March 21, 2016

“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” [Isaiah 25:6-9]

“And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. Mark 14:66-72

Few things are more negative or more final than “death.” Death is seen as the end. Death is to be avoided at all costs. But the Bible, at times, tells a different story: “You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies” (1 Cor. 15:36). “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

We see this every year, all around us as the season of autumn approaches. The leaves change and the flowers fade as the cold grip of death takes hold of them yet again. Old things are dying to bring about new life. It is a strange cycle of mourning and rejoicing that makes up our days. Death brings life, or it at least has that potential. In many ways, this is the very journey of Lent: death to life. Just as the food we eat must first die in order to sustain our life, so the old self (apart from Christ) must die daily to give birth to the new self. We put to death our self-centeredness and we are raised to life in Jesus. We deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. Death brings life. It is not the way things are supposed to work, but who ever said G-d works always in ways we understand.

So, the love of G-d toward us and for us, through Christ, compels us to face death without fear. G-d held nothing back for us, but rather, gave up his own Son for us. Surely G-d will also return to us life abundantly. And that abundant life involves being a follower of Jesus. The process of dying to ourselves and dying to our own agenda helps us to locate our treasure (life, joy, purpose) in Jesus. Lent then reminds us that true life is found in Jesus. As we die to ourselves we begin to truly grasp the death of Jesus, and find it easier to joyfully give up all we have and follow him.

Pastor Dave

March 20, 2016

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”  Luke 19:29 – 40

“Why does he accept the appellation as king now when Jesus has spent his public ministry avoiding it?”  This is a question I have heard once or twice from people – why has Jesus avoided the thought of people making him a king, until now?  And why does he accept it now?  The easy answer is this: Jesus didn’t want to be associated with the kind of kings the people had seen in their time, King Herod and Caesar to name just two, and so he avoids being proclaimed king until he had had a time to reorient his disciples understanding of kingship.

In three and a half years he has modeled what kings are intended to do for their people:

He has healed the broken and restored them to full participation in community.

He has forgiven those who missed the mark of required ethical and religious standards and included them in his new community.

He has raised the dead so as to offer social security to those women who would be destitute by the deaths of the men (Lazarus, Widow of Nain)

He has raised and healed children to break the bondage of bad theology that blamed disease and death on the actions of the parents (Children of Jairus and the Canaanite woman)

He has been inclusive, unconditionally accepting, and unrelentingly restorative through his words and actions.

If his disciples understand nothing else about Jesus, he has at least tried to show them how kings should function – not to live off the backs of those who are at their bidding and who suffer for the fortunes of the king.  Instead, Jesus as the king figure has done what he can to make the lives of people better, and to bring those outcasts back into community.

This is the king that comes into Jerusalem – this is the one that receives the “Hosannas”.  It is time for Jesus to own up to being the King he was sent to be……

Pastor Dave