28 March
2010
St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Palmarum
/ Passion Sunday Vienna, VA
“The Love of Power, or the Power of
Love”
Text: Deuteronomy 32:36-39; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22-23
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Word
of God through the mouth of Moses said this to us today:
For
the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he
sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. . . .
When He
sees that their power is gone.
Take a
moment and consider that.
We don’t like to be powerless, to be not in
control, to be unable to do something.
We rebel
against such statements, and try to assert our power in any way we can.
How much
has life become a power play?
At work,
at school, at home, in groups of friends.
Children
try to assert their power through shouting or throwing tantrums.
Adults, maybe in that way also (!), but for them, how often
is power exerted through silence until the other gives in?
And in a
whole host of ways, we manipulate others to get what we want.
To be in
control. At least in some small way.
I may
not be the top dog, but at least someone’s under me.
Someone
I can control.
And tell
what to do.
To have
some power.
When He
sees that their power is gone.
So that’s not true about you, is it?
But
should it be?
But
pastor, I don’t want
to be at the bottom of the pecking order!
True
enough; neither do I.
But why
not?
Don’t think too hard about that; the
answer is easy: sin.
Sin that
does not want to serve, but to be served.
Sin that
wants to exert power over others.
Sin that
wants to be in control.
Besides,
no matter how powerless you are, no matter how low, no matter how tired and
weak and piled upon, you will never be at the bottom of the pecking
order.
That
spot is reserved for one person: Jesus.
“[T]hough he was in the form of God, [He] did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the
form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human
form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross.”
We heard
that story again today; and we’ll hear it this Holy Week.
The Son
of God become nothing, all the way to the bottom of the pecking order - for
you.
To serve
you. To save you.
For
truly, we are powerless.
We
cannot save ourselves.
Like
Israel in slavery to Egypt, we are in bondage to sin.
We’ve fallen, and we can’t get up.
And so
our Lord came.
As He rescue His powerless people from their bondage to the
Egyptians, so He has rescued us from our bondage to sin and death.
And if you think His power against Egypt was great, in
truth, His power on the cross was greater.
For the cross shows us not the power of man, but the power
of God.
The power of His love.
And so for you, He is arrested and does not fight back.
For you He is punched and mocked and abused.
For you He is humiliated.
For you He is hung on a cross like a criminal.
For you He lays down His life.
To serve
you. To save you.
So that
we know, as Moses continues and says: See now that I, even I, am he, and
there is no god beside me.
Truly,
there is no other God like this.
Who
comes to serve the sinner, the rebel.
Who
comes to be shamed, to take our shame away.
Who
comes to take our sin and death, and give us forgiveness and life.
There is
no other God like this.
Who
still today is coming and saving - washing, absolving, feeding.
Still coming to those who are powerless, to give us what we
do not have and cannot achieve:
forgiveness, life, and
salvation.
To break
the grip of death on you.
To end
the reign of sin in your life.
To raise
you up, no matter how far down you are.
All this
He has done for you.
Not starting when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, but
when He rode into this world in the womb of the Virgin.
And not ending when He rose from the dead and ascended into
heaven - no, not ending until you rise and ascend with Him.
For He
did not come to return alone; He came for you.
Taking
your place here, that you may have His place there.
Until
then: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
What
mind is that?
That has
now be given to you?
Which is
yours in Christ Jesus?
The mind to know that true power is exercised not in
control and manipulation, but in service and love.
Not
because you have to, but because you can.
Because
no matter how far down you go, you will never be at the bottom.
That
spot is still reserved for one person: Jesus.
The Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Take a
moment and consider that.
Whatever
you were, whatever you are, in Christ Jesus you are made new.
The same
power of Christ that laid down His life for you, now working in you.
That not
your sin but His love,
not your sin, but His
forgiveness,
not your sin, but His
life,
control
you, and lead you, and guide you.
At work,
at school, at home, in groups of friends.
For we
call this Holy Week not just because of the holy things that happened,
or because of the Holy
One they happened to -
but
because this is the week that makes you holy.
Holy,
because your sins are forgiven.
Holy,
because you have been raised to a new life.
Holy,
because the Body and Blood of the Holy One is here given to you.
And so
today we enter this Holy Week.
We begin
it with Hosanna! Lord, save us!
We will
end it with Alleluia! For He has.
It is
finished, He said.
And
truly, it is.
So today
as we enter this Holy Week, have this mind among yourselves.
And let
us cease our love of power, and see and know once again this week the power of
His love.
In the
Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.