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April 21 - Jesus Resurrection Story

4/20/2019

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Risen Lord, as we hear again the miraculous story, may we find joy and grace and peace and promise for our own lives.

SCRIPTURE LESSON                                                                                Luke 24:1-12, CEB

Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb, bringing the fragrant spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 They didn’t know what to make of this. Suddenly, two men were standing beside them in gleaming bright clothing. 5 The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He isn’t here, but has been raised. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Human One must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. 11 Their words struck the apostles as nonsense, and they didn’t believe the women. 12 But Peter ran to the tomb. When he bent over to look inside, he saw only the linen cloth. Then he returned home, wondering what had happened.

SERMON                                  Jesus’ Resurrection Story
We know that story, but we don’t often listen to Luke’s version. Here we have the witness of the empty tomb. The women are afraid until the angel tells them Jesus is raised. Then they hurry back to tell the men who don’t believe them. Peter sees the empty tomb for himself, but he hasn’t yet come to faith. He wonders what happened.
Easter faith didn’t come all at once to Jesus’ closest earthly friends then. It sometimes takes awhile for us to come to that faith as well. But God invites us to believe in life beyond death, hope beyond despair, joy beyond suffering. God invites us not only to celebrate but to live Easter!

I confessed earlier this week that Easter is the hardest sermon for me to write each year. But this year God gave me a beginning thought as I drove down the alley to church a couple weeks ago.

We celebrate Easter with eggs and bunnies and butterflies and flowers,
all signs of new life. But they only hint at the meaning.
They are the fluff, the pretty, the icing on the cake
But they are not the depth of meaning Easter wants to offer us.
It’s like eating dessert without the meal.
I thought about other signs of new life around us:
Folks of all ages playing in the park or walking by,
The birds, the squirrels,
the sprouts I can’t identify, the plants my neighbor offered to share,
the grass turning green, the church yard being mowed,
the buds on the trees.

I think it’s no coincidence that God raised his Son to life in the Spring,
So that nature itself would always remind us of the miracle
And celebrate it with us.

But I wanted to look deeper.
New life is the neighbors moving in next door, because they needed a fresh start.
It’s the friend who celebrated her wedding last night
    As God blessed her with new love after a loss.
New life is watching a friend learn to stand on her own two feet and move forward.
It’s hearing how someone has grown in faith
    Or how moving closer to family helped someone move closer to God.

But as I started looking for those signs of new life all around me,
My Easter message came to a stand still and I had to wait.
    Just as sometimes you must wait for the new life you need to come in God’s timing.

Through Holy Week, study and worship pointed toward the darker side of God’s story.
We prayed through the agony of Jesus at Gethsemane
    And watched his arrest while the disciples ran away.
We reflected on Jesus as the Suffering Servant who did not appear to be
    the conquering hero his people longed for in a Messiah.
Many of us worked hard to prepare the Stations of the Cross.
Members of the community found meaning in carrying the cross and singing hymns
    Or walking those stations reading what Jesus might speak to us
    And finding our response through the words in our books,
    The visual displays or the thoughts God’s Spirit placed in our hearts.
One gentleman said what he found most meaningful was the emphasis on suffering.
I think we have to walk through that pain to appreciate the joy of Easter.

One of my favorite Easter hymns, especially for a Sunrise Service shares that contrast
Low in the grave He lay,
Jesus, my Savior,
Waiting the coming day,
Jesus, my Lord!
Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

When I sought inspiration for Easter Season after fumbling through several unsatisfactory options, God suggested I read and share Easter stories.
Some may be real life. Some may be fiction.
I read several looking for one to share today.
I thought it would be one about Easter eggs or lilies but no…
The one that gripped me takes place underground in a mine.
It reminds me of the tomb in which Jesus laid awaiting Easter.
Listen to these excerpts from “The Deserted Mine” by Ruth Sawyer.

[I cannot reprint the story for you, but the gist of it is an old man named Ivan who was born in the mine shaft 80 years before, lowered in a bucket, because the overseer no longer thought he could manage the ladder. As a boy growing up in the mine, an older man had told him about Jesus and that if you were still you might hear Jesus rustling through the galleries or even see him. As a boy, Ivan did see and hear Jesus, but as he grew older and focused on the work he no longer did. That old section of the mine was eventually deserted as a new section was opened. On this fateful day, there was a gasp as Mother Earth shook, and water began to fill the mine. The men followed their overseer. Ivan alone stood still. Someone remembered there might be a passage way to the old section, since all routes to the surface from the new section were blocked. Ivan began to hear and see glimpses of Jesus, and called out, "I come, Lord, I come." The other men thought he was crazy, but they followed him nonetheless. At last they came to an opening above them in that older section of the mine. They thought the ladders were probably rotten, but after waiting for a signal none of them could see, Ivan began to climb. The overseer realized Ivan climbed on faith, and said perhaps the ladder would hold as long as Ivan's faith did. They all followed him to the surface. After everyone was safe, Ivan, uncomfortable in the light, disappeared again saying, "I come, Lord, I come."]

Easter is about the light at the end of the tunnel, or in this case the mine shaft.
It’s finding fresh air after wondering if there was enough left to breathe.
It’s about trusting the unlikely person to lead you,
    God’s chosen who is nothing like what you expected.
Easter is about praying through the scary times
    and growing a faith that looks for the way through them with confidence in Christ.
Easter is knowing Jesus, recognizing him beside you, and saying, “Lord, I come.”
Easter is believing the words of the angels,
    that the tomb was empty, because Jesus is risen from the dead!

We can face the crisis moments of financial insecurity, health concerns, political unrest, natural disasters, injustice, tragedy, violence, loss and more, even our own flaws and failures, NOT because we are so great, but because our God is so great!

When it seems like we are lost in the darkness,
When it feels like the world is about to collapse around us,
That is the time to listen for the rustling of our Lord,
    Not just passing by us, but there to guide us.

Jesus endured through injustice, misunderstandings,
    physical pain and emotional turmoil
to lead us through our most difficult days into a Promised Land, into an Easter faith!
Jesus walks with us to the other side of darkness
    To the other side of sin.
    To the other side of oppression.
    To the other side of despair.
    To the other side of death.
That we might see God’s power to bring
    Light, mercy, freedom, hope and life
    despite all we suffer!

Remember that as you mow the grass or sneeze with spring allergies,
As you plant a garden or listen to the birds,
As you watch a bunny hop across the lawn
    Or a butterfly flit across the sky,

God is alive!
God is with us!
God still offers us hope and new life!

That is Easter, inviting us to faith and obedience and confidence
    that beyond whatever suffering God asks us to endure,
    God will lead us to the other side, to live in Easter faith!

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April 14 - Jesus Risked Praying in the Garden

4/13/2019

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Lord, as we go to the garden with you in prayer, as we recall the story of your arrest, may we find the courage and strength to be faithful to you in all you ask of us.

OLD TESTAMENT LESSON                                                                    Psalm 22, GNT
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
I have cried desperately for help,
    but still it does not come.
2 During the day I call to you, my God,
    but you do not answer;
I call at night,
    but get no rest.
3 But you are enthroned as the Holy One,
    the one whom Israel praises.
4 Our ancestors put their trust in you;
   they trusted you, and you saved them.
5 They called to you and escaped from danger;
    they trusted you and were not disappointed.

6 But I am no longer a human being; I am a worm,
    despised and scorned by everyone!
7 All who see me make fun of me;
  they stick out their tongues and shake their heads.
8 “You relied on the Lord,” they say.
    “Why doesn't he save you?
If the Lord likes you,
    why doesn't he help you?”

9 It was you who brought me safely through birth,
    and when I was a baby, you kept me safe.
10 I have relied on you since the day I was born,
    and you have always been my God.
11 Do not stay away from me!
    Trouble is near,
    and there is no one to help.

12 Many enemies surround me like bulls;
    they are all around me,
  like fierce bulls from the land of Bashan.
13 They open their mouths like lions,
    roaring and tearing at me.

14 My strength is gone,
    gone like water spilled on the ground.
All my bones are out of joint;
    my heart is like melted wax.
15 My throat is as dry as dust,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have left me for dead in the dust.

16 An evil gang is around me;
    like a pack of dogs they close in on me;
    they tear at my hands and feet.
17 All my bones can be seen.
    My enemies look at me and stare.
18 They gamble for my clothes
    and divide them among themselves.

