1st Sunday in Advent, November 27, 2005, Bergen family gathering
“A Child is Born. Rejoice!”
When this family gathers together there is the potential for great things to happen. I feel as if I am stepping into – what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls – the place where faith is possible. Moving here was a response to God’s call on my life – an act of faith. Today I want to offer to this family the time to focus on the story of Jesus associated with this holiday season.
Advent is about anticipation… waiting with longing. In four weeks we will celebrate Christmas. From the time that Malachi prophesied, “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight-- indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts” (Mal 3:1) until John the Baptist echoed Isaiah’s words: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Lk 3:4-6; Isa 40:3-4) Israel waited 400 years. Four centuries. We are waiting 4 weeks. Or are we?
The 400 years that Israel groaned in anticipation for the Messiah who would deliver them was the first season of Advent. That season came to completion with the words: “Do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:10-12; cf. Isa 7:14, 9:6-7, Mic 5:2).
We live in the second season of Advent. We too are waiting for the Messiah. What we see around us is passing away (1 Cor 7:31). What we see is temporary. It is true that Jesus has come into this world. Isaiah’s words have played out in history: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (Isa 7:14, cf. Matt 1:35). The early church sang a hymn about the fact that Immanuel – God with us – had come:
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:5-11).
We also know that Jesus left this earth with a promise to return.
“‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’” (Jn 14:1-7).
The time between his departure and his return is the season in which we live. And just as Israel groaned for the Messiah to come the first time, we groan for his second coming.
“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Rom 8:18-25).
We are aware that all is not as it should be. We are aware that this is not it. Isaiah’s words – the promise of God with us – touched history at the birth of Christ, but they also wait to grasp us out of history and into the presence of God forever – where there shall be all things made new (Isa 65:17-25, Rev 21:1-7).
What does it mean to live in anticipation of the Messiah’s return? What does it mean that we inhabit the second season of Advent – that as we wait for Christmas and the celebration of a past event, that we also long for the promise of Christ in the future?
Sarah Kelly sings, “I draw near to you. You draw near to me. I bow at your feet. I lay down my dreams. Whatever you want from me, Lord I will do. This is my worship to you.”
These lyrics remind me of Bebo Norman’s song The Hammer Holds. He sings, “My dreams are not the issue here, for they, the hammer holds.” The image is one of a blacksmith melting his dreams like metal.
When we encounter Jesus Christ – and we do so by encountering his story in history – we bow down. The hymn we read reminds us of an early belief of the church: every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When Paul encounters the risen Christ he falls to the ground and goes blind – every way he saw before was taken from him by the person of Christ. And when he regained his sight he saw only Jesus. Jesus was the lens through which he viewed all else. Jesus didn’t come into his life; Paul entered into Christ’s story. It wasn’t just some abstract “sinful nature” that Paul left behind. He left behind his life. Who he was. What he expected. How he thought. Everything was new – reoriented – replaced by Jesus Christ.
The depth of our teaching in the church is often reduced to prompting people to respond to every question with “Jesus.” “Jesus” becomes the “right” answer but ceases to actually answer anything. “Jesus” has lost its meaning as “the way, the truth, and the life” because we’ve lost touch with him as a person. Sure we spout “it’s all about a personal relationship with Christ,” but do we even know what that means? Does that so-called relationship change us? Are we transformed?
It seems to me that Jesus is the answer to every question. Not “Jesus” as a correct response or propositional truth. As James writes, “Even the demons believe that – and shudder” (Ja 2:19). The answer that is Jesus is Jesus the Christ – the Son of God – the person who was made flesh. Jesus – the person we read about in our New Testament. Jesus – the person anticipated in Old Testament prophecy.
When we encounter this Jesus, we experience a moment of truth that demands from us a choice. How will we respond? Do we merely invite Jesus to be a part of what is ours, into the lives we’ve carved out and planned out? Or do we bow down – leave ourselves behind – our dreams, our fears, our strengths and weaknesses, our way of seeing and being – and follow him into his story, his reality? Do we sell all that we have and go and buy the treasure we’ve discovered because we know that we’ve encountered what has instantly taken residence as most precious in our hearts – what has removed our heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh? (Ezek 11:19)
The story of Jesus invites us to be a part of it. There is no way to fit it into the story that was once ours. If we try to fit it, the story of Jesus – the Gospel – will no longer be what it is. The story will become an idol that we carry around in our pockets and take out every now and again on Sunday to rub for good luck.
