Notes From Jon

Whew!  Holy Week is over – and what a ride it’s been.  This has been one of the most meaningful Lenten seasons I’ve had in a long time (more on that in another post), and to me, this sermon was a culmination of it.

I really wish I could show it to you in video format to give you the full visual effect.  So I’ll have to ruin the “surprise” and tell you what happens visually at the end.  I had a sheet hung on a pole that represented the veil of the temple.  And when we talk about how the ripping of the veil represents God’s ripping the barrier between himself and us, I ripped the sheet from top to bottom and stepped through it.

Hope your Holy Week and Easter have been meaningful.  Christ is Risen – He is Risen Indeed!

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“Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?”

Sermon for Easter Sunday (year A)

March 23, 2008

Matthew 28:1-10, Ephesians 2:13-20

Introduction – the question

As I listened to the accounts of Holy Week in the Gospels this past week, I practiced “spiritual listening” – that is, I prayed that God would open my ears to hear something, and then I would listen for something to attract my attention.  When I do that, God never fails to catch my attention, and this time was no different.  I first heard this question last Sunday night as we worshipped at the Community Palm Sunday service.

It’s a simple question.  It comes in John’s account of that Thursday evening before the crucifixion (13:1-17).  Jesus is talking about what it means to be “great,” and he decides to give them an example of what “greatness” really is.  He goes among them, and one-by-one, he performs one of the most menial tasks  a person could perform in the ancient near east.  Countering their resistance, quietly going about his work while they watched in stunned silence, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet.  Then he turns to them and asks, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” (13:12)

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Yes, I’m aware it’s been several days since my last post. There’s a lot going on – least of all, it’s Holy Week. Sadly, all the events of the last few weeks have come right at one of my most creative points in a long time. So there are a whole lot of half-finished drafts glaring at me from the top of my page tonight. But they’ll have to wait.

What I can post is my draft from the sermon last Sunday. The text – predictably enough – is the Triumphal Entry. Specifically, I looked at Mark’s version (Mark 11:1-11), but you really have to read all three to get the whole story. All kinds of cute names came to mind, but all of them involved using a word I’m not allowed to use, so I’ll let you fill in the blanks when you get to the end.

Remember that this is a preaching draft – I’ve tried to edit it quickly, but there are likely a few spots where I placed a note to myself that probably makes no sense to you. But I think you can get the main ideas.

Hopefully, after this weekend I’ll be able to finish some of my posts. But until then, I’ve got services to plan!

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One of the ways I look at a passage with an eye towards writing a sermon, is to look at the story through the eyes of some of the characters. It’s a helpful way to read a novel or story, as well – and even though the Bible is a retelling of actual events, it’s still placed in the form of storytelling. When you look through the eyes of the people in the story, even though you can’t fully get inside their head, you’re really able to get inside the story and begin to see what’s going on.

It’s like the movie Vantage Point, which I’m interested to see because of the premise – the President has been shot, and the only way to get to the bottom of the story is to put together the information of various witnesses from the crowd. [Note: I've actually seen the movie now, and while it doesn't really make my point like I thought it did, it's still a pretty good movie!]

Inevitably, you begin to like a certain character, or to envy their position in the events as they’re unfolding. You also gain empathy for others in the story, or find some whose shoes you’d rather not be in.

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