This is our fourth and final week in our journey through the story of Jesus as foretold in the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, Chapter 53.  We like a good story.  And for most people, we like a story with a happy ending.  We inherited this desire for a happy ending to a story from our ancient ancestors.

          Our exploration today of Jesus’ story through the prophesies of Isaiah give us a pause as to whether the story will end happily.  We have seen over the past four weeks through Isaiah that God’s anointed Messiah was at first, “3 Despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.  Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isaiah 53:3).  Then later people came to realize that they were wrong about Jesus.  The people came to see that Jesus bore their sorrows and sufferings.  They saw that Jesus was subjected to injustice and yet did not cry out against the injustice.  Jesus spoke only to affirm the truth.  None of this sounds much like a good story, particularly for Jesus.

          But mixed within the sadness of Jesus’ story, is the good news story for us.  For Isaiah said the people would come to see that “the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5b). There was the good news.  He brought us peace and he brought us healing. Somehow in the plan and power of God, the Messiah, Jesus, being subjected to injustice brought us mercy. In Jesus’ sufferings, we are brought peace.  In Jesus’ wounding prior to and upon the cross, we are healed.  As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, what Isaiah saw coming and what Jesus lived out was the paradox of God’s grace.  Human injustice, suffering for another, and wounds inflicted upon Jesus translated through God’s grace is transformed into mercy, peace, and healing from God to humanity.

As wonderful and surprising as the paradox of God’s grace is, Isaiah saw more coming. Isaiah saw that for humanity to have the ultimate assurance in life, the Messiah would have to also confront death. Death is a hard topic for us to talk about because grief from death can strike within us many strong negative emotions. Noted Christian writer, C. S. Lewis, said, ““No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.  At other times it feels like being mildly drunk or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me.”

Isaiah foresaw the death of the Messiah and grieving. Isaiah wrote, “8a By oppression and judgment he was taken away…9a He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death” (Isaiah 53:8a, 9a). 

The idea of the Messiah dying was not acceptable to the Jews awaiting the Messiah.  In their minds, the Messiah was to be an invincible human being ushering in the glorious rule of God and the restoration of Israel.  To have the Messiah suffer on the cross, pierced by iron nails and spear, and die without putting up a fight was and is unacceptable.  But Isaiah had foreseen that the Messiah, the true Messiah, must die, the Messiah must go to the grave.  This was all necessary for the Messiah to fight humanity’s truly one unbeatable foe, death itself.

The thinking in the days of Isaiah was that death ended all relationships, human and divine. The people then did not have a conception of heaven and hell as has been revealed to us.  The people of Isaiah’s time, and even in Jesus’ time, and even some today, believed and still believe that God was and is only to be found among the living.  That upon death, the body was put in the ground and the spirit of the person went to Sheol, a place of nothingness.  They believed from the depth of Sheol one cannot praise God and one cannot hope for the truth of God.  (Isaiah 38).  Death into a shadowy underworld of nothingness was the destiny for all.  No one escaped death.  It was the unbeatable foe, the frightening idea of all people

Isaiah foresaw the Messiah would die and be assigned a grave among the wicked and the rich.  How did Isaiah’s vision play out in the life of Jesus?  Our Gospel writer Mark told the story this way.  “37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’  40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there” (Mark 15:37-41).  Jesus, the Messiah, was dead and grief came in place of his life and his spirit.  Upon Jesus’ death, the Apostles began to grieve. The woman standing nearby the cross began to grieve.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, began to grieve.  They believed from now on they would be forever separated from Jesus, their Lord, Teacher, and friend.  All was hopeless and dark.  They could not reach Jesus and he could not reach them.  Isaiah said, “8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away…For he was cut off from the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8a).

          Mark continued, “42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he [Jesus] was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he [Pilate] asked him [the Centurion] if Jesus had already died. 45 When he [Pilate] learned from the centurion that it was so, he [Pilate] gave the body [of Jesus] to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body [of Jesus], wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he [Joseph] rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he [Jesus] was laid” (Mark 15:42-47).

          Jesus was dead.  Joseph of Arimathea a member of the Council asked for the body of Jesus. Joseph, we are told was a member of the Council, the same Council that had met in secret, put Jesus on trial, and sentenced Jesus to death.  Isaiah had foreseen that, 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.  Yet who of his generation protested?” (Isaiah 53:8).  Apparently, Joseph did not protest.  Other Gospel accounts have another member of the Council, Nicodemus, helping Joseph collect Jesus’ body.  There is no indication Nicodemus protested at Jesus’ trial.  But something happened to Joseph and Nicodemus along the way. Somewhere between convicting Jesus and witnessing Jesus’ death just hours later, something changed within these men.  Something changed that drew them out of the shadows of belief in Jesus and into an open desire to care for his body.  Grief can do that to us.  Suddenly, in grief, we do not much care what people thinking about us.  There is a purity of thought, there is an unashamed truthfulness that comes over a grieving person.  Grieving people want the world to know who they loved and still love.  Mark said that Joseph who apparently had been silent at Jesus’ trial now went boldly to Pilate to seek Jesus body to bury it in Joseph’s own unused tomb.  Joseph would have many questions to answer later from the Council for showing compassion toward Jesus.  But that did not matter.  What mattered now for Joseph was to express his love for Jesus in the only way that he thought he could do. And so, Joseph placed Jesus’ body in the tomb and rolled a stone to seal the opening.

          There is much mystery to what happened after Jesus’ died and placed in that tomb.  We know only bits and pieces about the disciples’ actions and next to nothing about Jesus’ actions.  Even our dear friend Isaiah could not pierce the denseness of the death and describe for us the specific activities of the Messiah after death.  But Isaiah was able to share with us the purpose and the result of the Messiah’s death.  Isaiah said, “10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10).  Isaiah had revealed something shocking here.  The Messiah was a sin offering for all the people.  Lambs used in sin offerings were put to death.  But Isaiah saw that through he was a sin offering, through death, the Messiah would give life to many, and the Messiah would become prosperous.  How could one give life to others and become prosperous after death?  There was only one way.  To give life and be prosperous on any terms was possible if and only if the Messiah had life himself.  Isaiah said, “11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life” (Isaiah 53:11a).

          Isaiah may not have been given insight to the spiritual battle the Messiah would undertake while dead, nevertheless, God gave Isaiah insight in knowing that the impossible had been accomplished in and through the Messiah.  The Messiah would overcome death and see life again.

          As I was thinking about Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s battle against death, doing so for the benefit of others, and returning to life, I was struck by the words of a modern era song that speaks of such a quest.  The words come from the musical, Man of La Mancha, in the epic song, The Impossible Dream. The song writer there described the quest this way and I find the emotions of this song express much about the work of Jesus:

To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.

To right the unrightable wrong,
To love pure and chaste from afar,
To try when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star.

This is my quest,
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless,
No matter how far.

To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause.

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will be peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage.
To fight the unbeatable foe.
To reach the unreachable star.

Isaiah’s vision, his dream-like revelation of the Messiah being scared, scorned, entering the grave, fighting against death, and returning was not just a happy ending to a story, it was quite frankly an impossible ending.  People do not overcome death.  Yet Jesus took on that fight with that unbeatable foe of death.  Jesus bore the unbearable sorrows of sin and ran in the direction of death, a place where even the brave do not even go.  Jesus did so to right the unrightable wrongs without question or pause.  He was willing to march into hell, into Sheol itself, to this heavenly cause.  And the world isl be better for this, that one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage, to reach the unreachable, to die and overcome death.

 We do not know what happened on the Sabbath following Jesus’ death.  But we are certain what happened when the Sabbath had ended.  Jesus rose from the dead and was restored to life.  The resurrection of Jesus altered our understanding of God and life itself.  The resurrection of Jesus ended all questions about what happens when we die in the body. Jesus’ resurrection means we have life in him, and therefore, those who die in Christ, should have no fear of death. To have life in Jesus means they, and we, have continuous life in God.  We are not separated from others, we are not separated from God, and we are not confined to some place of nothingness or to a place of fiery torment.

The resurrection of Jesus transformed the lives of his disciples.  The disciples had been in grief, devastated by the loss of their friend Jesus.  Seeing and knowing Jesus lived changed the disciples by giving them unquenchable joy. While we will still grieve when our loved one’s die, it is our loved ones who celebrate the inexpressible joy of knowing that they have full and abundant life. 

