Author: TechCommittee

April 2, 2023 – Palm Sunday   Text:  Mark 11:1-11

Dear Friends in Christ,

That American theologian Billy Joel once wrote in a song, “They say there’s a heaven for those who will wait, Some say its better, but I say it ain’t.  I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, The sinners are much more fun.”  That is the philosophy of many, even Christians.  So many think that heaven will be boring.  No Xbox or ice cream cones.  We read in our Bibles heaven will be where we worship and sing and praise our Creator for the love He has for us.  Worship?  Praise?  Singing?  Next, you’ll tell me I will be floating on a cloud playing a harp with dull religious people.  No thank you.

Unfortunately these are the same ideas that keep people from praising God on earth.  Easy excuses are found for the weak soul to stay away from God’s House.  Worship is boring.  The Bible is hard to understand.  Who wants to go and sit around bland religious people?

Today is Palm Sunday.  One of the greatest days of worship and praise!  As Jesus’ makes his humble and royal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey all the attention is on Him as King.  The crowds and children are singing their praises.  Though many today would rather go to hell than to find joy in worship, this Sunday we will learn to find joy in raising to Jesus our . . .

“HANDS OF PRAISE”

Many think that praising God can only be done on a pew with soft music.  The reality is that most of the praising of God takes place outside the church building.  The Palm Sunday praise of Jesus took place outside God’s House.  

We have the obedient praise of the disciples.  Jesus gave them unusual instructions about a donkey they were supposed to get.  Certainly they had questions.  “Jesus, how do you know the donkey will be there?  How do you know we can take it without asking?”  They didn’t ask.  They didn’t question Jesus.  They praised Jesus with their obedience.

Our world does not give that praise to God.  They question why God and His Word and His Church have a right to tell us what to do at all.  They question how a loving God can allow such heartache.  They accuse the Bible of patriarchy when it names man the head of the woman and woman the helper of man.  They question why they can’t live together before marriage and why they can’t swear if everybody else does.  

As believers we praise God with our obedience.  Christians obey without questioning Jesus’ authority.  We live good, clean, decent and honest lives outside the church in the world every day.  We don’t just say, “Your will be done.”  We go out and see that Jesus will is done on earth.  This is worship of Jesus which pleases God.

Another way we show praise is to honor our Lord with the stewardship of our gifts.  Look at the Palm Sunday crowd.  One person happily gave the use of their donkey.  Others took off their cloaks and put them on the colt.  Still others spread their cloaks on the road.  Another group maybe having little to give cut down palm branches as a symbol of Jesus’ victory.  They all praised Jesus with their possessions.

Here we are Palm Sunday 2023, and the souls of men and women are dying.  People are pushing farther away from the church and people are going to their graves with no saving faith.  Is that our main concern?  Or do we worry about ourselves?  What about the economy?  Interest rates keep going up.  My share of the national debt is now $94,000.  Can I keep my standard of living?  Can we put our shirt in the dirt just a little so that Jesus and his message of forgiveness can march triumphantly into our hurting world?  Can we not cut a few palms here and there from trees of worldly hopes and spray them in His direction?  Using our hands to praise Jesus with our gifts – that would be great praise for the Savior King.

Another form of praise came from the mouths of the Palm Sunday worshippers.  “And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!’”  When the praise of obedience and the praise of money is there, the praise of mouth will naturally follow.  They were loud and enthusiastic.  Joyous and happy.  Th enemies of Jesus were looking on, watching closely and jealously as these people praise Jesus with their mouths when they weren’t even in church!

Jesus still needs the praise of our mouths, but not just singing in church.  He needs the spontaneous, sincere praise of our mouths out in the world where His enemies are listening.  No souls will be converted by our cursing or arguing.  No one will want to come here if we bad mouth our church or we are always pessimistic and grumpy.  We will praise our King by confessing the faith to the weak and sinful.  We will praise our King by standing up for proper language.  We will praise our King when we are friendly to the visitor at church or the friend we tell we are praying for.  Jesus needs the praise of your mouth, not just here at church, but out in the world, especially in the hearing of His enemies.

