Rescued & Response: Jesus is Not Just Kind!

we're done with the hard stuff all right I've talked before is is not much fun to give although in a certain sense it is just because I like giving it to the enemy if you can put it that way but now we get to the fun stuff so what we've done so far so we tried to just back up real quick we're trying to them ask the Lord to speak into our minds and our hearts the story with the the desire that we would be either overwhelmed again or perhaps overwhelmed for the first time but what it is that God has done for us so we've we try to suggest that the Gospels four parts the goodness of creation sin its consequences God's response to our sin and then our response to what God has done I break that down or I reduce it to four words created captured rescued and response we looked at created and captured we're gonna look now we're gonna try to combine these two into one a rescued and a response and as you can tell from the candles lit at the altar in the monstrance on the altar this is gonna try to lead us directly into prayer because that's what this is all about is not just to get information but hopefully to experience transformation well though this is all new to you or whether this is something that you could teach yourself and we're always in need of transformation that we send oh I am so we're gonna I think the schedule might say that there's two talks with a break in between there is only one talk it's just longer and it's gonna go right into a time of a duration and then it will close our time together will close with benediction okay so just to give you an idea of where we're going as we begin we're gonna look at rescued I might subtitle God's shocking an unexpected response to sin the grace to pray for his unshakable confidence in God what I'm gonna pray in a particular way for is that the father will enable us by the power of his spirit to see his son in a new way so let's pray and then I want to share with you an image which has been helpful for me in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit father your son Jesus said that when I am lifted up I will draw all people to myself [Music] so I asked right now for the grace of your spirits being upon me that I might lift up your son in his kindness and his power and his love [Music] but I'd simply be an instrument in his hands so that everybody here might be drawn to him and threw him to you our our Father or I pray for confidence to be poured into all of us unshakable confidence that comes from knowing that your son is Lord that the world in the church in our lives and all those that we love are firmly in his hands [Music] so continue I pray to dispel and shatter any anxiety any fear any discouragement and you worry expose and dissipate whatever strategies the enemy is trying to weave in our minds or hearts even now help us to see Jesus in a new way we ask it all through Christ our Lord so here's here's the image so especially for manic maybe a maybe I just want to speak to my brothers in a particular way if I can right now especially for younger men I think oftentimes younger men have an image of Jesus that goes something like this he's kind and he's gentle and he's patient and he's compassionate and he's merciful and he's all those things don't get me wrong I mean blessed be God or I'd be toast right but he's not just gentle and kind and patient and merciful Jesus is absolutely and utterly unconquered and he's the one who's calling you and me to respond to him and he's the one who is fighting you and me to be co-operators with him in accomplishing his father's desire which is to get his world back I hate being on the losing side like I'm as competitive as anybody that I know embarrassingly so Jesus is the winning side and it's not even close so we want to ask the father to help us to see this the Book of Isaiah God says through the Prophet this go back to where we ended right back to that image of the person who's been trafficked or Jesus's parable the beginning of which starts with when a strong man guards his possessions or guards his house his possessions are safe this is what God promises in the Old Testament can the prey be taken from the mighty or the captives of a tyrant be rescued who's the prey the captives that's us our race who's the mighty and the tyrant that's the enemy right remember the enemy is not the other political party it's not the enemy the enemy is the enemy surely thus says the Lord even the captives of the mighty shall be taken and the prey of the tyrant shall be rescued for I will contend with those who contend with you then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior and your Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob that people is a promise I God says will contend with those who contend with you I will fight God promises for you why so that you will be rescued we say words in the church often without really knowing what they mean we say salvation or grace we say Lord we'll look at that a little while we also say the word Redeemer does anybody know what the Hebrew word for Redeemer is to make us Newton no but it's an awesome guess it's that word go well more literally we would say all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior and your go well the Mighty One of Jacob what's the big deal about a go well so in in Israel amongst the people of Israel there was an obligation that fell to the oldest man in a family to do something if one of two things happened if either one of his kinsmen or kins woman was kidnapped or murdered the oldest sibling was known as the go el and his responsibility was to either buy back the person who had been kidnapped to rescue them or to avenge the murder God promises that I will make myself to be your nearest kinsman I will take that responsibility upon myself I will rescue you from slavery and I will avenge your death the death of our race that's his promise that's who God sees in you and in me I don't know why like ain't you know that neither are you sorry and yet God looks at us and sees in us not just people upon whom he takes pity he makes himself to be that's my sister I will fight for you not by sending an angel to go do something but by myself contending with those who contend with you this creature that we spent so much time looking at it's probably a familiar icon for many of us this is one of the more famous icons in the world it's painted or written by a Russian iconographer it's an image of the Holy Trinity it's usually understood to be rightfully so a depiction of the three visitors who come to Abraham and promised Abraham and his wife or abram and sarai at the time that they're gonna give birth years ago I don't know where I found this anymore