“A Party that Changes Us”
April 14, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and
peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Amen.
Tonight, we’re having a party! It’s
a special kind of party, where we, and everyone who celebrates what the party
is about, are all invited! Tonight we’re all considered special guests at this
party, because our host is someone special: Jesus. This is a party that’s all
about Jesus. Tonight, we remember and give thanks to Jesus for something He did
two thousand years ago: dying on a cross to save us all from sin, from the fear
of being dead forever, and from the power of the devil. Then He rose to life
again, never to die again. But we don’t just celebrate something He did in the
past: we are also celebrating how He is with us right here, right now. He is
still here with us in power, working His power, sometimes in great ways,
sometimes in small ways. He is here with us, spiritually and physically present
with us, in His true body and blood, present in the bread and wine. As we will
talk about on Easter Sunday, even though He is now invisible, He is still here,
still working in power, because He once was dead, and has now come back to life
again. We also celebrate that even as He is here with us right now, even
invisibly, someday He will come back, and when He does, everyone will see Him.
But even before He comes back, we celebrate that, because He died and rose
again, all who die believing in Him will not have their life extinguished,
their life will not end, but instead, all who die believing in Jesus will live
with Him forever in heaven. Which means that when we die, we too will live with
Him, and will be reunited with everyone who has gone before us. Tonight, we are
celebrating a special kind of party – a party which changes us, reminds us who
we are, and reminds us of what our real purpose is.
At Jesus’ party, at His table, no
one is excluded. In tonight’s First Reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, God
promises to do something new: He promises to expand His family, so that
everyone has a place at His party table. Over this weekend, especially now that
we can after the height of the pandemic the past couple of years, we will be
getting together for Easter weekend meals as families. We will be celebrating
family parties together. We will be gathering together as immediate family, and
extended family, and also giving certain friends of ours the privilege of being
able to be considered family by joining our families for family parties.
Tonight, we are also celebrating a family party: God, our heavenly Father, and
Jesus, our brother, are inviting us join them at this family party. Previously,
the privilege of being able to be called part of God’s family, and being able
even to approach Him with confidence, was based entirely on perfection – the
ability to keep rules and laws, and do everything God commanded. The privilege
of being able to approach God, and be considered part of His family, was based
entirely on our effort, our ability, and our initiative. Being able to be
considered part of God’s family was also something that was a source of fear,
constantly wondering if one was ever good enough and acceptable enough for God,
to be part of His family. But now, God, speaking through Jeremiah, promises
that things are different now: being part of God’s family no longer is based on
rules and effort, but instead entirely on what God has done. God says that
everyone who believes, without any other requirements attached, is part of His
family. God has made us acceptable and good enough to be part of His family,
because, as tonight’s Second Reading from Hebrews promises us, we have been
cleansed of all our guilt, all our sin, by being sprinkled with the blood of
Jesus. The same blood of which we will partake as we drink the wine in just a
few minutes, as we remember and give thanks to Jesus for washing us clean in
His blood. As both Jeremiah and Hebrews remind us, all our sins, past, present,
and future, have been forgiven. Our guilt, anything which has been dragging us
down, which has been torturing us, has been removed. We no longer need to beat
ourselves up over anything we have done, because in God’s sight, it has been
forgiven and washed clean away. We can move forward to become who God has
always meant us to be, and who He has made us to be. We can change, and we can
be changed. We can leave whatever we have done, who we used to be, behind, and,
as we come to receive Communion, leave behind the past, leave behind the
present, and be changed into what God wants us to become. We can leave all our
struggles, all our problems, all our worries, at the altar, and leave them for
God to deal with. This also means, as Hebrews also reminds us, that we have
confidence to approach God, to approach Him, not being afraid of Him, but as
our loving, caring Father, and believe that, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we
are all acceptable and accepted. All are invited, all are welcomed, all are
accepted, and all are included. There is a place for everyone at His table,
with no consideration about importance or effort – everyone has an equal place
at His table. Everyone who wants to remember Him, and give thanks for His
sacrifice for us, is invited. Everyone who needs Him, which is actually
everyone, is invited.
The reality is, perhaps more than
ever, we live in a world that needs Jesus, where everyone needs Jesus. This
means we are to invite everyone to come to experience Jesus the way we have experienced
Him – as someone who is our faithful, loyal friend, who is always there for us,
who has helped us through many difficult moments, and who will continue to be
there for us, no matter what. We live in a world where people continue to
choose to fight, argue, and battle each other over politics, religion,
ethnicity, class, and many other reasons. We live in a world which continues to
suffer the effects of the covid pandemic, especially with lingering fears over
illness, some people still being unable to see their families and friends,
rising prices of food and fuel, and continuing mistrust between nations. We
live in a world which continues to be torn apart by war, especially between
Ukraine and Russia, in Ethiopia, in the Middle East, and other parts of the
world. We live in a world where natural disasters wreak havoc in the lives of
many, most recently the floods in South Africa. And while we can suggest many
different solutions, mainly political or economic ones, to the problems and
conflicts which continue to go on, there is really only one solution to
everything: Jesus. This world needs to listen to Jesus and follow Him once
again. This world needs to abandon fear and uncertainty, especially fear over
what will happen next during the ongoing pandemic, and trust that Jesus is
bringing an end to the suffering we have all had to deal with. This world needs
to abandon pride and the need to be right, and humbly submit to the reign of
Jesus, where all are regarded as equal, as brothers and sisters, and as such
are to value each other’s lives and well-beings. This world needs to abandon hatred,
and instead recognize that, as God loves every person and every being equally,
He desires that we do the same. We are encouraged, again, in tonight’s Second
Reading from Hebrews, to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who
promised is faithful.” Jesus has promised He will always be with us, and He has
kept that promise even to today. Even though the world is in a hard place right
now, Jesus has not abandoned the world. He gives us hope because He promises
that, even as He defeated death and the devil by dying and rising again, He
will defeat all the other problems this world is facing. Even as we hold on to
the hope we have because of Jesus, we are to pass on that hope. We are also
encouraged not to abandon each other: instead, we are encouraged, as we are
doing tonight, to continue meeting together, providing support and
encouragement to each other, especially as we continue to struggle together. We
are to support and encourage each other as we face both common and individual
struggles. We are especially to support and encourage each other as we can give
each other hope; by letting each other know that we are there for each other,
and, in doing so, to experience the presence and power of Jesus in each other.
Even as we experience the presence and power of Jesus in the bread and wine of
Communion tonight, we can continue to experience His presence and power as we,
His body, continue to encourage and uplift each other.
So there’s another part to celebrating
tonight’s party: sometimes, when we celebrate at a special gathering,
especially a family gathering, we’re all given special gifts to take home.
Tonight, we’re given special gifts to take out and share with others. Even as
we are comforted by the promise of Jesus to be with us, strengthen us, heal us,
and comfort us through His body and blood, we are to take that same promise,
comfort, and healing outside these doors to everyone else. Jesus is the
solution to all the world’s problems, and we are the means He uses to cause
change to happen. As the slide says, you are what you share. We Christians are
indeed what we share, and we have a choice in what we can share. We can either
share pessimism, doubt, and fear; or, we can share hope, certainty, and joy. Even
though it would certainly be tempting to share pessimism and fear, that’s not
what we’re called to do. We have bought into the pessimism and fear others have
expressed for far too long: we have an alternative, because we have a source of
hope. Since we have been given hope, certainty, and joy, that comes from being
part of God’s family and knowing that we are accepted by Him, that is what we
are to share.
We can think of ourselves as being like
delivery drivers. We are given gifts, gifts that come in special packages, to
deliver. In this case, we are the packages. We deliver what we have to everyone
who needs what we have. We literally can bring deliverance to people who need
to be delivered from something, especially something painful, hurtful, or
destructive. We are the ones who can speak words of comfort to people who are
struggling, sad, or in despair, and work to make their situations better. We
are the ones who can speak words of encouragement to people trapped in
addiction, and work to rescue them from their addictions. We are the ones who can
speak words of hope as everyone else continues to talk about doom and gloom,
especially because of the pandemic and war, and work to bring that hope by
emphasizing that God is in control, has a plan, and is working out His plan
even now. We are the ones who can speak up for those who are being oppressed or
enslaved, and work to free them from their oppression and slavery. We are the
ones who can comfort the families and friends of those who have died, by
reminding them of the promise that everyone who dies believing in Jesus lives
safely with Him forever. We are the ones who can change the world, because God
can change the world through us. So let’s get ready to party tonight – but
let’s also get ready to deliver. Even as we are going to be changed, and
delivered, let’s prepare to bring deliverance – deliverance to a world that
needs to be delivered by Jesus, that needs to be saved by Jesus, that needs to
be changed by Jesus.
Now may the peace of God, which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment