Sermon, Sunday May 4 2008
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
The Gospel lesson for this morning gave me an excuse to watch one of my favorite movies. It’s a movie called Hoosiers, and it tells the true story of a successful high school basketball coach who, because of an incident at one of the schools that he coached at involving an altercation with one of his players, was fired from his position and, because of the scandal that inevitably followed, was unable to find another coaching job anywhere else for a long period of time. As the film opens he is finally being given another chance to coach high school basketball for a school in a very small town in rural Indiana.
The previous coach had passed away and so the team was currently being coached by some local supporters. The new coach’s methods were quite different from the way they had been doing things. The town seemed to be pinning their hopes on one particular player and so the assumption was that the best approach was to build everything around this one player.
But the new coach had a different approach, a more fundamentally team oriented approach. On his first day of practice he says to the team "Let’s be honest about what we’re after here; five players on the floor function as one single unit; Team! Team! Team! No one more important than the other." His approach was not embraced with great enthusiasm. In fact, two of the players walked out that day. And few of the adults, except the principal who hired him and an assistant coach and one of the players father, seem to really get behind him.
But this is what happens when someone comes along and knocks you off your lofty perch. This is what happens when something doesn’t quite go the way you envisioned it. This is what happens, more than likely, when someone dares to deviate from the "Way that we have always done it." Let’s face it, this is what happens when we don’t get our way. We reject that which we were not expecting and hoping. We reject it because it challenges us put our trust and faith in someone or something other than ourselves. We reject it because it challenges us take the focus off of ourselves.
And so this morning you are confronted with a Gospel Word that knocks you off your lofty perch. Our Gospel lesson for this morning contains a prayer that our Lord Jesus makes to His Father in Heaven. He knows that soon the time is coming when He would be laying down His life on the cross for you. And in the midst of this prayer Jesus says "Father…glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all people."
Even as He is about to face death, Jesus understands Himself as having authority over all people. And so you think, "Certainly He doesn’t mean all authority." You think "Well it’s a nice idea to think that Jesus would have authority over all people, but that’s not really what He meant right?" "He didn’t literally mean all authority?"
Because, let’s face it, we just are not comfortable with some of the things that Jesus says and does. I mean in last Sunday’s Gospel lesson we heard where Jesus said if we loved Him we would keep His commandments. But what about the commandments we don’t like or understand? Maybe they don’t affirm us, or celebrate who we are? Certainly in those areas we must be in charge.
After all we are all entitled to be our own people right? Certainly Jesus wouldn’t want to stifle or inhibit each of us from expressing ourselves. Are we not our own people? I mean sure we profess our faith in Jesus, we worship Him and we do things to serve Him sometimes, but we are the ones in control here right?
Judas thought he was in control. Judas decided that he was not going to let anything get in the way of an opportunity to make a little money. We all know how well that worked out for Judas. In fact in the verse that comes after this Gospel lesson, Jesus says, referring to the disciples, that not one of them was lost, except the son of destruction, referring to Judas.
That is what happens when you put your faith in your own authority and your own accomplishments; you end up lost. But the good news is that Christ Jesus does have all authority over you. Christ Jesus has a claim on you and He keeps that claim on you.
And being claimed by Christ means being included in His promise, and it means that you are included in this prayer that your Lord was praying in this morning’s Gospel. For later in this prayer, although it’s not in this mornings reading, Jesus says that He is not praying only for those who were there with Him but also for those who would believe in Him through their Word.
And so where Jesus says that He was given authority over all people, that in fact does include you, but then the very reason that He was given that authority also includes you and that reason was so that He might give eternal life to all whom the Father has given Him. And in the waters of baptism, you were given to and claimed by Christ Jesus. Jesus says that eternal life is to know His Father, the only true God, and Christ Jesus whom God the Father sent.
And so that Christ Jesus has authority over you is nothing to be uncomfortable with, in fact it provides great comfort. He has been sent and given authority over you when He claimed you in baptism. And by this authority He preceded to face death on the cross where He would take on the burden of your sin. And that is how He would be glorified, by going through death for you.
