Heroic obedience
Notes
Transcript
Luke 22:39-46
Letting Go and Jump
Letting Go and Jump
1000 feet up. No idea how to get down.
Maybe it was like 100 feet up. Okay 35’.
I recently started going to the rock-climbing gym, and this Monday, for the first time I was climbing alone. When climbing alone, you have no one to hold the other side of the rope, so you have to do this thing called “auto-belay” which is like tying yourself to a seat belt which, hopefully, will catch you if you fall.
So I clipped in to this seat belt thing and climbed a fairly easy climb up to the top. Like a warmup. But I get to the top and I realize, I have never used this thing before. I trusted it to catch me like if I fell accidentally, but I’m not sure how to get down.
At the top, I have to let go. To go forward is to let go. I am afraid, I am terrified, I would prefer not to, but I know I probably have to…
I was just doing it for fun. I didn’t have a great reason. Nobody made me go up there. I’m an idiot.
But that feeling. Stuck to the wall… and knowing I can only hold on so long. In theory I know the “way” to get down… but is it going to work? Either way I am going down, I guess, it’s a question of how fast.
I know what I am supposed to do, but I am terrified to do it.
A bit terrified (but totally playing it cool) I jumped. A freaky half-second of freefall… then the device kicks in and slows me down and I bounce down the wall the ground.
Have you had those? You know what you’re “supposed” to do. In theory. In a perfect world, maybe. But it’s too intimidating, too scary, too stressful, too much!
And we all get that. It is a universal human experience.
A Brief Departure from John
A Brief Departure from John
In our series in John, we are walking with Jesus in his final night before the crucifixion. And we still have more to go there, he drops truth-bomb after truth bomb on his disciples on the night before. But John’s purpose shapes how he tells the story, and John’s explicit purpose is that we would believe in Jesus as the Son of God. And John emphasizes that truth about Jesus throughout his gospel.
And indeed, Jesus is the Son of God.
But as this next week we have this yearly time of remembering, thinking on, reflecting on Jesus death and resurrection in light of Passover occurring around this time. We have this time of reflecting on Jesus’ death and resurrection… we are going to skip ahead a tiny bit to reflect: this week on the road to crucifixion, next week on the Resurrection.
And because we are just about to walk through all of this in John, I wanted to see dimensions that the other gospels bring to this road to crucifixion that John doesn’t.
In particular, in the gospel of John, Jesus displays his foreknowledge about the cross, his absolute confidence in his place in the story, his incredible courage, his sure answers every step of the way. And all of that is true.
But there is a moment we get in the gospel of Luke that is kind of beautifully unguarded. And it doesn’t take away from the courage of Jesus or the faith of Jesus, it gives us a glimpse into the internal experience of Jesus as he showed that courage, as he was faithfully obedient to what his heavenly Father had set before him.
Agony and Stress
Agony and Stress
Luke 22:39-46
39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Jesus goes the Mount of Olives. And elsewhere we read that he entered into a Garden, the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Mount of Olives is on a mount (a hill), right across a small valley from the hill the temple is on, so looking across Jesus can see the temple. And maybe, even, looking next to the city he can see the hill on which he will be crucified. So from his Father’s house there to his destination. He is looking. And he knows what is coming.
And so he prayed. And this doesn’t appear to be for his disciples benefit… it is a moment between Jesus and his heavenly Father. For even though Jesus is fully God, he is also fully human. Which I take to mean that he feels everything a human would feel as they anticipate their execution on the next day. The betrayal, the pain, the mocking, and the cross. And knowing further that, beyond the physical pain, all the sin and brokenness of humanity would, in some way, be placed upon him.
And so he prays. “If you are willing, remove this cup from me.”
God… is there any other way? What an unguarded, beautiful, incredibly human moment.
Dad… is there another option? Is there another path… because I could really use one about now.
There is, maybe, fear in that, even as it shows faith to trust his heavenly Father with the question. But whatever the question reveals about his humanity, he then says something that demonstrates his heroic obedience: “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”
Then angel from heaven appears and strengthens him. Oh, how nice. I bet he just felt so cozy in that angel’s arms. I read that and think it would make him feel better! But we read in the next verse “being in agony! He prayed more earnestly! And his sweat became like great drops of blood…”
Now doctors have said this is a medical thing “hematidrosis” and occurs under EXTREME physical or emotional stress.
We marvel at Jesus’ heroic obedience to the cross… but what did it feel like as Jesus actually contemplated that obedience? Was it easy for him? It felt like agony. Agonized prayer. Physical and emotional stress.
The prayer in agony, sweating blood, comes AFTER the angel strengthens him. Implying that he needed the strengthening just to fully wrestle with what was before him.
This is the heroic obedience of Jesus: to submit to the will of his heavenly Father Nevertheless.
Jesus wished there was another way… Nevertheless.
Jesus was in agony, even after an angel strengthened him… Nevertheless.
Jesus was literally sweating blood from the physical and emotional stress of what was coming… Nevertheless.
Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.
Heroic Obedience
Heroic Obedience
And what did God accomplish through Jesus’ sacrifice? Only the salvation of the cosmos, of the universe: the salvation of you. Through Jesus’ heroic sacrifice, we were set free from the burden of sin, the sentence of death. We were reborn to new and eternal life. That is an epic victory!
But what’s more, Jesus’ heroic victory through his heroic sacrificial obedience remade you, reshaped you, empowers you to heroic obedience. You are fully equipped for heroic obedience.
God has saved you, and there is a reason he didn’t whisk you off this earth the moment you connected with Jesus.
Jesus’ heroic obedience saved the Universe… and you.
God is calling you into his saving gospel mission.
God is calling you to sacrificial obedience.
And it isn’t all going to be “sweat like great drops of blood.” There are moments where it is great, fellowshipping with his people, loving life, loving the gifts and talents He has given you, exercising them, doing miracles, blessing people all of that.
But there will be times…
You can bet there will be moments like that, moments of “being in agony, praying more earnestly…” and even asking God “If you are willing, remove this cup from me.”
Because this cup is awful. Because this cup smells funny, is gross, is too hard, is too stressful, is too hurtful! I don’t have time for this cup, I can’t afford this cup, I can’t live with this cup. This cup is uncomfortable.
This ministry is outside my comfort zone. These people are too difficult to love. I already have a houseful of kids!
God is calling you to sacrificial obedience. Heroic obedience. He is calling you to love people who are hard to love. He is calling you to feed the hungry and help the poor. He is calling you to share the good news of what Jesus did in you and did for them. He is calling you to serve, or lead in his church.
And our heavenly Father knows that we are going to have our moments in the garden where it all feels like stress. Agony. Wish there was another way! And I pray, and maybe God sends his comforting angels, but I still have the stress nose-bleeds after the angel-time!
This is profound to realize that the feeling of fear, stress, even agony does not mean that God has not provided the way, the power, the Holy Spirit, the angels, all the things!
God has already empowered you to do what he has called you to do and he is in the midst of preparing you for what he will call you to do next.
But it may well, probably will, still feel no different to you as you face it down. The night before. In the garden. The week before, staring at your ceiling in bed.
Being 35 feet up in the air, knowing you have to jump, but not knowing how any of this works.
Whenever that moment of panic, of crisis strikes…
But walking in Jesus footsteps means emulating his heroic obedience. And we can capture it in one word.
Nevertheless
Nevertheless
The Nevertheless. Never the less. Whatever the reasons and the circumstances: nevertheless. God has called me here to this church, to lead in this season, never will I do less. He has called you into this church community. Nevertheless. He has placed you in your household, in your family, in your neighborhood, at your work place… and he has, he will give you a part to play in his cosmic gospel mission to save the world.
Let this be our anthem: nevertheless. Not my will but yours be done.
God… I’m just going to jump.