the resurrection of Jesus – everything. He calls your name, He speaks peace, He gives peace. Jesus is alive so you know that He is with you regardless of how messy your life is. He has conquered not just Satan but all the problems that come in this sinful world. He will be with you, He will guide you, strengthen you, uphold you with His mighty arm! He is risen from the dead, is there anything He can’t do? Not a thing!
The Easter message is not an empty tomb but a risen Lord. But Jesus not only reveals Himself to Mary but gives her an important job to do and not only to Mary but also to all of us. Go and tell my brothers and sisters that “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” We never need to feel alone again because He is always near and understands, He is here to comfort us in all our struggle. We are not alone, He finds us when we feel lost and alone. And if you know this truth, this message has personally impacted your life. Who are you called to go and tell? Whether that’s by explicitly stating the gospel message or finding ways to reflect the compassion and patience of Christ to someone feeling lost in themselves. If you’ve been found by God, who do you need to seek and find in your own life?
We no longer need to feel alone and hopeless because He has come today to find you, allow yourself to be found by Him for Alleluia, He is risen indeed. The good news of the resurrection is, as Paul writes to the Romans, that nothing, nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:39). No grief, no hurt, no anger, no mistakes, no hardship, no persecution, nothing that has happened or will happen. In his resurrection, Christ got rid of every boundary that had the potential to separate us from our Creator, even and especially the boundary of death. This is the promise of eternal life and eternal love. This is the good news of Easter.
Today we celebrate the fullness of God’s presence in this world and beyond. We do this by singing joyfully, shouting “Alleluia,” and coming around the table for communion, proclaiming the saving death of our risen Lord as we sing, “Christ has died. Christ is Risen, Christ will come again,” and we trust that with God’s help, our faith will be deepened, and our spirits renewed to live into our belief.
That empty tomb filled Mary Magdalene’s heart with an incredible sense of joy and comfort and hope. It changed her life forever. Jesus is just as much alive today as he was on that first Easter morning. The comfort and hope you receive this morning from the Word of God is just as real as the comfort and hope Mary received. Mary returned to those disciples a different person – someone whose world had changed for the better. As you leave here this morning and return home, may you carry with you that same hope that Mary felt. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.
Amen
MESSAGE FOR GOOD FRIDAY, 2024/03/29
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Reading
John 19:16-42
Text
John 19:29-30 “A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When He had received the drink, Jesus said “It is finished” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.”
Message
What do you see when you look at the cross? The sin of the world? Suffering, pain, loss? Sorrow, separation, death? To some degree all that is present in the crucifixion. No doubt, all of those things are the sword that pierced Mary’s soul as she stood and watched. Those things, however, can also become the veil, the lens, that distorts our vision on the cross. They can keep us from seeing why this day is called Good Friday. They can keep us from seeing a way forward. Sometimes we let the suffering of Jesus blind us to the love of God.
If today is just another day of suffering and brutality, a day to reenact the execution of Jesus, then it makes no sense to speak of this day as good. We must acknowledge, however, that good does not mean easy or magical. The goodness of Good Friday does not eliminate the reality of sin, grief, suffering, and death. It means those are not the final or ultimate reality of this day, or any day for that matter. To fixate on the bloody details of the crucifixion risks promoting a false view of what the cross of Christ accomplishes. That fixation leaves us with an angry God seeking retribution, payment, for humanity’s sinfulness through the violent, bloody, torturous execution of Jesus. That is not the good news of Jesus.
John tells the story quickly and succinctly, yet the reality of the physical agony can never be far from our minds as we journey with John from Gethsemane to Golgotha. But we can’t divorce that journey in chapters 18 and 19 from the opening 17 chapters. Every story, every detail, is building towards this moment. The gospel is one story, from incarnation to Ascension and Pentecost, and on to today. The gospel is the story of the Passion of Jesus Christ, it is the story of the love of God, and it is the story of a question, what kind of man is this we see hanging on the tree, and why is he there?
John does not describe the physical side of it except for a few details which help us to understand the significance of what we are reading. John’s gospel offers no graphic or bloody details of the crucifixion of Jesus. For Jesus the focus is not on suffering and death, it is on love. That’s why Jesus can give himself to the cross. He doesn’t look at the cross, he sees through it. Death is not the end. Jesus trusts the Father’s love more than his own death.
Peter, however, can neither look at the cross nor the one who is dying. “I do not know him. I do not know him. I do not know him.” Peter fears death is the end. For Jesus and for himself. In a sense he’s right. Without love death is the end. Without love the entire earth becomes a tomb. There’s no question that Jesus suffered and died. Mary suffered, cried, and had her heart broken by grief. Good Friday does not deny any of that. Those things were real in the crucifixion of Jesus and they are real in our own lives. We cannot help but look at the many crosses of our lives and world and see sin and brokenness, suffering, sorrow, tears, loss and death.
But what if there is more to see? What if those are simply the veil that Jesus’ death tears down? What if we are to see love there as well? That’s what makes this Friday good. The crucified love of Christ is stronger and more real than death. The crucified love of Jesus does more than join us in our sufferings and dyings. It carries us through them. God’s love defeats sin and death. Every time.
Jesus taught us about what his love means last night on Maundy Thursday. When he stoops down and washes feet, when he gives the new commandment to love each other as Jesus loves us. This is where Jesus’ love for us leads. In John’s Gospel, Jesus knows this. Jesus’ mission of love always led here. Through the miracles. Through the healings. Through the overturning of tables, of speaking truth to the power structures of this world. This is where Jesus’ love leads. To death. On a cross. Because his ways of love are not our ways of power, he dies on the cross. Because of us, for us, he dies.
Jesus’ glory and exaltation come from his passion. From his death on the cross. He has been on his way to Jerusalem and the cross, and as Jesus has been speaking, and praying, and healing his way through the Gospel of John, speaking in love, showing the world what God is like, what God is about, it was always leading to this point.
There is a tendency for us as Christians to focus on Christ’s suffering, the pain and the blood He shed. It may lead us to want to cover our eyes, turn away and even ignore the events of Good Friday. But we see that the cross is the central, most important symbol of Christianity. Churches in the past were built in the shape of a cross. People wear crosses to symbolize how precious and valuable Christ’s suffering and death on the cross was for us and books were written on the crucified Christ.
Why is this so, because of two reasons. Firstly, the cross reminds us of our sinfulness. It wasn’t just the Romans or the Jews who crucified Jesus Christ – it was all of humankind. We, along with the whole world despised and rejected the very one whom God sent to love and save us. The cross reminds us that we are sinners. We too are guilty of the same sins as Peter, Judas, Mary, Pilate, and all the others who had their hand in killing Jesus.
Secondly, the cross reminds us of its loving, saving power. God’s love was demonstrated to us by giving away Jesus to suffer and die on the cross. But God’s love was not only for friends and family members – it was even for most unattractive people, the greatest sinners, the worst enemies. Our gospel very subtle hints at this by telling us that two members of the Jewish council (Sanhedrin), Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came to look after Christ’s burial. Here were two influential Jewish leaders who were won over by Christ’s love for them. They were so moved by Christ’s love for them that they were willing to take the risk of asking Pilate for their Saviour’s body to give him a proper burial. Now this was a risk because Pilate could have told this to some – not all – of the Jewish leaders who were opposed to Jesus. If they had found out, it may have meant being dismissed from the Sanhedrin. It was also a risk which, if Pilate wanted to be nasty, could have resulted in their arrest, or worse, their crucifixion – since they were Christ’s disciples. The power of Christ’s love – when it takes hold of us – makes us willing to take risks. For as hymn writer Isaac Watts put it: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
We see that the cross is God’s love. As we stand with those disciples at the foot of the cross and watch the events unfold, we are challenged to take a good, hard look at the violence and meanness of the world and the bloodiness of the cross, and to look at God hanging on that cross. To describe these events as the Passion of Jesus Christ might seem odd, and yet here, as nowhere else, we see the heart of God, the love of God, revealed to a broken humanity. We see the heart of God torn open between the folly of human sin and the unquenchable desire of God for his creation. As we read in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that God gave us His only Son” also “Jesus having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
He loved them to the end. His love for us, for the human race, for the world, brought him into confrontation and conflict with the powers of the world, the religious establishment and the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. His love brought him here, to trial before “Pilate” in a kangaroo court where the verdict was foreordained by the interests of the empire. His love for us, for the world brought him here, to this place of execution. It’s a love that is incomprehensible, unimaginable, that offers us and the world the possibility to hope for a different kind of world, where power, greed, oppression, and self-interest hold no sway but where love invites us to imagine we, ourselves, giving our lives for others. “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
It is a story we know. And it is a story we live. Each year. Usually in churches, but not always. And not this year. But still we are part of this story as we remember it in our homes, in our couches, at our tables. Where do we fit in? Rather than being on the outside looking in, we are active in it. We betray Jesus like Judas, we are threatened by him like the High Priests, we deny him like Peter, we hold onto and proclaim our own power and might like Pilate, we benefit from the fate of the innocent like Barabbas, we weep at the horror of it all like the Women, and we come in the night to bury our King. This is our story. We take part in it. Why? Because this is what Jesus’ love for us brings. Even though we are imperfect, and our sin and our selfishness is what leads God to dying on a cross, Jesus’ love endures. In his crucifixion, he shows us the depth and breadth of God’s love for us.
But the cross is bigger than even the sum of all our individual stories. It is the story of God’s unending love for God’s broken world, a world full of senseless evil and violence. A world where the good die young and the old grow lonely. A world of wars and cancer, of corruption and pollution. A world where there often seems little reason to hope or to dream.
The Passion of Jesus is the phrase we use to describe his suffering. But Passion also means love. God’s love is patient, kind, passionate. It is love which bears all things, believes all things, hopes and endures all things. It is love which never ends. It is love which does not go gently into that good night. On the cross God’s heart is torn between the passion of sin-induced suffering and the passion of grace filled love. On the cross Jesus refuses to give into the meanness, the arrogance, the evil which surrounds and enfold him. In the face of evil and despair, the Passion of his loving remains. To the cries for blood from the crowd he doesn’t respond. Against the clubs and whips that beat him he refuses to fight back. To Peter he utters the command to lay down his sword. To the soldiers who have torn his body to shreds he offers forgiveness. To the thief he whispers the hope of paradise. To the grieving disciples and his broken-hearted mother he offers words of comfort. On the cross the Passion of Jesus’ suffering is surpassed only by the passion of his love. Only the tenacity of God’s love is greater than the tenacity of humanity’s sin. In the heart of God there stands a cross, and on that cross God shows the fire of his love, a fire that the cold darkness of sin and death will never overcome.
Conclusion
He is the faithful one who lays down his life for his friends, the good shepherd who will never stop searching for his lost sheep, the living water of our baptism, and the one who will carry us through the stormy waters and deliver us to the far banks of the Jordan. Through the sweat and blood, the thorns and nails, the mockery and the humiliation, the burning fire of God’s love in Jesus remains.
As we contemplate Christ’s love for us, expressed in his crucifixion, may we open our hearts to receive and to be embraced by that love. And may that love inspire us, move us to share that love, to express Christ’s self-giving love in the world around us. May it give us hope that our world might be redeemed and transformed by Christ’s love, breaking down the barriers that divide us, bring justice to those who are oppressed, hope to those living in fear and anxiety. May we be Christ’s love, binding up wounds, mending the broken-hearted. In this world where so many are overcome by suffering, oppression, fear and despair, may Christ’s love shed abroad by us show us the way from cross to resurrection, from despair to hope, from death to new life, into beloved community, and a world created anew.
MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/03/24
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Reading:
Mark 11:1 – 11
Text:
Mark 11:2-3 “Saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has even ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.”
Message:
We note that the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem was a borrowed donkey. Jesus sent two disciples ahead of Him to get the donkey and said in verses 2-3. It’s an exciting story, many people are lining the streets of the city. The Passover feast is near and there is excitement in the air. Jesus intentionally chooses to be part of the festival parade this way. He is the One that everybody awaits. He is the rightful ruler of God’s people, not Caesar. He comes to redeem the people from the oppression of the empire. And they sing, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” But he comes on a borrowed donkey. Now what kind of king is this?
All of us know the story. As somebody notes, Jesus was born in a borrowed place and laid in a borrowed manger. As he traveled, he had no place of his own to spend the night. He rode into the city on a borrowed donkey. He ate his final meal in a borrowed room. He was crucified on a borrowed cross, wearing a borrowed crown that jokers stuck upon his head. And when he died, somebody placed his body in a borrowed tomb.
