The last week of Jesus’ life was really a
roller-coaster. We start with the high of Palm Sunday, today. Then we did down, to the Last Supper, to the
Garden of Gethsemane, to Jesus being arrested and beaten, to Jesus being killed
on the cross. But then, we go up, higher than we’ve ever been, as the
tomb is empty and Christ is risen!
And yet, when you look at that incredible roller-coaster,
Jesus remains pretty much the same. Jesus does not get overly excited when
he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and hears the cheers of the crowd. And
Jesus does not get overly depressed when he arrested and beaten. Not that he liked it, obviously--it was a
really hard thing to go through. But Jesus does not complain, he does not
get mad, he does not say, “Why me?”
Jesus accepts everything that happens, the good and the bad, and stays
on an even keel. Maybe that’s part of what the author of the letter to
the Hebrews meant when he wrote that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today,
and forever.
I think that tells us a lot about Jesus. It tells us
who we was, and it tells us who he is. And that’s what our reading from
the book of Philippians tells us, too.
It starts by telling us that Jesus was, in his very nature,
God. And we know that, of course.
And the thing is, Jesus knew it, too. Jesus, at least once he was
baptized and started his ministry, knew exactly who he was. He knew that
he was, in fact, the divine Son of God.
He knew that he was, in fact, God--God the Son, part of the Trinity.
We say that, and we kind of nod our heads in agreement with
it, but think about what that really means. Think about the incredible
power Jesus had while he was on earth.
And think about how tempting it must have been for him to use that
power.
Really think about it. What would you do, if you had
Jesus’ power? Would you use it for your own benefit? Would you use it to acquire money and control
and power for yourself? Would you use it to let you just sit back, take
life easy, and not have to do much of anything?
Or, would you try to use it for good? Would you heal everyone, and
feed everyone, and get rid of injustice and oppression and all the other bad
things in the world?
I don’t know. I don’t know what I would do, if I had
Jesus’ power. There are so many options, more options than we can
imagine, really. But there’s one thing that I don’t think I would
do. I don’t think I would let that power go unused when someone betrayed
me. I don’t think I would let that power go dormant while I was arrested
for no real reason. I don’t think I would just allow that power to lapse
while I was being beaten and mocked. And
I’m pretty sure I would not allow that power to go unused while I was being
killed in a very painful way.
But Jesus did. That’s what the Apostle Paul is
talking about when he says Jesus “did not consider equality with God something
to be used to his own advantage. Jesus could’ve used his power for
himself in so many ways. Certainly he
could’ve used it to avoid death. But he
did not. Jesus purposely and
deliberately refused to use his power, and instead allowed himself to be killed
on the cross.
Why? Paul tells us that, too. He says, “Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very
nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even
death on a cross!”
Jesus was obedient. He was obedient
to God the Father. That’s why Jesus was able to stay on an even keel throughout
everything that happened. Jesus knew who he was, but he also knew what he
was supposed to do. Jesus knew that
everything that was happening, was happening because God was allowing it to
happen. And Jesus knew that if he stayed obedient to God, God would see
him through everything. Jesus was able
to stay calm, to handle everything, to stay on such an even keel, because he
trusted that, no matter how hard things got for him, God was in control.
He trusted that God had good reasons for allowing things to be the way they
were, and that God would use it all for God’s glory.
And we think, well, but Jesus knew he was
going to be resurrected. And he did.
He told the disciples that. But
that did not make the pain any less. It did not make what he went through
any easier. That’s why Jesus prayed so
hard in the garden of Gethsemane. He was begging God, please, if there’s
any other way to do this, do it that way.
If there’s any other way to save human beings other than me having to go
through this, do it that way. Jesus knew how hard this was going to
be. But ultimately, Jesus was still
obedient to God the Father.
It was because of Jesus’ obedience to the
Father that Jesus was ultimately raised to sit at the right hand of the
Father. It’s not me saying that, it’s Paul. After he says Jesus was obedient even to
death on a cross, he says this:
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name
that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus had incredible power while he was on
earth. And he knew it. And he was
tempted to use it for his own good. That’s what Satan was trying to do
when Jesus was fasting in the wilderness--trying to get Jesus to use his power
for himself. But Jesus refused.
And that refusal was good for his entire life on earth. No matter how much he was tempted--and he
was, all his life--Jesus refused to use his power for himself. He was
humble. He was obedient. He trusted God the Father. And his obedience and trust resulted in our
salvation and in Jesus being exalted to the highest place and being
acknowledged as Lord.
That, of course, was what people were
doing on that first Palm Sunday--acknowledging Jesus as Lord. But they
did not have Jesus’ humility or obedience.
They wanted Jesus to use his power.
They wanted him to use his power for them, of course. They wanted
him to use it to take control and establish a kingdom on earth. And, of course, they thought that when he did
that, they’d get the benefit of his power. They did not want Jesus to be
obedient to God the Father--they wanted him to be obedient to them. They wanted Jesus to do things their way,
rather than trusting him to do things the way God the Father wanted him to do
them.
And are we really all that
different? We pray to God. And
many times, we pray for God to use God’s power. And we want God to use
God’s power for us. We might not think
about it that way. We might truly believe that what we’re asking God to
do would be the best for everybody. We might honestly think that all
we’re asking God to do is what’s just and right. But, no matter how honest and sincere we may
be, when we pray that way, we’re not trying to be obedient to God. No
matter how well-intentioned we might convince ourselves that we are, the truth
is that many times, we’re trying to get God to be obedient to us, rather than
the other way around.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s okay
to ask God for things. Again, Jesus asked for God to do things
differently when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. But ultimately, we
need to be obedient to God. And that
means accepting what God wants.
Accepting it even when it’s not what we want. Accepting it even
when it’s going to be really hard.
Accepting it even when it does not make sense to us. Being able to pray, under all circumstances,
“Thy will be done.” And trusting that, no matter what God’s will may be,
God will stay with us, and God will see us through it.
Our lives can
be a roller coaster, too. That’s true under all circumstances, as I’m
sure everyone knows. But it seems like it’s even more true now. There’s something going on that’s never
happened before in our lifetimes. It’s causing major changes in the way
we live our lives. We try to deal with
it, and we do, but it’s not always easy.
We go back and forth between wishing things could be the way they are
and accepting that they won’t be for some time yet. And we know that even
when we’re able to go back to having in-person worship and group meetings and
community events and all the rest, we won’t really be going back to the way
things were. The world will be
different. Maybe in big ways, maybe in
small ways, but it will be different. We’re going to stay on this roller
coaster for a while.
The only way
we can deal with that is to do what Jesus did: be obedient to God. Trusting that, no matter what happens, it’s
happening because God is allowing it to happen. Trusting that, if we stay
obedient to God, God will see us through everything. Trusting that, no matter how hard things get,
God is still in control. And trusting that God is going to use it all for
God’s glory.
And if we do
that, God will exalt us, too. If we can stay faithful, and continue to
love God and trust God, God will bless what we do. God will bless
us. And by our faith in Jesus as the
Savior, we will receive our reward in heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment