The Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 18, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
March 18, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today comes from the Gospel lesson, especially these words, “For
even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many.”
Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ, Jesus tells the disciples exactly what was going to happen. “See, we
are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the
chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death
and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him,
and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” Dear friends, it doesn’t get much clearer
than that. Jesus is entering his
glory. Jesus is going into Jerusalem to
begin his reign, to be crowned with thorns, enthroned upon a cross, the king
dying for sin.
And yet, even as
Jesus tells his disciples this is what is happening, they miss the point
entirely. That’s not the type of glory
that they are used to. They have seen
kings enter Jerusalem before, they have heard of the way a Triumph was truly
celebrated, and it didn’t involve crosses.
In ancient Rome,
when a king came into his glory, he rode a chariot in a parade into town. Before him went all his troops, and all the
spoils of war. He entered through a
special gate in the city, used only for showing forth the glory of a king. He rode through the town as all its citizens
came out to cheer and the trumpets blasted as they hailed this king, this
Caesar as God on earth.
That is the glory
the disciples wanted. They wanted Jesus
glorified. They wanted him shown as
almighty. They wanted him paraded
around, and they wanted a piece of the action.
In our text, James and John come to Jesus and say, “O great teacher, may
you live forever, give to us what we ask.
Let it be that one of us may sit on your right and one at your left in
your glory.” In other words, let us share
with you in fame and wealth and praises.
Let us be a part of your power and kingdom. Let us sit in the place of honor. Let us share, because Lord, we have earned
it. We have followed you since the very
beginning. We were some of your very
first disciples. We have left all we
have, and now, Jesus it is time for payback, especially if you expect us to
support you when you enter Jerusalem. We
want reward, and we want it now.
Jesus, who had to
have been disappointed by the question, responds, “Can you drink the cup I am
going to drink, the cup of God’s wrath?”
Can you take the brunt of God’s punishment for sin? Because that is the glory of Jesus – to save
sinners. And you disciples of Jesus are
no longer to live in the glory of the world, the parades, the pats on the back,
the accolades. But instead, you are to
serve. For “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever
would be first among you must be slave of all.”
Dear friends in
Christ, to be great in the church, you must be a servant. To have glory, you have to turn everything
upside down on its head, and take up your cross and follow Jesus. But yet that is not what we want. How often do we want the glory associated
with Christianity? I am a Christian, and
so I am holier than you? I am a
Christian, so I deserve some sort of payment here on earth! I am a Christian, so Lord give me a little
more money, a nicer home, a faster car, and a healthier family and life. Give me what I want here, and now! Give me worldly power!
And yet in
reality, we have nothing worth talking about.
We have nothing to glory in, for our lives are full of sin. They are full of failures. Even those small glories that we do have fade
away with time. Yes Caesar may have had
his parades, but he is dead now. Yes we
may feel glad at one we have done, but it doesn’t save us. Even with all the glory-full things we do, we
are left without hope if we only look at ourselves.
We want people to
notice when we do something good. We
want someone to notice us, hoping that we will be elevated in their eyes. To give us just a touch of glory here on
earth. And yet, when we look inwardly
like that, when we seek to glorify ourselves in our neighbors eyes, to receive
the rewards of this world, we lose sight of the glory of Jesus. We take our eyes off the cross and eternity,
instead looking at something that seems closer, more attainable, but fleeting.
“You know that
those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and
their great ones exercise authority over them. But it
shall not be so among you.” No, it shall
not be so upon you, for you have no glory on earth to be found, your glory is
greater. You already have something more
wonderful. And to see it, you can’t look
at yourself, your own desires, your own wants and goals, to see the glory that
awaits you, you must look to Jesus.
He explains it
all, The Son of man must be lifted up, he must be turned over, spat upon and
killed, and then, crucified. In that,
and only in that is true glory, revealed in the Son of God. For as Jesus dies on the cross, he takes your
sin away. As Jesus is lifted up, he
glorifies you. As Jesus is pierced with
nails, you are given new life and hope.
You are glorified
in Jesus. IN him alone, you have
something to look towards.
