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Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene |
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Texts:
Romans
10:5-13, John 12:12-19
John leaned his arms against the rail and look at the ocean as the
bright, warm sunshine reflected off the water. He breathed in deeply, smelling
the salty air. The sun was just
beginning to rise and far to the east there were still streaks of orange and
yellow peaking through the dark sky. Looking
up John saw a couple of sea gulls flying overhead.
“We must be near land,” he thought.
Of course, the land must be on the other side of the ship, for on this
side water stretched for miles. How
magnificent and marvelous, yet intimidating and overwhelming was the ocean. He was lost in thought when his family came up behind him.
They wanted to catch an early breakfast before the ship docked later that
day. This was the first big family
vacation they had been on in a while and they promised to take advantage of
every single minute. As he took his
wife’s hand he thought, “some day I would like to take a cruise again, just
me and her.”
After breakfast he found himself in the same place he had been earlier,
this time his wife was beside him. By
this time many other people moved around the ship’s deck.
They were scheduled to dock soon and everyone enjoyed watching the ship
pull into the port. John had just
turned to speak to his wife when he heard a splash. A
woman screamed and began pointing frantically.
“He can’t swim! Someone
help! Someone save him!”
Climbing the rail, John jumped overboard landing in the icy, cold water.
When he returned to the surface he grabbed the life preserver and tossed
it to the drowning man.
At first people began to applaud this heroic effort.
Then before their very eyes John disappeared, pulled under by the wake of
the ship. No one breathed. No John. All
eyes stared into the water. No
John. They waited, and waited.
Still no John. His wife began to cry. She
looked at the man her husband died to rescue.
He was still clinging to the life preserver, bobbing up and down in the
ocean water. The crowd watched as
the man floated on the blue-green water. Suddenly
to everyone’s shock and horror the rescued man flung the life preserver away
and drowned. A journalist seeing
all that happened opened her notepad and wrote in large letters -- SENSELESS. “The
next day the great crowd that had come to the festival
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is the
one who comes in the name of the Lord -- the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:
“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look,
your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
(John
12:12-15).
Pick up any of those magazines as you stand in line at the super-market
and you will more than likely find an article of what some claim to be a
miracle. A statute cries and people
flock to it. A woman gives birth to
fifteen babies, a man is taken hostage by an UFO and the like draw our
insatiable thirst for the amazing. We love to see the amazing, the extraordinary, the
unexplainable, the miraculous.
A dead man was raised from the dead and people traveled to his home to
visit him. That’s what brought many to the home of Lazarus.
Remember Lazarus? Dead for
four days and a man named Jesus called Lazarus forth from the tomb --
“Lazarus! Lazarus! Come
out!” Crazy thing is that Lazarus
actually came out of that tomb alive! Sure
people came to see Lazarus and to make sure he was really alive, but the people
really traveled the road to Bethany to meet the man who raised Lazarus from the
dead. This Jesus, could He be the
Messiah? Possibly?
Could He be the King of Israel?
People lined each side of the road, children sat on
their parent’s shoulders to see this miracle worker.
It would be soon. Far ahead
in the distance dust could be seen rising from the earth.
Voices could now be heard. People
sang and instruments played. Slowly
the parade of people came into sight. Those
standing along the road hoped to see this Jesus.
Rumors circulated that He was on His way to Jerusalem, so the people came
out to meet Him. Word obviously had
spread concerning the new life given to Lazarus.
Was this to be the hope of Israel? They
had waited a long time for the Messiah to come.
Could this Jesus be the Messiah, the Son of David?
Surely He had to be, look at the miracles he performed.
Surely, He must be God’s anointed, look at the people following Him!
This Jesus had done miracles in the past, blessing the wedding feast with
wine from water, multiplying fish and bread, healing the blind.
But this last miracle, this last miracle was the most astounding of all.
Many who had been at the tomb that day to mourn with Mary and Martha saw
with their own eyes and heard with their own ears Jesus call Lazarus out from
the tomb. “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out! Upon
seeing this miracle, many went throughout Jerusalem telling of this miracle
worker who brought back to life four-day old dead Lazarus.
Those who had lined the street could now see the large crowd approaching.
The crowd danced and waved branches in the air around this miracle worker
as He rode a colt into Jerusalem. Those
who lined the streets joined in as the parade passed by.
Together they danced in jubilation and sang: “Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
It was a magnificent celebration. Children
raced back and forth, in and out of the crowd waving branches as high as they
could reach in the air. Tambourines
resounded as dancing women played them. Singing
men threw their cloaks in the middle of the road as Jesus rode by them.