19 O Lord, don't stay away from me!
    Come quickly to my rescue!
20 Save me from the sword;
    save my life from these dogs.
21 Rescue me from these lions;
    I am helpless before these wild bulls.

22 I will tell my people what you have done;
    I will praise you in their assembly:
23 “Praise him, you servants of the Lord!
    Honor him, you descendants of Jacob!
    Worship him, you people of Israel!
24 He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering;
    he does not turn away from them,
    but answers when they call for help.”

25 In the full assembly I will praise you for what you have done;
    in the presence of those who worship you
    I will offer the sacrifices I promised.
26 The poor will eat as much as they want;
    those who come to the Lord will praise him.
May they prosper forever!

27 All nations will remember the Lord.
    From every part of the world they will turn to him;
    all races will worship him.
28 The Lord is king,
    and he rules the nations.

29 All proud people will bow down to him;
    all mortals will bow down before him.
30 Future generations will serve him;
    they will speak of the Lord to the coming generation.
31 People not yet born will be told:
    “The Lord saved his people.”

GOSPEL LESSON                                                                                    Mark 14:32-52, GNT
32 They came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him. Distress and anguish came over him, 34 and he said to them, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch.”

35 He went a little farther on, threw himself on the ground, and prayed that, if possible, he might not have to go through that time of suffering. 36 “Father,” he prayed, “my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”

37 Then he returned and found the three disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Weren't you able to stay awake for even one hour?” 38 And he said to them, “Keep watch, and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

39 He went away once more and prayed, saying the same words. 40 Then he came back to the disciples and found them asleep; they could not keep their eyes open. And they did not know what to say to him.

41 When he came back the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come! Look, the Son of Man is now being handed over to the power of sinners. 42 Get up, let us go. Look, here is the man who is betraying me!”
43 Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders. 44 The traitor had given the crowd a signal: “The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him and take him away under guard.”

45 As soon as Judas arrived, he went up to Jesus and said, “Teacher!” and kissed him. 46 So they arrested Jesus and held him tight. 47 But one of those standing there drew his sword and struck at the High Priest's slave, cutting off his ear. 48 Then Jesus spoke up and said to them, “Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? 49 Day after day I was with you teaching in the Temple, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must come true.”
50 Then all the disciples left him and ran away.

51 A certain young man, dressed only in a linen cloth, was following Jesus. They tried to arrest him, 52 but he ran away naked, leaving the cloth behind.

SERMON                         Jesus Risked Praying in the Garden
As the meal ended, they sang their hallels, psalms of praise, and went to a place where Jesus sometimes taught them, an olive grove with a press for squeezing out the oil used in so many ways. Olive oil was used for anointing everything from Israel’s kings to the implements of the Temple, and it burned in the Temple’s lamps. These were anointed to make them holy, to set them apart for God’s service. When Jesus told the story of the Ten Virgins waiting for the bridegroom, five of whom kept their lamps burning and five of whom ran out of oil, olive oil was the required fuel. In everyday life it was used in lamps and eventually in cooking, but it was also as an ingredient in soaps, body lotions, hair products, and used as a healing balm.

Once the olives were harvested by hand, the process of extracting the oil involved several steps of washing and crushing. Pits were removed, then the baskets of pulp were crushed again to get every possible drop of precious oil which ran into a reservoir after a hot water rinse washed the remaining pulp away. There the oil settled and separated and was eventually drawn off the top before the water was drained. In vats the oil settled and separated once again. Even with mechanized help the process hasn’t changed much in thousands of years.

Now picture olive trees and the heavy mechanism of the olive press as backdrop to Jesus’ earnest prayer in Gethsemane which means oil press. Matthew and Mark give this name as the location for the scene. Luke calls it the Mount of Olives, so that process of making olive oil is also represented in his version of the story. John has another thought, but more on that later.
As Jesus came to pray, it was in preparation for what was ahead within that day. Remember that in Jewish reckoning of time, the day begins at sundown, the opposite of the way we think. Jesus had a long, weary day ahead of him, one in which he would be bruised by the soldiers and crushed under the weight of the cross and the weight of our sin. Jesus would be pressed hard until the purest form of compassion and mercy came forth. Jesus would give up his own life on earth for the sake of our healing, our forgiveness, our anointing to make us holy, to set us apart for God.

We see the evidence of that pressure in Matthew and Mark’s telling of the story. In Mark we read, “Distress and anguish came over him, 34 and he said to them, ‘The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me.’” (Mark 14:33b-34, GNT) While in Luke 22:44 it is written, “in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (NLT)
Many of us living in the world today deal with despair, anxiety, a sense of being crushed or hard pressed by our circumstances or things going on in the world around us. As we experience this enormous, seemingly unbearable pressure, does it help to know that our Savior also felt that weight upon him, suffering from circumstances not of his own making? We are not alone in our suffering; the Lord who willingly accepted that burden knows it well, and Jesus chooses to remain with us in Spirit, by our side if we choose to welcome him into our lives.

Jesus did not want to suffer alone either. He took three of the disciples with him, asking them to watch and pray with him. We also ask others to pray with us and for us. It is not a selfish act; it is an appropriate one. But Peter, James and John were not able to stay awake. Jesus earnestly, with all his body, mind and spirit prayed for himself, and so should we. Again, it is not selfish. God wants us to ask for help, in fact is waiting for us to remember to turn to him for aid. It is the content of Jesus’ prayer that shows his selflessness. This to me is the most significant point to this story. It is a motto for how we are called to live our lives, “not my will, but yours!”

Jesus took a huge risk as he came to this time of prayer. He already knew that the soldiers would come, and Judas would identify him with a kiss. He acknowledged at the supper that Judas would turn him over to those who wanted to kill him. Even the disciples had finally become aware that this trip to Jerusalem might well be his last, that Jesus’ life is in danger. They had two swords with them supposedly for protection. But there was much more at risk here than the coming arrest, trial, and crucifixion.
Do you remember when Jesus began his ministry, the Spirit led him into the wilderness where Satan, the accuser, was allowed to test him? The temptations then were to turn stone into bread to feed Jesus physical hunger, to jump from the high point of the Temple and let the angels protect him, and then to bow down to Satan and share the power and wealth of all the nations. In this place Jesus once again must wrestle with the seemingly easy path from human perspective versus the bigger story from God’s perspective. This is what was at stake when Jesus prayed, “Take this cup of suffering away from me.” Perhaps this was why Mel Gibson placed Satan in the Gethsemane scene in his “Passion of Christ.” Though I have chosen not to watch that movie for myself, it is the one scene I have heard described most often. Gibson recognized the connection to the earlier testing.

Luke tells us that as Jesus woke up the disciples, he told them to pray that they not fall into temptation. This is how Jesus taught them and us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13) Jesus led by example as he prayed and overcome the potential temptation of Gethsemane.

Think ahead to the rest of the story; Jesus fulfilled in God’s way the tests exacted earlier by Satan. By following God’s plan, Jesus became symbolically “bread” for the world. Jesus was raised up to life after his death, taken up for us all, and lifted up to share again in God’s glory. Jesus did not need power, wealth or authority from Satan; God gave all things to Jesus for he reigns over God’s kingdom. Luke recorded that an angel came to minister to Jesus after this prayer, just as happened after the temptations in the wilderness.

But Jesus didn’t stop with that first request for the cup of suffering to be taken away. Jesus went on to pray, “Even so, not what I want, but what You want.” (Mark 14:36b, NLV) “Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.” (CSB) You may be more familiar with this wording from Luke 22:42, NIV, ““Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Just as Jesus overcame the wilderness testing by quoting scripture back to Satan, so at Gethsemane Jesus overcame this personal test by surrendering his own will completely to God’s. That is the key, not only to this passage, but to the way Jesus lived and died, and to the example Jesus set for us.

Can you imagine what the world would be like, what your own life would be like, what churches would be like, if we surrendered our own wills completely to God’s? If we could learn to say with full integrity, not my will, but yours be done? So many times my confession has been, “I’m sorry, but today I’m going to do it my way anyway.” I know it’s foolish and sinful even as I say at and choose to do it anyway, but too often I am that weak, and I give in to temptations. I fail the test. If you are honest with yourselves, you probably do something like that sometimes as well. If we all lived God’s way all the time, Jesus would not have needed to go to the cross and bear that weight of our sin. Jesus was sinless. He died not for himself but for us. Jesus risked all that pain out of love for us.

