Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Fergus Falls
Pentecost 3/June 30, 2019
Luke 9:51-62
In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
When Jesus decides to do something, there’s no
stopping him!
When Jesus “sets his face to go to Jerusalem”—he
permits nothing and no one to slow him down.
If an obstacle suddenly appears in his path—he doesn’t allow it to delay
or deter him.
But what’s the rush?
Why the urgency? What’s waiting
for Jesus in Jerusalem that obsesses him so—that produces in him such a relentless
sense of urgency?
When the author tells us—in this great “hinge” verse
of Luke’s gospel—that Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” just
what does that mean? Toward what was Jesus
aiming himself?
You know the answer:
Jesus was making a beeline for the Cross. Jesus was rushing toward his goal, his
crucifixion, his death.
But why rush toward that? Why not hold death at arm’s length for as
long as possible—the way we try to do? Does
Jesus have some perverse “death wish”—is he on some insane suicide mission?
Well, to tell the truth, Jesus does have a
death wish, of sorts—but it’s about so much more than his own personal death.
Jesus’ own death is just the beginning—the Beginning
of the End of this old dying age.
When Jesus “sets his face toward Jerusalem”
he’s aiming himself directly toward the death of all that will die when he
dies.
This past spring many of us read the obituary of Tim
Schrandt of Spillville, Iowa.[1] A memorable tribute, written by his sister,
it went viral on social media. I
especially liked this line: “...For
the record, [Tim] did not lose his battle with cancer. When he died, the cancer
died, so technically it was a tie!”
Maybe that’s a way to rethink Jesus’ death, too.
Jesus is eager for the death of sin, our fatal condition that leaves us all wrapped up in
ourselves. Sin is killing us—it needs
to be killed.
When Jesus dies, sin dies, its grip on us is broken,
sin’s reign over us is finished. Because
Jesus’ death is the death of the only human being who was NOT all wrapped up in
himself. Jesus took the sin of the world
to the grave when he died.
But there’s more.
Jesus yearns to die on the cross, because he also intends
to take the devil with him—Jesus
desires the demise of the perverse force in our world that is always cooking up
some new scheme for making us miserable.
Jesus can’t wait to “take the Devil down” at the Cross—to say “enough”
to the demonic forces that create all the sickness, all the suffering, all the
strife, all the storms of this life.
Thirdly, Jesus anticipates with eagerness, the death
of death itself.
Death, you see, is like a neighborhood bully whose
continual intimidation of us robs our lives of joy. Jesus has had enough of that—he’s ready to
die, because when Jesus dies he’s taking death with him! The sting of death loses its “stinger”
forever, when Jesus dies.
So, because of all that, Jesus “sets his face toward Jerusalem,” eager
to take up his Cross and embrace the death that will bring an end to all our
worst enemies: sin, death and the power of the devil.
Jesus can’t wait to stretch out his arms in love for
the whole human family, in compassion for the whole creation that God is making
new. Jesus anticipates that, here in our
gospel lesson…so he must be off….and though he welcomes company along the way,
he has no room for laggards, slowpokes, “ditherers” or anyone else who’s torn
between this dying old age and the New Age of God’s Kingdom that is surely
coming.
So here in Luke 9 we see Jesus rushing resolutely
toward God’s Kingdom that will be inaugurated at the Cross…and we also see all
sorts persons who’re still caught up in, enamored by this old dying age
His own closest followers—like James and John—want to
call down fire on a Samaritan village that rebuffed them…but Jesus has no time
for recriminations!
Other wanna-be followers approach Jesus, wanting to
hook up with him…but first they have to attend to some of the affairs of this old
passing age. Jesus is running toward
God’s future, but some of his would-be disciples are stuck in this old era that
even now is expiring.
But Jesus can’t be bothered with any of that.
Because Jesus already has one foot in God’s Kingdom
that’s coming. As he presses on toward
Jerusalem, he’s leaving this old dying world behind. Jesus belongs to God’s future. And anyone who wants to join him must look
ahead, not behind. “No one,” Jesus reminds us…”no
one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
When I was a kid growing up on a farm in south-central Minnesota
I observed how my father planted the fields every spring. He subscribed, you see, to Garrison Keillor’s
notion that farming is a spectator sport….meaning that as he operated the
planter my dad was always vying with his neighbors for having the straightest
rows of corn and soybeans in Blue Earth County!
And the only way to make that happen was to keep looking ahead,
lining up that ornament on the hood of his tractor with the marker in the dirt that had been laid down
by the planter on its last pass through the field.
There can be no looking back when you’re planting. You can’t win the prize gazing in the
rear-view mirror.
It’s all about scanning the horizon, heading toward the future,
looking ahead, Jesus tells us.
And that’s just as
true for us, today. Because we know what happened when Jesus
arrived in Jerusalem. He died for us
and for all people, on a cross just outside Jerusalem. And when Jesus accomplished that amazing
sacrifice of himself…he took to the grave all the things that suck the life out
of us.
When Jesus died for us sin died, the devil died, and death
itself died….so that on the first Easter Sunday, when Jesus burst out of the
tomb, he opened up God’s new future--for us and for all creation.
In his resurrection Jesus set our faces toward that future. No looking back. Only ahead!
The only problem, though, is that we haven’t fully arrived
yet. Sin
still clings to us. Sickness and strife
and storms still break out among us.
The devil prowls around like a roaring lion[2]—a mortally wounded lion!—but
a lion nonetheless, who still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
And although we have one foot in God’s coming kingdom, the other
foot seems still firmly planted in this old, dying world. We still have to have a roof over our heads,
deals to seal, trips to the funeral home to make.
God’s Kingdom is surely coming…but it hasn’t arrived yet in all
its glorious fullness.
But even so, even now,
we’re starting to live our lives differently because we belong to Jesus and his
wild way in the world.
We live our lives trusting that sin, death and the devil are
defeated—they just don’t know it yet.
We carry on our dealings in this world, but fully aware that
none of those things are “final” for us—none of them are the “real deal”—the
ultimate reality, the finalgoal of our lives.
St. Paul, in a memorable passage from his first letter to the
Corinthians, nails it when he writes: “29I
mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on,
let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30and
those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as
though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no
possessions, 31and
those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the
present form of this world is passing away.” (I
Corinthians 7:29-31)
So, my dear friends….tend to
whatever’s before you
Tend your political
convictions, whether you’re on the far right or the far left, but don’t ever
let your “politics” have the final word.
Mind your bank account and
your retirement savings, but never forget that their value to you will vanish,
three seconds after you take your last breath.
By all means take good care
of your body…eat well…exercise often….cultivate friendships…and look after your
humble home, as long as you remember that even those good gifts have an
invisible expiration date stamped on them.
And whatever you do, don’t
look back—because you aren’t heading that way.
In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment