Sun 14 Feb 2010
On the Way to Death
Posted by johnl under Sermons
David Orendorff Luke 9:23-43 February 14, 2010
There is something heavy on Jesus’ heart and he needs to pray. So he goes up a mountain with three friends, Peter, John and James, to speak to God. On the mountain Jesus is unencumbered by the trappings and voices of civilization with its demands of time, attention, commitment and loyalty. There is only Jesus and God and the heaviness of Jesus’ heart.
While Jesus is praying Peter, James and John notice a significant change in his face so that he seemed to radiate light. And then God came to Jesus in the spirits of Moses and Elijah; Moses because he is the redeemer of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt; the one who guided a whole generation through the wilderness to the promised land by the gifts of manna and torah, God’s care for the body and for the soul.
And God comes as Elijah because Elijah is the first and the greatest of the prophets, healing hunger and many diseases; and speaking the word of God for salvation, again care for body and soul.
And the three of them, Jesus, Moses and Elijah spoke of what it was that troubled Jesus. They spoke “of Jesus’ departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.” “Departure” is just a euphemism for “passed on, gone to greater glory, no longer with us,” that is, “Jesus death on a cross.” And strangely for them this is not some kind of inevitable failure but instead it is what Jesus will “accomplish.” For the three of them, Jesus’ death is a task, a deed, that needs to be done and Jesus will do it. They speak of the coming crucifixion not as defeat but as achievement.
Ever had anything heavy on your heart? Ever felt the need to get away from all the noise and be alone with God? Ever retreated to the scriptures searching Moses or Elijah, or Jesus or Paul, or whomever God will send to speak to an aching, perhaps weeping soul?
Ever felt like you have given it everything you have and that the only thing left to offer is your life; that now you must go to Jerusalem, the city of God’s shalom which has no shalom, and there be arrested by the people of your faith, put on trial by those you came to love, tormented by those you would heal, and crucified by those you will forgive?
Peter speaks for not only himself, but for John and James when he offers to make three tents. Every hiker knows that don’t need a tent unless you plan to stay. And it is Peter’s hope, as it is often ours, that the high moments with God will last days and not seconds; and that the inevitable movement toward the “departure in Jerusalem” can if not be arrested, at least be delayed. Peter, John and James want to stay on the mountain in the glory of God and not go to the cross in the valley. Who wants to die? No one! No one. Not me, not you, not even Jesus wants to die.
It is then that a dark cloud comes and engulfs them all so they can no longer even see each other. And the cloud speaks saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” And when the cloud lifts and they can again see, Jesus is alone, Moses and Elijah are gone. They listen just as the cloud instructed but Jesus says nothing to be heard. So they too say nothing to anyone and come down the mountain moving inevitably toward Jerusalem and the cross.
There will come times when we know that we are God’s and we know we must do a hard thing, a thing we don’t want to do, a thing that feels like death, may even be death and yet we know we must go, one foot in front of the other, moving toward the heaviness the frightens us. So Jesus comes down the mountain.
The next day, that is the very day after recognizing and accepting the inevitable dying, a father came to Jesus and cried to him for the sake of his child. And Jesus, on his way to accomplish his departure in Jerusalem, stopped, felt the man’s love, cast the demon from the boy, healed the boy, and gave the boy whole back to his father. On the way to the cross Jesus loves a man and his son.
You see it doesn’t matter that we are going to die. We are all going to die. What matters is what we do with our lives on our way to death. What matters is that we live as servant love in the small ways of everyday or the large ways of great moments, offering healing and care to all who call for mercy. By offering our living, even to the very last breath, as acts of compassion, our deaths become not tragic defeats but victories of grace.
Jesus comes down the mountain to teach and heal his way to accomplish his departure in Jerusalem. And once in Jerusalem he freely gives himself to the worst of who we can be. He gives himself in servant love to the violence of sectarianism and the violence of imperialism, turning his departure into a final act of forgiveness and healing for the world.
“No Greater Love” Rachel Lampa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN2vyy__os8&feature=related
Before I knew your name
You knew my every breath
Before I found my way
You knew my every step
Before I knew everything that I need
You gave it all to me
(Chorus)
No greater love than this
That you should lay down your life
For someone such as me
I’d spend a life time wondering why
The beauty of heaven is here in my heart
And I know there can be
No greater love
Than this
I never understood
How merciful love could be
Until I felt His flame
Light every part of me
And I would give everything that I am
Cause I have been saved
Yes I have been saved
(Chorus)
No greater love than this
That you should lay down your life
For someone such as me
I spend a life time wondering why
The beauty of heaven is here in my heart
And I know there can be
No greater love
Ooohh…
The beauty of heaven is here in my heart
And I know there can be
No greater love
For someone such as me
No greater love
Than this
In John 15:12-13 Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Everyone is a friend of Jesus. And friends, what matters in following Jesus is that on our way to death we love one another as God has loved us.
Shalom and Amen.