I can't find it I found it once I don't think it was a dream I read a description of this icon which I've never forgotten in the description goes like this this is a scene if you will capturing a conversation taking place within the Trinity after the rebellion of Adam so the figure on the left is the father the figure in the center is the son and the figure on the right is the Holy Spirit and the description goes like this the father poses the question who will go and get him the hem is Adam or you or me who will bring him back who will bring him home when the son is the one in the center Nia has his head turned towards the right looking at the father as if to say to the Father I will I will go and get him I will bring her back I'll bring him home and the Spirit has his head down because the spirit knows the cost the son will pay to do that with that let's look at these things as we talk about what it is the son has done to bring us home I want look quickly at the incarnation the passion and the results of the Paschal mystery we're obviously gonna do this quickly we can't possib this is a semester right on each one of these things so first the Incarnation let's go back to d-day right so why are they there they're there to fight it's a no-brainer right why is he there he's there to fight scripture tells us the reason the reason the Son of God appeared first John 3:8 was to destroy the works of the devil it doesn't get much simpler than that Jesus shortly before he enters into his passion now is the judgment of this world and now shall the ruler of this world which is the description that we said Jesus uses for the enemy now shall he be cast out first miracle in Matthew Mark and Luke John of course is the wedding feast of Cana looking forward to a hundred 80 gallons of wine later tonight or a smaller percentage of it may be but the first miracle in Matthew Mark and Luke is the driving out of a demon and the very first thing that the demon says to Jesus is I know who you are the Holy One of God have you come here to destroy us Jesus doesn't answer that question out loud but the answer by all means is an emphatic yes I have that's why I've come please don't ever lose sight of that he hasn't come to just teach us to be kind he's come to go to war those of us who are ordained and those of us who join those of us ordained pray the Benedictus every morning this great prayer of John the Baptist's father where we say over and over again something all having to do with this theme he has come to his people and set them free free from what free from the power of death free from the power of sin free from the tyranny of Satan he promised that he would save us from our enemies who are our enemies death Satan hell from the hands of all who hate us who hates us not the other race not the other class not the other country the enemy and to shine on those who dwell in darkness in the shadow of death who's that that's our race we live in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace we looked at this beginning of this parable which Jesus tells at the end of the captured section let's look at the rest of it right so Jesus drives out a demon and after he drives out a demon the Pharisees accuse him of driving out the demon by demons and Jesus tells this parable to Matthew Mark and Luke it's worded a little different in each one of them he says when a strong man fully armed guards his own palace his goods are in peace but win one stronger than he sails him and overcomes him he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil I can't repeat this often enough Jesus is stronger than the enemy immeasurably so infinitely so Satan cowers in fear at the name of Jesus the enemy is the strongman Jesus is the one who is stronger than him what's he come to do to bind him why so that we can go free in Matthews account of that Jesus asks how can one enter a strong Mans house and plunder his Goods unless he first binds the strongman that's what Jesus has come to do I know we don't talk about this often in the church but again the goal of all this is to see biblically its to see with the lens that is Scripture and this is how Jesus talks about what he's come to do then indeed the Lord says he may plunder his house so they're there and he's there to fight oftentimes not oftentimes always in the octave between Christmas and the feast of Our Lady one of the anta funds unfortunately it's buried as an entrance antiphon at the beginning of mass and a weekday during the octave and most people never hear it but it's one of the most powerful images of what it is that Jesus has come to do book a wisdom says when peaceful silence lay over all and night had run the half of her Swift course down from the heavens from the royal throne lept your all-powerful word like a pitiless warrior into the heart of a land doomed to destruction in the book of wisdom that's referring to the Exodus event but it's a foreshadowing right it's a prophecy of what it is it's going to happen in the Incarnation when peaceful silence lay over all and night that is the night of the fall brought on by the rebellion of Adam and Eve and run half of her Swift course down from the heavens from the royal throne lept your all-powerful word in the Old Testament that looked like poetry at the moment of the Annunciation when Mary said yes poetry became reality for real the all-powerful word the one through whom the universe that's 46 billion light-years across lept down from his throne and began to dwell in the womb of a creature he had made why to rescue a land doomed to destruction so the Incarnation God becoming man in the person of Jesus is the invasion of one kingdom by a stronger Kingdom just like d-day is the invasion of the Allies against the Nazi Empire in Europe there's a a great scholar he's uh actually now he goes by the name of brother Simeon I believe it is who as a great lay name of Erasmo Leyva Mary caucus it's a mouthful I know he's a Greek Cuban and he has this three volume commentary on the Gospel of Matthew each of which is about 600 pages long and they're phenomenal and in one of the commentaries he says this Christ did not come merely to teach a new doctrine about how we should behave or to set an example of selflessness Christ came above all to perform a deed the destruction of death and the establishment of an everlasting kingdom of life CS Lewis and mere christianity puts it this way enemy occupied territory that's what this world is right as a result of the fall christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed you might say landed in disguise why because he's trying to provoke a fight so the enemy isn't wise wisdom is a virtue he has no virtue but he isn't stupid the enemy knows he can't defeat God God comes to engage the enemy in a battle in disguise so as to provoke a fight and why for you and for me that's why this is the name if this is me if I'm the creator of the universe and if you're the creator of the universe and your creature rebelled against you you just do this and start all over again right like nuts to them stupid people I'll make him new people God didn't do that with you and me there's a book that came out about two years ago anybody's ever read this book or familiar with this book I knew you were I I measure my life often times but when I met certain authors or when I read certain books this is a life-changing book for me so I think I got it because Bishop Baron spoke about it in something that I read maybe two and a half years ago so I saw the title I'm drawn to the passion of Jesus it's like the crucifix is the earliest memory of my life that I can remember so I've always had a focus in my own prayer on the Lord's passion saw this I said I want to read that looks great I ordered it it's like I don't know eight hundred pages right you're still reading you're about halfway through yeah taking me a year so I don't know if it's available on tape or not it'll take you like the equivalent of counting to a quadrillion probably to listen to but so when I'm reading this book it came it was this big I went okay that's gonna be good for Lent started reading it on Ash Wednesday and like four paragraphs into it I'm like this is amazing who is this guy well it's not a guy and Fleming Rutledge is a 80-some year old retired Anglican woman priest so just like full disclosure if to give you a glimpse of me so if you had told me 30 years ago that one of my favorite books of all time was gonna be written by a woman anglican priest I would have said you're out of your mind I've never read anybody like her she's become a real sister in the Lord to me and a great influence on us which I'd actually go on to see her in New York in April and there's obviously some things she would say that she doesn't agree with me on and I'd say this about her but I've never I've never encountered a more manly preacher in my life than this woman she is absolutely exceptional this book is is a game-changer she has a book called the undoing of death which I can't encourage you to read enough it's a collection of her sermons on Holy Week and Easter and Easter week I I would highly recommend anything that she wrote anyway I read this book two lengths ago and it became the the impetus really for me to begin to just ask the Lord Lord I got to find a way to tell the story in a way that's gonna overwhelm people because I'm getting overwhelmed by this so one of the things that comes out of this and maybe you can find a what I find the biggest crucifix in this church there's one above the tabernacle so maybe you can see the Lord hanging on the screen back there so that's an image from the movie The Passion I want to just focus in on this for a while so Jesus says before he enters into his passion that the ruler of this world is coming but he has no power over me we just want to continue to remember that huh I have the power Jesus says to lay down my life and I have the power to take it up again no one he says no one takes my life from me I lay it down of my own accord and I will take it up of my own accord who's he gonna lay it down for you and me why so as to rescue us so when you look at Jesus on a cross so just look at that image from the movie The Passion of the Christ ask yourself is Jesus the hunted or the hunter is he a victim or is he the aggressor that would seem to be a no-brainer right here's a man Jesus has a human nature he stark-naked forget the images of Jesus on a crucifix with a loincloth on Jesus has no clothes on on the cross that's the whole point of crucifixion its utmost humiliation the point of crucifixion is degradation didn't happen in a dungeon somewhere where nobody saw it it happened on the corner of i29 and 6:35 so that everybody would see it it's very public its ritual humiliation and part of the game is people are invited so as to mock you so here's a man stark naked crowned with thorns nailed to a tree but remember who this is right who's Jesus Jesus is the one through whom a universe 46 billion light years across was created all things came into existence through him and for him how do you nail that God to a cross you can where do you get that nail there's only one way God can get on a cross only one he has to want to be there why in the world would God want to be on a cross Sophia logically it's correct to say that Jesus is the victim right but understand what we mean by that but we don't mean is that he's the passive recipient of this Jesus is actually picking the fight I'll share with you how it is that I feel like the Lord taught me this and then I'll tell you that this is not just my wacky which is true imagination it gets backed up by the Fathers of the Church two years ago it's just before a holy week so two years ago this coming Easter I'm about to celebrate Mass for our kids in the school I'm sitting in my chapel in the house where I lived I'm praying over the scriptures for the day and out of nowhere I hear the Lord say these words to me why do I know it's the Lord cuz like I know how the Lord talks to me sometimes it's just the fact I have too much pizza the night before but sometimes it's obviously the Lord talking to me there's ways to discern that without getting into that I'm sitting in the chapel and out of nowhere I hear ambush predator I'm like ambush predator with acts of ambush predator I had my phone next to me which I probably shouldn't when I'm in the chapel a Google ambush predator and I just start to laugh like you've got to be kidding me so an ambush predator is a creature which lies motionless and still camouflaged with its environment that's an ambush predator that's an ambush but these things are everywhere right and the woods they're in your house might be in your bed thanks father this is really helping me sleep there in the ocean they're everywhere right why do they do it for one purpose to attract prey that's why they lay motionless just to attract prey and when the prey comes they just pounce from the moment of the agony in the garden Jesus is camouflaging his divinity more and more and more there's only one time right when his divinity is burst forth from him that's the Transfiguration that's just a fleeting glimpse shining through him right and only Peter James and John see it but from the moment the Garden of Gethsemane everything is getting cloaked in a profound way right look what happens right Jesus in the garden sweats blood which is a real physiological effect in a person's body he's arrested he chained he slack this is the son of God we're talking about remember how big the universes seventy sextillion stars right that's this is the one who made them he's slapped judged by some clown named pilot stripped naked scourge crowned with thorns nailed to a cross why that's why just like those other creatures that we see he's trying to entice the enemy or the prey to come close to him Jesus on the cross I would argue as the ambush predator like nobody else and nothing else here's how one person rights might even be Fleming again Jesus shared our flesh and blood our vulnerable material existence full of suffering and pain so that through death the power of death would be destroyed the only way to conquer death was to engage death on its own territory mano-a-mano the Gospel message in Paul and in Hebrews is that our Lord destroyed the power of death through or by death how are we to understand that the ordinary way of thinking about destroying an enemy is with his own weapons to use his own weapons against him Jesus Christ did something entirely different Christ defeated death by death but here's the key he did not use the weapons of death he suffered death in order to conquer death he underwent death in order to overcome death he submitted to death to subdue death but he fought death not by duplicating its methods but by entering its realm entering it with no defenses whatever except trust in the ultimate purpose of God the Father there's always been three ways to understand the passion what's happening when Jesus is undergoing his passion we typically talk about two of them all three of these are necessary to keep in mind to get a comprehensive understanding of what it is that's going on when Jesus goes to the cross the cross for many people it sounds silly to say it this way but this is how we often act or so it seems it's just this like really unfortunate tragic ending to what was a great life and then like magically comes the resurrection and then we're back on with it but we don't know what to do with the passion Jesus is never not in control nothing's ever happening to him Frank she'd one of the great Christian apologists Catholic apologists of the 50s 60s and 70s used to remind us the most active moment of Jesus's priesthood is when he's hanging on a cross because the only way for him to be on the cross is to Willet this is this is from which you get the idea of redemptive suffering everybody's gonna suffer in this life many of us already have greatly when it comes I can do one of two things with it I can as a waste it which is what I usually do and complain or I can unite it to his cross for the sake of others that's really important when you begin to suffer or when someone you love suffers st. Paul says I fill up in my own flesh what's lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body which is the church which means what nothing's lacking in the sufferings of Christ except my participation in it this is why John Paul spoke so often about the redemptive nature of suffering it's why John Paul wanted to be photographed as often as he was when he couldn't speak his words clearly anymore he couldn't stand up straight and he was drooling he wanted to give people who were sick and growing older dignity he wanted to remind them you still have great worth don't look back to what was back there understand you're now entering into moments which might be more fruitful than any moment of your life because now you're sharing in our Lord's passion the three ways to understand the passion of these first Jesus on the cross is showing us the love of the Father it's that guy behind home plate at every baseball game right John 3:16 you know what John 3:16 is God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son so that we would not perish but have eternal life so to see Jesus on the cross is to see how much the Father loves us how much you're how much you matter right is that true absolutely it's not complete though it's not enough it moves many people in here doesn't move some of us but it's true it's just not exhaustively true the second way to understand the passion is that Jesus on the cross is becoming sin he's making atonement for us st. Paul writes that God made him who knew no sin to be sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God in other words Jesus on the cross is absorbing into himself all of the sins ever committed by the entire human race is that true absolutely does that move many people I don't think so most of us look at the cross and go hmm I don't think I'm that bad a guy the reality is I am and so are you like I need that somebody said once after The Passion of the Christ came out if that's the remedy what's the wound but that's not complete by itself the third way to understand the passion and the preferred way of most of the fathers of the early church which is to say most of those men who were the immediate successors of the Apostles and then up until the 6th 7th 8th century the way they spoke about Jesus in his passion was Jesus is going to war to rescue us how many people here have seen the Passion of the Christ anybody recognize that image there's a really weird scene in the movie right after Jesus breathes his last we're a drop of water which is I imagined supposed to be symbolic of the father's tears falling from the sky lands in the ground explodes and then you see this image for like a half a second it's Satan on this cracked piece of earth and he's screaming you know why because he just realized that he undid himself so you have to picture that the Lord on this is you got to think imagery here because it's the only way you can try to understand these mysteries which are so far beyond just our intellect it's as if the Lord on the cross is hanging there and he wants to be swallowed by death because he wants to destroy it from inside Augustine used to say together with a number of the other fathers of the church it's only right that the one who deceived our race at the beginning of our history should himself be deceived and bring about his own destruction that's what that's telling us here's one of the most powerful ways I know to talk about it this is a excerpt from a sermon given by Saint Ephrem the Syrian back in the fifth century he says death trampled our Lord underfoot but he in his turn treated death as a high road for his own feet he submitted to it enduring it willingly because by this means he would be able to destroy death in spite of itself death had its own way when our Lord went out from Jerusalem carrying his cross but win by a loud cry from that cross he summoned the dead from the underworld death was powerless to prevent it death slew him by means of the body which he had assumed but that same body proved to be the weapon with which he conquered death concealed beneath the cloak of his manhood his Godhead engaged death and combat but in slaying our Lord death itself was slain it was able to kill natural human life but was itself killed by the life that is above the nature of man death could not devour our Lord unless he possessed a body and neither could hell swallow him up unless he bore our flesh so get a load of this line and so he came in search of a chariot in which to ride to the underworld this chariot was the body which he received from the Virgin in it he invaded death's fortress broke open its strong room and scattered all its treasure that people is not gentle Jesus meek and mild that's the real Jesus or the complete Jesus Jesus on the cross right says these words it is finished this is not like him hanging on the cross going finally that's done the word that he uses there the word that we used in the Gospel of John can be translated in all these different ways it is accomplished it's fulfilled it's carried out it's performed it's achieved it's completed friend of mine used to write these dramatic monologues of different men and women in Scripture and they were just telling narratives of like say Peter encountering Jesus for the first time and the miraculous catch of fish and being called to follow him one of the monologues he wrote which was really powerful was a depiction of the Archangel Michael's fitting for this place understanding of the crucifixion so it was Michael describing for us the way this man wrote it what it was like to be there that day and so he wrote in such a way it was again this is just his own imagination but it's rooted in Scripture right but going to this verse so he's writing as if to say so the moment of the crucifixion so there's Jesus on the cross and he describes this is Michael talking you know all the crowds around in the Pharisees and the high priests and all the soldiers and all the other people who were there and the demons are there and Michael's describing the demons behind the people who are tempting the crowds to mock Jesus and to taunt Jesus and to hurt him in all the different ways that they were trying to and then he describes at a certain point it's as if the demons themselves begin to shake and to shudder and the sky grows darker and darker and then soon standing right in front of Jesus is Satan and Satan begins to mock Jesus and the Lord has his head down this whole time and Satan just begins to assail him you utter failure you fool you stupid man all those things that you set out to do nothing will come from them now he shows him history after the Lord's death ohshe wits Pol Pot abortion human trafficking and the Lord looks at him or the Lord doesn't yet look at him Satan begins to say to him you know don't you in just a few moments your mind cuz no one escapes death and you might have done miracles but I've seen miracles and you might not sin but that woman over there she didn't send either but your mind and in this narrative my friend wrote it it was at this point that Jesus raises his head and stares right at Satan and says those words it is finished so what comes of all this what's the good news about what Jesus has accomplished for us in his death and resurrection so while I look at these with us quickly he has done all of these things he has destroyed death transferred us recreated us divinized us rendered sin impotent humiliated the enemy given us authority over the enemy and sent us on mission to get his world back I just want to walk through these quickly so the first result of the passion and his resurrection is he has destroyed death so I told you I lost my dad my mom my brother I've lost countless friends and buried thousands of people at this point in my life why is it that we can grieve with hope because death can't hold me anymore that's why I'm going to die I watched three of the people I love the most in this world die but I don't grieve them without hope why because Jesus has destroyed death its power can't hold us anymore he sees us us back after death grabs us that's the result of his passion and his resurrection huh the prophecy in Isaiah 25 he will destroy on this mountain this is God the covering that has cast over all peoples in the veil that has spread over all the nations God will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces there's a lot of us in here who have cried a lot of tears over people that we've lost God promises you will feel his finger on your cheek wiping away your tears and mine and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken it will be said on that day low like low get a load of God this is our God we have waited for him that he might save us this is the Lord we have waited for him let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation Paul de Timothy says our Savior Christ Jesus abolished death like you know you elect somebody into office they abolish things God abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel Jesus says to John and beginning of Revelation fear not I am the first and the last and the living one once I died but behold I'm alive for ever and I have the keys of death of end of Hades who do you know who can say something like that well you know once I was dead but I'm alive now you don't know anybody who can say that except God Hebrews since therefore the children share in flesh and blood he Jesus himself likewise partook of the same nature that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death that is the devil and the next line goes on to say and deliver those who their whole lives long had been held bound by the fear of death don't raise your hand just ask yourself seriously right now are you afraid of dying because the Christian isn't supposed to be I'm afraid of how I'm gonna die like like really but I'm not afraid of death why because it can't hold me why because Jesus has crushed it he's robbed it of its power Paul 2 Corinthians then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and every power for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last enemy to be destroyed is death like imagine what it's like to live without fearing losing loved ones let alone losing your own life that's why Paul can mock death and taunt it Oh death where is your victory Oh death where is your sting you don't have one anymore right but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ that's the first result the Paschal mystery second result he's transferred us member we looked at this passage earlier Colossians 1:13 2:14 this is the passage I read every time I baptized a child because that's when this happens when a child or an adult gets baptized they're transferred he has delivered us rescued us from the Dominion or the lordship or the rule or the government of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have Redemption the forgiveness of sins we hand children or their godparents and their parents you know these little baptismal certificates like here isn't this cute do something with this the reality is behind that little certificate is an amazing thing your old birth certificate which said King you know child of the kingdom of darkness that's now null and void now you're a child of the kingdom of light friend of mine about dis Minister he used to teach people I thought this is the most powerful image I've ever heard of what happens in baptism he says imagine and this won't take a lot of imagining for some of us imagine growing up in a dysfunctional house parents who fight alcoholic father abusive mom there's verbal abuse emotional abuse physical abuse plates fly quite literally you hate it there you everything you can to not be home right you get involved in every sport every extracurricular activity everything you can sneak in late at night because you hate waking up people because if you wake up people you might feel their wrath or their hand cross the street lives this annoyingly happy family can you hear them all the time out your bedroom window a father playing with his kids laughing having fun playing catch while you live in this horrible place and then one day while you're the only person at home you hear a knock on the door and you go downstairs answer the door and it's the dad from across the street and he says do you want to come live with us and you don't even pack that's baptism you move from the house of a tyrant to the house of a good father Scott Lana in his commentary in this the recipient of baptism undergoes a death to the bondage of sin and is brought to life again by a reception of grace Fleming again it takes hard mental work to enter Paul's thought world and to understand that his words do not describe a bondage to a harsh puritanical code imposed upon us by a tyrannical outside force that's what most young people and many older people for that matters image of Christianity is it's a bunch of rules that restrict me no that's the enemy the enemy has the harsh puritanical code Paul means the opposite the gospel of Christ means precisely deliverance from tyrannical outside forces into a realm of light and of life 3rd fruit of the Paschal mystery Jesus has recreated us this is the theme of st. Paul right if anyone is in Christ is a new creation the oldest passed away behold the newest come we say to people all the time or about people all the time well you know that Scott was just where he is he's always gonna be that way no it's not true the whole premise of the Christian life is you can change like right now you can change at this moment you could have walked into this church right now struggling with whatever it is that you've been struggling with for however long you've been struggling the reality is at this moment because of the power of the Holy Spirit given to us because of what it is that Jesus has accomplished for us by his death and resurrection you can change and leave it here so that you can grow in freedom how do you do that not by trying harder you do that by surrendering you just say things like lord I can't do this but you can so please do one of the coolest things in the sky is this nebula so there's a nebula in the constellation Orion which they call a a star nursery so there's new stars constantly being created and the God that creates stars at this moment is able to recreate me right now every time I walk out of the confessional it's what he's doing he's recreating me as I leave behind whatever it is that I brought in there what else has he done this is an annoying one for me quite candidly because I don't experience this folia he's rendered sin capital S impotent what does that mean that means you and I don't have to sin sin has no power over me and it has no power over you why because Jesus has robbed it of its sting before Jesus's death and resurrection there was no chance for me I was held bound by the power the Dominion of sin I'm not anymore I have living inside of me the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead that's amazing power because of that spirit in me I don't have to sin don't get me wrong I do all the stinking time I do because I have memories and habits and instincts but I don't have to if I really wanted to I could be a saint like now I'm not just ask anybody who works with me but I could be so could you Paul writes we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin for he who has died is freed from sin that's what he means Monsignor Knox he was a great Englishman writing at the beginning of the 20th century he used to try to remind us don't don't misunderstand what Paul's saying here this is not like cool I'm just gonna like coast to victory right now this is not an all clear like that's not what this is at all this is just an announcement that you actually finally have a chance to win right before the Paschal mystery there was no chance we couldn't win right now I can struggle and I can win before I knew the Lord there was no struggle I just like gave in all the time now at least there's a struggle here's my favorite personally result of the passion Jesus has humiliated the enemy st. Paul writes in Colossians chapter 2 verse 15 he has disarmed the Greek there is more literally he has stripped naked the principalities and powers who are those principalities and powers sin death Satan and helm and made a public example of them or humiliated them triumphing over them in him I don't know what you have in your mind when you read those words but everybody in the first century when Paul wrote those words knew what Paul was talking about he was talking about one of these this is a triumph a triumph is a very particular parade held in an empire filled with parades there were very precise conditions under which a triumph which was a technical word could be held it meant that the emperor was coming into Rome on his return from battle after having met serious conditions or several conditions and he would ride into Rome in his chariot surrounded by a part of his army with all the people that he had just captured from the army that he had defeated and all the things that he had taken from the country and so Julius Caesar after eight years of fighting the king of Gaul finally at the battles conclusion they apprehend the king of Gaul the defeat is final his victory is assured Caesars all cleaned up he's seated on his throne they grabbed the king of Gaul they bring him up in front of Caesar they strip him naked they push him to his knees they make him kiss the Roman eagle as if to say you lost and we won they stand him up that Shana's hands behind his back they put him in a cage and they begin to parade back to Rome this is the beginning of a triumph and then into Rome comes Caesar seated on his throne surrounded by his army with a long line of people that he's captured and at the end of this long line is a man in a cage with no clothes on with his hands chained behind his back and a sign above his head and the sign says this is the one who used to threaten us and make our life miserable he won't do that anymore that's what Paul says Jesus has done to Satan he is leading him in triumph because of that Jesus has given us authority over the enemy this is huge people you're not powerless in this battle that we're fighting right now Jesus says I've given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you what began at the moment of the of Easter was the beginning of the recreation of this universe it wasn't just God's showing off one time like hey look what I could do in your life if I wanted to it was the beginning of putting everything right and one day the king will return and he will make everything right in the meantime you and I are supposed to be instruments in his hands to be agents to make that happen whether we work in health care we work in the judicial system whether were teachers whether we're stay-at-home moms or dads whatever we put our hands to we're supposed to transform everything in this world that we live in so that it is recreated one of the ways we do that is we come against the power of the enemy and we could do that because we have Jesus's authority CS Lewis I mentioned the beginning of this quote earlier here's the whole quote enemy occupied territory that's what this world is Christianity is the story of how the rightful king is landed you might say landed in disguise and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage I love that line that's my life's mission that should be your life's mission as a disciple I want to blow things up that belong to the enemy not literally I want to undo his power how do we do that speaking truth speaking love bringing the gospel helping to heal people loosening his grip wherever we can do it that's what God's calling us to be agents of sabotage and finally he sent us on mission to get his world back Jesus says to Peter in a passage that I don't think many people understand what Jesus is saying and I tell you you are Peter so Peters just said you're the Christ huh now Jesus changed his Simon's name cousin Peter which oh by the way is not a name it's a thing right Peter means rock it's like me saying Tim you know what I'm gonna call you I'm gonna call you dump truck great that's what you're gonna be from knowing dump truck you know that's what Peter means you know I equivalent right I'm gonna call you rock and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it oftentimes we hear that passage and we say something like this now things are getting bad but I think Jesus promised no matter how bad they get the church is never gonna collapse that's not what he promised that's not what you saying anybody ever been attacked by a gate a gate no one's ever been attacked by a gate right a gate is not an offensive tactic it's a defensive tactic you use gates to keep people out what Jesus is saying is hell has no chance that's what he's saying not against me against God so go and undo its kingdom that's what he's saying and he said to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole of creation that's the point of trying to share the story with everybody so that you and I can take this integrated ask the Lord to help us understand it more fully and then share it with people in a way that they'll be able to say to us like that woman said to me that's not the God I knew growing up I've never heard that before I'm in Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me so go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo I am I the one through whom the universe was made the one who humiliated the enemy I am with you always to the close of the age so do not be afraid and do not be anxious I was given this talk to some folks over in Rapid City I think it was a couple months ago and was in one of the breaks and one of the guys came up to me at one of the breaks he says father I think I understand this what I don't understand is why why would God do this which another way of asking is this what's the heart of the gospel what is it that you and I are sent to proclaim to people what is it that God wants to say to you right now in this church I think he wants to say this the answer to the why it's cuz love does such things and God is love which only tells me I don't know anything about love because I wouldn't do anything like this for anybody the heart of the gospel are those two words you matter or the way another person put it to say I love you to somebody is to say that you are worth the trouble that's what the one who made the universe that's 46 billion light years the cross who became man who allowed himself to be stripped naked and nailed to a cross and crowned with thorns says to you from the cross you are worth the trouble of me doing this the proclamation of the gospel is the fact that Jesus is Lord which is an expression which meant something to the first century Christians it doesn't mean much to us today I'm afraid it's just the ending of a prayer but those are fighting words in the Roman Empire because in the Roman Empire there was a lord his name was Caesar and he had a gospel and he had evangelists and he promised peace and security but he was a fraud the answer doesn't come from any politician as important as politics are don't get me wrong the answer comes from God who is Lord and because he's Lord it means oh by the way nobody else is and because of that I don't have to be afraid and because of that I have unshakeable confidence in him let me share this with you this is a sermon I think it's one of the greatest sermons I've ever heard in my life it was given back in the second century by a guy named Melito of Sardis I call this the trash talking Jesus so this is moledo speaking as if it's imagined to give him this homily at the Easter Vigil and here he's speaking as if this is Jesus talking who is he who contends with me let him stand in opposition to me I set the condemned man free I gave the dead man life I raised up the one who's been entombed who was my opponent I he says him the Christ I am the one who destroyed death and triumphed over the enemy and trampled Hades underfoot and bound the strong one i pacify this billboard five times now since I've been here yesterday if Patrick fell home standing there like this with his hands in this collar it's a great image right don't get me wrong Sports is an awesome thing and when you win it's a tremendous achievement the honor that we give to athletes is idolatrous and I love sports where is his honor Jesus Concord deaf people how is it that you can lose your voice at a football game and never open your mouth in a church how is it you can boldly and proudly wear emblems of whatever sports team you're a fanatic of and be ashamed to open your mouth because you're a disciple with the one through whom the world was made and who routed the power of hell how is that possible where is God's glory and his honor no man deserves what Jesus deserves and we cower in fear so often as Christians afraid to say that we're his disciples shame on us let all that you do to tell people how proudly you are right now of being from Kansas City with a trophy be an image for you of what you should be for him a herald of him who has done all that he has this is Jesus says the Alpha and the Omega this is the beginning in the end an indescribable beginning in an incomprehensible end this Jesus says is the Christ this is the king this is the general this is the Lord this is the one who rose from the dead this is the one who sits at the right hand of the Father this is the one before whom every person in this church and every person on the face of the earth is going to have to render in account this is the face in front of the one who's going to say to us please God at the end of our lives well done my good and faithful servant oh just wait till you see what I have for you John Paul used to say all the time when he was alive I'll say it to you right now don't ever be ashamed of the gospel ever don't ever be ashamed to identify yourself as a disciple of the King and as a friend of the Lord ever it will cost you people it's going to cost us greatly in the years to come but don't be afraid of that remember this promise even the captives of the mighty shall be taken and the prey the tyrant shall be rescued for I will contend with those who contend with you and all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior and your Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob I'm gonna ask Deacon John to bring out our Lord right now and I'm gonna keep this image on the screen this is one of the favorite icons of the Eastern Church it's an image of Jesus on Easter Sunday coming out of the grave and he's standing on top of Satan's head at least he is in some icons and underneath his feet you can see chains and keys those are all the chains of death and sin and he has his two hands outstretched and in one hand is a man and the other hand is a woman the man is Adam and the woman is Eve and behind those two figures are hundreds and thousands of people as Jesus liberates hell that Jesus is on the altar people hiding under the appearance of bread because if he didn't we would never dare to get close to him and just like in that image in the icon his hands are outstretched right now to you and to me wherever you are in your life whatever tomb you might find yourself in whether it's fear or anxiety or worry and he's just saying take my hand and let me pull you out of where you are for I did not make you to be stuck in this tomb I made you for life what is the appropriate response to a God who makes us and then rescues us from all that he has rescued us from at the cost of his life [Music] what is it that Jesus most once what he wants is our favor what's faith faith is surrender [Music] who is it that we could possibly trust like him who's given us any reason to trust like he has the answers nobody I want to invite you if you're willing but only if you're willing to join me and doing what it is that God desires from us which is to surrender to her right now [Music] so faith isn't just you know intellectually believing that there's a God the demons faith is saying to the Lord Lord here's my life you can have it I just want to be whatever you want me to be and I want to do it all on a crowded evening for all that you've done for me and all that you will yet do [Music] so if you think you can do that join me as we pray this God I believe that out of your infinite love you have created me I'm sorry for all the times I have believed the enemy's lies that you are not a good father and don't love me please forgive me for all of my sins thank you for sending Jesus the ambush predator to rescue me from sin death hell and Satan I choose this day to place your son Jesus at the center of my life so today here and now I surrender to you Jesus I desire your lordship over every area of my life I asked you now to flood my soul with the gift of the Holy Spirit helped me to know my true identity as a beloved son help me to know that I matter and I am worth dying for recreate me to be the person you destined me to be please use me as an instrument your merciful hands to rescue others but to help recreate this world that you so love I just want to invite us as we look back on those things that the Lord might want to bring to mind from the course of the day things that made an impression on us those things that either he said directly or that we heard indirectly however it came to go back and linger over them as we look at the splendor of his creation the horror of the enemy and what he's unleashed on our race and then Jesus's extraordinary victory over him by his death and resurrection look back on all those things and one of the graces we want to ask for as we seek to respond to the Lord as gratitude [Music] termi one is lost powerful passages from that to help me just comes from Psalm Psalm 116 where David simply asks this question what can I possibly give back to God for all that he has done is just to take a couple minutes before the Lord and ask him this question thank you CS Lewis's quote so we're in your life right now it's got calling you and me to be an agent of sabotage where is it that he wants to use us mindful the authority that he gave us by his Spirit living finis to help recreate something make it more human more authentic more in keeping with God's law something within our daily life our sphere of influence some in our marriage and our family some at work in the neighborhood school in the parish wherever how does he how and where's you want to use us to bring life earthers less than my hope where there's discouragement light where there's shadows and darkness I think about what's he asking to blow up right now whiskey [Music] ask him to bring something to - and that we leave here resolved to do something all this

Channel: ACTS XXIX

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Length: 77min 50sec (4670 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020