SCRIPTURE:1 Peter 2:19-25
TEXT: 19b being aware of God, 21bbecause Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, 23che entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. THEME: The Resurrected Jesus is seen in the lives of those who suffer for Christ. INTRODUCTION In this season of Easter, we continue to look for the resurrected Jesus among the living. In the first part of chapter 1 of 1 Peter, we were encouraged to see the living hope of the resurrection of Jesus transform our lives through faith. We see such faith in those who pursue protections for our children, advocate for the rights of those who have been marginalized, point out the inequality of the poor, gender, race, orientation, age and sex. The resurrected Jesus is seen in the faith of those who push against every kind of prejudice that segregates, demeans or diminishes the humanity of anyone. In the second part of this same chapter, we invoke a loving parent God, instead of a judging Father God. God forgives, nurtures, and loves us. We form communities of faith with others, while looking for new ways of being the church in the future. The church of the future may be sent out to where the people are instead of drawing them to our buildings. SCRIPTURE On this Fourth Sunday of Easter, this portion of the second chapter of 1 Peter can be summed up with three points, 1) be aware of God, 2) Follow Jesus’ example and 3) Trust ourselves to God’s ways. The ransom for our salvation and reconciliation, provides love and forgiveness enough for us be in relationship with God. After all relationship with God is the goal of any kind of righteousness. God gifts us righteousness through love, forgiveness, and grace. Being loved profoundly brings our lives the possibility of a change of heart, transformation and change in our world. The humbug part of this relationship, is that its influence can get us in trouble with how the world has chosen to behave. God’s perspective changes the way we see the world and thus the way we live. Ironically, this may also lead to our own ridicule, persecution, and suffering, as we participate in God’s mission of loving others. Just as Jesus’ love for us ended with his Suffering and Crucifixion. The letter of 1 Peter was an encouragement within the social economic structure which allowed slavery. The poor, as well as the heads of household were all part of the church. So, what is good for the head of the household in Christ, was also good for the rest of the members of that house, including the slaves. This created a dynamic to faith in God that found its application in and outside of the home. APPLICATION Living according to God’s ways sometimes puts us at odds with the powers that be, the Government, the law, organized religion, the way things have come to be, social norms, culture, hostile working environments, any kind of accepted discriminations and the like. How do we see the resurrected Christ in the lives of those who suffer? We all have our ideas of a perfect life. But when that is taken away from us, for whatever reason, we grieve. God meets us in those time of sorrow. The sorrow never goes away but somehow with God’s help we navigate through it. Those strong individuals that keep on going while suffering inside, reveal the resurrected Christ to us. They persevere today because Christ is risen from the grave. There are champions of the Civil right movement like noted Martin Luther King Jr., recently we have heard the stories of Senator John Lewis and how his faith inspired him to engage in “Good Trouble” to whittle away at those systems that hoped to keep black people in a place less than free, equal, valued, or respected. We are not so far removed from this history. The Key Note speaker at one of our Aha Pae’ainas was Ambassador Andrew Young, contemporary of MLK jr. I got to shake his hand. It was like shaking hands with history. Making all of those stories of the peace walks and protest for equality true on another level. Here is the man who was there. I had the same feeling when Allan Boesak, from South Africa, spoke at Keawalai in Makena, about anti-apartheid. He said oppressors had seen the wounds they were inflicted onto another human being for them to change. Sometimes it takes that kind of suffering for the light bulb to turn on and allow transformation of humanity and the divine to enter in. Archbishop Desmond Tutu told the story of a woman, where he said, “you are a God carrier’, another way of saying, you are made in the image of God. To someone who has been put down all of their lives, and to hear fresh, the word of God, is to be elevated with the truth of how special she is. All of these people have suffered, and suffer today because they love, have been loved by God, and suffered for others in their plight. Humans in general, like ‘the path of least resistance,’ where everything is as easy as it can be (for themselves, even if it means that they have to disrespect and disregard others). They are trying to escape all of the bad stuff, leaving it for someone else to deal with. The reality God gives to us is the path of peace, which will divide families, and set our hearts on fire to fight for causes that are not our own, we enlisted because of our love and compassion for others. Mother Teresa gave up her comfort, in service of her God, to care for those who no one wanted to care for. The resurrection of Christ is real because of people like these, because of people like us, because of people like you. I know some of the stories you carry, that you don’t tell others. Stories of struggle, suffering, shattered dreams, and depression, but you continue to live your lives humbly with God. God is there to help you, and lifts you up, encourages you, loves you and gives you hope for tomorrow. Christ in you, even while you are struggling, is the evidence of the resurrected Jesus among the living. CONCLUSION The evidence of the resurrected Jesus is not found among the tombs of a cemetery, but in the suffering faith of those who are living today. It would be so easy to give up or go another way, but we hold on to Jesus, the lover of our souls and press on. Christ risen from the grave is the reason they keep on keeping on. Christ is risen from the grave is the reason they endure and persevere, and hope for the future. Jesus Christ is resurrected, is their battle cry for truth, for others, for life. Our lives of faith are not void of suffering for what is right, to help others, to endure and be there for others. American Popular Christianity tells a different story of prosperity and ease, but more to the truth, is an empowering God who comes along side of us in our suffering and calls us to participate in work that will go against how to world has been, to become made more in line with the dream of God’s kingdom.
