Good Sheep for a New Shepherd

1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18

April 26, 2015

© 2015

The Good Shepherd
Lee Hedges

In the Church’s early centuries, the favorite and most common way of picturing Jesus was as the Good Shepherd. As I look at some of this early Christian art, I am struck with how young Jesus appears and with wide ethnic variation.

The Good Shepherd image is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, famously the 23^rd Psalm. Let’s say it together.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

The Pharisees reacted with hostility to Jesus’ healing a blind man, and he responded in John 10 with shepherding images, calling them bandits and himself the gate to the sheep fold. In John 10:11-18 he said:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.¹⁶I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

As the Good Shepherd’s sheep of the Highlands Christian Church fold, welcome Jonathan Brink as Jesus’ appointed shepherd and not as your hired hand.

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus contrasted himself with the hired hands, who most understood as the religious leaders.

The word John used for “good” does not just mean one who does a good job but means the beautiful, handsome, model, ideal, noble shepherd.

The Hebrew prophets referred to God as the shepherd of Israel a number of times.

Isaiah 40:11 “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” Ezekiel 34:11-12 For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered.” Jeremiah 23:3-4 “Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.”

The New Testament picked up on this idea of God raising up new shepherds and applied it to pastoral leadership.

In John 21:15-19, when Peter assures the risen Jesus that he loves him, Jesus tells him to tend his sheep. In Acts 20:28 when Paul bids the Ephesian Elders farewell he said, “Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God.” 1 Peter 5:2-3 tells the leaders “to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, (and) be examples to the flock.”

In that tradition, God has appointed Jonathan Brink to be the next shepherd of Jesus’ sheep in the Highlands Christian Church fold. He is not your hired hand.

You might think a sermon about the Good Shepherd should be preached to Jonathan, but we know not all sheep are good; some are bullies, not just bullying pastors but other sheep too.

The Hebrew prophets, again, described bully sheep as those who throw their weight around to get their own way regardless of how it affects the other sheep.

Ezekiel 34:17-22 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

Jesus referred to Gentiles as other sheep that did not belong to this fold (v. 10), but this also pointed ahead to a call for Christian unity, recognizing other Christians as our sisters and brothers when we come together from different ecclesiastical and theological traditions.

Jesus said he must bring other sheep who would listen to his voice. People around Highlands Christian Church are aching to listen to the voice of Jesus. Jonathan Brink is not your hired hand, but the shepherd God has appointed so that people can listen to the voice of Jesus in you.

Both of today’s passages speak of laying down our lives for others as the Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep.

To lay down our lives for others is the exact opposite of the bully sheep who insist on getting their own way regardless of who else gets hurt.

In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” 1 John 3:19-21 explains that this abundant life is free of self-condemnation. It encourages us to have boldness before God because He is greater than our hearts when our hearts condemn us. This is the joy of the Gospel; by laying down his life for us, God puts the shame, guilt and condemnation of our brokenness behind us. When we want to please God more than anything else, we can boldly ask Him for whatever it takes to do that. Thomas Merton expressed it well in this prayer from his book Thoughts in Solitude (page 83).

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

When we look at the example of Jesus, we may think of laying down our lives for each other as an heroic act, but 1 John 3:17 puts it in the context of sharing our worldly goods with someone who has an ordinary need, which may be harder to practice than improbable heroics. So when Jonathan Brink comes as God’s appointed shepherd for you, and not your hired hand, you will be called on to let go of hoped for heroics and lay your life down for each other and the people of Lake Highlands in very ordinary and mundane ways.

Too Good to Be True

1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36-48

April 19 2015

© 2015

If you’ve been using email for any length of time you’ve received scams from someone in Africa asking you to help them retrieve millions of dollars that they promise to share with you. Ponzi investment schemes and even routine advertising make promises we know are too good to be true.

Though rare, a few things that seem too good to be true turn out to be true. After 46 years of marriage, I would certainly say that about my wife, Candy.

Bewildering grief is even more so when the deceased returns to life, which helps explain the confused responses and accounts of the risen Jesus appearing to his disciples.

It’s not too good to be true! The more we see the risen Jesus, the more we become like him.

We’ve looked at the accounts of Easter morning and evening in John’s Gospel. Today we get another take on Easter evening from Luke 24:36-48. In deep grief and bewildered of reports that the risen Jesus had appeared to some disciples, Cleopas and his wife Mary, I suspect (I can’t prove the connection with John 19:25. Most scholars who comment on this acknowledge Clopas and Cleopas are alternate spellings of the same name but do not think these are the same men. I am pretty sure, and several scholars do agree with this, that Cleopas' companion was his wife, not another man. In 1st century Palestine two Jewish men would not be likely to maintain a household together.), walked home to Emmaus. Jesus met them and they invited him for dinner. When he broke the bread, they recognized him, and he vanished. They rushed back to the bewildered disciples in Jerusalem.

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look 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.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence. ⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

Jesus said, “look and see,” and “touch and see.” (v. 39) Jesus wanted the disciples to see him as he really was. 1 John 3:2 says, “When he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” Too good to be true!

Jesus appeared right while they were talking about the experiences different ones of them had had seeing him. If the men disciples had dismissed the reports of Mary Magdalene and the other women, now Peter had seen Jesus too. In the middle of this conversation Jesus appeared and spoke to them. It was exciting but too far out of their realm of experience to make sense of it. We might think they should have all believed at once, but they were understandably startled and terrified. It was just too good to be true. So in their joy the disciples were disbelieving and still wondering. (v. 41) We’d probably say, “pinch me so I know I’m awake and not dreaming.”

When Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures, he didn’t stop at “the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead,” but went on to say, “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.” If it seems too good to be true that Jesus had risen, how much more wonderful that forgiveness was not only possible but available to all of the world’s people! You witnesses of this get to start spreading the word!

Through their witness, Jesus has been revealed to us! 1 John 3:3 says, “When he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” The more we see the risen Jesus, the more we become like him. It’s not too good to be true!

1 John 3:1 invites us to see ourselves so identified with Jesus that we know we are loved by the Father and called the children of God. Everything that has come between us and God has been wiped out. It’s not too good to be true!

No matter how contaminated we feel, when we see how pure Jesus is, we have hope in him of purifying ourselves. Paul wrote that we are destined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son in Romans 8:29. And in 1 Corinthians 15:49 that we bear the image of the man of heaven. And in Ephesians 4:13 of reaching the maturity of the full stature of Christ. It’s not too good to be true!

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote that Christ is the first fruit of all who will share in his resurrection. Christians have been intrigued by the appearances of the risen Jesus and speculated about what our resurrection bodies will be like: tangible but not limited by time, space or matter. I believe all these speculations are far too limited for the reality that awaits us. It’s not too good to be true!

The disciples didn’t wait around for their resurrections. They began living and proclaiming what they had witnessed: forgiveness and life. The more we see the risen Jesus, the more we become like him. It’s not too good to be true!

Playing “ain’t it awful” is all too easy when we look at the world around us: violence, power and wealth seem to run things at the expense of the weak, poor and struggling. The hope of reign of Christ’s righteousness and mercy, justice and peace will one day prevail seems too good to be true. But we who have seen the risen Jesus know a cosmic joke on the world: by resurrection power already at work though hidden, it’s not too good to be true!

Your new pastor, Jonathan Brink, met with the Elders Thursday evening. I am impressed and confident that he will focus your spiritual eyes on the risen Jesus and lead you to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in Lake Highlands. It’s not too good to be true!

Candy and I do not see our next step yet, and I will admit to moments of anxiety. Yet, we focus on the risen Jesus and believe he will lead us through the transitions of ministry, launching our son Erik, and supporting Candy’s Dad. You may feel that you cannot clearly discern the path immediately ahead of you. Fix your attention on the risen Jesus so you become like him: loved by the Father, becoming pure, hoping in resurrection. It’s not too good to be true!

Follow the Signs to Joy

1 John 1:1-2:3; John 20:19-31

April 12, 2015

© 2015

 

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio 1571-1610
I am intrigued that though many if not most commentators on Jesus' invitation to Thomas to touch his wounds do not think Thomas did it, but many painters do want to portray Thomas with his finger in Jesus' wounds. I believe John 20:27-28 is intentionally ambiguous to prompt our pondering. So what do you ponder?

The Sunday after Easter is sometimes called “Low Sunday” because the faithful core people are the ones who come. Associate pastors are assigned to preach to the small crowd. So why should we preach on “Doubting Thomas” when the most convinced are the ones who are there? Nowhere does the New Testament call Thomas a doubter, but “the Twin.” We are Thomas’ twin who believed when he saw, so we who have not seen may be blessed with the joy of life in Jesus’ name.

I will tell Thomas’ story from John 20:19-31 with a couple of variations from the usual translation that I believe are not only more accurate but more helpful.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop becoming an unbeliever and become a believer.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Thomas was no different than the other disciples. They didn’t believe Mary Magdalene when she told them, “I have seen the Lord.” (v. 18) Thomas didn’t believe when the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” (v. 25) When Jesus appeared on Easter evening, he showed the disciples his hands and his side. A week later, Jesus invited Thomas to see and touch his hands and side.

The New Testament does not call him “Doubting Thomas,” nor does any Greek word for doubt occur in this story. The verbs in verse 27 indicate movement in a direction, not a condition. “Don’t move toward becoming an unbeliever, but move toward becoming a believer.”

Jesus does not classify people as believers or doubters, rather Jesus is concerned about the direction we are headed. Even we who have believed for a long time can easily drift toward living as unbelievers without joy.

We sometimes think believing means affirming a correct understanding of God’s existence and nature. But verse 31 is clear that believing is not the goal but rather the path that takes us toward joy-filled life in the name of Jesus.

We are Thomas’ twin who believed when he saw the risen Jesus, so we who have not seen may be blessed with the joy of life in Jesus’ name.

When read as a question, verse 29 sounds like Jesus is scolding Thomas. While it could be a question, the NIV is correct that it may also be an affirming statement, “Because you have seen me, you have believed.” Read that way, Thomas has seen the risen Jesus on behalf of all of us who have not, thus we are blessed through Thomas’ seeing Jesus.

1 John 1:1 speaks of the Apostolic witness of having heard, seen and touched the word of life – the risen Jesus.

Jean Vanier is the founder of the L’Arche movement of over 100 communities of compassion for mentally handicapped folk, through whom Christ is revealed. He wrote, “Jesus invites each one of us, through Thomas, to touch not only his wounds, but those wounds in others and in ourselves, wounds that can make us hate others and ourselves and can be a sign of separation and division. These wounds will be transformed into a sign of forgiveness through the love of Jesus and will bring people together in his love. These wounds reveal that we need each other. These wounds become the place of mutual compassion, of indwelling and of thanksgiving. We, too, will show our wounds when we are with him in the Kingdom, revealing our brokenness and the healing power of Jesus.” Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John

We are Thomas’ twin who believed when he saw the risen Jesus, so we who have not seen may be blessed with the joy of life in Jesus’ name.

Jesus spoke to all of us when he said to the disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” By the Holy Spirit, Jesus sends us to announce the forgiveness of sins. The first verb in each clause (forgive, retain) indicates an instantaneous action, while the second verbs indicate an enduring condition that began before the first verbs. So it is not that we create forgiveness by ourselves, but we announce the forgiveness God has already made available through Jesus.

1 John was not written as an evangelistic tract but for Christians. It assures us that when we acknowledge our struggle with sin the one who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is what empowers us to proclaim forgiveness to all. 1 John 1:4 promises joy for those who both announce and receive forgiveness by coming to believe in Jesus.

Jonathan Brink will soon become your pastor to announce Christ’s forgiveness to you and to lead you in proclaiming Christ’s forgiveness to your neighbors. Hebrews 13:17 encourages us to follow our spiritual leaders so that they keep watch over our souls with joy and not sighing. Making our spiritual leaders sigh is harmful to us, but we receive joy when watching over us is a joy to them.

We are Thomas’ twin who believed when he saw the risen Jesus, so we who have not seen may be blessed with the joy of life in Jesus’ name.

No Going Back to Normal

1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18

April 5, 2015 Easter Sunday

© 2015

  

Though “apostle” does have a broader meaning in the New Testament, it often indicates someone who announced that they were eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus. Paul had this in mind when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:8-9 that he was the last eyewitness of the risen Jesus and the least of the apostles.

In that sense, John 20:1-18 reports that Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness of the risen Jesus, the first one to announce his resurrection. Thus she is sometimes called the first apostle and the apostle to the apostles.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. ⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples returned to their homes.

¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because 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.’” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

In the middle of Mary’s story, we read that neither Peter nor “the other disciple” yet understood the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. Yet “the other disciple” believed when he saw Jesus’ grave clothes in the tomb. I wonder what he believed and what he understood, and I wonder about Peter’s response.

In his Gospel, John is not trying to prove the reality of Jesus’ resurrection but to show it effect on those who have been encountered by the risen Jesus. Once seeing Jesus, neither they, nor we, can go back to normal.

Mary Magdalene is the only person named in the resurrection accounts of all four Gospels. While there is a lot of nonsense circulating about her to discount – that she was a prostitute or Jesus’ wife – one legend grew out of seeing her as the first apostle. She had an audience with Caesar Tiberius and brought an egg as a symbol of the sealed tomb from which Jesus rose. Tiberius said no one could return to life after Roman crucifixion any more than that egg could turn red, which it did as she held it, which is one reason we color eggs for Easter.

You may remember the song Mary sang in Jesus Christ Superstar, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” But love him she did. She was first at the tomb, probably with other women (“we do not know where they have laid him” v. 2). Her weeping was unfazed by the appearance of the angels (v. 13). With no consideration of practicality, she offered to take Jesus’ body away (v. 15).

For all that, she did recognize Jesus when he spoke her name (v. 16). She had heard him call her name before.

As a child growing up hearing this from KJV, when Jesus says, “Touch me not” (v. 17), I thought he was still wet like a new butterfly. But “do not hold on to me” is better. With her grief, Mary doesn’t want to let go of Jesus again.

Jesus could have appeared to Peter or the other disciple, but he chose this personal encounter with Mary, and she could never go back to normal; she must tell that she had seen the Lord.

Jesus made his choice personal by calling Mary by name. His personal relationship with her was central.

When he said not to hold onto him, he assured her he’d be there, and when he ascended to the Father, she’d be ready

The message Jesus gave Mary was also highly personal. Not tell “my disciples” but “my brothers.” Not just “my Father and my God” but also “your Father and your God.”

Barbara Brown Taylor, professor at Piedmont College and Columbia Theological Seminary, both in Georgia, tells of her childhood fascination with cicada shells as evidence a miracle had occurred. They looked dead but through the slit a living creature had escaped. She compared it to Jesus’ tomb which he outgrew. It was too small for his resurrection. The miracle was not in the tomb but his living encounters with people. (Christian Century, April 1, 1998, page 339)

Craig Barnes, President of Princeton Theological Seminary says the question we must answer about Jesus’ resurrection is not “Do you believe?” but “Have you been encountered by the risen Christ?” (Christian Century, March 13-20, 2002 p. 16)

Sometimes we talk about hearing God’s call to a ministry or to a vocation or location.  But Jesus calls everyone’s name to recognize him as the brother with whom they share their Father and their God. Jesus is calling your name. Have you heard him? Once you do, you can never go back to normal. Since you can’t go back to normal, where are you going forward with the risen Jesus?

Jesus is calling your name to share resurrection life with him, not waiting for the sweet by and by, but now, starting today. Our world is infected with hostility and violence. Jesus is calling your name to be his presence of love and peace to people around you. Our world is infected by fear and anxiety. Jesus is calling your name to be his presence of faith and hope to people around you. Our world is infected with pain and grief. Jesus is calling your name to be his presence of healing and comfort to people around you. When you hear Jesus call your name you cannot go back to normal brokenness but move forward in his resurrection to exuberant wholeness.

When Will We Understand?

Zechariah 9:9-11; John 12:12-16

March 29, 2015 Palm Sunday

© 2015

After World War I and the Great Depression, people world over were looking for leaders who could rescue them from global chaos. Some were evil and others noble: Hitler, Hirohito, Mussolini, Franco, Haile Selassie, Stalin, de Gaulle, Churchill, and in this country Franklin Roosevelt.

