SPEAKER_01 0:00

The Lord be with you. Thank you very much. What a gift to be with you on the Ides of March. Anybody know what the Ides of March are? Should Google it. It's probably appropriate for the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent. Jesus has been to the table. The towel and the basin and the bucket of water. Makes his way out of the upper room. Down through the city streets of Jerusalem, out across the Kidron Valley, up into a garden. He has this conversation with his disciples. It's the longest conversation recorded in the Gospels. It's longer than the Sermon on the Mount. It's called the Last Discourse. There's this line in the Last Discourse. I want to circle our hearts around for a while. This is the line. It's in John 16. In the world, you face trouble. But take heart. I've overcome the world. That ought to do it. In the world you face trouble. I suppose on one level he might be alluding to the events of his own life. Certainly pointing to the events that will transpire in their lives. In the world you face trouble. And by the transitive property of biblical interpretation, we all read in our lives too. In the world you face trouble. Do I need to go on or you get it? A couple of weeks after Kristen and I were married, this was September of 2001, if you remember it, I was uh I was gonna preach one of my first sermons over at the Warm Friend. Uh Sunday evening Vespers service. My grandparents lived there. Graham and Grandpa Johnson lived at the Warm Friend. I was pretty excited to preach one of my first sermons with Graham and Grandpa Johnson in the congregation. I walked, I don't think the sidewalks were snowmelted then. Maybe they were, I'm not sure. I walked uh up over uh to the Warm Friend single door glass entrance. Uh I see my dad is there. Now my folks are supportive, but that was like on a different level and made me a little uncomfortable. Oh as I was greeting my dad, like, what are you doing? I could see on the the side door uh the an ambulance with its lights flashing, driving hastily away. My grandma had had a stroke. Uh four days later she she would die. Really kind of my first lesson in strokes. And an early lesson in dying. In the world, you face trouble. Uh, that was like four days after 9-11. I think it was four. Uh Kristen and I, we moved out to Washington, part of a little church out there. Within my first nine months, I did nine funerals. The congregation said, they've been waiting for you, Pastor. That's true, that's what they said. Uh first funeral I ever did was Dina Heller. She loved the Mariners. Loved the island. I'm pretty sure it was cancer. So by the time I did the ninth funeral, that was Charlie Clegg. He died of cancer too. I was so fed up with cancer. I can remember driving on Whidby Avenue in my Toyota Tundra pickup truck, and I take my fist and I slam it on the whatever that thing's called, steering wheel. I hate cancer. Cancer. In the world, you've face trouble. One of the funerals I did, the the family, I'm not gonna tell you their names, this stuff is live streamed, I don't wanted to get back. The father had died. The family was so dysfunctional that they couldn't meet together in the same room before their dad's funeral service. So I met with one half of the family over in the choir room, and then the other half of the family over in the fellowship hall. I escorted one half of the family in the funeral director, escorted the other half of the family, and they sat on opposite sides of the sanctuary. They were in business together, that wasn't clearly going very well. Family dynamics. Anyone want to raise a hand? In the world, you face trouble. And it's not just disease or death or family. I mean, it's the whole set of stuff. That's just constantly like I suppose there are as many versions of trouble as there are people alive. Friends fall out and names are called. And then they hurt the people. In the world you face trouble. Jesus knew something about trouble. If you don't mind, I'm gonna insert on this fourth Sunday in the season of Lent a Good Friday story. Is that okay? Do you mind if I break the liturgical rules? I this is I just want you to listen. I'm I'm actually gonna bounce around a little bit, so if you follow along, you'll only get lost. So just listen. Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas brought with him a detachment of soldiers and police from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and said, Whom are you looking for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. Now, Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. And when they heard him say, I am, they stepped back and fell to the ground. He said again, Whom are you looking for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I told you I am. If I'm the one you're looking for, let these people go. He said this to fulfill what he had spoken. I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave to be with me. Simon Peter drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. The slave's name was Malchus. Jesus said to Simon Peter, put your sword back in its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me? So the soldiers, with their officer and the Jewish police, arrested Jesus and bound him. The high priest was questioning Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching, and Jesus said, I've spoken openly to the world. I've taught in your synagogues and in the temple where the Jews come together. I've kept nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I've said. They'll tell you what I've said. And one of the police of the high priest struck Jesus and said, Is that how you answer the high priest? And Jesus said, if I speak wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I speak rightly, why do you strike me? So Annas had Jesus bound and led to the high priest, and they took him from the high priest Caiaphas to Pilate's headquarters. Pilate came out and said to the Jews, I find no case against him. But you have a custom that on the Passover I release someone for you. Would you like for me to release for you the king of the Jews? And they shouted, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a rebel. So Pilate had Jesus flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and placed it on his head. They clothed him in a purple cloak. The soldiers kept coming up to him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews, and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said, I'm bringing this man out to you to let you know I find no case against him. And Jesus, when he came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said, Behold, the man. And when the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, Crucify him! Crucify him! And Pilate said, Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no case against him. And they said, We have a law, and according to this law, he ought to die because he claims to be the Son of God. So Pilate went outside and sat down on the judge's bench at a place called the stone pavement, which in Hebrew is Gabbatha. He said to the Jews, here's your king. They said, Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him. He said, Shall I crucify your king? And they said, We have no king but Caesar. So Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. They took him carrying his cross by himself to a place called the place of the skull, which in Hebrew is Golgotha. Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover, about noon. And there they crucified him. And with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus was in the middle. Pilate had an inscription written and placed on the cross, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. After this, Jesus knew that all was now finished. He said, in order to fulfill the scriptures, I'm thirsty. Now standing there was a jar of sour wine, they took a sponge, placed it on a branch of hyssop, and lifted it to his mouth. And when he received the wine, he said, It's finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. This is the word of the Lord. Shall we just head home? In the world. You face trouble. John, uh the the word world is used two hundred times in the New Testament. A hundred of them in John's Gospel. I mean, I'm I'm rounding up. Half of the time. John's John's working us. John's playing. John has the seven I am statements, you know, and then you also heard the echo in the garden when they asked, we're looking for Jesus of Nazareth. And what does Jesus say? I am. So they step back and fall to the ground. But John also has the sign scenes, you know. There are seven sign scenes. If you actually read the Gospel of John and counted, you'd only find six signes implying this is the seventh sign. He also plays around with time. Jesus cries out, it's finished. And he messes with the word world. Depending on how you want to categorize it, he uses the word world to mean one of four different things. Sometimes he means the world, you know, like the stuff of creation, existence, being, us, it, matter, life, the world, you know, like the sun rises, painting the sky pink as you head east on a Monday morning, and it's so beautiful, isn't it? The world. The flowers reach their limbs through the frozen earth in the middle of March, grasping for sun, wishing the snow would just die. The world. Two lovers reconnect after some long time apart at the airport. They hug, they embrace, they hold. They're standing at the baggage claim. We're all like, what are you doing? As they're holding. We just want our bags, and it's so beautiful. It's so good. The world. Tornadoes whip through Midwest towns, taking lives. Rains fall, floods rise, people hurt. Wars ravage. Guns go off. The world. It's complicated, isn't it? I wonder what it was like for Jesus in the garden that night. You know, I mean, think about this from a Christological lens, you know, fully divine, fully man. Think about it. He's in the garden that he made when they arrested. He's carrying the cross hewn from the tree he spoke into existence. The people shouting, crucify him, are made in his image. The world. In the world, you face trouble. On one level, it's the stuff, it's the existence, it's the being. On another level, John uses the word to mean like the cultures that exist, the sort of polis, the systems. It's kind of interesting if you think about it. We create communities that then build systems. They're sort of invisible, but they're like they they they they're cultures that then work back on us. Isn't that wild? Like we like the next time you're speeding, think about it. Like we made this rule that's now telling you how fast you can go because generally that's just safer. You know what I'm saying? Like something exists in the world that we make that then works back on us. Like, think about this. Holland, West Michigan, is notoriously nice. Do you know this? Like a couple years ago, like West Michigan was designated in some survey bunch of people who do surveys that Holland was one of the nicest cities in America. Isn't that amazing? Do you think that there are actually more nice people in Holland than every other city in the US? Because it's Holland nice, I'll say, yeah, you're right. That's right. It's a culture we make. That then works. And I like it! I mean, I'd rather it be nice than not, but you know, like it's Jesus was navigating the cultures. The religious one, you know, the the the the the they had created a religious system to keep us all tidy and nice so that when the Messiah came, we'd be ready. But the Messiah came and they didn't recognize him. And and and that Rome had a culture, Rome had a system, Pax Romana, you know, the flourishing of Rome, except it was really violent. And now Pilate and Caiaphas, they're holding hands. In the world you face trouble. And then John means another way he uses the word world, it's like the principalities and the powers of this present darkness, you know, evil. The same, the same power that's been at work in the world since the serpent slipped up behind the first man and the first woman and said, Take it, take it, eat it, eat it.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Think about what you'll be able to do.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Take it, take it. And they take the fruit and they eat. And the world's been spiraling ever since. And then that and that principality and that power somehow touches something deep in us that's already broken. And this we call the ancients call it sin, and this thing in us, then combined with the stuff outside of us, we say things we shouldn't say. If we had our right minds about us, we wouldn't have said that. And we do things we shouldn't do. Why did I do that? And we don't do things we ought to do, and we're not even aware of things, and it's impact on other people sometimes, and it's all what's happening. Peter, Peter, he's in the garden, and the soldiers and the police they come with their lanches and their torches and their weapons, and it's war. And Peter, he sees it unfolding, and Jesus is like, I am, and Peter's like, here we go, and he takes his sword and he strikes the slave of the high priest. It's interesting. John says the slave's name was Malchus, cutting off his ear. And what does Jesus say to Peter?

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Put away your sword. It's not the way, Peter. It's not the way, Peter. Don't do it, Peter.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

In the world, you face trouble. Have I made the point? Is it enough? Shall I relent now? This is a real wing-dinger of a sermon, isn't it? I've only given you half the verse. If you had lunch plans, you might want to change them now. In the world you face trouble, but take heart.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

I've overcome the world. I turned it upside down. I flipped it on its head. Everything's different now.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

He didn't overcome the world by playing the world's games, by playing by the world's rules. He subverted the world by entering into the world. He took on shame and sin and broken, he took on the principalities and the powers. And he took it with him to the cross and he died and said, Forgive them. And he went to the grave to defeat it all, and he finally rose up in resurrection. I am, he shouts in the garden, announcing to us again, I am the vine, I am the bread of life, I am the good shepherd. I've overcome the world, not by playing by the world's rules, but by subverting the rule. It's the way of the cross. And we follow him. We follow Christ. The way up is down. The way to ascending is descending. To live is Christ and to die is gain. Shame gets reworked and offered back as love. Guilt gets flipped upside down and given back his grace. The pain and the heartache and the hurt of your own life and the whole world gets embraced by a love so strong and so good it purifies it all until finally one day everything's new. I've overcome the world. The cross he carries, hewn from the tree he made, will one day be the tree in the center of the city whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. The ones made in his image will finally be restored completely and we'll see them face to face. I've overcome the world. So take heart. Take heart. Live, love, laugh, serve, give, offer. Say you're sorry. He's overcome the world. What are you gonna lose?

SPEAKER_00 23:20

And say you're forgiven because he's overcome the world. What are you gonna lose?

unknown 23:27

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

It's when the Sermon on the Mount no longer is just an ethic, but a promise. Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the hungry, blessed are the pure, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the persecuted. I've overcome the world. Am I the only one jacked up right now?

SPEAKER_00 24:00

So go the way of the king.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

How many times did they say it? The king! The king! The king! They didn't know what they meant, but we know what he means. You're not you're not all the scratching and clawing and fussing and fighting to win? To win what? We're gonna wake up one day and realize we've lost. If we're trying to win. So maybe love. And serve. And maybe empathy is the strongest thing you can find. And maybe humility is the bravest thing you'll ever do. It's the way of the king. Take heart. This past week we welcomed our incoming executive pastor for one week a month, this month, and next month before he'll start more full-time this summer. Mostly he was here this week, Brian Keepers. Mostly he was here this week to interact with staff, kind of get the friendship thing going. But on Wednesday, we snuck over to the Warm Friend to visit with some of the matriarchs of the Pillar community, Helene and Ida and Pat and Ruth. We had a delightful conversation. I had to go after like an hour, but Brian and the ladies, they just kept talking. It must have been fun. I have Ruth's permission to share this. There was this delightful exchange with Ruth. Who's 98? 98 years old. Like, let's just round up to 100. Because it's basically a hundred. It's pretty much a hundred. And it makes the math easier for me. So this is too that means like we're talking 1925. I'm not great with math, but like mid-20s. Like we're the the embers of World War One were still warm. World War One. The Great Depression wasn't even a thing. That's how old she is. TVs didn't go into people's homes like your average home until like 1940. And now we're live streaming stuff. What a life. You know? The national anthem wasn't the national anthem. Only sixty percent of families had a car. Do you know how long it took me to get the cars out of the driveway this morning? What a life. Politicians come and go, economies bounce around. What a life. Two months ago, almost to the day her husband Dick died, they were together for 80 years. If you count the six years of dating. Which I don't even know if that's legal in Iowa in 19, whatever that was. So her great-grandson was a nine-year-old named Lucas, who's gonna write a book. I can't wait to read the book. And he wanted to interview his great-grandma. He also wanted to interview Grandpa Dick, who he thought was like one of the founding fathers. Like actually. And if you do math, he's probably closer to right than wrong. So he interviews Ruth, and the first question, he has 15 questions for his book. And the first one is uh, what was it like during desegregation? I want to meet this nine-year-old. And the last one, the 15th question, was where did you get your laugh? If you know Ruth, she's got this signature laugh. And Ruth reported to us, sharing with her great-grandson interviewer, well, I suppose when I came out of my mother's womb, it just came right with me. And then Lucas's mom, whose name is escaping me right now, she said, Can I ask a question? And Ruth said, sure. And Lucas's mom said, How did you keep your laugh? I thought that was a good question. How do you keep your laugh? There's a lot going on. In this world you face trouble. Uh Ruth winked. She laughed. She pointed skyward. Take heart. I've overcome the world. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.