2112AFC031921 – The Road Ahead
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John 12:26 – 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
Jeremiah 31:33 – 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Hebrews 5:7 – 7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are nearing the end of the Lenten Season; this Sunday is the Fifth Sunday in Lent. Next Sunday is the beginning of Passion week which opens with Palm Sunday. Toward the end of that week we experience the Holy Triduum – the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus culminating in our Easter Sunday celebration. In the past several weeks, we have been following Jesus as he resolutely set his eyes, heart, mind, and spirit toward Jerusalem. He has told his Disciples three times that he must suffer greatly, die, and be raised up on the third day. They nod outwardly, but inwardly they have no idea whatsoever what he is talking about nor do they understand how much they themselves will be changed by what they will experience in the next few days. The Road to Jerusalem was – for them – just another journey with the Master. For Jesus, it was the most important yet most dreadful road he ever traveled. Let us ask each other, then, what does the road ahead look like for us?
It may seem impertinent, but who are “us?” I am reminded of Walt Kelley’s famous Pogo comic-strip quote, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” This is a twist on Oliver Hazard Perry’s words after a naval battle: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” In the context of this message – as in nearly all of the messages in this blog – the “us,” and the “we” are Christians – believers in the Christ of God. We are not addressing the Christian mission of evangelism outside the Church; we are focusing on evangelization and edification inside the Church. Now, why the quote from Pogo? As we look at the Church today, there seems to be a good deal of confusing rhetoric from more than a few directions. With over 4,000 non-Catholic denominations, more than a score of Liturgical Rites aligned with Rome, and only God knows how many invented religions, it is increasingly clear that all that divisiveness mirrors the multidimensional “polarization” seen in The World. “We” are not all that different, it seems, from “them” except that we cite doctrine and theology as the basis for our separations (or unifications). What if I told you none of that is important? Well, that would certainly tighten a few jaws, but let me show you what I mean.
Just where do you think we’re going, and how are we supposed to get there? We know we are supposed to answer “We’re going to Heaven and we get there by believing in and serving Jesus.” That is a good answer, but a bit shallow. We have a couple of other stops along the way. Please reflect on this: Jesus has been telling his Disciples that he must suffer greatly at the hands of the Jews, that he will die, and then he will rise again. His Road to Jerusalem was the only Road to Calvary. Now consider our Gospel Key Verse: Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Do we have Calvary on our own little roadmap? Jesus knew what awaited him at the end of that trip, and the man called Jesus dreaded it because he know it would be terrible. Nonetheless he says, “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” (See John 12:27-28) This occurs six days (↔ Click Link) before the Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus’ Passion. He had just been to a lovely dinner hosted by his friends in Bethany – Lazarus, Martha, and Mary – and he was anointed by Mary with “a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard.” Does our journey make room for such an anointing? What would we do if someone even started to do that to us? Would we react like Judas Iscariot who became indignant and said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (Remember a denarius was a day’s wage.) Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Are we still on that road with Jesus or do we need to get on the road again? (↔ NOT a Music Link!) What is the purpose of being on the road? In Willie’s song, the purpose is to get together with friends and make music, and to see the World like a band of gypsies. Now, that’s not to say that Ol’ Willie hasn’t got a few Christian thoughts in his rucksack, but if we think about it, he’s talking about a community, relationships, friendships; the purpose of those connections is creativity – not procreation, but art and invention that contribute to the World Order of Good. We know, though, that The World is evil and will die, but the Word will always be Goodness and Light so it will live and grow. Is our road the road that ends in the Presence of God? Is our purpose on this Road the Glory of God? For the worldly, the secular-humanist earthlings who express contempt for us “religious nuts,” the end of every road is the happiness of comfort among other earthlings. What is our purpose for coming to this hour, this wide-spot in the road? Is it, or is it not, the purpose for which Jesus is here at this hour, in this place, ready to be with us as we share with him our Love, our Service, and our Obedience? As we travel with each other in Jesus’ company, do we have “God’s law within us, written on our hearts” according to his covenant?
His covenant-share is that he will redeem us as he says “… for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” What is our covenant-share in this prophecy? We are to follow, to trust, to obey, to love God and neighbor. (God leads. God’s People follow.) WE must remember that Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Follow, trust, obey, love – this is what we call “followership,” and followership ≡ submission to God’s will to the exclusion of our own will. That is easy to say and tougher than nailing Jell-O to a flag pole.
Maybe you remember seeing this back in November 2020
Stairways to Heaven & Hell
The late Rev. Adrian Rogers stated in one of his messages that God uses Scripture to show us what we can become if we focus on the Word. He said that the deeper you are in the Word “you become like what you look at.” The entire Word of God is in Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus is in the entire word of God. If you are in the Word, where are you? In Christ Jesus! If the Word of God is in you, then inside you is Christ Jesus, “changed into the same image from glory to glory!” We will see him as he is for we shall be like him. (See 1334AFC082313 – Mirror, Mirror on the Shelf – reposted to Facebook Wednesday 3/17) All of this is part of Jesus’ servants being where he is – including on the road to Calvary.
Do you remember what Jesus said about that, about being lifted up? It’s in the third chapter of John: John 3:14-15 – 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (Please use the Scripture link to see this passage in context. It is important to understand how this fits into the Gospel lesson for this Sunday.) To what is Jesus referring? Here are a couple of illustrations to help us refresh those aging memories. Numbers 21:8-9 – 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
God had given Israel his Law – the Ten Commandments (See Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21), – they were given before the fiery serpents and the bronze serpent on a pole). How is it, then, that Moses made a metallic image of a poisonous snake and told the People of Israel to look at it to save their lives? Isn’t that an idol, a “graven image?” The difference here is that God ORDERED Moses TO MAKE THE DEVICE. It is a prefiguring, a “type,” which God used to show us how we must always rely on him for our salvation. That is why Jesus referred to it when he was talking to Nicodemus. I believe he told Nicodemus that because Nicodemus would remember “the rest of the Story.” In the days of King Hezekiah, the People were burning incense and praying to that device Moses had made! 2 Kings 18:4 – 4 He [Hezekiah] removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred pole. He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan. {nekh-oosh-tawn’} “The serpent-thing of brass/bronze/copper” (↔ Click Link for more information)
Belovéd, our days are often filled with deep, frightful prayers and supplications for our Nation, for our Church, for our intercessory Prayer List, and for all of us who call upon the Name of The Lord. These are nowhere near as intense as the prayers Jesus made. The evil that has washed over us like a horrific tsunami is indeed terrifying because it has nearly washed out the Road we must travel, the stairway we must seek. Now that we’ve considered where that Road begins and ends, we have what we need to give deeper consideration of Jesus’ purpose for glorifying his Father by going to his death on the Cross: “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.
That is the road we are on – or should be on. If not, we need to get back on the Road again but this time make absolutely certain we are the servants who are accompanying their Master to the Place he has prepared for us. It is not an easy road. There are high peaks, deep valleys, raging rivers, stormy seas, dragons, demons, and edges of huge cliffs. Jesus can handle all of that because he has given us something to bridge the gaps along our difficult road. As we travel that Road with Jesus, we recall Jesus’ words, “Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” We choose to follow him because we hear him calling, (↔ Music Link) and so we have Decided to Follow Jesus. (↔ Music Link)
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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St. Joseph
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