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SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 1:17-23
TEXT: 22Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. THEME: Imagining communities of genuine mutual love. INTRODUCTION The resurrected Jesus is not found in tombs but amongst the living. We may not recognize him at first, but once old paradigms fall away, we can look past the image of the Gardner and get our first glimpse of the resurrection. Our first impressions will give way to something new. Last week we looked at how the resurrected Christ was seen, amongst the faithful, in the life of Representative Justin Pearson, one of the Tennessee 3. His faith could not stay idle in the midst of gun violence that killed six people in his district. Then in light of the slave mentality that sits in the Tennessee General Assembly, in the face of NRA Empire, the social injustice towards the poor, the stripping away of reproductive rights of women and the abuse of state Government power. We see the resurrected Christ advocating for those who suffer. Speaking truth to power, and alive amongst the faithful. This week we will begin to imagine how mutual love will begin to move us away from the current form of the church and create something that is different from what the church has been. SCRIPTURE What is the image of God we invoke in our lives? Is it that of the Father, Creator, Judge? The author of 1 Peter says, “If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile”. The choice to live in obedience to the law, misses the intent of living in relationship with God. The Law is an expression of the will of God and how we can live our lives with God. Jesus’ life in the Gospels is another expression of what living in relationship with God looks like. The beatitudes on the sermon on the mount is another expression of what living in relationship with God looks like. While obedience to the Law is good, it has us living in fear of offenses, incarcerates us because of our sin and exiles us from intimacy with God. We are living in the household of God, like the older brother of the man who had two sons. The older son never knew the compassionate love of the father who welcomed the broken brother, his son who disobeyed, selfishly squandered away an inheritance, but is ransomed with compassion, kindness, forgiveness, acceptance, and grace, love for him was never lost. That is a second image of God; a nurturing parent, who provides more than enough, to execute our liberation away from death, and sets us free to live life in new ways. To invoke this image of God requires us to give up some of the faith paradigms that we have inherited from our ancestors of faith, for a new way of being the people of God. APPLICATION What could the community of the church look like, loved by God, and liberated through grace and forgiveness? The view we have inherited of human beings is that we were perfect until our ancestors disobeyed God’s directive. But if we read Genesis 3 carefully, we will discover that we were ‘good’ (not perfect), capable of change, transformation, evolution and the choice of Good or Evil. So, we did not fall from grace we were always in need of it. Then we came up with the ideas that God required a sinless sacrifice to die as payment for our sins so God could begin to love us again. Is not God’s love for us great enough to forgive us, without some cosmic sacrifice to ransom a balance for our disobedience? As parents, we forgive our children all of the time just because we love them (no ransoming sacrifice necessary). God never stopped loving us either. From Adam and Eve, to Abraham and Sara, All the way to Jesus Christ, the cross, crucifixion, resurrection and beyond. We need not judge the righteousness of others, or have them admit their sins, for Jesus to forgiven them. All we need to do, is love them. In this day and age, with this emerging next generation that holds on to cultural values that seem so different from our own. They question authority and the old answers are received with skepticism and distrust. They are more ready to accept their peers of questioning gender assignments and sexual orientations to reject communities that don’t They are challenged with Creating justice in the midst of Empire where the few controls so much. They accept racial diversity while supremacy fears push for more segregation, and salvation is found in advancing rapidly changing technology in the world. They feel the disparity between the few rich and growing poor. The environmental challenges they inherit from our generation seems overwhelming. They have expanding paradigms of family, identity, and relationships. In the past, the church has been in the business of conforming society into our image of God. We can see how that might have been limiting the power of a compassionate God, who can create life beyond empty tombs of our own construct. The resurrected Jesus can be seen amongst loving communities. Can we trust God to create life in ways and patterns, and in relationships, that we previously have not been able imagine before. The temple worshiping Jerusalem could have no concept of a Wailuku worshiping community 2000 years later made up of Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Filipino, Samoan, Choctaw, Korean, Irish, Indian, German, English, and Russian. But God is not finished yet. We have been challenged with love for others in our community from Anglican, Tongan, Marshallese, Kosraen, Pohnpeian, Chuukese, Yapese, Greek, looking at us, for a place to worship. I Recently heard of a 100-year-old congregation (not within our denomination), with established campus here in Hawaii, with its aged congregation of 20, who can no longer take care of its campus, repairs, or school. So, they have their property up for sale and are looking for a place to rent, to live out their days. The cost of materials, engineering requirements, cost of labor, landscaping and building ownership is not sustainable with membership contributions alone. None of us can afford the up keep of a building that we use for only one hour a week. This is where identifying what it means to be the church is important. Verse 22 of this passage identifies ‘genuine mutual love’ as the key. Imagine the church as a community of genuine mutual love that transforms us and create transformative communities. We would be accepting more than judgmental. We would be diverse more than being all of the same. We would be engaged in conversations, respectfully listening to other opinions. We would have people serve according to their abilities not their gender, age, orientation, or influence. We would be open to learning and the food at our pot lucks would be fusion; corned beef cabbage using baby bok choi with oyster sauce instead of steamed vegetables and mustard. Other gatherings would be smaller, on line Our Mission Ground Affordable Housing project would be complete and enable us to support other church gatherings that meet elsewhere; in bars, laundromats, restaurants, coffee shops, on days other than Sundays and we would support their leaders with strings attached to attend a few classes from Pacific School or Religion’s Certificated Theological Education for Leaders program so they can keep learning. When we stop learning we can become literalist to our faith, defending, arguing, and judging. If we keep learning then it gives our theology room to evolve. Our relationship with these para churches would expand their connections with the wider body of Christ and our denomination. The sanctuary would be used by a variety of congregations during the week at a sustainable level so we could support and make improvements to our campus. We would have other activities or businesses use our facilities during the week to bring in an income during the week and make connections with our community. We could entertain other opportunities for service in our community. Expanding a tutoring program, have opportunities to learn Music, voice or dance. Create a mentorship program, Hawaiiana, all different forms of relationships and ways of being church. CONCLUSION I have to tell you that I don’t know what the church of the future is going to be like. But I do know that it is going to be there, and that it is going to be in a different form from what we have today. It could involve us coordinating and sharing our resources with Kaahumanu Church and Iao UCC. It would be something completely new that the Spirit of God will guide us to. We already have mini version of the church in the Food Pantry, the Choir, The Women’s Bible Study, the Deacons, The Council, the Sunday school, and Nursery. Where ever we meet and gather we have a mini church. I want those who clean the church have church, as well as those times when flowers are set and we admire God’s beauty in our sanctuary. In how we treat each other, care for each other, look out for each other’s well-being. The resurrected Christ can be discovered in the community where Christians gather. When we bite our tongue because we don’t want to say something that might hurt someone's feeling, or when we tell the truth instead of a lie, or when we say something in a nice way instead of being rude or stop our story to listen to what is on the heart of another, we are showing how the resurrected Christ is alive in our community. Having good manners. Accepting someone into our conversation. Being patient with another, or just by making an accommodation shows the resurrected Christ is amongst the community. When we practice forgiveness instead of trying to hurt, the resurrected Christ is found in our community. The diversity that gathers to worship here is a sign of the Resurrected Christ amongst a loving Community. The resurrected Christ is found among the living, and in communities of faith that practice a genuine mutual love. SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 1:3-9
TEXT: By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, THEME: Seeing the resurrected Jesus in those who live by faith. INTRODUCTION At the resurrection, the angel tells Mary not to look for Jesus among the dead, but among the living (Luke 24:5). We don’t need to find a body of Jesus to believe Jesus rose from the dead. As theologian Marcus Borg says, “I affirmed that the resurrection was real,” “Jesus was experienced after his death by many of his followers…” The resurrection of Jesus is seen, in the land of the living by those whose lives have been changed by Jesus’ rising from the dead to life. We see the resurrection of Jesus in the way these people live their kindness, in the way these people live their generosity, in the way these people live their caring for others. We see the resurrection of Jesus in the way these people exemplify Christ’s attitude in what they do, in what they say and in how they think. In selecting the next series of passages to preach during this season of Easter, 1 Peter lend itself to finding examples of the resurrected Jesus in the land of the living; with those who live by faith, with those who suffer for justice, with those who pursuit justice, with those who have a forgiving Love, with those who live with integrity and with those whose suffering have created a deep-seated compassion for others. SCRIPTURE Our first look into the land of the living is to see those who live by faith. People who are given a perspective to live their lives differently than how they have been living. With new goals, new values, and a different set aspirations that lead up to a new hope. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is our new reality, which we put into practice right away. Resurrected life begins in our world today with God, and continues throughout the rest of eternity. Salvation is having relationship with God that changes how we live, informs our perspectives, and loves us so we can love others. God dwelling with us is the quality of how we live today (He Lives). Our relationship with God, is with ease, grace, and fluidity. As humans, we like to quantify, regulate, and restrict things to make them more complicated than they have to be. Salvation is being in relationship with God. Love, grace, compassion, and forgiveness are characteristics of this relationship. Live gracefully with God as you would any relationship, testing it to its limits, arguing, enjoying each other, wondering why God has us do these crazy things, and having a sense of accomplishment when good is achieved. Like in any relationship we participate in there are times of struggle, discovery, affirmation, and challenge. And we are not the only ones going through this but there is a whole company, of an amazing people, as companions along the way, that make up the community of God. All along the way are amazing insights about who we are, what God can accomplish through us, Revelations about who God is. Sometimes we have to be willing to deconstruct some of what we have inherited as faith, give thanks for them as the vehicles that have laid the foundation of our faith, but be willing to build something new upon it, for what God is building in the future. We are heirs of what God has and stewards of what God has given. The language of faith, is relational as is filled with words like promises, covenant, inheritance, protection, hope, as well as presence and comfort. Faith is not as quantifiable as we were taught, because faith is relational. Jesus uses the smallest measure of faith, a mustard seed, to indicate this is all we need to be in relationship with God. So, the point is not about how much faith we have, but that we have faith. If we do, then we are in relationship with God, and if don’t, then we don’t know God yet. Belief can come and go, but faith keeps us tethered to God. We are quick to make our salvation plans and cruise to the end. But Salvation is not like making an airlines reservation for a future trip. Salvation means being engaged in relationship with God, the source of life, and engaged in this world with Jesus now and forever. Our flight reservations might be for the future, but we live today as if we have already reached our destination. APPLICATION The world’s aspirations are for wealth, fame, and power. Christ enables us to shift our aspirations towards a new hope, with humanity, community, and right relationships. Where do we see the resurrected Jesus in the land of the living? The world started out being segregated in so many ways. It seems that we are moving towards being less segregated, realizing that we don’t need approval from the myths of a dominant culture. The largest race in the United States today, is mixed. And yet we behave as if the dominant culture is white, males and over 50. Numerically they don’t have a controlling vote, but these few, are good at control, wielding power, fear, and manipulation, to keep the populace off balance. And if they can keep us divided, they benefit from our slavery to them. People of faith push against this kind of racism, segregation, injustice, and liberal rights for some at the detriments