Easter Sunday Sermon in Wrocław, Poland

I will begin with a verse that is not usually associated with the resurrection of our Savior, but I want to show something profound that is hidden in these words, something that in fact directly testifies to the power, glory, and miracle of Christ's resurrection.

Matthew 16:18

I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Brothers and sisters, I could spend forty minutes discussing this verse, but there is no time for that. So I'll lay it out quickly. The resurrection is indeed hidden in these words of the Lord, the new life of His kingdom is here in His words, and, yes, the Deity of Christ comes through vividly in these words.

The glory and power of the atoning death, victorious resurrection and coming kingdom are all in these words.

Here Jesus, by means of words and images His disciples, as Jews, instinctively understand, presents Himself as Lord of the people of God. In the wilderness the Israelites were a community, an assembly, in Greek ekklesia, i.e., God's church, but now Jesus speaks of His own community, of His own people, which can only mean one thing. He is the God of this people This is a bold, even startling statement, which can either be rejected as impossible or accepted on faith; there's no third option.

Moreover, this Jesus, like the former "Jesus," i.e., Joshua, will lead his nation, this new community of God, into the promised land, but this promised land does not lie beyond the Jordan River, nor beyond the walls of Jericho. This promised land lies beyond the river and the gates of Sheol, i.e., death. And this Jesus, the definitive "Author and Perfecter of our faith," is indicating that He will go out in front of His nation, across the river, and will himself break down the walls of death with His own body and blood, opening the way for the people following him, His nation, His church, and no gates can withstand him or people who belong to him, who follow him exclaiming "Hosanna in the highest!"

I am convinced that this image, with its deep Old Testament connotations, is what the Lord is depicting here. And one sees immediately how such a meaning directly relates to the words of the apostle Paul:

1 Corinthians 15:55-57

Death, where is your sting? Hell, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is law. Thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

The river has been forded, the walls have fallen, the gates of sin and Sheol have been broken down, the Captain and Conqueror advances before us and shouts,"Follow! The way is open! The kingdom is yours!"

This is the love of God. To bring this to fruition for us, He eagerly gave Himself up—to make His victory our victory, so that "Where I am, there you will also be."

This is the love of God. The risen Lord gave us the victory. The God who says, "Behold, I make all things new," has, precisely, made you and me new:

2 Corinthians 5:17

To anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away, now all things are new.

The old life is gone, you and I no longer live on that side of the river; He has made us citizens of heaven and set us in theheavenly places, in spiritual union with Christ.

Yes, even though we are still here in this world. Nevertheless, on the level of the deepest spiritual reality, we do not belong to this world, but our true home is already whispering to us—within the holy place of our communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—whispering to us that we belong to the King of heaven, that we breathe the air of His Kingdom, our eyes are filled with the light of His Kingdom, our hearts reverberate with the invincible life of His Kingdom.

In the opening statement of his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul used one word that we might read speedily without paying much attention to, but that word contains within, like a nuclear bomb contains within a shatteringly monumental force no matter how microscopic it is, so this word contains the greatness and glory of Christ's atoning feat, and the power of His resurrection:

Galatians 1:1-5

Paul the apostle, not by men nor through men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren who are with me--to the churches of Galatia:

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God and our Father; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The word "deliver" is full of powerful meaning. In fact, the entire phrase "deliver us from this present evil age" expresses Paul's perception of the feat accomplished by Christ's death and resurrection. The apostle tells the Galatian Christians that the Lord gave Himself for our sins in order to tear us out of the whole order and spiritual regime surrounding us, so that we are no longer part of it, no longer share its dreams, its passions, its depravity or its destiny.

Can you imagine that a single feat could ever do all that? Yes, one deed can, when the deed is performed by God the Creator Himself, Who destroys the old fallen order, creates a new world, and makes His children part of this new never-ending world.

Which is confirmed by the Lord's words in His prayer to the Father just before His sufferings: "I gave them your word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."

And the words of Paul witness in confirmation that, yes, He achieved this and, now, we have been transferred into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of the saints. Victory!