Israel cried out for its Messiah. She lifted her voice to God. Save us – rescue us from this oppression. Redeem us. O come, O come Immanuel!
And as Luke’s gospel tells the story, the angels cried back to them: Rejoice!
Mary was told a child would be born to her – and this child would rescue God’s people.
This indeed was euangelion – good news – but it was news that came in unexpected form. The child to be born would be a suffering Messiah: God will rescue you by stepping down to be-there with you. Not by revolt. Not by military action. Not by overthrowing the Roman government. But by serving, suffering, even dying on a cross. Your Messiah will humble himself. In this way will the kingdom of God come.
That story did not fit into their story. It demanded that they abandon their story and see anew the story revealed in Jesus Christ. It demands that we abandon ourselves – lay down our lives – and pick up the story of Christ. This is the only way.
“I draw near to you. You draw near to me. I bow at your feet. I lay down my dreams. Whatever you want from me, Lord I will do. This is my worship to you.”
A child has been born. This is the story we say we believe. How have we responded? Is it truly the story that has resurrected us into a new story in Jesus Christ? Or is it a story that has merely been used to make us feel better in our already existing stories?
I choose to stand in the radical tradition of the Anabaptists because I have encountered the person Jesus Christ and have put off my story for his. I have no other story – no other life but his. I am utterly lost without him because the story that once was mine is dead. The story that has claimed me places me in the hope that will not be disappointed. That journey is one where I learn ever anew how to follow Christ – how to live his story. And I anticipate being completely and finally caught up into it when Christ returns – just as Israel anticipated Jesus’ first coming.
Over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you what has been born out of my recent study of the letter to the Hebrews. This letter was written to believers waiting, longing, hoping… believers living in the season of the second Advent. This is the season in which we live. And by the words of this letter to these believers, this season is one that tests our faith. It requires endurance. We are called – in light of the truth that Immanuel was born – that God has stepped into our world to be with us – to wait in eager expectation for our Messiah’s return. God’s story of salvation is not yet complete. We are not yet saved because we are not yet redeemed from our mortal bodies or this fallen world. Will you, will I, will we participate in the waiting creation is doing – the eager longing for the revealing of the children of God? (Rom 8:19)
The alternative is to live like this is it. Like this is home. We can carve out little spaces for ourselves. We can enjoy a little entertainment. We can glory in our little successes. The “voicing crying out in the desert” before the first coming of Christ was the voice of John the Baptist: “Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3). “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt. 3:2). We are to be the voice crying out in this second season of Advent – crying out in word and deed: Let us make ourselves ready for the coming of our God.
We continue in the story of the people of God who wait for God’s promises. Living in that story is often painful because it calls us to carry a cross – to give up ourselves so that we may grasp the passion of our Lord Christ. We reject cheap grace. We reject trying to fit Jesus into the small stories we possess. We confess and hold on to costly grace. We confess and hold on to releasing our stories and being caught up into the grand story, the story of God’s love and covenant, the story of God pouring himself out and stepping down into history.
Let us live lives of anticipation – let us eagerly look forward to celebrating the birth of the Lord that claims our hearts and gives us a new story.
As Israel cried out when she waited for the Messiah – O come, O come – let us join with her. And let us hear the angels’ word to us – Rejoice! He has come. He has given us another revelation into the truth that God’s promises are good. Let us hold fast our confession of hope that God’s promise is still ahead of us, and we are still to long for it, living toward it and into it.
2nd Sunday in Advent, December 4, 2005, Bergen family gathering
“Jesus: Expanding the Story”
Last week we talked about the fact that we are living in the season of the second Advent. This season calls us to live lives of eager expectation for the coming of our Messiah. We have encountered Jesus Christ and we wait for him to return. What does this mean? I said that it means that we are called up out of history and our experience – our individual stories – and into God’s story revealed most fully in Jesus Christ. We lay down our stories for his. This is what living in anticipation means.
So… what is God’s story? Let’s talk about story.