of others. In the wake of the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, 3 elected statesmen joined a protest to voice the heart of their constituents for Gun control, but were threatened with removal by political fascism. Through this we watched faithful people, exhibit the resurrected Christ in the way they handled themselves, suffered persecution and now find themselves in a position to bring about change. The powers that be, thought they could silence their voices, so they would not have to deal with the issue of Gun violence but the truth of Tennessee General Assembly’s actions revealed the reality of who they are and Tennessee 3 were reinstated. The republican lead Tennessee General Assembly, thought getting rid of democratic representation would actually stop the need for gun control. Representative Justin Pearson preached an Easter sermon at a joint worship service of his dad’s Pentecostal church and the Unitarian church in Memphis. From his sermon, it sounds like the Tennessee General Assembly will also be having conversations of the abuse of power by a state Government, injustices towards the poor, the freedom of Speech, Health care for transgender youth, to end lynching as capital punishment, expanding access to abortion and contraceptives, And work on the environment for clean air, clean water, and clean soil. The resurrected Christ in the land of the living is inside of us. I know people who live like this. I know people in our church who are kind generous, giving, self-sacrificing, helpful and gracious. Their lives have been touched by the resurrected Jesus and they are signs that Jesus has risen from the dead. They probably don’t think of themselves as such, or that what they do as being exceptional, but they are, their faith is a sign, amongst us, that Christ is risen from the dead. CONCLUSION The signs of the resurrected Jesus are not found in the empty tomb, but in the lives of those who believe, and live their faith, amongst us, in relationship with God every day. They are not perfect people by any means, but humble, wanting always to do better. They are quiet when they triumph, admit when the make mistakes, apologetic when they have caused harm, ask for forgiveness and work towards forgiving those who have hurt them. They are more concern about humanity, justice, other people’s lives than material gain, money, or fame. From what I can tell, Justin Pearson could have become a preacher, but decided to take his faith and live it in a political setting instead of the church. The resurrected Christ is seen amongst the lives of those of faith and not in the land of the dead. SCRIPTURE: John 20:1-18
TEXT: 17aJesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, …’” THEME: Jesus is still here, loose in the world. INTRODUCTION Mary is a remarkable disciple. Named in the gospel more than any of the other disciple. Delivered from several demons, she was there from the early part of Jesus’ ministry of teaching, healing, living and caring, all the way to the anointing of his feet, the crucifixion on the cross, his death, the committal in the tomb and now she is the first witness of the resurrection. This is not by chance, but by sheer devotion. SCRIPTURE When last we see Jesus, it is through Mary’s eyes, watching his body being laid to rest in a tomb, marking its location in her mind as a stone seals it shut. (Mt 27:61) It was the Jewish day of Preparation, getting ready to observe the Sabbath. After the death of Jesus, having to wait from Friday evening to Sunday dawn must have been excruciating; filled with worry, anticipation, grief, loss and anxiety. Preparing his body was to be her final act of devotion. So, Mary is the first to the grave site, probably somewhere in that gray area of keeping the Sabbath and breaking the Sabbath rule. Keeping or breaking it was not as important doing this work of honor, respect and laying Jesus’ body to rest, properly. Besides the Sabbath was over some place else in the world. When she gets to the tomb she sees that the stone that sealed the door was removed. That was all that she needed to run to tell the Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. The rest of the events of this part of this passage, was about what happens when we search for Jesus in the land of the dead. He’s not there, he is risen. What the resurrection proves is that Jesus is still here, Jesus is still loosed in the world. Jesus is a figure of the present, and Jesus continues to do the work of the Reign of God. The second part of this passage is the mental work we have to do, to have a paradigm shift. For us to open up the tombs of our minds to understand, Jesus being out in our world, in new ways and our lives, lived, unafraid of death. As my part of my Holy Week preparations, I watched the 1973 movie, Jesus Christ Superstar. I was wondering how they handled the resurrection of Christ. Taken from Judas Iscariot’s point of view, they tell the story of Jesus. At the end, when the cast is loaded up on a