Sometimes our intention is to live God’s plan if we could figure it out, but we are impatient creatures. I have to include this lesson, because God kept putting it in front of me all week. At Mary Marthas we were on Abraham and Sarah’s story. Randy Frazee points out that they got tired of waiting for God to fulfill the promise of a son. Abram was 85 and Sarai was 75 when she decided that maybe God needed their help. Then Frazee inserts this significant comment: “(Have you ever noticed how this phrase almost always leads to disaster?)” (Frazee, The Heart of the Story, p, 37) Wow! So true! When we go ahead with our plan rather than waiting for God’s to unfold, it is a recipe for disaster.

Wednesday night we watched Prince Caspian, the second movie from Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis’ fantasy portraying in Christian truths. High King Peter had a tough lesson to learn when he said, “I think we’ve waited for Aslan long enough.” The ensuing battle did not go as planned. Many lives were lost. It was a disaster!

Yet on Tuesday, God solved multiple things that I had been waiting on, because I couldn’t solve them myself. I was shown what was wrong with the phone, the debit card, the laptop and more. Packages arrived in time that had been delayed. If I learn to trust God and back off a bit when I hit my brick walls, God does work things out appropriately in God’s timing. Sometimes the result is what I had prayed to happen. Sometimes God has talked me out of a foolish idea.

I needed this lesson as I face Holy Week knowing there is more going on than I can imagine handling. God will provide what is needed to accomplish God’s plans and purpose. What about the rest of our human notions of what needs to happen this week? I can let go of those. In some cases I already have.

As my coach and I talked about this concept on Thursday, he shared with me how Quakers talk about it. “If the way be open…” When we are struggling to find and follow God’s plan, we can proceed where “the way be open.” When the way is closed, then it is time to stop, or pause and wait. If the path before us takes a turn, opens in a different direction, we need to pay attention to that shift. If this is surrounded with prayer, I think it is a good way to discern and sincerely live, “not what I want, but what you want, God.”

To live out of the example of Jesus’ prayer, we must ourselves first pray. Then we must watch and listen for the answer, sometimes patiently waiting a very long time for God’s perfect timing. Then, when the way be open, we can move ahead into God’s plan with purpose and confidence, following God’s will.

Professor Levine talks about personal prayer through out scripture, examples that Jesus would also have known. One of these is Psalm 22 which we read earlier. This is the prayer Jesus began to quote on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” It is a lament that acknowledges facing very difficult circumstances. It speaks of physical exhaustion and even being tormented and tortured. If you consider all that Jesus endured that day, the lashings, the mockery, the humiliation, the painful walk carrying the cross, then being nailed to it by wrists and feet, hanging there gasping for breath, this psalm is very befitting of all that Jesus endured through that day. It speaks of thirst with his tongue stuck to his mouth, of gambling for his clothes, of being surrounded by enemies like a pack of wild dogs. It begs for rescue, and I hear it echoed already in “Let this cup of suffering pass from me.”

But there is also in this psalm words of trust and God’s salvation through history. There are memories of being in God’s care since birth. There are promises of worship and praise yet to come. “All nations will remember the Lord…. People not yet born will be told: ‘The Lord saved his people.’” (Psalm 22:27a, 31) Jesus’ message to us through his passion is this, that even in the darkest of times and in the midst of suffering, God is still working out God’s plan for us and for the world. Therefore, we can dare to pray with him, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

I said I would come back to John’s version of this story. Whereas we can see Gethsemane, the oil press as “a place of agony” John merely refers to a garden, and that setting gives an entirely different picture. (Levine, p. 133) There is a contrast, as Levine points out, between the garden from which Adam and Eve were sent out because of their sin, and this garden where Jesus surrendered to God’s will with the purpose of overcoming our sin. What happened in one garden took us from life forever with God to the consequences of sin which is death. What happened in this garden opened the possibility for us to live forever with God through Christ who overcame our death. (Romans 6:23) Levine puts it this way, “In the fourth Gospel, Jesus is not in agony; he is in control.” (p. 133)

In this garden, John does not mention Jesus’ prayer at all. Instead it goes right to the approach of the soldiers to arrest Jesus as Judas leads them. Jesus opened the conversation as follows:

“4 Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward and asked them, “Who is it you are looking for?”

5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.

“I am he,” he said. (John 18:4-5a)

This question and answer were repeated once more.