This will be the same for us.  We will in this life experience devastating grief when those we love die.  There is no shame or loss of faith in grieving the death of a loved one.  We will feel aloneness and despair.  We cannot help but experience grief.  But that grief, as awful as it is, is also a terrible and wonderful preparation for unquenchable joy.  On the day we come to be joined with Jesus through our own death we will also be reunited with those who we love who died before us.  The joy we will experience in that moment that breaks the backs of our words and our lived experiences.  This joy we will experience will overwhelm us and I believe will never leave us.  This joy comes because one man, scorned and covered with scars who strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable, fought the unbeatable foe and won.  Jesus’ resurrection is the winning victory over death.  Jesus was undefeated by death.  Our loved ones in Christ who have died are undefeated by death.  And we who are in Christ will be undefeated in death.  This is the happy ending to the story.  This is the triumphal victory parade for which the people shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest!” Amen and Amen.

          We know that the word “trial” most often refers to the formal examination of evidence presented before a judge and jury to determine the guilt or innocence on an accused person. When I was growing up, everyone loved to watch the television show, Perry Mason, a criminal defense attorney. Perry Mason starred Raymond Burr, with supporting characters Della Street, and Paul Drake squaring off against the district attorney Hamilton Burger.  It seems as though in every episode Perry Mason would come through with some surprise evidence right at the end of the hour that would not show his client’s innocence by leading to a confession by the real culprit.  Recently, the news was flooded with a trial in South Carolina of a prominent attorney who was accused of killing his wife and son.  That trial lasted six weeks with testimony from the accused occurring for many hours over four long days.  In the end, the accused was judged guilty after about one hour of deliberations began.  There was no surprise Perry Mason ending to in that case.

          Today, in our Old Testament reading from the Book of Isaiah and from our New Testament reading from the Gospel of John, we heard about trials and verdicts.  What was remarkable about these trials and verdict was not so much what was said as much as how little was said.  There can be a great deal to be learned in what is not being said.

          In the gospels there are two examples of people place on trial.  In both cases, the trials were a matter of life and death.  In one case, a woman under trial was set free.  In the other case, the man under trial was executed. Let’s look quickly at the trial of the woman.  We can find that trial in the Gospel of John, Chapter 8.

          “2 At dawn he [Jesus] appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he [Jesus] sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’” (John 8:2-5).

Suddenly, a place and a time for prayer, worship, quiet reflection, and study of God’s Word had been overtaken and changed into a rancorous criminal courtroom for a death penalty case.  A woman was on trial for her life, accused of adultery, meaning either this woman was married and found to be in a sexual relation with another man or she was single and found to be involved in a sexual relationship with a married man.

The woman stood accused in front of this gathering in the temple.  Though accused she said nothing nor was she invited to speak.  Instead, she was silent before her accusers.  The group bringing charges against her were not interested in what she had to say.  John said, her accusers “6a Were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him [Jesus] (John 8:6a).”

In the silence, “6bJesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. [Jesus said nothing.] 7 When they kept on questioning him, straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ 8 Again he [Jesus] stooped down and wrote on the ground.  9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there” (John 8:6b-9).

The accusers were rancorous and peppered Jesus with questions.  Jesus said nothing.  Instead, with his hands free, Jesus wrote on the ground.  Then when Jesus was ready, he spoke only a few words.  The silence, the writing on the ground, and Jesus’ few words convicted not the accused but convicted the accusers.  Innocent silence in the face of injustice can be very convicting.  One writer put it this way, “Innocence accuses its accuser.”  We understand there is much power in innocence.

We heard about the power of innocence and silence earlier today when we read Isaiah’s prophetic words from Chapter 53 of the book bearing his name.  Isaiah was speaking about the coming anointed one of God who would set right the things of an unrighteous world.  Isaiah foresaw that God’s anointed, “7 Was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).  Isaiah was revealing that under God there is a relationship between silence and innocence and that God’s anointed would show that relationship while under oppression and affliction, while being subjected to injustice.  The relationship of silence and innocence would help people to understand who the Messiah was and would help people understand the significance of that Messiah.

Isaiah foresaw the Messiah would be placed under trial or should we say trials.  We see these trials unfold in the life of Jesus.  First, the religious leaders who arrested Jesus secretly in the Garden of Gethsemane put Jesus on trial.  In the darkness of night, the religious leaders called witnesses to accuse Jesus of all manner of things, but the witnesses could not keep their stories straight.  As the judge, jury, and witnesses argued among themselves, Jesus remained silent amid the lies hurled at him.  Then the Chief Priest intervened and asked questioned Jesus, “70b ‘Are you the Messiah?’ Jesus replied most briefly, ‘You say that I am.’ 71 Then they said, ‘Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips’” (Luke 22:70b-71). At this trial, Jesus never spoke in defense of false charges against him, but only spoke to acknowledge truth said about him, namely, that Jesus is the Messiah. 

The first trial was brief with the prisoner being found guilty and subject to death.  This sentence of death was a foregone outcome before the trial began because the religious leaders focused on only one thing, trying to make guilty he who was innocent. Why did they want to do such a thing? They did so because, innocence shines. Innocence illuminates everything near it.  It is the illumination of innocence that has power, real power.  Jesus showed innocence beaming at sin like light into the darkness.  At the first trial, those assembled wanted to put out the light of Jesus Christ.  The light of Christ had been shining brightly upon the religious leaders, too brightly, just as innocence shines upon the guilty.  They dearly wanted to put out the light.

          But the religious leaders were crafty and cunning.  They wanted others to do the work to dispense with Jesus.  And so, a second trial of Jesus second trial was needed.  Luke wrote, “Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.’  3 So Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’  ‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied.”  Jesus was silent against all the false accusations made against him and spoke only to affirm the truth.  “4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, ‘I find no basis for a charge against this man’” (Luke 23:1-4).  Much to the surprise of the religious leaders, Jesus second trial had ended with an acquittal; Jesus was innocent according to Pilate.  That should have ended the matter and resulted in Jesus’ release.

          “5 But they [the religious leaders] insisted, ‘He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.’  6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he [Pilate] sent him [Jesus] to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time” (Luke 23:5b-7).  Pilate, perhaps wanting to get out of the middle of a Jewish matter, sent Jesus on to Herod.  And so, Jesus underwent a third trial.

          “8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he [Herod] had been wanting to see him [Jesus]. From what he [Herod] had heard about him [Jesus], he [Herod] hoped to see him [Jesus] perform a sign of some sort. 9 He [Herod] plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.”  In this trial there were only false accusations.  There was no true to affirm.  “10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him [Jesus]” (Luke 23:8-11).  The third trial of Jesus had been completed.  The verdict – Jesus was innocent.  That should have ended the matter and resulted in Jesus’ release.

          Instead of being released, Herod “Dressing him [Jesus] in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. (Luke 23:11b).

          Jesus was experiencing the trials of life and the injustice of the world.  He was falsely accused and he said nothing in his defense.  Jesus only spoke to affirm the truth.  Despite being found not guilty twice by the authorities of law and order, Jesus was no closer to being free than when he first began.  The world is like that.  Even when the right people make the right decisions, injustices still exist, and circumstances may not change.

          Luke tells us that after the third trial, “13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14 and said to them, ‘You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 Therefore, I will punish him and then release him” (Luke 23:13-16). 

Pilate reminded the religious leaders that Jesus was not guilty and that Pilate intended to release Jesus.  This is the story Luke’s readers would expect.  When we are judged innocent, we expect to be released.  “18 But the whole crowd shouted, ‘Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us! ‘19 (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) 20 Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. 21 But they kept shouting, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ 22 For the third time he [Pilate] spoke to them [the religious leaders]: ‘Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him punished and then release him’ (Luke 23:18-22). Again, the verdict had been issued in Pilate’s second trial of Jesus.  Jesus was not guilty and would be released.  The conflict in the story seemed resolved with innocence.

          “23 But with loud shouts they [the religious leaders] insistently demanded that he [Jesus] be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will” (Luke 23:23-25).  The surprising end of Jesus’ fourth trial had been revealed.  Pilate decided that a man named Barabbas, guilty of murder, would be set free as though he were innocent.  And an innocent man, Jesus, would be executed as though he were guilty.  And through it all Jesus remained silent except to affirm the truth about himself.

          The scene Isaiah foresaw had been played out.  Innocence had been silent, silent as light that shines into the darkness.  Light makes no sound and yet speaks powerfully. The Apostle John saw this scene this way, ““19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:19-21).

          The religious leaders hated the innocence of Jesus.  They hated that Jesus’ innocence shined like a light.  They screamed down the sweeter truth; they condemn Jesus to death in order to put out the light.  They wanted dearly to put out the light.  The guilty person was set free, and, in his place, the innocent man was condemned to death.

          Even though the Scriptures and Jesus foretold what would happen, the conviction and sentencing Jesus to death was a disturbing ending to the story.  Why would a man guilty of death be set free as though he was innocent, and a man innocent of all crimes be put to death as though he was guilty? The story does not make sense, unless we realize that God is the author of the story.

          The arrest, trials, and conviction of Jesus explains God’s plan of salvation.  “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).  God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it.  Jesus who is sinless would take on the penalty of those guilty of sin.  And those same sinners would be cleansed of their sins and set free as though they had never sinned.  This is God’s way of telling the story of what he wants for us. 

God wants us to accept Jesus and that our record of sin be exchanged for his record of being sinless.  The wages of our sin would be upon Jesus even though he is innocent. This exchange may not seem fair, and it is not, toward Jesus.  But God’s desire was not to be fair but to be willing to love us and offer us grace despite our weakness and despite our failings. 

“6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).  This is the surprise ending of the story and the true triumph of Christ. 

Jesus taught us that as his followers we should not care and try to defend ourselves against all manner of malice and false accusations made about us.  If we follow Jesus, then we have his innocence.  If we follow Jesus, then we reflect his light.  If we follow Jesus, then we need to only be concerned with telling the truth.  Instead, we are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Everyone here will have trials in life.  A few may face or have faced formal prison over those trials.  Some trials involve the trials of life circumstances with pain and suffering. Those trials can lead us to informal prisons that hold our spirit, our sense of purpose, and our sense wellbeing. We must resist the temptation to speak against false accusations that we receive during these trials.  False accusations may come from others or even from us.  False accusations that suggest God does not care about us, or that these trials are happening because somehow our faith is defective are just that, false.  Instead, we should responding to these false accusations we should affirm the truth.

• “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. 
• And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 
• God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. 
• Jesus came to help, to put the world right again.
• Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted.

In our trials, we need to affirm the truth and be able to say to ourselves and others, “Because I have given my life to Jesus, I am innocent.  Because I have given my life to Jesus, I am loved.  Because I have given my life to Jesus, the light of Christ shines in me. We are and will be undefeated in the trials of life.  Amen and Amen.

          It may not seem like it just yet, but we are rapidly approaching Easter.  Easter is April 9 this year.  And as Christian celebrations go, Easter Sunday is perhaps the most important of all days because all of Christianity hinges on the Easter resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Apostle Paul put it this way to the church in Corinth.  “14 If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:14-19).

          Everything about the Christian faith and the promises we hold dear depend upon the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday morning.  It might surprise us to learn that the early church never celebrated Easter Sunday. Why not?  Because to the early church every Sunday was resurrection Sunday. Every gathering was about the resurrection of Jesus because the resurrection, Jesus coming back to life from the dead, was viewed as the singular event that proved who Jesus was and what had promised of him and by Him in the Hebrew Scriptures.

          The Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, were essential to the early church and remain essential to us in understanding the significance of Jesus and the events of Easter Sunday.  Through the Old Testament, the people had been prepared, or should have been prepared, to recognize Jesus when He came to earth.  Of the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah, through the book bearing his name, written 700 years before the birth of Jesus is quoted more times in the New Testament than any other prophet.  Chapter 53 of Isaiah, in particular, foresaw the Jesus’ story and spoke poetically of it. Why does it matter that the Old Testament would contain the prophecy of what was to come?  It is this: One of the greatest proofs of the divine inspiration of the Bible is prophecy. How could anybody know the future? Nobody knows the future. The devil does not know the future. Angels do not know the future. You and I do not know the future. But God knows the future – perfectly.  One of the greatest proofs of Jesus is the Old Testament.  If the people did not know from the Old Testament who to expect as Messiah, how would they, how would we, know the New Testament is truth as well? We can be sure of our Christian beliefs in large measure because of what we learn through the Old Testament.

Isaiah 53 is a story in which the suffering servant comes and wins despite seemingly impossible odds.  Although ancient Jewish writers saw this chapter as being about the promised Messiah, modern Jewish writers are less inclined to see it that way.  Christians see Isaiah 53 as a story of Jesus.  It is a story in which Jesus wins against skepticism, spiritual blindness, dysfunctional relationships, temptation and sin, and ultimately the grave.  Jesus was undefeated against all opponents including death.  Jesus being undefeated, especially against death, is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday.  But we do not celebrate Jesus’ victories so much for Him, as we celebrate the victories for ourselves.  I would like to make use of the Isaiah 53 as a guide to lead us on toward Easter Sunday morning as we rediscover who Jesus was, is, and what had been promised of him and by Him, and that in all things we share in Jesus’ undefeated record.

          Let’s begin with the opening words to Isaiah’s story of the person of history we call by many names to include Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 21:11), the Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3), and the resurrection and the Life (John 11:25).  Isaiah wrote, “1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”  Isaiah begins the story of the coming Messiah with a question that wonders aloud as to who has been paying attention?  Who has been paying attention to words offered in so many ancient sermons and so many ancient prayers that God would send someone to deliver the people of Israel from the bonds of sin, doubt, and of defeat at the hands of its enemies? One would expect that answer to this question would be that the nation of Israel had been paying attention and was attentive to the Messiah’s coming.  All of Israel had heard those messages and sermons that God would send to them their Messiah.

          To whom had the arm of the Lord been revealed?  Here the arm of the Lord means the paradox of the strength of God’s power and the gentleness of His touch.  One would expect that answer to this question would be the nation of Israel was looking for these signs of God working among them.  They had seen acts of God in the past and read about them from Genesis and Exodus.  They were looking for more.

          But Isaiah’s words were words of prophecy, meaning a foreseeing of the future.  In and of that future was Jesus.  And so, we must see Isaiah’s questions in light of Jesus. “1 Who has believed our message [of Jesus] and to whom has the arm of the Lord [Jesus’ mighty works] been revealed?”  We read earlier from the opening of the Apostle’ John’s Gospel, “11 He [Jesus] came to that which was his own [the nation of Israel], but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11).  John witnessed Jesus give the message of hope and life among the Jewish people and their leaders.  John witnessed Jesus perform a great many miracles.  But the people did not believe Jesus was their Messiah.  And in many ways, Jesus was not their Messiah.  He was God’s Messiah.  John observed that, “37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

“Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (John 12:37-38).  Isaiah foresaw and Jesus experienced that neither Jesus’ message nor his works were accepted by the Jews.  But Jesus was not defeated by the lack of response and skepticism. 

          Jesus pressed on and when it was evident to Jesus that his death was only hours away, Jesus told his own disciples “11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me [that is the message]; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves [the evidence of the arm of the Lord] (John 14:11).  Jesus encouraged his disciples not to be overcome by the skepticism of the world and the Jews, but to hang onto the message of hope and the signs of wonder from God’s own Messiah Jesus.

          Why did the Jews reject Jesus despite the evidence of God’s presence revealed in Christ? I have today referred to it as skepticism.  Now skepticism, having a questioning attitude and wanting to know why is not inherently bad unless we honor our own skepticism and allow ourselves not to learn. That type of skepticism that resists learning is outright disbelief, suspicion, distrust, and cynicism.  That is the type of skepticism the Jews expressed toward Jesus.  They did not learn the message of Christ, they did not learn from the miracles of Christ, because they did not allow themselves to feel.  One Christian author put it this way, “I learned because I felt it.” We need to let that thought sink in for a moment.  “I learned because I felt it.”

