April 17, 2011

"The Lamb That Takes Away Sins" by Steve Eason

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The Lamb of God That Takes Away the Sins of the World

Matthew 26:14-27:37 (selected passages)

Every year as we begin Holy Week, I have preached the same sermon on Palm Sunday; a day by day account of Jesus’ activities leading up to crucifixion.  This year I felt the need to do something different; to hear the same story in a different way so to awaken our senses and invite us into the story of this Holy Week.

The lectionary passage for today is lengthy as it seeks to capture this story.  I will be reading selected verses from the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 26 and 27.

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Matthew 26:14-16

¹⁴Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

Matthew 26:20

²⁰When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve;

Matthew 26:30-31b

³⁰When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

Matthew 26:33-40

³³Peter said to him, “Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you.” ³⁴Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” ³⁵Peter said to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. ³⁸Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” ³⁹And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” ⁴⁰Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?

Matthew 26:47, 51-52, 55a

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. ⁵¹Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. ⁵²Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. ⁵⁵At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?

Matthew 26:57, 59-60a, 66

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, in whose house the scribes and the elders had gathered. ⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, ⁶⁰but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward ⁶⁶What is your verdict?” They answered, “He deserves death.” 

Matthew 26:69-75

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” ⁷⁰But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” ⁷¹When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷²Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” ⁷³After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.” ⁷⁴Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Matthew 27:1-3, 5

27When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. ²They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor. ³When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ⁵Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.

Matthew 27:11, 15, 20-24, 31, 37

¹¹Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” ¹⁵Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. ²⁰Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. ²¹The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” ²²Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!” ²³Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” ²⁴So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” ³¹After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. ³⁷Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

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When I read this story, I am struck by how messy it is. 

• Judas betrays Jesus and then hangs himself.
• All of the disciples become deserters.
• The trial before Caiaphas was a sham.
• Peter denies Jesus three times.
• Pilate doesn’t know what to do with him.
• The crowds shout for crucifixion.
• They release a criminal rather than the Christ.
• Common soldiers mock, strip, and lead him out to be crucified with a plaque over his head that reads like a cartoon, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

If you were making this story up you wouldn’t you tell it like this.  You’d clean it up.  You wouldn’t have the Son of God betrayed by his followers and then arrested like a common criminal, brought up on false charges, mocked, stripped and beaten and nailed to a cross.  No, we’d write this story and make it more victorious, show more strength, and have no cracks or flaws in it whatsoever.  But it does, which makes it more authentic.  You can’t make this stuff up, or perhaps you wouldn’t make it up – not like this. 

One of the first things to jump off the page in this story is that God’s activity in the world is not always neat and tidy.  God’s work in the world happens in the messiness of our lives.  That’s good news.

The other thing that is so obvious is the contrast.  God is doing something in the world while human beings have no clue.           

Judas, the treasurer of the twelve disciples, cashes Jesus in for thirty pieces of silver?  Then, he goes and hangs himself.  He commits suicide before he can ever experience the resurrection. 

If that’s not enough, the leader of the disciples, Peter, denies Jesus three times to a couple of servant girls?  This is the Apostle Peter to whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom and appointed leader of the group. 

He’s been with Jesus for three years.  He left his fishing business to follow him.  He even swears that it won’t be him who will deny Christ, and yet Jesus knew him all too well.  “Before dawn you will deny me three times.” 

Not just Peter, but Jesus says,

‘You will all become deserters because of me this night…’                                                                      (26:31a)

Then add Caiaphas, the high priest, and the court of the Sanhedrin.  They are so threatened by Christ that they are willing to falsify the charges against him.  It’s all a lie and they all buy into it. 

Now throw in Pilate, a symbol of the Roman Empire, along with the soldiers, the crowds and all the rest, and what you have is a pot of human sewage.   

In spite of all of that, God is accomplishing the redemption of the world through Christ.  That’s an incredible contrast, not only for then, but for now.

• Doesn’t it bring you hope to think that God is at work in our world in spite of what we see or what we know?

• Doesn’t it bring you hope to think that in spite of human chaos and sin, God is not detached from human life but in the thick of it? 

• Doesn’t it bring you hope to think, that God is not dependent upon the Church to bring in the kingdom?  God is at work often in spite of the Church.

• And doesn’t it bring you hope to know there is an unfailing, unwavering, sovereign love of God that is not in any way thwarted by human decisions, actions or circumstances?

That is why we call this “Holy Week.”  It’s not Holy because of our pietistic behavior.  It’s not Holy because we render more services or complete our commitments of Lent.  It’s Holy in spite of us, because of who God is.

The contrast in this story is overwhelming.  While the humans fall apart, God never falters.  Betrayal and suicide, denial and fear, lies and cruelty, are what the humans bring to the story.  What God brings to it is forgiveness and love for the world.  That is what is redemptive in the face of our unfaithfulness, then and now. 

So, why is it that this story is so full of resistance?  What is it about Jesus that makes us so uncomfortable?  What is it about the presence of God in human flesh that creates such turmoil and chaos? 

In looking at Judas, one could easily call that greed.  Is it our greed that resists the Christ in our lives?  We don’t have room for Jesus if we’re filling up with thirty pieces of silver.  We don’t have room for Jesus if he’s going to take away our aspirations and goals in life.  We don’t have room for the Christ if he’s going to ask us to give up anything or to sacrifice for our love of God.  God works for us.  We don’t work for God.  Take the silver and run.

But what was the resistance in Peter?  After reading all the stories, I would consider him one of Jesus’ best friends.  They argued with each other, they loved each other, they debated with each other.  And yet, Peter denied him.  What was it about Jesus in that moment that caused such resistance within Peter, as if to say, “I don’t want to be identified with him.” 

Do we not all deny Jesus in a thousand ways in order not to be identified as being “a Christian?”  It’s okay to be a Presbyterian, that’s safe, but what if you were called upon to identify yourself with Christ to the point of causing sacrifice?       

Peter stood to lose his life in that moment.  If you say you are with him, you’re going to die too.  I don’t know that you and I would ever have to face such a moment, but do we not face those times in which we would be ridiculed, judged or ostracized because we firmly took a stance that was based on the premise of our relationship with Jesus Christ?

Last May when we stood in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, I couldn’t help but think of this story.  Here’s the one to whom the Catholic Church attaches the succession of all the popes – the first pope, Saint Peter.  And yet, buried within his story is the scandal of denial – resistance to be identified with Christ. 

Human resistance is everywhere in this story.  The Jews were so fearful that they had a predawn trial that was both illegal and unethical in order to get rid of this man.  How much of a threat was he?  How powerful he must have been in order to elicit this kind of reaction!  They would go to any extreme in order to eliminate him – and they did, or they tried. 

And then there was the Empire.  Pilate stumbles over the issue, his name to be remembered throughout all of history, but he pulls the trigger by doing nothing.  Rome cares only about Rome.  Resistance to Christ. 

What is it about Jesus Christ that causes such reactions in human beings?  John writes, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son …” (John 3:16a)  So, what’s so bad about that?  Why is that such a threat to us?  If Christ came into the world to save the world, not to condemn it, why does that create such resistance in us?  If Christ came that we might have abundant life, what causes us to want to crucify him instead?

 We meet God with resistance – God meets us with grace.

And so begins Holy Week, a week that is messy; a week of contrast; a week of resistance; and yet a week in which God did exactly what God had planned to do.  We chose to crucify Christ.  God chose to raise him from the dead; the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. 

Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Congregation:  Amen

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