Riding the Roller Coaster

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on February 18, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Philippians 2:1-11.

            When you look at Jesus’ life, he had a lot of ups and downs.  He had the highs of the crowds praising Him, and the lows of Pharisees and Sadducees always trying to stop him.  We have the highs of thousands of people following Him to, ultimately, everyone abandoning Him.  In the last week of His life on earth, we have the high of Palm Sunday to the low of the Garden of Gethsemane, with 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.  We try to deal with it, and we do, but it’s not always easy.  We go up and down, back and forth.  We have some high highs, and we have some low lows.  Sometimes we wish things would just even out.  We don’t necessarily demand high highs, we just wish we could avoid the low lows.  Sometimes we’d settle for normal, even boring.  And sometimes, we get that, for a while, but not for long.  Eventually, we go back on the roller coaster, with the high highs and the low lows again. 

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.