2/24/13 - Lent 2 - Luke 13:31-35

JESUS LONGS FOR YOU

Jesus Came for Those Who Left Him

            From the moment he began his ministry to the moment it ended, Jesus was hated by his own people.  The experts in the law tested Jesus to prove him wrong.  The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus in his words.  Both groups got together to plan for Jesus’ death.  And the regular citizens of Israel demanded miracles from him as if he were a circus side-show, they accused him of being from the devil, they charged him with blasphemy, they blamed him for breaking the law, they rejected his teachings, and they even tried to throw him off of a cliff.  You would think that Jesus would have gotten a little tired of that kind of treatment!  You would think that Jesus would have given up on these people after a while.  Because not only had they done these things directly to Jesus while he was on this earth, the people of Israel had been rejecting him for hundreds of years.

            1500 years before Jesus was born, Moses spoke about him; and Moses almost lost his life at the hands of an angry nation.  1000 years before Jesus was born, King David wrote some beautiful songs about the coming Savior; and David was abandoned by most of the people at the beginning of his reign.  Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the prophet Jeremiah came with words about the Messiah and he was thrown in a well and left for dead; the prophet Zechariah came with words about the Messiah and was stoned to death; the prophet Isaiah came with words about the Messiah and he was supposedly sawed in half for what he preached.  For centuries and centuries God’s own Old Testament chosen nation rejected the only one who could save them.  And so when the one who came to save them was on this earth, it is no surprise that he bore the brunt of their unbelief. 

            I wouldn’t have put up with it!  Would you?  I wouldn’t have wasted my time on a people that had been so ungrateful and insubordinate for so many generations!  I wouldn’t have wasted my breath on people who were so spiritually blind and unspeakably cruel!  I would have left them if I were Jesus and I would have never looked back.  And I don’t think I would have lost any sleep over it either because that would have been exactly what they deserved.

            But Jesus was a little more patient than I am.  Jesus was filled with a little more love and a little more kindness and a little more compassion.  And we see that love and kindness and compassion one day when he opens his heart and shows some emotion for the people who had rejected him for so long: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

            Up to this point in Jesus’ life, the people had tried to trick him and trap him, they had accused him, charged him, and blamed him.  They had plotted his death and had tried to throw him off a cliff.  And what Jesus’ response?  Jesus longed for them!  He preached and he taught, he performed miracles and healings, he cast out demons and offered his services wherever he went without turning anyone away.  Because he truly longed for them.  He longed for them to come back.  He longed for them to believe.  He longed to hold them in his arms and call them his children.  But they were not willing.

Jesus Is Heart-Broken at Times

            Do you here the disappointment in Jesus’ words?  And not only disappointment, but sorrow and even heartbreak.  He loved these people so much and he had done so much for their salvation already that it broke his heart that they did not believe in him.  It broke his heart that they were not his own.

            Think about how much the Lord has already done for you: the beautiful creation he has placed at your fingertips, the area of the country in which you now live, your family, your friends, your job, your health, your mind, your abilities...  Think about what he has done for you spiritually: he has planned for you from before the creation of the world, he has brought you to faith in your Savior through the powerful Word of God, he has preserved that faith through that same Word, he has brought you together with fellow Christians here who believe exactly what you believe, and he has provided for you a congregation that teaches what Scripture clearly says, he has guaranteed eternal life for you in a place of Paradise.  Think about how much the Lord has already done for you.  And now think about what you have done.

            As I look back on my life there are some things that I am completely ashamed about.  There are some things that I have said about other people that still make me feel a little bit guilty.  There are some thoughts that have run through my head that I don’t even want to talk about.  I have done and said and thought things that are completely unbecoming of a Christian, things that have shown how easily I can forget what the Lord has done for me.  And I can imagine the disappointment of my God every time I act that way.  I can imagine the heartbreak.  The Lord truly is heartbroken when we refuse to listen to him, when we ignore his words, when we do things we know we are not supposed to do, when we demonstrate an attitude that is unappreciative of what he has done for us. 

            Years ago I was driving down a two lane highway in the middle of the Minnesota countryside.  I was passing a semi at the time and as we were about nose to nose doing 60 miles an hour, in front of us was a duck and her ducklings making their way across the highway in a line.  And there was nothing I could do about it.  But the time we got to where they were crossing the mother duck had reached the shoulder but her five ducklings were a full lane behind her.  I passed them in the open lane but the ducklings were all lined up in the lane of the semi.  And as I looked in my rearview mirror, there was nothing left.  The ducklings had not been close enough to their mother to even come close to making it.  That had fallen too far behind.

            “O children, my children,” Jesus could say.  “How I long to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you are not willing.  You keep going the other way!  You keep walking in the opposite direction!  You keep falling behind!  You keep purposely turning your back on me even when you know better!  What am I going to do with you?  How long am I going to put up with this?”

            The Lord doesn’t have to put up with it, you know.  He doesn’t have to be so patient.  He doesn’t have to be so kind and understanding.  He can just let us go.  And he doesn’t have to let us back.  After all, what does he benefit from taking us back?  More trouble?  More rejection?  More disobedience?  More ungratefulness?  More selfishness?  More heartbreak?  I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a good deal for the Lord!  It sounds like he’d be better off going on without us.  And he would.  He would be better off.  But he’s not going to.  Because no matter what we have done to him, he still longs for you. 

Jesus Does Something About It
 

             If any of you who have had any experience on a farm, you’ve seen how hens act around their newborn chicks.  They watch over them, they look out for them, and they protect them.  And although the chicks sometimes come close to their mother on their own, it is oftentimes the mother who has to move towards the chicks, change her position, sit down, and cover them with her wings.  In fact, when the hen does that, you can’t even see the chicks anymore.  They are completely surrounded by the feathers of their mother.  “How often I have longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,” Jesus said.  It’s amazing to me that he would long for people like that.  It’s amazing to me that he’d long for someone like me.  That no matter how often I have strayed from his Word, no matter how often I have disobeyed his will, no matter how often I have been completely ungrateful for his love, he longs for me anyway!  He longs to gather me back under his wings.  And he wants nothing more.

            But this longing isn’t just a nice feeling he has about me!  It’s not just wishful thinking: “I hope he does well” or “It’d be nice to see him get through this” or “I’m really pulling for him!”  This longing is not passive; it’s active!  Jesus longs for me and he longs for you when we are headed in the wrong direction but then he actually does something about it!

            Think about what he did for people during the time he lived on this earth.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus allowed a mob to gather together in the Garden of Gethsemane so that he could be arrested.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus stood in the courtroom of the high priest as his enemies gathered together against him.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus presented himself in front of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, as a crowd gathered together outside shouting for his crucifixion.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus picked up a cross and carried it outside the city as women gathered together around him to see him on his way.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus put his hands on those beams of wood to be nailed down while people gathered together to mock him.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus suffered on that cross as his followers gathered together to hear him say, “It is finished.”  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus died on that cross as a couple loyal men gathered together his body and laid it in a tomb.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus broke death’s hold on Easter Sunday and appeared to his disciples who were gathered together in a locked room.  “I longed to gather you together,” he said.  And so Jesus ascended back up into heaven 40 days later as his disciples were gathered together on a hill outside of Galilee.  “I longed to gather you together,” he said.  And so Jesus sits down on his throne in heaven where all believers of all time have gathered together, singing praises to him at the top of their lungs.  “I longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,” he said.  But not only did he long, he did something about it.  And not just for them, for us.  Not just for someone else, for you.  “I longed to gather you together,” he said.  And he did.  Through the forgiveness he won in his blood he has gathered you under his wings.  And now that he has gathered you under his wings, he longs to bring you home.

Jesus Can’t Wait to Bring You Home

            Your Lord is not done.  He has even more things planned on your behalf.  He doesn’t file you away, he doesn’t treat you like another number, he doesn’t gather you together under his wings only to forget about you in the crowd.  Your Lord longs to be with you personally; he longs to be near you because he loves you; he longs to be right there by your side every step of the way.  Your Lord longs to listen to those prayers that you pray at night - no matter how rambling and drawn out they might be; he longs to hear what you think you need and never gets tired of hearing those requests; and he longs to give you what you need according to his will.  Your Lord pays attention to you; he looks you in the face; in fact, he never takes his eyes off of you.  He is never too busy; he is never distracted; he is never too tired to give you his full concentration.  You are that special to him.  You are that precious to him.  And he longs for the day when you will be with him for the very first time in his heavenly home.

            “How I have longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”  He has gathered you together under his cross and has forgiven all of your sins.  He has gathered you together at his empty tomb and has given you the promise of eternal life.  He has gathered you together in the folds of his Word and is keeping you safe in his arms.  He has already gathered you in.  And soon he will gather you home.

            Amen.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever.  Amen.”  - Rev. 1:5-6

2/13,20/13 - Midweek Lent - John 19:1-5

HERE IS THE MAN!

Look at the Man!

            “Here is the man!” Pilate said while standing in front of the crowds on the steps of the palace.  “Here is the man!”  The man, of course, was Jesus.  And the reason why Pilate was pointing him out wasn’t because the crowds didn’t know who Jesus was, but because Pilate wanted them to take a closer look.  Jesus was now battered and beaten much worse than they had seen him before; he had been tortured and abused at the hands of Roman soldiers; blood was dripping off of his face and pouring off of his back.  “Here is the man!”

            Have you ever seen something so gross or so painful or so repulsive that you had to look away?  When I was a sophomore in highschool, our biology class watched a video of an open heart surgery.  The doctor made a cut down the middle of the sternum, they put an implement in place that grabbed the bone, and then they split open the chest cavity like two petals of a flower.  And I couldn’t take it!  I had to look away!  I felt light-headed and dizzy and there was no way I could watch the rest of the video.  Now blood and cuts and injuries I could handle, but not the shock of seeing open heart surgery for the very first time.

