He Would Do Anything For Love

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish September 3, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Mark 14:12-26.

            Some of you probably recognized at least part of that Bible reading.  It takes place, of course, at what we call the last supper.  And part of it is somewhat similar to what we say every time we take communion, right?  And there’s one line in there that’s said twice.  We say it twice every time we take communion, too.

            So, since we say it twice, it must be pretty important.  And yet, a lot of times, we just kind of gloss over it.  I know I often do.  I’d been reading that same communion stuff for years, and then one Communion Sunday, all of a sudden, that line just—bam--hit me right between the eyes.  Some of you may know what it is already, but here it is:  “when he had given thanks”.

            “When he had given thanks”.  That line appears twice.  First, we’re told, “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”  A little later, we’re told, “he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.  ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them.”

            Now, think about what’s going on here.  Jesus is eating the last meal he will ever eat on this earth.  After he eats this meal, he goes to Gethsemane.  He gets arrested.  He gets beaten.  He gets spat on.  He gets tortured.  And then, he gets killed.

            And Jesus knows all this is going to happen.  None of it catches Jesus by surprise.  In fact, he’s told his disciples what’s going to happen.  In fact, he’s told them one of them is going to betray him in order to make it all happen.  And yet, knowing all this, Jesus takes bread and gives thanks to God.  And then he takes a cup and gives thanks to God.

            I wonder what the actual words are that Jesus said.  I mean, what would he have had to be thankful for?  The meal?  Well, maybe—we think it was a traditional Passover meal—but I doubt it.  With all that was going on, I doubt that food was very much on Jesus’ mind.  The time with the disciples?  Maybe, but he knew that one of them was going to betray him.  And he knew they were all going to fall away and abandon him.  

Do you think Jesus was really feeling thankful at that moment?  It’s hard to imagine that he was.  And yet, he gave thanks to God.  And I don’t think Jesus just did that because it was what he was supposed to do.  I mean, Jesus did not do a lot of the things that the Pharisees and the other religious leaders thought he was supposed to do.  I think Jesus meant every word he said.  I think Jesus was sincere in his thanks to God.

            But what would he have said?  What would Jesus have found to be thankful for?  I know the Bible says we’re supposed to be thankful in all circumstances, but this is really taking that to the extreme.  In these circumstances, about to be betrayed and tortured and killed even though you’d done nothing wrong, would you be able to find anything to be thankful for?

            I doubt if I would.  In fact, I’d probably have been pretty upset with God.  I might have been pretty angry with God, if you want to know the truth.  Here Jesus was, having done nothing wrong, having done everything he was supposed to do, and this is the reward he gets for it—mocking, torture, and death.  It’d be pretty hard to be thankful right then.

            But Jesus knew what was going on.  Jesus knew things had to be done this way.  In fact, Jesus knew this was part of the reason he’d come to earth in the first place.  Jesus knew this was his mission in coming here.  He had come here to be punished, not for his own sins, but for our sins.  He came here to take the punishment that belonged to us, so that we would not have to take it ourselves.  And he knew the reason he was doing it.  He was doing it out of love.  Jesus took that punishment on himself and away from us because he loves us that much.

            This was an incredibly hard thing God the Father was asking Jesus to do.  He was tempted not to do it.  There’s the story about the devil tempting Jesus while he was fasting in the desert, but I have to think Jesus was tempted time after time after time to not go through with this.  There were all kinds of ways he could’ve avoided it.  

He could’ve used his power to wipe out the Pharisees and the Romans and everyone else and establish an earthly kingdom.  That’s what some people wanted him to do.  And it had to be really tempting, because think of all the good Jesus could’ve done for people if he’d been an earthly king.  He could’ve solved the problems of slavery and of poverty and of oppression.  He could’ve made things fair for everybody.  That had to be a tempting thing for him to do.

And in fact, he might not have had to use his power to do that.  The people might’ve done it for him.  He was already a celebrity and a star for all the miracles he’d done, all the healing, that sort of thing.  If he’d done a little more of it, and especially if he’d healed the right people, some of the movers and shakers, they might’ve established Jesus as an earthly king by themselves.  Jesus might not have had to take power, power might have been just given to him.  That had to be tempting, too.

Or, Jesus could’ve cut a deal with the Pharisees.  You know, just back off a little bit.  Acknowledge the authority of the Pharisees.  Stop healing on the Sabbath.  Stop speaking out quite so forcefully.  He could still go around and help people, but just don’t make such a big deal out of defying authority when you do it, you know?  Just kind of lay low and keep quiet for a while.

There were all kinds of things Jesus could’ve done.  All kinds of ways Jesus could’ve avoided going through with this.  He was constantly tempted to do that, to avoid his destiny, to not do what he came to earth to do.  But on this night, this night of the Last Supper, Jesus knew he was going to go through with it.  He was going to resist temptation.  He was going to do what he had come here to do.  The love that Jesus has for us was so great that he was going to be able to do it, no matter how hard it was going to be for him.

And maybe that’s what Jesus was thankful to God for.  Jesus was thankful that God the Father had helped him resist temptation.  He was thankful that he was going to be who he was, who he had always been.  He was going to be Jesus, the Christ, the Savior, the Messiah.  He was going to truly be God the Son, no matter how hard it might be.  And he was going to show that God truly is a God of love.

The Bible tells us that you and I were created in God’s image.  So, if God is a God of love, then you and I, God’s people, are supposed to be a people of love.  And once again, we come back to what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments, the ones all the law and all the statements of the prophets depend on:  that we love God, and that we love each other.

Jesus’ love for us made him do some very hard things.  And you and I, if we love others, are going to be asked to do some very hard things, too.  We’re going to be asked to do things for people when we’re tired and we don’t really feel like doing anything for anyone.  We’re going to be asked to give to people when we’re not sure if we have enough for ourselves.  We’re going to be asked to respond with love when people treat us badly.  We’re going to be asked to be there for people when it feels like we have all we can do to take care of ourselves.

We’re going to be tempted not to do those things.  And there will be any number of ways we can avoid them.  We’ll be able to come up with all kinds of excuses for why we should not have to do things for people, why we should not have to give to people, why we should not have to respond with love, why we should not have to be there for people.  We’ll be tempted all the time to not do what we were put on this earth to do.

Jesus resisted temptation because he loved us.  And if you and I truly love each other, and if we truly love the people who are out there beyond these walls, you and I will be able to resist temptation, too.  We are not Jesus, and we are not perfect, but we can still resist temptation.  We can do it the way Jesus did it--by keeping the love of other people front and center in our lives.

And when we do resist temptation, we can be thankful to God, the way Jesus was.  We can be thankful that God has helped us resist temptation.  We can be thankful that we can be who we were created to be, who God has always created us to be.  We can be thankful because we are truly going to be God’s people, no matter how hard it might be.  And we can be thankful that we are a people of love, serving a God of love.