April 14, 2019 (Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion) – Luke 22:14-23:56
Luke 22:14-23:56
Jesus: You Have Stood by Me in My Trials. Us: Really?
Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion – April 14, 2019
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
One of the more surprising things Jesus says in this long account of his passion and death is this:
just after the last supper where Jesus has shared bread and wine – his body – with them,
he says to them: you are those who have stood by me in my trials.
And we think: really? Really?
He has just said one of them will betray him.
He has just predicted Peter will shortly deny him three times.
They have just lost their minds and begun arguing about who among them is greatest when
Jesus has just told them that the greatest among them is the one who serves.
And on the Mount of Olives they will fall asleep when he asks them
to just stay awake and pray with him.
But – and here is the thing – in Luke’s Gospel, they are there, finally, in the end when he dies.
Like the disciples we betray one another and our fellow human beings.
We fall asleep on the way and do not always heed the things Jesus calls us to:
service to the vulnerable and justice for the oppressed.
Like those early disciples, we fail – over and over we fail.
And, like them, we grieve.
And yet: you have assembled today to be near Jesus, to stand by him.
Like the disciples, you are there, with him today, at the end.
So here’s another thing: if we’re not there, standing with him, we can’t be forgiven.
If we’re not there with him,
we can’t be inspired like the disciples to be true to the very best within themselves.
If we’re not there with him, we can’t be encouraged by him –
and we can’t encourage one another.
To stand with Jesus, to be there with him, is always to hold these two things together:
on the one hand, to recognize and feel deeply within ourselves that we are not always
true to the very best within us – and,
on the other hand, to recognize that that failure never ever finally defines us.
If we stand with Jesus, if we stay close to him,
we don’t just have our failures acknowledged –
we also able to receive forgiveness – from the cross, if necessary.
We are given new hope if we’re close to Jesus and have our eyes opened if we’re close to Jesus
to the possibility of a new start and new day.
If we stand with Jesus through our failures, we receive encouragement,
we experience his belief in us, we experience renewal –
and receive his belief in our potential for great acts of service and
healing and feeding and justice.
Today, when you come to the table, you will stand with Jesus and he will be there with you.
At this table find acceptance, and renewal, and potential for great acts of loyalty and service.
So come, stand with Jesus, stand with one another, stand by the vulnerable –
and together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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