Who Do you Say I am? MESSIAH

Third Sunday of Lent

March 8, 2015

John 4

EXPECTATIONS!

      

      When couples come to me preparing for marriage – the first thing I ask them to consider are their expectations.  What do you expect from your husband? What do you expect from your wife? 

Our experiences in our homes growing up have created in us expectations for marriage.  Our experiences of watching other married couples have created expectations of what married people do.  TV Shows.  Movies.  Books.  Bridal magazines create expectations for romance, our wedding and marriage itself. 

Expectations create high conflict when our expectations do not hold water to our reality. 

   

         Historian Daniel Boorstin suggests that Americans suffer from all-too-extravagant expectations for our lives. In his much-quoted book The Image, Boorstin makes this observation of Americans:

“We expect anything and everything. We expect the contradictory and the impossible. We expect compact cars which are spacious; luxurious cars which are economical. We expect to be rich and charitable, powerful and merciful, active and reflective, kind and competitive …. We expect to eat and stay thin, to be constantly on the move and ever more neighborly, to go to a "church of our choice" and yet feel its guiding power over us, to revere God and to be God. Never have people been more the masters of their environment. Yet never has a people felt more deceived and disappointed. For never has a people expected so much more than the world could offer.”

           When we come to today’s title of Jesus – Messiah – we are confronted with expectations. Our expectations of Jesus get exposed along with the many expectations for the Messiah during Jesus time.

     

       Far too often, I am afraid – we also carry extravagant of expectations for Jesus.  We expect Jesus to be everything that we want him to be – to fit within our mold and model of who the MESSSIAH should be. 

        

    A funny story has famously be told of the young preacher telling one of his first children’s sermons.  On this Sunday, he was using squirrels for an object lesson on industry and preparation. He started out by saying, "I'm going to describe something, and I want you to raise your hand when you know what it is." The children nodded eagerly.

"This thing lives in trees (pause) and eats nuts (pause)..." No hands went up. "And it is gray (pause) and has a long bushy tail (pause)..." The children were looking at each other, but still no hands raised. "And it jumps from branch to branch (pause) and chatters and flips its tail when it's excited (pause)..."

Finally one little boy tentatively raised his hand. The pastor breathed a sigh of relief and called on him. "Well," said the boy, "I *know* the answer must be Jesus ... but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me!"

What do we expect from Jesus?

•          Do we expect Jesus to be a social conservative, a moral bastion like us fighting against the sinful ways of the world?  What happens when we find him eating meals and laughing with prostitutes, thieves, and heretics like these people matter? 

•          Do we expect him to be a liberal, open minded accepter of anyone willing to following him? What happens when we find him highly demanding, equating lust in our heart with actual adultery? 

•          Do we expect him to answer all of our questions?  What happens when he leaves us with more questions than answers?

•          Do we expect him to reflect our ideas of faith?  What happens when he demands our lives reflect his?

•          Do we expect the Christian life to be a simple proposition in which we receive Jesus into our hearts and go to heaven when we die?  What happens when Jesus invites us into a life of discipleship – of following him here on earth?

•          Do we expect the Christian life to be difficult and confusing in the face of so many other religions and challenges?  What happens when Jesus simplifies it and welcomes a young child by his side and asks us to model our lives after theirs?

If you find this tendency of the biblical Jesus blowing up our human expectations about him to be frustrating – let me invite you into the today’s scripture. 

The title Messiah carried extravagant, over the top expectations for everyone in the time and place of Jesus.  Everyone carried an opinion and a hope for this person.  

            After hearing Jesus teach and reveal intimate details of her life, the Samaritan woman here in John 4 responds by mentioning the Messiah:  “I know the Messiah is coming,” the Woman proclaims to Jesus at the well.  “He is the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 

Jesus responds to her boldly - “I AM the Messiah!” I AM – the title God uses with Moses at the burning bush.  Jesus now puts himself squarely into the expectations the entire community had for the coming Messiah. 

1.         The woman is still not sure about Jesus, though, so she hedges her bets.  She knows something is special about Jesus.  She leaves the well to tell everyone in her village in v. 24:  ““Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 

Using the actual title of Messiah had political and social ramifications.  The woman could have been thrown into prison if she had announced to everyone that Jesus was the Messiah.  Proclaiming Jesus as Messiah challenged the political and social orders – it was revolutionary. 

The English Title Messiah comes from Hebrew/Aramaic words which literally mean Anointed one.   This Hebrew word in Greek is Christ.  Contrary to  what I thought growing up - Christ is not Jesus’ last name!  It is title that has been added to his proper - Jesus of Nazareth - name.  When we call him Jesus Christ – we proclaim Jesus the Messiah. 

The concept of Messiah was born during King David’s reign.  Remember how Samuel sought David at his father’s home and anointed his head with oil.  This was kingly act. David was the Anointed One.  Savior.  Each king after David carried the same title – they were God’s anointed king/leader of his people. 

After the fall of Judah and exile into Babylon – there were no more anointed leaders or kings.  Israel lived within the occupation of other major powers.  The title Messiah evolved to be the expected person who would be the visible inbreaking of God’s power into history in the same way God had done during the exodus.  Talk about expectations!

The People of Jesus’ time had some very specific Messianic Expectations:

•          Descends from King David.  This is why the genealogies in Matthew and Luke both connect Jesus through Mary and Joseph to King David. 

•          Restores Nation of Israel – For over 400 years the nation of Israel had only enjoyed a few years of self-rule through the priest kings called the Maccabees.  The Messiah would restore the nation – physically and literally as a nation.  .  

•          Frees Jews from occupation – The Roman Empire occupied Palestine with cruel power – forcing families into poverty and creating uncertainty of life.  The Messiah would throw off the oppressors and free the people in the same way Moses brought the people out of Egypt. 

•          Establishes God’s rule in Jerusalem – Jerusalem and its temple were and remain the holiest sites in all of Judaism.  The Messiah would retake the city David that established. 

The Samaritan woman, the disciples, Peter, Nicodemus, religious leaders, and the crowds from Galilee and Jerusalem all carried these kinds of expectation for the Title of Messiah. 

Jesus destroys these expectations.  By destroying these expectations Jesus offers his original followers and those of us today a new way of understanding the Messiah.

2.         In v. 42 we begin to see a glimpse of this new life.  For 2 days Jesus stays in the Samaritan village teaching.  For 2 days he teaches about the Kingdom of God and his role as Messiah.  When he prepares the leave, the villagers no longer hesitate about Jesus.  They make this confession of faith:  “Now we believe, not just because of what you [the woman at the well] told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.” 

When Jesus destroys the expectations for the first century Messiah, his followers are forced to rethink his life, their experience, the Hebrew Scriptures and their understanding of Messiah. 

Raymond Brown, a 20th century NT scholar in An Introduction to New Testament Christology, says it like this:  “It took time after Jesus’ death for the Jewish presuppositions (expectations) about the Messiah to be modified and tailored to suit Jesus’s career, so that believers could recognize him without reservation as the Messiah in all the phases of his life.” 

The largest dissonance about the Messiah these early followers had to overcome was the death of Jesus.  There were many things they expected from the Messiah – but his death on a cross as a revolutionary was never one of them.  All the dreams and expectations for Jesus as the Messiah die with him. 

How do we make sense of an inbreaking of the presence of God who dies on a common cross?

NT. Wright, Simply Jesus:  A New Vision of Who He was, What He did, and Why it Matters says it this way:  “Jesus’s vocation to be Israel’s Messiah and this vocation to suffer and die belong intimately together.” 

Jesus takes those Messianic expectations that preceded him and launches a new kingdom on earth as well as in heaven. 

Jesus takes our expectations of a Messiah and his kingdom onto the cross and destroys them.  The disciples wanted a kingdom without a cross.  Today - Some of us who claim to be orthodox or Conservative Christians want a cross without kingdom.  This abstract atonement which escapes earth makes us heavenly minded, but no earthly good.  Others today want a divine Jesus, a kind of superhero figure, who comes to rescue them, but not to act as Israel’s Messiah, establishing God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus as Messiah on the cross shockingly combines these scriptural models of the Messiah into a single vocation and title. 

When Jesus dies on the cross, he meets death in the same way that King David met Goliath on the field.  In one sweeping great act of Love, Jesus destroys death once and for by taking death upon his shoulders. 

There are many ways Christian have understood the death of Jesus on the cross.  In some ways his death is beautiful model of love for the world.  In another Jesus serves our representative on the cross.  He dies so that we do not have to.  In another, Jesus deaths is seen as punishment – receiving the great judgment of God.

Jesus as the Messiah who dies brings all of these theologies of the cross together.  We realize that when Jesus Christ – the anointed One – the Messiah dies on the cross – his followers and those who wrote his story down saw this act as the ultimate means by which his Kingdom was established.  It was the ultimate exodus so that the ultimate tyrant – death itself – could be defeated. 

Through his death we are set free to live our lives in new way.  Our expectations of what we deserve or who we are destroyed and replaced by the grace and love of Jesus who died for us.  We are free to live – not through the law – but through grace.  God is now in charge. 

           The Gospel Story is the extraordinary story of Israel’s Messiah taking upon himself the Accusers sharpest arrow and dying under its force, robbing the Accuser of any real power in our lives – all through his love.  There is no greater love than this. 

Jesus the Messiah destroys our expectations and establishes a new kingdom – not one made of our expectations and our wants – but with his. 

After Jesus spends two days with the Samaritan villagers, he transforms their expectations of the Messiah.  This transformation calls for a commitment.  They no longer depend on the words of others – they know for themselves that Jesus is more than just a Jewish Messiah or a Samaritan Messiah – Jesus is the Savior of the World! 

Jesus as the Messiah invites each of us to make the same confession and commitment.  We cannot depend on what others tell us about the Messiah.  We have to encounter Jesus for ourselves.  We cannot depend on our parent’s faith.  Or our youth ministers faith.  Or our spouses faith.  We have to look past what the world says about Jesus Christ and get to know Jesus ourselves. 

When we do – we realize that Jesus offers us the gift of new life through his death and resurrection.  Jesus the Messiah died so that you may have new life – everlasting life.  Abundant life.  He died so that you may participate in his kingdom – on earth as it is in heaven.  He died so that your sins would be forgiven. 

Some of us here have never fully commitment to Jesus our lives.  You have been holding back.  You want just the parts of Jesus that meet your expectations.  That don’t cost you too much.  That make you happy.  That fit your lifestyle.  You get afraid of Jesus as Messiah.   Of what he may ask of you!

