The Whole World is Gone After Him; John 12:9-19

Today is our day of joy as we begin Holy Week. We welcome Jesus as King with the crowds. Yet it is Jesus’ enemies, not the crowds, who make the most profound statements of truth about Jesus, His power, and His reign. They had more theological insight than the crowds that lined the streets, and yet they would not believe. John gives us insights into the triumphal entry that the other gospel writers don’t include. John lists as Jesus’ last great miracle the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus performed other healings after this one, like making blind Bartimaeus able to see again, but Lazarus was the most profound of Jesus’s last miracles. It probably occurred just a few weeks or a couple of months before Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem. John includes in that story the culminating “I am” statement other than the final “I am” periods that Jesus will make. Prior to raising Lazarus, Jesus says to Martha, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believes in me, though he were dead yet shall he live, and he that believes and lives in me will never die.” Martha professes that she does believe. I doubt that any of Jesus’ enemies were privy to that conversation, and yet the weight of Jesus’ claim about Himself is not lost on them. The religious authorities had already set out to kill Jesus before He raised Lazarus. In fact, it is when Jesus decides to head back to Bethany from Galilee to raise Lazarus that Thomas says to the other disciples, “Let us go with Him that we too may die with him.” They all knew it was dangerous for Jesus to go back. Why was the raising of Lazarus so significant? After all Jesus had already raised a woman’s son, a centurion’s servant, and Jairus’s daughter. Lazarus had been dead and buried for 4 days—his body was in the process of decay when Jesus called him from the tomb. Clearly Jesus had power of life and death, and the authorities knew it. They knew in their heads, yet they still refused to believe in what they knew to be true. They knew others would recognize the signs of Jesus’ kingship and Messiahship, yet they refused to bow to King Jesus. They couldn’t stand to admit they were wrong. Their pride kept them from Jesus. When has your pride kept you from admitting to the truth? Is your pride keeping you from Jesus? After learning that Jesus raised Lazarus, Caiaphas too makes a prophetic statement about Jesus. He proclaims, “It is better that one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed. Even though the rulers knew Jesus power and popularity, their fear of the Roman Empire was greater. They didn’t have faith that Jesus would protect them from Rome, while the people saw Jesus as their Savior from Rome. Fear was another factor that kept Jesus’ enemies from believing in Him. What fears cause your faith in Jesus to waver? Does fear overcome faith or does faith overcome fear? Is there anything keeping you from the truth of Jesus? The priests were right. Jesus did not come to save them from Rome. On the other hand, fear shouldn’t have kept them from the truth. Jesus came to save them from something greater than Rome. He came to save them from the power of death itself. He came to save them from eternal separation from God. He would die not only to save the nation but the world. Jesus had proven that He has power over death, but what no one knew was that Jesus had the power to raise Himself from the dead. The crowds cried, “Hosanna! Save now!” having no idea that the salvation Jesus came to offer necessitated His death. The witness of Lazarus was so compelling that more and more people came to believe in Jesus. The news spread quickly. (Two dinner parties. One on Saturday before Palm Sunday @ Lazarus’s house. One on Holy Tues. at Simon the Leper/Pharisee’s house). These believers or would-be believers are the ones who lined the streets and formed the entourage greeting Jesus as He came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Curiosity had drawn them to Jesus. What drew you to Jesus? The testimony was so compelling that Jesus’ enemies sought to kill Lazarus as well. Some bible scholars and church historians think that continued death threats against Lazarus was why his story is not included by the other gospel writers. How strongly does your life testify to the power and person of Jesus Christ? The religious leaders recognize that this event, the resurrection of Lazarus “caused the whole world to go after Jesus,” and yet they would not repent. Seeing the crowds following Jesus, they thought their plans to kill him and Lazarus were foiled, but they didn’t know that Jesus had come to Jerusalem intentionally. They didn’t know that He would willingly surrender to death, not because of their clever scheme to get rid of Him, but to do the will of His Father in heaven. They didn’t know how easily the shallow crowd would turn once Jesus was arrested. Is your faith in Jesus shallow or whole-hearted? The crowds honored a Messiah they didn’t understand. Some were waiting to see what would happen. Others placed their faith in Him. Some continued to wait for signs. Others believed what Jesus had already told them. The religious leaders refused to worship what they knew to be true. Yet Nicodemus, Joseph, and other Pharisees trusted in Jesus as the Messiah. They refused to participate in the mockery of the trial that was to come. How would you characterize your relationship with Jesus? Are you disappointed when He doesn’t conform to your image? Do you submit in worship to the One who is the True Living Way? Are you willing to trust Him even when you don’t understand? I wonder what Jesus’ expression was as He rode into Jerusalem—Jesus who knows the hearts of all people… The first Palm Sunday might not have been that joyful for Jesus. Jesus was riding in silence. “The whole world has gone after Him” was an inspired exaggeration. We know that in Jerusalem at that time were people from every part of the Roman Empire as well as anywhere the Jews had gone—from Egypt to Afghanistan to Spain. All were there for the Passover and Pentecost feasts. They might not have had a clue on Palm Sunday, but in a few short weeks, thousands would turn to Jesus, believe and be baptized on Pentecost. They would return home and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Though the whole world hasn’t gone after Him, there are those of every nation, tongue, and tribe—people of every ethnic group who have and will go after Jesus. Jesus is King, not only of Israel but also of the world. Jesus did and will have His victory, and that is why we can celebrate joyfully today. We don’t have to plead for the Lord to save us. He has already saved us. We only have to recognize with the saints described in the book of revelation who continuously proclaim, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb! Praise, glory, wisdom, strength, honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” If you haven’t acknowledged the gift of salvation that Jesus Christ has offered you, don’t wait. Don’t reject the gift like the religious leaders.