          It is not enough that we learn the facts or see an event, to believe a profound spiritual truth, we must foremost feel it.  We cannot learn Jesus as though he was a subject of study as in mathematics as much as we must open ourselves up to feel the wonder of God evident in the teaching and actions of Jesus.  Learning on that level comes from experience.  When I think of high points in my learning of Jesus, everyone of them was in context to a profoundly emotional moment in which I had allowed myself to feel.  But that the experience of feeling the presence of God can be blocked by unreasonable skepticism, cynicism, suspicion, envy, and prejudice.

Isaiah foresaw such self-defeating behaviors towards Jesus by the Jews.  Isaiah wrote, “2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2).  Isaiah foresaw that the Messiah would come in an inconspicuous manner, much like a tender shoot out of a dry ground.  He would be someone easily missed.  In fact, the Israelites believed that God’s Messiah would be born in Bethlehem but that the appearance as the Messiah would be hidden by God and then brought out of concealment with a suddenness.  He would be at first easily overlooked and then suddenly appear.

After Jesus’ birth, a few shepherds took notice of him at the direction of angels and two people at the temple took notice of Jesus upon his dedication.  Otherwise, Jesus was virtually unknown to anyone but his family until Jesus reached the age 30, the age that men were considered old enough to have rabbinical status.  Suddenly, Jesus was on the scene.  He moved rapidly throughout Israel from along the River Jordan, to Cana, to Galilee, Jerusalem, Jericho, Samaria, and many other locales.  But of Jesus’ appearance, Isaiah said, “3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isaiah 53:3).

Jesus did not fit the picture of the Messiah and so people hide their faces from him and shunned him. One time, Jesus went to his hometown of Nazareth. There, in the synagogue, Jesus preached these words from Isaiah, Chapter 61: “’The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’  20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:19-21).  The people asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”  Then within a few minutes, 29 They [The townspeople] got up, drove him [Jesus] out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff” (Luke 4:29).  The skepticism of the people had blown up and now they despised Jesus wanting him dead. 

There would be at least seven other times in which the skepticism of the people or the religious leaders toward Jesus swelled so much that they sought to kill Jesus because he did not fit the image of who they wanted.  They despised Jesus.  They rejected him and his message.  People turned their backs on him and hid their faces from him.  They plotted against Jesus in secret.  They looked for the right opportunity to seize him and were overjoyed when one of Jesus’ own disciples offered to betray him.  Isaiah saw this coming and made clear to those who were attentive that the Messiah would be among those who are rejected, scorned, and ridiculed.

Despite the repeated rejections and scorn, Jesus never once waivered from being with those who suffered and those who were in pain. Jesus healed and gave comfort.  He forgave sin and set those in bondage to sin free.  Yes, Jesus would become well acquainted with his own suffering and pain but not before he first entered the suffering and pain of others.

Jesus healed the blind who all had thought were blind because of sin by them or the blind person’s parents.  Jesus healed them and removed the social rejection that they had endured.  Jesus healed the lepers and removed the rejection and the pain it caused upon the person so made ill.  Those who were healed and those who opened their hearts to Jesus learned that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, because they felt it.  They learned because they felt it. 

Let’s think of it this way.  A person can play musical notes as prescribed to them on a sheet of music.  People can be trained to play an instrument.  But a person trained to play an instrument is not a musician, and does not make music, unless that person also feels the music.  A musician feels the music and becomes united with the notes and the instrument they are playing.  Many people heard Jesus’ words and saw Jesus’ miracles and took them is as merely notes on a sheet of music.  Many were indifferent to Jesus and others esteemed him not because they never felt the power, the rhythm, meaning of Jesus.  It was only a few men and women who truly learned who Jesus was because they allowed themselves to feel who he was.

Jesus’ Apostle Peter felt the sensation of Jesus early in his time with Jesus.  One time, Jesus got into Peter’s boat and told Peter to move into deeper waters and cast out his net.  Peter was tired and reluctant to cast the net.  In a word, Peter was skeptical about doing what Jesus asked.  Peter had reason to feel this way.  Peter had been defeated because he and his partners had worked all night and had caught absolutely no fish.  Nevertheless, Peter did as Jesus asked.  Within moments, Peter’s net was full of fish, so many that the nets were at their breaking point.  Peter summoned his partners to come and help.  Together they brought the fish into their boats.  They had so many fish that the boats nearly sank.  Luke wrote, “When Simon Peter saw it [the boatload of fish], he [Peter] fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me for I am a sinful man’” (Luke 5:8).  Peter felt it.  Peter felt what it is was like to know Jesus and be in the presence of holiness.  And Peter felt what it was like to go from defeated to being undefeated.  Peter was not sure what to do with his sensations except to acknowledge Jesus as holy and that he himself as not.

Here is some good news.  Jesus did not depart from Peter as had been asked of him.  Instead, Jesus said to Peter come and be with me always. Come and instead of being a simple fisherman, come a be a fisher of men.  Peter did as Jesus asked and joined Jesus for the rest of his life on earth and for all eternity.  Peter learned more about this man, this Son of God, Jesus, as Peter continually allowed himself to feel the presence of Christ.  In the time Peter spent with Jesus, Peter came to see and experience that the prophesy of Isaiah.  And Peter came to see and experience that ultimately Jesus was undefeated by skepticism that became outright disbelief, suspicion, distrust, cynicism, being despised, and ultimately rejected.  Though many would hide their faces from Jesus and despise him, Jesus was never defeated.  Peter also bore witness to the ultimate act of being undefeated in that he saw Jesus risen from the dead.

Everyone here today has at some time in their life, to include perhaps at this moment, has received from others skepticism of your abilities, suspicion of your motives, distrust of your gifts, cynicism about your integrity, to include perhaps even being despised, and rejected. This is what Christ felt as well. We may also have felt at times in our life defeat like Peter.  “What is the point?  What is the purpose in casting the net one more time?  I know it will only come back to me empty.”  But.  Isaiah pointed out to us that God would send you and me an anointed Messiah, a savior, who himself would be despised and rejected, a man familiar with our suffering and pain.  But he would be a man who was undefeated.  And he would be a man who would invite you and me to join with him and God, into the presence of divine life and divine love.  This man of suffering and pain would invite each of us into a life and love with new brothers and sisters, the church, who would love and not despise, who would carry one another’s burdens and not reject. This man, Jesus, who would be undefeated is calling you and me to be undefeated with him, to learn from him by feeling the love he has for us.  This is the man and the invitation Isaiah saw.  This is the man and the invitation Peter received upon his knees in a boat full of fish.  This is the man and the invitation you and I have received this day.  Let’s not be overcome but let us be undefeated in Christ. Amen and Amen.

          This week I would like to finish our look at the question, “Who Is Packing Your Parachute?”  Last week we spoke about this question of parachute packing through the lens of God’s love shown to us and for us in the person of Jesus.  We saw that God’s love was the very atmosphere that gives rise to life now and for all times.  We also saw that our response to God’s love for us was that we should love one another. This week, I would like us to go the next step and understand how we can love one another in a practical sense. How do we pack each other’s parachute?

          I was thinking about this subject of parachute packing the other day and I began recalling some activities of my childhood.  I was a child of the 1960’s and early 1970’s when space exploration and sending a man to the moon was very much a national interest.  Because of that, all the kids in my neighborhood got into model rocketry. We would purchase these kits in which you had to assemble your rocket, install solid fuel rocket engines, ignite the engines, and  launch the rockets skyward.  I must also admit that some of those rockets went more horizontal than vertical when a wing or two fell off after launch.  Some of the simpler rockets had a single engine.  Other more complicated rockets had a couple of stages with engines for each stage.  The more complex rockets had a payload bay where you could launch an item skyward with your rocket.  We learned quickly that earthworms do not do well with the G-forces of the rocket engine. The more complex rockets also required parachutes to deploy and safely guide your rocket back to earth to be used again.  You needed to pack that parachute correctly with talcum powder so that the parachute would open, and you had to ensure that the strings connecting the chute to the rocket were not tangled.  I remember how the older kids willingly helped the younger to get the parachutes properly packed. 

In this context, the older kids were encouragers of the younger kids.  The older kids were encouragers in three important way.  First, the older kids were not indifferent to the struggles of the younger kids.  Second, the older kids wanted the younger kids to learn what they had learned themselves. Third, the older kids shared in the joy when the rockets, including the parachutes, of the younger kids worked well. 

