April 30, 2006

Easter 3

A Civil War chaplain approached a wounded soldier on the battlefield and asked: “Would you like to hear a few verses from the Bible?” The wounded man said, "No, I'm so thirsty, I'd rather have some water." The chaplain gave him a drink, and then repeated his question. "No sir, not now – but could you put something under my head?" The chaplain did so, and again repeated his question. "No," said the soldier, "I'm cold. Could you cover me up?" The chaplain took off his inside coat and wrapped the soldier. Afraid to ask, he did not repeat his question. He started to go away, but the soldier called him back. "Look, Chaplain, if there's anything in that book of yours that makes a person do for someone what you've done for me, then I want to hear it."

Doing good things gives us the opportunity to share the message of Jesus with others.  Doing good demonstrates that we are hooked up to a power source which enables us to do good.  It shows that Jesus, the One empowering us, has done a lot of good for us.

What if it were a crime to do good?  What if doing good things and telling others that you are doing them because you believe in a risen, living Jesus, could get you arrested?  Would you be placed on trial for doing good?  For confessing that you have faith in life after death?  For talking about a resurrection?  For proclaiming, “I Know that My Redeemer Lives, and He is the reason I do what I do!” If this were against the law, would YOU be turned in by your neighbors?

Well, it was a crime for Peter and John to do good because of Jesus Christ.  They were arrested for it!  Peter and John had gone up to the temple, and come upon a man crippled from birth.  He asked them for money, but instead of giving him that, Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”  The man was instantly healed!  He followed Peter and John into the temple, walking, jumping, and praising God.  People noticed this and realized a great miracle had happened.  This gave Peter and John an opportunity to tell people that Jesus, who was risen, is the one who gave them this power.  And that is what got them arrested.

After a night in jail, they were brought before the court, and the rulers who had condemned Jesus to death demanded of them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”  Friends, look at the opportunity they were given to confess their faith in the resurrection!  Remembering Peter’s triple denial of Jesus not that long before, how would you have expected him to respond?  With more denying?  More swearing?  Knowing the circumstances, what would YOU have said?  Well, the Holy Spirit was needed in either case.  This time, the Holy Spirit gave Peter the words to say.  And this time, he made a clear confession of his faith in Jesus…

Peter declared fearlessly before these high-court officials that Jesus, in spite of their rejection and crucifixion of Him, lives and reigns as the only Saviour of all people!  He lives triumphant from the grave!  This man you crucified is risen!  He is the Saviour of all people!  The only one!  He has conquered Satan, sin, and death!  And this Jesus of Nazareth who is alive is the one whose power healed the man standing before you!  This is the one who empowers us to do what we do and live like we live!  He is my redeemer, and I know that my Redeemer lives!

In his bold confession, Peter quoted Psalm 118: “He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.”  Jesus was rejected by the Jewish leadership because He was a humble, simple man.  A carpenter from Nazareth.  He didn’t come riding in to conquer the Romans.  He came in quietly to conquer sin by allowing Himself to be conquered.  He suffered passively on the cross.  He looked weak.  They cast Him aside like an unusable stone in a building project.  But that’s how He became the “capstone.”  The most important part of the building.  God’s building.  The one and only way to salvation is through Jesus of Nazareth, who was humbly crucified at the hands of the Romans!  Who actually is the Son of the living God! Who humbled Himself to suffer like this to take our sins away.

The idea of God with nail prints in his hands and feet because of his great love for us is an idea that the human race wasn’t, and isn’t, ready for.  The truth that He alone took care of all our sins and made us right with God just seems too good to be true.  And that we don’t need to do anything…just trust that He has done it for us?  Can that really be true?

Some years ago, 78 people died in New Delhi, India.  There had been a bus accident and in the bus had been two castes of Indians.  To rescue them, a man tied a rope to a tree, and all eleven of the lower caste, those called “untouchables,” climbed out to safety.  But 78 Indian people died because they would not use the same rope that had been used by the “untouchables.”  There was one way out, and they rejected it, because it didn’t look good to them.

The people of this world find it hard to believe that the path to salvation is so simple.  That there could be only one way out - God’s way.  That God would care about us so much.  How outrageous are the claims of the Gospel!  The divine Creator of all came down to earth and suffered and died to say to us that no one on this earth is “untouchable.”  No one is beyond his love and concern.  There is one path of salvation for all.  One rope for all.  For you.  For me. Some haven’t liked that.  The rulers of the court in Peter’s day wouldn’t touch that rope.  They wanted to cut it off.  But friends, there is the rope to salvation!  It is hanging right there for us!