There is significance in the way Jesus responded, “I am…” It’s more than “that’s me.” As John records Jesus self-identification, “I Am…” it echoes other times Jesus has used this phrase, “I am the bread of life,” and “I Am the bread of heaven.” (John 6:35 ff) “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) “I am the gate,” and “I am the Good Shepherd.” (John 10) “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) “I am the true vine” (John 15:1) They said they were looking for “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I Am.” (John 18:5) Jesus is all of this and more, for them, for us, for the world.

Fast forward to one more garden scene; it will be in a garden that Mary Magdalene will finally recognize her teacher and friend. In that garden, Jesus will be raised from death just as he raised Lazarus and others. Jesus lives and invites us to live forever with him. A garden is where seeds or bulbs and roots are buried in the ground seemingly dead, but in God’s timing, by God’s plan, shoots and stems, buds and leaves or blooms come forth and in the right time fruit will grow. These are symbols of life according to God’s good plan. John sets Jesus that night in a garden as a promise of the life that is to come in spite of what Jesus would endure yet that day.

As we complete the scene of garden or Gethsemane on the day of Passover, Jesus was arrested after being identified by Judas’ kiss. One of the disciples, John says it was Peter, brandished one of those swords and cut off a servant’s ear. Matthew reports that Jesus told him to put the sword away, for those who live that way will die that way. Luke tells us that Jesus healed the ear. Violence was not the way Jesus chose. As we have noted before, he wasn’t that kind of Messiah. He didn’t come to lead an army against Rome. He came instead to defeat sin and death by means they and we do not always understand.

Mark gives one final note not found elsewhere, that after the rest of the disciples ran away, there was one young man in a linen cloth who had followed Jesus. When the soldiers seized him, he ran away naked, leaving the cloth behind. Scholars don’t agree on who this young man could be, but does it matter? Levine speculates perhaps he represents us, the readers of this Gospel. She writes,

“We too are vulnerable and fearful, we too have deserted, we too have failed to stop what could not be stopped. Before we can be built up, Lent will strip us down, and in that rawness, that openness, we begin to heal. [But] before we get to the resurrection there will be suffering, crucifixion, and death.” (p. 139

As you continue through the lessons and worship services of this Holy Week of Jesus’ passion, put yourself in the story. From what point are you watching each scene unfold? What will you do for Christ by caring for others? What do you need to confess as your failures? Where are you most vulnerable? What do you need to be forgiven and where do you need to be healed? Know this, that along with those who failed to live up to their own best intentions then, we can also be forgiven, we can also find purpose and new life through the one who gave himself to save us. We can come to celebrate his resurrection and our own, come Easter. But there is no Easter without the suffering and death that came before it. We endure these things through Christ who gives us strength. (reference to Philippians 4:13)

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April 7 - Jesus Risked Sharing a Last Meal with his Disciples

4/6/2019

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Word

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Grant us refreshment, O Lord, as we hear your Word and receive your sacrament, that we might know deep within that we are forgiven and loved through your compassion.

OLD TESTAMENT LESSON                                                       Exodus 12:21-28, GNT
21 Moses called for all the leaders of Israel and said to them, “Each of you is to choose a lamb or a young goat and kill it, so that your families can celebrate Passover. 22 Take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the bowl containing the animal's blood, and wipe the blood on the doorposts and the beam above the door of your house. Not one of you is to leave the house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the beams and the doorposts and will not let the Angel of Death enter your houses and kill you. 24 You and your children must obey these rules forever. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord has promised to give you, you must perform this ritual. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ 27 you will answer, ‘It is the sacrifice of Passover to honor the Lord, because he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. He killed the Egyptians but spared us.’”

The Israelites knelt down and worshiped. 28 Then they went and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
GOSPEL LESSON                                                                            Luke 22:14-27, NET

14 Now when the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table and the apostles joined him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

21 “But look, the hand of the one who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man is to go just as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” 23 So they began to question one another as to which of them it could possibly be who would do this.

24 A dispute also started among them over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 So Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 26 Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

SERMON            Jesus Risked Sharing a Last Meal with his Disciples

What’s your favorite meal with family or friends? I love Thanksgiving Dinner, because that’s a family tradition we’ve managed to keep. Seems like New Year’s at mom and dad’s is becoming a new tradition for us. We don’t really get together for Christmas or Easter.