Today – I invite you to commit your life to Jesus fully and completely.  Receive the gift of Jesus.  Release your life and receive his.  Take his hand and let him heal you, challenge you, and save you. 

Jesus is the savior of the world!  Thanks be to God.  Amen.  

Mount Nebo: Discovering a New Perspective

Mt Nebo

Sermon 2 of Mountains of the Bible Series

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Scripture:  Deuteronomy 34

Sermon

           

            In the Moab wilderness – in modern day Jordan – Moses stands on the edge of destiny.  He can smell the salt air of the Mediterranean.  The freshness of grass and tress drifts over the Great Jordan River Rift from the Promised Land.  The long journey from Egypt to Palestine has ended.  The land to which God called Abraham so many generations ago – before Joseph and slavery in Egypt – sits ready for the people of Israel. 

These former slaves have been formed in the wilderness into the People of God.  Their identity and covenant, their law and their rituals have matured them into a people ready to serve as God’s light for the nations.  

Moab Wilderness.  Modern day Jordan

            At 120 years young – Moses still possesses he same power and charisma that he displayed growing up in the courts of the pharaoh.  “His eyesight was sharp; he still walked with a spring in his step,” the scripture tells us.  Like an ancient version of Blanche Bowen who died last year at 96, I bet Moses could still be planting his own garden and mowing his own grass. 

            At the heart of Moses 120 years of unparalleled life stands his relationship with Yahweh God.  Yahweh saved Moses as a child and delivered him to the promised land of Pharaoh’s court in the same way God would save the People of Israel and deliver them to their own promised land.  God called Moses out of exile in the wilderness and declared his name for all the world – I am who I am, I was who I was, I will be who I will be – simply – YHWH – Yahweh. 

            Then, when the plagues were done and the People of Israel stood free at last at the base of Mount Sinai, God summed Moses into the Presence of God – a terrifying experience of smoke, thunder and noise to the top of Mt. Sinai.  The Scriptures say, Moses was the one prophet, to whom the Lord knew face to face.  Moses had experienced God and lived.  He confounded all things as they were in order for God to create something new in the world. 

            Now, Moses stands in the place that has only existed in his dreams – the Promised Land is so near he feels it calling him.  Yet, he knows the rest of the story will be left for someone else.  Once, years before, recorded in Deuteronomy 34, Moses begged God to allow him to complete the task before him – to lead the people into the Promised Land.  Like all great leaders, Moses didn’t want to leave a task unfinished. 

            “GOD, my Master,” Moses begged, “you let me in on the beginnings, you let me see your greatness, you let me see your might—what god in Heaven or Earth can do anything like what you’ve done! Please, let me in also on the endings, let me cross the river and see the good land over the Jordan, the lush hills, the Lebanon Mountains.”

            God would have none of it, though.  The Lord wouldn’t listen to Moses. Instead, God said, “Enough of that. Not another word from you on this. Climb to the top of Mount Nebo and look around: look west, north, south, east. Take in the land with your own eyes. Take a good look because you’re not going to cross this Jordan River.”

            Since this moment, Moses has spent his waning moments in an eloquent filibuster – he keeps talking, hoping to wait God out.  Yet, death will wait no longer.

Now - Moses withdraws from the Hebrew camp on the plains of Moab to a high place for a climactic moment alone with the God he first met eighty years earlier on another mountain.  In the ancient worldview, if you went up topographically, you were just a bit closer to God. Mountaintops represented closeness to God. 

Mount Nebo as a mountain is not much to write home about.  Today, it is located in the country of Jordan, just to the East of the Dead Sea.  Rather than a mountain like Yonah or Curahee – standing high and regal for all to see – Mt. Nebo sits more like high ridge line.  Even its elevation doesn’t sound impressive – it’s only 2,680 feet high.  Today, a modern road winds up and over it and you pass the summit without even realizing where you are.  Moses’ walk to the top of Nebo carried none of the courage and stamina needed in those days of climbing up and down Mt. Sinai. 

Looking West over Dead Sea to Israel

Yet, first impressions of Mt. Nebo will fool us.  The top of Mount Nebo offers a breathtaking panorama of the Promised Land of Palestine. Unlike any other mountain in the world, Mount Nebo offers the best view of the Promised Land in the world.  While only standing at 2,680 feet above sea level, it soars over four thousand feet above the Dead Sea – the lowest point on earth at 1,401 feet below sea level.  The northern tip of the Dead Sea washes against the mountain's southwestern foot. A spot just across a small dip to the northwest of Mt. Nebo, is usually identified as Pisgah.  This location affords the best view of the Jordan valley and the land beyond.

Ascent

            Moses ascends Mt. Nebo driven by the desire to see things differently.  The topography and promise of the land in front of this mountain has been carried in the conscious memory of Moses’ people for over 400 years.  Generation after generation from Joseph through history have told their children and grandchildren stories about this fertile place.  The land of our ancestor Abraham overflows with green mountains and trees, fresh water and produce.  This is the exact opposite of the wilderness with its dry, barren landscape.  Moses ascends Mt. Nebo to see the truth for himself – does the land live up to the promises?