We see that Jesus was a borrower. He did not grasp or grab what did not belong to Him but shared what was given to Him freely. As we read in Philippians 2:6 “Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself nothing.” Jesus did not hold onto heavenly glory and throw His weight around. He never forced Himself upon anybody. He emptied Himself and gave Himself away for the benefits of others. Jesus did not own very much, just the seamless robe that the soldiers at the cross tossed a dice to see who would take His clothing.
He commanded the same of those who followed him. As he instructed them, “When you go out to proclaim the good news, take no money, no knapsack, no extra tunic, no extra shoes, not even a walking stick. Take only a word of peace, borrow the bed given to you, and proclaim that God’s kingdom has come very close.” At its core, the Good News of God does not need a lot of props. What it needs is the kind of people who believe it simply as they can. We live in a consumer culture, materialism has become important. We hoard stuff, we have far more than we need. That is why it is important today that we remember how our Savior of the world is the One who borrows a donkey to ride into town towards the cross.
Who are the real blessed ones? Jesus says they are the people who don’t have very much: the poor in spirit, those who mourn the loss of a loved one, those who are meek, those who are hungry for food and thirsty for righteousness. These are the blessed ones, says Jesus. Who are the blessed ones? Blessed are those who keep a light grip on all that they have, for they know that everything in life depends on the generosity of God. They are the people who have everything.
Once the guest master at a Benedictine monastery described why he kept no possessions other than the clothes on his back. He explained, “If your closet is empty, there is more room for God.” Contrast that to the child who steps over piles of dirty laundry on the floor and says, “Mom, I have nothing to wear.” Or the adult surrounded by shelves of books and DVD’s who declares, “I’m bored and I have nothing to do. There is a beauty to simplicity, to not owning much and needing very little. Those with this freedom will pay attention to the people around them. Little distracts them from the deep needs of the world. Nothing competes with their imagination or faithfulness.
Jesus owned very little and was not distracted by the world’s deepest needs. Therefore Jesus paid attention to the hurts of the poor and rich alike, healing the minds, bodies and spirits of the people He met on the path of life. Most of all was His love for every single person. His love gave Him a willingness to give what He could to all those around for their wellbeing. So Jesus humbled Himself and emptied Himself. And this is the kind of God that we glimpse in the man who borrows a donkey. As somebody puts it, Jesus “manifests a God whose very being is not acquisitive, but self-giving that the ultimate power is the power to renounce power.” Today we remember how Jesus gives himself to the world on this festive day, he rides a borrowed donkey into the center of the city that will reject him. A person with few possessions, he empties himself of all that he has. It’s all for the benefit of saving the world. And God keeps doing this saving work, setting us free from all selfishness and claiming us in the name of Jesus who owned very little, but who ultimately wishes to possess our hearts.
Returning the borrowed donkey
We see that Jesus rides into Jerusalem. He enters the temple. He looks around at everything. And He leaves. He does nothing. He says nothing. He just leaves. He goes to Bethany. It’s a strange and anticlimactic ending to the triumphal entry. It sounds like Jesus is retreating, getting out of town. What’s that all about? There’s another unique aspect about Mark’s account of the triumphal entry. He is the only one to say that Jesus promised to return the colt to its owner. They all agree that the colt was either borrowed from its owner (Matthew 21:1-3; Mark 11:1-7; Luke 19:29-34) or found (John 12:19). But only Mark speaks about Jesus returning the colt.
So what if that’s why Jesus left the temple? Maybe he left so he could keep his promise and follow through on what he said he would do. Maybe this is about Jesus being true to himself and keeping his word. What if this is about Jesus staying centered within himself despite what the week holds for him? What if returning the colt is a metaphor for us as we enter into and walk through this Holy Week? What might returning the colt mean for us throughout this week? It’s an image or metaphor to ponder and it raises a couple of questions. First, what do you need to return this week? What do you need to release or let go of? We all have stuff that we’ve carried around with us for far too long. It’s no longer able to take us anywhere or give us life. It’s just baggage we carry that continues to weigh us down. It impoverishes life. It corrupts our hearts.
What do you need to let go of, release, and return this week? Is it a grudge or resentment? Anger? Fear? Disappointment and regret? Guilt? Envy? Maybe you need to return being in control, having to be right, a need for approval, perfectionism. I don’t know what it is for you but I am convinced that we all have our stuff. Maybe Holy Week is the time to return and release it all to God, trusting that God can do something with this stuff when we were never able to.
So maybe returning the colt is ultimately about returning to our original self, that self of beauty and goodness, that God created in and has loved from the beginning? What if those are the two movements throughout this week? Returning, releasing and letting go. And returning to and reclaiming those parts of ourselves that have been lost, ignored, forgotten, or denied. Even as we carry around that stuff that needs to be returned, so also there are parts of ourselves and our life to which we need to return.
What if this week we returned to ourselves? And here’s my second question.. What do you need to return to? What if we returned to joy, hope, beauty, truth and honesty? What if we came back to justice, mercy, forgiveness? What if we reclaimed the dignity and holiness of each human life? What if we re-center ourselves in peace and courage? What if we returned to love of neighbor, self, and enemy? Coming back to ourselves would be like a new life, wouldn’t it? So we begin this week by returning the colt. What do you need to return and to what do you need to return? Those are the two questions. To answer them we must look around at everything. That’s what Jesus did. It’s not so much just looking around at everything outside us but looking around at everything within us. Look at what’s there. Look at what’s missing. Look at what you need, what you feel, who you truly are, and who you want to be. And then return the colt.
MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY, 2024/03/17
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Reading:
John 12:20-33
Text:
John 12:24: “I tell you the truth unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds.”
Message
The story today is in the city of Jerusalem. It is the Passover time and hundreds of thousands of people were gathered in Jerusalem. In this wild mass of humanity, there were a couple of Greeks in the crowd. They came up to the disciples and wanted to talk with Jesus. These Greek travelers came up and listened into the conversation of the disciples, and they heard that one disciple in particular had a Greek accent. Philip from Bethsaida. If you know anything about Bethsaida, it was a Greek speaking city in Israel. The Greek travelers thought: “That guy speaks Greek. He must be one of us.” And so they approached Philip and asked him in Greek, “Can we see Jesus?” That’s often the question in the Bible. That is often the question in the Gospel of John, “Can we see Jesus?” Philip went to Andrew and the two of them went to Jesus and said” “There are two Greeks who want to see you.”
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus” they said to Philip. It’s not an unusual request. I suspect most of us have said it or thought it. How often have we not at some or other time sang the song, “Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus”. Now you think that Jesus would have answered them directly, but he didn’t. Jesus was distracted. Preoccupied. He was preoccupied with his death in six days, and therefore he said: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it will remain a single seed. But if it dies, it will produce many grains of wheat. For whoever will find his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will find it. If anyone would serve me, they must follow me. They must follow me in death.”
Now that’s a weird answer!! Wasn’t that a weird answer? All the Greeks wanted to do was to see Jesus, but Jesus was preoccupied with his death, was distracted by death, and was thinking about his death. But maybe there is a connection: That is, to see Jesus is to see the importance of dying in order to live. You can almost see Jesus’ words: they are so visually clear. “If a seed is planted into the ground and it does not die, it remains a seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds and seedlings and those seeds and their seedlings produce much fruit.” His words are so visual. And it all begins with the seed dying.
I wonder, however, if the visitors who came to Philip had any idea what they were asking. I wonder if we know what we are asking? It seems a simple enough request, but Jesus’ response is anything but simple. I don’t know what answer Philip and Andrew expected but I’ll bet they did not expect to hear about death. It is probably not the answer we expect or want when we ask to see Jesus, but it is the answer Jesus gives. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant also be ”
Somehow death and seeing Jesus are intimately related. To see Jesus is more than looking at him. it is more than just believing the things he said and did. We follow Christ as participants not spectators. If we want to see Jesus then we must learn to die. To the degree we avoid and deny death, we refuse to see Jesus. Could it be that the key to life is death? Could it be that the key to living is dying? Could it be that dying is important to living? Could that be the key to my life?
Seeing Jesus means dying to all the parts of our life that blind us: fear, the need to be right or to be in control; anger and resentment; the guilt and disappointments of our past; attachment to power, wealth, and reputation; the ways in which we separate ourselves from one another; our obsessions, compulsions, and emotional agendas; the ways in which we hurt one another and damage relationships. Ultimately, it means dying to our own self-sufficiency. We let go of our life to receive God’s life. This work of dying is difficult and painful. It is, as Jesus describes, soul troubling. It shakes us to the core. Dying, however, begins to clarify and heal our vision. We see a new life, and a new way of being. It looks like Jesus, and his way of living and being. That’s what this week is about. Dying is not the end but a means, a way of transforming who we are.
Jesus talks about wheat dying. This illustration of wheat is more than an agricultural lesson; it is the basis for spiritual life. The fact is that wheat is ineffective when stored up in a barn, it must be planted in order to bring forth a crop. We are told that every seed has an embryo and every embryo has in it a root which goes down into the ground and a shoot that goes up into the sky. And in each embryo there is an on and off according to the temperature of the soil that is a miracle. We see that Jesus says, “Unless a seed dies it remains a single seed but if it dies, it produces many seeds and then much fruit. Dying is important for living.
And the law is this: It is in dying that we begin living. It is only by first dying before we will ever begin living. St. Francis of Assisi knew this law well when he wrote in his famous prayer for peace; “it is in giving that we receive; it is in dying that we are born again.” The Apostle Paul knew this law well when he said: “We will not be united with Christ in a resurrection like his, unless we are first united with Christ in a death like his.” I like the poem, “All through life I see a cross on which children give their breath; there is no gain except for loss; there is no life except by death.” I would like to suggest to you that there is a spiritual principle at work in this world: it is only in dying that a person begins to live. It is only when we are united with Christ in a death like his, that we are united with him in a resurrection like this.
The principle is life only comes through death. The application, spiritually-speaking, is that new life in Christ comes when we fully bury our personal control over life. The word “fall” is applied to the wheat in Jesus’ statement. It carries the meaning in Greek of being prostrate, flat out on your face before God. If we want eternal life there must be an eternal death of the pride of life. We must admit our need of a Savior. How do you have a death experience with Christ? You hand yourself over to Him; it is a choice of free will. This is the “leap of faith” required for eternal life. You have to leap-into counting the old life dead – as with Paul, you crucify the old man and take your place with Christ on the cross. You believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and He will do the same for you. you accept His finished work of salvation … His death means your life. Your death means receiving His life.
What does this mean?
It means dying to self, my selfishness. Where it is all about, the I am going to live for myself, my wife, my family. Being freed from my self fulfilment and experiencing all that life can give me. Letting go of a life that is preoccupied with me and my happiness, myself, my successes and what others think about me and that I am the center of my universe. It is not only our childish self-centeredness that needs to die but also our sinfulness. Our sins that hurt us and others around us. It is when our sinfulness dies, that we are healthier and better.
We also need to die to our sinful addictions so that we will be free to live a fruitful and loving life. So Jesus says that it is a fundamental truth, that it is only in dying, that you begin living. Each one of us struggles with our own sinfulness. I have mine and you have yours. And it is only as your personal sinfulness dies daily that you begin to live.
Also life is not to be found in gathering more possessions until you can’t count it all. That is the way some people go through life, with a catcher’s mitt on each hand. “More” is not always the answer. The race for toys has claimed more than its share of victims. Following … servanthood; it is a word that doesn’t interest too many Christians these days. What did Jesus mean when he said to serve? The most well-known fact about a boomerang is that, once thrown, it will return to the thrower. The least-remembered reality is that the boomerang is intended to be used as a weapon. It only returns when it misses the target. You can keep thinking that throwing yourself at life with more effort, more wisdom, more money, more, more, more – will somehow change it all in your favor. But, here you find that everything you’ve thrown has missed the target of new life. What is coming back is slightly more used than when you threw it. The paradox is that in keeping your life, building your life, living your own life, you have wasted all the life that was in you.
So Jesus is saying something like join me on the road of serving others. I love the illustration that I read about in preparing for today’s message. Dying is not the end, but a means, a way of transforming who we are. Do you want to see Jesus? Look for the ways in which and places where your life is most guarded, insulated, and isolated. Those are places of blindness, places that need to die. Each one of those is a grain of wheat containing much fruit. Let it fall into the earth and die, and you will see Jesus.