Now, The Son of Man is Glorified

Last week my son’s soccer team won their game. I was even more proud when he scored the first goal! That day I glorified my son. I bragged to others about him. I praised him for his good work. That’s what it means to glorify something or someone – to point it out, to lift it up for all to see.

We glorify people and things all the time. We have three women in our congregation who have been glorifying their engagement ring to the rest of us – showing it off for everyone to see. Not their fiancée, mind you, but their ring. We praise sports heros and brag about them to others. We glorify many different people and things.

And of course we glorify Jesus! He is the one most worthy of being glorified. He is the Son of Man, Son of God. He is the Author of creation and its redeemer! Everyday we are called to glorify the Son, Jesus Christ in Word and Deed!

In today’s gospel lesson Jesus says to his disciples, “NOW the Son of Man is glorified! And God is glorified in Him!” When we hear that we imagine the tombstone laid aside, and the resurrected Lord marching out in victory! NOW THE SON OF MAN IS GLORIFIED! Or we imagine His ascension into heaven and His placement upon the right hand of the father with a scepter in His right hand from whence rules heaven and earth for His church. NOW THE SON OF MAN IS GLORIFIED!

But what great event had just happened to cause Jesus to say, “Now the Son of Man is glorified.”?

Judas had just left to finish his betrayal of our Lord by bringing the guard to arrest him! And what happens immediately after today's text? Jesus tells Peter that he will deny him 3 times and that all the disciples will scatter.

The whole organization is breaking down and falling apart. Yet Jesus says, “NOW the Son of Man is glorified!”

Jesus talks as if He is at the height of his glory and we cry out, “the titanic is sinking! Get out of the boat. It’s all ruined. Your empire is crumbling beneath your feet." It looks like Jesus darkest hour.

Yet Jesus proclaims, “NOW is the Son of Man glorified.”

It is when we see Jesus suffering and at his lowest that He invites us to praise Him with the loudest voice! In the deep darkness we see the piercing light of His love! The strength of His love. The endurance of His love. The depth of His love. The patience of His love. And the sacrifice that is His love!

Here we see Jesus loving people at their worst! their ugliest. their darkest. Here it seems that everything is at its worst! Yet Jesus goes to the cross without complaint. And on the cross He takes Peter’s place, Judas place, Barrabas’s place, and your place.

In the valley. In the crisis. In the worst of moments is when Jesus is glorified. Not after He rises again from the dead, but when He hangs on the cross! There we see the love of God!
Now is the Son of Man glorified. Now does God's love find it's beginning and end.

But the same goes for Christ’s body, the church.

Jesus invites us share in His glory in this world when He instructs us saying, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

We are called to love one another not on the mountaintops and in the easy place, but in the valleys and dark places.

Jesus does not qualify the objects of our love. He simply says love one another as I have loved you.

We think we know what love means. But how quickly we forget His command when loving is not easy. How quickly we stop short of loving when the going gets rough!

We stop short of loving, when to love someone means to sacrifice stuff we want for others. To love someone does not mean to given them your leftovers.

We stop short of loving, when to love someone means to look foolish and naive to the world. Our friends whisper to each other, “look at how she is being taken advantage of” or “How naïve of her to help that drunk woman, who just goes around from church to church asking for money” or "why is he speaking so well of that man when everyone knows he'll just stab him in the back."

We stop short of loving, when to love someone means to love someone who doesn’t love us back. Or to give to someone who does not give back. Even well intentioned Christians like to say, "it's good to forgive or its' good to give because it makes you feel good"

We stop short of loving, when to love someone means to walk with them for the extra mile. How easy it is to throw a dollar at someone or shake their hand or tell them you'll pray for them. How hard it is to walk with them in their footsteps through the valley.

Jesus is not glorified when we love people who are easy to love! Anyone can do that! Jesus is glorified in the difficult situations – when we love people who don’t love us. When we help our enemy. When we embrace the denier and the betrayer. That is when the Son of Man is glorified.

In 1940, Nazi Germany had brilliantly taken over central Europe. All that was left was Great Britain. And things looked hopeless. Winston Churchill stood up in parliament and said this, “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour." Churchill does not point to the day of victory or celebration, but he points to the day when things were at their worst, but great Britain did not give in or run away – that darkest and most difficult hour would shine brighter in history than a million victories.

How tempting it is for a church and a pastor to run away from challenges and difficult situations. How quickly I get mad when I see people not getting along and I just want to say, “what’s wrong with this church?” “What’s wrong with me!” It's all falling apart! Yet it is in such situations that we are called to embrace and love and have compassion! For there God is glorified!

We are not the church of the successful and the strong. We are not the church of the perfect and mighty. We are the church of the Judas’s and Peters. And today the Son of Man is Glorified as he comes to us in our despair and sorrow. In our darkest hour and he says, “take and eat, this is my body given for you.” “Take and drink this is my blood shed on the cross, for the forgiveness of all your sins.” Today, even we who fall short of love receive the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. And again today the Son of Man Glorified. May the brightness of His glory reflect upon us and to others.
AMEN.