You can think heaven will be boring only if you think that praising God is boring on earth.  On Palm Sunday there were two groups.  Those who praised Him.  Those who hated Him.  Lord enter our hearts as King.  May our hands praise you with unquestioning obedience.  You gave your life for us, may we use our hands and the gifts you give to praise you.  Then with the Holy Spirit working in us, allow our mouths to praise you in the world.  Then one day soon we will praise you in heaven, where our praise will be anything but boring.               Amen.      

March 29, 2023 – Lent       Text:  Matthew 27:15-26

Dear Friends in Christ,

Simon Peter was an eyewitness to all of Holy Week.  In Acts chapter 3 he raised a lame man to a healed walker and leaper.  When the Jews saw this, they surrounded him and John.  Peter then said this, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.  You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.” (Acts 3:13)

It wasn’t the main point of Peter’s sermon that day but it got their attention.  You handed Jesus over to be crucified, “though he had decided to let him go.”  Were you aware of that?  Are you surprised that Peter would say something like that?  Pilate had decided in his mind to release Jesus.  But he didn’t do what he decided to do.  Pilate will always be remembered as the man who sentenced the author of life to death.

What happened?  What made Pilate change his mind?  What can we learn so that we don’t go down the same path?  Matthew is the only Gospel writer who mentions that before he handed Jesus over to be crucified, Pilate washed his . . . 

“HANDS OF SELF-PRESERVATION”

It didn’t have to end this way.  Pilate was given a long list of reasons to release Jesus.  Pilate was amazed that when questioned, Jesus said nothing.  When Jesus and Pilate were alone Jesus said this, “My kingdom is not of this world…you would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” (John 18:36; 19:11). No one ever spoke to the Roman governor like that.  Pilate was starting to realize this was no ordinary human being.

If that was unsettling imagine how he felt when his wife sent word, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” (v. 19). 

Pilate was not naïve.  He could see what the Jewish leaders were doing.  He knew they were jealous of Jesus.  Pilate was convinced that Jesus was no criminal.  Pilate should have released Jesus and sent everyone home.  But he didn’t.  First, he passes the buck and sends Jesus to Herod and the Jewish court.  Next option:  a Passover custom, the releasing of a prisoner.  Barabbas gets the pick.  Surely, the leaders will want him condemned and not Jesus.  The plan backfired.  The chief priests and elders work the crowd and get Pilate to release Barabbas.  

Pilate had to be stunned that his plan was not working.  He then uttered these desperate words, “What shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?” (v. 22). The crowds answered, “Let him be crucified.”  So Pilate tries reason, “Why, what evil has he done?”  It was too late, they kept shouting, “Let him be crucified!”  “Crucify!  Crucify!  Crucify!”

Pilate tried to keep the peace, but started a riot.  He needed to do something.  He sentenced the world’s only truly innocent man to death but maintained his own innocence by doing this, “He took water and washed his hands before the crowd saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” (v. 24)

Pilate couldn’t wash away history that night.  Two thousand years later our creeds still confess that Jesus “suffered and was crucified under Pontius Pilate.”  No amount of hand soap will ever make those guilty hands clean.

Pilate wasn’t a Christian; he was a pagan.  He protected his power and authority.  He was an unbeliever who acted like an unbeliever.  Nothing surprising about that.  What is more troubling is when people who know Jesus, who call themselves Christians, follows Pilate’s example.

In the safety of this sanctuary, surrounded by fellow saints, it is easy to sing God’s praises.  Out there it is a different story.  When I’m with co-workers or classmates, when I get together with a group of friends, not all of them are Christians.  Some can be pretty outspoken.  They know what I believe.  They aren’t afraid to question what I believe.  Maybe they even make fun of what I believe.

If we find ourselves in those situations, what do we do?  Say something or clam up?  The opportunity passes and we feel guilty because we did not speak for our Savior.  We then start the excuse machine, “It wasn’t a good time…I didn’t want to get into an argument…I don’t want to lose my friends or my job.” 

On the Last Day Pilate will have to answer for his actions.  But remember this – he didn’t believe in Jesus.  We claim to be his followers.  We have no excuse for not defending Jesus.  Jesus has us clenching when he says, “Whoever denies me before others, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt. 10:33).  Ouch!

Let’s refocus our praises toward Jesus tonight.  He allowed his enemies to arrest him.  Praise God!  He allowed the soldiers to mistreat him.  Praise God!  He allowed a crooked court to convict him and a weak judge to wash his hands of him.  Praise God!  He allowed himself to be numbered among the transgressors to fulfill prophecy and to pay for the world’s sins.  Praise God!  Jesus allowed his own life to be taken from him so that we might live in his presence forever.  Praise God!  

Amen.        

March 26, 2023             Text:  John 11:1-45

Dear Friends in Christ,

Years ago, a young woman became seriously ill.  After being in the hospital for a time she returned home to wait for her eminent death.  Her husband knew the situation but their eight-year-old daughter did not know her mom was terminal.

One afternoon, the little girl overheard the doctor say to the father and mother, “The time is not too far off.  Before the last leaves have gone from the trees you will die.”  The girl went to her room and cried.

A few months later, the father came down for breakfast and the daughter was not there.  He couldn’t find her in the house.  He finally saw her out in the front yard.  His heart was broken as he watched her picking up the leaves that had fallen to the ground.  She was using string to tie the leaves back on the tree.

This dramatically shows what we go through when a loved one is about to depart this world.  We don’t want to let go of those we love.  It also exemplifies a child-like faith.  We know the leaves aren’t going to stop this mother’s death, but this daughter believes in the impossible.

Our gospel is the raising of Lazarus.  Brother of Mary and Martha.  The sisters are distressed as their brother progresses toward death.  They don’t want to let go of their brother, and they hope Jesus can prevent his departure from this world.  By the time Jesus gets there it is too late – Lazarus has died.

When Jesus arrives in Bethany Lazarus has been dead for four days.  Martha goes to meet him.  She says, “’Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’”  Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again,’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’  Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?’” (v. 21-26)

Let’s make that our sermon title.  How do we see death?  And life?

“DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?”

Jesus is telling Martha Lazarus will not see hell.  Instead, he lives and his body will rise again to new life.  The Savior of the world holds the keys to death and life.  And so the question, “Do you believe this?”  Or to put it another way, and with great liberty, Jesus is saying to Martha, “Do you believe that I can keep the leaves from falling to the ground even when they have changed color and they want to blow away?  You do not need string.  I am the string.  I am the one who brings life even to those who are physically dead.  Do you believe that I can do what is impossible?”

This morning the Lord probes our hearts.  “Do you believe this?”  Can we confess it like Martha?  “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”  Yes, the faith of a child.  “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Now we get to an interesting part of the story.  We see Jesus’ humanity.  Like many of us what touched off his crying was seeing others cry.  The Lord felt the death.  He had compassion.  We need to remember this when our loved ones die.  Jesus didn’t cause the death.  He cares for you and I.  He is there through prayer and our fellow Christians to comfort us.  Here for Martha and Mary He also shows His divinity.

Deeply moved, he goes to the tomb.  He tells Lazarus to come out – and the dead man, now alive, comes out.  What if you were there?  The rot of death in the air?  Would your heart be pounding?  Would you believe what you are to see?  Silence . . . something in the shadows . . the dead man is coming out with his burial clothes still on!

Our loved ones who have died in the Lord are Lazarus.  You and I who believe in Christ are Lazarus.  This is what will happen to all the children of God.  For the sake of Christ even though we die, we live.  Because Christ lives, we never die.  We will be with the Lord in heaven and our bodies will one day rise from the grave.  There is one difference.  Lazarus ultimately died again.  What we have here is only a momentary picture of the last day.  This was to confirm that Jesus was the one sent from God above.

The return of Lazarus to his family was designed to be a picture of the reunion that all of us will have with those who have gone before us to heaven.  After Lazarus came back to life, they gave a dinner to honor Jesus.  

On the last day, we will see loved ones again.  Whether in heaven or on earth, God will provide a great reunion.  This reunion is described as a great banquet.  Sound familiar?  Even now we taste these things by faith in the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In the Eucharist there is communion with Christ.  Where Christ is there is forgiveness and life.  

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?

Amen.   

March 22, 2023 – Lent       Text:  Matthew 27:27-31

Dear Friends in Christ,

With my sociological mind I enjoy watching shows on the mob or the mafia if you prefer.  It is always a wonder why people get involved in this line of work and why have they wielded such power?  It can be whittled down to one word:  bullying.  The mob is made up of bullies.  Pay up or we hurt you, ruin your business etc.  They push people around or kill them just to show their power.  They are sick individuals.

Bullying is a problem in our society.  It happens at school, on social media, in the workplace, and between spouses.  The government has a website:  www.stopbullying.gov.  It names three types of bullying.  Verbal – name calling, threats.  Social – excluding a person from a group.  Physical – pushing, kicking, using your fists.

Jesus was a victim of all three.  The Pharisees and Sadducees verbally bullied him with their “gotcha” questions.  Socially the Jewish leaders discouraged people to follow him, and they spread rumors about him.  We see the physical bullying in tonight’s text.

Beginning late Thursday evening the physical violence against Jesus escalated.  Tonight, we see Jesus suffer the soldiers’ . . . 

“HANDS OF BRUTALITY”

This is the second instance of brutality.  We heard about the first last week in front of Caiaphas.  Jesus was blindfolded, slapped and spit upon.  He was then sent to Pilate.

That is where we find him in our text.  Pilate wanted to set Jesus free as we heard in the Passion reading.  But he was a politician first and a humanitarian second.  So, he hands Jesus over to the battalion – an estimated 600 men – to do their worst. (v. 27)

For a Roman soldier, being stationed in Judea was like being sent to the end of the world.  Nothing to do.  The Jews were a pain.  They needed entertainment and Jesus was the show.  The trial was about Jesus being “King of the Jews”, so they put a scarlet robe on him and a crown of thorns and reed in his right hand.  “And kneeling before him, they mocked him saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’” (v. 29b). They spit on him and struck him on the head.  This act was so torturous that many considered it an act of mercy.  You were so weakened by the beatings that you’d die more quickly when crucified.

Jesus had told his followers to “turn the other cheek” (Mt. 5:39), “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt. 5:44), and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt. 7:12).  This man is now under the microscope.  Would He practice what he preached?  He did more than that.  He fulfilled the Scripture from Isaiah 53:  “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

Jesus let himself be brutalized.  He offered his back.  He didn’t object to his oppressors, because he was the King of the Jews.  He was the King of the Gentiles.  He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Why didn’t he punch those bullies in the mouth?  He did it for you.  Jesus let himself be treated this way.  This was the cup of suffering Jesus asked God to take away.  But God wouldn’t take it away; Jesus was made to drink every last drop.  If He didn’t do it, there is no forgiveness of sins and God’s wrath is still in play.  

Look at the brutal treatment tonight.  That is how thoroughly forgiven you are.  

A bully will try to leverage power and control.  People can feel powerless and alone.  Sin is a bully; it tries to coerce us into crimes against the commandments.  The devil is a bully; Satan browbeats us into bad behavior.  Because of Jesus these spiritual bullies can’t demand our milk money any longer.  Paul writes, “Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Rom 6:14). Since the forgiving love of Christ lives in our hearts, we happily submit to his gracious rule rather than to the empty threats of any evil bully.  “Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Freedom from sin and Satan give us reason to rejoice.  When we join Jesus in his gracious rule, we see what liberty looks like.  As the Holy Spirit enables us to take on Jesus’ attitude we can turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies and treat others the way we want to be treated.  Because Jesus made peace with us through his suffering, we can live peaceably with all people.

It is no wonder why the world is so unhappy.  People living without Christ who are bullied by sin and Satan.  They feel alone and powerless as the bullies dictate their lives.  How much better it is to have God as your Father.  He raises happy kids!  Our brother, Jesus, suffered under the soldiers’ hands of brutality, and as a result we will never have to suffer God’s wrath.  And, as happy kids in God’s family, we delight to bring our brother’s peace to people who are still being bullied.

Amen.       

March 12, 2023             Text:  Exodus 17:1-7

Dear Friends in Christ,

Marriage changes things.  “Wow, Pastor you really went out on a limb with that statement.”  Remember the euphoria of dating?  Being on your best boyfriend/girlfriend behavior.  Looking your best.  When I was at the seminary and dating Toni, in the summer I would hire a classmate to cool my car.  He would drive the air-conditioned vehicle to the dorm, and I would get in.  I didn’t want to show up for a date sweaty.  I wanted to smell the way Calvin Klein intended on a date with my girl!  But then we say “I do” and promise for “better or worse” and our carefree lifestyle diminishes.  When my car sits out in the summer, I am not hiring anyone to cool it down before I go home to Toni.  Marriage is never the smooth sailing, continuous high we all imagined.

This is what happened to the Israelites.  When they left on their exodus they came to a place called Elim.  Elim had twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees.  Elim was a bit of paradise.  But they couldn’t stay there.  They had to move on.  In our text they are camped at Rephidim.  But there is a problem – no water.  This doesn’t sit well with the people.  Grumbling and quarrelling are the elixir of the day.  

“I’M THIRSTY – CAN I GET A DRINK?”

The people are accusing God of abandoning them, even though He promised them sustenance in their journey.  They are testing the Lord.  The people wanted to strike the messenger by going after Moses.  The people were concerned about their families and just as concerned with their livestock.  Look at the words Moses’ used when he cried to the Lord.  “What shall I do with this people?  They are almost ready to stone me.” (v. 4). Moses did not call them “my people” or “your people.”  I hope no one does this but sometimes parents can say “that son of yours” or “your daughter” when they do something wrong.  It creeps into estrangement.  It really should always be “our son, our daughter, our children.”  We don’t leave them just because they grumbled about something.

The Lord understands this.  He didn’t leave “His people” just because they got a little “salty.”  He sends Moses and the elders of Israel to the rock at Horeb.  Moses strikes it with a staff and the water gushes out.  There is plenty to drink.  Their thirst is quenched.  Liquid gold flows down the throat.  “I’m thirsty – can I get a drink?”  They got one and many more.  God upheld His promise.

“I’m thirsty- can I get a drink?”  When we are stricken, do we ever thirst for His deliverance?  We can be stricken by things we didn’t bring on ourselves.  Violent weather.  Trouble at work.  Our own sickness.  Suffering as we watch loved ones battle health problems.  We also are stricken with our own sinful nature.  We go against God’s Word.  We create more problems for ourselves by our behavior.  We quarrel and grumble and complain and test the Lord.  We thirst for deliverance from our afflictions.

God’s Son is stricken to be our deliverance.  Christ the Rock was with God’s people at Horeb.  Christ is stricken and water is supplied.  Isaiah and Zechariah both prophesy that Jesus will be stricken.  Jesus Himself announces that He will stricken.  “The Son of Man will be…mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.  And after flogging him, they will kill him.” (Luke 18:31-33). When all of this happens, He does not complain.

He is doing all of this for your benefit.  His pierced side yields water and blood.  This water and blood still flow.  The waters flow in Baptism.  His blood flows in the Lord’s Supper.  The blood and water from the side of the stricken Christ quench your thirst for deliverance from your afflictions.  

The last verse of our text asks a question that has been around as long as man and woman, “Is the Lord among us or not?”  Well, how do you answer?  Like the Israelites, we are in the desert, and we still have some wandering to do.  We should not be surprised to have some hot, thirsty days.  And maybe…just maybe…we might grumble a bit.  Bring your grumbling and complaints to the Lord because He hears your pleas and answers your prayers.  Not always the way we like or as quickly as we expect, but the Lord is among us.  The answer is a definitive “yes, yes, yes” when we wonder if He is here with us.  He will never leave us even when we ask, “I’m thirsty- Can I get a drink?”  Step right up to the water fountain of Christ’s grace, drink and be satisfied.

Amen.       

March 8, 2023 – Lent Text:  John 18:4-11

Dear Friends in Christ,

Have you ever watched some of your favorite actors in roles you didn’t expect?  My all-time favorite comedy as many of you know is the Andy Griffith Show.  Well, one day years ago I am watching my favorite all-time crime drama, Hawaii-Five-O, and Andy Griffith is on the wrong side of the law.  He makes mistakes with his family that he would never do as Andy Taylor.  Another episode of Hawaii-Five-O had Buddy Ebsen of Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones fame, play a professor involved in murder.  It was hard to see these men out of their element.

The same thing occurs in our text.  Peter, the disciple who made the great confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” (Mt. 16:16), the one who jumped out of the boat to meet Jesus in the water, and the one who pledged loyalty to the Savior, is the same guy committing a crime tonight – assault with a deadly weapon.  Now maybe you are not surprised.  Peter is a little tempestuous.  

Jesus enemies came to the garden because they hated him.  They came with weapons to kill Jesus.  Peter wielded his weapon for a different reason – he loved Jesus.  Peter was full of righteous zeal – but it was misguided. 

You and I love Jesus too.  We get angry when His name is dragged through the mud, or His Word is ignored or ridiculed in our world.  We want to do something about it.  We want to defend Jesus.  Good and godly impulses to be sure, but we don’t want to go too far.  We don’t want to do something against God’s Word, we don’t want to become guilty of having . . .

“HANDS OF MISGUIDED ZEAL”

As we step into the garden, notice who is in charge.  Not the men with clubs.  It’s Jesus.  He meets his would-be captors.  “Whom do you seek?”  This capture is only successful because Jesus’ time had come.  Jesus declares, “Jesus of Nazareth…I am he.”  Looks what happens before they take him away.  They drew back and fell down like bowling pins.  Jesus demonstrates His divine power.  Jesus wasn’t finished.  Though vastly outnumbered, He was giving the orders.  “If you seek me, let these men go.” 

Peter watched all this.  Except he didn’t read the situation correctly.  He reacts in haste and anger.  “Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear.”  

How do you see Peter?  Can’t believe he did it?  Or do you understand emotions getting the best of a person?  He convinced himself that this night he would give up his life for Jesus.  When the Savior needed help, he would come to the rescue.

Nothing wrong with wanting to help a friend, right?  Well, not so fast my misguided compadre.  Jesus doesn’t need our help.  Jesus is true God.  He is omniscient (knows all), He is omnipotent (controls all).  Peter should have known that.  He hopped out of the boat and watched Jesus for three years.  Jesus gave him many convincing proofs of who He was.  Peter demonstrated a lack of trust in God.

Christians can have their moments.  The Crusades.  A Christian extremist bombing an abortion clinic.  For the most part, modern Christianity is a peaceful religion.  Don’t we all agree that any kind of violence directed at another is against the Lord’s fifth commandment?

Doubting God’s power, that is something I can relate to.  Not trusting God is a sin my mind knows well.  Thinking I can help God is a trap that Christians fall into far too often.  “If we would only elect the right people or pass the right legislation, we could get back to the days of being a Christian nation.”  “If our church would have more for families and talk less about sin, we would grow quicker like this or that church.”  If we only did X, Y, Z then we could make things better.

If you want to identify the problem, look at the pronouns.  If you are not good in
English grammar, then try this, look in the mirror.  You don’t have to hold a sword in your hands to identify with Peter.  Think of when your thinking has been misguided.  Yes, we want God-fearing leaders and healthy churches.  Yes, God wants Christians filled with godly zeal, but before we put our faith into practice, He wants us to put our trust in Him.  He wants us to make God’s Word and God’s will our guide.  And He wants us to understand how quickly things can go sideways when we don’t.

Jesus reprimanded Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me.”  Why was Jesus upset?  Because He knew what was at stake.  Because He knew there was only one way for sins to be forgiven and only one path that leads to heaven.  God the Father’s plan demanded that His Son be arrested this night and executed the next day.  The perfect substitute died in our place.  He took the cup of suffering to show His misguided disciple – and our misguided actions – how much He loves you and me.

John doesn’t tell us what happened to the soldier who had his ear cut off.  But Luke does.  Jesus reached out His hand, touched the servant’s ear and healed him. This was the Savior’s final miracle before His crucifixion.  Why did He do it?  Why heal?  Why help the enemy?  Because that is who Jesus is.  Because that is what Jesus does.  Jesus came into the world to seek and save.  Jesus has the greatest love for lost souls.  Jesus is full of compassion and mercy, and why a few hours after he healed Malchus, He reached out his hands one last time.  He stretched out His hands on the cross to redeem us from misguided zeal.

Amen.