Is the Resurrection an April Fools joke? Is it merely a myth or a metaphor, or is it more? Christianity claims Jesus resurrection is real and the central and world changing truth of the story of Jesus. Christian history suggests The Resurrection is Credible, Terrifying and More than “Meh”.
We all seek power, but the kingdom that Jesus came to bring turns power on its head. Jesus is the Messiah, God’s son, but he doesn’t use his power for his own good, he surrenders it for ours. He allows the powers that be–religious leaders, Pilate, Herod–to unjustly to judge him (the Judge) and sentence him to death on a cross. Jesus calls us to do the same–to live the cruciform life and participate in his upside-down kingdom.
*The Reading of the Passion Narrative (from the ending of the Palm Sunday Service) is included after the sermon.
If you have ever experienced the silence of God, the dark night when you need him and don’t hear from him, you can understand some of what Jesus experienced for us. The night he was to be betrayed and the day before his crucifixion, Jesus asked if the Cup of Wrath he was to “drink” could pass. He was met with the Father’s silence–the foretaste of the forsakenness and wrath that he would experience in full on the Cross for us–and he was shaken to the core.
On the night before his death, Jesus celebrates a Passover meal with his disciples. But he changes everything–reinterpreting the climactic redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt in light of his own impending death on the cross. As the Lord delivered Israel through Judgment and an offer of Mercy under the blood of a lamb, now Jesus was becoming the True Paschal Lamb the one who brings ultimate redemption.
This sermon was preached at a 1:00pm service Vienna Baptist because wind-storms had caused the cancellation of all activities at FCPS schools.
Unfortunately, the recording was not through our normal sound system and is distorted with background noise.
Jesus challenges the disciples as he fortells the destruction of the Temple. How can this be? Who will we be without the Temple?
Todays culture is shifting and changing so rapidly that it calls for new paradigms–approaches to mission that meet people in common space in a post-Christian culture.
The religious leaders try to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes to Caesar. Jesus doesn’t evade the question, he overturns it–challenging their view of Kingdoms and inviting all to come and be a part of his upside down Kingdom by giving themselves wholly and completely to God.
During his final week, Jesus is teaching daily in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Chief Priests, threatened by his Kingdom message, question his authority. Jesus responds to their challenges with wisdom and clarity, but they refuse to listen because they have built their lives on another authority and are not open to the work of God in Jesus.
The issue of Authority – or the basis of our beliefs and worldview – is the primary issue of this century; it sits beneath political, social, moral and theological division and confusion. But most of us are not fully aware of the authorities we are trusting or the cultural assumptions that underlie them. God, through Christ, calls us to submit all other authorities to him and to build our life on his Word–understanding ourselves and interpreting the world on Him.
Entering Jericho and on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus meets a Blind Beggar and a Tax Collector named Zacchaeus. One is the poorest and the other the richest, one oppressed, the other an oppressor, both are outside of the community, both want to see Jesus. Jesus stops for both of them and offers them his transforming grace and love and both of them are restored. Why do these two See Jesus when so many others refuse to see or are unable to see who he is? And what do these encounters tell us about how we can See and experience Jesus too?
A Rich Ruler who has obeyed all the Commandments asks what he must do to to inherit eternal life. Jesus says he must sell All he has, give the money to the poor, and come and follow him. The man goes away sad for he was extremely wealthy.
“When will the Kingdom come?” is a question the Pharisees ask Jesus. It is a question Christians have been asking more frequently for several decades. Jesus answer is the Kingdom is in your midst–it is right before you–in me, Jesus. In Jesus, God came to inaugurate his Kingdom. And, He is coming again to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end–and when he does it will be obvious. As we live in the already, but not yet of what God is doing and will do, He invites us into the fullness of life in Jesus.
Jesus’ parables redraw the circles of who’s in and who’s out–as he causes his listeners to examine the state of their heart. In the parable of the shrewd manager, a man facing the loss of his livelihood is commended for forgiving the debts of his master’s debtors and ingratiating himself to those people–revealing Jesus Kingdom priority on people and grace over wealth and position, which is unlike the the Pharisees who on the outside look good but are full of love of money and pride of heart.
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells the story of a Father with two sons, the younger of whom disobeys and rejects him but at the end of his rope returns and experiences the Father’s loving embrace. The older son does everything the Father says but only to inherit the Father’s stuff, he too rejects the Father and can’t see the Father’s love for him. Can you see your lostness and need of the Father’s loving embrace?
A woman bent over by a disabling spirit enters the Synagogue where Jesus is teaching. He sees her and in compassion calls her to him and heals her–setting her free from her physical and spiritual affliction. The religious leaders are indignant that Jesus is working on the Sabbath. But as Jesus shows, he is Lord of the Sabbath, who has come to offer freedom and rest, healing and shalom–the very things the Sabbath, which anticipates the rest of Heaven, intends. Jesus intends this freedom and shalom for all of us, if we’ll find our rest in him.
We live anxious, stressed and fearful–trying to achieve and accomplish and do what the world tells us we must have. Jesus says do not be anxious. How do we do this? By understanding and living from a new perspective–that in God, we have a heavenly Father who cares deeply about us. When our eyes are fixed on Him, who he is and what he does, even if our circumstances do not change, our perspective does and fear and anxiety no longer have their grip on us.
A disciple asks Jesus how to pray. He teaches them the Lord’s Prayer and gives two parables for prayer. Prayer, he reveals, is bold & persistent, it’s dependent & trusting, it’s it’s relational & personal. And through Prayer we experience and are shaped by God the Father.