Eager to Give Himself

Transcript

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[0:00] morning to read it and I want to explain to you why our readings have not seemed to be about Palm Sunday because today is both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday and this is the challenge of the lectionary it's also a challenge of our busy lives is that often people don't make time to come to a Good Friday service they just it's not possible for them used to be Good Friday services were at noon on Friday sometimes people got the day off sometimes but nowadays nobody gets that day off really and so there is sort of this effort to make this particular Sunday into both Palm Sunday where we talk about the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem but we also make it call it Passion Sunday where we sort of preview the story of him going to the cross and so our first our first reading was about the Last Supper our second reading was about the arrest of Jesus and his abandonment by his disciples and our sermon reading is about Jesus and the Last Supper. and his crucifixion and so we are sort of working sort of the whole story into one day that's a little bit of background for you but what's interesting about this day and also about the readings that come in just short sort of short sequence in the Gospels is that at the beginning of the

[1:16] week on Palm Sunday everybody loves Jesus they're waving palm branches at him they think that he's a king coming into their town to liberate them everybody loves Jesus that day but a week later everybody's saying not everybody but almost everybody is saying crucify him and you want you ask yourself why is this large shift from adoration and praise to scorn and anger and violence and that's actually not illogical you could say the crowd was expecting a new King and a new Government. Government. That's really what they want. And deep inside, they were hoping to see a display of power. It often comes down to power. And they were hoping that Jesus would destroy this occupation army in their country. So I don't know what they were hoping. They were hoping that he would sort of keep gathering forces, start arming them with weapons, and then systematically sort of wipe out all the people that they didn't like.

[2:19] And sadly, this is what Christianity looks like in many parts of the world still, is it's this militarized, nationalistic abomination, I would say. And Jesus, if you want any other place in the gospel, you could find him repudiating that. But here in particular, he repudiates it at the cost of his own life. Because he refuses to take this mantle on. And he doesn't come on a horse. He comes on a donkey. He doesn't start collecting people into an army. He starts alienating. Alienating people. He goes to the temple the next day. And he interferes with the worship. He doesn't gather people at all. But he talks about loss. He talks about discipleship. He talks about sacrifice of himself and to take up the cross. And so he does bring a kingdom, but not the kingdom that the people want. He brings the kingdom of heaven. And all through the gospels, we see that the kingdom of heaven is different from the kingdom that these people are asking him for. So in the kingdom of heaven, we don't get power. We give up power. That's the biggest difference, right? We don't hurt other people. We take up the cross and allow ourselves to be hurt. We don't do things that benefit ourselves, but we sacrifice what we care about to serve

[3:38] other people. And in this kingdom, we're not showered with wealth or even health, but poverty and isolation and imprisonment and grievous injury to our body. That's the kingdom. And you might be saying, well, who wants...

[3:58] Please don't sign me up for this, right? But yet we sign up for this. This is what we're called to. We're called to servanthood. We're called to sacrifice. Yes, it feels good that Jesus is there for us. Yes, it feels good that Jesus forgives our sins and delivers us. But let's not fool ourselves about what's asked of us when we are called to become followers of Jesus. We're called to come and die. We're called to die with Jesus. We're called to sacrifice. We cannot forget that and we can't go too long in between talking about that. That's the deal. That's what you signed up for. And that's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, this is the kingdom I'm bringing. And by the end of the week, people have started rejecting it. And so they go from Hosanna to crucify him in the space of a week. And so we're going to go from Hosanna to crucify him in the space of a week. This is the end of our life. This is the end of our life. Christ is there with you. And so you are not alone and you are not hopeless in the kingdom of heaven. And if you want to take a sober moment and say, I would rather have these two things, hope and solidarity with other people versus wealth, power, control, health even, which would we choose? Well, we've already chosen, but this is what is in the balance.

[5:48] And I hope to say that I would always prefer hope over all these other things. So today we're not reading, and I'm going to read soon, we're not reading about how Jesus destroys our enemies and gives us everything we want, but about how Jesus allows himself to be destroyed by his enemies. And instead of getting everything, he gives, he gives the world all that he has. So let's go through this. Let's go to our reading. It's Luke chapter 23, verses 24 through 56. And it reads like this. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. And this was the demand that Barabbas would be released. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder. And he handed Jesus over as they wished. As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country. And they laid the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.