As He breathed His last and lay lifeless on the cross, the world saw a man defeated, but the truth is that in those moments where He looked so defeated, when it looked like those conspiring against Him had won, the reality is that He was exercising His authority in glory. He was exercising His authority by laying down His life and defeating sin and the devil, all so that three days later He would give you eternal life with the almighty triune God, by walking out of the tomb.
He was thinking not of Himself but of you. He knew that those whom the Father would give Him and would thus be called to go out into the world to proclaim His name would face opposition. And so He prays for your protection.
So hear Peter’s words from the second lesson, where he tells us that if we are reviled for Christ’s name, we are blessed because the Spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God is resting on us.
Those of you who have seen the movie Hoosiers, which I referred to earlier, no doubt remember that the team goes on to win, against insurmountable odds, the Indiana state High School basketball championship. And it happened because this coach had taught these players to look outside of themselves to each other so that they would learn to work together as one.
Well we know form our Gospel that our Lord prays for us to be one as He and the Father are one. And so, such as was the case in Hoosiers, we are to look outside of ourselves to find where we are made one. But unlike such was the case in Hoosiers, we do not look first outside of ourselves to each other, rather we look first to the One who has authority over us. He is the One who protects us from the devil who prowls around looking to devour us and He protects us from our sinful natures which call us to look inside of ourselves and only leads to us getting lost.
And so hear the words of Peter from today’s second lesson. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time." Indeed, humble yourselves before the One who comes to you right now in His Word through the words of my mouth, and He comes to you in a few minutes bringing to you His body given for you and His blood shed for you-supporting you, strengthening you, establishing you and keeping you as one under the authority of your Savior.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
The Gospel lesson for this morning gave me an excuse to watch one of my favorite movies. It’s a movie called Hoosiers, and it tells the true story of a successful high school basketball coach who, because of an incident at one of the schools that he coached at involving an altercation with one of his players, was fired from his position and, because of the scandal that inevitably followed, was unable to find another coaching job anywhere else for a long period of time. As the film opens he is finally being given another chance to coach high school basketball for a school in a very small town in rural Indiana.
The previous coach had passed away and so the team was currently being coached by some local supporters. The new coach’s methods were quite different from the way they had been doing things. The town seemed to be pinning their hopes on one particular player and so the assumption was that the best approach was to build everything around this one player.
But the new coach had a different approach, a more fundamentally team oriented approach. On his first day of practice he says to the team "Let’s be honest about what we’re after here; five players on the floor function as one single unit; Team! Team! Team! No one more important than the other." His approach was not embraced with great enthusiasm. In fact, two of the players walked out that day. And few of the adults, except the principal who hired him and an assistant coach and one of the players father, seem to really get behind him.
But this is what happens when someone comes along and knocks you off your lofty perch. This is what happens when something doesn’t quite go the way you envisioned it. This is what happens, more than likely, when someone dares to deviate from the "Way that we have always done it." Let’s face it, this is what happens when we don’t get our way. We reject that which we were not expecting and hoping. We reject it because it challenges us put our trust and faith in someone or something other than ourselves. We reject it because it challenges us take the focus off of ourselves.
And so this morning you are confronted with a Gospel Word that knocks you off your lofty perch. Our Gospel lesson for this morning contains a prayer that our Lord Jesus makes to His Father in Heaven. He knows that soon the time is coming when He would be laying down His life on the cross for you. And in the midst of this prayer Jesus says "Father…glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all people."
Even as He is about to face death, Jesus understands Himself as having authority over all people. And so you think, "Certainly He doesn’t mean all authority." You think "Well it’s a nice idea to think that Jesus would have authority over all people, but that’s not really what He meant right?" "He didn’t literally mean all authority?"
Because, let’s face it, we just are not comfortable with some of the things that Jesus says and does. I mean in last Sunday’s Gospel lesson we heard where Jesus said if we loved Him we would keep His commandments. But what about the commandments we don’t like or understand? Maybe they don’t affirm us, or celebrate who we are? Certainly in those areas we must be in charge.
