Sermon

The Apostle Paul opens his second letter to Timothy by celebrating the impact of Timothy's mother and grandmother on his life and faith. Growing up with their love and example shaped Timothy and equipped him to be a teacher and minister of the gospel, preparing him to share with others what his mother and grandmother shared with him.

There is a difference between visiting and moving in. You may deeply enjoy being there when you visit, but knowing you will eventually leave flavors everything. The difference between things that are temporary and those that are permanent is immense.

Jesus invites us to "Abide in him as He abides in us."

Abiding in him is very different from visiting him. It is living in Jesus' footsteps, living with him, not just talking about him. Abiding in Christ isn't going to church like we would a museum, appreciating what we see and experience, only to go home.
Abiding with Jesus is living with him and for him.

Jesus' resurrection profoundly transforms not only our relationship with God but also our relationships with others, including those who have sinned against us.

If God loves us enough to send his Son into the world so that we might live and Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, that immense love leads us to love others as we have been loved.

This maybe hard. People do terrible things to each other, and we may have wounds that remain with us. But the immense mercy of God's love leads us toward healing and forgiveness—not just for ourselves but also for our forgiving others.

Many things catch us by surprise, not because they are unbelievable, but because we are not expecting them. Jesus' resurrection was no exception. Despite Jesus telling them what would happen, his disciples and the women were surprised, confused, and even scared when the risen Jesus appeared to them.

Knowing they could not do what needed to be done, Jesus' followers also expected Jesus to do the big work. Instead, Jesus gives them the job of continuing what he has begun. They are not left alone, however. Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem to be clothed in God's unlimited power rather than relying on their own weakness.

Those gathered in that room looked for their own explanation for seeing Jesus instead of Jesus, the Messiah, fulfilling God’s promises and plans.

The challenge to our faith isn't that we expect too much, but that we expect too little.

Our shortsighted expectations are obstacles to fully knowing and experiencing God's grace. We prefer for God to do things our way, rather than our doing things God's way. Many would prefer to win the lottery than the joy God offers that wealth can never buy. We prefer lives of leisure when the deepest and most satisfying joy comes from serving others. Our ultimate fear is death when, in Jesus, the death of our bodies is birth into new life.

Upon reaching their destination, instead of saying goodbye to the person they were walking with, they invited Jesus to their home, demonstrating hospitality towards a stranger, despite their personal disappointment and disillusionment. It was then that their eyes were opened and their world changed as they recognized the risen Jesus. What they previously believed to be defeat was revealed as a victory.

Jesus was that for the Apostle Paul. In light of Jesus' resurrection, he left behind many of the things he was once proud of. He forgets what is behind him in his quest for God's call in Christ Jesus.

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

The great news of Easter is not that their expectations were met but rather that Jesus was not dead like they expected but had risen from the dead.

The good news of the Gospel isn't found in God meeting our expectations but shattering them, revealing far more than anything we could ask or imagine - then using us to reveal the news of the risen Christ to others.

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

For obvious reasons, we spend more time celebrating Jesus' birth and resurrection than we do his death. Joyful Christmas carols and triumphant Easter hymns fill our worship for weeks before Christmas and after Easter. And yet, scripture repeatedly points to the cross as evidence of God's great love.

It would be hard to stand at the foot of the cross and watch someone suffer, let alone God's only son. But it is here that we see how much God so loved the world, as well as you and me.

Jesus arrived in Jerusalem without much time left before his crucifixion. In the last sermon, we considered Jesus cleansing the Temple of those who turned it into a "den of robbers" as well as healing the people who were lame or blind who followed him in. What he does says something about Jesus' priorities.

One of the other things he did was to watch people giving their offerings. He noticed that a widow, who had extremely little to live on, offered everything to the Lord.

He recognized her as the one who gave the largest offering to God. Some gave from their abundance but she offered everything.

Giving all that she had, out of the little she had, revealed the strength and priority of her faith.

Rather than taking charge of what is going on in the Temple, Jesus turns it upside down. He chases out those who operated for financial gain rather than commending them for the services they offered worshippers, he calls them robbers. The Chief priests and teachers of the law are indignant, Jesus is disrupting the systems they created and maintain, the way things had always been.

The blind and the lame who spent their time outside the temple, those who begged from others on their way to the temple,  follow Jesus into the temple and Jesus cures them. The children are singing of the Messiah "Hosanna to the Son of David" but the religious elite are aghast. 

The insiders have the tables turned on them and the outsiders are blessed.