There’s an old riddle that you’ve probably heard before. It asks, in a bacon-and-egg breakfast, what’s
the difference between the chicken and the pig?
The answer is that the chicken gets involved, but the pig makes a total
commitment.
I thought about that story as I read our Bible verses for
tonight. The disciples had been with
Jesus all this time. And yet, when the
crunch time came, they all abandoned him.
Judas, of course, actively betrayed him.
Simon Peter denied three times that he even knew who this Jesus guy
was. And the others, once Jesus got
arrested, were nowhere to be found. They
apparently just took off, left, went into hiding. The disciples had gotten involved, but only
Jesus was willing to make a total commitment.
Jesus knew it would be that way, of course. He told the disciples about it. He knew Judas would betray him. He knew Simon Peter would deny knowing
him. He knew the others would leave,
too. But he never got mad at them for
it. He said to Judas, “What you are
about to do, do quickly.” The way it
reads, he would never have said anything about it to Simon Peter if Peter had
not bragged about how he would lay down his life for Jesus. Jesus knew how things were going to go, but
he did not get upset about it. He
accepted that this was who the disciples were and he accepted that this was
what the disciples were going to do.
And that seems to be Jesus’ attitude during the entire
reading we had for tonight. When the
soldiers came to arrest him, he did not fight.
He would not let the disciples fight, either. He did not even criticize the soldiers for arresting
him. He accepted that this was who the
soldiers were and this was what the soldiers were going to do. It was the same when he went before
Caiaphas. It was the same when he went
before Pilate. Jesus never fought. He never got mad. He never even criticized the people who were
responsible for beating him and killing him.
He accepted the situation for what it was, and he accepted the people
for who they were.
Think about how hard that must have been for Jesus. To know everything that was going to
happen. To know who was going to do it
to him. To know that some of the people
who were going to do it to him were his closest friends on earth. To know that he could stop them. To know that he could stop everything that
was going to happen. To know that it
would be incredibly easy for him to do that.
And yet, to accept it all. Not
just to accept the terrible things that were going to happen to him, but to
accept the people who were going to do those things to them. And not only to accept them, but to still
love them. To still love them, in spite
of all they were going to do to him.
That’s a total commitment. That’s a commitment beyond anything I can
even imagine.
I think there are lessons for us in that commitment. You know, pretty much everyone here is
involved in the church in some way. And
we have awesome people in this church.
Wanda and I feel so lucky to be able to serve God with you. There are so many people here, and some who
are not here, who do so much for the Lord and for the church and for us
personally. We appreciate each and every
one of you.
And yet, how many of us could say that we are totally
committed to serving God? Probably not
very many. And don’t get me wrong—I
don’t claim to be one of them, by any means.
There are very few of us who could say that we are totally committed to
serving God, so committed that we would give up our lives, if necessary, to
serve God.
But we should.
Because we claim to be followers of Jesus. If we’re followers of Jesus, then we should
be willing to go where Jesus went and do what Jesus did. And of course, where Jesus went was the
cross, and what he did was die there. So
if we’re truly followers of Jesus, that’s what we should be willing to do,
too. We should be willing to make that
total commitment that Jesus made.
Now, don’t get me wrong here. I am not arguing for works-based
salvation. The disciples were not
totally committed, and Jesus loved them and accepted them anyway. Our salvation is based on faith, not on
works. And Jesus knows how hard that
total commitment is for us. Remember
what Paul said, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for
a good person someone might possibly dare to die.” The kind of total commitment we’re talking
about is a rare thing.
But we should not use that as an excuse, either. And that’s an incredibly easy thing to
do. It’s easy for us to say, well I’m
doing pretty well. I do a lot of stuff
for the Lord. I do a lot of stuff for
the church. I’m doing okay. I’m doing enough.
Now, again, don’t take this as me saying I’m upset with
you for not doing enough. I know lots of
people do lots of things for God and for the church. I appreciate them. I’m sure God appreciates them, too. That’s not my point.
The thing is, I suspect the disciples felt like they were
doing pretty well, too. They did a lot
of stuff for God. They did a lot of
stuff for Jesus. I suspect a lot of
them, maybe all of them, thought, I’m doing okay. I’m doing enough. And I suspect that attitude is part of the
reason they all fell away from Jesus when the crunch came. They felt like they were doing enough. They were not totally committed to following
Jesus.
But praise the Lord, Jesus did not have that
attitude. Jesus obviously did all kinds
of things to serve God the Father, but he never felt like he’d done
enough. It was only when he was on the
cross and in his last breath said “It is finished” that he finally believed he
had done enough on the earth.
If we’re truly followers of Jesus, that’s the kind of
total commitment we need to have. A
commitment that says we’re willing to give up our lives for God, and to not
believe we’ve done enough until we draw our last breath.
That’s a tough standard.
It’s a standard most of us will fail at.
But here’s the good news.
Remember that quote from Paul about how it’s rare that anyone will die
for a righteous person? Some of you know
that there’s more to the quote than that.
Here it is: Paul says, “But God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.”
That’s why it’s not works-based salvation. Jesus knew the disciples were not totally
committed. He knew it would be very rare
when someone had that kind of total commitment.
And yet, Jesus died for us anyway.
You know, we’ve talked before about how Jesus was both
fully divine and fully human, and that we believe that even though we don’t
know exactly how it works. But here’s at
least one aspect to it. Jesus was
totally committed to God and totally committed to humans. Jesus knew that it was God’s will that he die
to save humans. And Jesus knew that it
was only through his death that humans could be saved.
It was only
because he was totally committed both to God and to humans that Jesus could do
what he did. It was only that total
commitment that allowed him to accept the fact that one disciple would betray
him, one would deny him, and the others would run away and hide. It was only that total commitment that
allowed him to accept his arrest, his show trial, and his death sentence.
Remember what
Jesus said were the two greatest commandments?
That we love God and that we love others? And remember how he said the second was
exactly like the first? Well, this is
Jesus giving us the ultimate example of how this plays out in our lives. Jesus was totally committed to God and Jesus
was totally committed to human beings.
And it was only that total commitment to both that enabled Jesus to do
what he did.
God will love
us without that total commitment. God loves
us no matter what. And our salvation is
based on our faith, not on our works.
But as Christians, we claim to be followers of Christ. That means we need to do what Jesus told us
to do—love God and love others. And we
need to do that no matter what the cost is.
We need to make the total commitment to God and to each other, even if
that means giving our lives.
It’s a tough
standard. And again, I’m not saying I’ve
done it. And I’m not saying I’m going to
be able to do it. But we need to try. And we need to try again. And we need to keep trying, and keep trying.
It’s good to
be involved. But it’s not enough to be
involved. We need to be totally
committed. Jesus did that. It’s what we’re supposed to do, too.
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