When Jesus gathered in the Upper Room with the disciples, they were there to celebrate a very old tradition of their faith, tracing all the way back to the Exodus. In fact, the Passover meal itself told the story of the Exodus. Jews still celebrate Passover, but the meal and traditions have changed over the years. Since the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD there is no longer the sacrifice of a lamb as was done in Jesus’ day. Other elements have been added to the meal since Jesus’ time.

For Christians, the meaning changed when Jesus added a new interpretation at that special meal he shared with his friends, when he equated the bread with his body and the wine with his blood. There are still parallels to the old story, but new meanings are added to it. We share this traditional meal from our Lord’s Table in a variety of ways, just as every family has its own specialties for Thanksgiving, but the bread and the cup still remind us that Jesus gave his body and shed his blood to make a new covenant with us through God’s great love.

Even the Gospels don’t tell the story in the same way. The Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) emphasize the bread and the cup and the words Jesus spoke over them. When Paul talks about this tradition in 1 Corinthians 11, he also shares this point. Our traditional liturgy consecrating the bread and cup comes from Paul’s letter rather than directly from the Gospels. “Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, 24 and after he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor. 11:24-26)

John on the other hand emphasized the teachings of Jesus at the Last Supper, in particular the lesson of foot washing, of serving one another, and loving others as a sign of being Christ’s disciples. Foot washing is an important tradition in some denominations. At Bethany, a Church of the Brethren seminary, it was what my fellow Brethren students looked forward to most in Holy Week, the Love Feast which included a meal, communion and foot washing. On Mennonite/Brethren Way of Christ retreats it is the highlight worship service at the Sunday morning breakfast table.

Levine points out that foot washing can mean different things depending on who is involved, but it usually relates to humble service. As she speculates on Jesus choosing to incorporate this action into his teaching at that important last meal, I like this idea. Levine writes, “I do wonder if Jesus took his cue from those anointing women, who provided a service to him. He does not always have to be original in order to be profound.” (Levine, p. 123) Since we recently explored all the stories of “those anointing women” her comment made great sense to me. Perhaps Jesus thought of the woman who washed his feet with her tears when he took up the basin and towel for his disciples.

After washing the disciple’s feet, the job usually of a servant or slave provided by the host, Jesus explains with this teaching, “14 If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do. 16 I assure you servants aren’t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them.” (John 13:14-16)

Luke also includes a teaching on servanthood as we read in today’s Gospel lesson. When the disciples are arguing like children about who’s the greatest among them, Jesus turns the conversation around by telling them they are not to lord it over one another, that the leader should be one who serves, that he, Jesus, is among them to serve.

In Matthew this debate came up as the mother of James and John asked Jesus to grant her sons a special place in his kingdom. It set off an outcry from the rest of the disciples. This is where Matthew places the saying not to lord it over each other as Jesus tells them, “even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)

In John’s version of the Last Supper in chapter 13, the bread and wine are never even mentioned. That comes much earlier in Chapter 6 which was also around the time of Passover. This scene is not in the Upper Room; it’s outdoors in the countryside, one of the versions of Jesus feeding thousands with loaves and fish. That night, Jesus comes to their boat and calms the storm. The next day the crowd found him again on the other side of the lake and ask for more miracles. Jesus talked about the bread from heaven in the wilderness in the time of Moses, then Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35) The people didn’t understand, so Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” (John 6:53-56) This is NOT the language we are used to hearing when we celebrate Holy Communion, especially among the Protestant denominations that view the bread and cup as symbolic or representing Jesus’ body and blood. We would agree with the disciples, this is a hard teaching!

Luke, along with Mark and Matthew, place the Last Supper on the first day of Passover. So, in our reading today Jesus declared to his disciples, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15) That is the night Jews share the Seder, remembering and retelling the story of the escape from Egypt in Exodus, a bit of which was our Old Testament reading today. We have had many opportunities here to experience or explore the Seder and the meaning of each component, but we have seen it in the way Jews celebrate it in our own time, not the way it was in Jesus’ day. Using unleavened bread, wine, and bitter herbs has remained, but Jews no longer have a sacrificed lamb, not since 70 AD. In one way it is strange if Christians share a lamb for Maundy Thursday, since Jesus has become for us “The lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” (traditional liturgy based on John 1:29) For Christians especially, a sacrificial lamb is no longer needed!