         

   Moses also ascends Mt. Nebo to gain a new perspective.  Moses has driven the people of Israel relentlessly in trust Yahweh to provide.   He has pushed and prodded, begged and yelled to get them to this spot.  In the middle of the desert when everyone seems to be against you and God seems to have let you down – the vision that drives you forward gets lost.  We lose sight of the final goal.  Why are we doing what we are doing?  Why are we living like this?  Survival overcomes vision – and we live simple to get through the day. 

            Moses has been living day by day for 40 years – now, he ascends to see the vision of what started him on this odyssey.

            The desires that drive Moses to ascend Mt. Nebo – I would imagine – drives many of us to the mountain as well.  Caught in the daily crisis’ of life – the next doctor’s visit, remembering which medication to take at what time, where the kids need to be today, keeping the bills paid and the house clean – we also yearn to see life and faith differently too.

            Like Moses, we can forget the motivations and visions which started us on our life journeys.  We forget the love story that bought our spouse into our lives.  We forget the joy of holding that new born baby when temper tantrums or adolescent indifference claim all of our waking moments.  We forget the claim of Jesus on our lives when friends or co-workers invite us into compromising positions.  We forget the joy of serving Jesus when we are exhausted from long days and nights at VBS and Camp Agape.

            So – like Moses – God invites us up to the mountain as well.  God invites us up to gain a new perspective on our life and faith and ministry and job and family.  What drives you up the mountain today?

Looking Around

            When Moses gets to the top of Mt. Nebo – the whole Promised Land spreads out before him in a glorious panorama.  On a crystal blue sky day – with no smog or pollution or cataracts to hinder him – Moses sees all that God promised. 

            In the scripture passage that summarizes this moment – the writer records all that can been seen.  In a zig zag manner – he follows Moses gave from one landmark to another.  If you have a map in your Bible let me invite to turn over to it to get an idea of all Moses saw that day. 

Immediately across the valley on the Western slope of the Jordan rift valley stood the city of Jericho, one of the oldest human settlements in the world.  It is still known as a city of Palm trees.  God then showed Moses all the land from Gilead in the south to Dan – all the way in the North near today’s Lebonan border.  Dan was the first place Abraham had entered into the Promised Land. Then God showed him all of Naphtali – the Northern Galilee, Ephraim and Manasseh – the central highlands with their rolling hills and valleys; all Judah reaching to the Mediterranean Sea – including the mountains that would one day hold Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives and Bethlehem; the Negev – the southern desert wilderness and the plains which encircle Jericho, City of Palms, as far south as Zoar.

Moses came up to see the Promised Land – and it was even grander than he could ever have imagined.  It was more spectacular than any family myth had remembered.  From the perspective of Mt. Nebo – Moses regained God’s vision for the people of Israel.  The Promised Land was no long a myth or a promise – it was here in front of Moses, ready to be received. 

Mountaintop experiences help us to re-orient our lives around God’s vision for us as well.  The mountaintop is the place we can go to get perspective on what we are doing.  On the mountaintop, we can transcend ourselves to ask the important questions about ourselves and others.  It’s a place we can see the patterns of the life.

Like Moses, our mountaintop experiences allow us to get a panoramic view of our lives – we can see better what we are doing, where we are going, and what stands in our way. 

When we stand on the mountaintop, we see our family more completely.  We see the joy that lies at the foundation of the daily chores and challenges – we remember the laughter we share and the love that bonds us.

When we stand on the mountaintop – we get a glimpse of our vocation – the passion and experiences that brought us to where we are.  We rekindle the joy that started us on this journey.

When we stand on the mountaintop, we see the daily medical challenges that confront us differently.  We see God molding us into the image of his son, as we walk each new day.  We see more clearly our ultimate destination and the fear of death and dying slowly slip away. 

Mountaintops reorient our lives and force us to look up off the sidewalk and catch God’s vision for our lives. 

Like Moses, we must intentionally seek these mountaintop experiences.  They begin in prayer as we meditate on scripture.  They become intentional retreats at home or away from home.  Our mountaintop experience may be a mission trip or Camp Agape, a spiritual get away or a morning at home with the Bible.

We must be willing to allow the presence of God to meet us in these moments for this re-orientation to take place.  We can all climb a mountain of some fashion – but we have to be willing to see with the vision of God for that re-orientation to occur. 

Descent

            Finally, Moses doesn’t stay on top of Mt. Nebo.  At some point, he has seen all that he can see and it’s time to return to the valley.  If Mountaintops give us vision, the valleys give us life. 

            When the Cherokee and the old time pioneers first settled these Georgia Mountains, they didn’t build mountaintop cabins like we see today.  They settled in the lowlands, the valleys and the river bottoms were the places that produced crops and offered constant water.  Mountaintops offer vision, but we can never live there.

            Moses returned to his tribe and his people and then died.  He was full of vigor and vision till the very end. 

            I love the Oswald Chambers quote on the front of our Order of Worship. 

“The mountaintop is an exceptional type of experience; we have to live down in the valley.  After every time of exaltation we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they are, where things are neither beautiful nor poetic nor spiritual nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the drab drudgery of the valley.  We never live for the glory of God on the mount; we see His glory there, but we do not live for his glory there; it is in the valley that we live for the glory of God.”  We descend the mountain to live for Jesus with a new vision

Conclusion

This is the Gospel for us today:  From the mountaintop, God reorients our vision for our life in the valleys. 

God has a path for you and your life.  Roadblocks and barriers block our paths.  On the mountain top, we begin to see with God’s eyes the direction and purpose of this path before us – with God’s vision these the barriers no longer seem as big, the path no longer feels as long, and joy suddenly descends into our lives again. 

What part of your life does God need to re-orient today to help you begin walking God’s path and faith purpose again?

Over the past year, I have hike Mt. Yonah through every season.  I love the Mount Yonah hike because it is a high reward hike.  From the mountaintop, the whole Georgia Blue Ridge opens up before you – like a panorama of God’s handiwork.  From the backside of Yonah I can look across the valleys and fields of white and Habersham Counties to see Chenocetah rise up on the horizon.  All of the struggles and challenges of my life live in those valleys – but from the mountaintop, they no longer look imposing or impossible.  Instead, they look small, feeble and doable.  God meets me every time I struggle up that steep road on Yonah and re-orients again with a vision for life in the valley.  He wants to do the same in your life today.  Will you let him? Thanks be the God.  Amen.  

Early Spring from Mt. Yonah

Alive in the Spirit

Preached on:  Sunday, May 25, 2014

Scripture:  I Peter 3:13-22

Proclamation

            Today is the 6^th Sunday of the Easter Season.  Easter Day with its trumpets and beautiful dresses occurred 36 days ago.  Tomorrow, we celebrate Memorial Day – a day to remember those who gave their lives for the sake of our country.  I imagine most of us are looking forward, not backwards – to the cookouts with friends and the time at the lake or the vacation at the beach or the long awaited trip across the country. 

            Since April 20^th, most of us have settled into life as we know it – bills and doctor’s visits, school performances and job presentations.  The mundane-ness of life and the worries of everyday have long crowded out that memorable day where the gloomy, rainy Saturday became a glorious blue sky Sunday surrounding the living cross at the front of the church.  The power of resurrection has faded as we look to the next holiday, the next challenge, the next opportunity that comes our way. 

            The farther we get from anything – the more the power of the moment fades in our memory. 

            Peter writes this letter to the churches and Christians in Asia Minor – in present day Turkey – towards the end of the first century.  It’s been decades since that original Resurrection morning.  The very youngest of the original disciples who have not been martyred are growing old.  Their stories of a resurrected Savior are now beginning to be codified and placed in writing which we call Gospels – Good News. 

            For many of these Christians who are receiving the letter from Peter the memories of the power of that powerful moment when Jesus entered their lives has begun to fade as well.  Day after day, week after week they face the constant pressure of physical or emotional or economic danger for their belief in Jesus.  The authority of their faith in Jesus that gave them the courage to face these daily challenges seems to have faded as well. 

            When we face the challenges of life –the more the power of our original moments fade from our memory and life. 

            The power of Mission-fuge or centrifuge or other Christian camp we had last summer fades quickly as soon as the first days of school begin.

            The power of those cute moments with our toddler when she stole our heart with an infectious laugh fades in the heat of teenage angst, attitude and disobedience.

            The power of our wedding vows and those “in love” moments of our honeymoon fade as we struggle to reconnect with a spouse who has grown distant and cold. 

            The power of that friendship birthed in school and strengthen in life fades in the shadow of betrayal and lies. 

            The power of baptism and faith which consumed our younger lives fades as we struggle to find meaning and purpose through the loss of jobs , health or family. 

            The power of doing what is right in our lives fades as we struggle with isolation and loneliness because of our decisions. 

            The power of faith in a God who heals fades as we struggle with ongoing health issues that reoccur and take over our lives. 

            When life gets difficult and hard and mundane and ordinary – our hope in the power of resurrection fades and we wonder how we will keep moving forward. 

            Into these moments – Peter writes to encourage the people of Asia Minor and Christians like you and me through the centuries. 

v. 15:  Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered[d] for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you[e] to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

Today’s Good News:  The hope made alive in the Spirit is in you!  Resurrection and hope belong together.  As much as the memory of resurrection may fade from our memories, the kernel of hope birthed in the resurrection remains alive in us like an antibody always there to protect us. 

Implication

            Having hope alive insides us has several implications for our lives. 

1.     Hope lives beside suffering

Over and over again, Peter talks about the suffering and the challenges and heartaches and the difficult daily decisions the Christians in Asia Minor have to endure.  The Greek word for suffering is used more in this book than any other NT book.  Whether you are a slave or wife or a servant or a freedman – following Jesus in the Roman Empire required difficult decisions every day. 

      Even with the kernel of hope alive in them, suffering still existed.  Peter’s words would not be able to take the suffering away.  Even Peter, himself, would ultimately give his own life as a martyr in Rome. 

      The obvious question from anyone in this position is “why if we are living post Easter, post resurrection, do we keep suffering – especially when we what we are doing is right.  Why is it better to suffer for doing right?  Where is the justice in this? 

Peter says we receive something through suffering.  It does something in our lives.  The hurt, the pain, the stress, the hardship – gives us something back into our lives.  “Even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.”  The hope made alive by the spirit of God exists side by side with our suffering and gives us the strength to keep moving, to carry on, to find strength enough for each day.  This challenges our whole understanding of what it means to be blessed, doesn’t it?  To suffer for what is right is to be blessed.  Might make us think differently when someone says have a “blessed day.”

2.     Hope shares God’s story

When we discover the hope made alive in us – we realize that through the challenges we face in our lives we are sharing God’s story in Jesus.  The challenges of raising a teenager, the exhaustion of chasing a toddler, the fear of getting older or facing a disease, the pain of watching the personality of someone we love fade way – or even the loneliness of not being invited to a party because of a faith stand we take, or losing money on a deal because we choose to be ethical or missing out on a promotion because we choose to make more time for our family – in whatever ways we face challenges on an everyday basis – we share in the story of Jesus. 

      This is what Peter tells the recipients of his letter – when we suffer, we participate in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.  V17:  For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered[d] for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you[e] to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

Jesus also suffered – like we suffer.

There is nothing on earth – no feeling, no experience, no challenge, or pain – that Jesus did not experience as well.  The power of the incarnation is that Jesus suffered both for us and with us – we are never alone.  God does not make us suffer for the joy of seeing people squirm – instead, God suffers with us.   The hope the spirit of God made alive in us connects us eternally with the Story of God. 

3.     Hope builds strong character

As we walk through the challenges of living restored through this hope made alive it us – God builds strong character within us.  Through suffering and challenges and pain and grief, the life of Jesus gets made within us and we become more like Jesus.   This hope brings out the Jesus in us. 

One of the key character traits suffering brings out in us is care and concern for the other.  Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence.

            Many of us have heard this verse before as a verse to promote evangelism – telling others about our faith in Jesus.  And this is exactly what it is.  But look more deeply at the context.  Peter is telling the Christians in Asia Minor who are suffering for their  faith in Jesus – that while they are suffering, while someone is treating them poorly, while they are doing what is right – to always be ready to share the Gospel when an opportunity arises.  Make a defense, Peter says, be ready to tell anyone who asks – why you have made the decision to live like you do - to give an accounting of the hope that is inside you.  And Peter gives guidance for how we are to share – with gentleness and reverence.  Stand firm in the Gospel with love exuding from all that we do.  We can only do this when we have the hope made alive in the spirit in us. 

            When we connect to this deep hope made alive by the spirit in us – Jesus forms us into evangelists.   When the resurrection settles deep into the morrow of our lives and we are formed to be more like Jesus through the sufferings and challenges of our lives – telling others the story of Jesus becomes simply  telling them our story – the Story of God at work in our lives, the story of God’s forming us to be more like Jesus. 

            The hope made alive by the Spirit lives in us and we cannot stop telling others about it. 

Invitation

            Evidence of this hope made alive by the spirit is found all around us when we stop and see.  We notice it because this hope makes no sense what so ever and it points us straight to God. 

            We see this hope made alive in us in op-ed’s to the paper – like the one this week by Lisa Sprayberry.  Her 19 year old son is fighting desperately for his life and she takes the time to write a thank you note to the community for the many ways the community has loved them.  She has discovered the power of hope in the face of suffering. 

            We see this hope made alive in us in the story of the Pregnant Sudanese woman who chose death over denying Jesus.  Charged with marrying a Christian man instead of a Muslim man, she was sentenced death for her faith.  This is a woman who chosen to defend the hope deep inside her for all the world to see. 

            We see this hope every day when husbands or wives bury their spouse and speak of God’s hope and purpose and joy in spite of the deep hole the loss has created in their lives. 

            We see this hope made a live by the spirit every day in Facebook posts by casual friends or acquaintances who speak of God’s hope in spite of the great challenge facing them.  We never know what people are going through – but we can see evidence of the hope made alive in them.

            And we can also see when the hope never took hold.  I’ve read several articles this week about individuals have lost their faith in Jesus because of religion – the church has been too narrow or too dogmatic or too loose – and their faith has faded away.  Their form of Christianity allowed them no room to question or figure it out or to delve into mystery.  The hope of resurrection still exists if only they can allow it to resurface – to be born again. 

            I also see hope fade away in children raised in church who showed up, but never catch on.  These children, teenagers, and now adults knew what to believe, what words to say, but they never allowed the deep hope made alive by the spirit to sink into their lives.  Now, they struggle to find meaning and purpose in the challenges and obstacles and successes of their lives.  God has not given up on them – or you – or me. 

            This is the invitation God has for each of us – receive the hope of the resurrection and allow it to shape and mold and change your life.  Come be baptized in the waters of the spirit and let Jesus plant that hope firmly in your life.

            And for those of us whose lives seem faded, who are struggling to find meaning and purpose in the challenges of our lives – Jesus invites us to reconnect, rediscover, recommit to the hope made alive in the spirit.  It is still there, beating the heart of God within us.  It doesn’t matter if it is 36 days from Easter or 3000 – God’s hope never dies and Jesus invites us to rekindle it.  When we do this – our lives and our world will never be the same.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. 

            

Linen Cloth

Easter Sunday 2014

Matthew 26:14-16, 47-56

Garden Tomb, Jerusalem, 2014

Before a resurrected Jesus appeared … his disciples encountered an empty tomb. 

            On a Friday afternoon with the light quickly fading marking the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus work quickly.  Soon after the execution order had been authorized they had begun securing a tomb for Jesus.  Now, they have a new tomb in a Jewish garden, just around the corner from the quarry called the place of the Skull.  Risking exposure as a disciple of Jesus, Joseph goes to Pilate, the Roman governor who just commissioned this execution and asks for the body.  Once again, time is of the essence.  Jesus must be buried before sundown – the start of Sabbath. 

Now, Nicodemus and Joseph start working.  Proper burial for the body of Jesus is a sacred and holy responsibility and they are only disciples able to do it.  They gently take Jesus off the cross.  They carry him around the corner, through the garden and into the tomb.  Carved out of a wall of limestone, the tomb has a preparation chamber and two burial tables.  Nicodemus mixes the expensive burial spices he has brought and covers Jesus’ body to mask the smell of death.  Then, with layer upon layer of linen cloth he wraps the body and mixes the spices.  They use enough spice for a king.  Special care is taken with his head – which is wrapped with a separate piece of linen.  Finally, with their work done and the darkness almost complete –Joseph and Nicodemus place the body of Jesus on one of the burial tables, roll the stone over the entrance to the cave and walk back into the city. 

            The 20^th chapter of John tells the story of how 3 of Jesus’ disciples arrive at this same tomb a day and a half later in the early morning hours of Sunday.  When they arrive, they discover the body of Jesus missing.  Before they experience a resurrected Jesus, they encounter an empty tomb.  Each of these disciples seeks something different from the empty tomb.     

Peter comes to the tomb seeking a second chance

            The last time we see Peter in the Gospel story he is outside the home of the high priest Caiaphas’ house on Friday morning as the rooster crows.  He hangs his head, realizing Jesus was right.  He has just denied his association with him for the third time to one of the slaves of the high priest.  Of all the disciples, Peter has the strongest personality.  He is self-confident, strong, rash, and eager to see the future arrive.           

He is the first of the disciples to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.  He is the one who leaps out of the boat among the high waves and blowing wind when Jesus invites him to walk on the water.  And he does for just a moment.  And Peter is the one - just this night – who pulls the sword and slices off the ear of a servant as the temple guards arrested Jesus. 

            Yet, in the night time moments of Jesus’ trial – surrounded by the authority and power of the Jewish leadership and the Roman military – Peter falters.  He has followed Jesus from the Garden up to the Upper city of Jerusalem to keep an eye on him.  And he fails.  Peter disappears into the night and from the story. 

            Until now.  Peter has hidden in Jerusalem for two days.  No one knows what will happen to all of the disciples.  Will the Romans come searching for them?  Will the Sanhedren Council mark each of his followers as zealots against the Roman government and attempt to crucify them as well as soon as the Passover celebrations have ended? 

Mary Magdalene breaks the silence on his pity and fear in the early Sunday morning with her banging.  “Peter, come quickly, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  There is an urgency and fear in her voice.  Something has happened. 

Peter jumps up and bolts out of the room.  We don’t know if Peter and John are in the same house of if she has to find both – but soon, they are both running through the narrow, steep streets of Jerusalem in the pitch darkness of the early morning.  John, who is most likely younger, takes the lead in this race to the empty tomb. 

            Peter won’t quit, though.  The denials, the fear and the self- loathing push him harder and harder to the tomb.  When he exits the gate of the city, the remnants of the carnage from Friday’s execution still litter the ground beside the road.  Blood and nails darken the dirt and three posts missing their cross beams and victims stand as silent messengers.  Peter pushes harder, past Good Friday to the tomb.  As he gets there, he sees John sucking wind at the entrance to the tomb.  The stone lies to the side, the tomb open, just as Mary said. 

            Peter wastes no time, he ducks his head into the cave and discovers … an empty tomb.  No angels.  No body.  Just the linen cloths lying on the ground beside the burial table.  On the table he sees the special linen cloths that covered the head of Jesus neatly folded and placed at the head. 

            Peter has come to the empty tomb looking for a second chance.  His desire to be restored makes him the first to see the evidence that something has happened to Jesus. 

            The author tells us Peter didn’t know quite what to make of this event:  “as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”

            Peter could have allowed his failures, denials, self-loathing and fear to cripple him.  He could have ended up in the same field as Judas.   Yet – Peter in his darkest moments – never gives up on Jesus and Jesus never gives up on Peter. 

            The rest of the chapter details how the resurrected Jesus reveals himself to the disciples – even to doubting Thomas.  Yet, we never hear Peter’s name.  He stands behind and in the shadows of the narrative until chapter 21 when Jesus greets him again soaking wet on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  In the most famous breakfast scene of scripture, Jesus restores Peter and gifts him with a new task as leader of the new movement that is about to begin.   Jesus gives him his second chance!

            Many of us can relate to Peter – we know what is like to put our feet in our mouth, to say something we don’t really mean, to forget our true loyalties, to mis-prioritize our lives and faith. We know the desperation of wanting a second chance – with our parents, our children, our friend, our boss, our grandchildren and even with God.  We know how lonely it gets when our failures break relationships.  Like Peter we rush to the tomb and the resurrected Lord seeking a second chance in life and know that it will only come through the power of the Resurrected Lord. 

            The empty tomb is hope for those needing a second chance.  Will you come?

Unlike Peter, John comes to the tomb hoping to believe

            When Mary Magdalene finds John he has not been hiding and wrestling with his own guilt like Peter.  In the Gospel which he eventually writes, John never uses his own name.  Instead, John describes himself as “the one whom Jesus loved.”  John didn’t scatter like the rest of the disciples at the point of arrest.  He loved Jesus too much. 

