Proclaiming our loyalty to a suffering servant
Prayer Journal for April 15, 2019
“He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”
–Isaiah 42:2-3
As I sit down to plan worship for the rest of Holy Week, the fact of the matter is that the exuberance of Palm Sunday is but a distant memory. There was so much joy yesterday. Our Sunday School children led the procession. They were singing and waving their palm branches. They led us in cheers of “Hosana” and the congregation responded with cries of “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” It is, and always has been, one of my favorite moments of the church year. Yesterday was no different.
On the other hand, now I am trying to put together a series of worship services and sermons remembering that the very same crowd that proclaimed Jesus as king called for his crucifixion a few days later. The Passion narrative always leaves me cold. It reminds me just how fickle human love can be. It shows me just how powerful human sin and anger can be. We live in a world that recognizes power as our real currency. A king who proclaims a reign of grace and peace simply upsets the apple cart too much for such an individual to be able to stand.
While it would be easy to simply blame the Roman Empire or the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, the truth of the matter is that we are just as likely to fall into this trap today. Good church people, people who (just like the Pharisees) are trying to take Scripture seriously and do what God wanted them to do, are often the first to discard the message of Jesus when grace, forgiveness, and peace gets in the way of our ambitions or self-centered desires. We are happy to switch our loyalties from the Lord of Lords to the lords of this world.
This is why I am grateful for today’s text. It is a reminder of my human tendency to discount who Jesus is. It is a reminder of just what God’s suffering servant looks like. The king that we celebrated yesterday, and the reign that he proclaims, is a realm of righteousness, grace, and forgiveness. It is a state of being that should change everything about the way I live my life. If I believe that the one who has laid down his life is indeed God’s own Son has the power to overcome my brokenness then I should probably pay attention to what he had to say to me.
Throughout Lent our congregation has been examining the Sermon on the Mount. We have dealt with the Beattitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, and texts on judgement, forgiveness, and the way that God wants us to live out our relationships with each other. Matthew 5-7 has long been used as a teaching device by the church on what the Christian life is supposed to look like. It is a glimpse into the realities of the kingdom of God. The coming of this kingdom is what we celebrated yesterday on Palm Sunday.
Isaiah 42 is a demonstration that Christ’s words have deep roots in the prophets and Hebrew Scriptures. The Old Testament is replete with calls to justice, grace, and forgiveness. The narratives of God freeing the slaves, regularly siding with the underdogs, as well as sustaining the people through both foreign exile and the injustice of their own political leadership deeply shaped the self-understanding of Jesus’ Jewish tradition. The people were to embody righteousness in such a way that God’s glory would be seen far and wide, making them a light to the nations so that the whole world might be blessed through them.
To proclaim loyalty to the Lord of Lords requires us to be undertake this same task. If we are to be faithful to the reign of God means that we too are called to become instruments of peace, grace, and justice. We are called to forgive sin and bring people out of the darkness.
Yesterday in worship we invited the King of Kings into our church. It is my prayer that we do not stop there. Let us have the strength to follow him wherever he may lead, even if it costs us everything. Holy Week is our yearly reminder that we are called to take up our cross and follow him. Even as he calls us to die to ourselves, it is important to remember that death itself is our entry into the kingdom of God.
Leaning In, Letting Go: A Lenten Devotional
For several years the Disciples of First Christian Church (DOC) in Dexter, Missouri have used Advent and Lenten devotionals from Chalice Press to guide our personal prayer in preparation for the Christmas and Easter holidays. This year’s Lenten devotional, Leaning In, Letting Go, was written by Rev. Dr. Nicole Massie Martin, the founder of Soulfire Ministries and professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. My personal discipline during this season will be to daily respond to her questions in my prayer journal. From time to time during the season I will sharing some of my reflections here on this page.
