Brokenness Restored in an Empty Tomb

I had the privilege of leading worship and presenting the message at our Worship service on Palm Sunday.  What follows is that message:

Gospel Message

Palm Sunday

March 29, 2015

Mark 11:1-11

Please pray with me, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts together be pleasing to you oh God.  Amen

            Today’s Gospel reading ends with the words, “Then He entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple.”

Bike riding has become not only a form or exercise for me, but also a great way to clear my head and put my thoughts in order.  We all know Dave Nelson is the cycling master, I can only aspire to one day ride at his level.  However, as I was riding on Friday I began to think about this week’s Gospel. When I ride I begin to think about what the Gospel means to me and how God wants me to share that meaning with you.

I began thinking about this week ahead, Jesus had entered the Temple, and this week of Passion was now in full swing.  Jesus' purpose on Earth was coming to it’s climax.  It was truly a week of Passion…a week of Brokenness, we all know the Passion Story.

We hear the beginning in today’s Gospel.  Jesus makes his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem.  We hear shouts of Hosanna as his followers anticipate the pronouncement of a new King.  As this week progresses we will see and experience the very high of Palm Sunday move to the very low of Good Friday back to the very high of Easter Morning.

In preparation of Easter, we have heard through Lent of brokenness restored.  We heard of broken hearts, broken vessels, broken trust, broken bread, broken promises, and broken justice.  We heard of the brokenness restored in covenants made to Noah, Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist in a Holy Meal, and in Christ’s Crucifixion.

 This week we experience the ultimate brokenness. In this week of Passion we see the breaking of Jesus.  We experience an angry Jesus as he clears the temple of merchants and tax collectors. 

We are told of a final meal where Jesus lays out what’s coming.  It is here he reveals, much to their surprise, he will be betrayed and denied by his disciples.

We find Jesus alone in the garden where he is abandoned by his Disciples (Peter, James and John).  We hear His cries to God, feeling abandoned not only by his disciple, but by God.  Then finally we hear his concession to God’s will.

The betrayal by Judas, which he foretold, is carried out.  There is a confrontation, which Jesus quickly ends as he is arrested and taken away.

He is taken to a reluctant a reluctant Pilate.  Pilate expresses his lack of interest in becoming involved, after all he feels it should be Herod’s responsibility to deal with this Jewish problem. 

Jesus is sent to a cowardly Herod, afraid to do anything which might interfere with his Kingship, he returns him to Pilate.

We see a still reluctant Pilate, believing he has committed no crime, the people convince him that Jesus is trouble for Caesar, and Pilate must deal with the matter.

Jesus is put on trial and ultimately condemned to death.  He is awarded a crown of thorns, paraded out before the people and sentenced to the worst kind of death—Crucifixion on the cross.

In this week of Passion I would like to suggest you take some time to ponder the pain of the crucifixion.

·        The humiliation of such a cruel death

·        The prick of the thorns in Jesus head

·        The penetration of the nails in his feet and hands

·        The piercing of the sword in his side

Only then can you realize the great sacrifice, which Jesus endured for you and for me and for all of mankind.  Realize the pain he endured was yours and mine, not his.  He took on our brokenness. 

In his final moments on the cross he cried out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?  and He Jesus dies.

Is this the end of the story!

The assigned Gospel for today was the Passion narrative, the 14^th and 15^th chapters of Mark.  Spend some time this week reading and contemplating the words you read.  Put yourself there, at the cross, witnessing His death.  Think of how this was all done for YOU!

Come back here Friday evening to hear the passion story, to experience the pain of Jesus, to deepen your understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice for you and for me.

Leave your Brokenness at the foot of the cross.  Whether you are broken in relationships, in work situations, in spirit.  Jesus has taken on all of it and has once again made you whole. 

Come to service Friday so that you may prepare yourself for the amazing story of the empty tomb.

The truly Good News is the Cross is not the end of the story!  If the story had ended with Jesus death, there would be no story.  The real story exists in an empty tomb, not a broken cross!

Jesus left all of our brokenness on the cross, in the empty tomb he restored us to God. We are not people of the cross. We are people of the empty tomb! We are Easter People!

As Easter People we live in the resurrection, as people restored to God, our brokenness made whole.  We live life as those who have been restored to God.

As Easter people we take on some special responsibilities.  We are called to share the good news of the Empty Tomb, to bring Christ to the world.  We are to share the promises of a resurrected Jesus.  We must commit ourselves toInvite others to share in our brokenness restored.

Next Sunday we will come together again, as restored followers in the new covenant, a new life as broken made whole, to rejoice in the Good News of the resurrection.

The tomb was empty, Jesus has Risen, to restore our brokenness. 

In the resurrection we are Easter People!

Amen

Broken Justice Restored

The message I gave for our Weekly Lenten Service:

Gospel Message

Lenten Service 6

March 25, 2015

Please pray with me, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts together be pleasing to you, oh God.  Amen

These days we can hardly turn on the evening news or open the morning paper without reading of some injustice somewhere in the world.  Whether it is a young black man shot by police, a school child being bullied, or our favorite basketball team losing in the NCAA tournament on the opponent’s home court, the world is seemingly full of injustice.

We live in a broken world, everyone seems to have the own definition of justice.  Usually it doesn’t matter on which side of the fence they stand, they feel their cause, their actions, and their ideals are just.  Broken more deeply by a society intent on using their cries of injustice to whip their followers into a frenzy of dangerous, illegal and sometimes deadly behavior. 

I want to share with you two of the greatest love stories ever told.

·        The one, at Camelot; the other, at Calvary.

·        Two of the noblest kings ever to live. The one, King Arthur; the other, King of the Jews.

·        The one is adorned with a jeweled crown; the other, with a crown of thorns. 

The comparisons and contrasts between Camelot and Calvary are many, but one scene from Camelot illustrates a great theological dilemma that only the cross could resolve.

Prior to His appointment with destiny on the brow of that fateful hill, Jesus agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane: We hear in Luke 22:42  "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done".

Understand, on an emotional level, that this is the pleading of a son to his father. If your child came to you in such agony, wouldn’t you do everything within your power to grant their request? 

But this Father, this time, didn’t respond as expected. And that’s the theological rub. He denied the request of His Son, His only Son, His beloved Son. In Gethsemane, that Son was asking:   "Is there no other way?"
The Son is betrayed, arrested, deserted, denied, beaten, tried, mocked, and finally crucified. Implicitly, the Father answers:   "No, there is no other way."
But why? Why was there no other way?

We find the answer to that question in a scene from Camelot, where the adulterous relationship between Queen Guenevere and Arthur’s most trusted knight, Sir Lancelot, has divided the Round Table. When the scheming Mordred catches them in a clandestine encounter, Lancelot escapes. Guenevere is not so fortunate. She faces a trial. The jury finds her guilty and sentences her to the flame.

As the day of execution nears, people come from miles around with one question in their minds: Would the king let her die?

Mordred gleefully captures the complexity of Arthur’s predicament:
Arthur! What a magnificent dilemma!

Let her die, your life is over;
Let her live, your life’s a fraud.
Which will it be, Arthur?
Do you kill the queen or kill the law?
Tragically but resolutely, Arthur decides: "Treason has been committed! The jury has ruled! Let justice be done!"

High from the castle window stands Arthur, as Guenevere enters the courtyard. She walks to her unlit stake, where the executioner stands with waiting torch. Arthur turns away, emotion brimming in his eyes.

A herald mounts the tower where Arthur has withdrawn: "The queen is at the stake, Your Majesty. Shall I signal the torch?"
But the king cannot answer.
Arthur’s love for Guenevere spills from his broken heart: "I can’t! I can’t! I can’t let her die!"
Seeing Arthur crumble, Mordred relishes the moment: "Well, you’re human after all, aren’t you, Arthur? Human and helpless."
Tragically, Arthur realizes the truth of Mordred’s remark. Being only human, he is indeed helpless.

Without even waiting for His Guenevere to look up in repentance, the King stepped down from His throne, took off His crown, laid aside His royal robes, and descended His castle’s polished steps into humanity’s blemished streets.

But where this story ends, the greatest story ever told just begins.

Another Execution Scene…Another time... Another place…Another king.

The setting: A world lies estranged from the God who loves it. Like Genevere, an unfaithful humanity stands guilty and in bondage, awaiting judgment’s torch.
Could God turn His head from the righteous demands of the law and simply excuse the world’s sin? If not, then could He turn His head from the world He loved? Would this king burn his Guenevere?
Like the wicked Mordred, Satan must have looked on in delight:
God! What a magnificent dilemma!
Let Christ die, your life is over;
Let Christ live, your life’s a fraud;
which will it be, God?
Do you kill your world or do you kill the law?
These words from Paul’s letter to the Philippians are thought by some scholars to be the lyrics of an ancient hymn, singing about the King of kings.   Reading now from the second chapter, verses 5-8

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!

Here Paul encourages us to think with our minds as Jesus thought with his.  Note here Jesus was not only in the form of a human, though fully God, he was truly human.  By doing so he took on human suffering, though without sin and humbled his human self on the cross.  Jesus was the ultimate scapegoat. 

That scene in Camelot was an epiphany of understanding. Suddenly, it all made sense. We know now why He had to die, only God was capable of the love necessary to give the full measure, to be completely broken, so we may become whole, there was no other way…

Arthur’s love got in the way of justice, God’s love is the way to justice.

A justice we do not deserve but which comes to us freely from our loving Father for when love and justice collide, only the cross offers a happy ending. 

Broken Justice Restored

Amen