March 20, 2016 (Sunday of the Passion / Palm Sunday) – Luke 22:14-23:56
Luke 22:14-23:56
As One Who Serves
Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday – March 20, 2016
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Near the beginning of this story today, Jesus says,
“I have come among you as one who serves.”
As one who serves.
That is the motto of my alma mater, the University of Regina, a secular university –
with a motto straight from Jesus’ mouth, straight from the Gospel of Luke!
Once upon a mythical time, universities saw themselves primarily as preparing people to
serve the common public good, the common public good of all people.
It’s a noble ideal and still is.
And it is tied very closely to Jesus’ suffering and death.
And how he serves us.
The story today begins at a table, at a Passover meal.
And among all the elements of food there, Jesus takes some bread and says,
this is my body, given for you.
And he takes a cup of wine and says, this is my blood poured out for you.
This is how I serve you.
Even though I am the messiah, even though I am your lord, I serve you.
And I’m holding nothing back.
I’m giving you everything.
I’m giving you my whole life.
I’m among you as one who serves by giving you my whole life.
And on the cross, he does, giving forgiveness, even at the cost of his life.
That is how much he loves those who put him to death and those who fail him.
Because he believes in us. He believes we can change.
He believes we can become servants of one another rather than
seeking to become lords over one another.
The importance of the Passion story is just this: Jesus serves us by giving us everything:
his whole life.
His whole divine perfect servant-filled compassionate life.
Even though we fail, even though we fall short, he still gives it to us.
And at the table says he will give it to us over and over and over again,
until we get it, as often as we need it, until we too become agents of the kingdom
as ones who serve the common public good of one another and of all people,
until all become servants of one another in one great cosmic circle of
giving and receiving, mirroring the inner life of the Triune God.
So come to the table, where Jesus still comes among us to give us his life so that
we too might live it;
come to the table where Jesus still comes among us as one who serves.
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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