Sunday
03/18/18 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Scripture prophesied it”
(“The Power of the Resurrection” Series – Part 3 of
5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34
New Testament
Scripture: Hebrews 5:5-10
Gospel Lesson:
John 12:20-33
My dear friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome
again on this the 5th Sunday of this journey that is the season of Holy
Lent. This season that we are called to prepare ourselves in many ways for the
trial, the crucifixion, and the death of Jesus Christ our Lord. This season
where we are also called to live sacrificially for others, to love boldly, and to
care deeply. All of this bringing us ever closer to the love of Jesus Christ
and his cross on Good Friday.
As many of you know, I started a sermon series two weeks
ago on “The Power of the Resurrection” of Jesus Christ. I have been talking
about the resurrection of Christ not only as a historical event, but also as a
very real spiritual, psychological, and a social change that can occur with us,
within a group, or even in entire community and or region. Having a sense of
hope in the future and a sense of hope in eternity is something that can change
us. Further, with the help of the Holy Spirit it is something that can fuel us and
shape us do amazing things in the world.
So far in this sermon series, I have preached on a couple of
reasons to believe in the resurrection of Christ as a historical event and also
as a source of spiritual power. In the first week of this sermon series, I
talked about how Jesus himself, in all four of the gospels of Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, “Proclaimed his own resurrection”. He said that he would
suffer, that he would die, and that he would be raised up three days later.
Last week, I talked about how Saul of Tarsus, the Jewish
Rabbi or Pharisee encountered Christ on the road to Damascus, and was changed
forever. Saul who would become Paul, or the Apostle Paul, or the “Apostle to
the Gentiles,” would become one of the biggest evangelists and leaders in the
early church. Paul would go on to proclaim with power Jesus’s death as
resurrection, as we see in his many epistles or letters in the New Testament
Within all of this though, sometimes in our own lives, it may
seem like that “The Power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ” is beyond our
grasps. “Sure the resurrection of Christ may have happened we might say, but I don’t
feel any power from it today”. My sermon title for this morning about “The
Power of the Resurrection” is called “Scripture prophesied it”. Essentially, in
the Old Testament and even in the early parts of New Testament it was foretold
or prophesied that Christ would come to love, heal, and forgive, die for us,
and then be raised to new life. Even so, maybe we are just in a hard place in
our lives right now, and we just can’t see or feel “The Power of the
Resurrection” that is coming on Easter, that is here.
Sometimes in our own lives, people try to steer us in this
direction, toward the resurrection, and sometimes we just don’t listen. It would
almost even seem that some folks in our own lives have the power to see the
future regarding our lives. They seem to know what we need, what we need to do,
and what will happen to us if we don’t do it. Sometimes we just don’t listen to
them though. For example, how many of us have heard the term, “I told you so”?
How many of us have heard, “Well it serves you right”?
For example, Melissa has this big
thing for when I am cooking, baking, assembling things, or lost in the car about
following the instructions or the directions. I have assured her though on many
occasions that all men have such instructions and directions hardwired into our
brains. We have this from birth I have told her. In general however, this claim
that I have made has not worked out very well.
There have been a couple of times for
example, where we have been assembling a piece of furniture, and Melissa has
said something to me like, “I think you are putting that together wrong Paul”.
I have then said, “Well how do you know Melissa?” She would then say, “Well
Paul, the instructions say different”. To which I would sometimes respond, “I
don’t need instructions, there in here” (my head). When I then tried to put the
TV stand or something else together and they didn’t look like the picture on
the box, but more like a Pablo Picasso painting, what did hear: “Well I told
you so,” or “Couldn’t you just have followed the instructions or the
directions”.
I remember when I was a case worker
here in Tompkins County about 10-years ago, I went one day to pick up one of
the young men that I worked with for a one-to-one mentoring and informal counseling
session. This was the winter, and there was a lot of snow on the ground. When I
arrived at the house this young man, his younger brother was on the roof with
his snow board attached to feet. Apparently, he was awaiting my arrival. Lucky
me! When I got out of my car I didn’t even see him at first, until I heard, “He
Paul, look”! I looked up in horror, and he said, “I’m going to jump of the
roof, then off the car, then onto the driveway, and then snow board down the
driveway”. Like when I cook, bake, assemble things, or get lost in the car I
encouraged him, as Melissa does for me, to seek an alternate plan down from the
roof. Well he didn’t listen to me, and he jumped off the roof. He then bounced
off the car, and then landed on the driveway. He didn’t make it down the
driveway, as he fell unhurt on the driveway.
Sometimes in our own lives our ability
to see Jesus clearly, to claim his resurrection power through the Holy Spirit
might seem out of our reach. If we are in “The Valley” this morning, why do we
think that we are there? What is presenting us from claiming the power of
Jesus’ resurrection in our own lives?
In our Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible,
we have the story, the history, poetry, songs, prophecies, and much of the
tradition of the Israelite or Jewish people. The Israelite or the Jewish people
were people that sometimes like us, were on “the mountain top” of joy in life,
and yet sometimes were in “the valley” of life’s lows and struggles. Amidst the
ups and downs of the Jewish people, there is this narrative of following God
and not following God. Following “the instructions or directions” if you will,
and not following the “instructions or directions”.
Throughout the entire history of the
Israelite or Jewish people, God called one prophet and leader after another, to
provide the people with hope, love, holiness, and used them to remind, and
sometimes harshly, to follow “God’s instructions or directions”. In doing this,
many of these prophets and some of these leaders talked and wrote about a day that
was coming in the future. On this day, someone new and significant would come
to earth. This person would be greater than the great King David. This person
would be called Kings of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Good Shepherd, the way, the
truth, and the life. Many of the writings in the Old Testament or the Hebrew
Bible talked about a savior or a “Messiah” that would come and save humanity.
In our scripture readings for this morning, we
have prophesy of the coming of Christ, from Jeremiah 31:31-34. This scripture
once again says:
“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their
ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a
covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their
hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall
they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the
greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive
their iniquity, and remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:31-34, NRSV).
The first written covenant with the people of
Israel was partially on the Ten-Commandments that Moses carried down from Mount
Sinai, after the Jews fled slavery in Egypt.
This new covenant that Jeremiah speaks of however, will not be on stone,
or on paper, but it will be in us, and it will be written on our hearts. This
new covenant will be with Israel and house of Judah, as Jesus is from the tribe
of Judah. At Last Supper, Jesus took the cup and said,
“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in
my blood”
(Lk.
22:20b, NRSV).
This “New Covenant,” this thing called
salvation and eternity, the crucifixion, death, and glorious resurrection of
Christ is something that we can draw spiritual power from. One of the reasons
to believe this therefore, is that “Scripture prophesied it”.
In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s
letter to the Hebrews for this morning, the Apostle Paul talked about how it
God plan to send his only son Jesus Christ to earth (Heb. 5:5-6, NRSV). Paul also
said that God “was able to save” Jesus “from death” and through him
“he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey
him”
(Heb.
5:7-10, NRSV).
As the scriptures unfold from the Old
Testament to the New Testament, we are given this story of back and forth, ups
and downs, leading to the cross of Christ, and then his empty tomb.
So, if we are in place this morning where we are in “The
Valley,” I pray that the Holy Spirit would move in us in a new way, and that we
might share that love, grace, mercy, and resurrection power with each other.
Lastly, to briefly mention the gospel
of John reading for this morning, Jesus speaks of his coming crucifixion and
resurrection when he says,
“The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified” (Jn.
12:23, NRSV).
Why is Jesus going to suffer and die
for us on the cross? Well, Jesus says:
“it is for this
reason that I have come to this hour” (Jn.
12:27b, NRSV).
Jesus then says of his resurrection:
“And I, when I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (Jn. 12:32, NRSV).
Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and
resurrection, I believe are real and powerful. Not only do I believe that they
are historical events, but they are realities that can change us all spiritual,
psychologically, and socially. For Jesus proclaimed how he would die and live
again. The Apostle Paul preached it many places, and the scripture from both
the Old and the New Testaments speak of the one who is coming, the one who
here, the one who has died, and who has risen. This is why in this the season
of Lent our paths, our journeys, lead to the cross. Fear not though on Easter
Jesus will be raised to new life.
My challenge for me, for you, and for
us all this week, is to pray, call on God, ask the Holy Spirit to fill us anew,
and let us live that great and transforming love out with our neighbors. Amen.
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