The Sacrifices of Jesus

The Sunday night message in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  July 30, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Mark 6:1-6.

            I’ve had several “home towns” in my life.  Maybe some of you have, too.  When I was growing up, Delmont was my home town.  I went to school in Vermillion of seven years, first to the business school, and then to law school, and that felt like my home town.  I lived in Pierre for six and a half years after that, and that was my home town.  We lived in Wessington Springs for seventeen years, and that was my home town.  Then we got our first United Methodist appointment in North Sioux City.  And then we came here, and Gettysburg and Onida, and even Agar, now feel like our home towns.

            For the divine Jesus, of course, there was no such thing as a home town on earth.  The home of the divine Jesus was in heaven.  But Jesus was also fully human, of course, and for the human Jesus, Nazareth was his home.  As far as we can tell, he grew up there.  He spent most of the first thirty years of his life there.

          Because there’s no evidence to the contrary, we assume that Jesus lived a pretty ordinary life there during that time.  He was a carpenter.  His earthly family was there--our Bible reading mentions his mother Mary; four brothers, James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon; and some unnamed sisters.  Presumably he had friends there, too, some of whom he’d probably known since he was a little kid.

            Our best guess, as far as I could find out, is that about a year and a half had passed since Jesus had started his traveling ministry.  Jesus had done a lot of things in that time.  He had healed people.  He had worked miracles.  He had preached to thousands of people.  And now, a year and a half later, after all that he had said and done, Jesus was coming home.

            I would think that thought would’ve made Jesus happy.  Seeing all these people he had not seen in quite a while.  Finding out what had happened to them.  Getting to eat Mom’s home cooking.  And, of course, being able to go to the synagogue and teach and do the things for his old friends and neighbors that he’d done for so many people in so many other places.

            Except, of course, it did not work out that way, did it?  We’re told that the people there were amazed by Jesus, but not in a good way.  They were resentful of him.  This Jesus was not the same person they had known.  He’d changed.  And the people of Nazareth did not like this new Jesus.  They were saying, what’s up with all this?  Here he is, up in the synagogue, teaching and working miracles like he’s really hot stuff or something.  Who does this Jesus think he is, anyway?  He’s just an ordinary person like we are.  What does he think, that he’s better than the rest of us now?  We’re told that the people of Nazareth were actually offended at Jesus teaching in the synagogue.

            When we think about the sacrifice Jesus made for us, we usually think of his death on the cross.  And we should think about that.  That was incredibly important, for a lot of reasons.  But that was not the only sacrifice Jesus made for us.  Jesus made lots of other sacrifices for us, too.

           One of them is simply being willing to come to earth at all.  I mean, think about it.  Jesus was in heaven.  The Divine Son.  God the Son.  In heaven with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  The trinity.  The three in one.  All of them together fully God and each of them fully God.  And we don’t know quite how that works, but just think about how awesome that would be for Jesus in heaven.

            And Jesus willingly gives that up.  He separates himself from the other two members of the holy trinity.  That’d be like giving up a part of yourself.  Can you even imagine that?  I don’t think I can.  All the time he was on earth he’d have felt incomplete, like a part of him was missing.  

That was a tremendous sacrifice Jesus made.  It must have been a really terrible feeling for him, to feel incomplete and separate in that way.  Maybe that’s why Jesus would sometimes go off by himself to pray.  Maybe, when he did that, he could get some measure of connection with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit and not feel so incomplete, at least for a while.

            And then, there was the sacrifice Jesus made by his ministry on earth.  Again, he had lived in Nazareth his whole earthly life.  He had family there.  He had friends there, old friends who’d known him all his earthly life.  He had a business there.  He had a home there.  He was living in the normal routines and rhythms of life that we all live in.

            When Jesus started his earthly ministry, he gave all that up.  He left his family behind.  He left his old friends behind.  He left his carpentry business behind.  He left his home behind.  He left behind his entire way of life, the way of life he’d been living ever since he was little.  Think about what that would be like, to leave behind the only life you’d ever known like that.

           And think of what he left it behind for.  A life of wandering.  No stability.  No home life.  No place to even call home.  As Jesus says, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  A life of people constantly demanding things from him.  A life of people constantly criticizing him, trying to tell him what to do.  A life of people trying to trick him and trap him.  A life in which no one, not even his closest associates, really understood him or what he was trying to do.  That’s a tremendous sacrifice that Jesus made, when you think about it.  Jesus did not just sacrifice his life when he died on the cross.  Jesus sacrificed his entire earthly life when he started his ministry.

            Jesus knew what he was doing, of course.  When Jesus left home to start his ministry, he knew what that meant.  He knew it was what he had come to earth to do.  Jesus knew he had not come to earth to live a quiet life as a carpenter in Nazareth.  He knew he was the Savior, the Divine Son of God.  He knew what he needed to do, and he knew what was going to happen to him as a result.  Maybe not every last detail--we don’t know that--but he knew enough.  He knew everything he was giving up, both during his life and in his death.  But still, it was a sacrifice.  And Jesus made that sacrifice.  He made it for us.

            Why do you suppose, after a year and a half on the road, Jesus came home?  We’re not told.  Maybe Jesus never said.  Maybe the disciples themselves did not know.  It could be that he wanted to check on Mary and his earthly siblings, to see how they were doing.  It could be that he just wanted to rest and get away from things for a while.  It could be all kinds of reasons.

           But I wonder if, while Jesus was there, it ever crossed his mind to wonder what his life would have been like if he’d never left.  We don’t know that he did, but again, while he was on earth Jesus was fully human as well as fully divine.  A lot of us, as humans, look at our lives and wonder about what would’ve happened if we’d done things differently.  Maybe Jesus did, too.

          Maybe the human Jesus wondered, what would’ve happened if I’d just kept working in the carpenter shop?  He could’ve had a quiet, normal life.  Maybe he’d even have gotten married and raised a family.  Things would’ve been so much easier.  They’d have been so much simpler.  A nice house to come home to.  People who cared about him.  No one constantly trying to trick him or trap him or come up with a reason to throw him in prison.  There could have been a part of the human Jesus that thought that all sounded pretty good.

            But of course, Jesus did leave home, and he did start his ministry.  Because Jesus knew he was the divine Son of God.  And he knew that he had come to earth for specific reasons.  To teach us.  To heal us.  To provide an example for us.  To die, so that our sins could be forgiven.  Jesus knew that was why he had come to earth.  And he knew that he needed to do what he had been put on earth to do.  But still, he had to make that choice.  And he had to make the sacrifices necessary to do what he had been put on earth to do.

          But here’s the thing.  Jesus was not the only person who was put on earth for specific reasons.  You know who else was?  You.  And me.  Each one of us was put on earth for specific reasons.  No, none of us is the divine Son of God.  But each of us was put here to do certain things.  We’re put here to love God.  We’re put here to serve God.  We’re put here to love each other and serve each other.  We’re put here to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

And there will be times when doing those things complicates our life, just as it complicated Jesus’ life.  And there may be times when we’d rather not do them.  There may be times when we realize how much easier our lives would be, how much simpler our lives would be, if we did not do what God put us here to do.  And there are going to be times when, if we’re going to do what God put us here to do, we’re going to have to give some things up.  We’re going to need to make some sacrifices.  If we’re going to do the things God put us here to do, we’re not always going to be able to do the things we want to do.

And then we’re going to have to make a choice, just as Jesus had to make a choice.  Are we going to do what God put us on earth to do?  Are we going to love God and serve God with everything we do?  Are we going to love each other and serve each other at all times?  Are we going to go out and make disciples of Jesus Christ?  And are we going to do those things even when doing them means we have to give some things up and make some sacrifices, sacrifices that we might not really want to make?  Are we willing to give up a quiet, normal life, if that’s what’s necessary to do what God put us here to do?

Jesus was willing to give up his entire earthly life so that he could do what he was put on earth to do.  We need to be willing to do the same.  It’s not easy, just as it was not easy for Jesus.  But if it’s the only way we can do what God put us here to do, then we need to do it, just as Jesus did.