A Pure Life; Psalm 119:9-16

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The Storm Stiller; Psalm 107, Mark 4:35-41

There are a couple of songs on contemporary Christian radio that I like right now. One is “Rescuer” by Rend Collective, and the other is “Chain Breaker” by Zach Williams. We see Jesus as both of these things and more in our readings this morning. Psalm 107 appears more than once in the lectionary. It occurs at Thanksgiving, which is reflected in our worship this morning as well as in the season of Lent. Obviously, it is a thanksgiving psalm, an ode praising God for deliverance form danger and suffering. We see this in the chorus, which occurs in verses 8, 15, 21, and 31. But in our gospel reading, we see Jesus showing the disciples that this psalm is speaking of Him. Thus, it appears in Lent. By showing Himself as the Storm Stiller, Jesus declares that He is God. Jesus came to show us what God is like. Everything Jesus is, with the exception of His human frailty, God is, and everything God is, Jesus is. The psalm focuses on God’s steadfast love—hesed—which is lovingkindness, grace, loyal love, devotion, affectionate love based on an established relationship, covenantal love, glory, favor, and mercy. God’s love is committed, unchanging, and persistent. And God’s love is seen in the midst of adversity. Our gospel reading reflects verse 4 of Psalm 107—verses 23-32. In our gospel reading, we see that Jesus is in charge of the storm. Jesus is the one who initiates the going out onto the water. He tells the disciples to cross over the Sea of Galilee. They were not the only ones out that evening. Mark tells us other little boats were with them. There were fishing boats and cargo boats, probably just like the one of which I showed the ruins during my Israel presentation. More than just the disciples would be shown that Jesus has power over the storm. The storm was strong and started swamping the boat that the disciples were in. It didn’t happen on our trip, but Jay and Sharon Coker told of a group that went out on the Sea of Galilee like we did, and everything started out calm, but a storm came up and tossed the boat about (and this one with a diesel engine), and then the fog rolled in and no one could see anything. Jay was worried about what the group would think, and they thought, despite some queasiness, that it was awesome because they could see how the disciples would have felt while Jesus was sleeping. In our psalm, we see that it is God who initiates and controls the storm. God causes the wind to lift the waves, which makes the boat go up and down and the men go side to side. In Psalm 107 we see different types of adversity that befall us, and they happen to us for different reasons. In this psalm, the storm represents those times when God puts us into situations of adversity to show us something about Himself in contrast to verses 2 and 3. In verse 2 the prisoners are chained up because they rebelled against the words of God. And in verse 3, sickness has befallen fools because of their sins and transgressions. Obviously, not all in prison are there because of rebellion—innocent people get locked up too. Polly, Elbert, and I watched “Tortured for Christ” last week and saw people beaten and imprisoned for sharing the gospel. It still happens. Even in our justice system, innocent people get locked up and the guilty go free. And obviously, not all sickness is a result of someone’s sinfulness. The wilderness situation in stanza one, Psalm 107:2-9, is a mixture. Part of it is the result of a fallen world. Part of it is human evil, both the Egyptians and the Israelites. Jesus Himself said that as He went about healing people. But this psalm gives different types of adversity and different reasons for it happening. We might not always be able to make a direct correlation, but we ought always seek to learn what the Lord would teach us in it, for there is always a purpose, (suffering is never wasted by God) and we ought always thank God for our deliverance. I don’t think Jesus was a bit surprised by this storm. I think He insisted on crossing the sea precisely because He knew there would be a storm. Certainly, He was not worried about Himself, but He was not worried for others, even though they were about to face adversity. Don’t forget that water was coming into the boat. And so He went to sleep. Now, I’m sure this sleep was in large part due to His humanity. He had been teaching crowds all day and had a breakout session with His disciples afterward. He was in high demand, and I’m sure He was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. He needed to recharge. But just like in Psalm 107, this storm was intentional. The disciples and the others in the other boats needed to see something new in who Jesus was. Just like in Psalm 107, Jesus doesn’t stop the storm until He is asked. In all 4 situations listed in Psalm 107, Yahweh doesn’t intervene until He is asked. Regarding the wilderness in verse 6, “Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble and they delivered them out of their distresses.” The same thing is repeated exactly in verse 13 regarding the prisoners, and in verse 19 regarding sickness, and in verse 28 regarding the storm on the sea. Like the people in described in Psalm 107 and like the disciples described in the gospel, we too often wait until we are in a desperate situation to seek the Lord. We exhaust all human effort, when Jesus is standing by ready and waiting, saying, “All you have to do is ask.” Jesus wants us to ask for His help, but He doesn’t want to be our last resort. Maybe the disciples waited because they knew Jesus was tired and didn’t want to bother Him. Our asking God for help is no bother. The Lord is not annoyed with our sincere petitions. Jesus doesn’t help by bailing water, but by calming the storm with a simple command, “Peace, be still.” The Lord’s deliverance often comes through ways we don’t expect or can’t even imagine, so that we learn something new about God, or remember something we should already know about who God is. Mark writes, “And the wind ceased and there was a great calm,” which directly reflects Psalm 107:29, “He calms the storm so that its waves are still.” Once again, Jesus reveals Himself as God in being the Storm Stiller. Ironically, as Jesus asks them why they were so frightened, they become even more fearful, this time not of the water, but of Him. Now their fear is rightly placed as they contemplate Jesus as the Storm Stiller. The disciples and we would be wise to be attentive to the ending of Psalm 107, “Whoever is wise will observe, and they will understand the lovingkindness of Yahweh.” Fear turns to marvel when we see the love of God through delivering us from adversity. Jesus calmed the storm to show that He was God and that He loves His people. Jesus is still the Storm Stiller. We may or may not find ourselves out on a boat in the middle of a stormy sea, but whatever storm we face—be it one of our own making, one because of the fallenness of the world, or one that comes up because God is getting ready to do something awesome, we can trust that Jesus can calm it and bring us through whatever adversity we face. But we need to not let Jesus be our last resort. When we cry for help, He will hear and answer, probably in a way that we would not expect, so that we will give Him the thanks and praise due His name and better come to understand and experience His love.

Generous Women; Luke 7:36-8:3

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