Since Christmas I've been preaching on the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospel of Luke. This season after Christmas is called Epiphany in some traditions, and it focuses on how God and His purposes are revealed in Jesus the Christ. I started this sermon series because last summer I was inspired by reading one of N.T. Wright's books, How God Became King. In this book, Wright talks about how many Christians focus on the events of Jesus' death and resurrection when thinking about Jesus. While these events are certainly important--more space in the gospels is devoted to the week of Jesus' death and resurrection than any other period in His life--the majority of the space in the gospels is dedicated to Jesus' ministry before His death. Wright argues that if we unthinkingly follow the flow of the Apostles' Creed (Jesus "...was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried...) and sort of skip over Jesus' ministry, we risk misunderstanding Jesus, or at least understanding Him incompletely. It's true that Jesus' life built toward His death and resurrection. Certainly the forgiveness of sins was a central reason why Jesus came. But Jesus didn't go immediately from birth to death. The rest of His life wasn't just a waiting game. Jesus' life goes a long ways to revealing God and His purposes to us. We learn a lot about how God fulfills His promises to His people and about what God is continuing to do until Jesus' return.
I really started thinking after reading Wright's book. I can remember a lot of sermons about the meaning of Jesus' birth and death and resurrection. I remember hearing preaching on Old Testament stories and New Testament letters and even some of Jesus' teachings and parables. But I don't remember hearing a lot of sermons that talked about what Jesus did while here on earth. (Now it's possible that my memory simply has some gaps here.) So I've been trying to think and preach more about what Jesus did as He travelled through Galilee and Judea (and Samaria, though that hasn't come up in my sermons yet). It's been a lot of fun for me, mostly because Jesus is--forgive me if these seems a bit crude--just so cool. Jesus didn't go out of His way to get people to like Him; He was totally secure in His identity. Jesus challenged things that everybody believed, He broke social rules left and right, and He simply mesmerized many of the people who encountered Him. They'd never met anybody like this Jesus, and they often weren't sure what to make of Him. But Jesus just kept doing His thing: driving out demons, healing the sick, revolutionizing religious teaching, calling disciples, hanging out with outcasts and rejects. No matter what people may think of Christians and Christianity in our society, it's hard not to at least admire Jesus.
So let's bring this home. So what? If Jesus shows us more clearly than anything else who God is, then what do we learn about God from Jesus? Let me give just a couple examples. First, we learn that God cares about us. God's Son becomes fully human and lives as one of us. He hangs around ordinary people. He interacts with the least and the lowliest people and honors and respects them. Jesus embodies love and hospitality for every kind of person. Second, we see that God is fixing our broken world. Jesus brought God's kingdom, making God's reign more clear to us. He brought healing and restoration and hope almost everywhere He went. No power of evil or darkness or sin was even close to a match for Him. He freed people from suffering and oppression. Jesus' ministry gives us confidence that God will someday set everything right. What's more, Jesus shows what kind of people we should be and what kind of people we will be. The Bible says that God is conforming us to the image of His Son. He's making us like Jesus, making us into people who are loving and good and compassionate and courageous. Jesus calls us to follow His example and helps us to do it. So let's learn from Jesus and, with His help, go and do likewise.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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