When you go into a library looking for a good story to read you have the choice between fiction and non-fiction. Fiction is the category of made up stories. We often read them for entertainment. Non-fiction is the category of stories about things that actually happened – true stories. We usually read these to learn something.
Implicit in this categorization is the belief that truth has something to do with facts in history – the details of what happened. The way things are. We have the German pursuit of truth via the scientific method to thank for this. What we observe and can explain is what is “true.”
The Hebrew mind does not think like this. The Hebrew language is a narrative language: it comes from a story-telling culture. The Hebrews pursued truth by way of story. I think we are somewhat aware of this since our Old Testament – the Hebrew Bible – is one long story. Scripture to them was the story-telling pursuit of knowing God.
God reveals himself in Exodus to Moses via the burning bush and the obscure name, I AM. This name is better translated “I will be-there howsoever I will be-there.” Essentially God tells Moses, I am the unnamable God, the God you cannot sum up, pin down or capture. You will know me by the way I am with you. So, journey with me and see who I am. God lets Moses know that it is only through story that we can get to know this God that has covenanted himself in relationship with us.
The movie Moulin Rouge, among other things, is about a group of writers and actors who are caught up in the Bohemian Revolution, trying to tell a story of truth, beauty and love. They do this through a play.
In the movie Shakespeare in Love the queen challenges Will to prove his belief that a play can capture true love. After viewing Romeo and Juliet, the queen decides that it can.
The point of all this is to say that truth is powerfully known through story. Film is one area today that we’re exploring this – and the Hebrew Scriptures reflect a tradition steeped in this belief. Knowing God happened by telling and being shaped by stories.
EXERCISE: Get a bible, turn to one of the gospels, and find an example where the evangelist uses the Hebrew Bible (which is what the disciples & Jesus knew as Scripture). Look for a quotation, an allusion (a quote that doesn’t have a formal introductory statement – “it is written”) or an echo (images or themes or language that is found throughout the OT).
How did the gospel writers use the story they had? What did it mean to them in what they were writing?
Jesus is the great interpreter of Scripture. Pat talked today about the authority with which he spoke. I want to know you one example of how Jesus was shaped by the stories handed down and how he then shaped them.
What do you think Jesus’ favorite thing to call himself was?
“Son of Man” occurs 80 times in the gospels and mostly on the lips of Jesus. This phrase as a title or name was not part of the 1st century context.
3 PEOPLE: Look in your concordance and find an example of Jesus referring to himself as “Son of Man.”
Though “Son of Man” was not used in Jesus’ day, there is a rich collection of sayings in Hebrew Scriptures that reflect its inclusion in the cultural tradition. In Hebrew ben adam means “son of human” and was often used as a circumlocution – another way of saying “I” – or to mean “humanity.” Adam is human: both male and female together – that is adam.
Gen. 1:26 – God creates human – male and female – and he trusts them to rule – he grants them glory, power and authority.
Ps. 8 – What is man… the son of man? Here again, God trusts the human – and grants them glory, power and authority. My professor David Nystrom says that Psalm 8 is the first commentary of Genesis 1. It reflects on the situation of the garden of Eden. There adam was naked – totally exposed before God and each other. The relationship was in its original and intended form. There was no reason to hide. There was complete trust.
Dan. 7 – Daniel has a vision: it is night and the sea is disturbed. Nighttime is when bad things happen. You don’t see horror movies setting their stories in the day all that often. And the sea – the seas is the image of chaos. And it is disturbed. Out of the sea come four beasts, representing the four powers or kingdoms. Our situation is one in which we have given over our power and authority to the systems that dehumanize. Since adam left Eden, we have been living a sub-human existence and we have created systems that continue to take humanness out of our cultural story. In Daniel, this is a courtroom scene: God says, I have had enough. He takes away power from the beasts and hands it over to his agent. God will establish his kingdom through this agent. However, he also shares responsibility for the kingdom with the saints. Again he trusts us.
Jesus takes this phrase – Son of Man – and says, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” But Daniel 7:14 says that the Son of Man will be served. This servant language comes from Isaiah 53.
Jesus took these two traditions and expanded the story – he did not refer to himself as the Messiah, possibly because then the people would be expecting a military figure to rescue them from the oppression of the Romans. But he called himself the Son of Man – and he pulled in the prophetic language of the suffering servant. Implicit is that this agent is the Messiah, but with the way that he shaped the story, Jesus shows that as God’s agent he will suffer – and in this way the kingdom will come, in this way will he exercise his power and authority.
