Lent 5 Sermon

 

Lent 5 – March 20^th and 21^st, 2021 – John 8:42-59

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
There are two stories, two competing narratives at work in our Gospel lesson today. There are two radically different ways of understanding the world and who you are at work here. And that is why there is a fight, that is why they are ready to stone Jesus at the end of the lesson. They had one story while Jesus was determined to tell another story. And as we see today, when there two different stories there will be conflict.

We come in today at the tail end of a discussion – a famous discussion. Earlier in this discussion Jesus says that He is the light of the world, and also He says the the truth will set you free. We'll get some more of this discussion later on in the year – but for where we are at today, Jesus' preaching was not pleasing to the people. Jesus was preaching that He Himself as the Messiah would enlighten them and rescue them from sin and death, that He would be their Savior. That wasn't the story that these people wanted to hear – and they gave Jesus guff, and there was back and forth until we get into our lesson today.

And do you see what story these folks opposing Jesus wanted instead? They wanted a story of greatness. The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, 'if anyone keeps My Word, he will never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?” Are you greater? Greater than Abraham, greater than the prophets? When they hear Jesus' preaching, the story that He is telling them of what will happen, they filter it through the idea of being greater. Because that was their story, how they told the tales of life. People are born, and then they strive to do great things and thus work their way closer to God, building up a tower unto Him on the basis of their works. You built up your legacy, you did great things – and that got you closer to God. It's a pulling yourself up by your own holy bootstraps approach to God – and it's a story, a way of understanding that they liked. You could figure out where you stand; I gave more last year to the temple than Moshe, I fast more often than Avram – I'm better, I rank higher, I am closer to God. I am greater than my neighbors – but I'll be pious and say that there's no way that I am greater than Abraham or the prophets – gotta keep a little bit of that humility that actually pushes me up a bit higher, higher than Sal because we know he's not humble. And so when Jesus preaches, they filter what He says automatically through a lens, through a way of understanding spirituality in terms of greatness. And they get mad, because it seems to be that Jesus is rubbing their face in the fact that He is greater than them.

This is not a foreign way of thinking to us. In fact, this is how we normally act and understand the world around us. Think on this – how often when describing a person to someone who doesn't know them do you use the word “great”? Oh, he's a great guy, oh, she's great with kids, so on and so forth. And actually, that's useful for life in this world, for a great many things. If someone is good as something, then they can be of benefit to you, and if they are not, you find someone else. Pastor Brown, he's good at reading Biblical Greek, but find someone else to work on your car. It's a very useful way of dealing with the day to day problems of life. However, here's the problem, here's where the sinful nature kicks in. We think this idea of “greatness”, of the importance of our works and what we do, determines our standing, not only in society but also before God. That it makes us “better” people. So think about it – how annoying is it when folks blow their own horn about how awesome they are? We can see it when others do it, and frankly we see it all the time – it might be decried as “virtue signaling” today, but there were other flavors of it in the past – making a good show, keeping up with the Joneses. All those public performances to show how good a person was – and they've always, always been annoying. Of course, we ourselves get sucked into it too, and we put on our shows, and we keep a brave face and don't admit our sorrows or weaknesses or hardships or struggles because if we are good Christians, if we are better than those people there, we shouldn't be having struggles should we? What a load of crock, but the thing is, even as we decry it in the world out there, we ourselves tend to play along with it, this toxic “good and great” game.

And the worst part of it is that it creep into our thinking for how we relate to God. We start to think that our relationship with God is based, is defined upon how great we are – or if we wouldn't be so crass to put it that way, upon how we've been behaving. If we are good enough. Or that perhaps we aren't – I couldn't walk into church, why lightning would strike the building. Sometimes we think that way about ourselves... and sometimes we think that about others. Come on, let's be honest – I'm sure most of you can imagine someone walking through those doors and you would instinctively do the huffy turn around sort of embarrassed and don't look at them what are they doing here look. I've seen it from up front. I've done it myself and hoped my poker face didn't give away too much. This is how sinners operate.

Are you greater than our Father Abraham, Jesus? Jesus tells another story, gives us another way of understanding how things play out. Your Father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad. You guys have the story of My friend Abraham wrong. It wasn't a story of how great Abraham was, and how he kept on improving and improving and getting closer to God by his works. No, that's not how Genesis goes. Abraham was old, he was 75 and still living with his dad – had what folks in the 21^st Century might call failure to launch. And God called him – out of the blue God calls to Abraham and his family and says that He will do great things for them and through them – you'll get your own land and all nations will be blessed in you. And Abraham goes – and in the chapters of Genesis we see Abraham do some great things... and we see him do some really stupid things. Seriously – half the time I don't know how Sarah his wife didn't literally kill him. But finally, when Abraham was old and worn, 99 years old and his wife Sarah 89, God gives them a child. Not when they are great, not when they are the peak of health and in the blossom of youth, but because God chose to do great things for them and bless them.

And later on, when that child Isaac had grown, God told Abraham to sacrifice him. This reiterates a point to Abraham – that Abraham was not in fact in control of his life, that Abraham himself was not in control of the fact that He was a father. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. And that idea is terrifying – because I'm not in control of that, and all my greatness, all my being better than you and all my following all the rules better than you doesn't change that.

And yet, Abraham goes. Takes Isaac. Why? Because instead of listening to his own stupid story of his own greatness, Abraham listened to the story that God had told him – the story of the promise, the story that through Isaac and Isaac's child and his child and so on and so forth that one day the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer of the world would come – Abraham's redeemer would come. And so Abraham goes, and he takes his son, and he gets to the foot of the mountain and says to the servants, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there to worship and come again to you.” Did you catch it – Isaac and I are headed over there, and Isaac and I are coming back. I'm not bringing you servants, because you'd be all panicked and mess things up – but I'm going up there to sacrifice Isaac, and I'm not sure how the story will go precisely, but I know it will end with both Isaac and me coming back down here because that's what God has said, and I'll listen to His Word, His story rather than dream up some tale of my own greatness.

And there, on that mountain, Abraham bound his son and was ready to sacrifice him – and then Jesus shows up. The Angel of the LORD, Jesus before He is incarnate and born of the Virgin Mary, tells Abraham to stop. Nope – the story doesn't hinge on the death of Isaac, it will hinge on the death of Jesus – and Abraham, I see that you fear God – that you are willing to listen and run with the Story God has told rather than being fearful and afraid that you aren't good enough or that you haven't done enough. It's not what you do for God, it is what God Himself will do for you. Jesus shows up, and Isaac lives. Your Father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad.

The time for the great story approaches. We are getting ready for it, for Holy Week, for Palm Sunday, for the Passion of our Lord – Sing my tongue the glorious battle. For Easter. And if you would understand these weeks to come, indeed, if you would understand every week here in this Church and who you are and how you relate to God, beat down those times when that selfish “greater” story pops up. There's never a time when Jesus plays the “who is the greatest game” without knocking it over. No – the real story, the true narrative is this. Even in your weakness and frailty and sorrow and sin and shame, whatever form it takes, for there are myriad ways that sin and death and sorrow can shake you, even in that, God Himself becomes man to come to you again, to restore what was broken, to rescue those who were lost, to give life to those trapped in death. Jesus, true God and true man, will do this – and it's not something you control, or earn, or merit, or influence. Nope – He simply has chosen to die and rise to win you life and salvation; you simply receive it – receive as you hear the story, as you taste it at the altar. God grant that we live in His story more and more! Amen. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +