Sermons for the Month
Put Your Whole Self In…
DATE: March 17, 2002
TEXT: John 11:1-45“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
"I am the resurrection and the life…" "Lazarus, come out!"… "Unbind him, and let him go." It's's as if Easter already had arrived. But wait a minute -- you've got to hear "the rest of the story." This is the conclusion of the 11th chapter of John's Gospel: "Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council and said, 'What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.' But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, 'You know nothing at all. You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.' He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death." Excuse me?? Let's run through this one more time: Jesus starts out by turning water into wine - well, that's O.K., actually he could be a useful guy to have around. Then he walked on water, and made a little boy's lunch feed a stadium-sized crowd - hey, that's suspicious! Then - he healed people of their diseases and disabilities! Whoa-a-a, keep an eye on THAT guy… And then - he goes and raises the dead! All right, that is the last straw!! We gotta kill him!! We can't have THAT kind of stuff going on… Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this picture?? As John tells the story of Jesus, there is an increasing dissonance between what Jesus does and the reaction he receives; and as John tries to account for what he witnessed, he realizes that it's all part and parcel of the whole story of God's dealings with this sinful, stubborn, self-centered species He has chosen to love. Way back in Chapter One of John's Gospel, which is read in the Christmas season, he says of Jesus that "the true Light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world; He was in the world and though the world was made through Him, the world know Him not; He came to that which was His own, but His own received Him not." In Jesus' conversation with poor befuddled Nicodemus in chapter 3, he says that "This is the judgment; that the Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness." Now, in chapter 11, we have evidence that although the unbelievable, almost unimaginable power of life over death has come into the world, some people would just rather die than accept it. What's wrong with THIS picture?? Well, of course we can't get into the heads of Jesus' DISbelievers, we can't be sure of what motivated His enemies. We can make some reasonably good guesses, though, because we DO know the ugly thoughts and attitudes that linger within our OWN hearts, and sometimes, all-too-often, spill over into our words and actions. They didn't welcome Jesus; they didn't welcome God's abundant gifts in Jesus, fundamentally because they did not want Jesus to BE who He kept demonstrating He was, and IS, and ever shall be, The holy Son of God born into this world to shine the light on the darkness of human sin and to expose it for what it is; born to be lifted up like the brightest searchlight the world has ever known, with the blazing desire that all people be drawn to Him, and returned to the loving arms of the Father. It's just the same old story with us human beings - we want what we want when we want it; we want to be Lords of our own lives, especially when we've got things moving along tolerably well, though it's O.K. for God to help us out for awhile when disaster strikes, just till we can get back on our feet again. We just don't want Jesus impinging on our day-to-day activities, pursuits, and pleasures. Of course, it's not easy to imagine saying that face-to-face with someone who walks on water, recreates blind eyes, and raises the dead; so we tend to keep ourselves busy enough to avoid the implicit challenge of His presence. And were Jesus to be as in-your-face with us as He was with the Pharisees and Sadducees, perhaps we too would be among those who just want Him out of our way. Yet in spite of it all, "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son; that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life; God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." And to "believe" is simply to allow oneself to be drawn gently, or yanked firmly, depending on how forceful God has to be with you at any given moment, into the circle of Light and Life that shines from Jesus, God-With-Us, God-In-The-Flesh. Yes, we wander out, we pull away; He coaxes us, tugs at us, loves us until we come back. I hope it's not too irreverent to imagine it as a big game of spiritual "Hokey Pokey," where we just want to put our right arm in, take our right arm out, left hip in, left hip out, etc. etc. while Jesus in continually calling out, "Put your whole self in and leave it there." On our own, left to our own sinful devices, that's a step we can't take. But the One whose shouted command to "come on out!" could wake the dead certainly can also move us with the call to "come on in." That's what this Lent business is all about - for another year, the Holy Spirit nudging us nearer, drawing us into the circle of Christ's light and life and love. But maybe you've just put your left arm in, taken your left arm out, put your head in, taken your head out…maybe you haven't even gotten in the game this year. GOOD NEWS! It's not too late, not at all! The story of salvation will unfold over these next two weeks as at no other time during the year. We're invited - in fact, we're challenged - to hear it; to let it work its power in our lives - to let the story of what God in Christ has done for you and for me and for all Creation call us out of the stuffy, dark prison of self - to let the Spirit unbind us and set us free to live, and to love, and to give. "Put your whole self in…and leave it there." Lord Jesus, please make it happen! AMEN