            We last see John at the crucifixion standing with the Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and other women followers at the foot of the cross.  As pilgrims and traders come in and out of the gate of the city, these faithful followers stood guard below the cross being the presence of God even for Jesus.  At one point on the cross Jesus sees these faithful friends.  Lifting himself up to have breath to speak he says these words found in John 19:26-27:  When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

            From the very first moment that John met Jesus on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, he believed in Jesus.  So much so, he and his brother James leave a successful fishing business to their father Zebedee.  John believed that Jesus would do what he said.  He even had his mother speak up for him – asking Jesus for a special place for her sons James and John when Jesus finally sat upon his throne. 

            John eventually accompanies Peter, James and Jesus to the top of Mount Tabor.  On top of this mountain he witnesses Jesus in his glory and the voice of God proclaiming Jesus as “This is my son, the beloved.”  John recognizes Jesus as more than just a man – he is God’s son, God’s Messiah – and there is nothing he can’t believe.

            When Mary Magdalene knocks on John’s door, she finds him hiding and afraid as well – but also wondering if there is still hope.  All seems to be over – but could something still happen? 

            So - when Mary knocks, John takes off for the tomb as well as Peter.  In fact, he outruns Peter and finds himself the first to the tomb.  Rather than running for a second chance, John finds himself running with the hope to believe.

            At the tomb, he also finds the stone rolled away – the same as Mary – but he can’t make himself look in.  Maybe he’s afraid his hopes will be dashed.  Maybe he’s afraid, he will find a body.  Maybe he’s afraid, his belief is in vain. 

            Either way – it’s not until Peter runs past him and looks into the tomb that John peeks his head into the cave. He’s sees evidence too – no body, only linen cloths on the ground and linen folded neatly on the table.  When John sees these things – the scripture says – “he believes.”    Without ever seeing the risen lord, without an angel to tell him the news, John believes.  Empty linen cloths are all John needs to believe God’s power over death.  John was hoping to believe – he just needed a little evidence. 

            Many of us also come to empty tomb hoping to believe this year?  Maybe we are facing death and lose and need to believe there is a power greater than death in the world?  Maybe we are lost and afraid in the world walking in circles needing to believe that God really does have a purpose and mission for your life?  Maybe we are facing a difficult and scary future – and need to believe that we are not alone.  Maybe we have lost the faith of our childhood, and even wonder if there is any truth to any of these stories – we need to believe again. 

            John invites all of us to come to the empty grave and believe.  The signs are all around us of God’s presence if we take time to pay attention.  The empty tomb is hope for those of us needing to believe again.  Will you come?

Finally, unlike Peter and John, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb looking for Jesus. 

            Mary comes to the tomb early Sunday morning to finish dressing the body of Jesus after the hasty burial on Friday by Nicademus and Joseph.  When she finds the stone to the tomb rolled away, she quickly determines the Romans or the Jewish leaders have done something with his body.

            Mary runs also.  Through the dark and narrow streets she runs to Peter and John.  As they bolt past her, she quietly makes her way back to the tomb.  Peter and John have already left the tomb and gone back into the city buy the time she arrives again.  She desperately wants to find Jesus.  She doesn’t care about believing or in second chances – she just wants Jesus. 

            When she returns to the tomb, this time she cautiously bends over and goes inside.  She doesn’t notice the empty linen cloths – instead, there two angels startled her – one at the foot of burial table and one at the head.  “Woman, why are you weeping?” they ask.  She doesn’t hear them – she only wants Jesus.  “They have taken away my Lord,” she says, “and I do not know where they have laid him.”

            Then Jesus comes to her and in her grief she takes as the gardener.  “Sir,” she says, “if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

            Then – Jesus quietly and simply calls her name.  “Mary.”  And know she knows – he is alive. 

            Peter came to the tomb looking for second chances and found an empty tomb and hope for restoration.

            John came to the tomb looking to believe and found empty linens and believed in God’s power over death.

            Mary – the woman whose life was chaos and turmoil – out of order and out of control before Jesus cast 7 spirits from her – Mary Magdalene came looking for Jesus. And she found him.  He called her by name and invited her to be his messenger to the world. 

            “I have seen the Lord” she says as he bursts into the room holding them all.  “He called me by name.”

            Have you come to the empty tomb today looking for Jesus?  Has your life gotten so out of focus that you can’t find him anymore?  Have you become so religious that the person of Jesus has gotten lost from all of the things that once drew you to him?  Does your life seem dead and bottomed out – full of death and dying?  Do you come today looking for a risen Jesus to call you by name and welcome you into a new relationship?

            The empty tomb is hope for those of us needing to find Jesus. 

Conclusion

            Easter living means that we all come to the empty tomb with needs and hopes and desires for our lives and the lives of our family.  These hopes and desires are so big and scary that only resurrection can meet them.  Jesus meets you at the empty tomb.  He calls you by name and he welcomes you home.   Then – like Mary, he sends us back into the world as his messengers.  Where is God sending you today>

            No matter why we come to the grave:  as Peter looking for a second chance or as John looking to believe or as Mary looking for Jesus – Jesus meets us at the point of our greatest needs.  He calls us by name and restores, greets and sends us.  The Easter story is not complete until we find what we are looking for at the empty tomb.  Amen!