The apostle John recounts this victory in the following words:

'Now very early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. So she went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed. (For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.)

So the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Because she thought he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni” (which means Teacher). Jesus replied, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came and informed the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what Jesus had said to her.' (John 20: 1-18, NET Bible)

"I am going to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." The whole import and design of the Atonement is encapsulated in these few shatteringly moving words.

"Why did You DO all this, Lord Jesus?!" "That my Father might become your Father again."

Yes, to make His Father again the Father to whom we turn with boldness, with childlike trust, without fear of cruelty or rejection.

"You must enter the kingdom as a little child."

Is that so hard to understand? We are all children, all of us, all the time. Even those of us over sixty, eighty, andmore! We have all been someone's children since we were born, and we will always be their children, we will never forget what it means to be someone's child.

But the world forgot what it means to be God's children. The terrible gates of Sheol and the river of death cut us off from our true Father, and we became orphans, lost, wandering, and falling into all kinds of wretchedness and despair.

But the river is forded. The walls and gates are broken down. And the Conquering Commander, Living and Mighty, rushes ahead into the promised land, calling out to us, "Move! Let's go! The way is open! I've opened it—because I love you!"

Tell my brethren, say to my people, I am going to my Father and your Father. To the Father Who sees in secret and rewards openly. To the Father, Who knows you better than you know yourselves. To the Father, whom I've given you to know.

Such is the glory, grace and miracle of the Christ's Resurrection. In the light of this glory we, together with the apostle Paul, declare in full assurance:

"For this reason I suffer so; but I am not ashamed. For I know in Whom I have believed, and I am confident that He is able to keep what I have entrusted to Him for that day." (2 Timothy 1:12)

We know in Whom we have believed. We know Him in whom we have believed: "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

We have come to know our Father now, and continually, unceasingly come to know Him, always more deeply. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, "But since you have now come to know God, or rather, have been known by God...." Our Father has come to know us. This, above all, is His feat. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He first loved us. The resurrection made Him our Father again. The power of Christ's feat made us His children again. This is the joy in which the Lord broke through the walls and gates of death—to make it so.

Jesus' love for His Father brought the Father's love to us again, when the living Son of God came to abide with us together with the Father and the Spirit, one God forever and ever:

Galatians 4:6: But because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out: "Abba, Father!"

From the depths of that same Spirit, who abides with us by the feat of the Risen Lord, we cry out, "Yes, Abba Father, Christ is victorious! Christ lives! Christ is coming! For Christ is risen, He is truly risen!"

No Christian Faith Without Resurrection

 There is no Christian faith without the Resurrection.

"Christian faith" means two things: one is the "body of faith," the teachings, the Gospel, the historical "Christ-Event" that is the substance of our faith. What people call "the Christian faith." Without a Resurrection, that simply wouldn't be, any more than it could exist had there never been any Jesus at all.

The other thing "Christian faith" means is, a Christian's faith, the believer's own relationship of trust, devotion and fellowship with the Risen Christ through the Holy Spirit. Obviously, that is only possible if the Risen Christ is there, as indeed He is. And so, that kind of Christian faith, likewise, the immediate personal Christian experience, couldn't exist were there no Resurrection.

Someone might reject the idea of the resurrection but admire Jesus as a noble humanitarian figure. But as C.S. Lewis pointed out so well, anybody who wants to reduce Jesus to that will have to do a lot of cherry-picking, cutting out all the parts that are inconvenient to the preferred profile--like things Jesus said that people would have written off figures like Ghandi and Martin Luther King as lunatics for saying had they said them. Once you start down that road, then on what basis do you argue that ANYTHING in the story of Jesus is true--just because it's the part you like? That's a doomed experiment, a quixotic, deluded quest, utter chasing after the wind--one might say, after a ghost.

A Resurrection-less Christianity is not the Christian faith in EITHER of its essential meanings, neither the true message of God's redeeming act in Christ nor the believer's real, lived experience of it.