bus and drive away from the dusty location set, Jesus is left behind, but a lone figure is seen silently crossing the screen. Almost imperceivable, but moving across from right to left, human in shape, walking in our world. The message of the resurrection is not to look for Jesus in the land of the dead, but to look to find Jesus in the world of the living. Beyond the apparition of the Gardner, to the risen Lord. Mary moves from distress to joy, from a final act of devotion to living all of her days for Jesus, from seeking Jesus among the dead, to being a living sign of the resurrected Christ. Her grief has been transformed and her life has been changed. APPLICATION If we cannot find Jesus in the tomb, where do we find Jesus in the world? Jesus was experienced, after his death by many followers and even by a few adversaries. The resurrection was real, although we may not have any physical proof. We don’t need to have Jesus physically with us to have an experience that Jesus is here. We know that everything Jesus has said is true and as we live it, Jesus is still alive. Jesus exists with God and lives among us through the Holy Spirit. We live with a reality of death passing over us with resurrection. Our lives are informed with living and not dying. To live, concerned about life is transformative, from those who live waiting to die. Much of the way we have interpreted our Christianity has been about escape, rather than how we live in relationship with each other, fearlessly for God and walking in the garden with Jesus. When we live trying to escape, fear is our motivation not love and we tend to live selfishly rather than mindfully. The first thing Mary does after her Christ encounter, is go and share this good news with the disciples so they too can have their grief transformed to joy. CONCLUSION There is a thought that Mary was greater a disciple than we were taught. Magdalene may not be a reference to where she was from, (Bethany) but means ‘tower’, like Peter’s nickname ‘the Rock’, or ‘great’. Now it is thought that some early church fathers were uncomfortable with this much prominence and honor given to one woman, so they retold her story inventing an additional sister to Lazarus, Martha. So Mary Magdalene, could actually mean Mary the great, giving testimony to a remarkable woman who lived faithfully following Jesus, an authority of who Jesus was and what the resurrection means. So now, instead how being the one who did the final preparations of Jesus body, her tribute to Jesus, she her life being a living testament of the Christ and the resurrection. SCRIPTURE: 31:9-16
TEXT: 9Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also. THEME: Jesus’ love for us leads to the passion. INTRODUCTION Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, before the passover, was a wonderful event. The love he has for all culminates in this act of passion and triumph. What greater time to be in Jerusalem, the City of God, than when God’s might over the ruler of the Super Power Egypt, is commemorated? Once an enslaved people, God, through Moses navigates their rescue with a series of plagues and a final feat that strikes dear to the heart of all. An evil Hope was snuffed out, while hope in God was spurred on. Being more trouble than they are worth, Pharaoh releases Israel in a mass exodus out of Egypt. This liberating love that God has for Israel is displayed in Jesus’ life and ministry. Passionate for people and their lives, he enters Jerusalem as a sign on their door post, to signal death to passover. The shouts of ‘Hosanna’ are strangely appropriate, but in a different way from what the crowd was thinking. SCRIPTURE The Psalm that is the text for this sermon, is credited to King David. It is a lament of love, that has brought him to this place of suffering. This Psalm is a description of someone who loves: I am in distress, my eyes waste with grief, my soul wastes with grief, my body wastes with grief, and then there is sorrow. My life is spent in sorrow. My years are spent with sighing. My strength fails me because of misery. My bones waste away. This is not unusual, as we all have had this experience in our lives, especially when our desires for the very best for someone else are thwarted, fail, or are unappreciated. When we have loved and lost, When we have opened ourselves up with a caring beyond ourselves and things didn’t happen in the way we expect. We are scorned by our adversaries, scorned by our enemies, scorned by those who hold grudges against us, scorned by those who hold a different opinion, scorned by those whose goals are for greed and not humanity. We are a horror to our neighbors, We are an object of dread to those we approach. We have worn out our welcome and the patience of those we know. This is how we feel. This is how we feel we make others feel, when we are around. This is how we feel we are perceived. This is what makes us feel like we are pariahs. We become ignored, discounted, forgotten, marginalized, overlooked, unheard and invisible. We feel useless, like a broken vessel. Rubbish. We are so down on ourselves. We feel that others are conspiring against us. We are paranoid as our world seems to be closing in on us. We call upon God to be gracious to us. We call upon the passionate love of God when there is nothing more that we can do. We call upon God and rest in whatever God has in store for us. We trust that whatever may happen God will journey with us. We trust God will Deliver us, just as God has done with our ancestors of faith and delivered them from enslavement, God will deliver us from those entanglements of dismay, from those looming distresses and from our fears of impending disaster. God will Shine love on us. We will see the signs of God’s activity in our lives. These signs will remind us of promises small and great. That God is real and pulling for us now. That our relationship with God is beloved, that we are children of God, heirs, and saved. In the setting of the Holy Week of Jesus’ life. We cannot help but look upon this week of passion. Jesus could have escaped, but choose to teach, minister, fellowship, celebrate, pray, love us and suffer this love for us to his end on the cross. The path of suffering, understanding and compassion is displayed in Jesus’ last few days. All of this adds to the depth, value, and sacrifice of God’s heart for us. APPLICATION The Passionate Love, God has for us, is an anchor in our despair. When has God held us in the mists of despair and kept us afloat? The Passover is the celebration of God’s victory over Egypt. An inaugural supper sets the stage for the release of God’s faithful, with blood on the door post as a sign for the spirit of death to ‘Passover’. The commemoration of this event, is a dangerous time in the life of Pilate’s political career. How he handles this event, with the radical rabbi Jesus, and the crowds he incites, will show Rome what kind of stuff he was made of. Which may lead to an appointment closer to Rome. So, he has a parade and processes into Jerusalem. Jesus in Jerusalem at Passover could be just what King Herod needed, to boost his political aspirations. If Pilate slips up with his handling of this volatile situation, Herod could be next in line to take over. It is not out of the question for the King of Judea to be the Roman Governor of this area too. So, Herod has his own parade into Jerusalem. It’s good for him to be here waiting in the wings just in case. Jesus could jeopardize the sweet deal the High Priest Caiaphas has negotiated with the Roman Empire that allows them to run the temple with a certain amount of liberties, just as long as they Keep their people in line. Be careful, don’t rock the boat, there is a fine balance of liberty and oppression that they walk. If all goes well Rome will not need to be concern with this little remote region on their eastern border. But Jesus’ ministry of love, threatens them all, as his humble procession enters Jerusalem with waving palms and shouts of ‘Hosanna’. Caiaphas tried to silents their noise, but Jesus’ crowd is too excited. The events of this week will converge into a stormy end. The palm waving crowds will turn into an ugly mob yelling for death instead of salvation, filled with despair instead of hope, and having distain for Jesus instead of seeing the glory of God transfiguring. But this does not diminish Jesus’ passionate love for us all. Rather, like the psalmist, Jesus’ love holds despair, grief, misery and abandonment and takes them to the presence of God, asking for grace and trusting in whatever the events of this week maybe. Jesus will live love, knowing God is with him. CONCLUSION Movies like the “King of Kings” “The Robe”, “Jesus of Nazareth”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “the Passion of Christ”, “The Thorn”, show the paradox of a loving God who sacrifices the beloved Son as a payment of our sins so we can live. Influenced by the theological theories of their day. In these movies the only way we have to understand Christ’s self-sacrificing ways is by our throwing all of our sins upon Jesus like a scapegoat and having him die in our place. But more true to our daily lives of love, are the noble sacrifice we make for others, just because we love them and are willing to do what we can so that they can live a better life. The love portrayed in Psalm 31 is the cause of distress. God sees us as good, and capable of living a better life, so comes to our world in the flesh to show us a better way to live. Love that sacrifices in order to bring blessing. In the end is a supper, like that of the Passover which culminates in a live lived liberated from the fear of death, that trusts in God, and God’s steadfast love that suffers on the cross. There are those who want greatness, at the exclusion and expense of others, while Jesus’ love desires greatness for all, with no exceptions, and is willing to suffer to accomplish it. |
Pastor robbSermons Archives
April 2024
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