Verse 12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  Friends, I Know that My Redeemer Lives!  He Lives Eternally to Save!  To save you.  To save me.  From the ugliness of our sinful lives.

There is a beautiful story about the courtship of Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of the great composer. Moses Mendelssohn was a small man with a misshapen, humped back. One day he visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter. Though Mendelssohn admired her greatly, she avoided him, seemingly afraid of his grotesque hump.

On the last day of his visit he went to tell her goodbye. Her face beamed with beauty, but when he entered, she cast her eyes to the floor. Mendelssohn's heart ached for her. After some small talk, he slowly drew to the subject that filled his mind. "Do you believe that marriages are made in Heaven?" he asked.  "Yes," replied the young woman, "and do you?"  "Of course," Mendelssohn answered. "I believe that at the birth of each child, the Lord says, ‘That boy shall marry that girl.' But in my case, the Lord also added, ‘But alas, his wife will have a terrible hump.'  "At that moment I called, ‘Oh Lord, that would be a tragedy for her. Please give me the humped back and let her be beautiful.'"   The young woman was so moved by these words that she reached for Mendelssohn's hand, and later became his loving and faithful wife.

Friends, those nail prints in the hands and feet of Jesus should have been ours. But God so loved the world that He sent his own Son to bear the burden brought about by the sins of us all. He took the humped back and made us beautiful! Isn’t it amazing that God really cares about us that much?  There is no other name by which we can be saved!  That is the sole reason Jesus came here.  The reason He lived for us, died for us, and rose again. To save us!

That’s the most beautiful news in the world!  For the disciples who saw the risen Lord!  For all who were separated from God in their sins and now have been saved by Him.  For you and me!  Let the people hear the great sound of the music: He is Risen!  I Know that My Redeemer Lives!  What are you doing to share that message?  Like Peter and John before the high court, make a bold confession of your faith!  With the way you live!  With the message you give!  Let the risen Jesus fill you with it!  Fill you up to the point you have to share it or you’ll explode!  He is risen!  You know what that means?...

It means that because He rose again, so will we.  As I speak, many miles away at a children’s hospital in Seattle, my brother and his wife sit at the bedside of their daughter Calla, born two weeks ago.  A nasty invention of the devil called spina bifida has put her bodily life in serious harm.  On top of this defect, and as a result of it, she suffered a stroke this past week.  And that swing of Satan’s stick has permanently damaged all three parts of her brain, affecting motor skills, sensory information, thinking ability, and the will to even breathe.  This sin-affected world has taken its best shot at her.  The cruelty of this disease has damaged her body severely.  Probably permanently.  Her life on this earth may not be long.  And it certainly won’t be easy. 

Way to go, Satan.  But you don’t think you’ve won, do you?  Because you haven’t!  Friends, he hasn’t won.  This isn’t a victory for him.  This is a victory for our loving God!  And this is a victory for Calla!  It’s victory, because God’s love for her isn’t going to end at the grave.  In an email this week, my brother wrote: “Amanda and my prayer since the beginning is that the Lord would bring this child to term and give her the gift of baptism – pouring over her through God’s grace in Jesus new life and forgiveness and a permanent and perfect home in heaven.  And with the Lord’s miraculous hand, he has given us that gift.  Praise Him!   “My God has all things in his keeping; He is my ever faithful friend. He gives me laughter after weeping, And all his ways in blessings end.  His love endures eternally: What pleases God, that pleases me.” (CW 414)

God’s love for Calla won’t end at the grave.  Nor will his love for you.  It lasts forever!  Our Redeemer lives!  Eternally!  And because of that, so do we!  Easter gives us hope!  The hope of eternal life!  You are going to be with God forever because of Easter.  And that’s a promise.

You’ve heard and seen that Jesus is alive!  Look at his hands and feet.  Look at his nail prints.  See what He has done for you?  See how much He loves you?  What difference has seeing the hands and feet of the risen Christ made in your life?  Has it caused you to take more seriously your walk with Jesus?  Has it changed the way you set goals in life?  Has it comforted you in times of hardship and sorrow?  Has it given you the hope of life eternal?  If it has, then live as it has!  Trust in your risen Lord!  Boldly witness to others about Him as the one way to salvation!  Declare with me in joy, “I Know that My Redeemer Lives!”  Amen.

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