Today, the whole world is looking for someone to rescue us from the chaos of Iraq, Iran, Syria, ISIL, et al. You will hear presidential candidates promising solutions, but I am fully certain none of them will be the American messiah.

At the time of Jesus, Rome’s oppression was brutal. Messianic fever was high, hoping for a rescuing hero.

That is essential to John 12:12-16’s Palm Sunday story. Summoned by his friends, Jesus came to Bethany, near Jerusalem, and raised Lazarus from the grave as a sign of resurrection. This threatened Temple leaders who plotted to kill Jesus and Lazarus. Jesus withdrew to the safety of a remote area but returned for a dinner when Mary anointed him, which he said prepared him for his burial.

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ¹³So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!” ¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: ¹⁵“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” ¹⁶His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.

The differences in John’s Palm Sunday from the synoptic Gospels emphasize Jesus’ leadership of humility and peace.

The synoptic Gospels tell of those who came with Jesus, some from Galilee, but John tells it from the perspective of those who were in Jerusalem and went out to meet him.

Only John specified palm branches, symbolizing victorious Hebrew royalty. Two centuries earlier, Simon Maccabeus was welcomed with palms after liberating Jerusalem (1 Maccabees 13:51; 2 Maccabees 10:7).

Hosanna was not an acclamation of praise but an appeal to be rescued by a conquering hero, which came from “save us” in Psalm 118:25 from our call to worship.

John quoted the people as adding “the King of Israel” to “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Sometimes John is accused of anti-Semitism because he used “Jew” in ambiguous ways. “Jew” was actually shortened from Judah and was used in a derogatory way by their oppressors: Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. John consistently used “Israel” with positive connotations. By adding “King of Israel” the people were hoping Jesus would be the conquering hero to rescue them from Rome. But by Friday, Jesus was condemned by Pilate as “King of the Jews” not “King of Israel.”

John didn’t tell how Jesus got the donkey’s colt, only that he sat on it, which he interpreted with Zechariah 9:9 as a sign of Jesus’ leadership of humility and peace.

At the same time, Pilate may have ridden into Jerusalem on a war horse with a military entourage. Some wanted Jesus to keep going to run Pilate out of town. By coming on a donkey’s colt, Jesus rejected all such thoughts.

As King of Israel, Jesus cut off the chariot, the war horse and the battle bow to command peace to all the nations.

[Highlands Christian Church is to vote on calling a new pastor before the start of the Palm Sunday service. Though I anticipate enthusiastic affirmation, in an abundance of caution and respecting congregational process, I have redacted the end of this sermon, as though a government report going to the press or a Congressional committee. This is also respecting the career and calling of the candidate.]  

Looking at Jesus’ leadership of humility and peace on the Sunday you voted to call a new pastor begs the question, what kind of leadership will you expect from XXXXXXXXXX?

Your vote today affirms the conviction of your S&C Committee that God has specifically called XXXXXXXXXX and Highlands Christian Church together. I encourage you from day one to treat XXX as God’s gift sent to you.

I believe XXX education in music and business will bring ideas and resources especially valuable to this church at this time. I know XXX will bring changes in worship and changes in administration. XXX experience in ministry with families of children and youth match your aspirations.

Though XXX is much younger with fewer years of church experience than most of you, your vote confirms that God has called XXX to lead you as your pastor. One of your important challenges will be to let XXX lead, believing XXX wants the best for this church and has much to contribute to this church. But XXX won’t always get it right. So you are also going to be teaching XXX a lot as a new senior pastor. You do not want to do this in an adversarial relationship but in a spirit of collaborative partnership.

Wrestling in Prayer with Jesus

Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33

March 22, 2015

© 2015

Bill is a World War II vet from a church I previously served. He had been severely abused in a Japanese prisoner of war camp and suffered schizophrenia. He came to church wearing mismatched clothes covered by buttons for conflicting causes and distributed hand drawn leaflets that resembled the charts of John Forbes Nash Jr. in the movie A Beautiful Mind. Especially during Lent he would draw magic marker stigmata: wounds of crucifixion – nail prints on his hands and crown of thorns on his forehead. Understandably, people avoided Bill. Once when he was not there I told the congregation they could see him as God’s sign of being called to become so identified with Jesus that people might think we were crazy.

Hebrews 5:7 says that Jesus offered up prayers with loud cries and tears. We naturally connect that with Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane which the Gospel of John does not report. It does record Jesus’ lengthy high priestly prayer in chapter 17 just before his arrest. But John 12:20-33 does tell us that the way Jesus prayed as he approached the cross illuminates the counterintuitive path of our redemption and discipleship.

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, 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. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

In Isaiah 42:14 God says, “Now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.” Lauren Winner, who teaches at Duke Divinity School, sees this image of God as a mother giving birth to redemption in Jesus’ anguished praying as he approached the cross. His prayers that his Father might save him from this hour are like the mother in labor who protests, “I can’t do this anymore,” but does bring a child into the world. So humanly, Jesus recoiled from what he faced, and yet brought the new life of God’s redemption into the world. Christian Century, March 18, 2015, pp. 32 ff

Paradoxically, by being killed on the cross by the powers of evil, Jesus drove out the ruler of this world. The way Jesus prayed as he approached the cross illuminates the counterintuitive path of our redemption and discipleship.

After repeatedly saying his time had not come, when the Greeks want to see Jesus and the voice comes from heaven, he recognized that the time had come. As dreadful as it was, now he fulfilled the reason he came.

Jesus told the analogy of a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying so it can bear much fruit to illustrate not only his crucifixion and resurrection but the whole counterintuitive way God’s spiritual power works. Just as being born as God incarnate and refusing to use force in the temptations at the start of his ministry, being killed on the cross defeated the evil ruler of this world by reversal.

Being lifted up from the earth on the cross would be the way Jesus would die, but it was also the means by which he would draw all people to himself.

Jesus was clear that this counterintuitive reversal was not only the means of our redemption but the essential to what being his disciple and following him was all about. The language Jesus used was hyperbole – an extreme exaggeration to make a dramatic point. Jesus’ culture used such figures of speech, and ours is more literalistic. Still we should squirm to hear Jesus say that by loving our lives we lose them and by hating our lives in this world we keep them for eternal life.

This was not a one-off in this tense situation. Jesus said almost exactly the same thing in every Gospel, each time in a different situation. Mark 8:35-37 which was in my March 1 sermon, as well as Matthew 10:39 and Luke 14:26. It is an inescapable theme of Jesus entire ministry.

Jesus did not limit it to his redemptive death, but said “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.” (v. 26) If we follow Jesus, we will give ourselves away trusting God to bring fruit.

The way Jesus prayed as he approached the cross illuminates the counterintuitive path of our redemption and discipleship.

When William Willamon, who now teaches at Duke Divinity School, was a Methodist pastor, he asked a woodcarver in the congregation to carve a processional cross to use for Lent. Instead of something simple, modern and clean, what they got was a dramatic heavy cross with a bleeding Jesus on it. Some loved it because they loved the carver, but most objected that it was gory and depressing and didn’t match the décor.

Just as Jesus prayed with loud cries and tears as he approached the cross, I believe we can cry out to God from the depths of our anguish for the misery people suffer in our world. Jesus’ prayers were heard, but not for escape but in reverent submission. Thus to pray “Your will be done,” is not a cop out but courageous faith.

Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday. If all you experience is Triumphal Entry and Resurrection, you miss the stark horror of our redemption from which even Jesus recoiled. In God’s economy, triumph is won only through painful, apparent defeat. We have opportunity to embrace the counterintuitive path of our redemption on Maundy Thursday evening, Good Friday afternoon and evening.

Authentic evangelism works the same way. As we give ourselves away in the name of Jesus, he is lifted up and people are drawn to him.

Jesus the Spiritual Magnet

Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21

March 15, 2015

© 2015

From shootings by police and of police to fraternity chants, race tensions have been at the center of recent national attention. Because of the places I have lived and served, and because of the people I have known and worked with, these issues have personal impact on me. When an African-American pastor who is a friend of mine was a boy growing up in northern New Jersey in the 1950s, he witnessed his 18 year old uncle being lynched by a mob who didn’t like the way he looked at a white woman. No one was ever arrested, charged, tried, convicted or punished. This is just one among many things that scream, “What is wrong with us?”

In his Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn answered the question, “What is wrong with us?”

When I lay there on rotting prison straw, it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains, an un-uprooted small corner of evil.

Though humorous, a conversation between Lucy and Charlie Brown in a Peanuts cartoon sheds light on this. (quoted from Exegetical Notes at Crossmarks by Brian Soffregen)

Lucy:          Discouraged again, eh, Charlie Brown? You know what your whole trouble is? The whole trouble with you is that you're you!

Charlie:     Well, what in the world can I do about that?

Lucy:          I don't pretend to be able to give advice...I merely point out the trouble! You know what the whole trouble with you is, Charlie Brown?

Charlie:     No, and I don't want to know! Leave me alone! (He walks away.)

Ephesians 2:1-3 describes our problem as being spiritually dead. John 3:19 describes our problem as loving darkness rather than light.

Like Ephesians 2, John 3:14-21 tells us that when we are ready to give up on broken humanity, with rich mercy and great love, God lifts up Jesus to draw us out of darkness and death into light and eternal life.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Just in case we didn’t get how much God loves us from John 3:16, verse 17 says that God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.

After briefly acknowledging that we are spiritually dead, Ephesians 2:4 introduces the Gospel as rooted in the rich mercy and great love at the core of God’s character.

This understanding of God’s character is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures. Psalm 103:2-3,8,10, 12-14 says,

Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives all your iniquity. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.

And Psalm 130:3-4,7  says,

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. Hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.

So that 2 Peter 3:9 can confidently declare,

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

John 3:14 is the first of several times John wrote of Jesus being lifted up. When we are ready to give up on broken humanity, with rich mercy and great love, God lifts up Jesus to draw us out of darkness and death into light and eternal life.

The comparison of Jesus’ crucifixion to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness goes back to Numbers 21:4-9. During the Israelites’ 40 years wandering in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land, they grumbled, and God sent poisonous snakes as punishment. When they repented, God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a high pole so that when people were bitten, they could look at it and live. A snake on a pole has been a symbol of healing medicine from this incident and the Rod of Asclepius from Greek mythology.

The word for “lifted up” can mean either hoisted on a gibbet for execution or exalted for reverent respect, both of which apply to Jesus’ crucifixion. We will see it again next Sunday in John 12:32 where Jesus said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

In the 80s and 90s, spiritual writer Suzanne Guthrie worked at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY. Above the door of the guest house was inscribed in Latin, “The Cross is the Medicine of the World.”

Some variation of the word “believe” occurs in John’s Gospel 86 times, and is central to 3:14-21. We must ask what it means to believe to be lifted out of darkness and death into the light and eternal life and of God’s rich mercy and great love.

John 3:16 says God gave his only Son. Ephesians 2:8 says that the grace by which we are saved in the gift of God. So believing is not something we do, rather it is something we receive. Like the bronze serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness, we don’t affect our spiritual healing, even with correct theology – believing correct things about God, but we simply receive God’s gift.

Ephesians 2:1 says that we were dead. John 3:16 says that without God’s gift we perish. This doesn’t mean we cease to exist but fail to fulfill the purpose of human life. Like Sisyphus in Greek mythology, condemned to live forever rolling a stone to the top of a hill, only to have it roll back down and start over again, endlessly. In his great prayer in John 17:3 Jesus defined eternal life as to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Eternal life is life in the presence of the Eternal God, and only secondarily about duration.

Thus, eternal life is about our relationship with God through Jesus, and by extension all others who share this eternal life. Traditionally, we think that people come to believe in Jesus first and then become part of the community of faith – the church. Diana Butler Bass (Christianity After Religion), and a number of others, have observed in a society were fewer and fewer people know about Jesus, they may often come into the community of faith first, and that is where they meet Jesus and then come to believe in him. Thus, today, evangelism starts with building relationships with people.