I thought looking back on these days, that if kids playing with rockets could be encouragers of one another, how much more valuable would it be if we each became encouragers of one another in the great matters of faith. I think to be an encourager should be our focus today in packing the spiritual parachutes of another.

Let’s look at that thought about encouragement from our Scripture reading today.  We read earlier from Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica.  That letter we call 1 Thessalonians.  Scholars believe that in the entirety of the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians is the earliest of the Christian writings and was probably written around AD 50. 

Our passage today began with Paul expressing that believers are different from the world.  Paul described believers as being awake and living in the light and describe nonbelievers as being asleep and living in darkness.  Paul said, “5 You (Believers in Thessalonica) are all children of the light and children of the day. We (Believers) do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night” (1 Thessalonians 5:5-7). Paul was dividing the world into just two types of people: believers and nonbelievers.  Believers are people who live in the light of day and are awake to the realities of this world and the next world.  Believers are sober.  Believers have a serious mind and convictions.  Believers are different from the rest of the world, the nonbelievers, who have not accepted the light offered by God.  Nonbelievers, Paul said act as though they are asleep, seemingly unaware of all that is going on around them.  That differentiation between believers and nonbelievers as light and darkness is an often repeated theme in Scripture. 

Paul continued, “8 But since we (believers) belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He (Jesus) died for us (believers) so that, whether we are [physically] awake or asleep, we may live together with him [Jesus]” (1 Thessalonians 5:8-10).  Paul said to the believer, put on faith and love as a breastplate and salvation as though it was a helmet.  Paul was calling for believers to see faith, love, and salvation as spiritual armor, that they had received from God that would keep them safe and alive in Christ.  With such armor there was nothing to fear.  Everything vital had been covered and protected.

Because Jesus covers us, Paul said we should, “11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11a).  What does it mean to encourage and build up someone else?  If Jesus has covered the essentials, why do believers need encouragement?  Let’s dispense with the latter question first.  Why do believers need encouragement and being built up in the faith? It is simple.  The world is hostile toward believers and believers still experience all the trials of living in this world.  We still get ill.  We still have loved ones who die.  We still have disappointments.  We are still subject to abuse and neglect.  We still need encouragement.

In the New Testament, the call to encourage believers is made no fewer than 38 times.  In the first letter of the Christian Church, 1 Thessalonians Paul said, 

• We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith (3:2)
• Encourage one another with words of faith (4:18)
• Encourage the disheartened (5:14)

Borrowing from my story of childhood rocketry, the older kids helped the younger because they were not indifferent to the struggles of the younger. The same is true when we encouragement is offered to another.  To offer encouragement is the truest sign that we are not indifferent to the struggles of another.  To offer encouragement means that you are willing to discharge today’s societal response of “whatever” and instead to step into another person’s life, not to take it over, but to help them lift themselves up.

          In the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4, we hear the wisdom, “9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up” (4:9).  Having people come into our life to encourage us with a hand up, an encouraging word, time together to complete a task, are all sources of encouragement and says to the receiver, “You matter.”

          The writer of the New Testament Book of Hebrews, some believe it was Paul, said, “24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).  I am not sure if we fully appreciate the significance of church attendance to the encouragement of one another.  To attend church is a way of us saying we are not indifferent.  We are not indifferent to our relationship with God, and we are not indifferent to our relationship with one another.  Without fail, someone after the Easter Sunday or Christmas Eve service will say to me, “Wasn’t wonderful to see so many people in church today?  Wouldn’t it be nice if it was like that every Sunday?”  What these folks have come to realize is that greater church attendance on Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve leads to a feeling of greater encouragement.  Attendance at church matters because people are encouraged in their own relationship with God, and they know brothers and sisters are not indifferent to their struggles.

Paul said we should, “11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11a). 

Drawing again from my childhood rocketry example, the older kids helped the younger learn what they did not know on their own.  We see the same charge on us in Scripture.  Again, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians said, “11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity i the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).  Paul’s point was the entirety of church has been equipped to continually bring people along in their faith so that each one of us learns and experiences what we had not known about God.  And by know, I don’t mean to say that we have more head knowledge alone but that what we discover what effects our heart and soul.  That in knowing God we can be a peace with God, ourselves, and with others.

          The Apostle Peter said that such peace and knowledge of God becomes evident to others who we meet and with whom we work.  People will ask about the spirit we present.  Peter said because this is so, “15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).

          We are each called to encourage one another in the development of our faith so that we can be built up in the maturity of our faith.  Paul said that when we encourage one another in this manner, “14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:14-16). We should share what we know and what we have experienced in Bible studies.  We should share Christian music that has meaning to us.  We should share to encourage one another thoughts and reflections from devotionals, Christian movies, Christian plays, spiritual retreats, worship services, and the list goes on.  When we do such things, we are packing the spiritual parachute of another.

          This brings us to our final point.  When we become an encourager, we can rejoice together. While Paul encouraged us toward being of a sober mind, that is serious about matters of faith, Paul also encouraged us to rejoice together.  Paul understood that there was a relationship between encouragement and rejoicing.  The older kids understood that principle in helping the younger kids with rocketry.  We know the truth between encouragement and rejoicing.  Consider two simple examples.  In your job, your boss says, “We really like the work you are doing and so we are giving you a promotion.”  What do we do in response?  We might say to our friends, “Hey, let’s go celebrate, I got a promotion.” We get it.  Encouragement leads to joy.  Consider the alternative scenario.  In your job, your boss says, “We really do not like the work you are doing and so we are going to demote you.”  How many of us then say to our friends, “Hey, let’s go celebrate. I got a demotion!”  We do not say such things because we know that encouragement is directly linked to rejoicing.

Thirty-one (31) times in the New Testament, we are encouraged to rejoice.  Fifteen (15) of those times come from Paul.  Paul said, 

• Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Romans 12:15)
• Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)
• Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

From the very first Christian letter, 1 Thessalonians, Paul also said, “14bEncourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).  As we saw that church attendance is directly related to a sense of encouragement, we also see that encouragement in our faith is directly related to our capacity and desire to rejoice.

          Encouragement from and to one another packs our respective spiritual parachutes. Let us be encouragers and not be indifferent to each other’s struggles.  When we meet a disagreeable person, what have we been taught?  “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.”  This advice came from Thumper in the Bambi movie.  How about we do something more Biblical.  “If you don’t have anything nice to say, offer a word or two of encouragement.”  A word or two of encourage says, even to a grumpy person, “I am not indifferent to your struggles.”

Let us be encouragers and build each other up in the faith.  We all have something to offer one another.  Let us be encouragers and together rejoice in what the Lord is doing among us and through us.  It is a marvelous thing.  Let us pack each other’s spiritual parachutes.  Encourage and rejoice!  Amen and Amen.

          Last week, I started the message with a question, “Who is packing your parachute?”  The question came about from the Charlie Plumb, a former prisoner of war, held nearly 6 years, in North Vietnam.  Charlie asked this question after he encountered the man who packed his parachute allowing Charlie to glide safely to the earth after his fighter jet was shot down in Vietnam.  We explored last week that while Charlie had a physical parachute, we all have a spiritual parachute.  In that spiritual parachute that we find our salvation from God, a gift given to us through the completed work of Jesus upon the cross.  We also find in that parachute joy experienced when we use the power of the Holy Spirit within us in the ministry of grace and sharing the good news of Jesus with others.  Today, I would like us to explore a bit more about the packing and the sustainment of our spiritual parachute.