[7:15] Then they will begin to weep for themselves and for their children. And to say to the mountains, Come, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

[7:27] Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called the skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

[7:44] Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots to divide his clothing, and the people stood by watching. But the leaders scoffed at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself. If he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one, the soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

[8:14] There was also an inscription over him. This is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, Remember me when you come into your kingdom. He replied, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

[9:00] It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon when the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commend myself. I am the Son of God, and I am the Son of God. Having said this, he breathed his last.

[9:24] When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, Certainly this man was innocent. And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance. They were all watching these things.

[9:50] Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council had not agreed to their plan and action, he came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. Let's pray.

[10:31] Heavenly Father, thank you for this word. We ask that you would add your blessing to it. In Jesus' name, Amen. So I think that we understand how Jesus, how Jesus suffers on the cross. We understand that being put on the cross is designed to torture you to death, and it's a long and painful process. It was used by the Romans to strike fear into everybody else who was watching a crucifixion to say, well, we best not do anything wrong. And it was very effective, of course. You know, people saw that and decided to try not to cross the Romans, and it was effective. But it was raw power, brutality, and violence. This Friday night, we're going to be reading from the book of Romans, and we're going to hear the last seven words of Christ, and we're going to use that time to meditate on his death for us. So I invite you to come back on Friday night and Thursday night. But I want to draw us back to our first reading. We're not going to put it on the screen, but there's one verse in chapter 22 that Victoria read, verse 15. It goes like this. He said to them, I have eagerly desired.

[11:41] Note that. I have eagerly desired to eat this power. I have eagerly desired to pass over with you before I suffer. And remember last week we talked about this, and we've talked about it before, that Jesus is able to stay emotionally connected to people around him, even though he knows that the hour of his crucifixion is just around the corner, just a few hours away. And he says, I have eagerly desired to be here with you in this moment. I just can't imagine somebody who knows they're going to die in a day to say something like that. I've eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you. But notice he also, it's all in that same sentence. He knows what's going to happen before I suffer. I've eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. He wants to be with his disciples. He wants to share this holy meal with them. He wants to be with them. And I think we can only imagine how intimate this gathering was. You know, if you could go back in time, what would you watch? You might watch Jesus being born in Bethlehem. I think we'd want to watch, be a fly on the wall in the Last Supper. This is this truly intimate moment between Jesus and his disciples. But that intimacy is broken up by teaching, by prayer, by commission, by betrayal.

[13:08] I mean, so much is happening in this meal. In John's Gospel, we read, we read about how he washes their feet, how they argue over it. Peter doesn't want him to wash his feet. How they share the food in the cup. How Jesus sends Judas out to betray him. How John reclines against Jesus like a younger brother does to a big brother. Sometimes I catch my kids leaning against each other on the couch. And if they notice me, they move apart. But they don't move apart. They don't. But it's beautiful when two brothers or a brother and sister are sitting next to each other, or sisters. And they just are close like that. John reclines against Jesus in the Last Supper. This beautiful moment. They share a meal together. They share life together. And then we have to remember what this meal represents. We're talking about the Last Supper, but it's the Passover feast. That's what Jesus says. I've eagerly desired to share this Passover meal with you before I suffer. And so we remember, what's Passover about? Well, the blood of the Lamb was put on the doorpost. It protected the people. It protected the people inside from the angel of death who came for the firstborn son of anyone in the land. And that final plague is what persuaded Pharaoh to let the people go.

[14:24] And so it was a day of deliverance. So all these things are coming together at this supper. Jesus is saying, I am the new Lamb. I am the new Lamb. You're going to use my blood to protect yourselves from death. My blood is going to lead to your redemption, your freedom from slavery. All this stuff is happening, right? His blood, it protects us from sin and death and the devil, right? And Jesus is going to rescue his disciples from bondage, not to Egypt, but bondage to sin. Slavery to the self, to this constant need for more power, more wealth, more control. Jesus is saying, that's your new slave master. You're always doing what it's telling you to do. I'm going to free you to that, but I'm going to ask you to take up your cross and follow me, right?

[15:18] And so these still hours before his death by torture, they carve out just a little bit of time to be together as a family. And he's always teaching them. Even to the end, this is one thing about Jesus, is no matter what he's doing, he's always teaching and he's always staying engaged with people. And so he says, I'm going to use this Passover meal to teach them what his death will be like and what they should do after he's gone. And so he says, keep doing this. Remember this. Now, we're going to have a special sermon on the meaning of Holy Communion. It's not today and it's not on Thursday night because that night we're going to have a teaching on the washing of the feet. But sometime soon after Easter, we're going to teach what Holy Communion means, what it means to our denomination, what it means from the scriptures. And so, and that can serve as a guide. It can serve as a great introduction for anybody who hasn't taken Communion yet and wants to learn more about it.

[16:14] But we will be teaching on what Communion means. But Jesus is teaching here, this is my body, this is my blood, this is the new covenant in my blood. I'm the new Passover lamb and you need to keep doing this after I'm gone in remembrance of me. And we do once a month.

[16:32] But really, when he hands them these things, the bread and the cup, he's saying, I give myself for you. Can you imagine it? Just imagine when he's handing the bread to the next person at the table. He says, this is my body. I am giving myself because I'm about to suffer. I'm about to go and die. I'm giving you myself.

[17:00] And this is how I want us to focus on the last part of this today. Is that Jesus is saying this in this moment, this night. And he says it all the time to us and he says it in the meal that we have together. He says, I am giving myself to you and I am giving myself for you. This is what Jesus does. And I think this would actually sum up the Gospels altogether. If you wanted to sum them up in one particular way, you could say, Jesus comes into the world and he says, I am eager. I'm eager. I'm desiring greatness. I'm motivated. I'm directed. I'm animated by the idea of giving myself for you. This is the Gospel. Jesus says, I am eager to give myself for you. That's what he does for God so loves the world that he gave his one and only son. You know, this is the Gospel in a nutshell.

[17:56] So this is this beautiful idea that's coming out of this night. And what does it look like? Of course, he gives them the bread and he gives them the cup. And that's just a foretaste. That's just a foreshadowing. That's just a signal or a symbol of what's about to come the next day when he goes to the cross.

[18:13] The body and the blood is the bread and the cup, right? On the cross, I'm going to give myself for you. So now we're at the tail end of Lent, right? Holy Week is here. This is the biggest year in the church's life. I'm glad that we're starting. We've got a lot going on. But we're still in Lent. This is still Lent. All the way up until next Sunday. And there's still time to be thinking about this. Because in Lent, we prepare ourselves for the story of the cross. We set aside time for meditation and contemplation. But I want us to hear these words here at the tail end of Lent. Where Jesus says, I give myself for you. And I want you to really hear them and I really want you to receive them. And I'll be honest. Lent sometimes is about giving up things. But I think Lent could be about getting something too. Which is receiving what Jesus has for us. And this has been my challenge in Lent.

[19:14] Sometimes I want to be strong. I want to serve. I don't want people to serve me. Sometimes I'm like Peter. And we'll hear about this again on Thursday night. Where Peter says, you can't wash my feet. That's wrong. That makes me uncomfortable, right? But Jesus says, I have to wash your feet. Or else you have no share in what I'm about to do.

[19:33] And so the challenge for me in Lent, and it may be different for you. But the challenge for me in Lent is letting Jesus give himself for me. But he comes back into my mind. He kept echoing this phrase to me. And I hear it. He says, I'm eagerly desiring to give myself for you. So sometimes it's letting him that's hard. And to say, I need rescuing. I need rescuing. I need what he has because what I have isn't working out.

[20:08] This is the end now. There's a lot of opportunities this week to hear about how Jesus gives himself for you. Thursday, Victoria is going to preach on the washing of the disciples' feet. That the master and the teacher would serve the students and the servants. On Good Friday, we're going to meditate on the cross and leave in silence afterwards. To honor his sacrifice. And of course, Resurrection Sunday next week, we're going to celebrate. But we are not there yet. No celebrating yet. Wait for it. It's like the dessert. This is like the good stuff. But this week, I want you to do this. If you find a moment or make a moment, remember the words of Jesus. Remember these words this week. That's all I'm going to ask you to do. I have eagerly come to this moment when I can give myself for you. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your son Jesus. That he gives himself for us every day. Help us to receive it. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.