In John’s Gospel, the Last Supper takes place the night before the lambs are sacrificed at the Temple, so the meal would not have included lamb even then. Jesus’ crucifixion, however, would then be the day the paschal lambs are sacrificed. Jesus becomes the lamb, but John subtly shifts the meaning from the Passover lamb to a lamb sacrificed as a sin offering.

According to the laws in Leviticus, when an animal was brought for a sin offering, its blood was smeared on the altar. Once a year, in the original instructions in Exodus, Aaron the priest was to smear blood from the sin offering on the altar to purify it. So, to those who were part of this tradition, Jesus’ shed blood was for purification from sin, but as the letter to the Hebrews tells us in the New Testament, Jesus did this, “once for all.” (Hebrews 7:27) We no longer need to repeat that sin offering.

Another layer of symbolism in John is the meaning of Passover itself. When the blood was smeared on the door posts, the angel of death passed over the Hebrew households while taking the firstborn of the Egyptians. Professor Levine points out that Passover marked passing from slavery to freedom. (p. 115) In the same way, Jesus leads us out of “the slavery of sin and death” (traditional language of the Great Thanksgiving prayer for Holy Communion) to freedom and new life.

In her book, Entering the Passion of Jesus, Levine has a great section on the betrayal by Judas. I won’t elaborate here, but I can share more if you come to the adult class. Today I want to focus on the Supper, since we are celebrating Holy Communion. I will point out that while our liturgy traditionally says, “on the night he was betrayed” coming from a line of translations for that passage in 1 Corinthians 11, Levine’s book corrects this. The Greek word, paradidomi, literally means handed over. Jesus was “handed over” to death. I think the betrayal language infiltrated our liturgy, because we see that handing over as a betrayal. But here’s the thing, in Paul’s letters, Judas is not the subject related to that verb. It is God who hands Jesus over to death for our sake. In Paul’s theology, this is God allowing his ultimate plan for our salvation to unfold even though it means sacrificing God’s own Son. Judas identified Jesus with a kiss, but the arrest and crucifixion, horrible as they are to us, were within God’s plan. Paul put it this way his letter to the Romans, “32 God didn’t spare his own Son but handed him over to death for all of us. (Romans 8:32a)

Levine expresses what many of us wrestle with, that when Jesus talks about his body and blood, “he is using sacrificial imagery …[that] does not resonate well with most of us, because we do not live in a culture where ‘sacrifice’ in the sense of spilling blood on an altar and then eating part of the sacrificial offering is practiced.” But what we need to understand is that “at the time of Jesus, everyone, whether Jewish or Samaritan or Gentile, understood the practice of, and the efficacy of, sacrifice.” (Levine, pp. 119-120)

I know I’ve tried to explain it from that standpoint of historical meaning many times, but here’s the piece I was missing. Levine writes, “Sacrifice was a way of sharing a meal with God.” (p. 120) Okay, that is part of how I understand the Lord’s Supper. We come to Jesus’ table to share Jesus’ meal. Jesus has extended the invitation to us to join the disciples of old at that meaningful table. There were many kinds of sacrifice in Old Testament times and on into Jesus’ day. Offerings for thanksgiving, freewill offerings, dedications, festal offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, peace offerings and so forth. They may have been oil, grain, bread, or an animal depending on the occasion, the type of offering, or the person bringing it. In many cases, the priest blessed and butchered the animal sacrifice, drained the blood, and took the fat parts for the altar. Most of the meat was returned to the worshippers for a meal that was shared among the family or with friends and symbolically shared with God. Eating a meal with God is an aspect of sacrifice I never considered before, but I see the significance remembering Jesus’ sacrifice as we share Holy Communion with God.

Breaking bread together, is still a symbol of sharing and hospitality in many cultures. Sharing a meal together still has the effect of binding family, a group of friends, or a congregation together in that shared meal. When we offer a blessing before we eat, it may have the language of inviting God to share in that meal with us. I think in particular of the “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blest.” (traditional children’s mealtime prayer) For Presbyterians in particular, this is not an altar where sacrifices are made, but a communion table where the community gathers to remember that sacrifice made once for all, and where we continue to find communion with Jesus Christ, our Lord. As we share this meal today, with one another and with God, let us remember Jesus’ gift of love and grace for us.

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