          Now some of you may have parachuted in the past.  I was asked whether I had ever gone parachuting.  I said that I had not.  When asked, “Why haven’t you tried parachuting?  Are you afraid to parachuting?”  I replied, “I am not afraid.  It is just that I have a personal policy against jumping out of perfectly good airplanes!”  Now suppose none of had such a policy about jumping out of perfectly good airplanes and we all decided to jump out of that perfectly good airplane with our parachute. Once we jumped clear of that airplane, we would immediately experience the effects of gravity.  We would begin accelerating in speed downward toward the ground.  We would continue our rapid descent until we pulled the ripcord on the parachute.  Once we pulled that ripcord, the material of the parachute would begin to unfold and very quickly fill with air causing an immediate change in our rapid descent. The resistance of the air underneath our now opened parachute would work against the force of gravity that had been pulling us ever downward.  The lift offered by the resisting force of the air would allow us to have a controlled and safe landing.  The scenario of a graceful and peaceful landing against the forces of gravity exists if we have a properly packed parachute and a supporting atmosphere. Parachutes work on earth where there is an atmosphere.  Parachutes do not work where there is no atmosphere.  Parachutists are lift up if and only if they are surround in an atmosphere capable of resisting the forces of gravity.  NASA does not use parachutes on the moon where there is no atmosphere. On the moon, you would only crash.

          The science of parachuting tells us something about our spiritual life.  The first thing we understand from our discussion of physical science about our spiritual life is that we live in a world forces.  In our spiritual life there are spiritual forces working on us that work much like gravity upon a parachutist.  Those worldly spiritual forces like their physical counterparts are always pulling us in a downward direction.  There are spiritual forces that bring us down with discouragement and some that bring us down with lies and deceptions.  We are pulled downward by guilt, regret, and shame.  We accelerate downward even faster by belief systems that make us feel like a failure.  The experience of loneliness and a sense of indifference as to whether we are alive or not causes us to feel as though we have just impacted upon the earth itself.  The forces pulling us downward are as relentless and unconcerned as gravity is upon any object.  None of these forces can be resisted in our own strength.  When these forces grab hold of us, it is as though we parachuted in a vacuum.  We tend for simplicity to sum up all these worldly spiritual forces as the work of Satan. Our understanding of the science of parachuting tells us that left unchecked the result of these worldly spiritual forces is nothing but a downward spiral and an inevitable painful, life ending impact.

          But!  There is always a but!  But our understanding of the science of parachuting also tells us that the downward and inevitable spiral of the forces pulling downward can be overcome if there is an atmosphere.  What then is the spiritual atmosphere that overcomes the relentless and uncaring forces of the world?  In a word, the spiritual atmosphere we must possess is love.  Love is the overcoming spiritual force, the very atmosphere. that gives life to us all.  Love is a force that lifts us up.  It packs our parachute and keeps us aloft.  Love is a force that resist the forces those forces that would otherwise cause us to fall downward to a certain impact.  Love is the very atmosphere we require and it is something we cannot provide for ourselves.

          As we think more deeply about the atmosphere of love, we come also to see that love is not a thing at all.  Love is a living being.  John, the writer of our New Testament letter today said it succinctly, “God is love” (1 John 4:8b; 1 John 4:16a).  God, a living being, expressed by John as the very virtue of love is the atmosphere we require and is capable of resisting for us all worldly forces.  Like our earthly atmosphere that we had no part in creating, we did not create God.  God was and is and He provides the atmosphere in which we can live.

          John explained it this way, “7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).  We have heard these words often, “God is love.”  What we need to keep in mind though is that John was speaking through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit not to the world at large.  John was speaking to people he called his friends, meaning people who had accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  John was preaching to the choir, as well as the organist if you will, and the congregation.  John was not on the street corner talking to any just anyone passing by.

          John said, “7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God” (1 John 4:7a).  The capacity, willingness, and stamina to love, in the way John was speaking about, is not something anyone possesses through mortal birth, through study, or through practice.  Love, the type of love John is talking about, comes from only one source, God.  John said, “Everyone who loves [in this manner] has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7b).  To love in the manner John means here requires a second birth. John was speaking here that those who love in the manner of God are “13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:13).

          John was making the point that those born into this world may express a kind of love, a love of this world, its ways, and the things of this world.  Worldly love is not a force able to resist the downward and dark forces of the world.  Worldly love is not capable of creating an atmosphere necessary for life.  It is only when we are reborn of God that we come to understand and appropriate a fit portion of the love that transforms, love that resists evil, and love that gives lift to self and others.

          John said of this love that overcomes the forces of the world that it is available from God and that love was shown to us.  “9 This is how God showed his love among us: He [God] sent his one and only Son [Jesus] into the world that we [you and I] might live through him [Jesus]. 10 This is love: not that we [you and I] loved God, but that he [God] loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).  God showed us what love is by sending his Son, Jesus, to take away, yes to pay dearly for our sins, so that we would be forever freed from the downward worldly spiritual forces work relentlessly to consume us.  God showed us Jesus and Jesus upon the cross as an expression of the depth, breadth, width, and height of love, God’s very nature.  In these verses, John was not encouraging Christians towards love, John was defining love for them.  John said, “This is love,” Christ and Christ upon the cross, “This is love,” and not anything else we might have before thought was love. God did not express himself as love this way in response to some sort of expression of our love towards him first. Jesus was not a reward or love expressed in exchange for something we did or did not do.  God is love and He choose to display that love through Jesus without a motive of benefit to God, himself.  God did not love us because he needed our love in return.  Instead, God knew without his love we are all destined to spiral downward for an inevitable painful, life ending impact.  And God does not want that for any of us.  The only salvation, the only way for us to overcome that downward spiral, is if God fights the fight against those forces for us. We see that God accomplished this fight through Jesus Christ who is the very atmosphere of love.

          We need a moment to take all that John said in just a couple of verses.  No Jesus, no atmosphere, no love, no help.  There are just the downward pulling forces of the world.  It would be as though we jumped into a vacuum and are heading downward with no hope.  It is a bleak existence with a predictable end.  But!  There is always the but!  But we are saved and sustained through the love God showed us in Jesus Christ.  God is overcoming the downward forces of the world and has given us hope because God loved us.

          Now, what are we to do in response to receiving God’s love?  What is the appropriate way to reciprocate and show God and God’s love has become part of our life, that we now live in the very atmosphere of love?  Well, we might think, we should love God.  That is true and we can and should do just that. But John said there was a way we must respond.  It is a way that shows we treasure the atmosphere in which we live and shows to others who do not know God, that there is one powerful force able to overcome the worldly spiritual forces pulling them downward.

          John said, “11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us [if we love one another]: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete” (1 John 4:11-17a).  John was pointing out to us that if we want to know and we want show that God loves us, then we must love one another.

          Before Jesus was arrested and murdered.  Jesus told his disciple, “34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34).  The command of Jesus, explained further by Jesus’ disciple, John, makes it clear that those who are reborn of God must evidence that rebirth by living the very atmosphere of God, who is love.  This sort of love is not like worldly love.  This sort of love propels us to love another believer because within us is the image of God and we see in the other the very image of God.  The atmosphere between and among believers is to be one of love that overwhelms the forces of worldly darkness.

          What keeps us from loving like Jesus?  What is it that keeps us from being part of the atmosphere that lifts one another up?  It is how we see people.  Too often we see others through a lens of suspicion, doubt, fear, and anxiousness, all things that reflect the worldly forces of darkness instead of the heavenly forces of light.  Jesus said, “22 The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  (Matthew 6:22-23).  How do you see others?

          John said, “18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18a). Let us then not fear to love.  Let the image of God within us burn brightly bringing light to our life and allowing us to see correctly the image of God in another.  It is time we jumped into the atmosphere of God’s love and be lifted up by Him.  Amen and Amen.

          I want to begin a short series of sermons starting with the question, “Who is packing your parachute?”  The question is not an original one.  The question comes from a man named Charlie Plumb.  Some years ago, I had the honor of spending some time with Charlie.  Charlie was a US Navy pilot during the Vietnam War.  Charlie was shot down over Vietnam and held in their prisons for 2,103 days, that is just short of 6 years.  He was confined to 8’ x 8’ cell most of that time.  He was tortured and he was starved.  In 1973, now 50 years ago, Charlie and the other prisoners of war were returned to the United States.

          I want to introduce Charlie to you through a video segment as he introduces the question, “Who is packing your parachute?”  VIDEO

          Charlie’s story is compelling and asks, “Who is packing your parachute?” and by implication, “Whose parachute are you packing?”  How might we approach these questions in a way that brings a deeper sense of purpose to our lives and a greater understanding of the ultimate reality of God?  Let’s consider first what a parachute in Charlie’s case represented.  For Charlie, the parachute was first an essential piece of equipment necessary for life.  Charlie would not live without that parachute.  Second, Charlie’s parachute was a gift provided by another.  Charlie did not own the parashoot nor did he pack it. Someone gave it to him.  Third, Charlie’s parachute, when deployed, gave Charlie great joy.  Charlie was not happy about landing in Vietnam, but he had joy in seeing the 15 of 18 panels above his head.  A parachute for Charlie was essential to his life, it was a gift from another, and it brought great joy to Charlie when it was used.  Let’s keep those thoughts in mind as we now shift our attention to our New Testament reading today from the Gospel of Luke.

          Luke shared with us that Jesus appointed seventy-two people from among his followers and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. “2 He [Jesus] told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road’” (Luke 10:1-4).

          The 72 people Jesus appointed were not a collection of random people who happened to be standing around one day with nothing to do.  The 72 people Jesus saw that day had seen Jesus’ miracles.  They had heard Jesus’ teachings and words of life.  They had witness Jesus stand up against the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  The 72 people had received Jesus as their Lord.  These 72 people had been equipped with life because they had received lifegiving truths from Jesus.  They were saved.  Salvation by faith in Jesus which is essential for life had been given to these 72 people, just as Charlie Plumb’s parachute, essential to his mortal life, had been given to him.  The 72 were saved.

          Do we think about our salvation often? Believing in Jesus, having faith that Jesus was and is the Son of God and that through him we are forgiven all our sins and given life should be foremost in our minds, but we know it is not. We know that the commonplace experiences of life blur and make dull the magnificence of being saved.  This is why it is so important for each of us to join in worship.  Worship creates the renewing opportunity for us to refocus our hearts, minds, souls, and strength on God.  It must have been an awesome moment in the lives of the 72 believers in Jesus to stand before Jesus and be appointed by him to go forward and share the essential lifegiving news that had been given to them.  We too can have that sense of wonder if we remember daily that we are saved.

We also see here that Jesus was in and around the lands of Samaria, an area that was hostile to the Jews and unwelcoming to Jesus.  Jesus was on a mission to make his way to Jerusalem. Nothing would deter Jesus from his mission to arrive in Jerusalem and share the good news of God’s kingdom with those who would receive it.  As Jesus prepared move forward, Jesus appointed 72 people to go ahead of him.  The mission of the 72 was to prepare the people of the different villages and towns for Jesus’ coming with the message of salvation. 

Jesus saw that what he was asking these 72 people to do was difficult and potentially dangerous; hence they would be lambs without their shepherd among wolves.  Jesus told them to take with them nothing of material value, no purse, bag, or extra sandals.  Having nothing of value to carry did three things for the 72 appointees. 

First, if you have nothing of material value, thieves will not bother with you.  When vacationing in Oahu, we learned to leave nothing of value in our rental car and to keep the car unlocked.  Thieves would then be able to go through your car, realize there is nothing valuable, and leave the car alone.  If you locked your car, the thieves would smash their way in to see what was of value. Jesus’ appointees had nothing of material value to thieves and robbers they would encounter on the road.  Second, having nothing of material value kept Jesus’ appointees humble and focused on the mission.  Third, having nothing of material value made it clear to the villagers and townspeople that the value Jesus’ appointees possessed was in the message of salvation through Christ.

Jesus then told his appointees, “5 When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.  8 When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’” (Luke 10:5-9).

Jesus gave the 72 practical instructions on being gracious and grateful guests.  And then Jesus told them to do two specific things for their hosts.  First, if there are sick among your hosts, offer healing. Second, to all, offer the message of hope that the kingdom of God, the Son of God has come.  To offer healing to another person is a ministry of grace, it is a gift given to the 72 appointees through the Holy Spirit.  Some of you have been given the gift of bringing healing to the bodies of others.  You treat the wounds and scars of illness and injury.  Some of you have been given the gift of bringing healing to the soul of others. You treat the wounds and scars of trauma and tragedy.  And all of us have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable us to share the good news of the kingdom of God.  With and through the Holy Spirit you and I have been given the opportunity to bring hope to everyone we meet.

The Holy Spirit given to the 72 appointees is the same Holy Spirit given to you and me.  The Holy Spirit is not ours to own nor is the Holy Spirit of our creation.  The Holy Spirit is given to us to accomplish a mission. Like Charlie Plumb’s case, the parachute was not of his creation nor was the parachute his to own.  The parachute was given to him to be used.

I want to fast forward to the end of today’s passage.  In a single sentence Luke summarized the entirety of the experience of the 72 appointees after they had gone to the villages. After the 72 appointees completed that mission, we read in verse 17, “17 The seventy-two returned with joy” (Luke 10:17a). 

I find these few words amazing and inspiring.  The 72 appointees were sent into these towns and villages nearing the end of Jesus’ public ministry.  We will say in or about the year 33 A.D.  Luke, our author, was not one of the 72 appointees.  Luke interviewed eyewitnesses and compiled memories from those who were present during Jesus’ ministry.  Luke wrote his gospel account likely around 62 A.D., or about 30 years after the events.  Thirty years after the 72 appointees went into the villages and towns ahead of Jesus to heal and bring the good news of Jesus to those who had not heard of him the experience was summed up in one word, joy.  “17 The seventy-two returned with joy” (Luke 10:17a).

Joy.  Joy is not the same thing as happiness.  Happiness is based upon temporary experiences.  We can see this if we fill in the blank in the statement, “I was so happy when…”

• You smiled at me.
• They played my favorite song.
• They finally went home!

Happiness is temporary and cannot remain when circumstances become difficult.  Joy on the other hand is an experience of God’s grace.  Joy sustains us amid trouble and hardship.  Joy allows us to see good in the immediate circumstance regardless of how difficult they may be.  When our good friend Charlie Plumb looked up and saw the 15 of 18 panels on his parachute intact and working, Charlie was not happy for he was drifting slowly into enemy territory.  But even in amid difficult circumstances Charlie could express joy that he had been equipped by another with a lifegiving gift.  The 72 appointees experienced joy when they allowed the Holy Spirit to work through them.  And so can we.

          Who is packing your spiritual parachute?  Are you saved and allowing God’s Holy Spirit to move you into a ministry of grace?  If you are, then you know joy.  If you are not extending God’s grace, then like the very old commercial used to say, “Try it, you’ll like it.”  It fact, more than like it, you will find joy.

          Today, is a special day because we celebrate with the Lord’s Supper.  This is special because today Jesus packs our parachute with something extra, a visible and tangible reminder that we are saved.  Jesus knew our everyday existence would make our relationship with him dulled.  The Lord’s Supper was intended to change our dullness by reminding us that the source of our salvation, the source of our life, comes from our Lord and Savior, Jesus.  The Lord’s Supper was intended to change our lackadaisical attitudes by remembering our salvation was a gift.  We did nothing to earn our salvation.  All the work necessary for us to move from death to life was done for us by Jesus upon the cross.  We alone need to accept and believe in what Jesus did and who he is.  Finally, the Lord’s Supper was intended to remind us that even in the most difficult of trials, trauma, and yes, even gently landing in enemy territory, there can be joy in possessing and exercising the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

          Let us prepare ourselves to remember that we are saved and therefore have the gift of life and joy.  Amen and Amen.

          The last two weeks, we have seen that God’s Messiah, who entered the world and human history in the person of Jesus, was not a surprise.  The nature, temperament, trials, mission, shall we say the story of God’s Messiah, had been written hundreds of years earlier in the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament.  It was essential that the coming of God’s Messiah be described before the Messiah came into the world.  How else would the people know to expect the Messiah and how would people know who was the authentic Messiah?  I use the word “authentic” because there have been false Messiahs.  While the research on false Messiahs is incomplete, there have been no fewer than 27 Jewish people who have claimed to be God’s Messiah. There have also been more than 20 Christians who have made Messianic claims, including Ann Lee, a central figure of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also known as the Shakers, who settled in Colonie, NY.  Ann Lee was said to have described herself as the “’embodied all the perfections of God’ in female form and considered herself to be Christ's female counterpart.”

          God wanted to make sure that the people could know the truth about the authentic Messiah and so God shared His knowledge with the people through the prophets and writers of the Hebrew Scriptures. The last two weeks we saw that God gave His knowledge about the Messiah through Psalm 110 and Psalm 22.  This week we will see the truth about the Messiah, about Jesus, was foretold in Psalm 118, and the good news that the Messiah was to bring to us.  In Psalm 118, we will see that God knew that his Messiah would be rejected by those who should have known Jesus was the authentic Messiah.  Jesus was not rejected by the common people so much as Jesus was rejected by the best and brightest people of Israel.  Jesus was rejected by the people who seemed to have their act together spiritually, physically, and emotionally.  The healthy and wealthy rejected Jesus because he did not, in their opinion, fit in.  Jesus did not fit the mold they wanted.  And because Jesus was rejected, Jesus became the target of abuse and ridicule.

          Rejection, not fitting in, not being wanted, being abused, and being ridiculed are painful human experiences.  Rejection deflates us robbing us of hope and a future.  Rejection can produce within us anger, anxiety, depression, jealousy, and sadness.  Rejection is hard and feels very much unfair.  Some of you have or are experiencing rejection.  I have some good news for you.  You are in good company for Jesus was rejected by many people and is still rejected by many people today.  But, and this is the important part, Jesus was never rejected by God and if you seek to follow Jesus, you will never be rejected by him.  Let’s see together why that is the truth and good news for everyone here.

          First, we read from the New Testament Gospel of Mark an account of Jesus sharing a parable with his disciples and a group of Pharisees, religious leaders that shadowed Jesus but consistently rejected Jesus’ teachings.  A parable we know is a story designed to teach an important Biblical truth that people do not seem to understand.  The Gospel writers Matthew and Luke also included this parable in their account of Jesus life and ministry. In the interest of time, I am not going to go into depth for every element of the parable Jesus told.  I just want to emphasize a couple of points from the parable so that we have time to understand the broader context of Jesus’ words.

          Mark wrote, “1 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: ‘A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower” (Mark 12:1).  We might not immediately understand the significance to Jesus’ opening words, but the Pharisees would unmistakably see that the man in the story was God and the vineyard was Israel.  The Pharisees would remember that in the Hebrew Scriptures, the prophet of Isaiah specifically, wrote these words:  “1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.  2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.  He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well…The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel” (Isaiah 5:1-2, 7a).  So Jesus’ opening words to the parable clearly meant the story was about God and the nation of Israel.

          Jesus continued the parable, “Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they (the tenants) seized him (the servant), beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they (the tenants) struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another (servant), and that one they (the tenants) killed. He sent many others; some of them they (the tenants) beat, others they (the tenants) killed” (Mark 12:3-5).  The Pharisees would have understood that given that the man was God and the vineyard was Israel, the tenants would be the leaders of Israel (them), and the servants would be the prophets sent by God with a message of righteousness.  The history of Israel is replete with stories of the leaders of Israel beating and, at times, killing God’s prophets.

          Despite the mistreatment by the tenants, the vineyard owner, God, desired to make things right with the tenants.  Jesus said, “6 He (The owner-God) had one (servant) left to send, a son, whom he loved. He (The owner-God) sent him (God’s son) last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  7 But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.  9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.  (Mark 12:6-9).  Jesus’ story is thinly veiled and speaks about God sending his son (Jesus) to the nation of Israel only to have the tenants, the Pharisees, out of jealousy and envy the son.  The tenants, here the Pharisees, could not see the blessing there was in having the son come to them to redeem the situation.  The Pharisees seethed with anger as Jesus warned that their pride, envy, and rejection of him would be their undoing.

          Jesus then further connected the parable with what the Pharisees ought to know from the Hebrew Scriptures.  Jesus said, “10 Haven’t you (Pharisee) read this passage of Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” (Mark 12:10-12). The verse cited by Jesus come from Psalm 118.  Jesus knew these experts in the Hebrew Scriptures had had read Psalm 118 many times before.  What was clear from Jesus’ question was that the Pharisees had not allowed themselves to receive Psalm as God’s Word of what would happen in and through the authentic Messiah.

          What was it about Psalm 118 that Jesus wanted the Pharisees to contemplate, and by extension, for us to know?  Let’s look at a couple of key passages and, in particular, those leading up to Jesus’ quotation from the Psalm 118 to the Pharisees.

          The psalmist said, “15 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous. The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!  16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” (Psalm 118:15-16).  The psalmist was expressing great things had been accomplished by that the person seated to the Lord’s right hand.  Three times in two verses we hear great things about the Lord’s right hand.  This is significant because in Psalm 110 we learned that God’s Messiah is seated at God’s right.  God said to the Messiah, “Sit at my right hand” (Psalm 110:1a).  So, the testimony of Psalm 118 is that Messiah had done might things.  Jesus did mighty things.  Jesus healed people.  Jesus fed thousands of people.  Jesus walked on water and calmed the storms.  Jesus raised people from the dead.  Jesus taught with authority like no other.  And, Jesus forgave sins.

          Here is an important point we do not want to miss. Jesus was the perfect one to come to earth.  There is nothing random about Jesus coming.  Jesus’ coming was ordained by God to occur at the right time and for the right reasons.  In Psalm 118 we learn that in Jesus’ coming there would be joy and victory from the tents of the righteous.  Jesus came for you and me.

Now there is need for a word of caution.  We have to avoid the idea that to be received by Jesus that we somehow have to first become acceptable.  We do not first need to become righteous on our own to have joy and shouts of joy. Years ago, I thought I will seek Jesus after I get my act in order and become a better person.  That is not the message of hope and promise Jesus came to deliver.  Jesus said come me now, just as you are, and seek the righteousness that comes from me. It is in the seeking and believing in Jesus that provides the transformation of our life, if you will, it is the presence of Christ that causes us to get our act in order and become a better person. If you have been waiting to accept Jesus until you somehow become a better person, then stop.  There is no need and no point in doing that. Instead, come and accept Jesus just as you are and watch the might work of God’s right hand in your life.

          As we return to Psalm 118, we see that the psalmist understood what was going to happen as God’s Messiah followed the will of God.  “17 I will not die but live and will proclaim what the Lord has done.  18 The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death” (Psalm 118:17-18).  The psalmist, though he lived hundreds of years before Jesus, understood from God that there would be those people and groups who would seek to destroy God’s Messiah. As Jesus said in his parables, there was a history of beating and killing prophets who had come with a message from God.  The psalmist acknowledged that the Messiah would experience severe treatment at the hands of the leaders and it would appear as though death would end the Messiah. We know this happened to Jesus for what could be more severe than to be flogged and crucified.  While the horrible treatment of Jesus was done in the hopes that Jesus would be forgotten and his followers would become fearful and not speak of Jesus again, it did not work out that way.  Death was not the final state for the Messiah.

          The psalmist described the final scene this way, “19 Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.  20 This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.  21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation” (Psalm 118:19-20).  We know the good news was and is that Jesus was resurrected into new life and came out of the tomb.  In doing so, Jesus praised God and the people could see that Jesus was truly the gate through which his followers, you and I, could be made right.  Through Christ we are able to have an abundant and enriched life in the present and life eternal.

          How is it possible for us to be so blessed? The words of the psalmist and the words of Jesus reveal the truth to us.  “22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.  24 The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad” (Psalm 118:22-24).  The key here is that God has taken Jesus whom the best and brightest of Israel rejected and made Jesus the cornerstone of God’s revelation of himself and the blessing for all people.

The cornerstone is the foundational block of a building that aligns the whole building and ties it all together.  The cornerstone, if not square and level, will make the whole building unstable. God chose that Jesus would be that cornerstone for the church and all spiritual life even knowing or because he knew Jesus would be rejected by men seeking to create a religion they controlled. Jesus was rejected yet Jesus praised God.  Jesus was rejected yet he was true and straight in his thinking.  Jesus was rejected and yet he gave others the right to become part of the kingdom of God.  Jesus told the Pharisees, “9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9a). Jesus was rejected and yet Jesus would reject none who sought him.

You and I will experience rejection, heartache, and putdowns in our life.  But you and I will never be rejected by God.  God sent Jesus to be rejected for us.  In Jesus, in accepting him, and seeking to imitate Jesus will never be rejected by God.  That is truly good news worthy of shouting for joy.  Amen and Amen.