Surely this was the Messiah, the King of Israel!
Surely this is the Christ -- Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord. Blessed is the Holy one of God -- Hosanna, hosanna,
hosanna!!! (Hosanna, hosanna,
hosanna.)
In the days which followed, the songs of glory and shouts of praise grew
deafly silent. The blessings turned to curses.
The streets of Jerusalem began to echo with angry voices; “Crucify him!
Crucify him!” Over and
over the words bellowed throughout Jerusalem.
Continually people cried out: “Crucify him!
Crucify him!” -- until Jesus hung from the cross.
“Crucify him! Crucify
him!” -- nails driven into His hands and feet.
“Crucify him! Crucify
him!” -- his body drenched in blood. “Crucify
him!” -- barely recognizable to his own mother. “Crucify him!”
The people watched, Jesus died. In
the silence that followed several women were heard crying.
One shook her head, a word echoing in her mind -- SENSELESS!
A journalist watching a man drown and a woman witnessing Jesus’ death
took note of the same word -- SENSELESS. If
the two women had a chance to compare their stories, the would find many
similarities. John lost his life saving another who was drowning.
At first John’s sacrifice to save another seemed like a tragedy.
But he had succeeded in saving the other man.
The drowning man would live, -- he should have lived. But the man rejected John’s sacrifice and died.
What at first had been tragic had now become senseless.
Jesus was crucified. It
doesn’t make sense. Earlier
people danced around Him singing songs of praise.
They repeated the word “hosanna” over and over again.
Hosanna means “save or please do save.”
That’s what they asked of Jesus -- to save them.
They wanted this wine-producing, fish-multiplying, blind-healing,
dead-raising miracle worker to be their King; to release them from their
captivity, to establish God’s kingdom among them! He must be the Messiah!
Surely this was the Christ, the Son of David! Jesus was to be their deliverer. . . then they crucified Him!
Doesn’t
that seem senseless?
Not if you were to ask Alex. He
is a young man with a powerful testimony. He
tells of a life of drunkenness, imprisonment, and aimless wandering. His life lacked direction and he seemed to be drowning in
problems. Perhaps suicide was the
easiest way out. But one night
while he was contemplating, he prayed. It
was a simple prayer but God heard it. His
life was worth something to someone; that someone was Jesus who is the Christ!
Alex realized that Jesus really loved him.
If you were to meet Alex he would tell you that Jesus died to save him.
He saved him from a life of drunkenness, imprisonment, and aimless
searching. But most of all. . .
Jesus saved him from drowning in his life of sin and has given him new life!
Maybe you can’t relate to that story.
If that’s the case, thanks be to God!
However, I would like to tell you about Alex’s brother.
His testimony is just as powerful but not quite as dramatic and graphic.
Alex’s brother attended church all his life and was saved at the age of
ten. But most of all. . . Jesus
saved him from drowning in a life of sin and has given him new life!
Both Alex and his brother experienced the same event -- being saved at
the cost of another. In fact, each of us need to be saved from our sinful life.
Scripture reminds us that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God” (Romans 3:23). Reliving Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, our
worship service began with great shouts of praise: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord -- the King
of Israel!” For Jesus to
become their king -- and for Jesus to become your king and my king -- requires
the cross. Because of the cross,
the gift of forgiveness of sins is available.
Jesus offers eternal life through his death and resurrection.
In his death we have died and in his resurrection we can have new life!
Alex and his brother and hundreds, thousands, millions of others have
experienced the same event -- being saved at the cost of another! To not accept Jesus’ saving grace would make his death upon
the cross pointless and senseless!
This is precisely Paul’s point in today’s reading.
Accepting the free gift of God by faith and actualizing it in our lives
transfers us out of the old way of life and into a new way of life -- a kingdom
way of living! Accepting, by faith,
God’s incarnation in the person and work of Jesus the Christ and confessing
that it is through him -- his death and resurrection -- we have received the
free gift of forgiveness ushers us into eternal life.
“Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. . . For,
‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (Romans 10:9,
13). This is the Gospel of our Lord
and Savior Jesus the Christ! I must confess something to you this morning. It may have been obvious to you already but I believe I must tell you. One of these stories is completely fabricated, it never happened as far as I know. Every detail has been made up. It was the story about John, that incident never happened. Maybe that was obvious to you. No one would ever reject the sacrifice of another to save them --- that would be senseless! “Now to him
who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in
the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time
and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24-25). **Sermon adapted from Paul Bastien, pastor East Millinocket Church of the Nazarene
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© 2001-07 Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene |