Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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The easy road
Why can’t life be easy?
If God is all powerful, why can’t he just make a nice and easy road for us to follow?
Why did he subject the entire world to a virus that has caused such massive upheavals to the lives of almost everyone on the planet?
Why does he allow natural disasters like the recent floods or any number of other natural disasters that happen around the world on an all too frequent basis?
Why does he allow the wars to happen that needlessly devastate the lives of so many people?
The Russia-Ukraine war is dominating our screens, but there are actually many damaging conflicts around the world.
Or on a personal level we could ask why God allows people we know to get cancer, or have relationship problems, or financial stress?
Now the theologically correct answer, is that there is sin in the world.
But yet, it can feel a very cold answer.
Yes technically it’s correct, but where’s the comfort?
You see, here’s the thing.
God created a perfect world.
But evil entered and sin has spread.
Creation was subject to frustration.
So what does God do?
Perhaps we might be tempted to answer - well, can’t God just make all things right again?
Then we’ll have that easy road that we all want.
But there would be a problem… You see, to do so, would be to overlook the sin.
To overlook the sin would be an injustice.
To have injustice, we still have sin.
It’s a massive dilemma, but God is a God who can deal with massive problems, and he had the perfect plan.
It’s a plan that can deal with the problem while maintaining justice - and of course, it centers around the very thing that we focus on on Good Friday - the cross.
Why is it called Good Friday?
Now, as many of you will know, I teach scripture in the local school, and every year in the lead up to Easter, I’ll do an Easter lesson.
And almost every year, including this year, I get asked the question, why do we call Good Friday ‘good’?
And it’s a very understandable question.
It usually gets asked just after we’ve spoken about the fact that on Good Friday, we remember that Jesus died on a cross.
So of course the question is: why would we call something that involves the death of a loved person, good?
The quick answer that I usually give is that it is good because the problem of our sin is taken care of.
For the child in scripture, we can understand it on this level.
However, it is as we dig deeper and begin to grasp the full extent of what Jesus did for us that we begin to see how most extraordinary this day really is.
In my brief reflections this morning, I want to just highlight a few parts of the story found in John’s gospel that help us to see better what Jesus did.
Humbling Himself
I’ll start the account at John 18:1.
Jesus has just finished praying - the contents of which we can read in the previous chapter.
He then crosses over to the Kidron Valley.
Jesus knows very well what is about to happen, and he willingly moves there.
He may be about to be betrayed, but this is not a misstep on Jesus’ behalf.
This is a deliberate move.
Judas, the betrayer, comes with a detachment of soldiers.
The “I am”
We then come to the first of a number of little snapshots from the account that I want to highlight this morning.
It’s an incident that is easy to gloss over if you don’t pay careful attention.
You see, Jesus, knowing what is about to happen, asks the question: “Who is it you want?”
The reply, as expected, is “Jesus of Nazareth”.
But it is then what happens next which is my point of interest.
Jesus answers “I am he”.
On first hearing, that might seem fairly innocuous.
Isn’t he just acknowledging who he is?
Well, verse 6 is where we find our little surprise.
It tells us, that at his answer “I am he”, they drew back and fell to the ground.
So what’s going on there?
Is it just that they were surprised to find Jesus so quickly?
Well, it seems relatively clear that it was more than just surprise.
You see, the phrase “I am”, is a direct reminder of the covenantal name God refers to himself.
The “I am who I am”.
I highlight this now, because while it might seem subtle, we’re reminded early in this account of the power that is within this man.
He is none other than God himself.
And yet he willingly submits himself to this process.
Peter cuts soldiers ear
The next snapshot I want to highlight occurs almost immediately following.
As the soliders move to arrest Jesus, Peter takes things into his own hands.
He pulls out his sword, and strikes the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
But it’s actually Jesus’ response I want to highlight.
Far from showing appreciation to Peter for standing up for him, he rebukes Peter.
You see, if Jesus wanted to escape from this situation, he could have done so with the greatest of ease.
But Jesus says: “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
Jesus and the High Priest
Well, let me jump over Peter’s subsequent denial of Jesus and briefly stop at verse 19 where we find Jesus being questioned by the high priest.
Now there is a little interesting observation that we can make in this little section.
Jesus asks his own questions of the high priest in a way that was perceived as not showing the respect needed of this position.
Now there is an irony to this whole section which perhaps isn’t immediately obvious.
We only really see it when we recognise that Jesus is the real high priest.
Not in the order of things that the Jews would naturally see.
But in an order that is even greater.
I highlight this because we’ve already had a glimpse of him as the “I am”.
And just a few verses later, a nod to him being the real high priest.
Jesus a king
Well, let’s move a little further through the narrative, and we find a further glimpse of the real nature of Jesus.
I’m now in the part where Jesus finds himself before Pilate - the Roman who has the authority to either let him go or order him to be crucified.
In verse 33, Pilate asks a very direct question: “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus’ answer is actually quite candid in many ways, saying in verse 36: “My kingdom is not of this world”.
He is indeed a king - but just like his high priesthood, one that is of a higher order of things.
And so, we’ve now seen Jesus as the “I am”.
Jesus as high priest.
And now Jesus as King.
I’m highlighting these, because it is as we begin to appreciate these factors, that we begin to grasp just how extraordinary this action was.
Above all authorities
As we then move into chapter 19, Jesus is taken to be flogged and ridiculed for an absurd claim to be king.
Knowing that he is the “I am”… that he is the true high priest… and the true King - this should be shocking.
But then Jesus is brought before Pilate again.
Although Pilate himself becomes somewhat afraid when he hears that Jesus has claimed to be the Son of God.
He question Jesus about this - to which Jesus is initially silent.
But it is in verse 11 that Jesus gives the response that I next want to highlight.
He says to Pilate: “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above”.
The implication is clear.
All earthly power is subject to the power of God.
This is again the remider that we need.
As much as this seems to be going terribly for Jesus - and don’t get me wrong, in one regard, it is the worst experience ever - but this is not a picture of someone who is out of control.
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