Triumphal Entry Sermon, 2023 in Poland

This was my first time preaching in Russian again in about 15 months, after getting "stuck" in America due to the war in Ukraine. I was in countless pulpits in the USA from March to December 2022, but not speaking in Russian. I delivered this sermon at the Baptist church here in Wrocław Poland where I have now been, as of this date, one day shy of a full month.  

Revelation 6:10 They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? 

"How long, Lord, how long?" - cried the souls of the saints in the book of Revelation. 

Has such a cry ever risen from the depths of your soul to God? I'm sure it has. Perhaps especially in the last year, more than ever, but certainly not only. For life is always, even in relatively happy times, a challenge, often a path of tears, sometimes a desert in which there is no room for rest or refreshment. At such times our hearts cry out to God, "How long, Lord, how long?"

Let me offer an unexpected answer to this question that at first will seem the very opposite of comforting, but bear with me--by the end of the sermon things should be clearer. And so, the answer I have in mind to the question "How long?" is: "Forever."

Hebrews 12:2 ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

[AT THIS POINT IT WAS NECESSARY FOR ME TO SPEND A FEW MOMENTS CLARIFYING SOMETHING ABOUT THE RUSSIAN TRANSLATION, SPECIFICALLY AN EXTREMELY UNFORTUNATE MOMENT IN THE TRANSLATION OF THIS VERSE WHERE, INSTEAD OF "FOR THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM' IT READS 'INSTEAD OF THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM', WHICH HAS LED TO MANY CREATIVE, IMAGINATIVE BUT WRONG INTERPRETATIONS AMONG RUSSIAN/UKRAINIAN-SPEAKING BELIEVERS AS TO WHAT THIS JOY WAS THAT JESUS TURNED DOWN, THE MOST COMMON EXPLANATION I'VE HEARD BEING THAT THE "JOY" THAT HAD BEEN SET BEFORE HIM AND HE'D DENIED WAS THE DEVIL'S OFFER TO RULE THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD. IT'S A GOOD TRY, OF COURSE, BUT SIMPLY WRONG, BECAUSE THE CORRECT TRANSLATION THERE IS NOT "INSTEAD OF" BUT "FOR," AS IN "FOR THE SAKE OF, IN ORDER TO ATTAIN." SO THAT IS WHAT LIES BEHIND THE WORDS OF EXPLANATION FOLLOWING.... I BEGAN BY QUOTING THIS PHRASE FROM THE POLISH BIBLE, TO ILLUSTRATE IN A LANGUAGE THAT WOULD BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO RUSSIAN/UKRAINIAN FOR THE CONGREGATION TO IMMEDIATELY HEAR/FEEL THE DIFFERENCE. IN POLISH THE WORD FOR "FOR" IS "DLA" WHILE IN RUSSIAN/UKRAINIAN IT'S "DLYA," AND THE REST OF THE PHRASE IS ALSO SO CLOSE TO RUSSIAN/UKRAINIAN THE CONGREGATION IMMEDIATELY GOT THE POINT.]

Polish: który dla wystawionej sobie radości...

The Greek word here, translated "for" in the Polish Bibles (and English and German and Spanish and French and pretty much all the other Bibles in the world!) can mean both "instead of" and "in exchange" or "in return," just as for example we hand over money in a shop not in order to not receive, but to receive something. "Instead of" our money we'll have what we wanted to get, precisely because we gave up the money FOR it. 

Which of these nuances the Greek word contains depends completely on what's being talked about, i.e., the context. And the whole context here in Hebrews insistently and dramatically tells us that the Lord suffered in order to realize and receive the joy that was set before him. If we fail to grasp this, understand this, then we are missing a profound lesson about our own life's journey. 

In Hebrews 11 the writer carefully builds and emphasizes one powerful theme, i.e.: God's saints in the Old Testament always had their eyes fixed on a certain horizon, on the promise of God ahead of them, and for the sake of the promise set before them they endured everything - yes, even when they did not receive the promise in this earthly life. The writer brings this story to its climax, its peak, of course, in the person of our Saviour Jesus, who likewise kept His eyes fixed on the promise and joy set before Him and for its sake, not against it, He endured, here on earth, everything, right up to the unspeakable torment of the cross and punishment for our sins. 

His sufferings came about not instead of joy, but for the joy that finally arrived when He sat down at the right hand of the Father, not only to the fulfillment of God's redemptive design but to the justification of the faith of the Old Testament saints who endured everything for the joy set before them, the joy of God's promise. They, to the best of their capacities, and Jesus in the fullness of His perfection, put into practice what these words from the Sermon on the Mount call us all to do:

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord calls us to strive, as the main goal and meaning of our life, for His eternal kingdom. Do you see the connection? Here the Lord is talking about exactly what the writer to the Hebrews was talking about. "Seek first" means "constantly and with all your heart". It means "set your eyes on the kingdom" and "never stop, never give up". The Lord says "and all these things shall be added to you", which means we mustn't make "all these things" our driving aim and obsession. If we need 'all this', the Father will give us "all this," but that's His concern, while ours is to trust in Him. Our concern, our task, is to 'seek first the kingdom of God'. Step by step, day by day, fulfilling now what He has given us to do now, regardless of what happens tomorrow. This is exactly what Jesus did, right up to the cross. He continued to walk through Galilee, glorifying the Father, even though His path led to the cross. He continued to walk through Samaria, glorifying the Father, even though his path led to the cross. He got on a donkey and rode into Jerusalem, allowing the people to exultantly hail his arrival, even though his path led to the cross. Day by day, step by step down the path indicated by the Father. Why? Because that path led to the cross and...beyond. How long does the path go on? Infinitely. "How long, Lord?" "Forever." 

And that is the whole point. That is the essence of our faith. 

The Way is eternal, infinite. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." Jesus embodies the Way we've been made part of, and that Way goes on forever and ever. How long will we walk on this Way? Forever. 

How long, Lord, how long? Eternally, forever. 

No, course, the sufferings and difficulties, the sorrows and hardships we endure along the way are not eternal, but the WAY is, because the way is His. Never wish for the way to end. It won't. It will lead directly to the kingdom that we "seek first."

And for this joy that awaits us, we, like the Old Testament saints and, in the ultimte sense, in the likeness of "the Author and Finisher of our faith," endure the suffering and sorrow that encounter us on our earthly way, never forgetting that the way is His, we are His, and the road is His, paved by His body and blood.

That's why I said that, in a certain sense, the answer to the question "How long?" is "Forever". Not injustice, not crime, not evil, which will all be destroyed by the fire of God's holiness, but the Way that will guide us safely through it - that is forever. And we're already in this way, on the way, the neverending path, whatever the fleeting sufferings we must face. 

Thanks to this, with new eyes, with reborn eyes, we look and perceive everything, in everything we see a concrete step closer to eternity, a genuine stage in the approach of God's kingdom and the Day of the Lord. 

The Lord Jesus was approaching Jerusalem because nothing in heaven or earth could hinder the approach of the Father's kingdom of glory. Jesus was not just moving in that direction; no, His every step mirrored the approach of the Father's kingdom in His direction. And guess what? The same is true of us, for He made us part of His infinite journey, of His approaching glory.

Let's read about how the Lord Jesus fueled the approach of the Father's kingdom by, Himself, approaching the cross and what awaited Him beyond the cross. 

(Read Matthew 21:1-11)

Now picture Jesus riding into Jerusalem, and the people waving palm branches, shouting: "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Among them you see the jubilant, closest friends of Jesus. For them this is the beginning of the kingdom on earth. They cannot imagine that in just a few days they will flee in fear and forsake Jesus. There are also those in this crowd whose lips are still and whose voices are silent and whose eyes are full of hatred. They want to destroy this Jesus. He is dangerous to them, He threatens their authority. Among the crowd there are also those who have little or no idea what is going on. They may never have heard of Jesus of Nazareth before - they just heard the commotion, came to see what was going on, and joined in the fun and excitement, so here they are shouting along with the rest, not even knowing why! Such is the power of crowds. A very dangerous power.

Jesus knows all this and, knowing it, rides on - the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, presenting Himself to God for all those standing here, giving Himself up for them, surrendering Himself in love to the Father. 

The real glory of the so-called Triumphal Entry is hidden in the heart of Him who "for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame". He knew. And because He knew "what for," He never retreated. Only forward. No other direction in God's infinite way.

Matthew, in recounting the events of that day, quotes the prophet Zechariah, whose words were fulfilled in the Triumphal Entry. However, Matthew does not mention in this gospel Zechariah's further words, only a few verses after the famous prophecy. 

Zechariah 9:11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

In this prophecy resonate the Lord's words at the Last Supper: "This cup is the cup of my blood, the blood of the covenant." 

To "set the prisoners free," by offering His body and blood, this is why Jesus rode to Jerusalem that Sunday in Palestine two millennia ago. This too was "the joy that was set before Him". Not for the hosannas that sounded that day, but for you and me, for every soul that has ever received and will ever receive, while there is still time. For time does not stop, but races forward. Just as we are racing on to the consummation. 

Only forward. There is no other direction on God's infinite path. Only forward. 

Brothers and sisters, not everything ahead is wonderful. 

But everything wonderful is ahead. 

Of course it is. Where else would it be if not ahead? 

There is no other direction, no other way, no other life, no other truth, except for Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And having Him, we have everything. So, forward! With Jesus. No matter what, every step is a step of triumph, because His way IS eternal triumph.

MUGGING

 People have asked me what differences I notice between American culture and other cultures, or what changes I notice in American culture after spending years at a time away. 

A major quirk of American culture--one I've observed evolving, really, even since my 20s--is the extent to which we "mug." We mug obsessively, absurdly. 

We have become addicted, generally as a socioculture (not everyone, of course), to cartoonishly over-selling with all kinds of facial contortions and inflectional gymnastics whatever it is we're saying, no matter how mundane, quotidien or innocuous (punctuated with "like" as many times as it takes to convey, "But I don't mean it EXACTLY, only 'like kinda sorta,' just in case you think I'm coming on too strong"), often at a frenetically frequent shifting pace--as if a single sentence of, say, 25 words could contain five major and distinctly different emotional peak experiences. (No, life doesn't work that way, no matter how "Hollywood" you wish it was.) 

Often there is this weird, to-the-side glance accompanying it, as if looking to some invisible advocate standing nearby to help get through it, like eye-whispering to an invisible friend, "Can you believe I have to go through this?" 

All of this seems, to me, to proceed from a vast collective insecurity (read, FEAR) that we are going to be misinterpreted and there's going to be a traumatic explosion of some kind if we're taken wrong. The mugging has a deeply apologetic, obsequious edge to it, even a creepily cowering physical attitude attached to it, as if the person is begging forgiveness in advance for even existing. 

More and more I see a corrosive, pernicious FEAR warping American powers of communication into something cartoonish, infantile, stunted. Worst of all, when adults no longer know any other way to express themselves and model nothing but this to their children, there is little hope of the children's ever breaking out of and beyond it.

Part and parcel of this, I'm utterly convinced, is our nearly complete loss of faith in the meaning of words. So we try to compensate with emoting, mugging, resorting to a virtual "sign languge of the face," as if to say, "You don't have to hear a word I'm saying, just look at me."

Perhaps the greatest fear of all is fear of precisely the mundane, quotidien and innocuous, the terror of finding one's own life is mundane, quotidien and innocuous. And so, like the characters in Alice's Wonderland racing to stay in the same place, people frenetically over-act their way through life's most generic communications scrambling to out-race the "quiet desperation" Thoreau spoke of. That's a race no one wins. Ever. Unless it's won by stopping and embracing the silence and solitude of one's terrifying, ostensible obscurity. The obscurity is both real and ostensible. The first must be embraced in order to uncover the meaning of the second.