We are called into this story. And the only way in which we can truly enter in and live in this story is to know it as well as Jesus did. And to be readers of the story who encounter this story imaginatively. My favorite Old Testament theologian, Ellen Davis, writes extensively about imagination – and about shaping our imaginations by the text in order to then read the text imaginatively. We can’t manipulate the text to make it saw whatever so-called imaginative thing we want it to. We have to submit our imaginations to the story that began at creation and be shaped so that we can engage the text over and over as storytellers.
The letter to the Hebrews talks a lot about what is true and what is not true – what is unseen and what is seen – what is unshakable and what is passing away. Part of being imaginative story engagers is to be able to know truth.
I want to share a song with you about realizing that what we see around us is not what is true – it does not tell God’s story and we cannot allow ourselves to be shaped by it. We must hold on to our confession of faith – the story that Jesus is the fullest revelation of God we know.
3rd Sunday in Advent, December 11, 2005, Bergen family gathering
“Confession as discipleship”
Today I want to talk about two words: confession and discipleship. Both words seem to have lost their luster. We use them all the time, but I’m not sure we really understand their meaning. They have turned into buzz words and ceased to illuminate our identity as Christians.
Discipleship. One of the reasons I became Anabaptist was because of its understanding of this word. Nachfolge Christi. Discipleship is following Christ. We say this all the time. But the early Anabaptists set themselves apart as Christ followers because they refused to separate the inner life from their outer life. Following Christ was a matter of actually doing what Christ did and taught. In the world. In everyday life. In our relationships. Following Christ was not just something to be done on the inside. Following Christ meant a whole new ethic toward others and in the community. It meant a whole new way of being community. Regardless of what society or the state does, Christ followers are called to walk as Jesus walked.
Dear brothers and sisters, we who have been assembled in the Lord at Schleitheim on the Randen make known, in points and articles, unto all that love God, that as far as we are concerned, we have been united to stand fast in the Lord as obedient children of God, sons and daughters, who have been and shall be separated from the world in all that we do and leave undone, and (the praise and glory be to God alone) uncontradicted by all the brothers, completely at peace. Herein we have sensed the unity of the Father and of our common Christ as present with us in their Spirit.
In 1527 Michael Sattler penned the Schleitheim Confession – seven articles communicating his understanding of what it means to follow Christ. Baptism upon confession of faith. Participating in the Supper as a baptized believer. Separation from those who are not united to God in Christ. The pastor as one who is called, equipped and supported by the community. Refusal to participate in the sword or the government that wields it. Refusal to swear an oath, letting “yes” be yes and “no” be no.
Article two, the ban, shows just how serious following Christ is – those who profess to be Christ followers yet do not live accordingly shall fall under the New Testament discipline as described in Matthew.
We have been united as follows concerning the ban. The ban shall be employed with all those who have given themselves over to the Lord, to walk after [Him] in His commandments; those who have been baptized into the one body of Christ, and let themselves be called brothers or sisters, and still somehow slip and fall into error and sin, being inadvertently overtaken. The same [shall] be warned twice privately and the third time be publicly admonished before the entire congregation according to the command of Christ (Matthew 18). But this shall be done according to the ordering of the Spirit of God before the breaking of bread, so that we may all in one spirit and in one love break and eat from one bread and drink from one cup.
The community of Christ followers is made up of those who actually follow Christ. The Anabaptists made no pretense about that. Even if a community were to include those who fell into or persisted in error, that person is not included in Christ’s sight. It was the gracious thing to do to make the visible community match the true community so that those who unincluded themselves might feel the consequence and be moved to repentance and so re-inclusion.
Inclusion in the community was based on holding this confession, not just in word, but also in deed. Belief in the Son of God, Jesus Christ meant following him. Here we see confession and discipleship in relationship. This is how we should practice it because this is how it actually is to Christ our judge.
Confession. Homologia. “Homo” meaning same, and “logos” meaning word. Confession is being of the same word. But what word do we mean? The Word. As in “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation of God as the Word. We are to be of the same word with the Word.
Hebrews 4:14 says, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”
The author of this letter goes on to say, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (10:19-25).
Jesus as our high priest has something to do with our ability to “hold fast our confession” as we live in anticipation of that Day that draws near.
Let me read an excerpt from a paper I wrote last year on Hebrews – this paper is the foundation of most of what God has been teaching me since then and what leads me to say what I have been saying to you this Advent. It will repeat some of what I’ve just said, but listen and let it rest on your heart.
Jesus’ humanity as seen in his sonship ties back into his high priesthood. Not only is Jesus the truly divine high priest who makes salvation possible, but he is also, by his experience in the flesh in history, the high priest who labors with his people on the road to salvation. The Word in history has learned our words, but he teaches us how to speak in history in a way that brings us near to the promise. His words in history (revelation) interpret our experience in history. Yes, we groan. But we also confess. Confession - o`mologi,a – is being of the same word with the Word. When our words are God’s words, when we are speaking out of the reality that has been revealed, we are confessing. Jesus, our high priest, lived this experience of confession while he walked within history. The human Jesus participated in our reality and confessed God’s reality. Because he did this as one of us, he is uniquely qualified to help us hold fast our confession while in history we await the promise.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have
a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.[1]
The Son who makes us sons is the High Priest who shares our experience and helps us while we are still laboring to confess within history the promise in which we have faith.
Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.[2]
The author’s statement is an example of what responding to the Word in faith looks like. He gives himself to the revelation and allows his reality to be transformed by the reality; by doing so he lives within history as one who belongs to the “meta-historical.” He follows Jesus’ human example and rests in Jesus’ divine promise.
Confession is more than saying certain words or even knowing that they are true. Confession is what I’ve been talking about these three Sundays: being called up out of our stories and into God’s story; laying down our stories and entering into His. Confession – being of the same word… being of the same story. Confession is being one-storied with God. This is discipleship – following Christ.
Are we holding fast our confession? Are we a confessing community? Do we follow Christ up into his story?
Do I live my life or do I live his?
Facing this question always means confronting my need for repentance. Following Christ is a lifestyle of repentance. It is coming to the Word, exposing how I am not of that same word and turning toward it and entering into it. In the Greek repentance “metanoia” emphasizes a change of mind. But in Hebrew repentance “shuv” means turn or return. This word does not necessarily mean a 180 degree turn as we often hear from the pulpit. It can, but more often than not, shuv is more subtle.
When one is on the path of the Lord, we often hear that we should not turn from it.
Deuteronomy 5:32-33 So you shall observe to do just as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Deuteronomy 17:11 According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left.
The image of the Israelites passing through the Red Sea is a great image of the path God creates for us in following him.
Exodus 14:22 And the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Exodus 14:29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
God made it so that they could not turn off the path. Repentance is what we do when we find ourselves off the path – we turn back toward it.
As we listen to the song I’ve brought for us today, let it be a prayer of turning to the story that we have veered from – let it be our confession, our discipleship.
*Play “Offering” by Third Day
*Read Apostles Creed together (from BCP).
[1] NASB, Hebrews 4:14-16 (Bible Works)
[2] NASB, Hebrews 10:23 (Bible Works)
4th Sunday in Advent, December 18, 2005, Bergen family gathering
“With his face toward Jerusalem”
This is the last Sunday of Advent, the Sunday before the day of his coming. We are on the edge of our time of anticipation. Let us remember the last three weeks.
A Child is Born: He has come, yet he is coming again. The time of anticipation had its fulfillment, yet we are called to wait once more.
[Reader #1] Romans 8:22-23: For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Living in anticipation does not mean passing time, carving out lives for ourselves in which we make a home here. We do not belong to this world or to this age. Living in anticipation means laying down our stories and picking up the story in which we place our faith – the story of Jesus.
Jesus: Expanding the Story: This man we call Lord and Savior called himself Son of Man. He pulled together the story God had been telling since creation, lingered in the speech of the prophets, and imagined the story bigger, deeper, wilder than anyone before him. Jesus entered our experience of God’s story and embodied it. He revealed it in himself. As Son of Man, God’s agent given authority, Jesus gave expanded meaning to Messiah – not revolutionary king, not military hero… Messiah – the one anointed to exercise his authority in suffering.
Confession as Discipleship: Following Christ means being of the same word as the Word. In speech. In life. We become one-storied with God. Following Jesus means walking in his way – the path he walked and the manner in which he walked it.
[Reader #2] Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
And now we come to this afternoon.
With his face toward Jerusalem.
Today we put all of this together and make meaning out of it.
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God. This is how Mark begins his gospel. He answers the question: Who is Jesus? and then tells a story of how everyone around Jesus, including his disciples, struggled to understand his identity. Mark shows us that this journey of following Christ is difficult because we have such a hard time grasping who Jesus is and the significance, the scandal of his identity. Our expectations and his reality crash together and we are faced with the decision of either maintaining our story and so holding on to Jesus as an idol, or putting our story to death and being resurrected into his story and so confessing him as Christ, the Son of God.
Luke tells the story of Jesus with special attention to geography – the location of this man who is the Christ. Luke’s narrative always has Jesus proceeding on his way. He is born in Bethlehem. He comes out of Nazareth of Galilee. He goes on his way.
We are gathered here as people who would respond faithfully to Jesus’ call to follow him. I think it wise to know where he was headed. If Luke tells the story so that his readers would be constantly asking, “Where is Jesus proceeding to?” it seems we should be asking that same question. If we do not know the way of Jesus, how will we take it up as our own?
Where does Luke say Jesus’ way went? Where does the story carry us?
[Reader #3] Luke 9:51-53 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.
[Reader #4] Luke 13:22 And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.
[Reader #5] Luke 13:33-35 "Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! "Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'"
[Reader #6] Luke 18:31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.
[Reader #7] Luke 19:28, 41 After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem… When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it.
Where did Jesus’ path lead him? [everyone answers – Jerusalem].
Mark’s gospel has Jesus teaching his disciples as they approach Jerusalem. He tries to prepare them for where their way will lead.
After he teaches on divorce, a bunch of kids try and run up to him. The disciples prohibit them and Jesus says, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all” (Mark 10:14-15). On his journey after this, Jesus encounters the rich young man. We know how that story goes. Jesus, with a heavy heart, tells his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!.. Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23-25). The disciples are amazed and ask, “Who then can be saved?” Peter starts talking about how they have left everything to follow Jesus. Jesus’ response ends with: “But many who are first will be last, and the last, first” (Mark 10:31). Then he speaks a little more clearly. He says, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again” (Mark 10:33-34). After all this the disciples still didn’t get it; we have the discussion of James and John to illustrate their thick-headedness. These two disciples are asking Jesus to give them places of honor and authority in the kingdom.
Mark 10:38-45 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" They said to Him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. "But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John. Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. "But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Mark portrays the disciples in what most scholars call “an unfavorable light.” Let’s be honest. Mark was telling the truth. These disciples just did not understand what Jesus was trying to reveal to them. When he entered Jerusalem the crowds were shouting Hosanna because they thought their king had come, but this king was riding a donkey. Even that humble image didn’t sink in.
We have the advantage of knowing the whole story of Jesus’ life and death. But do we understand his way any more clearly than his disciples? We say we are called into discipleship, and I think we face the same struggle of following Christ that they did – who is Jesus Christ, Son of God and what is his way?
Throughout Luke’s gospel, Jesus went on his way – the way that led to Jerusalem, the city that kills prophets, the place where the Messiah suffered. This is the way Jesus’ identity is understood. This is the way the Son of Man’s power and authority are exercised.
This is the way God redeems Israel. Luke 9:53 says that Jesus’ face was set for Jerusalem. His way was turned toward the place where he would fulfill his purpose and unveil his identity. Israel had turned her face from God, but Jesus turns his face to Jerusalem. The disciples struggled to understand the scandal of a crucified Messiah. Jesus struggled to reveal that “Christ” and “Son of God” can only be understood in light of the cross. Will we understand what he revealed? If we call ourselves disciples, if we confess – take up God’s story and follow Jesus’ way, will we understand that we too must set our face for Jerusalem? Will we follow him there? Will we enter that story? Or will we be ears that do not hear and eyes that do not see The Way, the Truth and the Life? Christ calls us not just to accept what he did for us, but to participate in the story he lived and continues to live.
[Reader #8] Philippians 3:7-21 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.