March 17th, 2024

​Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that you have inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation, and that you will empower our application. Amen

Thank you to all of you for your gift to me for last Sunday. Paul stepped up to lead worship, but many others made adjustments and stepped in to fill roles or provide leadership so I am grateful to you all. It was a wonderful time of celebration.

So, welcome to the fifth Sunday in Lent. At one point in my life I was a Boy Scout. I learned a great many things in the time. Some things I learned about myself, others I learned for myself. 

A couple of the things I learned about myself were:
First all I learned how little I liked sleeping on the ground without any guarantee that the weather would be pleasant and the ground soft. 
Then another thing I learned was how little I enjoyed actually being on an adventure in the wild. I very quickly learned that I liked the idea or the dream of being on an adventure much more than the actual adventure. Let's just say I was not an outdoors, camping person. 

But I did learn some valuable life lessons and leadership skills. Our troop leaders managed to somehow convey some pithy sayings about leadership that have stuck with me to this day. The one I remember most clearly was: "Never ask someone to do something that you are not prepared to do yourself." This was usually used as a counter balance to the idea that "rank has its privileges." 

I have to admit that I was among a number of scouts who thought that becoming a leader, even of a small group of other boys, would mean less work, or at least of less onerous work. Our troop leader was quick to point out to us that if we didn't want to do it then it was very unlikely anybody else would either. 

One of the leadership lessons of that time was to think before assigning someone else a task, whether I would be willing to be an example and do the task myself? He pointed out that a good leader often did things so that everyone knew they were only asking them to do something the leader had already done a number of times before, whether that task was onerous or not.
 
One of the first things that we can draw out of our Gospel lesson from John this morning is that Jesus understood this principle. 

The last couple of weeks, ever since Lent started, there has been an emphasis on suffering. In today's Gospel Jesus once again looks at the life and the role of his disciples. What would set them apart from other people around them? What would they do in their lives that would mean that people would see and understand that they were his disciples?

This raises an interesting question for us today. I said last week that we are not spared the usual human suffering of the life of a person in this world. So, what makes us distinctive in that suffering? What is out focus? Or perhaps another to put it is how will we proclaim the Lordship of Christ? How will we witness to the fact that we are Christians - followers of Christ?

First, as we look at the Gospel for this morning, what do we learn about Jesus and his response to what he expected to happen to him? Jesus acknowledges what he knows is coming. "Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified."

Now, what they probably expected from his being glorified and what he meant were two different things. So he goes on and explains himself. First of all metaphorically: "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

Then in plain straightforward statements: "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor."

Now, if this was a Seminary class we would spend the rest of this class, and perhaps some time in several classes to come discussing a heresy called Docetism. Doe see tism.

Let me just take a moment to share a definition I found on what Docetism is: The name comes from the Greek word dokesis, meaning "to seem." Docetism says that Christ was not a real human being and did not have a real human body. He only seemed to be human to us.

The counter balance to that is what we say every Sunday when we recite the Nicene Creed: 

"For us and for our salvation
  he came down from heaven:
      by the power of the Holy Spirit
  he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
  and was made man."

Why is it important that we know about that and how does it relate to the Gospel this morning? Well, unless Jesus is fully man he has a way out of the call he is placing before his disciples and before us. He would be like my younger me, wanting to have a position of leadership so I can pass off the onerous bits that I don't want to do. Jesus, being fully human, is saying that he is about to physically suffer. He says it and he acknowledges it as necessary.

We need to know this because we need to understand that Jesus is saying that we can bear what we are experiencing now and what is coming, as well. I have heard people say, "well, it is all well and good for Jesus to say those things because he was Jesus." Or, "well Jesus could do that because he was Jesus." 
To me, that sounds like somehow we are equating Jesus to some superhero figure. His super powers come into play when he suffers and he is able to withstand with superhuman strength what happens to him. His God self will handle the suffering his human self can't 

In the Gospel reading we hear something different. Jesus recognizes and acknowledges that he will suffer: “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” 

Jesus does not deny the situation or his feelings. He recognizes his own dilemma in this situation. He recognizes how complicated and demanding it is. Here he allows us to see and to hear how he struggles with what is being asked of him. He identifies with us and we can identify with him in this situation.
 
Another important aspect of this scripture, which we sometimes can skim over, is that this takes place some time before he will actually be in the situation. This is not a momentary decision for Jesus. It is not a moment where he decides on whim to do this thing. He doesn't take it lightly.

Perhaps I can illustrate what I mean by referring to the story of Herod and John the Baptist. Herod is intrigued by John the Baptist he keeps him in prison so that he can chat with him. He doesn't understand John and he is not convinced, but he keeps coming back, or having John brought back to him so that he can talk with him. 

​Then on the night of a party, with a casual remark in response to his being mesmerized by his step daughter's dancing he promises her the world. "I will give you anything." No forethought, no planning, no weighing up the consequences. He just wants to impress a pretty girl at a party. The next thing he knows he is ordering John's execution.

Jesus is not reacting to circumstances or a momentary whim. He knows that this is what he has come for: "Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die."

Once again he draws on the image of the snake that Moses placed on a pole that redeemed the curse of the people being bitten by snakes. In Jesus death by crucifixion he illustrates how this was a predetermined action that would redeem the curse that humanity had being living under since the Creation.

Jesus went to the cross willingly and without any super hero powers to withstand suffering so that we could understand what is possible for us.
   
So, what makes us distinctive in our suffering? What is out focus? Or perhaps another way to put it is, when we suffer, how will we proclaim the Lordship of Christ? How will we witness to the fact that we are Christians - followers of Christ?