After all we are all entitled to be our own people right? Certainly Jesus wouldn’t want to stifle or inhibit each of us from expressing ourselves. Are we not our own people? I mean sure we profess our faith in Jesus, we worship Him and we do things to serve Him sometimes, but we are the ones in control here right?
Judas thought he was in control. Judas decided that he was not going to let anything get in the way of an opportunity to make a little money. We all know how well that worked out for Judas. In fact in the verse that comes after this Gospel lesson, Jesus says, referring to the disciples, that not one of them was lost, except the son of destruction, referring to Judas.
That is what happens when you put your faith in your own authority and your own accomplishments; you end up lost. But the good news is that Christ Jesus does have all authority over you. Christ Jesus has a claim on you and He keeps that claim on you.
And being claimed by Christ means being included in His promise, and it means that you are included in this prayer that your Lord was praying in this morning’s Gospel. For later in this prayer, although it’s not in this mornings reading, Jesus says that He is not praying only for those who were there with Him but also for those who would believe in Him through their Word.
And so where Jesus says that He was given authority over all people, that in fact does include you, but then the very reason that He was given that authority also includes you and that reason was so that He might give eternal life to all whom the Father has given Him. And in the waters of baptism, you were given to and claimed by Christ Jesus. Jesus says that eternal life is to know His Father, the only true God, and Christ Jesus whom God the Father sent.
And so that Christ Jesus has authority over you is nothing to be uncomfortable with, in fact it provides great comfort. He has been sent and given authority over you when He claimed you in baptism. And by this authority He preceded to face death on the cross where He would take on the burden of your sin. And that is how He would be glorified, by going through death for you.
As He breathed His last and lay lifeless on the cross, the world saw a man defeated, but the truth is that in those moments where He looked so defeated, when it looked like those conspiring against Him had won, the reality is that He was exercising His authority in glory. He was exercising His authority by laying down His life and defeating sin and the devil, all so that three days later He would give you eternal life with the almighty triune God, by walking out of the tomb.
He was thinking not of Himself but of you. He knew that those whom the Father would give Him and would thus be called to go out into the world to proclaim His name would face opposition. And so He prays for your protection.
So hear Peter’s words from the second lesson, where he tells us that if we are reviled for Christ’s name, we are blessed because the Spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God is resting on us.
Those of you who have seen the movie Hoosiers, which I referred to earlier, no doubt remember that the team goes on to win, against insurmountable odds, the Indiana state High School basketball championship. And it happened because this coach had taught these players to look outside of themselves to each other so that they would learn to work together as one.
Well we know form our Gospel that our Lord prays for us to be one as He and the Father are one. And so, such as was the case in Hoosiers, we are to look outside of ourselves to find where we are made one. But unlike such was the case in Hoosiers, we do not look first outside of ourselves to each other, rather we look first to the One who has authority over us. He is the One who protects us from the devil who prowls around looking to devour us and He protects us from our sinful natures which call us to look inside of ourselves and only leads to us getting lost.
And so hear the words of Peter from today’s second lesson. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time." Indeed, humble yourselves before the One who comes to you right now in His Word through the words of my mouth, and He comes to you in a few minutes bringing to you His body given for you and His blood shed for you-supporting you, strengthening you, establishing you and keeping you as one under the authority of your Savior.
Amen
posted by Steve at 12:36 PM
1 Comments:
Nice sermon, although I feel, in the end, the Hoosiers example is a bit forced. I saw a disconnect b/tw the authority of Christ and the looking outside yourself from Hoosiers. I think you could have used the film in a different way if you wanted to talk about authority-how the players had to learn to trust the coach before they could play as a team. That in their refusal to listen to him b/c it wasn't what they wanted, so we sin when we do the same with God-trying to turn Him into the God we want.
I really liked this line:
"As He breathed His last and lay lifeless on the cross, the world saw a man defeated, but the truth is that in those moments where He looked so defeated, when it looked like those conspiring against Him had won, the reality is that He was exercising His authority in glory. He was exercising His authority by laying down His life and defeating sin and the devil, all so that three days later He would give you eternal life with the almighty triune God, by walking out of the tomb."
I think this is a great use of authority and to link this more with Hoosiers would have been very effective.
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