Remember His Words

He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed. Alleluiah!

It was early in the morning: 6AM. The sun was barely peaking over the hills in the distance. The mist swirled with the darkness and was not unlike the dizzy mistiness swirling in the brains of Jesus friends. – you know how it feels when you just wake up – and rise out of your sleep – only to be met by the reality of something terrible that took place the day before. Then the marys woke up Sunday morning, they were met by an awful reality. Their best friend had been crucified right in front of them. But perhaps worse than that, their hope and possible savior was dead!
Friday afternoon, they prepared the necessary spices and oils to complete their final preparations of the body. That’s what Jesus was to them now. A body. They were going to see the savior one more time. To say goodbye for good. To close the tomb stone forever.
As they approached the tomb they expected to see a tomb like every other tomb. A body like every other one they had seen in the past. They expected to see what they always see when death enters theirs lives.
But instead they discovered that the large stone had been rolled away. Curious they still entered the tomb and there they discovered that Jesus body, which they specifically saw laid down there friday, was gone! While they were trying to figure out everything, two angels appeared blinding the women’s eyes with their dazzling appearance. The women bent down in fear, their faces touched the ground. Their cloudy sorrows were replaced by a surreal reality.
The two angels said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise."
Luke tells us that ‘they remembered His words.’ And in remembering, they were filled with Hope, and their faith turned to action and they ran away from the graveyard to tell others the good news.
Many fools today like to say that people were gullible back then during Jesus day. They believed all sorts of things. Recently some pot smoking ‘biblical’ scholar has been lecturing us that scientists have recently proven that one can not be resurrected from the dead. Well these ladies at the tomb could have told him that! They weren’t gullible. They weren’t looking for a resurrection. They weren’t looking for a way to change the story of Jesus so it sounds cooler than a guy dying on a cross. Luke writes it as it happened! It’s not pretty. These women expected to find a dead body!
But there they were. Jesus body was missing. They were confused. And then the angels came and what did they angels say! They said, “What are you doing here! This is where dead people dwell!” They said, “REMEMBER HIS WORDS – HE TOLD YOU HE WAS GOING TO BE CRUCIFIED AND THAT HE WAS GOING TO RISE AGAIN!” And they remembered His Words!
He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Remember His Words! The women believed when they remembered Jesus Words! You can count on Jesus Words! You can count on the word of God! .
Jesus told his disciples that he was going to die and rise again. He had told them this many times. Yet here they are surprised! Looking in the wrong place for Jesus! Remember His Words! He told them where to find him!
We are just like these women. We look for divine things all the time. We wander in the strangest places looking for extraordinary things. Remember His Words!
We look for meaning in life. We read philosophies. We consult with scientists. We go to school for 30 years. And the angels say, “why are you looking here!” Remember what God says! You are a sinner, but you have forgiveness in the blood of Jesus. In holy baptism you became a child of God!
We look for experiences with God. We look in rock bands and big screens. We look in altar calls and ‘I’ve seen an angel’ books. And the angels say, “why are you looking here!” Remember what God says! This is my body, this is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins! I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – when you are baptized in Christ you are baptized into His death and resurrection! When you forgive someone their sins they are forgiven! We look for places to meet God, all the while He is where he said he would be in His word and sacraments!
Finally, we look for redemption and hope. We wander in the misty graveyards looking for peace. We look at our own works. We think that we can work our way into God’s good favor. Or we are tempted to think that God just accepts us as we are. Or most often than not, we live in fear, shivering at night, wondering whether or not we are saved, if we will live forever. And the angels of God tell us, “what are you doing looking for answers here? Remember God’s Word! You are saved by Grace through Faith!
The angels direct all of us including these women to Remember Jesus words – God’s Word. Yet so often we spend more time looking for answers in everything but.
We are partakers in a greater miracle than jesus rising from the dead. We have been brought to life in Jesus Christ! When you were baptized into Jesus and came to faith in Christ you were resurrected! Yet how quickly we wander away from Him, searching for Him in the strangest places.
when we stay away from his Word, when we stay away from His church where his word is preached and taught, we fall back into that misty dark cloudy morning where sins are not forgiven and dead men don’t rise!
Remember Jesus Words. Cling to them. They are your life. They are true!
He is risen
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Jesus has backed up his words, time and time again! They are factual and can be attested. He died, Rose again, He ascended into heaven and He will come again!
Yet the Good News is not just about Jesus. But it includes you! Remember Jesus Words. He did not just say that He only would rise again from the dead! He also said that you would too! “I am the resurrection and the life! Whoever believes in me yet shall he live! And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die!”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, one day your tombstone will be rolled away too! One day when Jesus comes again, you will embrace all those who died before you in the faith!
But for now – when you find yourself in darkness and doubt. Remember His Words! AMEN. He is Risen
He is Risen indeed! Alleluiah!