            Pilate seemed to be trying to do the same thing.  He was trying to shock the people into sympathy and convince them that the punishment that he had already carried out on Jesus was enough.  Because the crowds had been calling for Jesus’ crucifixion for hours.  But Pilate couldn’t find one crime that Jesus had committed and he did not want to sentence him to death.  And so Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.  The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.  Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”  When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

            “Look at the guy!  I just had him scourged!  Many people have died from just that!  He has a crown of thorns in his head!  His face is bruised and puffed up from the beating he just took!  What more do you need?  I’ve punished him severely now just let it go!  Look at him!  Aren’t you satisfied?  Here is the man!”  But the people looked at the man and they were unmoved.  “Crucify him!  Crucify him!” they shouted.  And there shouts won the day.

Look at What You’ve Done!

            Here is the man!  What goes through your mind when you look at the man standing there?  He is battered and beaten.  He has been tortured and abused at the hands of the Roman soldiers.  Blood drips from his face because thorns are jammed into his skull and blood pours from his back because of the dozens and dozens of open wounds from those metal tipped whips.  Here is the man!  Look at what you’ve done!  Because this is just the start.  This is just the beginning of the punishment for your sinfulness.  The Jewish leaders aren’t the only ones at fault.  The Roman soldiers aren’t the only ones to blame.  Pilate isn’t solely responsible for what happened to Jesus.  You are.  And I am.  Here is the man!  Look at what we’ve done!

            If we would have never set our faces in defiance against his will, Jesus’ face never would have been struck.  If we would have never bowed our heads to other sources of happiness and satisfaction, Jesus’ head never would have bled.  If we would have never turned our backs on the Lord and his Word, Jesus’ back never would have been scourged.  If we could have been faithful, if we could have been loyal, if we could have been the men and women and children that we were supposed to be, that man never would have had to be standing there in the first place.  But we haven’t been completely faithful, have we?  We haven’t been completely loyal.  We haven’t been the Christians we are supposed to be.  And so Jesus stands there carrying what we have earned, suffering what we deserve.  Here is the man!  Look at what you’ve done!

Look at What He Did!

            But as you look at this man standing here, don’t just think about what you’ve done.  Look at what he did!  Because this scene of Jesus standing in front of the crowds next to Pontius Pilate battered and beaten, tortured and abused, bloodied and hated, isn’t just of a man who is in the middle of suffering; this is a man in the middle of saving.  This is not just a visual picture of the seriousness of your sin; this is a part of the only solution for your forgiveness!  So do turn your eyes away from this horrible scene!  Keep looking!  Keep watching!  Here is the man!  Look at what he did!  He carried the pain.  And he carried it for you.

            Years ago, at the age of 14, I broke my left arm for the first time.  And as I set on a chair in the emergency room with my head down and my arm up on the table, the doctor had to reset it.  And so he put his left hand on my wrist and his right hand around my elbow and he pulled as hard as he could so the bone could slip back together.  And I threw up everywhere.  The resetting was more painful than the actual break.  And I lost it because of the pain.  And I’m sure many of you could tell stories about excruciating pain: like giving birth to a child or a serious injury or an unbearable operation.  In fact, many of you could tell stories about the pains you are going through right now, couldn’t you?  Because backs aren’t as straight as they once were and joints aren’t quite as fluid as they were in those younger years and internal organs don’t function as well as they used to.  Physical pain is part of this life.  But Jesus carried those pains for you.  He shouldered every ounce of pain that day, and more.

            He knows what you’re going through because he carried it, and more.  He knows how bad you feel because he carried it, and more.  He knows what makes you grit your teeth, he knows what make you clamp your eyes shut, he knows what makes you let out airy breaths laced with agony because he carried every bit of it for you, and more.  And because he carried it for you, he also knows how to comfort you, to soothe you, to calm you.  And he comforts and soothes and calms you with his love, his mercy, and his promise of a pain-free life to come.

            That doesn’t mean he will take away all of your physical pain now.  Because sometimes that physical pain draws us closer to him, so it is something that your Lord will allow for the benefit of your faith.  But you can be sure that Jesus will be right there with you to help you deal with that pain.  He will be there to remind you of the forgiveness he won through the pain he went through; he will reassure you of the salvation that is now yours free of charge; he will convince you of the eternal life that you have waiting for you in a Paradise that is beyond anything you could ever imagine.  And although that pain may still hurt here, it doesn’t hurt quite as much with Jesus by your side.  And although that physical suffering may not ever completely go away here, it’s a little more bearable with Jesus holding your hand.  And although you may go through even more things in this life that make your eyes water and your body curl and your stomach churn, it’s going to be alright lying in Jesus’ arms.  Because he is the one that carried all of that pain for you already.  And he is the only cure.  Here is the man!  Battered and beaten, tortured and abused, bloodied and hated.  The man who suffered more pain than anyone else ever has.  The man who carried it for you.  Here is the man!  Here is your Savior!

            Amen.